Information Age Education Blog

Ninety-nine percent of who you are is invisible and untouchable. (Richard Buckminster Fuller; American engineer, author, designer, inventor, and futurist; 1895–1983.)

As you know, it is easy to construct a test that most students will fail. Or, for a test that already exists, it is easy to adjust the passing mark so that many students will fail.

I am on the Distribution List for the Oregon Council of Teachers of Mathematics. The following is quoted from a 9/13/2010 posting to this list:

I contribute time and energy to the Oregon PrISM (Preparation for Instruction of Science & Math) project. (See http://www.theprismproject.org.) Yesterday the leaders in this project spent time discussing possible content for a new proposal to the National Science Foundation that would continue and extend the good work that has been done so far.

As I have done repeatedly with this group, I pointed out that the content of the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) areas has changed significantly due to computer modeling and computational thinking. (See http://iae-pedia.org/Computational_Thinking.) Also, students have changed significantly through growing up in a world of cell phones, text messaging, computers, computerized games, multimedia recording and playback devices, and the Web.

In 2009, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation invested about $3 billion in a variety of projects. Education was one of the areas emphasized. (Gates Foundation, 2009). Quoting from eSchool News:

Supporting the development and adoption of the Common Core standards was one of the Gates Foundation’s many education investments in 2009. All told, the foundation spent $373 million on U.S. education last year and another $19 million on libraries, according to its annual report.

I am a regular reader of the (free) ASCD SmartBrief. Quoting from the 9/9/2010 (http://www.smartbrief.com/servlet/ArchiveServlet?issueid=539D4C89-3ABF-4700-9FA9-4E814961C5C2&lmid=archives) issue:

Philadelphia high school implements mastery-learning model
Class is back in session in Philadelphia, where educators are working to raise achievement at six schools designated by Superintendent Arlene Ackerman as Promise Academies. One high school is adopting the mastery-learning model of instruction. The approach uses pass-fail ratings instead of letter grades and allows students to progress through subjects at their own pace.