Friday Open Thread

From Ed Week, a report on international tests (Progress in International Reading Literacy Study and Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study) and how the US fared.

Florida came up a big winner on PIRLS, in terms of average scores (more on that in a bit). On TIMSS, Massachusetts, mirroring its strong performance on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, did very well in both science and math, compared with the United States and other high-performing countries and education systems. However, the good news largely evaporates when you look at the percentages of students that scored "advanced," "high," "intermediate," or "low" on the tests, the formal benchmark names for performance levels. In terms of the share of students scoring at the top level, or advanced, other high-performing countries leave many U.S. states eating dust.

Also, of interest, a report on digital education and devices used by children from Ed Week.

 The Federal Trade Commission has approved revised rules that spell out the types of information that cannot be collected from children without their parents' permission, an action meant to address privacy concerns in the constantly evolving era of smartphones, tablets, social media, and apps. 

 The new policies, announced Wednesday, seek to close loopholes that the agency says too often allow websites and online services to gather information improperly from students and turn it over to third parties for advertising purposes. 

 One significant change clarifies that the types of "personal information" that can't be culled without parents' approval include geolocation information, photos, and videos.

What's on your mind?

(Also, I had mentioned a possible meeting about BEX IV and what parents believe would work best/has the most support.  Is there any interest in such a meeting before school starts?)

Comments

mirmac1 said…
Any one have a sense for what extent the Road Map Project will mine student data?
Great article, Mirmac. I love the analogy of dancing to learning. Anyone can sway to music (as most can learn to read) - feeling and understanding the music that you dance to, that's a different thing.
Anonymous said…
Did you see this series of posts on the Daily Howler? Massachusett's Black 4th graders outscored Finland's students. That is a big deal and nobody is reporting it???????

http://dailyhowler.blogspot.com/2012/12/fooled-about-schools-black-kids-beat.html

TS
Patrick said…
So where are the PIRLs etc. test results by state and by ethnic group? I see their web site with reports that just lump United States together as one, except Florida is broken out.
Anonymous said…
Here is a detailed report on TIMSS.

http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2013/2013009_1.pdf

TS
seattle citizen said…
I have an idea - CCIS: Common Core International Standards. That way, the whole global economic engine can be calibrated, all teachers worldwide can teach the same thing and expect the same results, and the edu-businesses can expand their territories.

Now, if only we can prepare ALL children for STEM careers, we'll be set....
mirmac1 said…
Roosevelt High Latin teacher wins national award

http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2020024309_latin31m.html

What I want to know is, will Vance keep her if there isn't some kind of value-added assessment for Latin...?
Anonymous said…
Any one have a sense for what extent the Road Map Project will mine student data?

Not just the Road Map Project. What about MAP data, MSP/HSPE data and every other thing the district is gathering right now to support "longitudinal studies". I believe much of this data gets shared out with not only state and federal education departments, but private corporations as well. The recent FERPA changes about a year ago are a mixed bag, and have actually made some things worse in the name of the almighty SLDS (statewide longitudinal data systems, i.e. tracking your kids from Kindergarten until they join the workforce)

I can't see any easy way to fight this other than to educate parents and push for legal changes and clarifications over time. If anyone has better ideas, please share.

-ff
Anonymous said…
8 college degrees with the worst return on investment..... YUP teaching is one of them.

-- Dan Dempsey
mirmac1 said…
Saw the Hobbit yesterday. Fantastic!! : )

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