University Doesn't Get IT

Here's an example of a University doing the very thing that will inhibit their students from taking risks and thinking. Toronto's Ryerson University has threatened to expel a student for setting up a study group on Facebook. Can you imagine? I'm almost at a loss for words. This is so silly and short sighted. Actually it is a perfect example of the administrations 'theory of business' (which in this case also betrays their theory of learning and their theory of knowledge). Schools are based on control and compliance and use fear to motivate. That is exactly what the culture created by high stakes testing does. It is the exact opposite of what I would want in a culture and in a learning environment. 

Canadian university faces off with digital generation
By Natasha Elkington
Thu Mar 20, 3:02 PM ET
TORONTO (Reuters) - A Canadian university has instilled a culture of fear by threatening to expel a student for cheating because he set up an online study group on Facebook, critics said this week.

Model Behavior - Texas School System Causing Dropouts

Now this is interesting. The Texas School System's method of accountability was the model for No Child Left Behind. Recent research shows that very same school system is actually losing a lot of students - and by not counting low-achieving students in their statistics they were able to show rising test scores. Actual facts are that Texas is graduating only 33% of their students. The research also shows that the longer this system of accountability is in place the worse it will get. Here's the full text of the article I read: 

Study: Texas school system fosters low graduation rates
A study by Rice University and the University of Texas at Austin shows that Texas' public school accountability system, the model for the national No Child Left Behind Act, directly contributes to lower graduation rates.

By analyzing data from more than 271,000 students, the study found that 60 percent of African-American students, 75 percent of Latino students and 80 percent of English-as-a-second language students did not graduate within five years.

Each year, Texas public high schools lose at least 135,000 youth prior to graduation. Researchers found an overall graduation rate of only 33 percent.

The exit of low-achieving students created the appearance of rising test scores and of a narrowing of the achievement gap between white and minority students, thus increasing the schools' ratings, the study showed.

What's more, the study indicated that the higher the stakes and the longer such an accountability system governs schools, the more school personnel view students not as children to educate but as potential liabilities or assets for their school's performance indicators, their own careers or their school's funding.

Among other findings, the study showed a relationship between the increasing number of dropouts and schools' rising accountability ratings, finding that the accountability system allows principals to hold back students who are deemed at risk of reducing school scores -- but a high proportion of students retained this way end up dropping out.

Priorities? Testing Takes Precedence

I don't know whether to laugh or cry. This article in the Star Tribune (Minneapolis-St. Paul) says that schools are asking parents NOT to take their children with them to work (for "Take Our Sons and Daughters to Work Day") as they may miss taking the standardized test this week - and if they don't take the test it might hurt the school.

Talk about having our priorities all upside down and backwards.

Children who head to work instead of tests may hurt schools
Some Minnesota school districts are asking parents not to participate in national "Take Our Sons and Daughters to Work Day" if their students are among those taking standardized tests this week, as missing test-takers put schools at risk of failing. School officials urged parents to instead bring students to the office in the summer or on school holidays. Star Tribune (Minneapolis-St. Paul) (4/24)