Post by doctorwho on Mar 7, 2008 11:49:53 GMT -6
Just ran across this commentary from the Sun Times ( yeah I'm behind on my news reading )
One more story about ISAT's and NCLB - the impact being felt everywhere
Maybe it was just me, but man I sure looked forward to Museum field trips when I was a young school kids....I can still remember some things from them years later
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www.suntimes.com/news/commentary/825569,CST-EDT-edit05A.article
Kids lose a lot when teaching aims at test
March 5, 2008
This is ISAT state testing week, and teachers are under tremendous pressure to raise scores.
But good teachers know in their hearts that true learning requires far more than endlessly drilling for standardized tests.
So it's a shame that visits by school groups at Chicago's 10 Museums in the Park are down more than 220,000 students -- almost a 17 percent drop -- since 2000. Just last week, a Chicago middle school canceled a trip to the Museum of Science and Industry. The principal told a teacher that the visit would take away from prepping for the Illinois Standards Achievement Tests, said Andrea Ingram, vice president for education and guest experiences at the museum.
That's a bit ironic, Ingram said, given that a similar trip last fall was specifically designed to help kids' knowledge for the math and science tests. More to the point, a trip to a museum can provide those "wow" moments that spark growing imaginations to see opportunities beyond school and their neighborhoods.
A sagging economy is to blame in part for the drop in school field trips, museum educators say, but there's no escaping the straight-jacketing impact of the federal No Child Left Behind Act, which judges schools on the basis of math and reading test results. Other subjects, such as history and geography, inevitably get short-changed. A recent study by the Center on Education Policy confirmed what teachers and parents have long suspected: as school districts across the country have increased time spent teaching reading and math, they've cut back time spent on subjects such as science, social studies, art and gym.
"When you spend more time on core competencies, when you make that the bulk of learning, you draw the line in the sand that those subjects are what's truly important," said Nathan Richie of the Freedom Museum.
Museum officials are so concerned that they are holding a seminar next week called No Museum Left Behind.
But already, museums are working with schools to tailor field trips to help build math, science and reading skills for the ISAT. And the museums are taking their show on the road, visiting schools. The Field Museum, for example, likes to show off a truck fueled by vegetable oil.
Parents are free to take their kids to a museum -- and that's always an excellent idea. But not every parent does or can, especially in poor families. These are the children who might most benefit from a visit to any one of Chicago's great museums, where they can glimpse all the world has to offer.
"Instead of learning dots," Ingram said, "they get a look at how to connect the dots."
One more story about ISAT's and NCLB - the impact being felt everywhere
Maybe it was just me, but man I sure looked forward to Museum field trips when I was a young school kids....I can still remember some things from them years later
-----------------------------------------------------------------
www.suntimes.com/news/commentary/825569,CST-EDT-edit05A.article
Kids lose a lot when teaching aims at test
March 5, 2008
This is ISAT state testing week, and teachers are under tremendous pressure to raise scores.
But good teachers know in their hearts that true learning requires far more than endlessly drilling for standardized tests.
So it's a shame that visits by school groups at Chicago's 10 Museums in the Park are down more than 220,000 students -- almost a 17 percent drop -- since 2000. Just last week, a Chicago middle school canceled a trip to the Museum of Science and Industry. The principal told a teacher that the visit would take away from prepping for the Illinois Standards Achievement Tests, said Andrea Ingram, vice president for education and guest experiences at the museum.
That's a bit ironic, Ingram said, given that a similar trip last fall was specifically designed to help kids' knowledge for the math and science tests. More to the point, a trip to a museum can provide those "wow" moments that spark growing imaginations to see opportunities beyond school and their neighborhoods.
A sagging economy is to blame in part for the drop in school field trips, museum educators say, but there's no escaping the straight-jacketing impact of the federal No Child Left Behind Act, which judges schools on the basis of math and reading test results. Other subjects, such as history and geography, inevitably get short-changed. A recent study by the Center on Education Policy confirmed what teachers and parents have long suspected: as school districts across the country have increased time spent teaching reading and math, they've cut back time spent on subjects such as science, social studies, art and gym.
"When you spend more time on core competencies, when you make that the bulk of learning, you draw the line in the sand that those subjects are what's truly important," said Nathan Richie of the Freedom Museum.
Museum officials are so concerned that they are holding a seminar next week called No Museum Left Behind.
But already, museums are working with schools to tailor field trips to help build math, science and reading skills for the ISAT. And the museums are taking their show on the road, visiting schools. The Field Museum, for example, likes to show off a truck fueled by vegetable oil.
Parents are free to take their kids to a museum -- and that's always an excellent idea. But not every parent does or can, especially in poor families. These are the children who might most benefit from a visit to any one of Chicago's great museums, where they can glimpse all the world has to offer.
"Instead of learning dots," Ingram said, "they get a look at how to connect the dots."