Homeschool 2.0 » standards

Third World Challenge: Are You Smarter Than a Third World Tenth Grader

lynn — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 22:01:32 +0000

From Bob Compton and the folks who brought you Two Million Minutes now comes the Third World Challenge, a simplified version of a multi-day proficiency test that must be passed by 10th graders in India to proceed to 11th grade.

I did OK, not flying colors. I admit I know next to nothing about the United Nations and really don’t care about it so I didn’t do well on the history exam which is UN intensive. Math wasn’t bad, but I think trigonometry is fun. Why is the anatomy of the eye on a Physics exam? All in all the exam is pretty rigorous. Could I have passed it after 10th grade? I don’t know. I learned different stuff in different sequence.

Nevertheless, the point is taken. Indian kids learn a lot of stuff to get through 10th grade. Take it yourself and see how you do.

Teaching to the Test or Mastery?

lynn — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 20:16:30 +0000

Great post at Why Homeschool last week on standardized tests and what they mean and our attitudes toward them. These tests can provide very useful information on what our kids have mastered and what they still need to work on. In a homeschool environment that’s a practical way to use them.

However, in a classroom, teaching to the test may replace mastery of subject material with mastery of test taking. It’s taking time for schools to line up their teaching of subject material with what is required by No Child Left Behind.

3 Steps to Making State Standards Useful at Home

lynn — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 04:03:36 +0000

Continuing the theme of standards and testing I recommend that anyone homeschooling their kids who has a doubt or a curiosity over how well their kids are doing at home take a look at their own state’s standards. Use them as part of the planning process.

When we plan for the coming school year part of it includes being able to identify what standards we will cover and master. While that sounds very bureaucratic it’s really very easy.

(more…)

Measurements and Learning

lynn — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 19:31:51 +0000

[youtube EnlkVefMVQM]

Political correctness, global thinking and the latest social philosophy are inconsequential when compared with whether or not a child can read or write or calculate or think critically. As I wrote at length in my previous post it does matter what we measure and how it’s used to improve a child’s learning.

HT: mrmoses.org

No Child Left Behind Homeschool

lynn — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 19:14:06 +0000

What does No Child Left Behind (NCLB) have to do with homeschooling? Depends upon what state you live in. Some states nothing and others it has an effect. Here in Alaska it can be good for those of us who teach at home primarily because of standards.

I grew up as most did in the public school system taking standardized tests. In Ohio, we sat at our little desks and penciled our way through the Iowa Basic. The California Achievement Test (TerraNova CAT/5) is the other ubiquitous standardized exam. How did the exam results inform your parents or improve your education? They didn’t. Those are norm-referenced exams; that is, they compare you to yourself, to other kids and your school to other schools in the state or coast-to-coast. Norm-referenced tests do not measure what you know.

NCLB has mandated standards-based or criterion-referenced testing. That means a kid’s knowledge and skills are required to be measured. Each state is now required to write standards for each level. Simply put, if the state thinks that a child should know the multiples of five after 3rd grade they will write a standard stating that and then write an exam question to measure it.

There’s a lot of quibbling and angst over the nuts and bolts of NCLB among teachers, administrators and parents. But, I submit that NCLB standards-based testing is, essentially, what homeschoolers do. We teach a topic or skill and make sure our child understands it before we move on. We don’t leave our own kids behind.

(more…)