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filmguy1013
Veteran
Joined: 29 Sep 2004 Posts: 78 Location: Los Angeles
[UPDATE] New Sentinel Article (29th April) In the midst of all the new sites, a new article as well:
Quote:
Board of Education Assesses Reforms
By ROLAND GERBERA
Officials at the Board of Education have conducted a preliminary assessment of the Skills for Life program, the contentious initiative the Board passed last year. "Despite some resistance from teachers' groups, it appears in these early results that children in the program are doing significantly better in unaided tests for reading and arithmetic," said Board Member Charles Fisher. "We are still cautious in this trial period, but our analysis shows that we are seeing some successes."
Fisher declined to give specific numbers, stating that the full data would be available when the report was issued, expected later this month.
The Teachers' Association of Perplex City issues a statement calling the guidelines "ridiculously strict," and suggesting that any gains in performance over more traditional methods of teaching are fleeting. "You need to track these children over the course of their entire school careers to get a true picture of how this will play out," said TAPC representative Hannah Ikeda. "The fact is, kids need to learn to work with these tools to have successful careers over the long term."
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Teacher Lee Wilson agreed. "I consider it a big part of my job as a teacher to pay attention to the needs of my students. It's an absolute outrage to tie my hands and tell me what I can and can't do in response to those needs."
Fisher replied to these criticisms: "That's preposterous. ... If a child truly needs a particular tool to learn, his or her parents can request a waiver under our framework to provide anything necessary. It's ludicrous to measure the program by how well it works for exceptional cases, rather than for the wide majority of typical students." The Board of Education plans to deploy the program in another 200 classrooms this fall.
Yvette Lawson of the parents' group Education Counts declined to conduct a full interview. "Our parents are bitterly divided over this issue, and it would be inappropriate for us to comment one way or the other," she said.
The Skills for Learning program, which is currently deployed in a limited number of classrooms on a pilot basis, includes curricula and strict guidelines limiting use of high-tech tools in the classroom for children under the age of eight. Opponents say the program is unrealistic in a technological world, but its advocates suggest that children who learn to read, write, and think critically in their early years without the aid of computing devices perform better on a broad range of metrics.
Edit: Date in topic, please review format here . - Wishi-san
Posted: Fri Apr 29, 2005 5:00 am
londubh
Boot
Joined: 26 Apr 2005 Posts: 29 Location: Nottingham, UK
limiting use of high-tech tools in the classroom ...
could this mean mind-enhancing drugs?
_________________Enlightenment brings laughter, but not the laughter of someone who has just heard a good joke, but that of someone who has been searching all day for something, and suddenly finds it in his coat pocket
Posted: Fri Apr 29, 2005 5:20 am
dr_ronnieboy[PCGF]
Boot
Joined: 26 Apr 2005 Posts: 10 Location: London
I think it's probably more to do with using less of their equvalent of computers. For example, instead of learning how to type on a keyboard, learning how to handwrite.
I think the whole "Skills for life" project is a way of getting back to basics, instead of providing a foundation-free schooling system
_________________Watch where you step...you might be stepping on me.
Posted: Fri Apr 29, 2005 5:35 am
londubh
Boot
Joined: 26 Apr 2005 Posts: 29 Location: Nottingham, UK
So, a classroom equivalent of the move from photographs to less technological images?
_________________Enlightenment brings laughter, but not the laughter of someone who has just heard a good joke, but that of someone who has been searching all day for something, and suddenly finds it in his coat pocket
Posted: Fri Apr 29, 2005 5:37 am
Sasuntsi Davit
Unfettered
Joined: 04 Dec 2004 Posts: 352 Location: London, UK : Yerevan, Armenia
Since this is the update thread of Perplex City Sentinel, ill post the info here. There's a link in Open Design's portfolio to a subsection of the Perplex City Sentinel to http://www.perplexcitysentinel.com/tourguide/
which has information about the tourguide
_________________Sasuntsi Davit³
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Posted: Fri Apr 29, 2005 7:19 am
MarcB
Veteran
Joined: 14 Dec 2004 Posts: 71 Location: Stafford, UK
That Tour Guide page also gives a list of special events which will be taking place over the next few months...
Posted: Fri Apr 29, 2005 7:26 am
brat-sampson
Decorated
Joined: 25 Jul 2004 Posts: 289 Location: Stark
Ooh, free ice-cream for solving the May 1st riddle (mentioned on the tourguide page.) Sounds like fun
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Posted: Fri Apr 29, 2005 7:27 am
WebPillar
Boot
Joined: 19 Aug 2004 Posts: 14 Location: Terminal Dogma
these greatly reminds me of the presidential conference I was watching last night... All about the no child left behind act. Hmm more and more parallels between our and their news... SOme very similar things were talked about, such as how the government will continue with it and how people are divided over it.
Posted: Fri Apr 29, 2005 9:35 am
DDay376
Greenhorn
Joined: 25 Apr 2005 Posts: 7 Location: Gahanna, OH
[TRIVIA] In the first paragraph:
Quote:
...assessment of the Skills for Life program, the contentious initiative the...
In the last paragraph:
Quote:
The Skills for Learning program, which is currently deployed in a limited...
So which is it, Life or Learning... or should we look for a correction in the next edition?
Posted: Fri Apr 29, 2005 3:25 pm
POTUS
Decorated
Joined: 08 Mar 2005 Posts: 277 Location: The shores of the great lake Erie
Good eye D-Day! Point your SMTP to the Sentinel news@ address - too bad they don't pay Lecks for corrections!
I saw Perplex City Teachers Association and know that we have a GoDaddy site (not yet live) called: http://perplexcityta.com/ , I think this was found by someone already, but I think it was specced as "Transit Authority" or some such. With two major distinct characteristics of PC being interdimensional travel, and development of intellect, its a coin-toss over which of these is accurate.
_________________Now that you've found another key ~ what are you going to play?
Posted: Fri Apr 29, 2005 5:05 pm
leakingpen
Decorated
Joined: 27 Jan 2005 Posts: 187
we have similar here. there are schools that forbid the use of calculators in math until they learn the basics, for instance.
/dont get me started on no child left behind. i work with it daily. ergh. the damage its doing to our future alone should be an impeachable offense.
_________________My jug is not half empty, it is half full, thank you.
luaeanenun
(leakingpen E3)
Posted: Fri Apr 29, 2005 7:45 pm
<PSH>
Decorated
Joined: 28 Aug 2004 Posts: 187 Location: 127.0.0.1
Yeah for once I agree with the political banter; the No child left behind act is really just the "drag them along" act.
_________________"Oh, you cant help that," said the Cat; "we're all mad here. I'm mad. You're Mad."
"How do you know I'm mad?" said Alice.
"You must be," said the Cat, "or you wouldn't have come here."
Posted: Fri Apr 29, 2005 9:55 pm
vibration13
Boot
Joined: 21 Mar 2005 Posts: 41 Location: Wales
POTUS wrote:
http://perplexcityta.com/ , I think this was found by someone already, but I think it was specced as "Transit Authority" or some such. With two major distinct characteristics of PC being interdimensional travel, and development of intellect, its a coin-toss over which of these is accurate.
Since PerplexcitySpaceport is also bought up, I doubt it's transit Authority. It could be Territorial Army - that's what TA would generally stand for in UK anyway. Its still idle spec though.
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Posted: Fri Apr 29, 2005 10:29 pm
they'realloutogetme
Boot
Joined: 14 Mar 2005 Posts: 15 Location: In a bunker ... a very deep safe bunker
I HATE NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND! Yeah, lets try and fit every single student in this huge diverse nation of ours to a white upper class idea of "normal" . *slaps president Bush with ninja fly-swatter for being so DUMB*. I agree with webpillar, the actuall controversey and division on the issue does sound similar to the no child left behind act, but not the program itself . The program itself reminds me of the middle school I went to. It was a Waldorf School (founded by someone named Rudolph Stiener) which means they are big on "creativeness" and "a lower stress enviroment" (and very little homework!). I didn't use a calculator till I took the math placement test for high school (ditto for typing a paper on the computer). But the article does seem to fit the parallel news theme they have going.
(sorry 'bout the little rant there. It's generally a good idea not to get me started on NCLB, or President Bush)
_________________Anakin: If you're not with me, you're my enemy.
Obi-Wan: Only a Sith Lord deals in absolutes.
Posted: Mon May 02, 2005 10:41 pm
DogsHead
Veteran
Joined: 11 Apr 2005 Posts: 142 Location: Sydney
If it is the Perplex City Teachers Association site, can you just imagine the vibrantly exciting content it will contain? Gosh!
*DogsHead shivers in in anticipation*
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Posted: Mon May 02, 2005 10:50 pm
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