On education reform

     My favorite recent book on K-12 education (reform) is Amanda Ripley’s The Smartest Kids in the World (and how they got that way) (2013), which emphasizes new and impressive data comparing the success of students in school systems around the world. I recommend it very highly.
     Here are some themes in that work (based on my notes).

• In countries in which education is more successful, there exists a consensus that education is a priority and that virtually all students can succeed in meeting standards, which are set high.
• In successful countries, education is regarded as serious, even vital. Hence, it is assumed that only the best should be chosen for teaching, and they should be well compensated and respected. (E.g., Finland. Very unlike the U.S.)
• Americans are hesitant about raising standards in schools, fearing this will hurt students. But kids around the world handle high standards well.
• Rigor is crucial and there is no rigor without failure. Kids need to learn to be resilient and to persevere. With regard to academic success, diligence is more important than anything. (To work, praise has to be specific and authentic and rare—not handed out like candy.)
• Drive is very important, the drive to succeed.
• We should ignore shiny objects: new technologies (interactive whiteboards, iPads), a focus on small class size, trendy theories (“self esteem,” “whole words”). Successful countries eschew such things in favor of applying high standards and expecting all students to succeed. In these countries, the teaching profession is very selective and teachers are well paid and respected. In the U.S., standards at teaching colleges are very low and the teaching profession is far from prestigious.
• Researchers have identified four parenting styles re childrens’ education: authoritarian, permissive, neglectful, and “authoritative.” Authoritative parents seem to be the most successful; they get their kids reading early, and they expect them to work hard on their studies, but, gradually, they back off and foster their children’s autonomy.
• Successful countries do not embrace “local control,” the American model, because it is inefficient and thwarts sensible and coherent education policy.
• In successful countries, sports are not considered part of education. Sports are a huge distraction in U.S. education, and they benefit few.
• Successful countries typically spend far less per student than does the U.S. Increased spending will do no good unless it is on the right things. Some poor countries (e.g., Poland) do a good job teaching their kids. Resources should be directed, not on new equipment or more teachers, but on better teaching, higher teacher salaries, and adopting high standards.
• The data suggest that “diversity” of the population (ethnic and otherwise) need not hinder reform/improvement (consider the case of Singapore, which does a good job despite considerable ethnic/language diversity).
• Many Americans embrace a groundless fatalism concerning student success and failure, as though many students simply don’t have the talent to succeed in, say, math. Successful countries demonstrate that virtually every child can learn, as they do, under the right circumstances, even in the U.S.
• Successful countries delay “tracking” students (i.e., separating children and placing them permanently on different tracks). In the U.S., tracking begins very early. E.g., the AP or "gifted" track. In subtle ways, U.S. students are indeed tracked. (For reasons not fully understood, the data clearly suggests that students at all levels benefit from a system that keeps kids together and on the same track. Successful countries create support systems for students who fall behind, but those students are returned to their original cohort asap; no one stays permanently in the special support system. See Singapore.)
• The U.S. should abandon its “backward math”—putting money where it is least needed (successful schools, students). Money should be directed to where it is most needed (low performing schools, etc.).
• High school should end with a test (and standards should not be dumbed down)—so that high school graduation becomes meaningful (in Finland, 95% of students pass the test).

SEE ALSO:

Schleicher: a scientist
gathering data

In Focus with Andreas Schleicher: Lessons for the U.S.‬
     Warning: Schleicher refers to “student learning outcomes,” but he is using the term broadly to include such outcomes as high scores in traditional (and, I suppose, PISA-style) testing. The Outcomes Based Education approach (on improving learning) that our Accreditor embraces focuses on discrete SLOs per course, essentially, a peculiar step prior to testing. The kind of criticism of OBE I have offered here on DtB does not object to standardized tests. Successful countries do rely on a few, well-written standardized tests, such as the test typically given at the end of high school (in Europe), which students must pass in order to graduate.

Replacing Bill Jay

 

     The regular meeting (closed session then open session) will start later in the afternoon.
     There are eight applicants for the office.
     I was at the last such meeting. These things can be pretty interesting. Bring popcorn.

Listen! & "Let us now praise infamous men"

Tim Jemal

     Went to the trustee “listening session” today at Irvine Valley College. It was held in the Café, that silly space at the north end of the library.
     Four trustees were in attendance: Marcia Milchiker, Dave Lang, Tim Jemal, and Jim Wright. No one—including Chancellor Gary Poertner—accompanied them. Part of the idea of the session, of course, is to ban managers and administrators from the session, “to encourage frankness,” as Lang explained.
     (Nancy Padberg and Bill Jay had really good reasons for not showing; Board President TJ Prendergast evidently couldn't attend because of his teaching duties at his high school.)
     The session started a few minutes after 3:00. Attendance was so-so. The first three rows of chairs remained empty (shyness), but most or all of the chairs circumscribing the room were taken, as were the chairs in back (I was smack dab in the middle, in an otherwise empty row). The middle of the seating area was sparsely occupied.

Marcia Milchiker

     The room stank (sorry) of coffee from the contraptions lined along one side of the room. There were cookies too. No punch.
     I didn’t count heads but it seemed to me that there were more classified employees than faculty in the room.
     Things got started. Tim Jemal took charge. He went over the rules: two minutes to a customer, but the trustees would accommodate anyone with something to say, even, I guess, if it took longer.
     A classified employee was the first to speak up. She carped about having to attend training sessions during lunch, thereby interfering with her lunch break.
     There was a feeling in the room (or so it seemed to me) that getting comments out of this crowd would be like pulling teeth.

Dave Lang

     Next came a complaint from a faculty member concerning the new manner in which repairs are made (or not made) on campus. Stuff breaks and it is no longer possible just to call a local vendor to fix the dang thing tout de suite. Gotta fill out forms three months in advance (I think that was the figure).
     Jim Wright asked questions, and it came to light that these absurd constraints are not in place down at Saddleback College. Blah, blah, blah. I think the instructor implied that VC Deb Fitzsimmons had imposed these new and absurd procedures, but that seemed to conflict with the fact, if it was a fact, that they have not been imposed down south. Whatever.
     Next comment? Silence.

Jim Wright

     At about that point, it occurred to me that my sitting in the middle of the room with pen and paper might discourage the desired loose lips. (I recalled abandoning a similar session a year ago for the same reason.) So I just grabbed a cookie and got out of there.
     It was maybe 3:15 or so.
     So, how did it go? Did things, um, pick up? Hope so.
     Let us know.
     UPDATE: a reader writes:

After you left all the seats filled and it was standing room only. It definitely picked up. There were a mix of faculty and classified staff feedback.

* * *

     About a week ago, the district put out an email “sadly” reporting the death of Armando “Muggins” Ruiz.
     According to the district release, Armando was a helluva guy: “Armando was known for his generosity and was respected by many as a model of unconditional love….”
     Gosh. I remember when similar things were said about Tom "Prince of Darkness" Fuentes when he passed.
     Predictably, IVC’s permanent president, Glenn Roquemore, chimed in:

“He was a very good friend and colleague. We served together as Vice Presidents for a few years. He was a talented professional and an excellent father and husband.”

     This sort of spin does no good. Decent people are pained by it, discouraged, demoralized. There are some admirable people among us. Often, they go unappreciated. Meanwhile, creeps are lionized and eulogized.
     So what's the problem with singing the praises of "Muggins" Ruiz? Well, Ruiz was a rat bastard. An unscrupulous jerk.
     Under the circumstances, the best thing to do is to say nothing.
     Instead, we were told that “Armando spent 40 years devoted to education….” What a public servant!
     The OC Register didn't see it that way. According to the Reg, "Politics is a selfless job; then there's Armando Ruiz…."
     Here in DtB, we often reported Ruiz’ misdeeds. About five years ago, we finally wrote:

     One of the minor characters in the epic “SOCCCD and the Neanderthals” saga is Armando "Beyondo" Ruiz, who, while counseling at Saddleback College, managed to get elected on the Coast Community College District board of trustees. That started back in the 80s, I believe.
     Ruiz is coarse, stupid, spectacularly incorrect (around women), and dishonest. Naturally, therefore, about a dozen years ago, in his desperation to gain allies [among faculty, only Glenn Roquemore showed up all greased up for the ol’ quid pro quo], then-IVC President Raghu Mathur cut a deal with Ruiz; he had "Boots" transferred from Saddleback College to Irvine Valley College for the purpose of grooming him for an administrative career, despite Boot Boy's manifest shititude.
     Not a problem.
     Soon, Ruiz was indeed an IVC administrator, eventually achieving his Mathur-contrived apex as the Vice President of Student Services. Besides Mathur, he was the least popular person at the college. [His role in the ruthless attempt to block the tenure of a Mathur critic didn't help.]
     That Ruiz was a creep wasn’t a problem for Mathur—after all, Mathur’s creepitude at least matches Ruiz’. That he kept f*cking up was slightly more bothersome. But the worst thing about Ruiz was his manifest disgruntlement, in 2002, when he wasn’t chosen to replace Mathur [loyal Mathurite Glenn Roquemore got the nod], who, natch, was awarded the district Chancellorship right after having sued the district. (He sued the district for not having protected him from my suing him in response to his suing me for reporting the truth about him—namely, that he had once violated a federal law protecting students' privacy rights.)
     So, after that, Ruiz bailed, i.e., he retired.
     That’s when he performed the sleazy maneuver upon which his wider infamy rests. Exploiting a loophole in the law, he resigned his trusteeship just days before getting reelected; he thus contrived to enjoy an enormous pension. (As Frank Mickadeit once explained: “He was taking advantage of a loophole that allows a person who exits two state jobs on the same day to count the highest-paying of the two as the salary for both jobs for the purpose of calculating his pension. …So, Ruiz "retired" ... as a part-time trustee of the Coast district and as a full-time counselor at Irvine Valley College. Even though the trustee gig pays just a $9,800 annual stipend, he was able to calculate his state pension as if he had been paid $106K a year for that "job'" plus the $106K a year he got for his real job at Irvine.")
     It was a spectacular flimflam, proving once again that stupidity and craftiness easily fit inside the Neanderthal’s ample cranium.
     A local journalist took up the cause of getting rid of the odious Ruiz. Eventually, Ruiz lost reelection in 2008.

SEE ALSO:

The sad Armando Ruiz saga (OC Register; 11/4/04) -
Politics is a selfless job; then there's Armando Ruiz….

Rancho Santiago College Foundation Accused of Brown Act Violations in Saudi Arabia Deal (Navel Gazing)

…Last month, a dozen or so Rancho Santiago employees blasted the idea of the multi-million dollar consulting agreement--which provides the Saudi schools with a teacher training program, infrastructure upgrades and an updated curriculum--because of the Middle East country's stands on human rights, alternative lifestyles and Israel or Jews in general.
     But Chancellor Raul Rodriguez told the Board of Trustees that the deal does not amount to an endorsement of Saudi Arabia's human rights record by the district that oversees Santa Ana and Santiago Canyon colleges….

Astronomers discover largest known structure in the universe is ... a big hole (Guardian UK)

     Denizens of IVC received this "advisory" today from IVC Campus Police.
     It's the cops' response to recent thefts.
     Here's what they've got: slogans. Namely,

"If you see something, say something." 

"Take it, lock it, or hide it."

     That last one reminds me of the NHTSA's remarkable "Click it or ticket!" slogan, part of their ongoing "Mottos for Morons" campaign.
     Such is the advice offered by the campus gendarmes. I bet they studied their "Law Enforcement Handbook of Stupid Sayings" all morning to come up with that stuff.
     Gosh, that inspires me to come up with similarly helpful advice:

"Trouble with your lock? I be over with my Glock."     

"Bein' hectored? Get a German Shepherd!"      

"When we spot a jerk, we generally go berserk."      

"See a thief? Call the chief!"      

"Victim of an unsub? Well, we got self-protection clubs!"

          "When a student runs amok, we ride our armored truck!" 
       
          "Trouble in you class? We'll bring tear gas."

          "Always be prudent, frisk every student!

DISSENT! Contra anti-intellectualism

Kool-aid drinkers are often unaware of their complete and utter
pitcheresque Kool-aiditude. They become nasty enforcers of the sugary way.

Information?
     Sometimes, a student will ask me, “What’s the information we’ll have to know for the exam?”
     I really hate that word, “information.” It’s a small word for small things.
     The word has its place, I suppose. Perhaps you need a phone number. You call "information." Yeah.
     What students learn in a college classroom is not information. To have some notion of the fate of, say, teleology in Western history is anything but “info”! Neither is a grasp of the relevance of Locke’s liberal political ideas to, say, contemporary American politics. Information is small and ridiculous, but these things are rich and sprawling, like sagas and symphonies.
     But there are those who would reduce education to information bits and bytes.
     Philistines!

The inevitable forces of anti-intellectualism

Phyllis Schlafly

     The enemies of reason have a way of destroying the good slowly—incrementally and by degrees. Thus it is with education in America. It is endlessly under assault by the forces of anti-intellectualism: all those under-educated educationists, with their useless Ed.D. degrees, who have no conception of logic or evidence; and the business crowd with their notions of widgets and customers; —and the political crowd, especially on the right, who, unlike the others, actually wear their contempt for knowledge and learning on their sleeves.*
     I was trained as a philosopher, and, in any case, I tend to distrust how things strike us at the moment, for we tend to be blind to big and "obvious" problems. It’s amazing how we do that, over and over. Though few seem willing to say it aloud, it is big and obvious that the kind of lousy thinking that has long characterized K-12 reform has invaded higher education. For California's community college instructors, the chief episode of insurgency took the form of new accreditation standards, adopted in 2002, that assume that all educational goals (including what students learn in a particular course) can be captured in “measurable student learning outcomes” (SLOs).
     They can’t.
     At any rate, when the “outcomes” approach (to reviewing and improving education) was adopted by the ACCJC, the new standards were imposed sans evidential backing for the superiority of that approach. The State Academic Senate requested that such evidence be provided. The ACCJC provided nothing, since there was nothing to provide.
     And so, naturally, the “reform” went forward anyway. We’ve been banging our heads against walls and creating dubious “SLOs” ever since. It’s been, and it continues to be, a colossal waste of time and money. Imagine what we could be doing instead?
     I’m sick of it.

One more time
     I’ve been told that, by now, the appropriate studies have been conducted: meta-analytical investigations of comparisons between the “outcomes” approaches and more traditional approaches. And, unsurprisingly, the news is bad for the Kool-aid saturated “outcomes” crowd (not that they'll notice or care). So, once again, a shiny new idea has fogged our minds and busied the world and produced a spirit-sucking fiasco. And, hey, the fiasco continues!
     Here we stand: the strong case against the “outcomes” approach is even better today than in 2002, when the ACCJC rammed “outcomes” down everybody’s throats, amid howls of protest and demands for justification, ignored.

The ACCJC's Babs Beno

     Recently, I instigated and then helped write** a proposed resolution about all this, presented at the recent State Senate Plenary in San Francisco. Essentially, it demanded that the ACCJC provide evidence that its “outcomes” approach is superior to alternatives. Again, the State Senate had essentially done that back in 2002, in a series of resolutions.
     Despite early indications of support for the resolution, it was eventually voted down.
     I’m told that the resolution’s defeat may reflect, not rejection of the basic idea, but of details it contained, including its account of the state of the evidence re the efficacy of the “outcomes” approach. And so IVC’s Academic Senate is proceeding to compose a revised resolution.
     I’m glad. But even if we manage to get the new resolution adopted at the State Senate, it is unlikely that the move will do better this time than it did a dozen years ago. (Who knows.)
     But we’ve got to do something. Maybe we can generate interest in setting things aright.

Better to go along with OBE folly?
     Or no? At such times, there are those who will argue that dissent is pointless, that it is better simply to make the best of a bad situation. Despite the utter wrongheadedness and inefficiency of busying ourselves with the composition of endless silly SLOs, we need to find a way to make the goshdarn effort useful somehow.
     That’s not for me. I can’t help but think about the big picture. I don’t want to look back at this time, twenty years from now, and know that, when the enemies of reason showed up, we laid down our arms, saluted Babs Beno, and joined the march to mediocrity and ruin.

*At first, far right critics of education embraced Outcomes Based Education—probably because they liked the idea of demanding "outcomes." But then they got the notion that it was a cover for all sorts of dastardly worldly and New Age instruction. So they became its enemy.

**Well, I hastily wrote something, which was quickly and faithfully adapted by Senate officers to the resolution format. I take responsibility for any deficits of the resulting verbiage.

Widget production efficiency experts

Interesting articles about the ACCJC’s President, Babs Beno:

• ACCJC prez admits City College got unfair treatment (48 Hills, OCTOBER 28, 2014)

• The elusive Barbara Beno: The story of the person who is behind the move to shut down City College (48 Hills, DECEMBER 18, 2014)