Archive for January, 2008
National History Day
January 30th, 2008
My son participated in his first local National History Day competition. It turns out that his performance team will be progressing to the city competition. I had told them that they need to set realistic goals for city. After all, this will be their first time and they’ll be going up against teams that have been doing this since seventh grade. Furthermore, I was expecting every high school in the city to be sending two teams so the odds really didn’t look to good.
I just found out from the coordinator that only eight teams entered in the senior performance category last year. GreatSchools lists over 130 high schools for San Antonio. Of course, a good many of these are small private schools, specialty charter schools, or some sort of other limited focus school. But still, you would think there would be more than eight entries. I guess I was expecting something around 30. Needless to say, eight was a shock.
Maybe they have a lot more in the other categories. I hope so. I figured that every student in a history class would have to enter the school history fair–I had to in my history classes in high school. Are they not requiring them to enter anymore and if so, why?
Randolph-Macon College
January 26th, 2008
Randolph-Macon College is a small liberal arts of less than 1,200 students just north of Richmond, Virginia. The college has two programs that I find appealing. It has a First-Year Experience that goes beyond freshman seminars. Undergraduate research appears to be prominent with it’s Schapiro Undergraduate Research Fellowship. And for those who ranking is important, its ranking in US News and World Report suggests that it may be an under-rated or undiscovered education value. It’s ranked 122 over all in its Liberal Arts Colleges list but is 176th in selectivity.
- Four Year Graduation Rate: 52.2%
- Median SAT: 1095
- $18,433 expenditures per student
- 78.4% Admitted
- 86% Students living on campus
Over a third of the students participate in nationally based sororities and fraternities. The importance of Greek life comes across in the Princeton Review’s student comments. And while the campus hasn’t reported any liquor or drug violations, drinking appears to be a major recreational focus. Randolph-Macon makes the Princeton Review’s top twenty lists in “Lots of Beer Parties,” “Major Frat and Sorority Scene Parties,” and “Party Schools Parties.” This where it would be nice to know more about how other schools ranked on these lists other than the top twenty. For all we know, it may be little different than number 50 or dramatically different than number 21. Having attended a school that regularly made the party school rankings, I know that it’s possible for such a label to have very little effect on your individual experience. However, given it’s small size, it’s something I would want to check out very carefully.
While student’s comments don’t say anything specifically about the academic rigor of the classes, the college states that “since 1920, when statistics were first kept, a higher percentage of Randolph-Macon graduates have gone on to earn PhDs than that of any independent college in the state of Virginia.” I suspect this is a school worth looking into if you are interested in a liberal arts education but don’t have the scores to get into one of the more selective schools. I would just be wary of it’s drinking reputation.
R-MC :: What is the First-Year Experience?
As a new student, you’ll explore these kinds of connections through your First-Year Experience (FYE). You’ll join a small group of other students and two professors from different disciplines for a yearlong exploration of a topic in a challenging and interesting set of FYE classes. Outside the classroom, you’ll attend co-curricular events such as plays and public lectures designed to deepen your understanding of the topic. The work will culminate in an interdisciplinary analysis that might take the form of a written report, a video production, or a work of art. And through FYE you’ll make solid connections with those who share your exploration, including the faculty members, one of whom will serve as your academic advisor.
FYE Topics
The Drug Trade
Disciplines: Chemistry and SociologyWhat is Life?
Disciplines: Biology and Computer ScienceBiopolitics
Disciplines: Biology, Political ScienceWine, Science, and Society
Disciplines: Literature, ChemistryIn God’s Good Time
Disciplines: Religious Studies, Physics
Why R-MC: Undergraduate Research?
Randolph-Macon College views students as colleagues through their summer research opportunities that take them out of the classroom for a total summer immersion program.
Like professional scientists and scholars, Randolph-Macon students have to apply to the SURF program by writing a proposal and request for grant money to fund their research. If their project is accepted, they receive a stipend of $3,000 and free housing. In addition, funds are available for supplies and travel.
Technorati Tags: Randolph-Macon College, College Rankings, College Search, Liberal Arts Colleges
College Admissions Selectivity Equals Quality?
January 25th, 2008
The Princeton Review is one the sites I’ve been frequenting in my search for colleges that might accept my son and that he might accept. One interesting feature is its list of rankings.
The New 2008 “Best 366 Colleges” Rankings on The Princeton Review
We’ve created 62 rankings lists across 8 categories, based on feedback from more than 120,000 students across the nation. Enjoy!
I don’t know how statistically valid these lists are or what actually separates the number one school from the number 20 school from the number 100 school. But if there is anything to these lists at all, you’ve got to wonder what’s the attraction of the super selective schools in the country. If a school makes the top twenty “Toughest to Get Into,” you would think they would make multiple appearances on the various education quality lists. Not necessarily so.
The other “education quality lists” I’m talking about are:
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Professors Get High Marks
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Their Students Never Stop Studying
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Professors Make Themselves Accessible
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Class Discussions Encouraged
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Students Happy with Financial Aid
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Schools Runs Like Butter
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Best Classroom Experience
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Happiest Students
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Best Quality of Life
Six of the toughest schools to get into don’t make it onto any of the lists: Columbia, University of Pennsylvania, Duke, Dartmouth College, Cooper Union, and Georgetown. Harvard, MIT, Yale, and Brown only make it onto one additional list. The schools that appear the most on the other lists are Middlebury College, five categories, and Princeton, Stanford, and Pomona in four categories.
So which schools appeared in the most categories? Thomas Aquinas College and Wabash with seven appearances each. Not exactly household names. Hendrix and Ursinus College make the Best Classroom Experience. Simon’s Rock College of Bard, Centre College, and Sewanee-University of the South are in the “Professors Get High Marks” category. A total of 87 colleges appear on these nine lists. That’s a lot more than the 20 “Toughest to Get Into.” Of course, many of these colleges could be ranked in the top 30 or 40 on the “Toughest to Get Into” so it may not be that big of a deal. But without any way to judge the difference between those on the list and those that didn’t make it, it’s hard to reach a conclusion about the value of the top twenty.
I understand why the Princeton Review didn’t want to rank all 366 colleges on the list. Any college that appears at the bottom of the list would unfairly receive a “negative” rating even if there really isn’t that much difference between those at the top and those at the bottom. However, if you’re going to evaluate colleges based on their placement on these lists, it seems to me that you should seriously be considering factors other than just selectivity when looking for a quality college.
Technorati Tags: College Admissions, College Rankings, College Selectivity, Princeton Review
Education Expert, Homeschooling, and Socialization
January 24th, 2008
The San Antonio Express News published a very positive article on homeschooling. The best part was that when they presented the obligatory “expert” view on homeschooling who you expected to give the standard “problems with socialization” spiel, you got this instead:
MySA.com: Our Point Of View: On Motherhood and Parenting in San Antonio
Experts say the idea that you have to go to public school to be truly socialized is bizarre.
“That’s a very tortured definition of socialization,” says Terry Osborn, professor and chair of the Graduate School of Education at Fordham University. “The idea of a homogenous grouping of 25 to 30 children who sit at their desks all day long and do activities — to call that socialization is tortured. You and I don’t live and function in that kind of environment.”
Thank you Melissa Fletcher Stoeltje for finding an “education authority” that doesn’t think homeschoolers are missing out on socialization.
Technorati Tags: Homeschooling, Positive Homeschooling Report, Homeschool Socialization, Melissa Fletcher Stoeltje, positive homeschooling reporting
So who’s going to stop them?
January 23rd, 2008
Star-Telegram.com: | 01/19/2008 | Evolution’s status may be debated by state board
The state’s public school curriculum, called Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills, says students must learn “the theory of biological evolution.” Section 3A of the biology curriculum states that students must use critical thinking to make informed decisions, including analyzing a theory’s “strengths and weaknesses.”
“They do not cover the weaknesses of evolution,” said Don McLeroy, chairman of the state board, of the state’s science textbooks. “They present evolution as an absolute fact.”
McLeroy, an outspoken creationist, said he doesn’t want changes in the state’s biology standards. But some say that doesn’t mean that creationism or intelligent design, both held by the U.S. Supreme Court to be religious theories that are barred from the classroom, won’t seep into Texas’ curriculum.
Just think, with the decision of the majority of the Texas SBOE to reject a textbook for reasons other than failing to meet basic state curriculum requirements, McLeroy now doesn’t even have to bother with the analyzing the “strengths and weaknesses” rule to reject textbooks that teach evolution. Before, the Board would have to go through the motions of documenting that the textbook didn’t demonstrate the weaknesses of evolution in order to reject the book. The Board could have demanded the publishers to include so many “weaknesses” in the textbook so as to make the evolution section appear a travesty of unscientific reasoning.
But now, McLeroy and friends won’t even have to bother. They believe they can just decide to reject a book for any reason. Their decision to reject the math textbook sets the precedent for the upcoming selection of biology textbooks. Unless Attorney General Greg Abbott steps in now to stop the board, he will find it very difficult to do so in the future. He avoided having to explicitly define the Board’s authority in 2006. It seems to me, that the Board is calling him out to make him actually block Board action in rejecting a textbook. Will he do it? I guess it all depends who is funding his next run for higher office.
Technorati Tags: Texas State Board of Education, Texas SBOE, Don McLeroy, textbook approval, evolution, Terri Leo , Greg Abbott
If they’re allowed to do whatever they want, then they didn’t break the law
January 19th, 2008
More on the Texas SBOE’s rejection of a third grade math book. Now the majority has voted to strike the minority reports from the official record of the board’s minutes. It seems that while our San Antonio representative couldn’t bring himself to vote on the original matter, he has joined the majority in censoring the minority.
“This is about the credibility of this board, and I will challenge anyone here who tries to challenge my credibility,” said Rick Agosto, a Democrat from San Antonio who had abstained in the November vote over whether to reject the math book.
If he didn’t vote, how could this be about his “credibility?” If he had bothered to vote for approving the textbook to begin with (which meets all state requirements) this wouldn’t be an issue at all, now would it? What’s the deal, he’s afraid the board wouldn’t elect him as an officer again? Does he really believe that the board has the right to reject textbooks based on personal beliefs even if they meet all state requirements? No wonder he’s worried about his credibility.
Because they don’t like it
January 17th, 2008
The state Board of Education’s unusual decision to reject a math textbook used by Dallas and 70 other Texas school districts has evolved into a power struggle over the approval of classroom materials used across the state.
At issue is whether the 15-member state board can reject any book it wants for any reason it wants. That’s what some conservative board members, led by board president Don McLeroy, say they are allowed to do.
So much for local control.
In Dallas, officials rolled out Everyday Mathematics books in kindergarten through sixth grade at 19 schools with low math scores during the 2000-01 school year. By the end of the year, only two of those schools still had low scores; a year later, none of them did, said Camille Malone, DISD’s director of mathematics.
The district now uses the book to teach the nearly 79,000 students in kindergarten through fifth grade at all elementary schools. Ms. Malone said games and hands-on examples help the students develop computation skills.
“The TAKS test is a test of concepts as well as skills,” she said. “Had we not had a conceptually based program, I’m not sure we would have had the achievement we have had on TAKS.”
So because some board members are more interested in establishing the authority of their beliefs, Dallas can not use a textbook that it believes has been instrumental in improving it’s math scores.
Terri Leo’s comments have to be among the most pathetic.
Ms. Leo said. “I object very much being taken to task for rejecting a book that I actually read.”
Apparently it doesn’t matter to her that the textbook was recommended by a review committee, the TEA commissioner, and probably several textbook committees at various districts not to mention the teachers who have been using the textbook in the classroom for a couple years. Shouldn’t they be the ones “objecting” rather than Leo?
I’m pretty sure this is just a continuation of Leo’s attempt for the SBOE to regain absolute control of textbook selection which suffered a major setback in the fall of 2006. Why now? Because biology textbooks are coming up for approval soon. And if the board “establishes” it’s right to reject textbooks for any reason, then the board can easily reject books that fail to “teach the controversy” regarding evolution.
BTW, Terri Leo is up for re-election this year. Unfortunately, the Democrats don’t have a candidate in the race. However, the Libertarian candidate is Brian Kuzma. Why should seven board members get to decide on textbooks for every district in Texas based solely on their personal preferences?
Technorati Tags: Texas State Board of Education, Don McLeroy, Teri Leo, textbook selection
You can teach creationism as long as it’s quality creationism
January 16th, 2008
The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board said Tuesday that it will wait until April to decide whether the Institute for Creation Research can offer an online master’s degree in science education. The board was supposed to take up the issue next week.
In November, a team of educators and coordinating board officials visited the institute’s graduate school in Dallas and concluded that it offered a standard science education curriculum. In December, an advisory council recommended that the board approve the institute’s application.
So what does this mean? The team that visited the program said that is was “a standard science education curriculum.” So why is the board delaying? What has the board found out since then to suggest that it might not be teaching at a graduate level? If so, why didn’t the original advisory council indicate the problem before?
Maybe the board is hoping that the Institute will not be able to meet its “graduate level” standard. That way they can reject the application without rejecting creationism and avoid offending those who believe that creationism should be taught as a scientific alternative to evolution. I can just see it now, “oh no, we didn’t reject the program because of the content but because the content wasn’t at the graduate level!”
As we start to put evolution disclaimer stickers on our biology textbooks, we might want to consider some other stickers suggested by Colin Purrington as well.
Technorati Tags: Evolution, Creationism, Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, Institute for Creation Research, Master’s Degree in Science Education
Start checking your kindergartner’s credit report
January 15th, 2008
A new database will be collecting kindergartner’s social security numbers.
The new database for kindergarten test scores also includes sections for children’s names, Social Security numbers, dates of birth, gender, school identification numbers and parents’ names and addresses, educators say.
For some odd reason, some people are disturbed by this.
“As adults you don’t even put your Social Security card in your wallet,” said Mr. Lukert, an officer with the Texas Elementary Principals and Supervisors Association. “And yet here we are required to give that information out. It doesn’t make sense.”
Basically, TEA is telling everyone to just “trust us.”
“It’s quite amazing the security that OZ has in place for this information,” said Susan Landry, director of the UT group, known as the State Center for Early Childhood Development. “You are overemphasizing the Social Security number.”
So the Social Security number isn’t that big of a deal? Then why use it all?
Pearson Educational Measurement officials, who develop or administer standardized tests in Texas and 22 other states, say they use ID numbers to link students to their test data.
“I don’t think in the testing side of it that we ever encounter Social Security numbers,” said David Hakensen, vice president of public relations.
I suspect that parents aren’t required to provide Social Security numbers unless maybe they’re receiving some sort of direct federal aid such as free lunch. I could be totally wrong here.
However, I went to my local school district website to see what documents would be needed to enroll my child and it said:
Back To School : Northside Independent School District – San Antonio, TX 78238
Child’s Social Security Number (if available)
Furthermore, the TEA PEIMS Data Standards makes it sound like Social Security numbers aren’t required either.
Identification – the information necessary to identify the person. This information is Social Security number or state-approved alternative student ID and student name. It is requested for all students.
Notice, it says “requested.” So how many schools request the information and parents provide it assuming that it’s required?
While part of the issue is trust, another part is “why do you need the data?” Do they need it because they want to link it to other data that is based on social security data? Or do they want it just because it will be easier than generating their own id system? And if they can’t tell us, what does that do to the trust factor?
Technorati Tags: Texas Education, Social Security Numbers, TEA, Texas Education Agency, OZ Systems, State Center for Early Childhood Development, Susan Landry
Albion College
January 11th, 2008
From my basic list of liberal arts colleges
I love Albion’s “Prospective Student” page. It starts with “do you believe that your first 18 years of life can be accurately and completely reflected in one admissions applications?” Well, of course not which is why you should visit Albion. Like most small, liberal arts colleges, it’s faculty gets high marks for quality and interaction. It appears to have some interesting academic programs and has a high percentage of students going to graduate school or med school after graduation.
The Princeton Review has Albion ranked as number ten in terms of Least Happy Students which may have something to do with being number seven in More to Do on Campus. If the students are as sheltered suburbanites as suggested, it could explain why they might not find the small town of Albion very entertaining. About a third of students are part of the Greek community and comments on StudentsReview suggest that the campus is very clique-ish. Given the nature of small schools, it’s probably a good idea to make sure Albion’s social scene will work for you.
- Four Year Graduation Rate: 66.9%
- Median SAT: 1125
- 15,035 expenditures per student
- 81.9% Admitted
- Princeton Review reports 38% going to graduate school and 15% to medical school
- US News and World Reports lists an endowment of $174,464,242
The Good:
There appears to be a lot of social activities on campus and there is very little on campus crime reported. The college has made a commitment to academic excellence in its First Year Program and numerous academic opportunities.
The Coffee House is a nonprofit student organization which provides Albion College and the Albion community with social space in the hopes of fostering greater social and intellectual exchange. The Coffee House serves the entire gamut of Coffee House fare–espresso, cappuccino, hot chocolate, mochas, soda, etc.–and provides frequent entertainment and lively discussion. Furthermore, the Coffee House provides student volunteers with the opportunity to manage a small business first hand.
Albion College First-Year Experience
William Atwell Brown, Jr., and Mary Brown Vacin First-Year Experience (FYE)
The FYE program will enable you to make a smooth and positive transition to Albion College. Through the program you will be introduced to the liberal arts tradition and the rigors of academic excellence. The FYE program will help you establish habits of mind and patterns of decision-making that will ensure achieving optimal success throughout your four years here. We think you’ll find the First-Year Experience will meet you where you are and take you where you want to go.
Albion College First-Year Experience
Digital Portfolios
Your Digital Portfolio, which provides a detailed summary highlighting your academic and extracurricular experiences.
Albion College Foundation for Undergraduate Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity
The Foundation for Undergraduate Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity (FURSCA) was established to promote and support student research, original scholarship and creative efforts in all disciplines. Through a number of programs, taking place at all points in a student’s career at Albion, FURSCA can help students pursue independent study in their areas of interest. Students work closely with a faculty mentor to develop and carry out research or other creative projects
Flags:
Albion’s budget cuts are coming after being highlighted by the Wall Street Journal for it’s questionable statistics in alumni donations.
At 7 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 12, a meeting was held between faculty committee chairs and Board of Trustee members to discuss a recent proposal by the board to cut four tenure-track faculty members to help reduce the college’s deficit.
…
Next year, the school will assume additional operating expenses of about $1.2 million. VanAken said that the largest piece of this is $850,000 in depreciation for the science complex. To help make up for these new expenses, VanAken and the administration have the goal of recruiting 525 first-year students, 45 more than this year’s 480. The extra students would increase the college’s enrollment closer to last year’s 1,950 students. Looking at enrollment a few years ahead, the college will need to recruit classes to replace the class of 2008 that came in with 559 students and the class of 2009 that came in with 571 students, an important thing to be noted, according to VanAken.
Albion
College, 90 miles west of Detroit in Albion, Mich., used this tactic to increase its alumni giving rate beginning in 2003, when it reaped an artificial increase of 1.4 percentage points, to 51.6%. The college boasted of the rate in a grant application; ultimately, it was awarded the $4.65 million in funds. Albion President Peter Mitchell says the school stopped using this method for the class of 2007 and that the giving rate was just “one arrow in the quiver” for the grant.
Albion stats called into question
On March 2, Albion received attention on the national level, serving as the featured school in a “Wall Street Journal” article. Many students and faculty were dismayed to find, however, the attention was not positive.The article, entitled “To Boost Donor Numbers, Colleges Adopt New Tricks,” addressed how several colleges calculate their alumni-giving rate. Albion was used to illustrate all of the practices called into question in the article, which included limited effort to find alumni that do not have current contact information on file and the practice of considering senior gifts as multi-year donations.
I also have some concerns about the strength of its liberal arts program. I know that Albion has several programs that are design to integrate the liberal arts into management, medicine, and administration but given its five most popular majors, I would look into the emphasis of the academic programs very carefully.
USNews.com: America’s Best Colleges 2008: Albion College: Academics
Albion: 20% economics, 13% biology/biological sciences, 12% psychology, 11% English language and literature, 10% history
St. Olaf: 11% biology/biological sciences, 8% English language and literature, 6% economics, 6% mathematics, 6% psychology
College of Wooster: 10% history, 9% psychology, 8% English language and literature, 8% communication studies/speech communication and rhetoric, 8% political science and government
Kalamazoo: 24% social sciences, 13% psychology, 10% English language and literature/letters, 9% biological and biomedical sciences, 9% physical sciences
Wabash: 14% history, 13% psychology, 12% English language and literature, 11% philosophy and religious studies, 10% biology/biological sciences
College Navigator – Albion College
Majors in Business, management, marketing, and related support services 41%
