British schools also struggle with ‘the basics’

This blog typically focuses on US schooling but this article from the London Telegraph is a good reminder that education is a tough endeavor everywhere:

Companies are being forced to give teenagers remedial lessons in literacy and numeracy because they leave school with such a poor grasp of the three Rs.

Half of employers said some teenagers were “unable to function in the workplace” claiming they cannot make simple calculations in their heads, speak in an articulate manner or understand written instructions.

In a critical report published today, the Confederation of British Industry says that an obsession with iPods, mobile phones and the internet has boosted the computing skills of the “Generation Text”.

But the improvements have come at the expense of the three Rs as many struggle to read and write properly, it claims.

DC-area school district seeks to eliminate “gifted student” label

The Washington Post reports:

Officials [in Montgomery County, Maryland schools]plan to abandon a decades-old policy that sorts second-grade students… into those who are gifted… and those who are not. Several other school systems in the region identify children in the same manner. But Montgomery education leaders have decided that the practice is arbitrary and unfair.

Two-fifths of Montgomery students are considered gifted on the basis of aptitude tests, schoolwork, expert opinion and parents’ wishes. Officials say the approach slights the rest of the students who are not so labeled. White and Asian American students are twice as likely as blacks and Hispanics to be identified as gifted.

School system leaders say losing the label won’t change gifted instruction, because it is open to all students. But this is Montgomery, where schools are known more for SAT composites than football records and where most, if not all, children are thought by parents to be above average. To some parents, any whiff of retreat from a tangible commitment to gifted education is cause for concern.

Impact of poverty on brain development similar to that of stroke, study finds

(Cross-posted with my Cognitive Science Blog)

Science Daily reports:

 

In a study recently accepted for publication in the Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, scientists at UC Berkeley’s Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute and the School of Public Health report that normal 9- and 10-year-olds differing only in socioeconomic status have detectable differences in the response of their prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain that is critical for problem solving and creativity.

“Kids from lower socioeconomic levels show brain physiology patterns similar to someone who actually had damage in the frontal lobe as an adult,” said Robert Knight, director of the institute and a UC Berkeley professor of psychology. “We found that kids are more likely to have a low response if they have low socioeconomic status, though not everyone who is poor has low frontal lobe response.”

 

US students’ math, science scores a mixed bag, new study finds

USA Today reports:

For the first time since 2003, the results of the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study, or TIMSS, a battery of international math and science tests among dozens of nations, are out — and they paint a somewhat mixed picture of achievement: On the one hand, the USA ranks consistently above international averages in both subjects.

On the other hand, several nations consistently outscore our fourth- and eighth-graders, with a few countries turning in eye-popping performances.

And while our students’ math scores have risen, science scores have virtually stagnated since the mid-1990s — even as educators and policymakers have pushed for greater investments in science and engineering.

Dishonesty among today’s students

From the AP, via ABC News:

In the past year, 30 percent of U.S. high school students have stolen from a store and 64 percent have cheated on a test, according to a new, large-scale survey suggesting that Americans are too apathetic about ethical standards.

Educators reacting to the findings questioned any suggestion that today’s young people are less honest than previous generations, but several agreed that intensified pressures are prompting many students to cut corners.

“The competition is greater, the pressures on kids have increased dramatically,” said Mel Riddle of the National Association of Secondary School Principals. “They have opportunities their predecessors didn’t have (to cheat). The temptation is greater.”