Monthly Archives: July 2011

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School District of Philadelphia Hosts Back to School Extravaganza

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On Friday August 5, Radio One and Forman Mills in partnership with the School District of Philadelphia will host a Back to School Education Extravaganza at South Philadelphia High School, 2101 S. Broad Street.

The event, featuring information tables, workshops and presentations to help prepare families for next school year, welcomes all families and community members to participate between the hours of 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Highlights of the extravaganza include, a “Kids Zone,” sponsored by the School District Talent Center featuring performances, face-painting, games and healthy activities for students, as well as a basketball clinic hosted by the Philadelphia 76ers in the gymnasium at 2 p.m.

The Education Extravaganza is just one element of Superintendent Arlene Ackerman’s ongoing parent engagement initiative, and is aimed at getting both parents and children ready for school. The first day for School District students in grades 1 through 12 is September 6, while kindergarten, pre-kindergarten Head Start and Bright Futures pupils will return to school on September 13.

For more information about the event, call 215-400-4180

redherring

School Choice a Red Herring?

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I saw this article back in May, but I just got around to writing something about it.  Mary Beth Hertz, the educator and highly respected blogger from the Philly Teacher blog wrote an article entitled “The Falsehood of School Choice” which argues that school choice should not be about public versus private versus charter, it’s should be about instructional models.  She outlines various models from her own experience and argues that there needs to be more diversity among those models, not simply more schools or funding for specific programs like charters or vouchers.

From a parent’s perspective, this is another way of looking at the school choice question.  Public, private or charter is an important question, especially when you fold in policy issues like school vouchers.  But regardless of your opinion on these political issues, the most important factor for most of us is identifying the best environment for our kids to learn.  Instructional models are a big part of it, but to me, overall school philosophy (for example, how a school manages conflict between students) plays an important role as well.  It all harkens back to one of my original school choice struggles–one of the most important criteria is degree of “fit”.  I wouldn’t limit the consideration of whether a school is a good fit on the school’s instructional models alone.  How the school executes on those models and its philosophy outside of the classroom is also, perhaps even equally, important.

 

 

language immersion

Why Language Immersion?

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This article is being reprinted with permission from CARLA: The Center for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition.  It originally appeared in the The ACIE Newsletter, February 2001, Vol. 4, No. 2

By Julie Sweitzer, Parent, Park Spanish Immersion School, St. Louis Park, Minnesota

The answer seems so obvious now, but six years ago the concept seemed too radical to consider seriously. Sending my baby off in the care of strangers and trusting them to teach her reading, writing, and arithmetic in English was difficult enough. Surely asking her to learn from people who spoke in a language neither she nor her parents understood was an unnecessary complication. Fortunately we decided to explore language immersion before rejecting it, and in doing so completely changed our minds, and our children’s futures. Now that we are in our fifth year (and second child) of immersion schooling, answering the question Why immersion? has become easy. At an American Council on Immersion Education (ACIE) workshop with other immersion parents, as well as in other conversations, I have learned that we all had similar reasons. Perhaps sharing my top seven reasons will encourage other parents to fully explore immersion for their children.

  1. Children of today will need to be bilingual to be successful in the global society and economy of their adulthood. Today two languages are useful – tomorrow they will be required, and a third language will be desired.
  2. Childhood is the best time to develop an appreciation and understanding of diverse cultures, peoples, and perspectives in the world. Preschoolers are aware of differences, but harmful prejudices develop during the elementary school ages. Consistent positive exposure and interaction are the best prevention.
  3. An optimal time to learn languages is prior to age twelve. Research on brain development in recent decades supports this claim, with wide discussion in the popular media. Our brains are wired to produce all sounds, but if we don’t learn to make certain sounds, we can lose that ability. (Some of us use this as a convenient excuse for our difficulty in learning another language as an adult, but it isn’t a barrier – just a reason to start young.)
  4. Children learn language by listening and repeating, and don’t have any fear of a “foreign” language. This was one of those clic! moments for me, when I realized that immersion teachers taught the immersion language in the very same manner children already learn English – by speaking and repeating in context. It is very natural for children. My children attended a university preschool where many of the children spoke a different language at home, yet even the newest children participated fully, understood, and quickly spoke in English. Again, there is research to support this concept, and schools recruiting students should make copies available, but it is a common-sense explanation as well.
  5. Academic skills are actually enhanced. Studies consistently show that immersion students do as well as or better than comparable non-immersion students in English language skills, math, science, and social studies. If you’ve studied another language, you know that those classes taught you much of what you know about English grammar. Increasingly, research has also demonstrated connections between math, music, and language skills.
  6. Children are guaranteed to be challenged. Immersion learning takes extra effort from children (and parents) in that reading and writing skills need to be practiced in two languages. I was surprised to learn that programming for gifted children can be difficult in the early years, when their minds work faster than their developed vocabulary in the new language. A successful immersion program provides both gifted and special education assistance to meet the needs of all students.
  7. Parents will be involved. In most districts, parents have to choose to send their child to an immersion school. I expected, and it is true, that the parent community would be supportive of the school, the children, and each other. Involved parents are one of the most critical elements of a successful educational program.

So how did we learn these things, and how can you share them with others? I went to an open house, before our school even existed. Copies of many research summaries were provided, and I read them all. I talked to parents in other immersion programs, who reinforced the research by confirming that their children’s skill levels were age-appropriate in all subjects. Most importantly, I watched the teachers who would be opening our school demonstrate a lesson in Spanish with a group of English-speaking kindergartners. The kids participated and responded, even with an audience. Those “strangers” to whom I was going to entrust my child were no longer strangers, and were obviously skilled. Suddenly it was clear what our decision would be. My heart followed where my head had led, and as Robert Frost first said in The Road Not Taken, “I took the road less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.”

For more information on language immersion, check out CARLA’s Language Immersion FAQ as well as articles on this blog related to language immersion programs in Philadelphia, including what Philadelphia area schools have language immersion programs.

Embattled Superintendent Arlene Ackerman

District No Confidence Editorial Rings True

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Embattled Superintendent Arlene Ackerman

An editorial in todays’ Inquirer entitled “The Ackerman Migration” sums up my concerns and a common set of sentiments I hear from readers all over the city.  Parents are looking for reasons to stay in the city, and some are even taking matters into their own hands to improve their schools.  Still, that is the exception.  Parents’ confidence in the School District of Philadelphia is plummeting.  I guess a year of test scandals, record high deficits, violence, layoffs, budget battles, and various scandals can do that.  The city has been squandering a golden opportunity in parents who love urban life.  And of course, it’s a vicious cycle–parents fleeing the city reduces the tax base, further squeezing school budgets.

cheating

Schools Cheating on Tests?

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My online chat a couple of weeks ago (transcript here) was dominated by people asking questions about schools and test scores.  I’ve said over and over again that parents should avoid putting too much weight on a schools standardized test scores.  Go back and read those posts for details, but to summarize, I believe that schools shouldn’t teach to the test and that test scores have been demonstrated to be a better measure of income level than school quality.

Now there is yet another reason to ignore test scores when making your school choice.  In many cases they might be fabricated.  Back in May, the Inquirer questioned whether a school was cheating.  The school district rejected those claims.  Then a 2009 report surfaced suggesting that dozens of public and charter schools cheated on the PSSAs, the state standardized test.  And now it looks like the state is launching an investigation and maybe even setting up a whistle blower hotline.  If you want to hear more on this scandal, check out coverage from The Notebook.

The stakes are high in the test score game, which is a big motive for cheating.  I am pretty sure that some cheating is going on, I’m just not sure how widespread it is.  I’ll let politicians and school administrators sort that out.  My recommendation now, as it always has been, is to file away test score information in your mind, but when you evaluate schools, do your own research.  Make sure that you don’t limit yourself to looking at just the hot and trendy schools.  It is amazing how much you are able to tell by visiting a school, talking to parents, talking to teachers and school officials.  At the very least, when evaluating test scores, PLEASE–compare schools with similar demographic makeups to one another.  There are even tools to help you do that kind of evaluation.