dagblog - Comments for "Better Schools Won’t Fix America"

But what about this part as

artappraiser — Thu, 20 Jun 2019 18:55:48 +0000

In reply to Better Schools Won’t Fix America

But what about this part as regards improving the economic class situation? I.E. the whole Head Start meme?

The lighting of a fire: The benefits of pre-schooling may extend for generations

An educational experiment on small children in the 1960s seems to be benefiting their families half a century later

@ The Economist, June 11

[....] Between 1962 and 1965, 128 African-American children from the Perry Elementary School district in Ypsilanti, Michigan were enrolled in an experiment. After being sorted into two groups with similar IQs, gender balance, and socio-economic backgrounds, a coin toss selected one of the groups to receive two-and-a-half hours of pre-school education each weekday for the two years before they entered primary school. They also received an hour-and-a-half of home visits a week from Perry Elementary teachers.

Since then, the participants have been repeatedly surveyed; most recently, most of them were interviewed at the age of 55. James Heckman and Ganesh Karapakula, economists, have examined the long-gathered results in two new papers, using techniques designed to factor in the experiment’s small size, flaws in the randomisation process and missing survey responses. The researchers found that the pre-schooled kids—and in particular the boys—have had considerably different lives as a result.

The pre-schooled group, they found, had about half the average number of violent felony convictions as the control group. Males in that group spent an average of 27 days in jail between the ages of 20 and 50 compared to 136 days for boys in the control group. They also had more success in employment, increased earnings in mid-adulthood and better health. Perry Pre-school Project boys are significantly more likely to have been in stable marital relationships. And the effects appear to persist across generations: the children of beneficiaries have fewer school suspensions, higher levels of education and employment and lower levels of criminal activity.

Another pre-school experiment that has been followed up over years, the Abecedarian Project in North Carolina [....]

Barack Obama recommends the

artappraiser — Thu, 20 Jun 2019 06:10:08 +0000

In reply to Better Schools Won’t Fix America

Barack Obama recommended the article on Twitter as a thought-provoker:

This is worth a read: a thought-provoking reminder that education reform isn’t a cure-all. As a supporter of education reform, I agree that fixing educational inequality requires doing more to address the broader, systemic sources of economic inequality. https://t.co/96B7fkBM4u
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) June 18, 2019

I found about that here, in this new WaPo analysis piece by Valerie Strauss:

A billionaire changes his mind about school reform and what kids really need — and Barack Obama has a surprising reaction

which is worth a gander if you are interested in topic as she also gets into Obama's past on topic and Hanauer's past ideas and influence. And she also notes some of the flak Obama's tweet got.

Let's see you splain these

artappraiser — Wed, 12 Jun 2019 00:58:44 +0000

In reply to I doubt it. While I agree

Let's see you splain these outliers, tho :

Lindsay Lohan implies she will “pray” for her former friend, Paris Hilton https://t.co/dqidbONOgC
— VANITY FAIR (@VanityFair) June 12, 2019

how about this one? Came up

artappraiser — Wed, 12 Jun 2019 00:27:57 +0000

In reply to I doubt it. While I agree

how about this one? Came up on google right after his op ed when I plugged in his sentence The lower your parents’ income, the lower your likely level of educational attainment. Period

Does money affect children’s outcomes? Kerris Cooper and Kitty Stewart 22nd Oct 2013 @ jfr.org.uk

excerpt, my underlining

[....] Summary

Evidence abounds that children in lower-income households do less well than their peers on many outcomes, including in health and education. But is money itself important, or do these associations reflect other household differences, such as parental education levels or attitudes toward parenting? This study reviewed the evidence, focusing on research investigating whether money is the cause of these differences in children’s outcomes.

Key points

This review identified 34 studies with strong evidence about whether money affects children’s outcomes. Children in lower-income families have worse cognitive, social-behavioural and health outcomes in part because they are poorer, not just because low income is correlated with other household and parental characteristics.

The evidence was strongest for cognitive development and school achievement, followed by social-behavioural development. Income also affects outcomes indirectly impacting on children, including maternal mental health, parenting and home environment.

The impact of increases in income on cognitive development appears roughly comparable with that of spending similar amounts on school or early education programmes. Increasing household income could substantially reduce differences in schooling outcomes, while also improving wider aspects of children’s well-being.

A given sum of money makes significantly more difference to children in low-income than better-off households (but still helps better-off children).

Money in early childhood makes most difference to cognitive outcomes, while in later childhood and adolescence it makes more difference to social and behavioural outcomes.

Longer-term poverty affects children’s outcomes more severely than short-term poverty.

Although many studies were from the US, the mechanisms through which money appears to affect children’s outcomes, including parental stress, anxiety and material deprivation, are equally relevant in the UK. [....]

The ideas have been around

Michael Wolraich — Tue, 11 Jun 2019 22:38:00 +0000

In reply to I doubt it. While I agree

The ideas have been around for a while, but I sense that they're becoming more mainstream. Maybe not so much on education specifically, but the problem of income inequality has received far more attention than it did even a few years ago. Rich people are starting to worry about it. Once-marginal "redistributionists" like Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren are now serious presidential candidates. Even Fox News demagogues are starting to incorporate income inequality into their spiel (in between xenophobic rants).

I doubt it. While I agree

ocean-kat — Tue, 11 Jun 2019 21:38:09 +0000

In reply to Fascinating. It sometimes

I doubt it. While I agree with Arta's post about this particular author this isn't new news. I've been following education news since the 80's when I considered a career in education. The one point I came across often and consistently in study after study is that the most reliable indicator of a child's education attainment was the parent's income. This was true across all income groups. Upper middle class children did better than lower middle class. Lower upper class children did better than upper middle class children.

We've know this for decades. The focus has always been on how education can lift some out of poverty and how we can use it to lift even more. All the while ignoring the elephant in the room. How poverty holds most poor children back despite the quality of their schools.

The main take away from this article for me was, " The scientific literature on this subject is robust, and the consensus overwhelming. The lower your parents’ income, the lower your likely level of educational attainment. Period." Unfortunately there was no link. I tried to find a link to more detailed information to support this point but, as usual, my search skills suck.

Fascinating. It sometimes

Michael Wolraich — Tue, 11 Jun 2019 20:44:28 +0000

In reply to wow, this is not just another

Fascinating. It sometimes feels as if we're moving toward a tipping point.

Follows the suggestion Dutch

rmrd0000 — Tue, 11 Jun 2019 16:38:44 +0000

In reply to Better Schools Won’t Fix America

Follows the suggestion Dutch historian Rutger Bregman gave at Davos

“It feels like I’m at a firefighters conference and no one’s allowed to speak about water, right?” Bregman said. “Just stop talking about philanthropy and start talking about taxes. … We can invite Bono once more, but we’ve got to be talking about taxes. That’s it. Taxes, taxes, taxes. All the rest is bullshit in my opinion.”

https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2019/1/30/18203911/davos-rutger-bregman-historian-taxes-philanthropy

Hey, more STEM & Charter

PeraclesPlease — Tue, 11 Jun 2019 11:26:42 +0000

In reply to Better Schools Won’t Fix America

Hey, more STEM & Charter schools - that'll fix it. Oh, and armed security guards.

wow, this is not just another

artappraiser — Tue, 11 Jun 2019 07:23:17 +0000

In reply to Better Schools Won’t Fix America

wow, this is not just another analyst blathering on topic, this a major recantation by an important true believer. And among other things, he's lecturing his fellow philanthropists about it