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May 15, 2012

Searching for the reality of virtual schools

Filed under: online learning,technology — Tags: , — rstandrie @ 8:46 am

You’re probably reading this on a screen – whether a monitor, a phone, or a tablet – providing more evidence that digital content is ubiquitous. Likewise, its place in public education is not a matter of debate; it is inevitable. But school leaders and education policymakers do need to consider how to manage the influx of online learning opportunities in order to make sure students get their full benefit and not end up lost in cyberspace. The Center’s new report, “Searching for the reality of virtual schools,” examines what we do — and don’t — know about online learning in order to help do that.

We were prompted to create this report because K-12 online learning is growing so rapidly. Many players see opportunities in this burgeoning market and are pushing states and districts to expand their offerings of virtual courses and schools. They include the ed tech community; major education think tanks; school choice and home school advocates; and online learning providers, including several major software companies.

Yet there is little solid research on the impact of online courses or schools. In writing the report, we found a few examples of online learning having a positive effect, but most of what we were able to uncover is not encouraging–at least not yet. With the tremendous push occuring on behalf of online learning — it seems as if there is a new offering or piece of legislation every week — it’s time to step back and take a look at the data. Read the summary or the full report now in order to do that. – Rebecca St. Andrie





May 11, 2012

NAEP science: gaining ground, but a long way to go

Filed under: Data,Report Summary,science,Testing — Tags: , , — Patte Barth @ 11:59 am

Eighth-graders in 2011 did better in science than their counterparts did two years before. Scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) science assessment improved for every racial, ethnic and income group and achievement gaps are narrower. That’s the good news. But there’s still a long road ahead to proficiency, especially for Black, Latino and low-income middle-schoolers. 

NAEP overhauled the science assessment in 2009, so it’s not possible to compare current performance to tests administered before then. But between 2009 and 2011, overall scores increased 2 points which is pretty good for a relatively short period of time. However, while nearly two thirds (65 percent) performed at the basic level or better, only a third (32 percent) met proficiency. As Jim Hull argues in his paper on NAEP performance levels, “proficient” is an aspirational level and basic should not be interpreted as weak. Even so, we should aspire to have more than one third of students proficient.

The lion’s share of the gains were produced by traditionally under-performing groups of students. The proportion of Black and Hispanic eighth-graders moving from below basic to basic and better — 4 and 5 percentage points respectively — was greater than for their White classmates, who improved by 2 points.  Likewise, low-income students gained more than more affluent students, even though both groups did better. This is the pattern we hope for and is necessary to closing achievement gaps:  everyone improves and the low-performing groups improve the most.

But make no mistake, those gaps still loom large. Eighty percent of White eighth-graders scored at basic or above compared to 37 percent of Black and 48 percent of Hispanic students. This means that most Black and Hispanic students are not even at the basic level in science.  Low-income students are in a similar place.

So although we’re moving the right direction, we need to find ways to accelerate these gains. Fortunately, NAEP gives us some insights into what to do.  NAEP analysts found that eighth-graders who were assigned hands-on science activities at least once or twice weekly performed significantly higher than their classmates who did them once or twice a month or less.  Likewise, students who frequently collaborated on science projects did better than those who did so rarely or never.

You can find the full report and your state results here. – Patte Barth





May 7, 2012

Invest in technology that works

Filed under: 21st century education,Charter Schools,Dropouts,High school,instruction,online learning,technology — Tags: , — Jim Hull @ 11:24 am

Jay Mathews over at the Washington Post thinks that Online Courses May Make Graduation Too Easy. He may be right, he may be wrong, but as the Center’s report on credit recovery programs found, unfortunately, we just don’t know. There just isn’t any research out there to determine if providing online courses to students who are behind in the credits they need to graduate will improve their chances to earn a high school diploma. And right now, there is a push to expand such programs even though there is no evidence that they work.

The same can be said for other forms of online learning such as virtual charter schools. As the Center’s upcoming report on online learning will show, there is  little if any evidence that students are well served completing their education by sitting in front of a computer instead of inside a traditional classroom. While the rhetoric surrounding online learning sounds exciting and innovative, such as the prospect of students being able to work at their own pace or gaining “21st century skills,” we just don’t know if the actual impact matches the rhetoric.

One has to wonder: are students who have already fallen behind better served by working at their own pace? Will watching some lessons on a laptop create 21st century skills?

Policymakers should keep these questions in mind when considering expanding online learning in these times of extremely tight budgets. Certainly, technology can and should be used to enhance education. But blindly throwing money at anything technology-related is not the way to go in education, just as blindly investing in anything ‘dot com’ was not the way to go in the late 1990’s.

Policymakers should take a lesson from the irrational exuberance of the “dot com” craze and not go all-in in everything online learning. Instead, they should invest in those online learning tools that actually work. Doing so will both better serve students and taxpayers. – Jim Hull





May 3, 2012

Virginia Tech’s Math Emporium: Math in a mall

Filed under: instruction,online learning,school organization,technology — Tags: , — rstandrie @ 2:50 pm

As a graduate of Virginia Tech, I was interested in the Washington Post’s story on online learning in its Math Emporium. I think the story points out some of the characteristics we’re discovering about online learning through our research.

Briefly, the Emporium works like this: In a large, renovated department store inside a mall, computers and terminals are set up on tables. By each monitor, there is a red plastic cup students can place on top if they are having problems. Students do not go to a traditional class; instead, they choose when to come and work through math lessons. Most of the classes offered are entry-level or remedial classes that require practice and repetition in order to grasp the concepts. Teaching assistants staff the Emporium at all times to help those having problems.

I didn’t go to the Math Emporium myself. It was created after I took my necessary math classes, and I was on a different math track as well. But the reports have been positive, if mixed: passing rates are higher, yet there is persistent concern from parents and some students about the lack of professors or set lecture times. But I think some of the points raised in the article add some key discussion points to any discussion of online learning:

  • From the little we know, blended models of online learning may work best. There is some alarming evidence that strictly online learning can let some students fall through the cracks, but blended learning has more stable results.
  • Some classes might work better than others. This article notes, for instance, that classes that need a lot of practice and repetition seem to work well in the Emporium.
  • We know more about college than we do about K-12 online learning. For instance, the often-cited Department of Education study on online learning drew most of its conclusions about postsecondary online learning. It only found 5 studies that met its research criteria on K-12 learning. Drawing any sort of conclusions about the best way to deliver K-12 online learning is hampered by a lack of reliable research and data.

Stay tuned for the Center’s upcoming backgrounder on online learning, which will outline more about what we know — or don’t know — about online learning. –Rebecca St. Andrie

 





April 26, 2012

Excelling, yet unprepared

Filed under: college,Data,High school — rstandrie @ 3:49 pm

If you haven’t read Darryl Robinson’s opinion piece in The Washington Post, you should. His piece, “I went to some of D.C.’s better schools. I was still unprepared for college.” tells of his struggle in his first year at Georgetown University to go from simply reciting facts to analyzing and evaluating material.

“My former teachers,” he writes, “simply did not push me to think past a basic level, to apply concepts, to move beyond memorizing facts and figures….Since the third grade, my teachers told me I was exceptional, but they never pushed me to think for myself. And when I did excel, they didn’t trust I’d done the hard work. They assumed I was cheating. Now [at Georgetown]…I’ve had to work double-time just to keep up.”

 Robinson has made the leap. He’s gone to tutoring, to professors’ office hours, and is grasping the concepts he needs to succeed academically at Georgetown. But what about other students with less self-determination, or those who directly entered the work force? The Center for Public Education’s report Defining a 21st century education makes it clear: all students need the skills Robinson is acquiring, no matter what kind of career they’re going into. The report says:

“For success both on the job and in their personal lives, students must also better learn how to apply what they learn in those subjects to deal with real world challenges, rather than simply “reproduce” the information on tests….[Those who have] the ability to think critically about information, solve novel problems, communicate and collaborate, create new products and processes, and adapt to change—will be at an even greater advantage…Cognitive research suggests that [these skills] are highly dependent on deep content knowledge and cannot be taught in isolation.”

This argues strongly for high schools to offer a more rigorous curriculum, just as the Center’s research report “Is high school tough enough?” recommended. But another statement of Robinson’s concerns me: “Any high school administrator in Washington faces a problem similar to my professors at Georgetown: They’re stuck correcting the damage done before we got there.”

 To me, this argues for one thing: looking at data. Whatever a school district’s definition of success (and they should set their own), they need to look at not only how students do every year, but also at how well students make the transition to the next grade.

This is nowhere more crucial than at the traditional “finish line” of education: high school graduation. It’s great that high schools have higher graduation rates — it’s one of the many overlooked bright spots in public education — but high schools also need to look at how students are doing in college. (In fact, the Center for Public Education suggests several easy ways to do this over at our Data First site.)

You can’t read a story like Darryl Robinson’s without wanting him to succeed. Perhaps raising the bar a little earlier would ensure that his, and others’, K-12 success would mean a little more once they ventured outside the schoolroom doors. –Rebecca St. Andrie





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