Daydream Believer . . .

States and school districts nationwide are moving to lengthen the day at struggling schools, spurred by grim test results suggesting that more than 10,000 schools are likely to be declared failing under federal law next year.

The article states that . . . Still others question the equity of moving toward a system where students at low-performing, often urban, schools get more teaching than students at other schools.

I really think that this is a good idea. Giving students more time to learn seems like a very good idea to me. I think that at first the students, parents, and teachers in the area might take a while to adjust to the new schedule, but things will get easier and eventually better for the group. Students will learn more and get more out of school, teachers will be praised for their students getting better scores on tests and learning more and parents will actually be able to be home for their students when they get home from work and school. Students being able to spend more time on their studies seems like a really good idea to me. The more time and practice you get or give to anything the better you are going to be at it. Schools is just the same if the teachers spend more time teaching their children than it seems that their students would start to learn more and do better all around in school. I think that if communities come together and work on getting this longer school day thing happening in their area that there students will be learning more and in turn having better lives. All in all this whole Idea that is sweeping the nation is really a great thing. Students seem to be achieving more and things are working better all around. Anything to give students a better education is good in my mind.

Whole article . . .Failing Schools See a Solution in Longer Day

I know that it might be hard to do but I think we, as a country need to try to work together and keep our schools on the same level. We need to follow the standards the government sets up for us to follow to the T. There should not be any teachers out there that don’t do their jobs and let their students achieve their high grade by doing less. Each and every student should have to work hard in order to get a good grade and they should meet the high standards that students in other classrooms and in other school and in other states are doing. Students in Michigan should be working on the same skills as those who are in California. I think that this is not happening right now and so there for we are running into these big problems. Some teachers may think that they are challenging their students but they really aren’t. There are a couple of different examples in theis article where students are reading the same material but when the teachers try to take it further and have the students apply what they have read to other things they have very different assignments in mind. This should really not be the case teachers should all be having their students equally challenged and working on possessing the same skills.
Another part of the article talked about grade point averages rising and basic skill knowledge lowering.

“The National Assessment of Educational Progress, an exam commonly known as the nation’s report card, found that the reading skills of 12th graders tested in 2005 were significantly worse than those of students in 1992, when a comparable test was first given, and essentially flat since students previously took the exam in 2002.”

“Just slapping new names on courses with weak curriculum and ill-prepared teachers won’t boost achievement,” Kati Haycock, the Education Trust’s president, said.”

I think that if all the teachers in the nation learn of the skills that they need to teach their students and are held accountable for teaching them than students would be excelling all over.

The article . . .Grades rise, but reading scores do not!

Should student be free to attend any school that they want? Yes. Should there be huge obstacles that they have to over come and get through in order to attend the school that they think is best for them? No. I really think that students should be able to go to any school that they want and get the best education that they can get. A while ago in New York City New Yorkers where given as choice as to where their children can attend school. They are now able to try to get their child in to any school that they like and think is best for their child. This is all very good in theory but most parents want there children to go to the best schools and so there for everyone wants to go to the same school and this makes getting into these wonderful school very competitive.

An example . . . “Forget the mad scrum over elite colleges. Liam Walsh, age 10, is in a frenzied battle for a sixth-grade seat in a Manhattan public school Since September, he has attended a dozen open houses, taken two admissions exams and skipped a third. He has written an essay, sat for a group interview and, he said, laughed quietly on a tour of a school in Greenwich Village that he considered not quite up to snuff. But Liam’s mother, Elana Seaman, a psychotherapist, said she found little funny about middle school admissions. “It has just been incredibly stressful and confusing,” she said. “I have seen a couple of mothers break down crying.”