2013年4月30日 星期二

Carnegie Perspectives

Some of the News Fit to Print
ABOUT HIGHER ED
COLLEGES ADAPT ONLINE COURSES TO EASE BURDEN
Nearly half of all undergraduates in the United States arrive on campus needing remedial work before they can begin regular credit-bearing classes. That early detour can be costly, leading many to drop out, often in heavy debt and with diminished prospects of finding a job. Meanwhile, shrinking state budgets have taken a heavy toll at public institutions, reducing the number of seats available in classes students must take to graduate. In California alone, higher education cuts have left hundreds of thousands of college students without access to classes they need. To address both problems and keep students on track to graduation, universities are beginning to experiment with adding the new “massive open online courses,” created to deliver elite college instruction to anyone with an Internet connection, to their offerings.  The article is in The New York Times.
DUKE FACULTY SAY NO
Duke University faculty members, frustrated with their administration and skeptical of the degrees to be awarded, have forced the institution to back out of a deal with nine other universities and 2U to create a pool of for-credit online classes for undergraduates.Duke’s Arts & Sciences Council, which represents faculty from Duke’s largest undergraduate college, voted 16-14 on Thursday against plans to grant credits to Duke students who would have taken online courses from the pool. The vote effectively killed Duke's participation in the effort, and it immediately withdrew. The article is in Inside Higher Ed.
TRADITIONAL WAYS UPENDED IN COLLEGE OF COMPETENCE
A new program, called College for America and created by Southern New Hampshire University, demolishes one of the most fundamental building blocks of college: course credit. Instead of requiring a graduate to complete a set number of courses, it asks students to master — at any pace — 120 “competencies.” These are concrete skills such as “can distinguish fact from opinion” or “can convey information by creating charts and graphs.” The article is in The Boston Globe.
ABOUT K-12
TURMOIL SWIRLING AROUND COMMON CORE STANDARDS
As public schools across the country transition to the new Common Core standards, which bring wholesale change to the way math and reading are taught in 45 states and the District, criticism of the approach is emerging from groups as divergent as the tea party and the teachers union.The standards, written by a group of states and embraced by the Obama administration, set common goals for reading, writing and math skills that students should develop from kindergarten through high school graduation. Although classroom curriculum is left to the states, the standards emphasize critical thinking and problem solving and encourage thinking deeply about fewer topics. The article is in The Washington Post.
THE NECESSITY OF PROVIDING ALL STUDENTS WITH A QUALITY EDUCATION
Former West Virginia Gov. Bob Wise writes for the Huffington Post: Students of color and Native students currently make up the majority of the student population in 12 states; 10 additional states are close behind. Currently, however, many students of color and Native students are being left behind. In all 50 states and the District of Columbia, students of color are, on average, 20 percentage points less likely to graduate from high school than their white peers. As these students become the majority and enter the increasingly globalized workforce, the nation must ensure they receive an education that prepares them to compete in the twenty-first century. These students' futures depend on it; and now, more than ever, the future of the U.S. economy depends on it.


ABOUT K-12
WANT TO BUILD A BETTER TEACHER EVALUATION? ASK A TEACHER
Ross Wiener and Kasia Lundy write: Reformers have invested massive financial resources and political capital in new teacher-evaluation systems, but early results show that these policies won’t lead to improvements on their own. To generate more effective teaching through evaluations, teachers, principals, and school system leaders need to embrace a culture of ongoing two-way feedback and a commitment to continuous improvement. Surveys are a critical component of well-designed continuous-improvement systems, which high-performing organizations inside and outside the education sector have adopted as a reliable, cost-effective means of gathering and valuing front-line perspective.  This commentary is in Education Week.
NO RICH CHILD LEFT BEHIND
Stanford’s Sean Reardon writes in The New York Times: Here’s a fact that may not surprise you: the children of the rich perform better in school, on average, than children from middle-class or poor families. Students growing up in richer families have better grades and higher standardized test scores, on average, than poorer students; they also have higher rates of participation in extracurricular activities and school leadership positions, higher graduation rates and higher rates of college enrollment and completion. Whether you think it deeply unjust, lamentable but inevitable, or obvious and unproblematic, this is hardly news.
The more we do to ensure that all children have similar cognitively stimulating early childhood experiences, the less we will have to worry about failing schools. This in turn will enable us to let our schools focus on teaching the skills — how to solve complex problems, how to think critically and how to collaborate — essential to a growing economy and a lively democracy.
EDUCATORS STILL DIVIDED ON ‘A NATION AT RISK’
"A Nation at Risk" recommended that each high school require four years of English, three years each of math, science and social studies, and at least two years of a foreign language for college-bound students. And while many educators thought the report was unnecessarily alarmist, governors did not. Bob Wise, a congressman from West Virginia in 1983 who later became governor, says the report came along "at a time when we were facing real global competition," he says. "We were seeing factories being shuttered. People were beginning to wake up to the fact that the world was changing around us. I did not think it was alarmist then. I don't think it's alarmist now." The piece ran on NPR’s All Things Considered.
INSTRUCTIONAL LEADERSHIP IS ABOUT QUALITY TIME, NOT QUANTITY
Principals set the tone for academic excellence in their schools, but researchers and policymakers are only just beginning to understand how their leadership affects student achievement. And for harried, time-crunched leaders nationwide, the results might be heartening: It's not quantity, but the quality of time spent on instructional leadership that makes the difference. Here amid the more than 14,500 researchers and educators at the American Educational Research Association conference in San Francisco, a more quantitative view of school leadership is coming into focus. In a meta-analysis of 79 unpublished studies and data sets, University of Alabama researcher Jingping Sun found three areas in which principals could spur student learning by improving teacher practices: through individualized support for teachers, modeling desirable instruction, and providing intellectual stimulation for teachers. The post is from Inside School Research in Education Week.
NEW HIGH SCHOOL PATHWAYS EMERGING
Drawing in part on the practices of other countries, states want pathways from school to industry to make high school more relevant; inform students of the options that await after they remove their caps and gowns; and, most importantly, engage youths in challenging courses that don't close the door to higher education. The article is in Education Week.
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PARENTS’ EDUCATION LEVEL IS WEAK PREDICTOR OF STUDENTS’ LEARNING HABITS
A parent's level of education is often thought to be one of the strongest predictors of a student's future success in college, but a new study upends much of this received wisdom. Parents' levels of education do not directly influence whether students demonstrate behaviors associated with deep learning, according to the study, "Exploring the Effect of Parental Education on College Students' Deep Approaches to Learning," by Amy K. Ribera, a research analyst for the Indiana University Center for Postsecondary Research. The study was scheduled to be presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association this past weekend, in San Francisco. The article is in The Chronicle of Higher Education.
OPEN ACCESS SPREADS
A bill in the California legislature would require state-funded research to be made public free of charge within a year of its publication. If it passes, the bill would create an open access policy for California's state-funded research similar to a policy announced earlier this year by the Obama administration. The federal policy, which is not yet finalized, would apply to most federally supported non-defense research. California is not the only state moving to make public the published research it helps to fund; Illinois is weighing a similar proposal. The article is in Inside Higher Ed.


ABOUT K-12
FIXING THE ‘OPPORTUNITY GAP’ TO CLOSE THE ACHIEVEMENT GAP
What would it really take to close the achievement gap? The answer, according to a cadre of education scholars who have just published a new book, is to fix the "opportunity gap" that exists between children born into middle class and affluent families and those who are not. Thirty years after the release of the seminal A Nation at Risk report ushered in an era of academic standards and standardized tests to measure how students were mastering those, "Closing the Opportunity Gap," argues that until federal and state governments, as well as local school districts, devote as much time and attention to making investments in broad access to quality preschool, health care, good teachers, and rich curricula as they have to driving up test scores and graduation rates, the academic gaps between upper and middle-class kids and their low-income peers will never disappear. The post is from Education Week’s Politics K-12 blog.
ACLU SUES CALIFORNIA OVER LACK OF ENGLISH INSTRUCTION
According to a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union in California, more than 20,000 students enrolled in schools around the state are not getting the level of English instruction they require. California schools are required by law to offer English instruction to those who don’t speak the language, but according to the district’s own records, more than 20,000 people don’t get the help to which they’re legally entitled. The ACLU alleges that this failure to provide language help is instrumental in keeping kids left back and results in low scores on exams that measure student proficiency. The article is from EducationNews.org.
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ONLY SOMETIMES FOR ONLINE
The wholesale replacement of community college curriculums with online courses might not be the best idea, according to new research from the Community College Research Center at Columbia University’s Teachers College. That’s because community college students prefer face-to-face courses over their online equivalents in certain subjects, the study found, particularly courses they consider difficult, interesting or important. The article is in Inside Higher Ed.
TECH TRAINING MAY PROVIDE FATTER PAYCHECKS THAN 4-YEAR COLLEGE DEGREE
When it comes to getting a job that pays good wages, students in Texas might get more bang for their buck by attending a technical, two-year program than they would by earning a four-year bachelor's degree, according to a report presented on Thursday to the state's Higher Education Coordinating Board. The report, which echoes findings released last year by Georgetown University's Center on Education and the Workforce, was prepared by College Measures, a partnership of two research and consulting groups, the American Institutes for Research, and Matrix Knowledge Group. The article is in The Chronicle of Higher Education.
AMBITIOUS UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA REQUIREMENTS COULD BACKFIRE
More California districts are requiring teens to take a course load that exceeds the state's minimum requirements -- the same courses required for admission to the University of California -- to graduate from high school. A new report says these ambitious requirements could backfire by making graduation too difficult for some students, and cause them to drop out or fail to earn diplomas after four years. The article is in the San Jose Mercury News.


ABOUT K-12
SURVEY TEACHERS, NOT JUST STUDENTS, ON EVALUATIONS
There's no question that teachers are unnerved, even suspicious, about the purpose behind the rapid proliferation of tougher new teacher evaluation systems. What's the best way to get them to value these evaluations, or at least not see them as punitive? A new report from the Aspen Institute offers one idea: Surveying teachers about whether the new systems are being used to support and strengthen their teaching.  The group reviewed the use of employee feedback by high-performing education systems, including Aspire Public Schools, which embrace surveys to gauge employee satisfaction with its organizational structure, as well as private-sector companies, including Apple and Mercedes-Benz. Both of these corporations value surveys as a tool to regularly gather feedback and implement changes. The post is from Education Week’s Teacher Beat blog.
STATE ED BOSS UNVEILS NEW ACCOUNTABILITY SYSTEM
Texas Education Commissioner Michael Williams unveiled plans for a new accountability system that still rates schools largely on student performance on standardized exams. The rating system will use four measures: student achievement, student progress, closing performance gap, and postsecondary readiness. All will use the State of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness, or STAAR, test.  The article is in the San Antonio Express-News.
ABOUT HIGHER ED
MOTIVATION AND STUDENT SUCCESS
Why did you decide to go to college? Asking that question of new students in a more formal way might help colleges find ways to encourage more students to complete their programs, according to a new study from University of Rochester education researchers published in The Journal of College Student Development. The study found that students motivated by a desire for autonomy and competence tended to earn higher grades and show a greater likelihood of persistence than did other students. The article is in Inside Higher Ed.
FLORIDA TO OPEN FIRST ONLY ONLINE PUBLIC UNIVERSITY IN THE U.S.
Public university students in Florida next year will be able to start working toward college degrees without actually going to college, under a law Governor Rick Scott signed on Monday in front of educators and business lobbyists. The state-run University of Florida plans to start a series of online bachelor's degree programs next year, with $15 million start-up funds for 2014. Until now full-time online education has just been available to elementary and high schools in the state. The article is in the Huffington Post.
PANEL CALLS FOR MORE TRANSPARENCY
WASHINGTON — The federal government should do more to ensure that prospective college students and their families get better and more timely information about what it takes to get into college and how to pay for it. That was the heart of a message delivered by a panel of experts Wednesday during a U.S. House subcommittee hearing titled “Keeping College Within Reach: Enhancing Transparency for Students, Families and Taxpayers.” The article is in Diverse Issues in Higher Education.
BROWN’S HIGHER ED PLAN FACES CRITICISM IN SACRAMENTO
Gov. Jerry Brown’s plan to link some extra state funding to how quickly state universities move students to graduation and to other performance measures faced criticism Wednesday at a legislative hearing. Several legislators and university officials said they feared that the plan unfairly forced campuses to chase unrealistic and arbitrary goals when the real problem remained the deep budget cuts schools suffered during the recession. The article is in the L.A. Times.
posted Apr 25, 2013 09:14 am

Carnegie Senior Fellow and Board Member Honored [In the News]


MIKE SMITH AND DAVID COHEN NAMED TO AMERICAN ACADEMY OF ARTS AND SCIENCES
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - Some of the world's most accomplished leaders from academia, business, public affairs, the humanities, and the arts have been elected members of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Among those elected this year is Marshall (Mike) S. Smith, Senior Fellow, Education Policy at the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, and David Cohen, a Carnegie Board member and John Dewey Collegiate Professor of Education, Professor of Education Policy, Professor of Public Policy, University of Michigan.
One of the nation’s most prestigious honorary societies, the Academy is also a leading center for independent policy research. Members contribute to Academy publications and studies of science and technology policy, energy and global security, social policy and American institutions, and the humanities, arts, and education.
“Election to the Academy honors individual accomplishment and calls upon members to serve the public good,” said Academy President Leslie C. Berlowitz. “We look forward to drawing on the knowledge and expertise of these distinguished men and women to advance solutions to the pressing policy challenges of the day.”
Members of the 2013 class include winners of the Nobel Prize; National Medal of Science; the Lasker Award; the Pulitzer and the Shaw prizes; the Fields Medal; MacArthur and Guggenheim fellowships; the Kennedy Center Honors; and Grammy, Emmy, Academy, and Tony awards. Carnegie President Anthony Bryk was a member of the 2011 class.


ABOUT K-12
A CRUCIAL FIRST YEAR FOR NEWLY MINTED TEACHERS
The first year of teaching provides vital clues to how a teacher is likely to do over the long haul, concludes a new paper from TNTP, a national alternative preparation program. The paper is based on data collected by the group during its first year under a revamped teacher-training curriculum. With some help from a federal Investing in Innovation (i3) grant, TNTP began to introduce a new model for its trainees in 2011-12. Under it, candidates are assessed during the course of their first year in the classroom and have to show that they're well on their way to being effective. (TNTP appears to be one of the first programs, traditional or alternative, that requires its candidates to meet this kind of bar during their first year on the job.) TNTP scores candidates based on student outcomes, classroom observations, principal ratings, and meeting program requirements such as competing courses. The post is from Education Week’s Teacher Beat blog.
'MARKET-ORIENTED' EDUCATION POLICIES FALL SHORT
A torrent of "market-oriented" policies meant to improve schools, including tying teacher evaluation to tests and promoting charter schools, have not lived up to the promises and hype surrounding them, a new report contends. Those policies and others favored by prominent policymakers today have instead been counterproductive and are "no match for the complex, poverty-related problems they seek to solve," the authors say. The report, "Market-Oriented Education Reforms' Rhetoric Trumps Reality," was released by the Broader, Bolder Approach to Education, an organization that sees poverty as a major factor in low student achievement, and one that is too often being discounted today. The post is from Education Week’s Marketplace K-12 blog.
LEGISLATOR’S GUIDE TO EDUCATOR EFFECTIVENESS POLICY
Of those factors influencing student achievement within a school, teacher effectiveness is the most significant. As the pace of education reform quickens, this guide for legislators offers a road map as they continue to support and improve educator effectiveness in the areas of: teacher and principal preparation; licensing, recruitment and retention; induction and mentoring; professional development; and educator evaluation. Each section features an overview of policy, lists questions legislators might ask about their own state's policy, offers policy options states are considering, then lists additional resources. Created by the National Conference of State Legislatures, the guide encourages legislators to approach teacher and principal policy within the same context, to consider policies within the larger career continuum rather than piece by piece, and to ask how a change in one area might affect another. This information is from Education Commission of the States.
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COMMUNITY COLLEGE ACCOUNTABILITY MEASURE STILL HOLDS POLICY-MAKING POTENTIAL
A tool being developed "by community colleges, for community colleges" to measure their effectiveness is still not ready, but its proponents hope wider adoption through its testing phase will give it influence in policy making. The sector decries existing metrics, particularly the federal Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System, known as IPEDS, for making community colleges look bad by not counting many of their students and much of their work. According to IPEDS, only 20 percent of students at community colleges graduate within three years, but that figure excludes part-time students and those who transfer, not to mention students pursuing career and technical education, for example, or a GED. The article is in The Chronicle of Higher Education.



ABOUT K-12
SYSTEMATIC SORTING: TEACHER CHARACTERISTICS AND CLASS ASSIGNMENTS
Although prior research has documented differences in the distribution of teacher characteristics across schools serving different student populations, few studies have examined the extent to which teacher sorting occurs within schools. A new study in the Sociology of Education uses data from one large urban school district and compares the class assignments of teachers who teach in the same grade and in the same school in a given year. The authors find that less experienced, minority, and female teachers are assigned classes with lower achieving students than are their more experienced, white, and male colleagues. Teachers who have held leadership positions and those who attended more competitive undergraduate institutions are also assigned higher achieving students. These patterns are found at both the elementary and middle/high school levels. The authors explore explanations for these patterns and discuss their implications for achievement gaps, teacher turnover, and the estimation of teacher value-added.
TEACHER GROUPS FAIL BILLS TIED TO NEW EVALUATIONS
While many states in recent years have started to change the way they evaluate teachers, Texas has largely avoided that controversy. But that is changing as lawmakers prepare to debate two bills, both of which would dramatically restructure the 15-year-old framework used by most school districts for teacher evaluations. The article is in the San Antonio Express-News.
ABOUT HIGHER ED
TWO GROUPS DESCRIBE EFFORTS TO PUSH COMMUNITY COLLEGE STUDENTS TOWARD DEGREE COMPLETION
Students who enter community colleges with vague goals and shaky academic backgrounds often end up stuck in remedial courses or embarking on "a meandering path through an overwhelming number of course options," according to a new breed of completion crusaders who are seeking to goose more students along the education pipeline. In presentations in San Francisco on Monday during the annual meeting of the American Association of Community Colleges, two groups that are heavily supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation described their efforts, working with state policy makers and higher-education associations, to create structured pathways to graduation. The article is in The Chronicle of Higher Education.
WHICH NEW IDEAS TO USE
SAN FRANCISCO -- Some community colleges are exploring ways to use massive open online courses and open educational resources in their curriculums, but plenty are skeptical. Those are among the findings of a new survey of distance education officials at community colleges, released here on Monday. The survey was conducted by the Instructional Technology Council and was released at the annual meeting of the American Association of Community Colleges. The council, an affiliate of the two-year-college association, conducts annual surveys on a range of distance education and technology issues at community colleges. This year's was the first to ask about MOOCs and open educational resources, free online resources that can be used in teaching. The article is in Inside Higher Ed.
COLLEGES ARE SLASHING ADJUNCTS’ HOURS TO SKIRT NEW RULES ON HEALTH INSURANCE ELIGIBILITY
Stark State, in North Canton, Ohio, is among a growing number of colleges that have limited the number of weekly hours part-time employees can work to keep them below the level at which employers are required to provide health insurance. Under the new law, which takes effect in January 2014, employees of large companies who work 30 hours or more a week must receive health benefits from their employers. Employers who violate the rule could be fined. Colleges in Ohio, Virginia, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania are among those that have acted in advance. The article is in The Chronicle of Higher Education.
MINERVA PROJECT OFFERS PRIZE TO INNOVATIVE EDUCATORS
The Minerva Project, the San Francisco-based "hybrid university" trying to appeal to top-tier students that plans to open in 2015, announced Monday that it has joined with a Nobel laureate to offer a $500,000 prize each year to a distinguished educator. Roger Kornberg, a Stanford University professor who won the 2006 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, is governor of the newly created Minerva Academy, which will award the prize. The prize is "designed to recognize extraordinary advancements in teaching excellence and impact" in higher education. The information is from Quick Takes in Inside Higher Ed.
BROWN WANTS TO TIE SOME FUNDING TO NEW PROPOSALS
SACRAMENTO — Gov. Jerry Brown wants to tie some state funding for California's public universities to a host of new requirements, including 10% increases in the number of transfer students from community colleges and the percentage of freshmen graduating within four years. The article is in the L.A. Times.

談一點台灣碩博士的量產

談一點台灣碩博士的量產

你可以想像一下,台大電機系所的老師一百數十位……
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前幾天有一則新聞,說新加坡的某人認為台灣的職員的學歷都太高了。換句話說,滿街都是高學歷的失業青年? 或是施政水準奇差的內閣 (我們等著馬”先生”解釋他的633是”百年大計”吧!)
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“……碩士論文主要探討"夥伴知識整合對新產品開發的影響"。若各位校友曾有產品開發或設計的相關經驗(不限產業或產品類型),懇請能點進下方網址替我填寫問卷,目前樣本數尚缺約100份左右。……”
這個碩士論文附”問卷調查”的玩意,是吾國數十幾年前的老把戲。現在還”雲端化”呢!
我20幾年前在某公司上班,每年就收到數十到近百封的這種問卷。(通常教秘書送進碎紙機……)

Isaac :謝謝回信.首先.畢業班以其畢業年為其級數.譬如說 我是1975級第17ie9. 所謂小班最後一屆1971進校20-1975年畢業近40.因為我系和我校曾是有點水準的. 當年工學院與成大的前30-40%同分. 不過我認為東海從我們這一屆開始沉淪---學校不幸個人可能幸運. 當年校長"可能被趕走" (我猜而已) 所以校長公館草坪是我們讀書會的地方.真興運. . 談談正事吧. "機會成本"是一重 要的考量因素.真有 你問卷要的經驗的人.肯定是企業中的重要資產. 他們的時間/attention 都是公司重要的資產. 我很懷疑這種人肯在網路回答陌生人的問卷的. 所以我認為這些論文多是經不起統計和"實際"檢驗的胡說八道--中外皆然. 不過我認為你可選幾家確實有此等實務之公司 深入研究. 如果你找不到這些. 奉勸你改題目啦. 或許寧可有真實的小學問. 不要大而不當或自欺欺人的問卷. 以上這些. 都只不過是一些個人的看法.請參考.

還有一項上文沒考慮的因素你問卷中所要的許多資訊如果告訴你說不定有洩露公司機密之虞聰明的或懂得保密紀律的人大概多難以啟口更不必談寫問卷了
615有紀念Herbert A. Simon的討論會我偶而會想為什麼他們在你這階段所問的問題以後都可以作為諾貝爾經濟學獎的著作之張本80年代曾寫信給M. Porter告訴他所用的國際成本分析等作法Philips公司的內部出版`品都有實例分析當然我得到一禮貌回信Porter 只是一傑出的產業經濟學家你如果有好老師說不定成就略同 我們在東海的時代學生素質不差可惜幾乎沒有好老師(學術上)

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約10年前,台大某博士好心送我他的博士論文。他的指導教授是台灣”大師級”的。
他問我有什麼意見,我笑說,你們的老師忙中出錯,抓了一張碩士口試的教授同意書讓各大師簽了名…..

2013年4月29日 星期一

反教育的教育官員應鳴鼓攻之: The Illusion of the ‘Gifted’ Child (By Andrew J. Rotherham )

wonk, made no bones about, talkathon

今天2013.4.30 台北市又要擴大資優班的招生,什麼英數等等科前百分之幾的學生可周末/周日大補習。
這些反教育的教育官員應鳴鼓攻之。

The Illusion of the ‘Gifted’ Child


When news broke late last week that behemoth education company Pearson had bungled the scoring of standardized tests used for admissions to gifted education programs in New York City, it united Gotham’s quarreling education community — everyone was outraged. Parents, teachers and city officials all had good reason to be, as the scoring errors would have denied admission to 2,700 students who qualified. But the incident also highlighted the arbitrary nature of how we decide which students are so superior academically that they are essentially funneled into an elite group of schools with a specialized, advanced curriculum.
For starters, what exactly makes a child “gifted”? In New York City, like many school districts, giftedness is decided by a standardized test that measures verbal and nonverbal facility. Score at the 90th percentile and you make the cut for some programs, but at the 97th percentile students become eligible for the highly competitive citywide options for gifted students. The problem isn’t the test, per se, it’s the false precision that comes with it. There is no consistent standard — some experts say the top 10%, some say the top few percent (in which case, most of the children whose parents think they are gifted are merely talented). In the case of New York City, does anyone seriously think that a student at the 96th percentile (or the 89th for that matter) might not benefit from gifted education programs, as well? Of course not. It’s the scarcity of seats, rather than any rigorous definition of merit that is driving these distinctions.
(MORE: Why Kids Should Learn Cursive)
Then there are the limits of standardized testing. We certainly should support students with high academic potential, but it’s hardly the only measure of human potential. Some school districts identify students with talents in the visual and performing arts, for instance, for various gifted programs. But in general, the measure for defining giftedness is narrow — and can be manipulated by access to test-prep programs.
Which is one example of why class and race also matter. Affluent parents have resources to help their children do better on tests. Low-income and minority students are substantially underrepresented in gifted programs. The more general problems of low school quality for poor and minority students likewise matter. A 2007 report from the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation found that 3.4 million high-performing low-income students are being overlooked by today’s policies. Not as exciting as occupying a park, but these are the real drivers of America’s lack of social mobility.
(MORE: Why Parenting Is More Important Than Schools)
So what can policymakers and school districts do to create better policies for gifted students? Here are three ideas:
1. Increase the options. In New York City and elsewhere, gifted programs often function as a school-choice strategy for making public schools more attractive. But demand clearly overwhelms supply. Students with different kinds of giftedness should be able to find schools that work for them, and giving parents more options does a lot more to get them invested in public education than an annual fight over a limited number of seats in coveted programs.
2. Level the playing field. Providing extra support for students from diverse backgrounds is essential. Programs aimed at students by race or income are suspect in today’s politics, but a high bar is only meaningful if all students have the chance to meet it.
3. Just make our schools better. Efforts to improve the quality of curriculum and instruction are good for everyone. So is expanding access to pre-K education. It’s no secret that too many American students aren’t challenged in school. While programs for truly exceptional students have a place, all kids would benefit from more enriching and rigorous educational experiences and more would be seen as “gifted” with a better educational experience at their back.
MORE: Highlighting Is a Waste of Time: The Best and Worst Learning Techniques

2013年4月24日 星期三

Earth Day: Recent Research on Sustainability (HBR)

22 Apr 2013  Research & Ideas

Earth Day: Recent Research on Sustainability

Earth Day helps us reflect on environmental issues that both sustain and threaten our planet. Harvard Business School researchers have approached these issues pragmatically, conducting numerous studies aimed at helping business leaders to understand how business affects the environment, and vice versa. Here is a sample of that work.
 
Earth DayRecent articles have looked at research into the history, efficacy, and social responsibility found at the intersection of business and the environment. Here is a sample of some of the latest work from the School.
How CEOs Sustain Higher-Ambition Goals
At a recent HBS conference, executives underscored the importance of employee engagement, contributing to the community, and creating sustainable environment strategies.
Harvard Business School at the Kumbh Mela
In this video report, Senior Lecturer John Macomber visits the Kumbh Mela in India to discover what such an undertaking can teach us about real estate, urbanization, sustainability, and infrastructure.
LEED-ing by Example
When a local government decides to pursue environmentally aware construction policies for its own buildings, the private sector follows suit, according to new research by Timothy Simcoe and Michael W. Toffel.
Funding the Design of Livable Cities
As a burgeoning global population migrates to the world's urban centers, it's crucial to design livable cities that function with scarce natural resources. John Macomber discusses the critical connection between real estate financing and innovative design in the built environment.
HBS Cases: Who Controls Water?
In a recent field study seminar, Professor Forest L. Reinhardt discussed the case "Woolf Farming & Processing," which illustrates how access to water—a basic building block of agriculture—is affected by everything from complex government-mandated requirements to a 3-inch endangered bait fish.
When Good Deeds Invite Bad Publicity
Many executives assume that investments in corporate social responsibility create public goodwill. But do they? Felix Oberholzer-Gee and colleagues find surprising results when it comes to oil spills.
Pay for Environmental Performance: The Effect of Incentive Provision on Carbon Emissions
Research has shown that reducing carbon emissions and exhibiting good environmental performance are important for corporations. But how exactly are these environmental goals carried out within organizations? Some answers lie in research by Robert G. Eccles, Ioannis Ioannou, Shelley Xin Li, and George Serafeim.
Power from Sunshine: A Business History of Solar Energy
This paper by Geoffrey Jones and Loubna Bouamane provides a business history of solar energy between the nineteenth century and the present day.
Reinforcing Regulatory Regimes: How States, Civil Society, and Codes of Conduct Promote Adherence to Global Labor Standards
Responding to regulatory and public pressure, many companies asked their suppliers to adhere to codes of conduct governing labor conditions and environmental management. Michael W. Toffel, Jodi L. Short, and Melissa Ouellet examine the conditions under which tens of thousands of suppliers across many countries are more likely to adhere to the labor practices these codes of conduct call for.
Technology Choice and Capacity Portfolios Under Emissions Regulation
What technologies should firms invest in when emissions are costly? With the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme in the EU, California's Assembly Bill 32, the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative in the northeastern US, and now Australia's Clean Energy Bill, more and more firms are having to ask themselves that question when planning their capacity portfolios. David Drake, Paul R. Kleindorfer, and Luk N. Van Wassenhove study the impact of emissions tax and emissions cap-and-trade regulation on a firm's long-run technology choice and capacity decisions.

一些史學研究環境的觀察(徐少華 武漢大學歷史學院教授)



苦難中求突破--我的學思歷程
徐少華(武漢大學歷史學院教授)口述,蔡佩玲(臺灣大學歷史系博士生)整理
武漢大學歷史學院徐少華教授應邀於2011年9-12月在本系擔任客座教授,開設「楚文化探索」、「先秦南方民族與文化概論」二門課程。徐老師在離臺前,特別接受本系專訪,分享他的求學與治學經驗,發人深省。
.(詳全文< font size="2">)(本文原刊載於《臺大歷史系學術通訊》第13期




經過了反覆考慮,決定在2011年9月(100學年度第1學期)來臺大歷史系任教。這學期裡,和臺大的師生有一些交流,也看到了兩岸之間同行的差異和互補。
在臺灣待了四個月,感覺臺灣整體的發展和生活水準比大陸領先一、二十年,如師資、老師和學生的待遇、軟硬體設施、社會保障等。臺灣學界做研究的人數比大陸 少,但環境條件較好,也較開放,與國際的聯繫多,國際化趨勢比較明顯。我剛到海外時,看到不少知名學者多是早年從臺灣過去的,引領著整個華人世界的主流, 他們對兩岸中國上古史學研究做出了很多貢獻,如張光直先生、許倬雲先生等,為兩岸培養了不少學者,並引進西方一些進步的方法。大陸近三十年來追趕的腳步比 較快,大約還要一、二十年的發展,兩岸的學術研究水準當會比較接近。
臺大的老師很多都有海外的學歷或經歷,是很好的事。臺大身為臺灣第一學府,設備條件比武漢大學、甚至許多大陸大學都要好,這對臺大老師在教學、研究等方面 都有很多助益。臺大學生也是如此,學習的條件比起大陸很多學生要好一些,視野比較開闊,適應社會的能力也比較強,這可能與學生們參與老師的研究計畫、教學 助理有一定關係。大陸目前在文科方面還不能做到這點,尤其老師們的海外經歷相對較少,但這幾年逐漸改變,到海外訪學的機會和經費越來越多,學生們亦是。
徐少華老師於臺大歷史系演講「春秋時期漢淮地區青銅器分期與墓葬斷代概述」
▲徐少華老師於臺大歷史系演講「春秋時期漢淮地區青銅器分期與墓葬斷代概述」
(2011年12月27日攝於臺大歷史系會議室)
臺大的學生在視野和訊息量上雖比大陸的學生略勝一籌,但每個人還是要有自己專心的領域,因為每個人的精力有限,要在自己的領域做出好成果,需要比較堅實的 基礎。我們比起老師那一輩,做研究的難度更高,因為研究的人比較多,更需要總結前人的成果;而且資料太多,關注點更加廣泛。一個學者要有創新,必須在某個 領域做得精深,沒有長期的專注和積累不容易有深的見解。以我自己為例,我研究上古中國南方,尤其是長江中游地區的考古、歷史地理和文化,三十年來從不敢懈 怠,包括逢年過節,沒有一時敢放鬆;即使親朋好友來訪,結束後也立刻回到書房,唯恐打亂我的思路,忽略了哪個方面。當然其中有我的興趣,也有學術責任感。 我的老師總是說,學術是一輩子的事,不能三心二意,否則永遠做不出像樣的成績。同時還要注意海內外學術的發展,並妥善利用現有的研究成果和研究方法。現在 很多人希望在短期內有成果,但要做出比較大、比較好的成果,需要長期的累積,才可能有較大的創新與突破。
我這次在臺大,感覺臺大確實有一批學生相當優秀,基礎好,很用功,思想又比較成熟;但在大陸,學生和老師的交流似乎比較多一些,包含文章的討論和修改,學 生時常和老師討論論文,這對一位學生成為學者有相當大的幫助。臺灣的一些大學,重視研究的量化,對於培養學生沒有明顯的著墨;有些學校的老師過於注重自己 的研究,對培養學生沒有太多的投入。在大陸不少學校也有類似的狀況。
在課程方面,臺大在中國考古、上古文明和原典導讀上需要更多的規劃和安排。大陸學界一般認為,研究先秦兩漢史地如果不注重考古材料,不熟悉文獻典籍,比較 不利;同時現在每年都有許多考古新發現,如果沒有充分的鑒別、判斷能力,跟著考古簡報和報告走,當然也不行。早些年有一批從大陸來臺的學者在古代史領域有 相當大的貢獻,雖然我沒有向他們問學請益的機會,但時常讀他們的文章,像傅斯年、李濟、董作賓、陳槃、勞榦、嚴耕望等老先生,他們也培養出一批知名的學 者,如張光直、許倬雲、邢義田諸先生,都是我所敬仰的前輩大師。就我坐井觀天地看臺大,中古以下發展得比較好,而上古方面相對欠缺,可能不僅臺大如此,臺 灣其他學校也面臨同樣問題。一方面是學生興趣的問題,因為牽涉到日後的就業;同時研究上古史要學文獻、考古,甲骨、金文、簡帛等都要懂一些,使許多學生望 而生畏。
現在兩岸交流頻繁,來往很方便,要看資料不是太困難,如有新材料出土,這裡的同行隨時都可以看到;加上前輩學者留下的豐厚精神遺產和學術積累,以及臺灣有 利的軟硬體條件,絕對能有出色的成就。臺灣與大陸沒有語言障礙,也沒有文化、宗教差異,研究中華上古文明不盡量接觸新材料,不時地感受、領略,難免有落伍 和閉門造車之嫌。只要兩岸師生共同協作,提升學生的學習興趣和研究能力,我覺得十年八年就可以改變目前臺灣上古史學生和老師相對缺乏的問題。
這幾年,在大陸雖然讀到碩、博士的人較多,但比例還是相對較低,政府提供相當多補助,對博士生的培養基本上是全額資助,而臺灣的學生反而沒有這樣的優勢。 當然,對臺灣的學生來說,進行各種助學活動鍛鍊比較多,但壓力相對大,讀書時間長了些,容易拖得精疲力盡,而且在成家立業方面有些實際困難。大陸的學生畢 業較快,但急於求成,追求短、平、快,碩士兩年、博士三年未免太快了,碩士讀三年、博士四到五年是比較合理的。因為讀書時間太少,學術研究的基礎不夠紮 實,將來出不了好成果;時間太長,又面臨經濟壓力、求職成家等一系列問題。兩岸在這些方面都有進一步調整、提升的空間,使整體人才培養機制向更貼近學術規 律和社會現實的方面快速發展。

從 三位美國的"中號人物" 談些"教育"

Ben Stein 和Lillian Smith和 Jill Elikann Barad 三位美國的"中號人物"

每一本舊《讀者文摘》的作者群似可詳細介紹
1997年7月號的第一二篇都是名家之作.
本文只簡單介紹三位美國的"中號人物"



上周末我記了朋友去主持公費留學面試。三位主考官似乎都中意一位準備周密的,他要去哈佛大學讀某PROGRAM。我知道他已經有一個碩士了,就說,似乎應給留學的新鮮人。
朋友又說另外候選人很聰明,……只是還不太有把握,而也不太確定是否要走應考的這門專業。我說這沒什麼關係的……
或許我比較像第二位,所以會同情不那樣處心積慮要贏的人,雖然我的成績沒他們那樣好…..
1997.7讀者文摘意林》有Jill Elikann Barad (當時芭比娃娃產品公司的總裁)的簡歷和說法: 什麼都去試試才要緊。匯集了種種經驗,你自然視野廣闊。

Mattel Inc. and CEO Jill Elikann Barad, one of only two women to head a Fortune 500 company, will succeed John Amerman as chairman of ...
----


讀者文摘為父首要職責(Ben Stein)1997.7,兒女愛依偎我們的那幾年,流逝得快如飛箭--。文中的tommy,是他收養的 。
Ben Stein 是兩任總統的文膽

Ben Stein - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Stein - Cached
Benjamin Jeremy "Ben" Stein (born November 25, 1944) is an American actor, writer, lawyer, and commentator on political and economic issues. He attained ...
CBS的評論方式。 評論者是位名人Ben Stein,我無法接受他的創造論.

若號筒吹的音調不準確,誰還準備作戰呢﹖
同樣,你們若不用舌頭說出明晰的話, 人怎能明白你說的是什麼﹖那麼,你們就是向空氣說話。
誰也知道世界上有很多語言,但沒有一種是沒有意義的。
假使我不明白那語言的意義,那說話的人必以我為蠻夷,我也以那說話的人為蠻夷。

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_93c4LHWi4




*****




「教育是自我與浩瀚學海之間的私事,與學院生涯關係不大。」---讀者文摘1997.7,第25

我從網路找出它的原文發現其翻譯尚可不盡理想

Education is a private matter between the person and the world of knowledge and experience, and has little to do with school or college.
Lillian Smith


When you stop learning, stop listening, stop looking and asking questions, always new questions, then it is time to die.
Lillian Smith

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lillian_Smith_%28author%29
Lillian Eugenia Smith (December 12, 1897 – September 28, 1966) was a writer and social critic of the Southern United States, known best for her best-selling novel Strange Fruit (1944).
1919. She returned home and helped her parents manage a hotel and taught in two mountain schools before accepting a position to be director of music at a Methodist school for girls in Huzhou, (now Wuxing, Zhejiang), China. She was not a churchgoer and did not consider herself religious.
這所學校應該是東吳大學吳興附中 (美國衛理公會

2013年4月21日 星期日

Special Report: Educating Americans for the 21st Century (Smithsonian Magazine)


 

Read more: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/specialreports/educating-americans-for-the-21st-century#ixzz2R7c7t75F
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