Inside the School Coming Soon!

Welcome to Inside the School. Our site isn't quite ready for launch, but while you're waiting, here's a sample of the content you'll find every week.

In This Issue:

Reading for dollars: incentive programs and standardized test scores

By Diane Trim

Would your students read better if you gave them an MP3 player as a reward? Concert tickets? Cash or scholarships?

A May 2008 study from the Center for Research on Education Outcomes (CREDO) at Stanford University found that students' standardized reading test scores improved by 5 or 6 percentile points when a school has an incentive program attached to standardized testing.

"The results from this report provide reasons for optimism about the potential for reward systems," said Margaret Raymond, director of CREDO. "Incentive programs may not be a silver bullet, but they appear to be a brass one."

The study included 186 charter schools, of which 57% used an incentive system for rewarding student performance on achievement tests. Although the study found that students' reading scores improved, incentives had no effect on their math scores.

Pat Wyman, author of Learning vs. Testing, cautions against using incentives as a cure for low test scores. Learning to earn incentives doesn't address the critical need for the students to learn how to learn. The students' learning methods will be "haphazard at best, and once again, millions of children don't achieve, simply because we aren't teaching them how," Wyman said.

For school districts and teachers whose evaluations are strongly tied to their student's performance on standardized tests, incentives can seem like the answer to falling reading scores. Wyman wonders how long those test score gains can last without upping the ante from MP3 players to rewards that school districts can't afford.

"And what about the kids who want the incentives, but still don't know how to learn?" Wyman said. "All the incentives in the world can't take the place of the lifelong learning strategies a child needs to succeed."

To encourage student success in learning and on standardized tests, Wyman recommends that teachers evaluate students' learning styles. On her website, howtolearn.com, Wyman offers a free learning styles inventory for students, teachers, and parents.

Although students learn in many different ways, schools test in just one way: reading and writing. Once a student knows her learning style, succeeding on tests is a matter of learning and storing information in the way that best fits her learning style.

When a student knows how to learn effectively, that's motivation in itself, Wyman said. "Once this happens, everyone's happy and the kids feel better about themselves. Kids often measure their self-esteem by how well they do in school. When they use [learning strategies], they don't need high-end incentives to keep meeting the goals they set for themselves."

Math, science: measurement websites

By Diane Trim

Just how small is an amoeba? What is a picometer? How do I stack up to the Great Pyramids of Egypt? How far is it to the next galaxy?

According to the National Council of Teachers of Math, all students, k-12, need to make decisions about what units and methods are the best for measuring something. A unifying concept for high school science is the idea of change, constancy and measurement.

But when you talk to students about how small an atom really is or the breadth of the universe, they have a hard time visualizing just how small or large the scale really is.

Nikon has developed an interactive website, the Universcale, (http://www.nikon.com/about/feelnikon/universcale/index.htm), that places light years and femtometers (a quadrillionth of a meter) into perspective. The site features a bar at the bottom of the screen that lists the units of measurement from the smallest to the greatest. Above the measurement bar are silhouettes that illustrate an object that is commonly measured with each unit. Objects line up from least to greatest, with invisible quarks at the small end, the great pyramids in the middle, and the vastness of outer space at the far end. Humans are included on the scale, as are rabbits, fleas, and dust mites.

At each measurement stop (picometers, nanometers, centimeters, meters, kilometers) the site offers an explanation of what the measurement term means and what it commonly measures. Measurements are listed in scientific notation and a grid displays the relative grandeur of each object.

Another great site, though much simpler in design is SensibleUnits.com. Type in any unit of measure and the site will offer equivalent measurements in relatively common objects. Two centimeters is the same as the length 2.5 grains of basmati rice, lined up end to end, or the width of two CD cases, stacked. Ninety-seven feet is the same as the span of 22 moose antlers. For numbers over 1,000, the site will translate the number into scientific notation, but it does not accept it for entries.

When used together, the Nikon site and the Sensible Units site reveal some interesting results. According to Nikon, the Great Pyramid of King Khufu is 147 meters tall, or 1.3 American football fields, according to Sensible Units. The 15-meter Tyrannosaurus is the equivalent of 2.5 stretched out human intestines or 7.6 Kobe Bryants.

Both sites could be used, separately or in conjunction, to make math and science measurements more accessible.

Note Taking Strategies: fill-in-the blank outlines are best

By Diane Trim

I read Maryellen Weimer's excellent post about note taking on her Teaching Professor blog. In the post, Weimer discusses the merits of giving students complete lecture notes and giving students a notes outline for them to fill in.

Two researchers from Grand Valley State University gave one set of students the complete set of notes and the other one the outline.

The results are not surprising: students who filled in the notes processed the information and did better on tests and in the course overall than those who took the professor's notes home to study. Not only did the fill-in-the-blank bunch test better, but they also self-reported showing up to class more often.

The implications for classroom teachers are clear. Give your students a framework for the lecture and have them process the information in their own words.

The trouble arises when you have special needs students in the classroom who might not take notes well.

Before reading this research, my practice was to put the lecture outline on overheads and have a student recorder sit at the projector. The entire class would have the same notes and I could put photocopies of the transparencies in the special education teacher's mailbox.

With this research in mind, however, I don't think that's the best idea. For absent students, I would often give the designated note taker for the day a sheet of carbon paper, paperclips, and some blank paper. Of course, this method would work very well for special needs notetakers as well.

I would encourage special needs students to use symbols or create a quick doodle in the notes framework. Drawing a picture is a powerful memory device and, when supplemented with the carbon-copy notes, would be a great tool for special needs students.

If you have any thoughts on best note taking practices, please comment and share!