Wednesday, June 09, 2010

I'm Tired of this Crap

My comment on The All-New Hechinger Report's crappy little interactive analysis of grade level expectations in different states:

“How to use an adverb?”

  1. The standards you cite often do not address this specific point, for example in Connecticut “write three or more paragraphs, maintaining focus on a specific topic and using a variety of sentence beginnings, e.g., start with an adverb” is not the same thing at all.
  2. Given that Massachusetts — highest achievement — and Michigan — not so much — are the two states that don’t require this by your measure until sixth grade, what does that say about the importance of this issue, particularly in terms of grade level timing?
  3. Your wording of the prototype standard simply doesn’t reflect a sophisticated understanding of how humans learn to use language. You don’t have to know what an adverb is to use an adverb. If you ask a three year old about their trip to an amusement park and they say “The roller coaster went really fast!” then they know how to “use an adverb.”

You'll be shocked to learn that the Hechinger Institute is funded by Gates.

1 comment:

Jennifer Borgioli Binis said...

I am so there with you. Teachers across the country talk about the president beginning in Kindergarten. I saw it yesterday in morning circle. I think it's 5th grade when students study the executive branch in detail - that's a long stretch to learning who the president is. You get the sense that they had to scour the standards to find ones that made cool charts rather than providing useful information.