Journal 9

"Is It Time for a National Student Tracking System?" Point/Counterpoint May 2007
Bill Gates recently called for a Center for State Education Data to compile information on student achievement. This article questions whether a national system to track academic progress is feasible considering differences in SES and varying curriculum standards across the U.S. Two viewpoints are presented:
YES (June Atkinson) - Atkinson says that although some people view this as an educational issue, in North Carolina they view this type of data access as an economic issue. She supports her viewpoint by stating that the cost to educate each student in the last 30 years has increased by 240% but the student achievement levels remain about the same. "The problem is not with our educators. It is with the system in which they work." She claims that the ultimate goal is not only simply tracking students but much more broad than that. A project in her area called the NC Education Insight Project aims at making informed decisions using data analysis about programs that will prepare students properly for the future. They also include relevant employment data in two areas that are experiencing drastic shortages, teaching and nursing. The goal is to "determine which policy initiatives show the best evidence of increasing student achievement, optimize performance in each system and enhance operational efficiency statewide". She also notes that security and privacy are key concerns. The questions that her project seeks to answer include: Are their students academically prepared to enter colleges in other states? How do their teachers perform in other states? What happens to their students when they leave the state (dropouts)?
NO (Ruth Reynard) - She states that tracking is only helpful as a way to access information for placing students. "Educational success is complex to track when done well...we end up marginalizing more students than we help." In her viewpoint, there are many variables that effect learning progress like SES, age, gender, race, language, etc. She emphasizes the stress that is put on teachers to perform well on standardized tests, saying that's not necessarily the only measure of learning available. This, in her opinion, marginalizes students with different learning styles. She also gives examples of some other measures of learning like projects, papers, presentations, portfolios, etc. "If test results are the only way in which learning is tracked for administrative purposes, then nothing is known about the actual learning taking place".

1. Where do I stand? I kind of see Atkinson's point but I definitely stand in favor of Reynard with NO national student tracking system.
2. Why? I simply don't see the benefit and I believe it only leads to teaching to the test (as many of us do). As someone who can say that I get nervous during tests and don't necessarily perform as well as I should, tests aren't the only way to measure progress. In fact, I think that tests are one of the worst ways to measure progress. Memorize and spit back information, do you really remember anything?

Journal 8

"Virtual Schooling" by Niki Davis and Dale Niederhauser
The presence of virtual schooling(VS)in K-12 education is growing at a rapid rate. This article reports that about 1/3 of public school districts had students enrolled in "distance education courses" during the 2002-03 school year (approximately 300,000 students). The projected population of online enrollment for the year 2006 is one million. The authors explain that students choose virtual schooling for many reasons including: to personalize schooling, as a response to NCLB, if the course was otherwise unavailable, to gain access to AP options or as a credit recovery option. One example of a benefit of VS is that students in Florida and Louisiana during hurricane Katrina were able to stay educated online. In fact in April 2006, Michigan became the first state to require VS experience for graduation.
The virtual school functions through e-mail, videoconferencing and a learning management system (like our webCT). There is a on-site facilitator at each school and an instructional technology coordinator to aid the teacher-student interaction. One example of a success story lies with former Iowa Teacher of the Year Gail Wortman. She developed an exemplary online course for anatomy and physiology students which included: complete webCT program, videoconferencing several times a week, self-study with the text and formal science labs at a regional location.
This article points out that educational teamwork is crucial for high quality VS. The three core roles are teacher, designer and VS site facilitator. The VS teacher must have great communication and classroom organization skills (as would be expected). They must also be able to use a wide variety of communication tools comfortably. It is also important that the teacher-student communication does not develop into overdependence. The administrators are responsible for allocation of resources, program coordination and maintenance. They are also responsible for recruitment and quality assurance of the courses. VS site facilitators take on the most important role of the program. They are considered both a site coordinator and coach and are crucial in relaying information. They are the advocates for the VS system.

1. What do I think about virtual schooling in general? I think it's a good option in cases where students are able to take courses not available to them (the article mentioned science) but I certainly don't think it should be a total replacement of regular schooling. Kids learn important social lessons in school as well and I don't think they should be isolated from others in their peer groups.
2. Would I like to be a VS teacher? At this point I wouldn't feel comfortable being a VS teacher. Not only because of my technology skill level but also because I place great importance on one-to-one, face-to-face interaction.