How Students Can Get the Education They Need

Singapore, with an entire population of six million, and the Success Academy charter school network of 17,000 students in 47 New York schools, produce outstanding academic achievement. In the latest results from the triennial test of 15-year-olds from around the world, Singapore scored top marks in math, reading, science, and a new collaborative test, according to the PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) conducted by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Students from Success charter schools score the highest marks on New York's standardized state tests,  despite the fact 76% come from low income households and 93% are not white.

     Before deciding, "Sure, small populations achieve academic excellence, but our country or State has millions of students to educate," consider the fact that these millions can be and are separated into classrooms. Some schools also group students into "houses," where teachers get to know their pupils while teaching them the same subject for two years  A bigger drawback is the assessment of teachers in large school districts, where they are unknown to those charged with evaluating them. A study at Peking University raises another question about the impact of pollution on testing days. Results on heavily polluted days reduced scores on verbal word recognition but not math tests, and toxic air seemed to have a greater impact on the scores of men rather than women. Yet, something can be learned from the testing and academic approaches in Singapore's and New York's Success charter schools.

Ideas from Singapore

• Students wear uniforms.
• Traditionally, teachers led classes and did not rely on students to learn for themselves, but now group work and teacher-pupil discussions also are used.
• Entire classes still progress through the same narrow and deep math curriculum. Struggling students receive compulsory extra sessions to help them keep up.
• After classes end at around 2 pm, students can go to a "Maker Space" to learn how to use modern technologies, such as 3D printing, stop-motion film production, or programming robots.'
• Students who said they did not play video games showed a better ability to effectively divide tasks and communicate well to resolve disagreements while solving unfamiliar problems in a teamwork test of ability to collaborate.
• By 2023, without giving exams, career guidance officials will help teachers prepare students for work with programs in computing, robotics, electronics, broadcast journalism, drama, sports, and other "real world" options.
• Reforms are guided by educational research and tested before deciding how to handle full-scale implementation.
• Programs will acquaint parents with career objectives that, in the future, may matter more than exam results.
• An exam still stresses students and parents who know high and low achievers are separated into different schools by age 12.
• There are no teacher unions.
• Classes with as many as 36 students and an excellent teacher are considered better than small classes with mediocre teachers.
• To develop and maintain excellent teachers, 100 hours of training in the latest teaching techniques are provided for teachers each year.
• Master teachers are designated to train their peers.
• Teachers receive rigorous annual performance assessments by supervisors who know them by name and evaluate them in relation to the social development and academic performance of their students.
• Teacher salaries are based on those earned by professionals in the private sector.

Reminder: Teachers interested is working with a classroom in another country can go to

                    ePals.com to find a connection.

Ideas from New York's Success charter schools:

• Students are called "scholars."
• Scholars dress in orange and blue solid and plaid uniforms.
• Halls are immaculate with scholar artwork displayed on the walls.
• A "golden plunger" award provides incentive to keep bathrooms clean.
• Multicolored carpets in elementary school classrooms are divided into rows of squares with a circle in each indicating where each child is to sit with hands still and eyes following whoever is speaking.
• Classrooms have white smartboards and bins of specially selected books.
• In timed segments, teachers provide instruction at the beginning of class. Students then work individually or in pairs (building something or working math problems, for example) and finish by sharing ideas with class.
• Laboratory science is required five days a week.
• Schools also teach sports, chess, and the arts.
•  Common courtesy, saying "please" and "thank you" and respecting peers and adults is required.
• A free curricula model is online.
• Parents are required to read to their children at home, supervise homework, keep reading logs, and respond to school communications in 24 hours.
• The schools are less successful in accommodating children who perform poorly or chronically misbehave, as well as those with disabilities and special learning needs.
• No transfer students are accepted to fill vacancies after fourth grade, when they are likely to be too far behind their classmates.
• Teachers receive constant observation and advice for improvement.
• Teachers are expected to know each child's reading, math, English language arts, and science level, goal, need for help and how it will be provided.
• Some teachers, designated as exemplars, receive extra pay and serve as models for others.
• Some teachers leave because of long hours and high stress to perform well.
• There are no teacher unions, bit teachers receive generous pay, benefits, and teacher training.
• Budget is funded by a combination of public and private philanthropic money.
• Director knows how to employ political advocacy.

What to do, if a child's school is not top notch: Look for community programs for children that are run by nonprofit organizations, churches, libraries, museums, colleges, athletic leagues, scouting, theatres, singing and dance groups, hospitals, businesses, police and firehouses. Don't be afraid to ask if there are scholarships and internships, because there probably are. 

Sleep Deprived Test Scores

When do students in Shanghai, Singapore, South Korea, and Japan take key standardized tests, such as those in the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA)? Of the 15-year-olds who took these tests in 65 countries, students in these four countries came out on top in the latest (Dec. 3, 2013) PISA. Could timing contribute to testing success?

     After a Friday night when high school students hang out with friends at football games and movies or stay up playing video games, my granddaughter was among classmates who had to turn up at her high school at 7:45 am on Saturday to take the standardized PSAT exam that determines National Merit Scholarships and has a big impact on which colleges students attend. A policy statement, published online by the Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics on August 25, 2014, challenges the timing of such an important test.

    According to the findings of the Academy's Adolescent Sleep Working Group and Committee on Adolescence and the Council on School Health, "making middle and high schoolers start classes before 8:30 am threatens children's health, safety, and academic performance." Lack of sleep contributes to a teen's risk of traffic accidents, depression, and obesity. Since biology determines a shift in a teenager's sleep-wake cycle, these students find it difficult, if not impossible, to go to sleep before 10:30 pm. Studies show the average teenager can't even fall asleep at 11 pm. (Incidentally, on the "Dr. Oz" television show October 21, 2014, a woman who couldn't fall asleep when she went to bed at 9 pm was advised to go to bed much later when she was really tired.)

     Based on these findings, the American Academy of Pediatrics called on school districts to move start times to 8:30 am or later so that teenagers who are getting six to seven hours of sleep a night can get at least 8 1/2 to 10 hours of sleep. Those who do get enough sleep do better academically, have better standardized test scores, and enjoy a better quality of life. Nonetheless, at present, research shows only about 15% of high schools begin at 8:30 am or later and 40% start before 8 am. But Stacy Simera, the outreach director for Start School Later Inc., reports "the number of schools opening later has grown exponentially," with positive results, such as those reported by researchers at the University of Minnesota. In the eight Minnesota high schools that began using later start times, grades, attendance, and punctuality all improved, and there was a 70% reduction in teen-aged auto accidents.

    Simera acknowledges that there are critics of starting high schools later who complain that parents can't get their students off to class that late because they have to leave earlier to get themselves to work. Then, there are the problems of school bus schedules that have to change two shifts that accommodate elementary and high schools, problems scheduling after-school activities, the needs of older siblings who need to get home before the younger ones they care for, and the time when after-school jobs begin. Sumera has found, however, that despite these concerns, schools have been able to adjust.

   Even if criticisms continue to block changes in some school week day schedules, they do not apply to important tests given on weekends. It would be worthwhile to see if beginning tests at a later start time could improve the lagging performance of U.S. students on the PISA. When administering tests of the new Common Core State Standards to teenagers in the United States, it also would be worthwhile to compare performances on tests that began at various times.