What the U.S. can’t learn from Finland about ed reform

Finland’s high-achieving public school system is now part of the conversation about U.S. education reform these days. What, it is often asked, can we learn from Finland? (Plenty, actually, though U.S. reformers consistently ignore the lessons .) The query has been asked and answered so often that it seems like a good time to ask what the United States can’t learn from Finland. So I asked Pasi Sahlberg, author of “ Finnish Lessons: What Can the World Learn About Educational Change in Finland? ” to tackle the subject, which he does, below.

Autonomy to Perform

How Micromanaging Educators Stifles School Reform
http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2012/04/why-american-teachers-need-more-freedom/255543/#

Star Tests Are Right Around The Corner

http://unitedoptout.com/

Criticism of "Groupthink"

"A recent New Yorker article entitled "Groupthink" takes a fascinating look at the concept of brainstorming. According to author Jonah Lehrer, brainstorming was introduced in the late 1940s as a creativity-inducing practice by advertising guru Alex Osborn in his book Your Creative Power. The book was a surprise bestseller, and Osborn’s ideas about brainstorming, according to Lehrer, became "the most widely used creativity technique in the world." Whether in business, politics, entertainment, or education, group-thinking was and still is regarded as the ultimate path to ingenuity and productivity.

One small problem: Numerous studies over the years have demonstrated that brainstorming doesn’t work, at least not as Osborn defined it. Lehrer quotes Washington University psychologist Keith Sawyer: "Decades of research have consistently shown that brainstorming groups think of far fewer ideas than the same number of people who work alone and later pool their ideas."

Interested? Read on...
http://www.edweek.org/tm/articles/2012/04/11/fp_graham.html?tkn=ZOCCakkhq03ZAuvCrvLiOrcHbrdyXDSbevQX&cmp=clp-sb-ascd

A Change In The Wrong Direction?

“Little progress has been made in the proportion of middle and high schools that offer education on the prevention of HIV, many STDs, and pregnancy,” says study author Laura Kann, PhD. She is a researcher at the CDC in Atlanta. “We are heading in the wrong direction.”

Article:
http://teens.webmd.com/news/20120405/sex-ed-becoming-less-prevalent-grades-6-12

I'd Rather Take Out The Trash Than Do Math

"A new survey of middle school students published by Raytheon finds that there is a dramatic increase in the number of students who "hate" math (from one in 10 to one in five) between the 6th and 8th grades. The survey also reveals that 61 percent of middle schoolers would rather take out the trash than do math home work. On the bright side, only 20 percent would rather get a shot at the doctor's office."

Read on, people. Read on.
http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/teaching_now/2012/04/new_research_points_to_problems_for_math_teachers.html

Democratic Education in San Diego?

Sitting in a café on Adams Ave and see this posted on the wall:

Schools Are Prisons
http://leewaysudburyschool.org/

Ironically, I'm currently researching collaborative designs for learning with students.