Obama Testing Effect?

Researchers think that Obama's election and inauguration could have boosted black achievement in test taking:

"Now researchers have documented what they call an Obama effect, showing that a performance gap between African-Americans and whites on a 20-question test administered before Mr. Obama’s nomination all but disappeared when the exam was administered after his acceptance speech and again after the presidential election."

What could account for increased scores for African-American test takers?

"The inspiring role model that Mr. Obama projected helped blacks overcome anxieties about racial stereotypes that had been shown, in earlier research, to lower the test-taking proficiency of African-Americans, the researchers conclude in a report summarizing their results."

Hey, Savannah elected a black guy for mayor--shouldn't there have been a tiny bump after that?

To Stop Kids From Whining, Treat Them Like Dogs

There was an article the other day from the Savannah Morning News staff therapist (and believe me if things keep going like they are, the SMN folks are going to need more therapists on staff) about how to get kids to stop whining. Whining is a learned behavior:

"Whining is a learned behavior that tends to happen when children are bored or overwhelmed. At the toddler stage, children do not have the vocabulary to express their feelings, so whining may become their way of communicating."

Yes, whining is a learned behavior but it is not learned in a vacuum. Whining doesn't just tend to happen. Kids learn that whining is a winning strategy to get what they want when its richly rewarded by the only people who can grow it or eliminate it--the parents. Coincidentally, if there is a whiny kid in the house, chances are, if the family has a pet, there is bad puppy running around too. Whiny kids and bad puppies are a deadly combination that generally lead to all kinds of social unrest that unravels marital bonds rapidly and often times ends up with both the kid and the dog (and maybe a spouse) being dropped off of a bridge somewhere in the marsh.

Maybe that's an exaggeration, but if it is, its a small one. The SMN therapist suggests a few things to help with the whining:

--Establish no-whining rules. Before leaving the house, parents can discuss what behaviors they expect and establish rules while out in public.

This is a good suggestion. It applies to the parents more than the kid though. Both parents need to be on the same page about what their expectations are before they step foot out of their house. Its definitely doesn't help a toddler to learn how to cope with dissatisfaction and not getting immediate gratification when the parents can't do it either. If there is a puppy involved--one of you is going to have to be the pack leader. Dogs don't do well with co-leaders. They don't get the whole division of labor thing and could care less who makes the most money or whose turn it is to do the dishes. Puppies fully expect one parent to end up on the floor on their back exposing their neck to the other and will happily follow the winner. Failing a pack leader fight, the puppy will usually fall in line with the adult who is most assertive while being the calmest. Its when neither adult leads that there are problems:

"When a naturally submissive dogs lives with a human that does not lead, he or she will attempt to right the pack balance by filling what they see as a vacant pack leader role. This is how behavior problems develop."

And that is precisely what a whiny child is doing. Filling the void that adults are creating by not leading, calmly and assertively.

--Give rewards. Parents can reinforce good behaviors with rewards such as small stickers, toys or fun outings.

Positive reinforcement is absolutely critical for whiny kids and puppies. But it has to be from a place of calm and confidence. Bargaining with a whiny kid to get them to stop out of frustration or desperation will insure more whining in the future. A whiny kid can be whining for lots of different reasons, but a parent shouldn't interact with the child until the whining stops. Puppies that are tearing around the house and leaping all over the furniture shouldn't be interacted with until they are calm and ready to follow your voice and motions. Then reward.

--Use your normal voice. When your child begins to whine, say to them, "I can't understand you when you talk with that voice. Use your normal voice and I will listen."

Using a normal, matter of fact, calm voice is essential for both whiny kids and puppies. But the less said the better. Lack of reaction to whining and poor puppy behavior will teach both kid and dog that the pack leader isn't buying their performance and will extinguish negative behaviors quicker than trying to reason with them during their poor behavior.

If the thought of equating whiny kids with puppies makes no sense, you should probably eschew both and get a cat instead.

School Reform Is Messy And Painful, But Status Quo Is Worse

Talked with a guy the other day who explained to me that Gulfstream, as one of the few businesses actually expanding in this area, is struggling to get professional engineer types to relocate to the Savannah area. Not because of concerns for the economic downturn, not because there isn't plenty to do in the Savannah area--with the revitalized downtown area, the beaches, and the historical opportunities--but because of the perception of the local, public schools as underachieving and sometimes downright dangerous institutions.

That's certainly not a shocking assessment of our school system. In fact, school administrators are well aware of our system's shortcomings and weak spots and intend to address it--despite the BOE's hesitancy. From the last BOE meeting:

"Ideas for revamping troubled middle schools were met with almost as much criticism at a Wednesday school board meeting as the proposed plans for high school reform received last month."

The ideas kicked around and presented to the BOE to reform the middle school programs are more than just perfunctory solutions, it will involve much greater reorganizations than this system is used to:

"The overall proposal calls for creating specialty programs at the middle school level that will allow students and their families to choose a middle school based on their academic strengths, needs and interests. Many are based on successful programs that currently exist in local middle and high schools. There are ideas for creating all-male and all-female academies, advanced learning academies, a fine arts academy, K-8 schools, fourth- through eighth-grade schools and sixth- through 12th-grade schools."

Reforming our middle schools is an onerous and sisyphean task that is guaranteed to create controversy and shake people (read that as teachers, administrators, parents, board members, etc.) from their everything-sucks-but-what-can-we-do-about-it torpor. And to me, the uncomfortable feelings of flux and change is acceptable if middle school performance changes for the better--and noting the stats from the proposal--it can hardly get worse. New school board member Floyd Adams seems like he doesn't know what lots and lots of Savannahians already know:

"Are you saying that we are failing? Are you trying to change the whole wheel? I need more detailed information on the whole process."

Just a cursory look at the stats that school administrators presented (Savannah middle schoolers pass rate on the Math CRCT is 15% less than the state, 4% less for English/LA CRCT, and a whopping 18% less on the Science CRCT. Not to mention lower percentages on ITBS Math & Reading), show that, indeed, our middle schoolers scores need to be improved drastically. And, yes, if the middle school program has square wheels, it is time to change the whole wheel. The current middle school program is configured into 6th-8th grades. This configuration is less than positive for our middle school students, who are still closer to elementary kids in stature and in emotions than to the young men and women of high school. Plus, transitioning to middle school isn't easy. Here are the top 10 concerns identified out of many:

(1) changing classes
(2) reduced parent involvement
(3) more teachers
(4) no recess, no free time
(5) new grading standards and procedures
(6) more peer pressure
(7) developmental differences between boys and girls
(8) cliquishness
(9) fear of new, larger, more impersonal school
(10) accepting more responsibility for their own actions

Ever seen a 6th grader? For the most part, they are exactly like 5th graders. Yet, they are expected to perform and achieve like seasoned 8th grade or even high school vets. Motivating middle school students is not a process of following a neat, linear flow chart--it involves recognizing a hash of interconnectedness between teacher actions, student choice, the student's social life, their feelings, and their assignments. The bottom line is that a middle schooler may or may not give a rip about their performance on the Math CRCT, but they can improve their performance if their voices are heard in the school setting, there is less whole-group instruction, more emphasis on choice, more emphasis on collaborative learning activities, and they perceive their assignments as meaningful and relevant to them. The school system's proposed models seem to give this research some credence. Savannah school administrators are proposing more K-8 models and even a few 4-8 and 6-12 models. This is not unheard of. It's happening nation-wide in urban school districts that suffer the same academic/behavioral challenges that we do:

"Paul Vallas, chief executive of the Philadelphia school system, thinks so, and he has closed 17 traditional middle schools since 2002, while converting some three dozen elementary schools into K-8s. “The fifth to sixth grade transition is just too traumatic. At a time when children are undergoing emotional, physical, social changes, and when they need stability and consistency, suddenly they’re thrust into this alien environment.”

Reforming Savannah's middle schools will thrust school officials, the BOE, and other stakeholders (like our city and county politicians who need to get behind these reform measures publically) into perhaps an uncomfortable alien environment--just like our middle schoolers. Reforming our middle schools is going to be messy and probably not pain-free, but really, at this point, what is the alternative?