c:\doc\web\97\09\uncity.txt


From:             DaveTNCLE@aol.com
Date sent:        Thu, 20 Nov 1997 06:14:04 -0500 (EST)
To:               education-consumers@tricon.net, core-net@tucc6.tucc.trinity.edu
Subject:          Technology and Constructivisim -- The Wall Street Journal


The special education insert in the 11/17 WSJ contains three articles right
in the middle (R18-20) claiming technology may be the key to making
 constructivist approaches to student achievement work.  I'm going to briefly
summarize them, then raise some questions for those who may have more
information about certain schools.  (BTW, if anyone subscribes to the WSJ
Interactive Edition, it supposedly has more info.)


The first, by Robin Frost, staff reporter for the WSJ Interactive Edition,
focuses on schools in Union City, NJ.  The lead paragraph describes
Christopher Columbus middle school as, "it's sometimes hard to tell the
teachers from the students -- exactly what administrators had in mind when
they gave the school district a technological and philosophical makeover."
 According to the article, the Union City school distrcit faced a state
takeover because of poor test scores, poor attendance, high turnover rates
"and a host of other troubles."  Today, the system's "test scores are now
about twice those of the state's other inner-city school districts, and the
district is very close to reaching the average passing score for the state."
 If true, this suggests Union City is making whopping value-added gains.


Chirstopher Columbus is the flagship school.  With help from Bell Atlantic
allegedly running to "millions and millions" of dollars, computer were placed
in teh classroos and the homes of all seventh-graders and their teachers,
networked, and students, parent and teachers trained on them.  Multimedia
resources were also provided.  


The school personnel claim that the technology is not the whole answer, but
it is it's "marriage" to a "whole-language curriculum" that worked.  Note,
this is a middle school, not a elementary school teaching reading. Guide on
the side not sage on the stage and all that stuff.  (Is my skepticism about
constructivist teaching showing?)


I won't summarize the article further.  It is interesting and typical of the
quality writing found in WSJ.  It conclues by noting another evidence of
success:  "top colleges, such as Swarthmore and Bowdoin, are trying to
recruit the district's students."


The next story is "Dewey Wins" by Robert Cwiklik.  This focuses on John
Dewey's push for hands-on learning.  It claims his push has generally failed
to take in America's schools, and attributes this failure to "the difficulty
of implementing the progressives' ambitious vision of a curriculum that
de-emphasized textbooks and lectures....  While amassing and orchestrating
such resources might have seemed dauntin to teachers in the past, many
believe that computers are uniquely suited to the task.  


Folks cited are:


Rober McClintock, co-director of the Institute for Learning Technologies at
Columbia Teacers College, NY


Sue Bastian, director of Teaching Matters, a NY non-profit


Elspeth Taylor, chief info officer fo NY City Schools


William Rukeyeser, coordinator of Learning in the Real World,  a Woodland, CA
non-profit


and


Linda Darling-Hammond, professor of education at Columbia University Teachers
College


E.D. Hirsch, Jr. is given one brief, dismissive mention, and Darling-Hammond
is quoted accusing him of ignoring "research documenting academic successes

in many schools where progressive-style reforms have been implemented."




The third article is about a teacher in Walnut Creek, CA, Doug Kirkpatrick,
who has used technolgy to implement a more hands-on approach to science in
his 8th grade class.


A web-site cited for technology and constuctivist matters is 
http://nmaa-ryder.si.edu/deptdir/pubsub/re_constructivist.html


Another school cited is Celebration School in Orlando, FL


Now my questions,


Does anyone have any experience or knowledge with the Union City, NJ schools?


What about Celebration School, in Orlando, FL?


Does anyone have an e-mail address for Prof. Darling Hammond and would you
copy her with this article with my request for citiations to the research Dr.
Hirsch has "ignored"?


Other thoughts?


Dave Shearon,
Nashville, TN
EDUCATION CONSUMERS CLEARINGHOUSE