by Erica L. Meltzer | Apr 23, 2019 | Blog, Issues in Education
A couple of days ago (4/21/19), the New York Times ran an article about a Kansas community’s rebellion against the Summit Learning platform, a controversial ed-tech initiative funded in large part by the Chan-Zuckerberg foundation.
Normally, I try to hold myself at as much of a distance as possible from the ed-tech world, but in this case, I seem to have acquired an inadvertent stake in things: last school year, while looking at my analytics (see, I’m data-driven!), I suddenly noticed that I was receiving regular traffic from summit.org and that, moreover, the number of daily referrals from that site corresponded almost exactly to the number of hits on my “how to use a dash” post.
Obviously, a link to the piece had been incorporated into the Summit platform.
When I first discovered this, my curiosity was piqued, and so I spent some time on the main Summit website trying to figure out where my blog was linked to. (Is it just me, or is the ransom-note motif not positively creepy?) Predictably, aside from a handful of vague, weak sample lessons that could be downloaded, I was unable to access anything more substantive. Still, I assumed that more real lessons—even really poorly constructed ones—had to exist…right? At that point, I didn’t really have the time or the inclination to investigate further.
Then, as I was reading the Times article, I came across this:
(more…)
by Erica L. Meltzer | Apr 18, 2019 | Blog, College Admissions
I recently came across an Atlantic article by the child psychologist Erica Christakis, in which she discusses a concept she terms “adultification”—that is, the attribution of adult traits and behaviors and ways of thinking to children. On its surface, the article—which focuses on active shooter drills in elementary schools, of all things—seems very far removed from things like test prep and college admissions; however, as I read through the piece, I couldn’t help but notice a link. I think Christakis really nails this phenomenon in a way I haven’t seen elsewhere. As she writes: (more…)
by Erica L. Meltzer | Apr 9, 2019 | Blog, College Admissions
In the social sciences, there is a principle known as Campbell’s Law, which states the following:
“The more any quantitative social indicator is used for social decision-making, the more subject it will be to corruption pressures and the more apt it will be to distort and corrupt the social processes it is intended to monitor.”
Or, said more simply, “When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure.”
Although selective colleges assess applicants holistically rather than according to strict numerical metrics, I think that a modified version of this rule is in fact very relevant to the admissions process. (more…)
by Lisa Dzialo | Apr 2, 2019 | Blog, Tutor Interviews
Tell us about your company.
My company is named LarryPrep. It consists of just one person – me!
How did you get started in tutoring and what is your favorite part about it?
We have to turn the clock back to 1992 in Edison, New Jersey. At that time I was the Social Studies Supervisor for the Edison Public Schools. Dr. Kresky, the Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum, called an emergency meeting of all supervisors to develop an action plan to counter the decline in district SAT scores. The other supervisors blamed a variety of factors ranging from harsh scoring scales to unmotivated students. Finally, I volunteered to teach an after school “Crash Course.” That afternoon I drove to nearby Princeton and bought a number of SAT prep books including a College Board book with 10 real SATs. I spent the next week poring over the books. I then created a series of after school lessons focusing on vocabulary and critical reading. Verbal scores rose an average of 40 points! As the expression goes, the rest is history. Soon Dr. K scheduled me to teach a Crash Course at both high schools and during the summer. I love the challenge of working with students to achieve a common goal of mastering a difficult test. I especially enjoy working with high school students. Their energy and commitment are contagious! (more…)
by Erica L. Meltzer | Mar 22, 2019 | Blog
Update (3/28/19): The Critical Reader received the books purchased from third-party sellers and confirmed that they were in fact counterfeits. A complaint was filed with Amazon, and the offending sellers now appear to have been removed.
3/22/19: If you are planning to purchase The Ultimate Guide to SAT Grammar, 4th Edition, from Amazon, please be aware that the main listing is being periodically given to third-party sellers who may be exploiting the Fulfilled by Amazon option to sell illegally printed copies of the book.
As a result of changes in 2017 to Amazon’s selling policy, The Critical Reader no longer supplies to most wholesalers or third-party Amazon resellers. As a result, there is no legal way for Amazon resellers to obtain our books in large quantities. (To read about my ongoing battle with Amazon over the Buy Box, click here.) (more…)
by Lisa Dzialo | Mar 5, 2019 | Blog, Tutor Interviews
Bio
Richard McManus is a committed behavioral executive who has designed and delivered training programs for executives, managers and teachers. His mission is to increase the ability of USA schools and teachers to teach reading to all students.
Richard founded The Fluency Factory after 20 years of dreaming, thinking and planning. He is and always will be committed to serving all students — both struggling students and high achieving students. He created a system of fluency charts to measure skills and build the love of learning. The charts provide a direct measurement that can be communicated immediately to the student. They can see their learning from minute to minute, day to day, week to week, in clear, graphic terms. Seeing this progress gives the student the confidence that he or she can do more, and that learning does not have to stop, or be bound by present skill deficits (more…)
