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Math scores do not add up to progress

25 Oct 2009 - Preaching the News for Sunday

The Lord guides the people of Israel "so that none shall stumble," we hear in this Sunday's first reading. It appears, however, that U.S. schoolchildren need a bit more guidance when it comes to math. For the first time since 1990 America's fourth-graders stumbled a bit, showing no improvement in test scores. According to the latest data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress, known as the nation's report card, scores for fourth-graders in four states actually declined between 2007 and 2009--the first time any state has shown a drop since all 50 states began participating in the assessment in 2003. "This is a warning light that there's something going on here, and school districts should look into it," said Jack Jennings, president of the Center on Education Policy in Washington. But noting that long-term trends are still positive, he said, "it's not an alarm bell." The lack of progress, education advocates said, was striking enough that the country should be asking hard questions about its math education, particularly for younger students. "This may mean we've gotten all the octane we can out of our current math teaching force," said Amy Wilkins, a vice president of the Education Trust, a nonprofit organization dedicated to reducing achievement gaps. "What can we do to get more really good math teachers not only into the profession, but into high-poverty and high-minority schools?" To that end a White House report released Monday concluded that money from a $787 billion stimulus package had helped states fill budget gaps that would have cost many teachers their jobs in school districts and public universities across the country. The report estimates that stimulus spending has created or saved 250,000 teaching or other education jobs this year. Source: Articles by Amanda Paulson for the Christian Science Monitor and the Associated Press

math education trust amy wilkins center on education policy jack jennings fourth graders national assessment of educational progress test scores schoolchildren Education stimulus plan
Kindling love for reading among African schoolchildren

24 Jun 2012 - Preaching the News for Sunday

The Lord’s servant will be made “a light of the nations,” this Sunday’s first reading from the Book of Isaiah promises. World development organizations know that good reading habits light the way to a better future for a nation’s schoolchildren. To that end, the San Francisco-based nonprofit organization Worldreader has launched a “one Kindle per child” experiment in Uganda and two other African countries. The Kindle project in developing countries faces considerable challenges, including the cost of e-readers and making sure that kids actually learn better on the devices than with old-fashioned books. Africa is littered with well-intentioned technology programs that fail, say observers, because devices don’t get used, fall into the wrong hands, or just can’t find enough power to run. Early results at Worldreader are promising, said David Risher, cofounder of Worldreader and a former Amazon executive. E-readers have some advantages over laptops in far-flung places. Kindles are lightweight and rugged and can last weeks on a single charge. With built-in internet connections, they are basically big mobile phones—a technology that has proved successful throughout Africa. Compared with traditional books, e-readers make it easy to distribute works from African authors that can be hard to get in print. School libraries in many developing countries contain mostly books donated from the U.S. or other developed nations. “The first books we got were mainly about the U.S., with kids playing in ice—which our pupils would not understand,” said Ester Nabwire, head teacher at one Ugandan school testing Kindles. “With the Kindles, there are African authors, African names which are exciting the kids.” Still, Kindles are relatively expensive—some schools lock them up at night—and getting an e-book into the hands of one of Worldreader’s kids costs about $5 per title. By comparison, Room to Read, a 12-year-old nonprofit organization that builds libraries for elementary schools, says it can print and deliver one of its own books to a school for about $1 per book in Africa. In Asia, where Room to Read has the most programs, only 30 percent of the cost of establishing a library involves printing and distributing books, while the rest goes toward furniture, training teachers, and monitoring to make sure the books are getting used. Source: An article by Geoffrey A. Fowler and Nicholas Bariyo for the Wall Street Journal

kindle uganda schoolchildren africa reading room to read worldreader e-readers
School lunch tragedy strikes India

21 Jul 2013 - Preaching the News for Sunday

When Abraham and Sarah prepared a feast for their three mysterious guests in this Sunday’s first reading, no doubt they made it with great care, assuring their visitors a safe and delicious meal. Children eating lunch at a school in a village in eastern India were not so fortunate: Improperly prepared food tainted with insecticide took the lives of at least 22 children ages 5 to 12 Tuesday, and several dozen more were hospitalized.It was not immediately clear how chemicals ended up in the food at a school in the eastern state of Bihar. One official said the food may not have been properly washed before it was cooked. The children fell ill soon after eating lunch in Gandamal village in Masrakh block, 50 miles north of the state capital of Patna. School authorities immediately stopped serving the meal of rice, lentils, soybeans, and potatoes as the children started getting sick.The lunch, part of a popular national campaign to give at least one daily hot meal to children from poor families, was cooked in the school kitchen. The children were rushed to a local hospital and later to Patna for treatment, said state official Abhijit Sinha.Authorities suspended an official in charge of the free meal scheme in the school and registered a case of criminal negligence against the school headmistress, who fled as soon as the children fell ill.India's midday meal project is one of the world's biggest school nutrition programs. State governments have the freedom to decide on menus and timings of the meals, depending on local conditions and availability of food rations. It was first introduced in southern India, where it was seen as an incentive for poor parents to send their children to school.Since then the program has been replicated across the country, covering some 120 million schoolchildren. It's part of an effort to address concerns about malnutrition, which the government says nearly half of all Indian children suffer from.Homily hint: When tragedy strikes an effort as noble as reducing hunger and malnutrition, and takes the lives of young children, sorrow is compounded many times over. This incredibly sad story, however, should not overshadow the ongoing need to feed malnourished and undernourished children, both in this country and abroad. Encourage the people in your community to help provide both nutritious and safe food for hungry children. Source: An article by Indrajit Singh for the Associated Press

india schoolchildren school lunches food safety