tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14707730.post4704088636964677472..comments2024-03-16T13:43:21.762-04:00Comments on Schools Matter: New Research: Test Score Progress Weaker and Advances in Narrowing Racial and Income-based Achievement Gaps Have Faded Since NCLBJames Hornhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04462754705431590571noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14707730.post-56076796122099698442007-07-30T17:25:00.000-04:002007-07-30T17:25:00.000-04:00Jim, you may already have seen this, but more on t...Jim, you may already have seen this, but more on the problems of No Child Left Behind--and what we might do instead--can be found in the recent book, How Computer Games Help Children Learn. (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1403975051/). <BR/><BR/>The book is about how No Child Left Behind is taking our schools in the exact opposite direction from where they need to go in the age of computer technology and global capitalism—and how the new technologies of computer and video games can help get schools (and students!) where they need to go. From the introduction:<BR/><BR/>Young people in the United States today are being prepared—in school and at home—for standardized jobs in a world that will, very soon, punish those who can’t innovate. Our government and our schools have made a noble effort to leave no child behind: to ensure, through standardized testing, that all children make adequate yearly progress in basic reading and math skills. But we can’t “skill and drill” our way to innovation. Standardized testing produces standardized skills. Our standards-driven curriculum, especially in our urban schools, is not preparing children to be innovators at the highest technical levels that will pay off most in a high-tech, global economy....<BR/><BR/>That’s the bad news: We live in a time of economic change, but our schools are busy preparing students for the commodity jobs of the past—jobs that will be long gone by the time they finish school. We are in danger of leaving all of our children far behind in the new global competition for innovative work. <BR/>But... here’s the good news: The very same technologies that are making it possible to outsource commodity jobs make it possible for students of all ages to prepare for innovative work.....<BR/><BR/>Learning to solve real problems is more important than ever, and this book is about how we can use computer and video games to do just that.... This is a book about how computer and video games can help adults rebuild education for the postindustrial, high-tech world by thinking about learning in a new way.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com