Motivational Monday 5!!!!

School is not always fun or enjoyable or pleasant even, but the knowledge you will receive is priceless.

                                                                                       ~Ally 

A School Day in France.

Surprisingly, going to school in France is quite different from going to school in the U.S.

In France the school day starts at 8am after a couple classes, the students get a two hour lunch break. Afterwards more classes and the school day ends at 4pm. At the middle school and high school age the students are taught a wide variety of subjects including, French, math, physical and natural sciences, foreign language, history and geography, economics, and civics.

One big difference between French and American schools is that while there is no uniforms, their dress code includes a banned on any religious clothing item.

The school year in France runs from August to June and is divided into four terms, each seven weeks long with a one or two week break in between each term.

Which school year sounds better to you??

                                                                                                                                ~Ally

Websites used:
http://www.infoplease.com/world/statistics/school-years.html

Motivational Monday 4!!!!

Best Scoring Countires in the World

As of right now (2015/2016) the top 5 best education systems in the world are:

1. South Korea
2. Japan
3. Singapore
4. Hong Kong
5. Finland

To see the full list click here.

                                                                                                              ~Ally

Motivational Monday 3!!!!

 

Hard work will always pay off (:

                                                                            ~Ally

Student Athletes

Being a student athlete is not an easy thing to do. 7 hours of school, 3 hour practice, get home around 5:30 and then multiple hours of homework. Despite all of this, according to a study done by Ryan Stegall claims that the student athletes in his study had an average GPA of 3.25  while nonstudent athletes had an average GPA of 3.01. Pretty much all teams have a rule that says you must maintain certain grades to be allowed to play on the team. Which maybe one of the reasons for this difference.

Playing sports also gives many other benefits to the athlete. Such as lower number of absences, lower substance abuse rates and especially for female athletes, playing a sport leads to increased confidence. There are also less dropouts in high school athletes.

Playing sports in high school also provides students with many life skills as well, such as organization, time management, motivation and preforming under pressure. Angela Lumpkin, professor of health, sport and exercise sciences, and Rebecca Achen, doctoral candidate and graduate teaching assistant at KU have said, "What we are saying is participation is important...athletes are learning discipline."

Being a student athlete are tough, there are lots of sacrifices that have to be made but the outcome is well worth it.

                                                                                                                ~Ally



Websites used:
http://www.nwmissouri.edu/library/ResearchPapers/2012/Stegall,%20Ryan.pdf http://www.childtrends.org/indicators/participation-in-school-athletics/
https://news.ku.edu/2014/01/15/study-shows-high-school-athletes-performed-better-school-persisted-graduation-more-non

Motivational Monday 2!!!!

Whoot whoot! It's the week of Thanksgiving ((: Only a two and a half day week and a long weekend ahead! Take time to enjoy this long weekend, everyone deserves a little break!

                                                                                                                              ~Ally

Motivational Monday!!!

School can often be very frustrating and challenging, but hard work always pays off in the end!! Have a fantastic week everyone (:

                                                                                                                                   ~Ally

Dress Codes.

Dress codes. Just about every school has them, though some schools have stricter policies then others. Within the past few years, schools have seen a particularly strong uprising against these policies by students as well as parents. Many of the dress code polices were created from sexualizing  the female body. A middle school student from Versailles, Kentucky, Maggie Sunseri, says that "My principal constantly says the main reason for [it] is to create a 'distraction-free learning zone' for our male counterparts". Parents everywhere have stood up against claims like these, stating that rules promoting these ideals one, makes girls become self conscious about their body and two, teaches both boys and girls that if male students or faculty are unable to focus due to how a girl dresses then it's her fault.

Sunseri actually made a documentary where she interviews some of the students in her school asking about what they thought of the dress code. This video really highlights how negatively a dress code can bring down the confidence of girls as well as the bias in dress codes. To watch Sunseri's video click here.

Anna Huffman also decided to take a stand against dress code by launching the #IAmMoreThanADistraction on Twitter. She received tons of feedback by girls everywhere sharing their own experiences.

 


Strict dress code rules are one of the main factors that have been creating the stigmatism of "boys will be boys" which is not and should not be an excuse for boys having poor behavior. Laura Bates, co-founder of The Everyday Sexism Project, said, "There's a real culture being built up through some of these dress codes where girls are receiving very clear messages that male behavior, male entitlement to your body in a public place is socially acceptable, but you will be punished."
Besides that, many girls will be pulled out during classes and be told to go home and change into more appropriate clothing. Even simple acts like these subconsciously creates the idea that creating a "distraction-free learning environment" for males is more important then allowing a female to receive education.

Websites used:
 http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2015/10/school-dress-codes-are-problematic/410962/

Standardized Testing

Standardized test. quite possibly the most feared words of any student. Whether its MCAS, SAT or one of the many, many other tests created to test the comprehension of material by students, there are very few, if any students, who like them. To my surprise however, standardized testing has been around for quite a while. In fact it was used by China during the 7th century to test if a person is suited to work in the government. They were also used in Boston during the 1800's to judge how well each school was teaching its students. The more modern standard testing we know of today came about in 2002 when the No Child Left Behind Act was passed under George W. Bush. This act made yearly testing in math and reading mandatory. From this, schools must be able to show "Adequate Yearly Progress" (AYP) or else the state could take control over or close the school. In 2009, the "Race to the Top Program" was passed as an incentive for schools to become better/have higher standardized test scores. Through this program the top scoring schools split and extra $4.35 billion in funds.

In more recent years, it has been brought up that standardized testing is not an accurate measurement of every students knowledge since people have different ways of learning and demonstrating what they know. However many points have been brought up that standardized testing is the most logical way to test students ability in an equal an non-discriminatory way. While researching this topic I found this blog that pretty much sums up all these main points! Click here to check it out (:


                                                                                                                  ~Ally


Websites Used:
http://greengarageblog.org/12-primary-pros-and-cons-of-standardized-testing
http://standardizedtests.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourceID=006521

Is "The Private School Effect" Really a Myth?

Many families across America are making the decision to send their children to the best possible private school in order to ensure they will have success in college. This idea that private schools are more suited to teach students then standard public schools has become known as "The Private School Effect". However, many people are now beginning to question the validity of this statement. Does going to a private school really impact the performance of the students? According to Jeffery Aaron Snyder it doesn't. Although he admits that many private schools have and overall better test average then public schools, Snyder wasn't convinced that this only had to do with the type of school itself. Snyder speaks about the book The Public School Advantage written by Christopher and Sarah Lubienski, which compares the math scores of public and private school students. Looking at the two averages of public and private schools test scores on the NAEP (National Assessment of Education Progress) you would assume that private schools do in fact have an advantage over public schools. The Lubienski's looked into the scores a little deeper by basing the comparison of the test scores on the location of the schools and found that public and private schools that were working with students of similar district regions had collectively equal scores.

There are many ideas that could be contributing to private school scoring better then public schools. The location of the school and student homes maybe the factor that impacts test scores the most. The former president of Center on Education Policy, Jack Jennings, states, "It appears that private schools simply have higher percentages of students who would perform well in any environment based on their previous performance and background." A student coming from a higher socioeconomic status is more likely to perform well in school because they have more resources available for them to be successful.

Another factor contributing to the "private school effect" theory is that private schools are highly competitive and have the capability to control which students attend their schools. As a result the majority of private school students are from financially stable families of higher socioeconomic background. This causes the average test scores of private schools to be higher than perhaps a public school where all students are accepted.

Although it's true that private schools do score better of tests then public schools, "private school effect" seems to be a myth. There are too many important factors such as district regions and private schools ability to control student entrance that impact why a student from a private school would score better than a public school student.

                                                                                            ~Ally
Websites used:
http://content.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1670063,00.html
https://bostonreview.net/us/snyder-public-private-charter-schools-demographics-incentives-markets

Homework Help?

Homework. The source of all evil to the average high school student.
This school year there has been lots of controversy whether homework helps students succeed in class or if it just causes unnecessary stress. As a high school student myself I took particular interest in this topic and decided to look at it in more detail.

In recent years many claims have been made that homework puts students under stress that is unnecessary. It has also become noticed that some of the countries with the highest test scores in the world don't give homework to their students.

Harris M. Cooper, a professor at Department of Psychology & Neuroscience at Duke University, studied how homework impacts a high school student and spoke about the results of his research. According to Cooper, there are many variables that must be tested while investigating this topic such as the number of subject a student has, the level of placement the student is in and what extracurricular activities a student participates in. Because of this the experiment as a whole remains inconclusive. However various trends have been noticed so far.  Cooper says that according to his research a students success in school does actually have a lot to do with the amount of time a student spends studying at home. On average, the more time a student spends studying at home, the better he or she will preform in the classroom. This then brings up the question: how much homework is enough? Most districts policies say that students should have a half hour of homework for each class, with the exception of AP students who should have a little more. According Cooper, 1.5-2.5 hours of homework per night for a typical high school student is the most effective for helping students be successful; any more then that is not helping the student improve.

For now its safe to say that when its not given in excessive amounts, homework every night actually does benefit a students academic performance.
                                                                                                         ~Ally

Websites used:
http://www.sedl.org/pubs/sedl-letter/v20n02/homework.html
http://www.greatschools.org/gk/articles/homework-is-too-much/
http://www.centerforpubliceducation.org/Main-Menu/Instruction/What-research-says-about-the-value-of-homework-At-a-glance

Happy Monday!!!

Every Monday morning people across America wake up and assume that it's going to be a horrible day. Its either back to work, back to school or one of the million other reasons we come up with as to why today can't be a good day. After coming across this picture today I think that we all have the wrong mindset! Everyone should be excited that it's Monday! Its a fresh start, new beginning and a chance to make yourself better! Monday is whatever you make of it, so lets make it a good day (:

 

 

                                                                                                                        ~Ally

What's So Bad About Learning?

Education. School. Learning. All things that we have been told throughout the entirety of our lives are important and essential to create a good life. I am a junior in high school and my whole life the value of education and good grades has been stressed to me by my parents, friends, teachers and just about anyone else I have come across during my life. As I'm sure you all know, receiving an education is so crucial in order to get a job and start a life. This then, should make school fascinating, interesting and enjoyable. After all, I'm sure most people could agree that learning new facts is fun! Well, if that's the case my question is: why do so many students find school to be so dismal? As a high school student myself, I am particularly interested in learning what the answer to this question could be. Maybe the early mornings? Or test anxiety? Throughout the progression of this blog we will find out in depth the answer to these questions. I look forward to sharing my ideas with you (:

                                                                                                                                 ~ Ally