> I cannot believe this article. What were these people observing?
> I cannot believe that someone would actually publish
> this and say that they are not blaming the teachers.
I copied this article from the LA Times for your reading "pleasure" :::::
maryann@brightring.com
1st-Grade Teachers Don't Teach Much, Study Says
By JESSICA GARRISON, Times Staff Writer
First-grade teachers across the country spend very little time actually
teaching academic skills, instead focusing on classroom management,
according to a national study to be released today. The study, based on
observations of 827 first-grade classrooms in 26 states, also found that
there seems to be no uniform standard for what a proper first-grade
instructional program should be.
In addition, researchers from the National Institute of Child Health and
Human Development said there was no correlation between the number of
children in a class or the teacher's level of education or experience and
the amount of time devoted to teaching as opposed to filling out work sheets
or playing.
Researchers did not look at whether there was a link between what went on
the classroom and how children performed academically.
The findings, which will be presented today at the meeting of the Society
for Research in Child Development in Minneapolis, should prompt further
studies, said Robert C. Pianta, a professor of education at the University
of Virginia and one of the lead researchers.
The results were received with outrage and puzzlement by many first-grade
teachers, who said there is plenty of teaching going on in their classrooms.
"I don't agree at all," said Donna Church, who teaches at Hermosa Drive
Elementary School in Fullerton. "Not here. Not at all." California's
standards for first-graders mean that Church spends all day teaching reading
and math, she said. Sharon Erbst, who teaches first grade at Guinn
Elementary School in Anaheim, said she does not stand in front of her class
lecturing students because the children would become bored and distracted.
But she said almost every minute of her day is devoted to math, reading,
spelling and phonics. Classroom management takes up very little of her time.
"I don't know what they think they saw," Erbst said of the researchers. "We
spend an awful lot of time on instruction. "I wish we had more time to
color and do [physical education]," she added. "Sometimes I feel we are so
structured with time limits for academic subjects that they don't even have
time to breathe."
Pianta said the study should not be interpreted as an indictment of
teachers. Rather, the data should be a sign that policymakers need to decide
what they want instructors to accomplish and find ways to help teachers
achieve it.
"This is not about blaming teachers," he said. "What they're doing in those
classrooms is what they're being trained or told to do."
But there is no agreement on what that should be, Pianta added. Why is that
acceptable for first-grade teachers, he asked, when most people would
shudder if told that emergency rooms across the country all had different
approaches to treating a gunshot wound?
"We need to have a better understanding about how we make decisions about
what children ought to be taught," he said. "This is one of the largest
observational studies of classrooms to ever be conducted, but it's kind of a
snapshot."
The observations of first-grade classrooms are part of the same study that
produced findings, released earlier this week, saying that the more time
children spend in child care, the more likely
they are to display behavior problems in kindergarten.
In the government-funded study, researchers in 10 cities across the country
have followed 1,300 children since birth. Most of the children are now in
fourth grade, but it takes years to analyze the data.
In the study of first-graders, researchers observed 687 public school
classrooms and 140 private school classrooms. Many teachers devoted
significant amounts of time to leading large groups in reading, with scant
attention to science, math or social studies, the study said.
Copyright 2001 Los Angeles Times
Click for permission to reprint (PRC# 1.528.2001_000033449)
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