Sdp is right about psle streaming - what works in education

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SDP IS RIGHT ABOUT PSLE STREAMING - WHAT WORKS IN EDUCATION

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19 Dec 2014 - 10:47am








SDP’s right
After the PLSE results came out, I tot Mad Dog Chee had a relapse, when the SDP came out against streaming. I mean what could be a no-brainer than streaming? Don’t students learn faster when students of similar ability are taught in a group.
Seems that SDP is right: Dividing pupils into classes of different abilities is a popular approach to improving standards, but research suggests that it leaves students a month behind those in mixed groups. BBC report
Surprised?
This is a the one finding (see below for other findings) of intensive analysis of data from across the world, part-funded by the Department for Education as part of the What Works Network, and recently published by the British government.
And Dr Chee has form in calling things right. In the 1990s, Dr Chee articulateda dystopian vision of S’pore. sadly the prophesy is more accurate then the than PAP’s administration or my views of how S’pore would look like today.
Too bad, SDP went AWOL under Dr Chee’s leadership. If only he had WP Low’s patience and wisdom to build up a grass-roots based organisation**. The PAP is always lucky in its enemies. JBJ and Dr Chee then. And Low today.
What works in education
Doesn’t work
Uniform policy?
Schools that don’t force pupils into blazers and ties are almost unheard of these days. But the best evidence is that a uniform policy makes no difference to attainment. If anything, it holds students back.
Setting and streaming?
Dividing pupils into classes of different abilities is a popular approach to improving standards, but research suggests that it leaves students a month behind those in mixed groups.
Teaching assistants?
Research suggests students in a class with a TA do not, on average, perform better than those in a class with only a teacher.
Longer lessons (block scheduling, in the jargon )?
The evidence is double-chemistry and triple-maths don’t make for more accomplished chemists and mathematicians.
Repeating a year?
Giving pupils a chance to repeat a year if they are struggling is not only very expensive – on average, it leaves children four months behind.
…






So what does work?
Meta-cognition and self-regulation? YES.
… that phrase reflects the most effective way to improve educational outcomes, according to the evidence.
Meta-cognition is often described as “learning to learn” and what it means is giving children a range of strategies they can use to monitor and improve their own academic development. Self-regulation is developing the ability to motivate oneself to learn.
On average, introducing meta-cognition and self-regulation into the classroom has a high impact, with pupils making an average of eight months’ additional progress. That is a phenomenal improvement.
Feedback?
Feedback is information given to pupils about how they are doing against their learning goals. In the workplace it might be part of an appraisal, and the evidence is that a similar approach works wonders in the classroom, increasing educational attainment by around eight months.
Peer-tutoring?
If pupils work together in pairs or small groups to give each other explicit teaching support, the results can be dramatic – particularly with youngsters who struggle the most. This isn’t about doing away with teachers, but it seems when working with their peers, children tend to take real responsibility for their teaching and their own learning.
Sometimes the tutoring can be reciprocal, with pupils alternating as tutor and tutee. Cross-age tutoring also has advantages for older and younger participants, it turns out. This intervention, on average, improves student performance by a GCSE grade.
One-to-one adult tutoring is, counter-intuitively, less effective and much more expensive than peer tutoring.
Homework in primary school doesn’t make a lot of difference, nor does mentoring, performance pay for teachers, or the physical environment of the school.
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-30210514
**To be fair, Low had the experience and help of the Barisan Socialists’ activists. BSoc diissolved itself in 1988 and its activists joined WP .https://atans1.wordpress.com/2014/02...ssident-party/. They put up with the antics of one JBJ until there was an opportunity to defenestrate him in 2001.

Cynical Investor
*The writer blogs at https://atans1.wordpress.com/


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