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Category Archives: College and Career

Multiple choice testing and dual enrollment can be education fake-outs

An article yesterday in The Chronicle of Higher Education is a warning to not take for granted that children are actually learning in dual-enrollment programs, and especially not when multiple choice tests are the primary measure of student comprehension.

. . . The student explained that my class is not compatible with her “learning method.” She said that she prefers “that multiplying method, you know, where there are letters, A, B, C.”

I said, “You mean, multiple choice?”

“Yes, that’s the one,” she said. “That’s the method where I learn best. I’m good at figuring out which letters aren’t the right ones.”

Parents may feel confident that their children are receiving a top-notch education if they are participating in a dual-enrollment program. And if children have learned to game standardized testing, their scores might not reflect that their education experience is woefully inadequate.

The apparent efficiency of multiple choice tests is deceptive. There is no actual demonstration of comprehension or the ability to apply the concepts covered in class. The dependence on standardized testing as a measure of student progress is troubling for a number of reasons. Teachers need to use other methods to accurately assess comprehension, and parents must get involved if necessary changes are going to be made.

Other methods may be more time consuming or expensive, but if the goal of education is that students learn and are also able to display understanding and acquired skills, then our educational institution’s actions should reflect that.

The apparent efficiency of dual enrollment can also be deceptive if the classes are not actually college level. In Texas, community colleges can “certify high-school teachers to be community-college teachers and then anoint their classes with college credit. This solves problems with high-school budgets and the high school/college transition. College is now high school.”

It is now, and ever shall be, the responsibility of parents and students to constantly evaluate the quality of education they are receiving. Schools and colleges are often preoccupied with untangling red tape and jumping through federal hoops, so it is nearly inevitable that students will be the ones who suffer from educational neglect.

One of the most important rules learned in Geometry is to never assume anything based on how it looks or what we are lead to believe. This is especially true about education, both high school and college. Don’t be afraid to ask questions and compare materials, or find others ways to asses your child’s comprehension to get the most of your education dollars and ensure the student’s future success.

Homeschooling: much more than academics

21 May

In our efforts to make sure our kids are ready for college or a vocation, we can become focused on academics and forget the character traits and learning skills that will carry our young people through any decision, circumstance, or challenge. It is much more important that we give our children these tools than they become math geniuses or musical prodigies, or knit their own sweaters from llama wool.

One of the primary desires of Christian parents is that their child have repented and been converted to Jesus Christ, have developed solid habits of Bible reading and prayer, as well as a firm foundation of sound doctrine on which to base their faith and practice. We also have a responsibility to teach them to be moral, ethical, and responsible citizens.

Have they learned coping skills- dealing with stress, peer pressure, emergency situations?
Do they possess self-control in areas of temperament, health, finances, time management. . .?
Do they have a sense of empathy and compassion for others?
Are they self-motivated with a strong work ethic?
Do they know how to persevere through difficult situations?
Are they forgiving, generous, and merciful?
Do they know how to anticipate needs and problems and be proactive in avoiding trouble and finding solutions?
Can they work well with others to complete a project?
Do they understand that their true character will be revealed when they are on their own?

An exercise to help them think through the impact of the decisions they make now is to write an essay:

Where do you want to be in 5 years, then 10 years?
If you could talk to your 20-years-from-now-future-self about some of the paths you could take, what would you ask them?
Imagine that you are sitting in a room with your children and grandchildren- what would you like to be able to tell them about the life you lived when you were young?

There are also some basic skills our students need for college and vocation that are not purely academic:

Communicate clearly in both written and oral formats
Manners and behavior appropriate to a variety of situations
Prioritize, organize, and budget time, money, and possessions
Understand instructions both written and verbal
Research a topic with reliable sources
Use basic technology, such as email, online banking, and making secure purchases online
Clean a house, cook a meal, wash and care for their own clothes
Think deeply and critically about information and be able to follow an idea to its logical conclusion

As you think about these life skills, many more will probably come to mind. Some of them are likely to be Things You Wish You Had Known. We’ve learned from our many mistakes, and Lesson #1 is often the nature of regret.

But just as we made mistakes and learned from them, so will our children. Some of their most important lessons will be learned because they made a poor decision, acted on impulse, didn’t pursue all the facts before moving forward. Our heart may break for the pain they experience, the struggles that follow, and the opportunities lost, but if we have given them the tools they need to cope with life, they will most likely come out the other side stronger and wiser. This is the bittersweet truth of parenting.

So don’t get too caught up in Algebra 2, vocabulary lists, college applications, and SAT scores. Your children can always conquer those things later if the need arises. It’s these other less tangible and testable skills that will help them reach their dreams of an excellent life.

Review of College Common Sense – Going to College and Paying for It

26 Feb

Admit it- when faced with the challenge of helping your homeschooled students apply to colleges, and figuring out financial aid and scholarships, don’t you wish someone would just hold your hand and walk you through it?

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That’s what Denise Ames has done with College Common Sense- Going to College and Paying For It. We reviewed the online videos and workbook and found it thorough and packed with useful information that our 16, 14, and 11 year old all absorbed with interest.

In brief, the online course is six video sessions, each approximately 20 minutes long, and with an accompanying .pdf file for you to download and print. The .pdf files are a slightly abridged transcript of each session, which makes them an efficient tool for note-taking and future reference. Sprinkled throughout are all the links to websites that students will need to access in order to work through the process of considering the cost of college, applying for financial aid, and finding scholarships.

“How do you eat an elephant?”

“One bite at a time.”

This program takes a lengthy and intimidating task, and chops it into time managed and mentally chewable bits for parents and students.

Starting with the first video, “The Big Picture”, Denise explains briefly, with a combination of slides and speaking on camera, the three major steps of going to college, as well as the real cost of going to college – not just the price of tuition. This is a great introductory session for both parents and kids to watch together. The .pdf file also contains a college campus visit checklist. Be sure to set aside time for all the discussions that these videos will generate. We sat at the table and talked for at least 45 minutes about our educational goals and plans after viewing just this first session.

The second and third videos are “How Financial Aid Works” and “”All About the Free Money”. While these are probably of more interest to parents holding on to their checkbooks for dear life, students need to know what it takes for them to qualify for financial aid and scholarships. One of the things Denise emphasizes throughout is that the student must take ownership and responsibility for their education, and be involved in every step of the process. Parents have an important role, but the student truly is pivotal.

Also included with the files for these sessions are worksheets for using FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) and calculating the Cost of Attending.

The unique and valuable gem right in the middle of College Common Sense is session #5 “The System That Works”. Anything that involves a 3-ring binder, dividers, and a highlighter sounds totally cool to my compulsively organized mind! Denise has created a system for keeping track of what would otherwise feel like an overwhelming task. In this section she outlines seven steps for doing scholarships. If a scholarship requires personal references or an essay, the instructions for these are included as well.

I appreciated all the details about different kinds of scholarships and where they come from, and how to make prudent and informed decisions every step of the way. The exercise at the end of the fifth session using the examples of real scholarships illustrates the differences in types of scholarship and the application process.

“You in the Process” brings the focus and responsibility for the entire procedure back to the student. It’s the one time that your child needs to be completely self-involved, but in a good way. Thankfully the file contains the outline of this session, because we will come back to all of this wise advice again and again.

The last video session truly does “Pull It All Together”. I’ve told my kids over the years that their lives will be the sum total of the decisions they’ve made. Denise puts it this way-

The people we call lucky are the ones who recognize the opportunities as they pass through their lives and take advantage of them.

We were inspired by this program to start using Denise’s binder system to keep all of the future reference information organized as we research the college question for our high schoolers. The front of the binder contains all of the College Common Sense files for each video, along with our notes. Both Noah and Emma have their own section to organize their specific plans, and we are keeping it on a coffee table in our school room so that it is always in view. There is something motivating about seeing it there every day, and it helps remind us to regularly review and accomplish what needs to be done next.

There’s more to College Common Sense, though. Each week we received an email with lesson plan ideas, some even directed toward middle schoolers. At first a parent might think that considering college during middle school is a bit premature, but the earlier parents start planning the possible financial costs, the better. And the tween years are a great time for kids to start thinking ahead about what direction they’d like to take their education. It’s been my experience that the sooner a child owns their education, the more invested and self-motivated they become. This program resonated with me as a parent because Denise also approaches this topic from that perspective.

To sample Denise’s wisdom, gained from 10+ years experience in college admissions and financial aid counseling, you can subscribe to the free newsletter, and receive free lesson plans via email. Check out the links on her website for scholarship and grant information, colleges, and helpful articles from around the web for students to read and ponder.

College Common Sense is available as a DVD and workbook for $50 + $5 shipping/handling, or a one-year online access to the video and workbook materials for $25.

Does all this feel like too much information? Have doubts about whether or not your child is college bound? Thinking about skipping the traditional college route and using an alternative method to earn a degree? This course still applies to you, as we do not know what direction the Lord has in mind for our children. Having this resource on hand instead of scrambling to figure things out is worth all the Tums at Walgreens.

Others on the Schoolhouse Review Crew also used College Common Sense.
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