UPDATE: Beverly Hall worried about asking too little of inner city students. But is there also a danger of asking too much? | Get Schooled

Beverly Hall worried about asking too little of inner city students. But is there also a danger of asking too much? | Get Schooled:

Beverly Hall worried about asking too little of inner city students. But is there also a danger of asking too much?

by Maureen Downey

Despite all the cheering on the blog that APS administrators are now facing justice for their roles in the CRCT cheating scandal, an unresolved issue remains: Why was there so much cheating in APS?  (And elsewhere in the country, as uncovered by a later AJC investigation?)
The Georgia CRCTs are not difficult tests. Why was it so difficult to get APS students to score in acceptable ranges?
The indictments in the APS cheating scandal bring us back to the national quandary of how to raise the achievement level of students who historically were never expected to do well, were accorded fewer resources with which to do well, had the most inexperienced teachers and came from homes that lacked the social capital to assist them in school.
The cheating at APS occurred in the schools with the least advantaged populations.
When she came to Atlanta, Beverly Hall said she wanted teachers who believed poor children could do well. (Interesting side point here is that Hall wanted to fire many …

Nearly one in five high school boys diagnosed with ADHD. Is it big problem or Big Pharm?

by Maureen Downey

Mining CDC data, The New York Times is reporting today nearly one in five high school age boys and 11 percent of school-age children over all have received a medical diagnosis of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
Are we over-diagnosing attention deficit hyperactivity, especially in boys, because we have less tolerance of what were once understood and accepted as normal kid behaviors?
Have we become a nation that spots a fidgety 5-year-old and thinks a pill is the answer?
Are these behaviors more troubling in an era where even kindergarten has an academic focus and where children are measured by test scores? Are parents buying the pharmaceutical industry’s promise that it can turn a restless student into a focused scholar?
A child with ADHD is easily distracted, hyperactive and impulsive. More than overactive, these children often can’t sit still long enough to respond to a question or listen to a story. Some can’t slow down between idea and action, leaving them …