Tulsa World: Mom finds tough school standards

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Mom finds tough school standards
Once in Britain, her daughter, 5, will likely have to play catch up.

Olivia, 5-year-old daughter of Associated Press writer Nancy Zuckerbrod, interacts with an educational electronic toy recently in her playroom at home in Washington. When she enters school in London later this year, Olivia may find that her American preschool education is short of British standards. J. Scott Applewhite / Associated Press

By NANCY ZUCKERBROD Associated Press
Published: 8/10/2008 2:29 AM
Last Modified: 8/10/2008 3:58 AM

Once in Britain, her daughter, 5, will likely have to play catch up.

LONDON — That's my girl, I thought, as Olivia tore away from us to join the other 5-year-olds for circle time — legs crossed, hand stick-straight in the air in response to the teacher's question about how the kids spent Father's Day.

My husband and I exchanged knowing glances, convinced that she was a shoo-in for admission, and left Olivia with her uniform-clad peers so we could tour the British prep school in the quaint red-brick Victorian building.

The e-mail came a week later. It asked us to please call the head teacher, the equivalent of a school principal in the United States.

We were back at home in Washington, D.C., thinking about what to store, ship and toss as we prepared for our family move to London. The change is a big one for all of us, but I didn't realize quite how different things would be for Olivia until that phone call.

The head teacher and I exchanged pleasantries, and then she laid it out. My daughter, who commonly invokes the Mandarin word for little brother and usually wins at the game hangman, has a significant "learning gap" when compared with her British peers — especially in literacy.

Dumbstruck, I said nothing at first and then started to protest, suggesting there had been a terrible misunderstanding — maybe even a language barrier. OK, that one didn't make sense. I took a deep breath and then remembered all that I had heard about the differences between early education in the two countries.

Britain has a national curriculum with specific goals, and schools there are rigorously inspected and evaluated. Most kids enter school at 4, instead of 5 as is the case here, and prekindergarten programs tend to be more academic than in the United States.

American programs are often more play-based than academically structured, and standards vary widely from state to state and between public and private settings.

It's not an open-and-shut case as to whether one country's approach is better than another. On a recent international reading test, U.S. fourth-graders and their peers from England had the same results.

They weren't all that impressive. Students from the two countries posted lower average scores than students in Russia, Hong Kong, Singapore, Luxembourg, Hungary, Italy and Sweden, along with several Canadian provinces.

In math, kids in the United Kingdom, which includes Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, outperformed their American peers on an international test given to 15-year-olds.

Back on the phone in Washington, I listened as the head teacher suggested sending Olivia back to a "nursery school," to a reception class, generally the British version of prekindergarten.

But Olivia is turning six this fall. We were being asked to put her with kids much closer in age to her 3 1/2-year-old brother than herself. That was not something she would swallow easily, and should we?

An e-mail from the school followed. It politely spelled out exactly what the kids in that school were expected to master by Olivia's age: telling time; fractions — whole, half, quarter and thirds; counting in 5's up to 50; reading books (something called the pink new level) and starting to write "news" independently.

I thought about Olivia's school experience over the last year. She planted basil seeds with her beloved pre-k teacher. She learned all about insects, drew a fantastic picture of Saturn, and she definitely mastered the monkey bars.

But she does not know how to tell time, isn't reading books on her own and fractions — even American kids in older grades, well into middle and high school are having massive trouble with those, according to a recent federal report.

Olivia went to a public school in Washington, among the few cities to offer free public pre-k. But even her friends who went to the city's most selective private schools aren't reading, telling time or computing fractions either.

OK, I admit it, I felt like a terrible mom. After all, as The Associated Press education writer, I spent tons of time thinking about reading and math instruction and know all about phonics and computation.

So I did what many other parents would do in this day and age. I turned to Amazon.com and typed in "Jolly Phonics," a reading program used in many British schools, to get some workbooks.

I even considered hiring a summer tutor and started counting aloud in twos when we climbed the stairs at home.

Then, I thought about it a bit more. Is it so bad that Olivia doesn't know how to write her "surname" independently and has to ask me if it's bedtime yet?

Is it OK that she was up to her elbows in glitter glue, while the little girls and boys she met during that school visit in London were doing the work of kids a grade or even two ahead of her in the United States?

Experts said the school I visited had exceptionally high academic standards but that Olivia would probably have to play catch up in almost any school in London. But Olivia still needed a place to park her book bag.

We were fortunate enough to secure a coveted spot in a state (our version of public) school that has a warm and wonderfully inviting Web site, not to mention fantastic test scores.

The kids don't wear crisp uniforms, but they probably can tell time and do more advanced maths (yes, it's plural in British-speak) than U.S. kids. So, Olivia may still be a little behind, OK maybe a lot behind, but maybe that's where we step in. After all, they say a child's most important teachers are his or her parents. By NANCY ZUCKERBROD Associated Press

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	Report Comment touitsmrs, (8/10/2008 9:04:25 AM) This is just another example of why US teachers should really think twice about their pay scale. They aren’t teaching our kids most of the time, just playing games and art. This should be a wakeup call for teachers in the US. I for one am getting sick of US children not being taught even half of what we were as children. God forbid one of those teachers misses their planning time though. Oklahoma has it even worse because we let people call themselves teachers with just a bachelor’s degree instead of a master’s degree, because that would cost too much money. When my daughter was 5 she started kindergarten and by the time she was in first grade I was called in for a parent teacher conference. It was explained to me that my daughter was dyslexic and I shouldn’t expect her to ever be able to keep up with the other children. The school had her tested without my knowledge and they were told by the experts that she did not have the IQ to learn. I took her out of public school until third grade and when I put her back in she was at a 12th grade reading level and 8th grade math level. She graduated High School with a 4.35GPA and Honors. I know of at least 49 other children that have similar stories. It’s time that Oklahoma and the US get their act together before we lose anymore ground.
	Report Comment cherry74129, Tulsa (8/10/2008 9:59:40 AM) I am disappointed in TPS. If I could afford a private school, I would pull my child out of TPS this minute. My experience with TPS teachers is, they say one thing to the parent, but do another with the child. For instance, I was told if the child needed one on one help from the teacher, they would get it. That is not true. TPS has this "No Child Left Behind" law. Well, guess what, there are children being left behind because they have changed their curriculum to appease the State. So, what happens to those kids that can't keep up? They either fail and repeat the same course, or they drop out of school. My child has been struggling ever since this law came into effect. I have struggled along with her trying to help her with homework and projects. And I don't like the fact that every time I turn around, she needs money for school for some kind of project, book, etc. I would also like to see uniforms in all TPS schools, especiallY High School!
	Report Comment Kel, Tulsa (8/10/2008 10:23:02 AM) Be careful Cherry the school admin will single your child out. Your child will be sent to TAC prison. At TAC the admin has Inmates brought from rader beat and threaten your child. TPS admin and some faculty are a gang of unionized hooligans out to destroy the lives of "singled out" students. TPS will plant drugs. set sting operations. anything but teach, advise and listen to you child. Be careful. and good luck
	Report Comment touitsmrs, (8/10/2008 10:45:35 AM) No Child Left Behind is a dumbing down of our schools, so I think you have that backwards. It means that they have to dumb school down for the slowest in the classroom. Perhaps your child is just bored as most are in Oklahoma. No Child Left Behind also means that when a child drops out of school they do not have to report it, so we are showing a very low drop out rate when the numbers are actually much higher. No Child Left Behind is the brain child of President Bush Jr., just more proof how retarded he can be. Our teachers are under educated so why wouldnt our students be the same?
	Report Comment touitsmrs, (8/10/2008 10:56:47 AM) Just google No CHild Left Behind Act and go to the wikipedia link . You might want to focus on the last half of the articles if you think Im wrong about the No Child Left Behind Act.
	Report Comment Rene Shepard, Tulsa (8/10/2008 12:59:50 PM) I'm sure there'll be something else to blame soon. God forbid we should be responsible for teaching our kids anything usefull. oops..did I say God? I'm sorry, didn't mean to offend anybody..I promise I'll try to be more politically correct next post.
	Report Comment touitsmrs, (8/10/2008 3:21:05 PM) "Blame"? Can you not read the facts? The US is "teaching to test" driven instead of teaching anything that is above minimum levels of learning. What dont you get about that? Teachers that are barely educated themselves will not be the ones to bring this problem to light because they dont even know what is missing.
	Report Comment touitsmrs, (8/10/2008 3:38:28 PM) Shows how much education matters in Oklahoma , only 5 people have commented and its late afternoon.
	Report Comment wk, (8/10/2008 6:45:58 PM) We have to spend more per student than where we rank today -- 45th-47th in the nation. It's not a priority of the citizens of Oklahoma so either vote the bums out or stop your complaining.
	Report Comment rastapirate, Tulsa (8/10/2008 7:22:27 PM) Well...I'm not one to comment but here it goes. My wife and I moved to Texas 7 years ago so that she could even find a teaching job. She couldn't find one here in Oklahoma. The state of Texas payed for her Masters degree. Now we come back to this state and for one, yes the pay does not match the position here. Two, Oklahoma's standards in what they want our children to know is not up to national standards. Three, schools and education is funded quite well in Texas so why can't Oklahoma figure out just what it's doing wrong. And you wonder why Oklahoma keeps asking the question..."why can't it retain it's teachers?" Well, take a look around you'll see. As far as the No Child left Behind..it's the most rediculous idea. Every child is not the same no matter what is taught to them. I've seen this first hand in the classroom. Every child is a gift from God and their skills and talents shouldn't ever be put on a chart and have them told they don't amount to nothing. I should know cause I was one of those "kids" and I've turned out great.
	Report Comment Fred, (8/10/2008 7:46:52 PM) This story was about the US preK ed. My wife and I did our pre-pre-K euducation. We read so much to our children from Richard Scarey and others that they both could read very well when they entered kindergarten. We used protracted sentences when we spoke to them during the time their brains were first forming words. So much can be done at home before these kids are placed in a pre-K environment. If you are wanting to have pre-K changed, it might be such a shock for kids to be drilled constantly and they might have a problem if they haven't been drilled constantly at home. Read to your kids and let them see you reading all the time. The "Tube " can be helpful and entertaining but it should not be the way the family learns. I laugh about it, but when my son started to read at three, he was kind of a problem for his kindergarten teacher who had the lesson instructions written on the bottom of her teachers sheet. He read the instructions and told the teacher that she was supposed to do things a certain way, but she had not followed the written instructions. He is not super bright, he had been read to and just started to read from the same books and then transferred this over to other books. Guys PLEASE read to your children and avoid short responses to them. "No, Shut up, quit it, Stop it, Yes, Good, Git, Go away, etc. should be replaced with longer sentences that are telling the child the same thing. In haste a "No" will get it done, but remember that you can explain things that still say "No", but it makes the child stretch its mind. Also, the little British robots that have to start school at age 4, don't take into account the children who are mentally ready for kindergarten but are not socially ready. These children should be held off a year until they are ready. I am not that impressed with the "Brits", anyway. Why aren't there any orthodontists in Great Briton. If they are there, why aren't they used?
	Report Comment thedomesticgodess, Eufaula (8/10/2008 10:32:48 PM) I sent my daughter to England to live with my mum for a semester to keep her company after my dad died she attend the local school she was 14. She was Salutatorian of 8th grade and high school and the deans list twice in college this last yr. She told me the British high school was so hard and had to have tutors to help her catch up with the other kids. But i will say in the American defence... British school are in longer than American schools... we have 6 week summer break we also start school the year you turn 5 and graduate the year you turn 16 so in your defence we are taught at a faster pace. So we come off ahead....
	Report Comment thedomesticgodess, Eufaula (8/10/2008 10:35:11 PM) just a note to Fred i dont slag off your country dont slag off mine..
	Report Comment tulsaokgirl, Tulsa (8/10/2008 11:08:54 PM) I don't where your children are going to school but my granddaughter that when to Barnard on 15th had to learn math, basic fractions. spelling and so much more. It wasn't like it was for people my age. They went to kindergarten and learned your abcs, count to a 100 and tie your shoes and know your address and phone number. My youngest son learned how to read when he was 4 and pronouced words that I couldn't. He missed having a perfect score on his act by 2 points at 16 and never studied for it. All 3 of my kids were a lot more intelligent than me. The key is to start reading to them when they are babies and teaching them things. Yes, I know all kids won't learn at the same level but I know so many young mothers that just sit the kids in front of the tv. I have a relative. Her 3 girls flunked kindergarten and first grade becaus e she was too lazy to ever help them. Thank God they finally caught up and one is in nursing school now and doing quite well. My sister had 6 kids and the only thing they worried about was how well they did in sports and would hire a tutor to help them make a passing grade. God help them if they didn't get to play football or wrestle. Well, they have labor jobs now and will never get too far financially thanks to their parents. How are kids suppose to learn if their parents don't teach them and they live in chaos. So many single women are having kids and bring a different man in the lives all the time. Yes, I know a lot of them. My nephew has 3 kids by 3 different girls. The first one was 16 and she gave the baby to him after a few months. The second one had her 2nd baby and lives at home and her parents support her and he got the 3rd one pregnant while the 2nd one was pregnant. It doesn't say much for him or the girls and not a lot of hope for the kids. Society doesn't say much about this either. It is ok for all the young teenage girls to get pregnant. People, think, well it isn't happening to me so I don't care. Well, alot of those kids will become dropouts and criminals and live off the welfare system. The state is so worried about taking away someone's consitutional rights by paying for sterilization if they want it but it is ok to pay them to have kids or fund planned parenthood in the hundreds of millons for abortions. There are so many kids on ADD medication because they are not disciplined. I had a friend that worked at the post office with me. She had a different father for the first 2 kids and they were shuffled off to different places while she was out drugging or bringing it home then she got married and had two more. They fought constantly in from of all the kids, drank and smoked pot while going to church on Sundays. There was no question why the two kids especially the boy had a problem. Her nice husband finally told her to put him away in a boys home or he would leave her. The nice women did what he said. The boy is extremely screwed up, doesn't know who his real father is and his stepfather didn't want him. I didn't stay friends with her after she got rid of her 13 year old son because of a man. God help us all. The world is a screwed up place and the kids are paying for it.
	Report Comment tulsaokgirl, Tulsa (8/10/2008 11:11:12 PM) OH, a women I know that was a kindegarten teacher in some school on the Northside said she would get cursed out by the little kids. Five year olds saying the f world to a teacher. You can't blame that on the kids
	Report Comment LoveTulsa, (8/10/2008 11:31:24 PM) Well if I ever decide to move to Britain, this story might mean something to me.
	Report Comment ValerieD, (8/11/2008 12:58:38 AM) 1. Not all public schools in Oklahoma are like TPS. My son goes to a small school and it's a great learning environment. 2. No Child Left Behind is just another one of Bush's hairbrained ideas. 3. What is the education level of all the posters who are belittling the education of our state's teachers? 4. Why are the schools now expected to do everything? Aren't parents supposed to have any hand in raising their children? We blame the teachers when the kids can't read, we change the lunch menus when the kids are too fat, and we blame the whole system when they have sex. HELLO people, read to your kids, make them get off their butts (you could get off yours too,) and spend some time talking to them. My parent's read to me and I was reading at a third grade level when I started kindergarten. My dad read stories to me from Popular Science and we watched Nature and Nova every time they were on. My parent's didn't let me have video games, I played outside and read books, and my parents talked to me about my behavior and its consequences. I guess that's just too much to ask nowdays. Parents now are too busy pointing fingers to actually raise their kids. 5. tulsaokgirl--you seem to associate with a lot of unscrupulous people, I wonder what that says about your lifestyle. Oh, and if you would do your research I think you would find that Planned Parenthood actually aims to raise awareness and PREVENT unwanted pregnancies and disease.
	Report Comment InquiringMinds, (8/11/2008 12:39:41 PM) TPS is a joke. It's fine for kids that are in the "norm", but not so for children in need. My daughter is gifted. She is extremely intelligent. In third grade her reading and comprehension tested at the 16 year-old level. In 7th grade she tested at the 11th grade level. Once my daughter hit middle school she struggled more and more. I tried to get help for her through the school system, showed them information on gifted children with learning disabilities, but they just shrugged it off. The teachers couldn't seem to comprehend that gifted intelligent children could have learning disabilities. I had a choice go through the red tape and long length of time to POSSIBLY get my daughter help (IEP) or pull her out. I pulled her out and placed her in a private school, where she is excelling. I'm always worried that I won't be able to keep her in private school. I can't afford it, with financial aid it's a struggle every month to pay the tuition, but sending her back to TPS is not an option. I'd rather home school while working fulltime. I've been chastised for taking my child out of public school. Said I was turning my back on the other students. TPS turned its back on my child and left her BEHIND. I'm a single-mother dedicated to her daughter. I was 25 when I had her & married to her father at the time. I graduated with a Bachelors Degree, Sigma Cum Laude. I read to my daughter from infancy. I didn't baby talk with her. As a toddler we would hold long conversations, and this still continues with her as a teenager. So where was my failure ValerieD, tulsaokgirl?
	Report Comment InquiringMinds, (8/11/2008 1:25:20 PM) I would also like to add, ValarieD, my daughter's favorite channels are Discover, Animal Planet, PBS and the History Channel - which we watch together many times. She's into arts not sports. She does however have video games, which I don't think there is anything wrong with them as long as your given a time limit and not playing them mindlessly for hours. My daughter is very aware of bad behavior and its consequences. The teacher's complaints where never regarding bad behavior, only her performance.
	Report Comment Eaglefamn9999, Tulsa (8/11/2008 1:52:27 PM) To InquiringMinds -- There is no reason for you to try and BS people on this site. If you really received a Bachelor's Degree with honors, you should know how to spell and pronounce the Honor. It is spelled / pronounced Summa Cum Laude, not Sigma Cum Laude. This is just a sign of typical Oklahoma Education, or as you would probably say "Educashun"!!
	Report Comment InquiringMinds, (8/11/2008 2:08:19 PM) Eaglefamn999 - I stand corrected, Summa Cum Laude. Is that all you took from my comment? Sad.
	Report Comment InquiringMinds, (8/11/2008 2:15:58 PM) EagleFamn999...........9 is that my failure? I spelt / pronounced a work incorrectly? If failure comes that easy there is not hope for our children.
	Report Comment InquiringMinds, (8/11/2008 2:53:57 PM) *WORD
	Report Comment Fred, (8/12/2008 12:23:13 AM) InquiringMinds, Please send your child to BTW if she/he can test in. If she/he is as sharp as you say, get in touch with Holland Hall and see if he/she will qualify for their scholarship which is available. Please check these out. every BTW student I have ever seen our worked with, were the most rounded students and most prepared students I have ever seen. Holland Hall is super too. I have worked with both.

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