This visual helps to reveal change over time in a system that operates
on age groups as those individuals go through the system. Two issues: 1) In
2000, some Texas districts began “mandating minimum grades—typically a 50”. 2) In
2001, No Child Left Behind also
became law. For the motivation for sketching this, click here.
Notice how this change that started in 2000 plays out over the following
years, especially with the key years for the basics of evidence in the 6th, 7th, and 8th
grades. Examples:
§ Starts college (and, if 18, voting) - Students who experienced their 6th, 7th, and 8th grades before the changed system started in 2000
Assumption “that the absence of
immediately obvious negative effects meant that correct measures had been
taken” Dietrich Dörner, The Logic of Failure, p. 18 |
§ Starts college (and, if 18, voting) - Students who experienced developmental years of their 6th, 7th, and 8th grades after the changed system started in 2000 – For one instructor’s experience with students in Fall 2008, click here.
§
Starts college (and, if 18, voting) – Students who
experienced their 6th, 7th, and 8th grades after the
2010 court ruling blocking districts’ policies that mandated teachers to
give 50% as a minimum grade—but the reality is systems do not change that fast (More) and the
policy of “teaching to the test”[2]
remains.
Student |
2000 |
2001 |
2002 |
2003 |
2004 |
2005 |
2006 |
2007 |
2008 |
2009 |
2010 STOPPED |
2011 |
2012 |
2013 |
2014 |
2015 |
2016 |
2017 |
2018 |
12th grade |
Starts college |
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Ú |
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11th grade |
12th grade |
Starts college |
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Ú |
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10th grade |
11th grade |
12th grade |
Starts college |
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Ú |
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9th grade |
10th grade |
11th grade |
12th grade |
Starts college |
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Ú |
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8th grade |
9th grade |
10th grade |
11th grade |
12th grade |
Starts college |
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Ú |
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7th grade |
8th grade |
9th grade |
10th grade |
11th grade |
12th grade |
Starts college |
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Ú |
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6th grade |
7th grade |
8th grade |
9th grade |
10th grade |
11th grade |
12th grade |
Starts college |
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Ú |
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5th grade |
6th grade |
7th grade |
8th grade |
9th grade |
10th grade |
11th grade |
12th grade |
Starts college |
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Ú |
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4th grade |
5th grade |
6th grade |
7th grade |
8th grade |
9th grade |
10th grade |
11th grade |
12th grade |
Starts college |
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Ú |
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3rd grade |
4th grade |
5th grade |
6th grade |
7th grade |
8th grade |
9th grade |
10th grade |
11th grade |
12th grade |
Starts college |
Ú |
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2nd grade |
3rd grade |
4th grade |
5th grade |
6th grade |
7th grade |
8th grade |
9th grade |
10th grade |
11th grade |
12th grade |
Starts college |
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1st grade |
2nd grade |
3rd grade |
4th grade |
5th grade |
6th grade |
7th grade |
8th grade |
9th grade |
10th grade |
11th grade |
12th grade |
Starts college |
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- |
1st grade |
2nd grade |
3rd grade |
4th grade |
5th grade |
6th grade |
7th grade |
8th grade |
9th grade |
10th grade |
11th grade |
12th grade |
Starts college |
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- |
- |
1st grade |
2nd grade |
3rd grade |
4th grade |
5th grade |
6th grade |
7th grade |
8th grade |
9th grade |
10th grade |
11th grade |
12th grade |
Starts college |
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- |
- |
- |
1st grade |
2nd grade |
3rd grade |
4th grade |
5th grade |
6th grade |
7th grade |
8th grade |
9th grade |
10th grade |
11th grade |
12th grade |
Starts college |
|
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- |
- |
- |
- |
1st grade |
2nd grade |
3rd grade |
4th grade |
5th grade |
6th grade |
7th grade |
8th grade |
9th grade |
10th grade |
11th grade |
12th grade |
Starts college |
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- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
1st grade |
2nd grade |
3rd grade |
4th grade |
5th grade |
6th grade |
7th grade |
8th grade |
9th grade |
10th grade |
11th grade |
12th grade |
Starts college |
|
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- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
1st grade |
2nd grade |
3rd grade |
4th grade |
5th grade |
6th grade |
7th grade |
8th grade |
9th grade |
10th grade |
11th grade |
12th grade |
Starts college |
|
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
1st grade |
2nd grade |
3rd grade |
4th grade |
5th grade |
6th grade |
7th grade |
8th grade |
9th grade |
10th grade |
11th grade |
12th grade |
Starts college |
Learning by accident about the districts’ policy explained what had
looked unexplainable: a sudden increase in 2008 of a problem—an increase that
seems to become the new norm:
§
Students passively copied words, either outright
plagiarism or what The Bedford Handbook describes
as “half-copy” plagiarism.
§
These students also
had another trait in common: they misread and had numerous factual errors.
§
Finally, these students were certain—even indignant
in their certainty—that they were right about what the world wanted.
Turning a piece of notebook paper on its side and logging in pencil what
is now typed in the table revealed the pattern. The students who were
graduating from high school when the new policies started did not seem
different in skills from those from the prior years. The students in 2008 who
seemed to become the new norm did
have something in common: They were the first to have experienced the 6th,
7th, and 8th grades under the new system. For many of us
as students, these were the years when teachers made sure we had mastered the
basics of what is plagiarism, what is a reliable source, and what is evidence.
These students seem to have missed “telling” feedback. Dörner’s work explains
the need for such feedback and the rise of “magical” hypotheses when people do
not receive it. For examples of our students’ “magical” hypotheses, click here.
The report Are U.S. Students Ready
to Compete? at http://educationnext.org/are-u-s-students-ready-to-compete/
comments on this time frame for change:
“a 20-year delay before any school reform is completed and the newly
proficient students begin their working careers.”
Copyright 2010-2012 C. J. Bibus, Ed.D. |
WCJC Department: |
History – Dr. Bibus |
Contact Information: |
281.239.1577 or bibusc@wcjc.edu |
Last Updated: |
2012 - 6/04 |
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