Denise Oen | The University of Georgia (original) (raw)
Papers by Denise Oen
Education reformers attempt to change teaching practices and student outcomes by tinkering with k... more Education reformers attempt to change teaching practices and student outcomes by tinkering with key elements in schools – they change class sizes, they increase or decrease the amount of time spent in certain activities, they specify curriculum and they work to upgrade teacher knowledge – all to make learning more effective. In the current reform context, the metric used for efficacy is student achievement on measures of knowledge. For example, increases in the proportion of students performing at or above grade level proficiency level are used as markers of the effectiveness of particular literacy practices, of investments in staffing for class size reduction, of special summer programs. Increasingly, our understandings of schooling and children are confined to these measures of student outcomes. These measures are important, much as mile markers tell us how far we’ve gone on a road trip. However, they tell only one part of the story and could be complemented by other ways of knowi...
Perspectives on CSR 2 Gov. Jeb Bush on Monday abandoned his effort to repeal Florida's popul... more Perspectives on CSR 2 Gov. Jeb Bush on Monday abandoned his effort to repeal Florida's popular class size amendment and unveiled a scaled-back plan that also increases teacher pay. Conceding that repealing the amendment would be difficult, Bush asked lawmakers to put a measure before voters that would essentially freeze the caps on class sizes to the current standard. That would give school districts more flexibility, he said.(James & Johnson, 2005) The governor's proposal to increase state funding for public education wouldn't solve all of the Madison School District's budget woes, but it would provide significant help in dealing with an estimated shortfall of 6millionto6 million to 6millionto8 million next year, Superintendent Art Rainwater said. The district would gain an added $1.3 million for the Student Achievement Guarantee in Education program, which limits class sizes in kindergarten through third grade to an average of 15 students. Doyle wants to raise the reimbursement ...
Education reformers attempt to change teaching practices and student outcomes by tinkering with k... more Education reformers attempt to change teaching practices and student outcomes by tinkering with key elements in schools -they change class sizes, they increase or decrease the amount of
Both class size reduction and assessment can improve of instructional quality and student outcome... more Both class size reduction and assessment can improve of instructional quality and student outcomes. In this paper we consider how these two resources come together in Wisconsin's Student Achievement Guarantee in Education (SAGE) program, a policy widely viewed as a class size reduction initiative.
American Educational Research Journal, 2007
At the beginning of the day, 33 kindergartners stream into Room 23. Mrs. Alcott heads to the rock... more At the beginning of the day, 33 kindergartners stream into Room 23. Mrs. Alcott heads to the rocking chair and Mrs. Turnquist stands by the door warmly greeting parents and children. Those on the rug begin the morning routine. Mrs. Alcott: Good morning Janelle. Janelle: Good morning Mrs. Alcott, I'm having hot lunch. Mrs. Alcott marks the attendance and lunch count on the office sheet. But more importantly, she gives each child a greeting and a sweet smile. With 33 children, this can take a while, especially if impatient five year olds have something to say. After greetings, they write an equation on the board to represent the number of cold and hot lunches, and the total number of children present today. Today there are 21 kids eating hot lunch. Mrs. Alcott: 21 -same as yesterday! Mrs. Turnquist, can I give this to you? (Mrs. Turnquist comes from her desk and takes the form to put it on the door). OK on your bottoms and look up here. The helper today has 2 c's in a row. Think about your name and spell it in your mind. I'll give you a clue. It's a girl. Becca comes up, writes her name on the message, then leads the group in the calendar activity. They then move on to the morning message. The group is beginning to wiggle a bit. They've been sitting for 20 minutes. Mrs. Turnquist is going through take-home folders at the back table. Mrs. Alcott: I wrote another story last night -this one is a little longer. She brings out a large pad with a story written in red marker. They talk about how the story has nicknames in it and then they identify words in the story. Marla comes up and looks at the story, a bewildered look on her face. Mrs. Alcott: Do you know what that word is? The wisdom of class size reduction 4 Someone calls out, "Annie!" Mrs. Alcott: I want Marla to do it. How about this one? It's on our word wall. Mrs. Alcott continues to call on children to identify words they know -5 more in all. Paul has his foot next to Jimmy's face. Jimmy ignores him. The group reads the story. Children scoot closer to the easel. Mrs. Alcott helps them read, making connections to word wall words, their names, and words they have seen before. Mrs. Turnquist comes to sit at the back of the group to help focus the reading. Children have things they want to say, and Mrs. Alcott tries to get to everyone. Waiting is hard. Mrs. Alcott separates children who are disrupting the group. They talk about quotation marks and find three places where they need to be inserted into the story. Mrs. Alcott: Nice job. Let's get ready to do book boxes. It's now 9:15; 45 minutes into the school day and children are called five at a time for the next activity. Earhart Kindergarten Rapidly Improving Pupil teacher ratio for this activity: 33:1 Official class size: 34:2
Educational Policy, 2009
Education program (SAGE), a multidimensional program popularly known for its class size reduction... more Education program (SAGE), a multidimensional program popularly known for its class size reduction component. One of SAGE's elements is a lighted schoolhouse initiative that is aimed to strengthen the links between home and school. We were interested in finding out how class size reduction and family strengthening reforms come together in the experiences of families whose lives had been touched by the program. Drawing on family focus groups held at nine SAGE schools we use Bakhtin's tools of addressivity and answerability to explore how families constructed locally specific identities within particular community contexts. Family discussions focused on responding to needs: family social needs, the need for social connection, and perceived answerability felt by families for their community. We suggest that schools would be more successful in building relationships if they used the potential power promised in class size reduction programs and developed programming focused on the needs and resources of families in particular communities rather than imagining a generic, one size fits all model of parents.
Education reformers attempt to change teaching practices and student outcomes by tinkering with k... more Education reformers attempt to change teaching practices and student outcomes by tinkering with key elements in schools – they change class sizes, they increase or decrease the amount of time spent in certain activities, they specify curriculum and they work to upgrade teacher knowledge – all to make learning more effective. In the current reform context, the metric used for efficacy is student achievement on measures of knowledge. For example, increases in the proportion of students performing at or above grade level proficiency level are used as markers of the effectiveness of particular literacy practices, of investments in staffing for class size reduction, of special summer programs. Increasingly, our understandings of schooling and children are confined to these measures of student outcomes. These measures are important, much as mile markers tell us how far we’ve gone on a road trip. However, they tell only one part of the story and could be complemented by other ways of knowi...
Perspectives on CSR 2 Gov. Jeb Bush on Monday abandoned his effort to repeal Florida's popul... more Perspectives on CSR 2 Gov. Jeb Bush on Monday abandoned his effort to repeal Florida's popular class size amendment and unveiled a scaled-back plan that also increases teacher pay. Conceding that repealing the amendment would be difficult, Bush asked lawmakers to put a measure before voters that would essentially freeze the caps on class sizes to the current standard. That would give school districts more flexibility, he said.(James & Johnson, 2005) The governor's proposal to increase state funding for public education wouldn't solve all of the Madison School District's budget woes, but it would provide significant help in dealing with an estimated shortfall of 6millionto6 million to 6millionto8 million next year, Superintendent Art Rainwater said. The district would gain an added $1.3 million for the Student Achievement Guarantee in Education program, which limits class sizes in kindergarten through third grade to an average of 15 students. Doyle wants to raise the reimbursement ...
Education reformers attempt to change teaching practices and student outcomes by tinkering with k... more Education reformers attempt to change teaching practices and student outcomes by tinkering with key elements in schools -they change class sizes, they increase or decrease the amount of
Both class size reduction and assessment can improve of instructional quality and student outcome... more Both class size reduction and assessment can improve of instructional quality and student outcomes. In this paper we consider how these two resources come together in Wisconsin's Student Achievement Guarantee in Education (SAGE) program, a policy widely viewed as a class size reduction initiative.
American Educational Research Journal, 2007
At the beginning of the day, 33 kindergartners stream into Room 23. Mrs. Alcott heads to the rock... more At the beginning of the day, 33 kindergartners stream into Room 23. Mrs. Alcott heads to the rocking chair and Mrs. Turnquist stands by the door warmly greeting parents and children. Those on the rug begin the morning routine. Mrs. Alcott: Good morning Janelle. Janelle: Good morning Mrs. Alcott, I'm having hot lunch. Mrs. Alcott marks the attendance and lunch count on the office sheet. But more importantly, she gives each child a greeting and a sweet smile. With 33 children, this can take a while, especially if impatient five year olds have something to say. After greetings, they write an equation on the board to represent the number of cold and hot lunches, and the total number of children present today. Today there are 21 kids eating hot lunch. Mrs. Alcott: 21 -same as yesterday! Mrs. Turnquist, can I give this to you? (Mrs. Turnquist comes from her desk and takes the form to put it on the door). OK on your bottoms and look up here. The helper today has 2 c's in a row. Think about your name and spell it in your mind. I'll give you a clue. It's a girl. Becca comes up, writes her name on the message, then leads the group in the calendar activity. They then move on to the morning message. The group is beginning to wiggle a bit. They've been sitting for 20 minutes. Mrs. Turnquist is going through take-home folders at the back table. Mrs. Alcott: I wrote another story last night -this one is a little longer. She brings out a large pad with a story written in red marker. They talk about how the story has nicknames in it and then they identify words in the story. Marla comes up and looks at the story, a bewildered look on her face. Mrs. Alcott: Do you know what that word is? The wisdom of class size reduction 4 Someone calls out, "Annie!" Mrs. Alcott: I want Marla to do it. How about this one? It's on our word wall. Mrs. Alcott continues to call on children to identify words they know -5 more in all. Paul has his foot next to Jimmy's face. Jimmy ignores him. The group reads the story. Children scoot closer to the easel. Mrs. Alcott helps them read, making connections to word wall words, their names, and words they have seen before. Mrs. Turnquist comes to sit at the back of the group to help focus the reading. Children have things they want to say, and Mrs. Alcott tries to get to everyone. Waiting is hard. Mrs. Alcott separates children who are disrupting the group. They talk about quotation marks and find three places where they need to be inserted into the story. Mrs. Alcott: Nice job. Let's get ready to do book boxes. It's now 9:15; 45 minutes into the school day and children are called five at a time for the next activity. Earhart Kindergarten Rapidly Improving Pupil teacher ratio for this activity: 33:1 Official class size: 34:2
Educational Policy, 2009
Education program (SAGE), a multidimensional program popularly known for its class size reduction... more Education program (SAGE), a multidimensional program popularly known for its class size reduction component. One of SAGE's elements is a lighted schoolhouse initiative that is aimed to strengthen the links between home and school. We were interested in finding out how class size reduction and family strengthening reforms come together in the experiences of families whose lives had been touched by the program. Drawing on family focus groups held at nine SAGE schools we use Bakhtin's tools of addressivity and answerability to explore how families constructed locally specific identities within particular community contexts. Family discussions focused on responding to needs: family social needs, the need for social connection, and perceived answerability felt by families for their community. We suggest that schools would be more successful in building relationships if they used the potential power promised in class size reduction programs and developed programming focused on the needs and resources of families in particular communities rather than imagining a generic, one size fits all model of parents.