[G.Mason]

Intelligence ...

The ability to go to school, stay in school and after graduation, get a job working for a school, gathering useless information on mundane subjects, placing that information in gigantic text books and otherwise convincing people that without their insightful studies there would be no common sense.

[Dahoser]

At Boca Ciega, the selected students watched a video showing how to overcome stereotype threat. The freshmen they picked at Gibbs watched a video explaining how the brain works and how knowledge is acquired regardless of race.

Oh really? Well, wake me when they're done watching the video showing how being smart is not acting white. Then we'll talk.

[TXnMA]

Excuses, excuses...

Go to the root cause:

Fix the "Smarts is a whitey thing..." culture -- and you've solved the problem.

[Logophile]

A lack of skills - a result of factors ranging from indifferent parenting to inadequate teaching - represents "the lion's share" of the achievement gap, he said.

Imagine that.

[metesky]

Maybe if the educrat scum would forget about dividing everybody by race and started treating everyone as the individuals they are, this crap would disappear.

[KarinG1]

They should stop making those kids mark their race on the test forms. That would end the discrimination and ensure fair results. They don't what? Never mind.

[ClaudiusI]

"A frog with no legs cannot hear" ping.

[bjc]

Interesting article. If the math test used was "grade-level" appropriate then these results are very interesting. If they test was pitched at a lower level, then what we see is an "effort" effect. The latter is certainly important in any discussion of the achievement gap as measured in standardized tests, but should not be be mistaken for actual differences in mastery which will reflect more systemic issues, such as, the level of math courses taken.

Unfortunately the article gives no information on the actual pass rate of white or black students on the author's test. (A strong design would be the content from an actual FCT.)

I would be interested in seeing the actual article. I tried Googling to find the original article but there seems to be no copy on the Net.

[Bernard]

So what happened to the third group, where the kids were told black kids would do better than white kids? How did that turn out?

[starbase]

They told members of the first group their performances would show how well they might do on the 10th-grade math FCAT but said nothing about how students of different races might score.

For the second group, the researchers did not mention the FCAT, instead suggesting students' scores would not vary by race.

I would like to see exactly what was said to each group. The above description, rather than an exact transcript, of what words the experiment used, leaves a lot of room for researchers to get whatever results they went to the high school to get, if they had been so inclined.

[razorback-bert]

Black students in the first group scored far worse than white students. In the second group, without any mention of the high-stakes test, black students and white students scored nearly the same.

How bad is far worse and close is nearly?

Could it be 12% is worse(double digit) and 9%(single digit) is nearly?

Isn't it the same people studying this, who are the ones screaming that the test are baised?

[tsomer]

"We don't think this is going to save the world," Jones said. "But you have to get students thinking about what it means to be intelligent."

I'm not claiming the screwls are the culprit, but the larger problem is that intelligence has become the exclusive measure of worth, the only real standard of achievement, and the only goal provided to kids. Courage, integrity, honesty, modesty, respect, industry-- all of these have diminished. We've erected a new god: a characature of Einstein.

Most believe intelligence is innate. Achievement is equated with intelligence. Those who do not perform well see little in themselves to warrant the effort to do better.

[wintertime]

For the second group, the researchers did not mention the FCAT, instead suggesting students' scores would not vary by race. ( from the article)

To All:

So.....I wonder. Were the parents informed of this little experiment? Were they given a permission form to sign explaining the risks and possible outcomes?

I doubt it!

Government school students are treated worse than many experimental animals.

This "experiment" was CHILD ABUSE!

[Katya]

Let's assume there is validity to this argument....why on earth are they telling third graders they're apt to underperform because of their race? Unlike high schoolers who "may" hear this in the media...I doubt if an 8 year old would unless their leftist teachers are setting them up.

[Katya]

ping