 OPINION
 THE RECORD
A different March madness - in our schools
Monday, March 20, 2006
By JAMES F. BATTAGLIA
A contract between teacher and learner is in jeopardy due to the tendencies of politicians.
THIS MONTH, millions of children across the United States will be sitting down to take standardized tests as mandated by the No Child Left Behind Law -- a law that translates annual test scores by grade into federal funding and sanctions of schools.
As a psychologist who regularly administers individualized standardized tests to children, I value the role of test scores as one tool in the assessment of a child's learning.
However, this law goes too far by making standardized testing the only assessment tool at specified grade levels -- a point continuously made by the watchdog group, The National Center for Fair and Open Testing, among others.
Because this law inserts itself in the relationship between teacher and student, it is squeezing the soul out of our educational system. Soon, students and their No. 2 pencils will be unwitting players in our country's other "March Madness," and students and teachers are destined to lose.
As a child, I went to school for two main reasons: First, and foremost, because my parents said so, and then, over time, because I valued learning as a means to become a better person.
An unspoken contract was present between my teachers and me: they did their best to teach me and I did my best to learn. For me, schooling became a quasi-spiritual journey toward what Abraham Maslow called self-actualization. Teachers were my guides.
Now that contract between teacher and learner is in jeopardy due to the oversimplifying tendencies of politicians in their doling out of resources and status.
Teachers were once given license to instill in children a love of learning in immeasurable ways. My teachers showed me how to immerse myself in the lives of people I never met in places I had never been during times I had never lived.
Ultimately, my own self-understanding was enhanced by encountering the steely resolve of Hester Prynne, the self-defeating vengeance of Madame Defarge, and the catastrophic innocence of Lennie Small.
A crucial mission of teachers, to quench children's thirst for learning by instilling in them a love of reading, writing and more, cannot survive this law. Neither the love of teaching nor the love of learning can flourish at the end of the barrel of a gun.
Everyone agrees that teachers and schools should be held accountable. However, the politicians' exclusive focus on test scores is not practiced outside of the field of education.
For example, employers know that an employee is more than a single score on a single test-- that's why the job interview exists. In addition to test scores, job recruiters are interested in other intangibles such as problem-solving skills, organizational ability and willingness to work as part of a team. The idea of alternate forms of assessment seems to be lost on politicians supporting this law.
If these politicians were to talk to psychologists they would learn that vast complexity is simplified when numbers are assigned to abstract concepts. The history of the concept of intelligence is replete with varying theories of intelligence, tasks to measure it, and statistical formulas to calculate it.
We know that our assessment tools are, at best, imperfect and that intelligence is more than a single score. Yet, educators and politicians see no problem in reifying their annual crop of education scores.
Sting sang, "Poets, priests and politicians have words to thank for their commissions." But today's politicians are also indebted to flawed numbers that they consider to be, well, flawless.
If our politicians were to run the NCAA basketball tournament using this approach, the tournament would be thrown into crisis. The playing of messy, unpredictable games would be scrapped in favor of a simple foul-shooting contest or, worse, a written test on the rules of the game. The politicians would still get the numbers they like to crow about, but basketball would be stripped of its excitement, passion and individuality.
This is what is happening in classrooms across the country, and it is creating the other March Madness.
But this one is no game.
It is time to leave behind No Child Left Behind.
James F. Battaglia, a psychologist living in Fair Lawn, is director of AIMRoom Services, an educational program for students with disabilities. For more information, see theaimroom.com
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BY YVONNE CHILIK WOLLENBERG
Todd used to cry for two or three hours at homework time every night when he was in elementary school. Homework was agony for Todd and his mother, who spent most of her evenings coaxing – and pressuring – him through his assignments. “His homework became my homework,” she says of working with her son, who has learning disabilities. “I didn’t have time for anything else, or his younger brother and sister. It was a horrible time.”
For families with children who struggle academically, especially those with learning disabilities, homework frequently has a disruptive effect on family life, and upsets relationships between children and parents, says a 2003 study published in Current Issues in Education.
When children take two, three, or even four hours to get through an assignment that was designed to take 20 minutes, when they need a parent sitting next to them the entire time, coaxing them through the process, homework can become unbearable.
“You start to feel like the homework cop, checking their assignments every day, making sure they brought home the right book, and then nagging and pushing them all night,” says one mother, whose 11-year-old son has recently been diagnosed with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder.
NEW KIND OF HELP FOR HOMEWORK HELL
The AIM (Academic Independence Mastery) Room, a new learning center in Fair Lawn, will open a homework clinic this fall that will be available to any interested families, to help end the battles.
“We want the kids no one else wants to deal with,” says James Battaglia, a psychologist and AIM director. “Some schools have afternoon homework programs, but we are designed for the classified students, those with dyslexia, or dysgraphia, or math disabilities.”
For a monthly fee, families will be able to send their children to the center, which will be staffed with psychologists and certified special education teachers to help them get the work done.
“When children struggle with homework, it can have a negative affect on their relationship with their mom, who usually does homework duty,” says Battaglia. “This gives them a break, gives mom a bit of a respite.”
It’s also designed to help classified children learn to do their homework independently.
“The program is designed to help them master academic independence, so they can do the work on their own,” he says.
Students can bring their assignments to the AIM room, where they can get help with academic and organizational skills. The teachers can coach students through long-term assignments, such as reports and papers.
The program is open to elementary, middle and high school students, and will be staffed from 3:30 to 7:30 p.m. Psychologists and other professionals will assess each student to determine their educational needs, and develop a learning plan. Parents will get a monthly progress report. For more information, call 201/796-1332.
DEALING WITH HOMEWORK BATTLES
To cope with homework wars on the home front, parents should set a time limit. If the work can’t get done in a reasonable amount of time, ask the school to make accommodations.
“You don’t want to spend four hours a night on homework with a third grader,” says Battaglia. “If it’s a big problem, contact the school. Maybe your child can have reduced homework. Instead of copying 12 sentences, maybe he can copy six.”
Picking the right time for homework is also important, says a homework guide posted at www.SchwabLearning.org, a learning disabilities Web site sponsored by the Charles and Helen Schwab Foundation.
Don’t expect your son to dive right into homework after playing a favorite video game. Instead, gradually move him from a fun activity to something less enjoyable, like bringing in the mail or setting the table for dinner. The method is called “behavioral momentum” which involves slowly transitioning from tasks that are not too hard to something that is really challenging, like homework. You want to build on the momentum of compliance.
Then follow homework with something pleasurable, like that favorite video game. Letting your child chose a favorite activity after doing homework gives her motivation to finish the work. Taking a bath and going to bed usually isn’t a good reward for doing something hard.
BE FLEXIBLE
Homework should give your child the opportunity to practice what she’s learned in school, not teach new concepts or skills, says SchwabLearning.org.
“There are alternate ways for a child to demonstrate her grasp of the material,” says Battaglia. “For example, instead of expecting a child with writing disabilities to generate an essay, which would be unfair, let her use a tape recorder. She can dictate her essay, and then listen to it while writing down what she said.”
You can also make your own accommodations at home.
“Todd had trouble copying problems out of his book, so for grammar exercises, I would print the sentences for him, and he would correct them. I sort of made a workbook for him,” says his mom.
Anna has trouble doing math problems that are crowded on a sheet of paper with other problems.
“She would get lost, and then get frustrated. But when I write each problem, one at a time, on a small chalkboard, she can do the work much easier. That works even better than writing each problem on a sheet of paper. For some reason, it’s easier for her to work on a chalkboard than paper,” says her mother.
“When she gets tired with that, I start using colored chalk,”
For long writing assignments, Todd’s mother started taking down his dictation. If he had to write a paragraph, “I’d write down his words. It was hard not to change it around to improve it, but I made myself just be his scribe,” she said. “Then I’d write the teacher a note that the work was dictated by Todd, and sign it.”
Eric’s mom said she learned to be more flexible about how and where he did his homework.
“At first I insisted he do his homework at the kitchen table, where I could keep an eye on him, just like all the experts suggested. But reminding him to sit up straight, and keep his head up, just made homework into a battle ground. One day, in frustration, I let him just do his homework anyway he wanted to. He did it lying down on the couch, with the TV on, and it actually worked better. He says the TV helps filter out household noise, like his baby sister crying,” she says.
Yvonne Chilik Wollenberg of Teaneck is a writer and mother of three.
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