<html><head></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 20px/normal 'Helvetica Neue'; color: rgb(19, 36, 167); "><span style="text-decoration: underline ; letter-spacing: 0.0px"><a href="http://dianeravitch.net/2012/09/06/kids-know-how-to-game-the-system/"><b>Kids Know How to Game the System</b></a></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 16px/normal 'Helvetica Neue'; color: rgb(19, 36, 167); "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px color: #888888">by <span style="text-decoration: underline ; letter-spacing: 0.0px color: #1324a7"><a href="http://dianeravitch.net/author/dianerav/">dianerav</a></span></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 16px/normal 'Helvetica Neue'; color: rgb(19, 36, 167); "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px color: #888888"><br></span></div><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 14.0px 0.0px; line-height: 19.0px; font: 14.0px 'Horley Old Style MT'; color: #444444"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4">A reader sent this comment:</font></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 14.0px 0.0px; line-height: 19.0px; font: 14.0px 'Horley Old Style MT'; color: #444444"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><i><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4">Here is my take. Our school in NYC used an online, computer based reading program for the first time last year. Some of our <b>students were clocked in as reading 600 articles and having their lexile scores increase by 4 grade levels.</b> At the end of the year, the representatives from the program came to the school and gave an assembly for all of the students who participated; giving out prizes and accolades to the most prolific readers. One student in particular kept going up to the stage to receive accolade after accolade. NYS’s ELA and Math scores recently came in, and guess what?—she did not show any growth from last year.</font></i></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 14.0px 0.0px; line-height: 19.0px; font: 14.0px 'Horley Old Style MT'; color: #444444"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"><i>Here's the problem: When I observed the students who were clocking in an inordinate number of articles, </i><b><i>I noticed that they were just answering the questions in order to get the “rewards” that the system gave out.</i></b><i> I asked them why they weren’t reading the articles. Their response was that it was boring. You see, it’s like a video game. They are doing it for the rewards that the system produces; <b>not for the enjoyment of reading.</b></i></font></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 14.0px 0.0px; line-height: 19.0px; font: 14.0px 'Horley Old Style MT'; color: #444444"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><i><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"> There is always room to game the system. Ask any video game player about </font></i></span><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 14px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 19px; font: normal normal normal 14px/normal 'Horley Old Style MT'; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); display: inline !important; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"><i>“cheats”</i></font></span></p><i><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"> and they will tell you. Kids will always find a way to game the system. Online publishers will always find ways to game the system as well.</font></i></p><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 20px; font: normal normal normal 14px/normal 'Helvetica Neue'; color: rgb(19, 36, 167); "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"><span style="text-decoration: underline; letter-spacing: 0px; "><a href="http://dianeravitch.net/author/dianerav/"><b>dianerav</b></a></span> | September 6, 2012 at 10:48 am | Categories: <a href="http://dianeravitch.net/?cat=31779"><span style="text-decoration: underline ; letter-spacing: 0.0px color: #1324a7">Accountability</span></a>, <a href="http://dianeravitch.net/?cat=115088"><span style="text-decoration: underline ; letter-spacing: 0.0px color: #1324a7">Blended Learning</span></a>, <a href="http://dianeravitch.net/?cat=9487"><span style="text-decoration: underline ; letter-spacing: 0.0px color: #1324a7">NYC</span></a>,<a href="http://dianeravitch.net/?cat=294376"><span style="text-decoration: underline ; letter-spacing: 0.0px color: #1324a7">On-Line Education</span></a> | URL: <span style="text-decoration: underline; "><a href="http://wp.me/p2odLa-1H7">http://wp.me/p2odLa-1H7</a></span></font></div></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 20px; font: normal normal normal 14px/normal 'Helvetica Neue'; color: rgb(19, 36, 167); "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"><br></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 20px; font: normal normal normal 14px/normal 'Helvetica Neue'; color: rgb(19, 36, 167); "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"><br></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 20px; font: normal normal normal 14px/normal 'Helvetica Neue'; color: rgb(19, 36, 167); "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4">-----------------</font></div><div><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Palatino; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Palatino; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div class="" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Palatino; "><b class=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; ">“Teach by Example”</span></b></div><div class="" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Palatino; font-size: 14px; ">Will Fitzhugh [founder]</div><div class="" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Palatino; font-size: 14px; "><i class="">The Concord Review</i> [1987]</div><div class="" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Palatino; font-size: 14px; ">Ralph Waldo Emerson Prizes [1995]</div><div class="" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Palatino; font-size: 14px; ">National Writing Board [1998]</div><div class="" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Palatino; font-size: 14px; ">TCR Institute [2002]</div><div class="" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Palatino; font-size: 14px; ">730 Boston Post Road, Suite 24</div><div class="" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Palatino; font-size: 14px; ">Sudbury, Massachusetts 01776-3371 USA</div><div class="" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Palatino; font-size: 14px; ">978-443-0022; 800-331-5007</div><div class="" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Palatino; color: rgb(21, 15, 133); font-size: 14px; "><span class="" style="text-decoration: underline; color: rgb(56, 99, 187); "><a href="http://www.tcr.org/" class="">www.tcr.org</a></span><span class="" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); ">; <a href="mailto:fitzhugh@tcr.org" class=""><span class="" style="text-decoration: underline; ">fitzhugh@tcr.org</span></a></span></div><div class="" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Palatino; font-size: 14px; ">Varsity Academics®</div><div class="" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Palatino; font-size: 14px; "><a href="http://www.tcr.org/blog">www.tcr.org/blog</a></div></span></div></span></div>
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