<html><head></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"><br></font></div><div><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 16.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px Palatino"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4">NAEP and <i>The Concord Review</i></font></b></span></p><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Palatino; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4">By </font><a href="http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/walt_gardners_reality_check/"><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Palatino; text-decoration: underline; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4">Walt Gardner</font></span></a><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"> on May 9, 2014 7:34 AM; </font><i style="font-size: large; ">Education Week; "</i><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4">Reality Check"</font></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Palatino; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"><br></font></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Palatino; color: rgb(51, 50, 51); min-height: 16px; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"><span style="text-decoration: underline ; letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></font></div><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Palatino"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4">Elitism is a dirty word in education in this country. Just why, I don't understand because <b>supporting students with academic ability is as important as supporting students with special needs. </b></font></span></p><div><br></div><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Palatino"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4">I thought of this as I read the news about the latest NAEP results ("</font><a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Education/2014/0507/US-report-card-stagnation-in-12th-grade-math-reading-scores"><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Palatino; text-decoration: underline; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4">US 'report card': stagnation in 12th-grade math, reading scores</font></span></a><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4">," </font><i style="font-size: large; ">The Christian Science Monit</i><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4">o</font><i style="font-size: large; ">r,</i><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"> May 8). The closely watched report showed that high school seniors did no better in reading and math than they did four years ago. The head of the National Assessment Governing Board, which was created by Congress in 1988 to create and measure standards for student performance, warned that too few students are achieving at a level to make the U.S. internationally competitive.</font></span></p><div><br></div><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Palatino"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4">I urge him to look over the index of <i><b>The Concord Review</b></i> from 1988 to 2014. For those readers not familiar with TCR, its founder and publisher is Will Fitzhugh. He has provided a forum for essays written overwhelmingly by high school students in this country (and to a small extent to those abroad) on a wide variety of subjects.<b> They range from ancient history to modern issues. I've read many of them. They are not only meticulously researched but gracefully written.</b></font></span></p><div><br></div><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Palatino"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4">I realize that the students who have been published in TCR constitute only a tiny percentage of high school seniors in this country. <b>But I maintain that far more students are capable of writing informative and lively papers than we believe</b>. As much as I respect NAEP, I submit that<b> the essays in TCR are better indicators of the highest academic ability than scores on NAEP</b>. Read some of them to see if you agree.</font></span></p><div><br></div><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Palatino"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4">I don't know if the almost total focus on students below average is the result of anti-elitism or of sheer ignorance. <b> But TCR serves as compelling evidence that we are squandering talent. Many of these students will go on to make a name for themselves in their various fields of specialization. They're the ones who can make the U.S. highly competitive in the global economy. Yet we feel extremely uncomfortable supporting them.</b></font></span></p><div><br></div><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Palatino"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4">We don't have to choose democratization or differentiation. There is room for both in our schools. But so far, most of our resources are earmarked to achieve the former. Only in the U.S. does that happen. <b> Most countries have no compunction about identifying and nurturing their academically gifted students.</b></font></span></p><div><br></div></div><div><br></div><div>------------------------------</div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Palatino; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; 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; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; 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-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; 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-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; 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-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; 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-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; 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-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; 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; font-size: 14px;"><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><font class="Apple-style-span"><font class="Apple-style-span"><font class="Apple-style-span"><b>“Teach with Examples”</b></font><br></font><font class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Palatino; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; ">Will Fitzhugh [founder]</font><br><font class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Palatino; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; "><i>The Concord Review</i></font><font class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Palatino; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; "> [1987]</font><br><font class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Palatino; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; ">Ralph Waldo Emerson Prizes [1995]</font><br><font class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Palatino; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; ">National Writing Board [1998]</font><br><font class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Palatino; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; ">TCR Institute [2002]</font><br><font class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Palatino; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; ">730 Boston Post Road, Suite 24</font><br><font class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Palatino; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; ">Sudbury, Massachusetts 01776-3371 USA</font><br><font class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Palatino; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; ">978-443-0022; 800-331-5007</font><br><font class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Palatino; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; "><a href="http://www.tcr.org">www.tcr.org</a>; <a href="mailto:fitzhugh@tcr.org">fitzhugh@tcr.org</a></font><br><font class="Apple-style-span"><b>Varsity Academics®</b></font><br><font class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Palatino; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; "><a href="http://tcr.org/bookstore">tcr.org/bookstore</a></font><br><font class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Palatino; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; "><a href="http://www.tcr.org/blog">www.tcr.org/blog</a></font></font></div></span></div></span></div></span></div></span></div></span></div></span></span>
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