How I learned to stop worring and love my school

Notes:

Prices of Quality food

 * Calorie for calorie, a junk food costs less than healthy food.
 * Junk food is less likely to be affected by inflation
 * University of Washington compared the caloric intake of an unhealthy meal vs the caloric intake of a healthy one.
 * Healthy foods have fewer calories.
 * Unhealthy food costs roughly $1.76 for 1000 calories, vs $18.16 for healthy foods.
 * It is easier for a lower income family to sustain themselves on junk food than on healthy alternatives.
 * The average american spends about $7 on food, those with lower income will spenf about $4.
 * “If you have $3 to feed yourself, your choices gravitate toward foods which give you the most calories per dollar,’’ said Dr. Drewnowski. “Not only are the empty calories cheaper, but the healthy foods are becoming more and more expensive. Vegetables and fruits are rapidly becoming luxury goods.”
 * (source New York Times/ A high price for healthy food)

Library

 * $4000 dollars is given to the library each year.
 * No accountabliity for art.
 * Art is not considered a core class.

Standardized Testing

 * Standardized testing results often create a narowlly taught curriculum because these test results are considered 'high stakes' measurements.
 * Because the tests generally have one correct answer, they force teachers to emphasize memorization over rather than more complex thinking skills.
 * Are the tests an accurate reflection of a level of intelligence or merely a reflection of what a student can recall?
 * According to Bloom's Taxonomy [of learning objectives], recalling facts ia t the lower end of the spectrum of critical thinking skills.
 * Application and synthesis of knoledge reside at the top,
 * There is heavy emphasis on testing to measure what students are not mastering in the content area.
 * "Standardized tests will never answer the questions of what our children need to learn in a multicultural, ever-changing world."
 * It can actually determine teaching in ways that can hearm children.
 * Tests can take up to three hours, thus reducing time spent actually learning.
 * It often sets the bar low for achievement.  Often the curriculum gets "dumbed down" to teach the test.
 * (source: Standardized Testing by Cynthia A. Bily, chapter 1 pt 2 Standardized Testing Restricts Student Learning by Helen Cole, Kathy Hulley, and Peggy Quarles)
 * "Large numbers of students of color, low income students, and immigrant