I asked my school teacher sister, Michele, about this program, and she knew about it. She said that from what she’s heard, it’s been successful due to one key thing: they’ve been able to continue to get funding.

So they’ve been able to continue to refine their approach; furthermore, since the long term results are starting to come in, the approach is gaining adherents nationwide.

Excellent!

For the long answer see this website for studies on the success of this program: http://www.elob.org/results/evaluation.html

I wish I could tell you how our specific school does on the CSAP (our statewide standardized test) but I can’t remember as it is of little concern to me. My concern is of course my specific children - and they are doing well.

Kids from these schools seem to be very successful in college (based on talking to parents and teachers at their school) because it takes more than just the ability to take tests to succeed in college.

You do make a good point about how little “questioning the rules” is a valuable skill (and is in fact viewed as an undesirable skill) in some segments of our society, which is probably why most schools discourage this behavior.

I know you’ve said that your kids like their school and are involved and interested in learning, but I have to ask the necessary question. What happens when they get out and into college? Will their skills in Readin’ ‘Riting ‘Rithmatic measure up? How do the kids do on standardized tests?

My guess is that they’d be out the top on a lot of stuff but probably middling in other areas. I don’t happen to think that the way they measure math skills is very well designed, but as a former educator, I know that the students have to be prepared for unfair criteria. We live in a world where the educational legacy we’ve inherited comes from the turn of the century industrial age. It was carefully and calculatedly designed to weed out the workers from the managers. And there was a certain type of manager wanted — one who was good abstract symbolic reasoning but did not question the rules.

I’m glad to see this — love it in fact — but I want the kids to win the game, fair or not. So what happens on the national tests?

Lori - he didn’t know mordant so I had him come look in up in the dictionary. Although we cheat and use the online one. He felt it was an appropriate word.

Kathie and Omega - thanks for the comments. I’m with you - there is hope for the world when we know at least some of the kids out there are being taught to actually think and not just act on blind faith with what they are told.

I’m living in a tract home ‘burb, not a bad place actually — lots of young families whose kids play together in the street with parents on lawn chairs watching, people starting out and looking like they’re putting family first — but one of the reasons i moved here (most was affordability) was few landscape restrictions.

And so my crazy native plant tangles and overflows tell folks we’re not quite conforming…

:-)