2009 TORRANCE LEGACY CREATIVE WRITING AWARDS

Torrance Legacy Creative Writing Awards
Awards Recipients Announced!

View the list of top entries.

DESCRIPTION:   Scholastic Testing Service, Inc. (STS), The Center for the Gifted at National-Louis University, The National Association of Gifted Children (NAGC), The National Association of Gifted Children Creativity Division, and the Torrance Center for Creativity and Talent Development invite students to submit their best creative work to help celebrate the great legacy of educator/creativity pioneer Dr. E. Paul Torrance.

ACCEPTED GENRES: Poetry and Short Stories

Poetry submissions must focus on either “The wonder and wisdom of nature” or “What do you see in nature and how do you respond to it”?
Short stories must focus on one of the following creative themes: “Singing in One’s Own Key”, “Shaking Hands with Tomorrow”, “What is Magic” or “The Flying Monkey”. Students are encouraged to freely interpret these themes. Please also note that there is a 1,250 word limit for stories.

ELIGIBILITY: Students in grades 4 through 12 (specify the grade in which the student will be enrolled in as of September 2009). Please note, participants need not be enrolled in gifted programs.

PRIZES:    One grand prize winner from either category will be selected as well as five other genre winners and six runners-up in each genre. The grand prize winner will receive a $50 cash prize, creativity book, publication of his/her submission, NAGC Convention registration for his/her teacher, and NAGC Parent Membership for one of the participant’s parents. First place winners will receive a cash prize of $50 as well as publication of their entries. Second place winners will receive publication of their entries.

DEADLINES: We will begin accepting submissions on May 1, 2009. All submissions must be received by August 24, 2009.
RULES and SUBMISSION GUIDELINES:     Click ‘Download Rules and Entry Form‘ for rules and guidelines for all entries.

For more information or general questions, contact Scott Rich at Scholastic Testing Service, Inc.

Abundance of Resources Found at Chicago Homeschool Expo

I recently attended the Chicago Homeschool Expo in Schaumburg, Illinois, and was pleasantly surprised at the amount of helpful information available to visitors. The two-day event featured hundreds of exhibitors with a range of products to assist families with their curriculum needs.  Many speakers were also scheduled to give practical information and support to homeschool families.  Additionally, experienced homeschool parents were on hand to share personalized answers to those with questions, and workshops emphasized the practical aspects of homeschooling as well as how to promote educational growth.

From gifted students to struggling learners, I found an abundance of materials and practical assistance available at the Homeschool Expo.  The only things that seemed to be missing were exhibitors offering educational products that offered reliable, flexible assessments for home use.  In the coming years, STS hopes to fill this gap by reaching out to homeschool families and organizations to provide information about the variety of testing products we offer for home use.  Please contact us regarding your homeschool assessment needs. Additional product info is available on our website.

Fine Arts in Your Curriculum

Is your school teaching Fine Arts? If so, what subject areas? If you are the product of a school system that did have classes in Music (chorus, band, music appreciation, musical instrument instruction) and Art (traditional art instruction, art history, art appreciation, graphic arts), etc., please share with us what difference these classes made in your life.

The Homeschooler’s Dilemma: To Test or Not to Test

Because many states now require test results as part of a homeschool student’s portfolio, the question of whether to test or not has caused considerable debate within the homeschool community. Scholastic Testing Service, Inc. offers several assessments that will allow homeschool parents to see their students’ areas of strengths and weakness, determine subject areas that require further instruction time, and to provide tools to verify student accomplishments.

Our Kindergarten Readiness Test assists in determining a student’s readiness for beginning kindergarten, and the School Readiness Test determines readiness for first grade. Both tests allow parents to learn a vast amount of information about their child’s abilities in a short period of time. The Educational Development Series (EDSeries) is our standardized battery of ability and achievement tests, which evaluates a homeschool student’s proficiency and measures learning comprehension against other students at the same age and grade level across the country. EDSeries results may even be used to develop the next grade level’s curriculum while meeting state requirements.

I encourage homeschooling parents to say yes to testing. Testing not only promotes self-confidence and thinking skills, but also stimulates academic progression. Testing is an important skill, which homeschoolers require for their further academic pursuits. Please visit our website www.ststesting.com or contact me at 1.800.642.6787 to assist in choosing the correct instrument for your homeschool assessment needs.

Scott Rich
Assessment Specialist

The Next Frontier [in Testing?]

We all know that computer based testing has become increasingly popular during the last decade.  School technology programs, computer games, and home PCs have created an entire generation of students who aren’t intimidated by technology.

[Click here to contribute your ideas about online testing in schools.]

Similarly, administrators seeking more cost effective and less labor intensive assessments are turning to computer testing to address the ever increasing demand for data on student progress.

STS is addressing the “next frontier in testing” by offering computer-based versions of several of our most used products.  Our QUIC and HSPT® tests can now be used to test individual students or for group testing on PC.  We are also in the process of developing online assessments for the Illinois Learning Standards Battery (ILSB) and the Interpersonal Intelligence Inventory (III).

To further increase the speed of scoring, several of our testing products provide customers with the ability to receive student reports electronically via PDF.  We are also working to develop computer based technologies to accommodate testing for students with disabilities.

For detailed information about STS’ computer testing products such as QUIC PC or HSPT® E- Score, visit our website or contact me at srich@ststesting.com.

Scott

Cell Phones, Schools and Safety

Are your younger students heading back to school with cell phones? According to the Center on Media and Child Health website, 54% of 8-12 year olds will have a cell phone within the next 3 years. The rise in cell phone usage among younger children may have a lot to do with parents feeling safer if they are able to contact their children at all times. But cell phones don’t necessarily make children safer in emergencies, and there’s a lot of concern about the possible link between cell phone use and increased cancer risk.

How do you feel about cell phones at school? For more information on this issue, click on the links below.

Links

http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/ptech/08/11/cellphones.kids/index.html?iref=mpstoryview

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25874070/

Beyond the Numbers Game in Education

Something very important is about to happen in the educational establishment. Enlightened teachers and administrators are protesting the current government focus on measuring and testing as the sole basis for assessing learning. They understand that real learning is more complicated than scoring on standardized tests with their principal measurement of short term memory and right answer skills while overlooking evidence of higher order learning and thinking qualities in individual students.

Successful teachers know that quality learning, which depends upon connecting the learner in some realistic way to the lesson, is a critical piece of the teaching process. Qualitative factors of learning like spirit, expectations, self-esteem, confidence, and self-expression have long been recognized features of effective teaching by many teachers. The current government pressure on educators for assessment of learning, based essentially on repeated standardized testing of students, is raising voices of protest among serious educators. I want to add my voice to their protest in the hope that official centers of education will begin to act more upon the understanding that what is not countable really counts in the educational experience and that accounting for the uncountable is an educational obligation.

Philosophers and educationists have been doing their best to bring about a better balance in education between quantitative thinking and qualitative thinking in the way we teach and learn. A long time ago William Blake gave us the theory of “The Doors of Perception.” Some years later Fantini and Weinstein made the case for a balance between symbol-based learning and experience-based learning in their theory of the “Cone of Experience.” John P. Guilford contributed his comprehensive theory in his “Model of the Structure of Intellect” that gave us a window into the understanding of intellectual levels and how to recognize and cultivate complex thinking that includes equal parts of quantitative and qualitative thought. He gave us a road map for understanding that it’s not about a number that tells us “How smart are you”? It’s a way of understanding “How are YOU smart”?

Then came the genius of Dr. E. Paul Torrance who labored for fifty years to produce and teach the understanding of the special qualities of thought that prepare the mind to make maximum use of its potential for qualitative and especially creative thinking. His legacy continues to lead the world in the educational breakthrough for a balance between the dependence on counting and measuring and the qualitative factors that define the individual creative thinking aptitudes present in everyone. The Torrance® Tests of Creative Thinking (TTCT) are of increasing attention as we continue to look for answers to the overriding problems of the Achievement Gap in test scores of students of different ethnicities and the alarming school dropout rate.

The Torrance message of the nature and nurture of creative potential in education begun during his seven years of leadership at the University of Minnesota, producing a vast following of students and colleagues that reached worldwide and continues its commitment to the Torrance Legacy. Official University response was based on traditions of standardized educational practices and quantitative research with no perception of the individual qualitative factors that influence thought and learning. With little or no support from the academic centers, the Torrance leadership continues to serve the dedicated and enlightened educational community without acknowledgment from official academia, and the government continues its standardized testing and retesting, comparing and punishing with little or no change in curriculum and instruction. A recent statement by a retired member of the Minnesota Office of Education reflects the attitude of many educational power centers when confronted with a new idea for improved education. “Many of the Socialists dropped out once they were through pushing their agenda. But just think what we would have missed without these interesting people.” The belittling nature of this statement is a clue to the kind of dismissal that traditional authority often offers to new ideas and educational practices; it testifies to the reason the educational system continues to fail so many students and all of society.

Now add the arrival on the scene of a popular best seller that is bringing the message of differences and possibilities of human thought to public attention. “A Whole New Mind: Why Right Brainers Will Rule the Future” by Daniel Pink is expanding the studies of human differences in thinking processes to apply across the broad sweep of human society and its evolving picture. His argument for a balance between right- and left-brain dominance applies directly to teaching and learning principles and is reaching the public mind for demanding attention to the failure of traditional educational practices.

Bee Bleedorn, Ph.D.

Summer Reading Programs

For students, reading in the summer can be a mandatory exercise issued by parents or required by a school. Some students even participate in summer reading programs just for fun.

As an alternative to television, video games or on-line activities, reading is convenient, relaxing and can transport the reader to a foreign place and time.

To engage your summer readers, try the following links for recommended titles and reading programs.

Have a great summer!

Reading is Fundamental (RIF)

B&N Junior (Barnes & Noble)

Paper Back Swap (book exchange club)

Standardized Testing and Early Education

Recently, I have been reading about standardized testing, including reviews of the Reading First program. There are some studies reporting it does not improve reading in early elementary school children any better than regular programs. Other studies report that it does positively effect early reading test scores. There is so much controversy about the program, that I wonder why we are forgetting about the children. I continually read that the teacher is the one who makes the difference in children’s learning, nearly regardless of the material used. I think that the important feature of early education is how carefully the teacher monitors students’ progress – not how well they have been prepped to take a test. If the test has validity, meaning it is aligned to the skills/standards/objectives of the curriculum, the results will show how well they know the material.
What about early school testing? I think that it can show what children have learned from instruction as well as show where they need review or further instruction. Most early school testing is designed so that the few who need additional work are diagnosed and can be assisted.

What do you think?

The HSPT® E-Score is now available!

STS is pleased to announce the debut of the HSPT® E-Score CD-Rom. The E-Score allows schools to test students individually or to provide make-up tests and receive immediate results. STS ships the CD-Rom for free and schools may purchase test sessions in groups of 5 or 10. All that is required for testing is a PC that runs Windows 2000, XP or Vista. For more information on the E-Score, call 1.800.642.6STS.