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April 3, 2009 |
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| Grappling with the new realities in American education |
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In an opinion piece in U.S. News & World Report, Richard Whitmire recounts a pleasant exchange with a college-educated employee at a car rental office, which underscored for him the new reality in American education. It's not news that a bachelor's degree has supplanted a high school diploma as a requirement for employment, but Whitmire contends it's not that jobs have gotten more complex. It's that high school no longer supplies the skills to multitask and communicate with customers. "Whether your bank teller has a high school degree or a Ph.D. says little about international competitiveness," he writes, "but it says a lot about economic survival, which is what high school students should care about." What politicians have been slow to grasp, he feels, is that "the need to push education beyond high school goes far beyond the somewhat esoteric 'international competitiveness' issue that think tankers extol. All the best solutions focus on dangling bankable job skills before high school graduates not likely to see themselves as college material." This demographic is overwhelmingly male, and remains "oblivious" to the "college-is-the-new-high-school" reality.
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| Stigmatizing remediation in higher ed, at the cost of black men |
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Black men are underrepresented and underserved in higher education, and the now-common practice of outsourcing remedial education at four-year institutions may be further harming their participation, reports Inside Higher Ed. At a recent meeting of the American College Personnel Association, Ivan L. Harrell II, a student affairs coordinator, cited the statistic that in 2002, only 4.3 percent of all students enrolled in college nationally were black men -- the same percentage as in 1976. Black men, he said, are disproportionately subject to disciplinary action in high school and discouraged from attending college. Because of this, matriculating black men are more likely to enroll in remedial courses than students from other backgrounds, and more likely to be affected as more and more institutions eliminate such programs because of cost or perceived lack of effectiveness. According to Harrell, at least 22 states have either reduced or eliminated remedial coursework from their public, four-year institutions -- including some historically black colleges and universities, despite recent research that shows these programs are essential for student persistence and confidence. Harrell thinks this is a question of stigma: "'[Colleges] say, "If we're trying to become a more prestigious institution, why would we offer remedial education?"'"
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| More mediocre education results on the international stage |
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Although teachers in the United States are contracted to work more hours than their counterparts in other Group of Eight (G-8) countries, CNN reports that they worked less than teachers in Japan and Germany when work-related activities outside of classroom teaching were included in calculations. A study released by the U.S. Department of Education had several significant comparative findings, including the fact that despite America's middling academic achievement alongside their G-8 peers -- Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, and the U.K. -- our teacher pay was second only to that of Germany. Russian fourth-graders scored highest in reading literacy, and Japanese fourth- and eighth-graders outperformed their G-8 peers in mathematics. As for science, at the fourth grade level, Japan, the United Kingdom, and Russia ranked highest, but by 8th grade, Japan had outpaced everyone else. Fourth-graders in the United States ranked in the middle in reading and math, and low in science.
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| Showdown over education funding for states |
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Education Secretary Arne Duncan has threatened to "come down like a ton of bricks" on states that channel education stimulus money to any use other than teacher retention, The Associated Press reports. In a high-profile move, Gov. Mark Sanford of South Carolina, head of the Republican Governors Association, wants to pay down state debt and has said he'll refuse the federal money otherwise. Gov. Linda Lingle of Hawaii (R) wants to fill a non-education budget gap, and Gov. Butch Otter of Idaho (R) wants to hold the money in reserve. The White House Budget Office has publicly denied Mr. Sanford's request, but loopholes for both states and school districts may allow the governors to go forward. Of the $100 billion for education, $40 billion is part of a fund to stabilize state and local budgets, and has fewer restrictions, but the administration is pushing for its particular use. Across the country, nine percent of teachers face layoff because of budget cuts, according to a University of Washington study, and California alone has issued pink slips to 26,500 teachers.
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| One nation left behind |
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A new policy brief by the Alliance for Excellent Education decries the "tunnel vision" the United States displays in the "global schoolhouse." Our competitors "eagerly compare, or benchmark, their performance and standards against each other -- and particularly against top performers." They "take their international assessment performance results seriously," and "take advantage of opportunities to compare policies and practices so that they can learn and improve." The United States, world leader in many areas, ignores opportunities to learn from its international peers in education. In the 1960s, data show the U.S. produced the greatest high school completion rates among 23 member nations in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. It has since fallen to 18th out of 23, and from 1995 to 2005, the national college graduation rate fell from second to 15th. With recent globalization, American workers spend "dramatically" more time performing higher-level cognitive tasks that take problem-solving ability and effective communication with sophisticated tools. Much less time is spent in routine manual tasks, such as installing parts or packing items on assembly lines, and routine cognitive tasks, such as taking simple customer orders or maintaining inventory counts. Consequences of this are too important to ignore, the Alliance says.
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| The elusive search for the right teacher prep |
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In the third part of its series "What Makes A Teacher Good?" The Christian Science Monitor looks at the larger question of teacher prep by way of a July 2008 study led by Stanford University researchers. The report examines methods for teacher preparation: traditional teacher-college programs, Teach for America, New York City's Teaching Fellows program, and teachers on a temporary license. The study finds student achievement greatest when a teacher is certified, has graduated from a university program, has a strong academic background, and has been teaching more than two years. Not surprisingly, student achievement is hurt by inexperienced teachers on temporary license, more likely in high-poverty schools. Other boons: classroom work that provides meaningful experiences and has good oversight; teacher opportunity to study local curricula; substantial university coursework in subjects an educator will be teaching; and study of learning practices that can be applied based on classroom needs. The main distinction drawn by lead researcher Pam Grossman concerned trainee pool: "Teach for America does minimal preparation, but they bank on selection. Traditional programs are not particularly selective, but they bank on preparation." Still, Grossman was struck by how similar both methods are. "There's no program that's fundamentally reimagined what teacher training can look like," she noted.
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| Integration lags, even as suburban schools add minorities |
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Though minorities made up 99 percent of the population increase in suburban school rolls over the past 15 years, white suburban students still typically attend 75-percent-white schools, according to a new study from the Pew Hispanic Center. CNN reports that the data show school districts are more diverse, but individual schools segregate by race and ethnicity. A typical black suburban student in 2006-07 attended a school that was 34 percent white, down from 43 percent white in 1993-94. "So at a time when the white share of student enrollment in suburban school districts was falling by 13 percentage points, the exposure of the typical white suburban student to minority students in his or her own school was growing by a little more than half that much -- or 8 percentage points," the report said. It noted that city schools tend to be more segregated than their suburban counterparts, with the typical urban black student attending a school with 60 percent black enrollees, and the typical Latino student attending a school with 63 percent Latino enrollment. Minority students in rural areas and in towns tended to be more exposed to whites than were their suburban counterparts.
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| When private schools take public dollars: accountability & school vouchers |
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Weighing in on the school voucher/accountability debate, the Fordham Institute writes that "It's time for the school choice movement to wake up -- and catch up to the educational demands and expectations of the 21st century." Questions of transparency versus accountability are, in their opinion, "mired in the 1970s." A more cogent question would be what would accountability for voucher programs looks like if done well? The institute surveyed 20 thinkers in the school-choice world and came to several conclusions. The majority of experts, they said, agree that participating private schools should not face new regulations regarding day-to-day operations. Consultants also felt that parents should be helped to make informed choices through data about their child's performance, and voucher programs, as a whole, must be rigorously evaluated by third-party researchers. Consensus broke down over transparency for school results and financial audits. The Fordham Institute's own conclusions tended toward a sliding scale: "The more voucher-bearing students a school enrolls, the greater its obligations for transparency and accountability. Schools that draw the majority of their revenues from private sources should be treated more like other private schools, while those that depend primarily on public dollars should be treated more like public schools."
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| Bringing demands of adult life into the classroom virtually |
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The Baltimore County school district has partnered with universities, defense contractors, and a video game developer to challenge students with the kind of problem-solving that employers might expect, The Baltimore Sun reports. "We wanted students to have an experience that would be more typical of what they'd have, hands-on, in the real world," said Maria Lowry, principal of Chesapeake High School, a participant in the pilot program. "We're trying to bring the outside in." Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman, who are working with the school system, see the virtual concept as a way to cultivate interest in science and engineering. When students learn about engineering, math, and science in school, it's abstract, said Stephanie Hill, vice president of Lockheed's MS2 Integrated Defense Technologies. "If they can actually apply the skills to a real problem that's exciting, with real engineers," she said, "it will encourage the students to not only be interested in engineering and technology but to stay interested." Senior Victoria Wallace added that with this exposure, she and her peers will graduate ahead of the curve: "We're coming out of high school with some skills that people go into their freshman year of college to acquire."
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| Just Say Yes |
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Public School Insights is featuring a conversation with Say Yes to Education president Mary Anne Schmitt-Carey, whose organization has dramatically boosted urban students' college-going and graduation rates in Cambridge, Mass.; Philadelphia; Hartford, Conn.; Harlem, N.Y.; and Syracuse, N.Y. Schmitt-Carey discusses the Say Yes model, which engages a broad coalition of community partners to improve student odds. Say Yes breaks down the barriers to post-secondary access for low-income youth through a set of comprehensive supports that range from access to quality health care to college scholarships. In communities where it is active, Say Yes has substantially closed the gap in high school and college graduation rates between inner-city students and their suburban peers.
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LEF director to help shape long-term educational change in Tennessee
Public Education Foundation president Dan Challener will serve on the newly established Tennessee State Collaborative on Reforming Education (SCORE), which is being chaired by former U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist.
http://www.wrcbtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=10036024
Medical panel urges routine screening of teenagers for depression
Nearly two million American teenagers suffer depression, most undiagnosed and untreated.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/30/health/30depression.html?_r=1
200 belts donated to end endemic pants-sag in Broward County
"Pull Up Your Pants Day'' was instituted at Plantation High in response to President Obama's remarks that "brothers should pull up their pants."
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/broward/story/970030.html
Immigration raids leave traumatized children in their wake
A new report reveals that the harm threatened or visited upon citizen children in interior immigration raids is palpable and long-lasting.
http://www.twincities.com/ci_12015298?source=most_emailed
Is a dictionary the ticket to college?
Professor Ross Finnie looked at things in the home as indicators of what kind of situation might produce university students. Having a dictionary is the most powerful indicator -- and they don't cost much -- followed by the Internet, which does.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20090328.wcosimp28/EmailBNStory/specialComment/home |
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| NEW GRANT AND FUNDING INFORMATION |
Got Grants?
Successful education grant writers offer advice on how to access a wealth of teacher-learning funds.
http://www.teachersourcebook.org/tsb/articles/2009/03/16/02grants.h02.html
Adopt-a-Physicist
Adopt-a-Physicist connects high school students with physics graduates via online message boards. In this supervised forum, students and physicists can talk freely about careers, school, work, and family balance over a three-week period. Before the three-week period begins, the physicists and classes (via participating teachers) each create a brief introduction page. Maximum award: educational exchange. Eligibility: high school physics students, via their teachers. Deadline: April 5, 2009, or until full.
http://www.adoptaphysicist.org/
Newspaper Association of America Foundation: Student/Newspaper Partnership
The Newspaper Association of America Foundation 2009 Student/Newspaper Partnership encourages middle and high schools to partner with professional newspapers in their communities and seek funding to start, relaunch, or revitalize student newspapers, whether online or in print. Maximum award: $5,000. Eligibility: public and private schools serving grades seven through 12 and working in partnership with daily or non-daily professional newspapers. Deadline: April 15, 2009.
http://www.naafoundation.org/Home/NAAFoundation/ScholasticPress/PartnershipGrants.aspx
World of Children: Founder's Award for Youth
The World of Children 2009 Founder's Award for Youth recognizes youth that are making extraordinary contributions to the lives of other children. Maximum award: $25,000. Eligibility: Nominees must be under the age of 21 and have an existing non-profit organization in good standing that can receive grant funds if awarded. Deadline: April 17, 2009.
http://www.worldofchildren.org/Awards.htm
History Channel: Save Our History Grant
The History Channel Save Our History Grant Program inspires youth to become the preservationists in their communities. Museums, historic sites, historical societies, preservation organizations, libraries, and archives are invited to partner with a local school or youth group and apply for funding to help preserve the history of their communities. Maximum award: $10,000. Eligibility: 501(c)(3) history organizations. Deadline: June 5, 2009.
http://www.history.com/minisite.do?content_type=Minisite_Generic&content_type_id=51650&display_order=3&mini_id=51103
For more grants, see http://www.publiceducation.org/newsblast_grants.asp
"Based upon what we've heard this morning, if this governor can be so callous and so hardhearted to not draw down these funds for the benefit of our people, in my opinion, the governor has absolutely no interest in this state and the people that he governs."
-South Carolina Senate Finance Committee Chairman Hugh Leatherman, R-Florence
(South Carolina is poised to become the first state to shrug off federal stimulus money intended to help recession-battered schools.)
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gaIoIBhAVWKNcjxB9AYbJRYOiLlgD9799E680
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