|
Click here to read printable version |
|
|
FIX THE AMERICAN EDUCATION SYSTEM BY MAKING IT MORE AMERICAN |
| |
Globalization requires schools to reconsider how they prepare students to become competent citizens and what they prepare them to do, writes Yong Zhao in The School Administrator. At the same time, educators have become increasingly concerned with federal and state mandates that preclude schools from entertaining other strategies. Instead of responding to bureaucratic requirements, schools should make sure they equip students with the attitudes, perspectives, skills and knowledge that will help them find and keep a job, interact with others and make informed decisions. To adequately position students to perform in the global economy, schools need to focus on right brain-directed skills (simultaneous, metaphorical, aesthetic, contextual and synthetic) because jobs that use left brain-directed skills are being outsourced. While many countries (Japan, South Korea and Singapore) are shifting the focus of education toward the right brain, the United States has been focused on an opposite trend, writes Zhao. It is important to understand that the fate of certain intelligence is determined by what schools value and how that value is applied. Consequently, a standardized and centralized curriculum leaves little room for exploring personal interests or accommodating diverse learning styles. Zhao is not advocating that creativity be taught because it cannot be taught, but is simply saying that creativity should not be stifled. The current creativity gap between Asians and Americans does not exist because American schools teach creativity better, but because they do not kill it as much as Asian schools do. To nurture creativity, the skill which should set workers apart in a global economy, it makes sense that schools need to cultivate certain talents. This seems at odds with recent American reform efforts focused on raising test scores and international comparisons. To view these comparisons in the proper light, it makes sense to look at the first International Mathematics Study, which, in 1964, studied 13-year-olds in 11 countries. The United States finished second to last. More than 40 years later, the performances were found to have either insignificant or negative correlations with a nation’s economic growth, productivity, livability or creativity. Zhao concludes that, for the American education system to move forward, the system needs to be more American by preserving flexibility, protecting individuality and promoting multiple intelligences. |
| |
Read Article |
|
DILIGENT GENERATION GREEN FEARS POLAR BEAR, SANTA CLAUS FUTURE |
| |
Move over Generation Y and X. Generation Green is young, well-researched and mad as heck, reports Leanne Italie for the Associated Press. This generation is inspired by an outpouring of movies, TV shows, books, websites and green classes" and has learned since they were toddlers how to be miniature Captain Planets. Currently, they are requiring their parents to do more about the environment and do it better. Debra Weitzel, an environmental educator, finds parents have welcomed the home-based "green" projects she assigns; the trick is showing parents that being green saves money. For one such project, a student charted his family’s computer habits and was able to show a reduction in the electric bill after he trained family members to shut down more often. Yet another student drafted energy-efficient plans for an addition to his family house. The student’s father was surprised at the savings realized by using high-performance insulation. Amanda Brosius, age six, captures the Green Generation’s feelings acutely: "we're running out of fresh water and if you don't be careful the ice will never get frozen and the polar bears will have nowhere to go. Santa will have nowhere to live." |
| |
Read Article |
|
"WITHOUT PUBLIC ACTION, THERE CAN BE NO QUALITY PUBLIC SCHOOLS" |
| |
For more than 250 years, Americans have shared a vision of society that citizens understand, actively engage in and value the democratic process, writes PEN President Wendy Puriefoy in the Feb. 7 issue of Citizenship Matters. This vision requires the public to take responsibility and ownership for building communities, solving problems, discussing issues, influencing public policy and pursuing the common good. Part of what makes American democracy so strong is the recognition that there are public responsibilities so great that they require collective action. In the article, Puriefoy focuses on what it means to be "public" and how public education really is the glue that links a community with schools. All too often, communities and schools have operated as separate entities because the general public tends not to know how to gain access. During this current era of education reform, much attention has been paid to what changes need to take place in schools, but scant mention is made on behalf of the important role that community and civic networks play in ensuring quality public schools. Communities provide the social, financial and political capital that is crucial to school success. At the same time, citizens vote for leaders, pay taxes that fund schools and participate in powerful social networks that can shape how schools and communities address educational and developmental needs. There is an inextricable link between high-achieving schools and community support. Without public action, there can be no quality public schools. Without quality public schools, the community is weakened, and as goes the community, so goes a strong democracy. For this reason, the Ford Foundation created the intermediary organization concept called the local education fund (LEFs), which this year will mark its 25th anniversary. Today, there are 83 LEFs in the United States and abroad that perform cutting edge work and advocate for community involvement. These organizations have moved toward sustainable change and improvement by developing relationships with their public schools. |
| |
Read Article |
|
KENTUCKY YOUNGSTERS CLAMOR FOR IMPROVED CHILD SERVICES |
| |
Bluegrass state youngsters recently took center stage in Frankfurt, Ky. to promote ways to improve the health and education of poor children and raise their economic status, reports Bruce Schreiner for the Associated Press. The students touted a "Blueprint for Kentucky’s Children" that calls for easier steps for youngsters to sign up for the Kentucky Children’s Health Insurance program, expanding access to preschool and child care for low-income children and creating a state Earned Income Tax Credit for low-income families. "The youth of Kentucky are our future, and we have a duty to protect and provide for those unable to do so themselves," said high school senior Shaye Moessner. Another senior, Ali Schatz added that "many of us will be voting for the first time as your constituents in November." These youngsters sound like the kind of constituents any real politician would embrace. |
| |
Read Article |
|
EDUCATION’S FISCAL HORIZON: CLOUDY WITH A GOOD CHANCE OF SHOWERS |
| |
School budgets have seemed to defy gravity in recent years, as they have gone up steadily without ever coming down, reports Nancy Zuckerbrod for the Associated Press. However, school board members across the country see this changing soon, as about half of the states are facing projected shortfalls. This could result in rolling back employee benefits, reducing staff and limiting student access to tutoring and extracurricular activities. Typically, school budgets grow at rates that outpace inflation, making it a huge problem that they will likely grow more slowly this year because costs have risen faster than inflation. This is a huge reversal from recent years, when home values skyrocketed and schools pocketed the extra dollars. Unfortunately, economists predict local revenues will drop over the next few years as real estate values decline, generating less in local property taxes for schools. This downturn is being played out across the country, especially in the Washington, D.C. area, reports Nelson Hernandez and Daniel de Vise for the Washington Post (second link). The rapid cooling of the metro area’s real estate market has hit school systems with a force, compelling superintendents to ask their employees to continue to do more, while being provided with less. Because school systems rely mainly on state and county government funding, and those governments draw most of their revenue from property taxes, a regional 7.7 percent drop in home values has stopped any growth in education budgets. At the same time as states grapple with a sagging economy, they are forced to make tough decisions on how to cope with the projected $3 trillion required to pay the pensions and health insurance of retired employees. These commitments are a remnant of a time when governments and teachers’ unions saw generous retirement packages as a fair trade for modest salaries, reports Michelle McNeil for Education Week (third link). Pensions may pose the smaller problem in the long term, as presently, it remains unclear how much districts and states have promised retirees in health-care coverage. No comprehensive study exists on teacher retiree health-care costs, but if the amount owed to cover state employees is any indication, the price tag could be hefty. According to the Pew Center, states have promised $381 billion in health coverage to employees, 97 percent of which is unfunded. Oregon, which went from an $18 billion unfunded liability in 2003 to what is now a surplus, could provide an example of how best to address this problem. The reversal has been attributed to sound investment earnings, the sale of $6 billion in pension bonds and a switch to a less lucrative hybrid retirement plan. Still, the future fiscal picture for schools remains cloudy with a good chance of rain showers. |
| |
Read Article |
| |
Read Article |
| |
Read Article |
|
A SCHOOL SYSTEM THAT RETAINS GOOD TEACHERS WITH LOVE, NOT MONEY |
| |
While education research can find a way to disagree about almost everything, the totality of research supports the assertion that well trained, proficient and effective teachers produce student learning, writes Harry and Rosemary Wong for Teachers.net Gazette. Nevertheless, each year schools spend $7.3 billion recruiting and hiring the same new teachers to replace the same teachers hired the year before. The new teachers are all given mentors, yet the attrition rate remains stable and student learning does not improve. To stop this recurring detrimental cycle, Hopewell (Va.) City Schools offer support and quality staff development to new hires. Hopewell provides vital activities that help new hires get the training they need, including: four days of orientation and workshops; a field trip around the community; and, a welcome breakfast hosted by the Chamber of Commerce, among other activities. A study done by Richard Ingersoll at the University of Pennsylvania has found that teachers in districts that do what Hopewell is doing are less likely to drop out. In fact, a teacher’s chance of dropping out is only 18 percent when these sorts of supports are in place, meaning four out of five hires remain. As a result of Hopewell’s efforts, teachers return there after leaving for what they thought would be happiness and more money. |
| |
Read Article |
|
CALIFORNIA PROVIDES LITMUS TEST FOR RESTRUCTURING, FINDS IT UNHELPFUL |
| |
California has a long pre-No Child Left Behind history of holding schools accountable, making it one of the first states to see significant numbers of schools face restructuring. Restructuring is the phase of improvement schools enter after missing adequate yearly progress (AYP) for five or more consecutive years. A new study from the Center on Education Policy finds that the number of California schools in restructuring has increased by 150 percent since 2005-06. While urban schools make up 60 percent of the 1,013 schools in restructuring, the proportion of suburban schools in restructuring has risen to about 35 percent. Unfortunately, the experience has been largely frustrating, with few schools raising achievement enough to exit improvement. Based on 2006-07 testing, only 33 schools (5 percent) raised scores enough to exit restructuring, while in 2005-06 just 10 schools (3 percent) exited improvement. Overall, several hundred schools have been in restructuring for six years or more, having failed to raise student achievement after years of restructuring. By entering restructuring, schools are subjected to a number of supposedly major, school-wide reform strategies intended to dramatically increase performance. However, the study finds that 90 percent of California schools used the "any-other option" which allows schools and districts to take any major action to produce fundamental change in the school’s governance. It seems to follow that no single federal restructuring option has proved to be more effective than others in helping California schools meet AYP targets, as most simply have not done so. |
| |
Read Article |
|
LOWER BULLYING RATES BY FOLLOWING MAHARISHI YOGI |
| |
Everyday at 9:30 a.m. shoes come off and complete silence descends over Australia’s Maharishi School, reports Bridie Smith for The Age. Meditation is a central part of the education students receive at the school, which is an 11-year-old independent primary school focused on consciousness-based education. Some major benefits from the meditation techniques are reduced stress levels, headaches and insomnia in students. In addition, bullying at the school is almost non-existent. "It’s not that there’s no conflict, but [the students] work it out and talk it through," says Principal Frances Clark. Parent Lina Turecki agrees, as she has noticed that her daughters are better equipped to handle stress, have gained confidence and respect their peers more. |
| |
Read Article |
|
MENTAL HEALTH IN SCHOOLS: WHERE IS IT GOING AND HOW WILL IT GET THERE? |
| |
Advancing the mental health field within schools is at a critical juncture in its evolution. For the field to continue to build momentum, widespread exploration is required into where school mental health is going and how it will reach its destination. The Center for Mental Health in Schools has completed a new book that addresses the urgency of moving forward in creating a school environment that promotes mental health and reduces problem behaviors. Most educators understand that by itself, good instruction delivered by highly qualified teachers cannot ensure that all students have an equal opportunity to succeed in school. The straightforward psychometric reality is simply that schools with a large proportion of students who encounter barriers to learning, can see initial test score increases plateau after a few years. The problem here is that improved instruction and school management alone do not appropriately address significant barriers to learning and teaching. The issue remains that efforts to deal with mental health and psychosocial concerns remains largely marginalized in school policy and daily practice. In addition, support staff tend to function in relative isolation from one another, with a great deal of work oriented to discrete problems and an overreliance on specialized services. Also, in some schools, the policy deficiencies give rise to aberrant practices like assigning at risk students to multiple counseling programs that operate independently of one another. The book serves as a call to action to move this critical movement forward. |
| |
Read Article |
|
CREATING CULTURALLY AND LINGUISTICALLY RESPONSIVE INTERVENTIONS |
| |
There is a disproportionate representation of students from diverse socio-cultural and linguistic backgrounds in special education, something that has been a persistent concern for more than 30 years. Still, despite continued efforts by stakeholders to develop working solutions, student enrollments in special education range from over to under-representation, depending on the disability category and the specific racial/ethnic group, social class, culture or language of the students. A new brief from the National Center for Culturally Responsive Educational Systems (NCCRESt) outlines best practices for professionals who encounter culturally and linguistically diverse students in their classrooms. The goal is to promote academic success and prevent unnecessary special education referrals. The brief also contains suggestions for how to create positive learning environments and how best to communicate with and engage families. NCCRESt goes on to highlight key elements of culturally- and linguistically-responsive prereferral interventions for diverse students. |
| |
Read Article |
|
LEADERSHIP LIMBO: WHAT’S THE DEAL WITH LABOR AGREEMENTS? |
| |
Scholars and reformers have continually argued that collective bargaining agreements between teachers’ unions and school districts make it hard for leaders to run schools effectively and that in non-collective bargaining states, school boards typically adopt policies that tie a school’s hands. A new report from the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation has delved into this issue, intending to discover just how restrictive labor agreements are in the nation’s 50 largest school districts. The report notes that just five school districts can boast about flexible labor agreements, while not a single district earned the highly flexible rating that would signify a model district. In addition, 15 districts are home to restrictive or highly restrictive agreements, and nearly 10 percent of the nation’s African American students attend school in these lowest-scoring districts. It appears these contracts have become major barriers to more equal educational opportunities. Another issue the report uncovered is that 30 districts have labor agreements that are considerably ambiguous, making them less of a substantial barrier to school improvement than critics have suggested. When looking at agreements as a whole, most were found to be quite restrictive when it comes to rewarding teachers for service in hard-to-staff subject areas, with 31 actually prohibiting districts from doing so. Also, 24 agreements require principals to allow teachers to leave their classroom to participate in union activities. The report concludes that many districts simply don't know how to use the flexibility labor agreements provide or they don't want to do so. |
| |
Read Article |
|
ATTENDANCE: THE SILVER BULLET OF DROPOUT PREVENTION? |
| |
A team of Arizona State University students believes they have figured out why some students drop out of school, writes Kelly Grysho in the Arizona Republic. The students, who comprise the Rodel Community Scholars group, recently completed a longitudinal study that tracked students from kindergarten through high school and examined the behavioral characteristics of dropouts. The students discovered that the dropout process can begin as early as kindergarten, which runs counter to the accepted belief that dropping out is more of an impulsive action than a long-term process. In addition, the students found that key differences exist between graduates and dropouts, namely attendance rates. In fact, dropouts miss an average of 124 days by eighth grade. The report concludes that educators should begin developing strategies to improve student attendance from as early as kindergarten. |
| |
Read Article |
|
HANGING OUT NEAR YOUR SCHOOL? DON'T! "MOVE ALONG" |
| |
After school one day, Donald Moore and a friend were casually walking toward the subway when they were stopped by a police officer. As Moore writes in New Youth Connection magazine, the officer asked for his friend’s ID card, then confiscated it and told the student he would have to go to the dean’s office to retrieve it. This was the second time within a week that a friend of Moore’s had their ID taken, while earlier that same month police had started telling kids hanging out around the school to go home. This signaled to Moore and fellow classmates that it was no longer okay to hang out in the area around his school. What once was a mass of chatting students spread over several blocks became a steady stream of pedestrians headed to the subway, writes Moore. This, apparently, is happening at many other urban schools, as police reprimands have become a normal part of teens’ lives. While some students just head to the subway, others end up spending money in local stores near school. They eat pizza, grab candy at corner shops and play pool just so they have a nearby place to hang out with friends after school. The police clampdown is safety-related, as some students at Moore’s school had been robbed and gotten into fights recently. Still, there must be a better solution to be found. |
| |
Read Article |
|
HIT! YOU SUNK MY CANDY HEART! |
| |
The great folks at Education World have unleashed a whole host of materials in honor of St. Valentine’s Day. Mona Grayson writes that her creation, Valentine Battleship, was a huge success in the classroom. As a full-time teacher, Grayson continually looks for opportunities to integrate timely subjects with regular classroom activities. When her class was studying how to plot points and coordinates, she immediately thought of the game Battleship, and added her own holiday twist. In her version of the game, students sit in pairs and each secretly places six conversation hearts at intersections on a grid labeled A-G on the bottom (x-axis) and 1-8 on the left side (y-axis). Then, students take turns guessing in the (x,y) format the location of the hearts. If a hit is made, the successful guesser takes the candy heart and guesses again. If not, the player crosses off the incorrect coordinate and it’s the other players turn. Check out the Education World web site for other interesting ideas on how to celebrate Valentine’s Day across the curriculum. |
| |
Read Article |
| |
|
NEW GRANT AND FUNDING INFORMATION |
"Sony/Intel Student Film Contest"
Sony Creative Software and Intel’s Technology in Motion: Vision of the Future student film contest offers participating high school students the chance to experience the process of producing a professional project from start to finish using the Sony Vegas Pro 8 video and audio production platform. From script to screen, students will conceptualize, produce and edit short films that present their own visions of how technology will shape their future. To encourage participation in the contest and highlight the importance of multimedia education, Sony Creative Software will provide each participating classroom with a "Technology in Motion" launch kit containing a free version of Sony Vegas Pro 8 video editing software, free Sony Vegas Pro 8 video tutorials and a free Digital Video and Audio Production Vegas Pro 8 teaching guide. Maximum Award: two Sony VAIO laptop computers, a video camera, software and accessories worth more than $25,000. Eligibility: high school students and their teacher representative. Deadline for call to entry: February 22, 2008.
"Civic Ventures Purpose Prize"
The Civic Ventures Purpose Prize awards Americans 60 and older whose creativity, talent and experience is transforming the way our nation addresses critical social problems. Maximum Award: $100,000. Eligibility: Americans 60 years of age by March 1, 2008 and currently working in a leadership capacity in an organization or institution (public, private, nonprofit, or for-profit) to address a major social problem. Deadline: March 1, 2008.
"Harold McGraw, Jr. Prize in Education"
The 2008 Harold W. McGraw, Jr. Prize in Education celebrates the theme of global awareness in U.S. education and recognizes those behind educational programs that help students develop the knowledge and skills they need to function as workers, citizens and fulfilled individuals in an increasingly interconnected world. Maximum Award: $25,000. Eligibility: policy makers, leaders in higher education, and school-based personnel. Deadline: March 21, 2008.
"Scholarship for Teachers of Gifted Children"
The National Association for Gifted Children Harry Passow Classroom Teacher Scholarship awards teachers who have shown the ability to meet the needs of gifted students and a commitment to furthering the development of their teaching skills. Maximum Award: $2,000. Eligibility: teachers K-12 who have been members of NAGC for at least one year. Deadline: April 7, 2008.
"Bridgestone Firestone Driving Safety Film Contest for Teens"
The Bridgestone Firestone 2008 Safety Scholars Video Contest will award college scholarships for the most compelling and effective videos that drive home life-saving messages on auto and tire safety, and includes a chance for young filmmakers to have their auto safety videos broadcast as a public service commercial. Maximum Award: $5,000 scholarship and a new set of Bridgestone tires. Eligibility: high school students. Deadline: June 24, 2008.
|
|