|
EDUCATING ALL CHILDREN: A GLOBAL AGENDA
What would it take to ensure that every child in the world, from age
6 to 16, receives an education of good quality? How important is
universal education compared to other development objectives such as
health, nutrition, income, and physical security? Would a concerted
effort to provide universal education help reduce birth rates in
countries where rapid population growth impedes economic
development, damages the environment, and depresses living
standards? These are questions addressed in a new book from the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences. The book’s findings conclude
that achieving universal primary and secondary education is both
urgently needed and well within the ability of wealthy nations to
fund. In "Educating All Children," leading experts discuss the
current state of education and how to measure global educational
progress, the history of compulsory education, political and
financial obstacles to expanding education, the role of educational
assessment and evaluation in developing countries, cost estimates
for providing universal education (and why they differ so widely),
the potential consequences of expanded global education, and the
relationship between education and health.
RADICAL IDEAS, MISGUIDED ASSUMPTIONS
There is a line between visionary thinking and pie-in-the-sky
theorizing. The recent report of the New Commission on the Skills of
the American Workforce, "Tough Choices or Tough Times," is most
assuredly on the wrong side of that line, according to Diane Ravitch,
an education historian, in this Education Week commentary. Not only
is this widely publicized and much-praised report an exercise in
pie-in-the-sky theorizing, it would -- if enacted -- dismantle
American public education. The report says that the present system
of education is no good, and we must start over. Like many previous
reports, this one lays out a string of criticisms of our education
system, most of which are unassailable, and then proceeds to propose
a variety of changes. In this case, however, most of the report’s
prescriptions are not only radical but dubious. Some of them are
risky gambles with one of our most vital social institutions.
Frankly, it is difficult to understand how a commission composed of
so many distinguished men and women produced such an ill-conceived
document. One imagines the horse-trading that enabled each
commissioner to get his or her favorite proposal added to the mix.
Ravitch examines eight recommendations and concludes that the
commission’s report contains not a shred of evidence that its
prescriptions will work.
HOMELAND INSECURITY: AMERICAN CHILDREN AT RISK
You might be surprised to learn that as the richest democracy in the
world, the United States has the poorest standing when it comes to
infant mortality, birth rate for teens, health insurance coverage
for children, death rate from child abuse, and child poverty after
government intervention. Learn about what you can do to make
children a political priority. To help spark debate about the need
for major new federal investments in children and families, the
Every Child Matters Education Fund has published a book called
"Homeland Insecurity: American Children at Risk." The book can be
downloaded for free at the website below. The goal of author Michael
Petit is to make children, youth, and family issues a political
priority in the forthcoming presidential election. Drawing mostly
from official federal data, Homeland Insecurity shows the challenges
families face in raising healthy children. It shows that government
policy is failing many of these families. It dispels ideologically
driven myths that government-supported programs are ineffectual and
that taxes are evil. It shows that some states do much better for
children than others. And it shows that a new ten-year $500 billion
invest-in-kids initiative would improve the life chances of all
children, keep the U.S. competitive in a global economy, and help to
support an aging population.
ROTTEN APPLES IN EDUCATION: 2006 EDITION
Education researcher Gerald W. Bracey has done it again. This
much-respected education outsider has released his annual list of
"Rotten Apples" that points fingers at foolishness and malice and
bad science in the education world. 2006 winners include: Secretary
of Education Margaret Spellings for her belief in the absolutely
purity of NCLB; Neil Bush and Barbara Bush for questionable business
practices related to an educational software company; George Will
and other advocates of the 65 Percent Solution; Thomas Friedman,
journalist and author of "The World Is Flat"; ABC-TV’s John Stossel
for his alarmist reporting; and a few select others.
SCHOOLS OF THE FUTURE WILL EMBRACE
PERSONALIZED LEARNING
The end is near for the one-size-fits-all approach to teaching and
learning that has dominated American schools for most of the past
century. Instead, that outdated model must be replaced by schools
designed to better support individualized instruction enhanced by
technology, as detailed in the new issue of "Threshold: Exploring
the Future of Education" from Cable in the Classroom and the State
Educational Technology Directors Association (SETDA). The research
has been clear for decades: individual students learn through
different learning styles; at different paces; and through various
physical, emotional, and environmental challenges and limitations.
They also learn with different interests and passions, and to
varying degrees of success in different social and physical
environments. The issue on personalized education features:
|
1.
|
Personalization strategies and tools for teachers; |
|
2.
|
A discussion with education experts on personalization,
technology and their hopes for the future; |
|
3.
|
Personal computing for students; |
|
4.
|
How to use assessment tools to personalize instruction;
and |
|
5.
|
Best practices from a professional development model
program from New Mexico. |
ARE HIGHLY EDUCATED TEACHERS WORTH THE
EXTRA PAY?
Dallas-area school districts spend nearly $20 million a year on
extra pay for teachers with master's degrees. The payments make
intuitive sense: Advanced training must help teachers teach
better. But scores of studies show no ties between graduate
studies and teacher effectiveness. Even among researchers who
see some value in some master's programs, many urge dramatic
reforms and an end to automatic stipends. A large body of
research casts doubt on the value of master's programs, of any
kind, in the classroom. Critics say the nature of large-scale
research makes it impossible to see valuable details. Perhaps,
they argue, certain programs produce consistent results that
disappear among the crowd in a statewide study. Perhaps master's
programs help a certain kind of teacher. Yet school districts
have long paid premiums for teachers with master's degrees. And
the premiums have led to a large increase in the share of
American teachers with the degrees, from 26 percent in 1960 to
56 percent in 1995. In much of the nation, salary premiums for
master's degrees exceed $5,000 a year, but locally only a few
districts pay more than $1,500 extra. Most pay less, reports
Andrew D. Smith in The Dallas Morning News. Master's premiums
represent a tiny fraction of total school expenditures. Still,
that money, some argue, could make a tangible impact elsewhere,
buying student laptops, tutoring sessions, field trips or
additional courses.
QUESTIONING THE NUMBERS OF STUDENTS IN SPECIAL
EDUCATION
Some federal and state agencies -- and some school boards -- are
questioning the numbers of students funneled into special education,
and with good reason. Many districts follow special education laws
to the letter, writes Susan Black in American School Board Journal.
But recent investigations revealed that some districts use shoddy
practices and violate state and federal laws. In some schools, child
study teams have been cited for improperly assigning children to
special education. About 14 percent of public school children --
more than 6 million students ages 3-21 -- are in special education.
The number of disabled children is "slowly increasing," according to
the National Center for Education Statistics. About 1 million
children are considered disabled in the three fastest-growing
categories: speech and language impairments; autism and traumatic
brain injuries; and health impairments due to chronic and acute
conditions such as asthma, epilepsy, diabetes, and lead poisoning.
Before reauthorizing the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act
in 2004, the 108th Congress raised concerns about school districts
that inappropriately identify students with a disability, or with
the wrong disability, based largely on race and ethnicity. Schools
with predominantly white students and teachers often place
"disproportionately high numbers of their minority students into
special education," Congress reported, noting that African-American
children are identified with mental retardation and emotional
disturbance at far higher rates than white students.
African-American children represent just under 15 percent of the
population ages 6 to 21, but more than 20 percent are classified
with disabilities. Will the new law change these practices?
SCHOOL TAX REFORMERS FACE HARD ALTERNATIVES
What do you want, lower property taxes or local control of schools?
It's difficult to have both, as legislators around the nation are
discovering as they struggle to meet the conflicting demands of
residents who want the best for their children and the most for
their money. The experience of New Jersey and other states shows how
hard it can be to satisfy both desires. The eight states with the
highest property taxes are the eight states with the geographically
smallest school districts. New Jersey leads in both categories,
reports Paul Nussbaum in The Philadelphia Inquirer. With the
nation's highest property taxes and smallest school districts, the
state has ideal conditions for a collision of competing interests.
Consolidating school districts could save money but weaken the
cherished connection between communities and their schools.
SIX TIPS FOR HIGH SCHOOLERS ABOUT TO START
COLLEGE
The holidays are over and another season has begun: the season of
college admissions decisions for many high school seniors. Those who
have already heard from their school of choice are heading into
their senior spring with a smile, and those who haven't are eagerly
awaiting that thick envelope in the mail. But all students should
remember that a lot can happen between now and August, said Beverly
Low, dean of first-year students at Colgate University. "Just
because you have confirmed your admission to college does not mean
that the school year is over yet," she cautioned. "Most institutions
of higher learning will review your final high school transcript and
peek at your spring grades. So stay focused and finish strong."
Here, Low offers some advice on preparing for the challenges of
college life:
|
1.
|
Read a book that isn't required for a class but that
relates directly to one. It really pays to get used to the extra work
early; |
|
2.
|
Get yourself a calendar and write everything down. Pay
particular attention to the dates of your quizzes, tests, papers, and
projects; |
|
3.
|
Schedule your own appointments. In college you'll have
many more appointments to track while also managing a busy social and
academic life; |
|
4.
|
Plan a trip all by your lonesome. Many undergraduates
have to arrange their travel around class and exams, so consider this a
fun dry run; |
|
5.
|
Read the news. Any informed college student should read a
newspaper that covers hard news -- not pop culture -- at least once a
week; and |
|
6.
|
Put yourself on a budget. Establish a definite amount of
spending money each week and stick to it. |
VOCATIONAL ED REBOUNDING AS AN ANSWER TO
DROPOUT CRISIS
For years, California's six million public school students have
been given a clear message: If you want to succeed in life, go
to college. In reality, almost one-third of the state's high
school students will drop out. Nearly another third will
graduate without the credits needed to attend a four-year
university. And many will go on to college but fail once they
get there, unsure of what to study or how to make classes
translate into a good job. Now, after years of playing second
fiddle to college-track course work, vocational education in
high schools is emerging as one solution to many of these
problems. It's a comeback of sorts for the classes that train
students in a specific skill or trade, like welding or
carpentry. Today, reports Dana Hull in Mercury News, they
include everything from computer animation to video production,
and they are often referred to by a new name, Career and
Technical Education. Some education experts argue that expanding
vocational programs is the best way to solve the dropout crisis.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who was in a vocational high school
program in his native Austria, pitches it whenever he can.
Vocational ed has long suffered from a reputation as a dumping
ground for misfits -- struggling students who take classes such
as Auto Shop I and then enter the blue-collar workforce. For
these students who never dreamed of going to college, vocational
ed was widely seen as the last stop before they quit high
school. Even today, some critics worry that vocational ed is
simply another way to direct students, many of them poor and
minority, along a path that will never result in a degree from a
four-year school. Proponents agree that vocational education
needs to be overhauled, primarily by becoming more academically
rigorous. They want classes that include high-level reading and
math, provide real-world career training in California's growing
industries, and count for credit at community and four-year
colleges.
BROADEN EDUCATION: SCHOOLS NEGLECT HIGH
ACHIEVERS
North Carolina's intense focus on boosting passing rates on math and
reading tests has meant less emphasis on subjects such as science
and foreign languages and has left high-achieving students with too
little attention, a new report asserts. The study, issued by the
influential N.C. Public School Forum, urges state education leaders
to make the state's schools more internationally competitive by
rethinking a decade-old accountability system, do more to strengthen
the skills of teachers and broaden students' knowledge about the
world. "It's not an exaggeration that virtually all policy
initiatives in the last 10 years have been aimed at getting
low-performing students up to passing in reading and math," said
John Dornan, president of the school forum, one of the state's
largest education lobbies. "Things that aren't tested get squeezed
out." The yearlong study was completed by groups of educators,
legislators and advocates under an annual focus by the forum on key
education issues. The latest study's principal focus is how North
Carolina's schools compare with those of other industrialized
nations, reports Todd Silberman in The News Observer. The
recommendations fall into three broad categories: strengthening math
and science instruction, giving schools a more global focus and
improving professional development for teachers. The report urges
the state to pay more attention to the needs of higher achieving
students by adjusting an annual accountability system that largely
stresses getting students to pass yearly multiple-choice exams.
RESOURCE
GUIDE FOR ACTION: TRANSFORMING HIGH SCHOOL FOR ALL YOUTH
Access expertise, strategies, tools, indicators protocols, and
research in the newly launched "Resource Guide for Action," designed
to help policymakers and practitioners take action around the six
core principles of the National High School Alliance framework of
principles and recommended strategies to guide leaders at all levels
in transforming the traditional, comprehensive high school so that
all youth are ready for college, careers, and active civic
participation. The core principles include: Personalized Learning
Environments; Empowered Educators; Accountable Leaders; Integrated
System of High Standards, Curriculum, Instruction, Assessments, and
Supports; Engaged Community and Youth; and Academic Engagement of
All Students. The guide is provided with support from the Carnegie
Corporation of New York, The College Board, and the Bill & Melinda
Gates Foundation.
WHY HOMEWORK? THE TOUGHER STANDARDS FAD HITS
HOME
We've heard it countless times, says Alfie Kohn: Our public schools
are lousy and our kids are lazy, so we need to demand higher
standards. That means assigning more and more homework. But these
assumptions can't survive a thorough examination of the realities of
public education, says Kohn, in the cover story of the fall issue of
Rethinking Schools. In an excerpt from his newest book, The Homework
Myth, Kohn takes a close look at homework and the competitive drive
that fuels so many school policies. "The more we find ourselves in
thrall to a cult of rigor," writes Kohn, the more sterile and
shallow our children’s classrooms become, and the wider the chasm
grows between schooling for the rich and schooling for the poor."
THE FEW. THE PROUD. THE MALE TEACHERS.
The percentage of males in teaching has hit a 40-year low, the
National Education Association reports, at slightly fewer than one
of every four teachers in U.S. public schools. Florida logs in lower
than the national level, and Hillsborough County below that. The
state ranks Hillsborough 64th of 67 counties when it comes to the
percentage of men in the classroom. The vast majority of them teach
in middle and high schools. Elementary schools, which serve 47
percent of the school district’s students, employ just 21 percent of
the county’s male teachers. Twenty-four of the 130 elementary
schools have just one or two. There is little to no hard evidence
that this affects student achievement, reports Jeffrey S. Solochek
the St. Petersburg Times. Male teachers can be just as good, or as
bad, as their female counterparts. Still, there remains a general
sense in some corners that kids should be exposed to both genders as
teachers. The steadily dropping percentage of male teachers
unsettles many experts, who see the trend as a signal that teaching
holds little esteem as a profession. Culturally, men are expected to
support their families and be respected in the community. Teaching
offers neither the high pay nor the high profile. When it comes to
elementary school, considered by many the "nurturing years," the
prospects for attracting men are even lower. The perception among
many in society is that there’s something wrong with a man who wants
to work with small children. Some of the same issues that repel men
have the same effect on women, whose job options are vastly broader
than 50 years ago, when teaching and nursing were the two main
professions for women. |
