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CELEBRATE AFRICAN AMERICAN LITERACY
WITH A READ-IN
As Black History Month begins, communities are urged to make
literacy a significant part of all celebrations by hosting or
coordinating Read-Ins. Hosting a Read-In can be as simple as
bringing together friends and family to share a book, or as
extravagant as arranging public readings and media presentations
that feature professional African American writers. The goal of
Black History Month is a noble one, and is tied closely to that of
the Read-Ins, which is to make the celebration of African American
literacy a traditional part of all February activities.
RESEGREGATION OF U.S. SCHOOLS
DEEPENING
School districts across the country are rapidly resegregating, and
this is a trend that has become even more pronounced in the wake of
court cases dismantling both mandated and voluntary integration
programs, reports Amanda Paulson in the Christian Science Monitor.
The country’s most segregated schools are located in the big cities
of the Northeast and Midwest, while the South and West offer
minority students a bit more diversity. About one-sixth of black
students and one-ninth of Latino students attend schools that are at
least 99 percent minority. In big cities, the two groups are nearly
twice as likely to attend such schools. While resegregation trends
have been taking place for some time, Gary Orfield, the co-director
of the Civil Rights Project, says the latest trends are worrisome
because the U.S. Supreme Court recently struck down several
voluntary integration programs. Not everyone echoes Orfield’s
sentiments, as some groups commend the court’s decision as a step
toward taking race out of school admissions practices and allowing
parents to send their kids to the schools they find most convenient.
This, perhaps, makes schools more reflective of neighborhood makeup.
Still, some experts have found that segregated schools tend to be
highly correlated with things like school performance and the
ability to attract teachers. One of the desegregation policies the
Supreme Court threw out was the model used by Jefferson County (Ky.)
Public Schools. According to a new plan released this week, race,
income and education would be considered equally in assigning
Jefferson County students and would keep schools integrated, reports
Antoinette Konz in the Louisville Courier-Journal (first link
below). Under the proposal, all schools must enroll between 15 and
50 percent of their students from neighborhoods that have income and
education levels below the district average and higher-than-average
numbers of minorities. After several public forums, the plan will be
voted on in May, and district officials said they have no intention
of having courts review the plan. Meanwhile in Kansas, the Wichita
school board voted unanimously to end 37 years of busing black and
white students across town in an effort to aid in school
integration, reports Jillian Cohan in the Wichita Eagle (second link
below).
Also:
http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080129/NEWS0105/801290379/...
http://www.kansascity.com/news/breaking_news/story/465522.html
CAMPAIGN 2008: MORE THAN A MOVIE, IT
IS DEMOCRACY IN ACTION
Super Tuesday is just around the weekend, and students and teachers
are definitely getting into the spirit. At Mater Academy Charter
High School in Hialeah Gardens, Fla., students portrayed not only
the presidential candidates, but their campaign managers, press
aides and speechwriters for a debate in front of the entire school.
The students gave great performances, with campaign managers wearing
Bluetooth earpieces and faux press passes, reports Kathleen McGrory
in the Miami Herald (link above). The project was the brainchild of
Idelsy Schaub Llanes, a social studies teacher, who charged all team
members (each of whom favored a particular candidate) to learn their
candidate’s position on education, immigration, health care, and the
war in Iraq. In addition, each team filmed a three-minute campaign
ad and a one-minute attack video, produced a radio segment,
decorated bulletin boards and wrote speeches. Election fever caught
on -- the day after the Democratic debate in South Carolina, the
students energetically discussed how Senators Clinton and Obama had
sparred over experience. While portraying the candidates provides a
great learning opportunity, it seems more fascinating to be the
candidates’ children. Apparently, Barack Obama’s young daughters
like sports, Mike Huckabee’s and John Edward’s older daughters enjoy
working on their fathers’ campaigns and Chelsea Clinton does not
like talking to the media, even if she thinks a particular reporter
is cute, reports the Associated Press (first link below). These
nuggets of information were gathered by student reporters, ages 8 to
15, who interviewed the children of the candidates. The interviews
will be published online and in upcoming issues of Scholastic News
and Junior Scholastic. It is undeniably important to engage young
people in the electoral processes, and while the voting age is 18,
it is never too early to learn about voting, elections and American
democracy. A new edition of "In the Classroom" (second link below)
provides examples for teachers to effectively plan and teach
students as well as parents. If all this anticipation as to who will
win the nominations is getting to you, then look no further. The
students of Washington & Lee University have staked their 100-year
reputation of being a near perfect predictor of presidential
candidates on Hillary Clinton (third link below). At last weekend’s
Democratic Mock Convention, the participants decided that Sen.
Clinton would clinch the nomination over Sen. Obama, reports Nikki
Schwab in U.S. News & World Report. The students have selected the
candidate correctly each election year but one since 1948, with an
overall record of 18 correct predictions in 23 attempts.
Also:
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5ijU_uuEN-q_vu218sdMkPQ8XbhugD8UCHLL00
http://www.factsinaction.org/classroom/cloct04.htm
http://www.usnews.com/articles/news/politics/2008/01/28/clinton-wins-student-mock-convention...
VIRTUAL SCHOOLING, THE HOVER CAR OF
EDUCATION?
The Internet has made a lot of things possible, and parents who are
looking for alternatives to traditional schooling have used the
information superhighway to create a new market for virtual public
schools (think charter schools in cyberspace). Virtual schools teach
around 92,000 students, while one million students attend charter
schools and two million more are home-schooled, reports Paulette
Miniter for Smart Money. According to Kelly Flynn, an analyst at
Credit Suisse, the virtual school industry could produce annual
revenues of $5.5 billion to $11 billion if it reaches a market share
somewhere between the charter schools and home schoolers. Yet, so
far, only one company, K12, is really capitalizing on this trend.
K12 charges per-student fees for its services and sells online
curricula and management services to 32 virtual public schools in
more than a dozen states. K12 also supplies each student with a
computer, Internet connection and all the curriculum materials so
that the virtual schools are free for eligible parents. As more
parents look beyond traditional public schools and the Internet
becomes more accepted as a learning tool, K12 appears to have good
prospects. The company’s success lies in enrollment, which has more
than doubled during the course of the past four years, resulting in
a 97 percent increase in revenue to $140.6 million. Recently three
investment banks, which also helped underwrite K12’s IPO, issued Buy
or Outperform ratings on the stock, and, to date, shares are up 33
percent from the initial offering price. In another sign that K12
might be onto something, some of the bigger players in education are
honing in on the market: Apollo Group (University of Phoenix)
purchased Insight Schools (a network of virtual high schools) and
DeVry acquired Advanced Academics (a provider of online secondary
education). Does all of this make virtual schooling the education
sector’s version of the hover car?
TEACHER CHALLENGES STUDENTS TO CHANGE
THE WORLD, $10 AT A TIME
High school English teacher Pat Colangeli is testing a unique
theory: whether 20 kids armed with $10 each can change the world a
little bit at a time, reports Mary Beth Lane in the Columbus
Dispatch. Colangeli recently handed every student in her
second-period class a $10 bill and told them they could keep it or
donate it. Her hope is to engage students around community
involvement and fill a necessity for their neighborhoods because
their "community is not the richest." Student Betsey Brown wants to
put the money toward fighting cancer (she unfortunately lost her dad
to the disease), while Joni Palmer wants to fight breast cancer,
which took her grandmother. Another student wants to help the Ronald
McDonald House at Nationwide Children’s Hospital because she and her
family stayed there when her little sister was treated for a tumor.
Another, perhaps more entrepreneurial student advised that they
should "go door to door and get other classmates and clubs involved
and then vote to pick a couple of organizations" to support. It
sounds like the experiment is already working.
ORGANIZATION HELPS GROW GLOBALLY
CONCERNED "YOUNG HEROES"
Young Heroes, an organization that links orphan families with
sponsors who provide small monthly stipends for necessities, has
renewed their valuable program, School Challenge. Through the
program, schools, classes, teams and student groups raise funds to
sponsor families of AIDS orphans in Swaziland, the country with the
world's highest rate of HIV infection, with 100 percent of raised
funds going directly to children. It is estimated that within the
next three years, more than 10 percent of the country’s population
will include children who have lost at least one parent to AIDS.
Currently, more than 15,000 children are responsible for raising
their younger siblings. As of January 2008, Young Heroes has given
support to more than 370 families and more than 850 children. In
joining the School Challenge, groups pledge to support at least one
child for a year by raising $360. Then, the groups challenge two
other similar organizations to match or surpass their pledge. To
assist students in their efforts to help, Young Heroes provides tons
of free materials (presentations, posters, pamphlets and ideas for
fundraising projects).
CRACKING THE ASIAN STUDENT STEREOTYPE
Within contemporary education discourse, discussions of race tend to
focus on African Americans, Latinos and whites, with little
attention paid to Asian Americans. Part of this neglect seems to
stem from the misperception of Asian Americans as a "model
minority," even though there is no so such thing as a positive
stereotype. When it comes to Asian Americans and education, labeling
these students as quiet, industrious and obedient hinders not only
their educational achievement but their personal growth as well.
Consequently, reinforcing the notion of the "model minority"
disassociates Asian American students from their peers in other
minority groups, and eliminates the need to discuss societal
obstacles. In Rethinking Schools (link above), educators Wayne Au, a
former Seattle Public Schools teacher, and Benji Chang, a former Los
Angles Unified School District teacher, consider this mythology and
challenge its roots. In another Rethinking Schools article (link
below), Carol Tateishi, director of the Bay Area Writing Project,
discusses the need to nurture Asian American voices and foster a
classroom setting that encourages student participation.
Also:
http://www.rethinkingschools.org/archive/22_02/word222.shtml
PARENTS MUST WEAR MANY HATS,
INCLUDING THAT OF STATISTICIAN
While most parents of special needs children know that they must
understand the law and their rights if their children are to receive
an optimum education, few parents realize that they also must be
able to comprehend the facts. According to a new article from
Wrightslaw, the facts of a child’s case are contained in the various
tests and evaluations that the child takes. Sometimes critical
education decisions are based on the subjective beliefs of parents
and educators. Instead, the article’s authors say that these vital
decisions should be based on the results of psychological and
educational achievement testing. Consequently, for parents to
successfully advocate for their child, they must learn about tests
and measurements, i.e., have a basic understanding of statistics.
Statistics provide the method for measuring progress or the lack
thereof for students. Once test results are analyzed and parents
understand what the numbers indicate, they will be able to develop
an appropriate educational program that is tailored to their child’s
unique needs and from which the child will ultimately benefit. The
article teaches parents what tests and evaluations measure, how this
information is reported and how to use information to measure and
monitor progress.
ONCE ILLITERATE TEACHER AUTHORS
SECOND BOOK, DERIDES PREP PROGRAMS
John Corcoran taught school for 17 years and didn't know how to
read, reports Stephanie Parry for the San Diego Union Tribune.
Corcoran struggled throughout his education career, from
kindergarten through college, yet, after spending 13 months at a
program sponsored by the Carlsbad City Library and 120 hours of
intensive treatment at the Lindamood-Bell Learning Center, he
learned how to read at a 12th grade level. This spring he will
publish his second book -- a call for action, he says, because "we,
as a society, cannot leave all of this to...teachers." In his
opinion, teachers have been battered for 20 years, yet no one looks
at the shortfalls of teacher preparatory programs. He wonders "how
can we hold a teacher who went through the university system and got
his or her credentials accountable?"
CHILDHOOD WELL-BEING LAGS BEHIND
HISTORIC U.S. HIGHS, WORLDWIDE PEERS
Over the last two decades, the racial and ethnic differences among
African American, Hispanic and white children have been narrowing
overall. However, to close the gaps as soon as possible, policies
that favor the well-being of all children must be diligently
pursued. According to a report from the Foundation for Child
Development, even if African American and Hispanic children reached
the current well-being level of white children, the overall
well-being of all three groups would be substantially below the U.S.
high watermark, as well as that experienced by international peers.
The report also notes that both African American and Hispanic
children were advantaged in the emotional/spiritual domain compared
to white children. In addition, African American and Hispanic
children have benefited from advances in the safety-behavioral
domains, including reduced cigarette smoking and use of alcohol and
illicit drugs.
THE HALO VIDEO GAME SERIES IS TAKING
OVER ALL FACETS OF LIFE
In the five months since the release of Halo 3, students have logged
millions of hours playing online, reports Katie Ash for Digital
Directions magazine. The volume of time has parents and teachers
hoping that there may be skills honed by Halo 3 that are similar to
that which students learn in the classroom. Elliot Soloway, a
computer science and education professor at the University of
Michigan says that kids learn mostly from the inherent collaboration
required to effectively master the online version of the game. It is
particularly interesting because games like Halo are
"self-organizing, so...kids are putting together their own teams and
are responsible for managing their own learning," says Kurt Squire,
an assistant professor of educational communications and technology
at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. While collaboration,
teamwork and organization are necessary skills, the game may not
translate this practice to the classroom. For example, there was a
push to teach students computer programming because it reinforced
linear thinking. However, researchers later found that teaching
programming skills simply produced lots of computer programmers and
not necessarily better linear thinkers. If video games are to have
any educational value, it seems likely that teachers must adjust
their instructional strategies in accordance. Still, as is, Halo 3
may exhibit some untapped educational potential, as the environment
created in the game is one that realistically adheres to the laws of
physics. As a result, some players have performed virtual
physics-based experiments.
BUILDING VALUES THROUGH ONLINE
STORIES
In every vocation that involves instructing children, there are
always moments of being awestruck, even if the awe is not always
positive. This can often take the form of being baffled in the face
of a child who doesn't know how to share or be kind and respectful
to others. A new set of illustrated stories attempts to address
issues (sharing, dealing with bullies, respecting others and taking
responsibility for actions) that children and caregivers face every
day. The stories are intended to give caregivers an enjoyable and
playful tool they can use in partnership with children to teach
social and moral values. Alongside each story are discussion
questions and activities as well as parenting tips designed to
complement the story’s message and reinforce the impact. Some of the
charming stories are titled "Rosa the Rabbit Learns to be Fair,"
"Silly Lilly Remembers Manners" and "Gilbert the Goat Learns
Respect."
VIP CORPS ADDS TO THE MIX OF SCHOOL
SOLUTIONS
Georgia Governor Sonny Purdue first went to educators, then
community members, and now has turned to parents as the key to
keeping struggling students in the classroom and on track for
graduation, reports Linda Jacobsen for Education Week. Purdue’s next
step in solving an education system not making the grade is to
create a corps of Very Important Parent (VIP) recruiters, who would
serve as a resource for their peers at 551 elementary, middle and
high schools with the worst attendance rates. The VIP recruiters
would be a designated contact at the school and, it is hoped, would
help parents work better with teachers to improve achievement,
inform families about parental responsibilities and point parents to
valuable outside resources. This program seems to dovetail nicely
with Purdue’s "community coach" initiative, which would create a
volunteer corps of business people to work with graduation coaches
and mobilize community resources. Karen Hallacy, the legislative
chair for the Georgia PTA, said she sees potential in the VIP
recruiters, especially if they can help other parents "figure out
all the ropes of the system" -- said the governor’s spokesperson,
"adding a parent into [the] mix can only help you."
ARMS RACE, SPACE RACE, GLOBAL SKILLS
RACE, WE ALL MUST RACE
First there was the ‘arms race,’ then the ‘space race’ and now
countries around the world are in a push to win the global ‘skills
race,’ reports the BBC. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown recently
told a conference of business leaders that only one in 15 British
youngsters are in an apprenticeship program. He added that he wants
to see that ratio become one in five within a decade. The biggest
barrier in England to apprenticeship is not actually a shortage of
jobs, but a shortage of skilled workers who also are unemployed and
economically inactive. Brown’s first step to alleviating this
problem is to increase the number of apprenticeship offers available
to 16 to 18-year-olds by 90,000 during the course of the next six
years. This responds to a growing trend, as apprenticeship places
have increased from 75,000 to 240,000 in the last 10 years. Brown
hopes to build on this success by, among other methods, expanding
the current system to include targets for increasing apprenticeships
in the public sector and making it easier for employers to improve
the range of apprenticeships.
IMPROVE K-12 EDUCATION: BREAK AWAY
FROM CONVENTION
To improve learning and public schools, the education community must
make a major effort to build on standards and accountability
(system-level reforms) by developing new schools and methods of
schooling. According to a report from Education Evolving, students
learn from what they read, see, hear and do and that learning
improves when educators respond to system-level reforms by modifying
schooling to embrace how students learn. It makes sense that to
enhance achievement, there needs to be increased effort from
students as well as teachers, and for this to occur, new modes for
motivating students are required. Consequently, the job for
education policymakers is to enable and stimulate new programs of
innovation, which includes supporting ‘different’ school models.
XENOPHOBIA BAD, TRAVELING ABROAD
GOOD...
The Global Exploration for Educators Organization (GEEO) is offering
Tours for Teachers to help educators travel internationally during
the summer and earn graduate school and professional development
credit in the process. GEEO’s mission is to help and encourage
educators to bring their foreign experiences back to the classroom
and create a more outward-looking generation of Americans. The hope
is that by spending time overseas and forming international
relationships, teachers will gain fresh perspectives that should
deeply enrich their students' learning and global awareness. |
