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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.
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."
"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.
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.
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 (first link below). 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 (second link below). 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.
Also:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/29/AR2008012903838.html
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2008/02/06/22pensions.h27.html
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 Henry 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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. |
