A new report by LFA and Grunwald Associates, with support from AT&T, examines how parents perceive the value of mobile devices, how they see their children using mobiles, and what they think of the possibilities for mobile learning.
Equity
Blog Entries
The theme of the March issue of Principal Leadership, the publication from NASSP, is “Seeing the Future…” and features thoughtful articles by Thelma Melendez de Santa Ana, Richard Rothstein, Diane Ravitch, and George H. Wood. Each article explores the complexity of the issues facing public education today and going forward and explicates the simplistic approaches currently in vogue to “fix” schools. In his look at “The Future of Public Education” George H. Wood captures both hope and despair for the institution of public schooling. The despair is the short term view with subsequent hope for long term change.
Wood’s despair, shared by many of us who have spent our careers working in public education, is around the current rhetoric and policy initiatives labeled as “reform” that redirect funds toward programs that fail to address the core problem and result in the scapegoating of professionals in the field. While acknowledging that many institutions of teacher preparation are dropping the ball when it comes to turning out the teachers that schools need, what is now being touted as an innovative approach is teachers who come through “quickie” certification programs and who focus on drilling kids to succeed on tests. Also, the notion that new teachers who come through alternate certification programs are somehow more capable of working with students in ...
According to the National Endowment for the Arts and data from Chorus America, choral singing is the most popular form of participation in the performing arts; however, opportunities to participate in a school choir are declining. The arts are getting slashed from many schools as we become myopically focused on reading and math in this budget-crunched time.
To help schools avoid this fate for programs in their communities, earlier this week, Chorus America released a free advocacy guide schools can use in making a case for choral arts programs. From a pragmatic standpoint, as the American economy increasingly becomes more service-oriented, and creativity-driven, it makes sense to emphasize the arts in schools. From a motivating standpoint, courses and programs that actively engage students and offer some bonafide entertainment make school a lot more pleasurable for students, and provide them with something to look forward to. A Chorus Impact Study reported that 90% of educators believe choral singing can keep some students engaged in school who might otherwise lose interest and/or drop out.
Arts integration in schools is not a pie in the sky dream: arts used to be a much bigger focus in American schools. Dana Gioia, former Chairman of ...
On Monday, Slate featured an excellent article by Richard Kahlenberg that focused on the 
problems with Michelle Rhee’s credo and his dismay at the continued media endorsement of her efforts. In critiquing Rhee, the article also provides cogent arguments dealing with anti-union fervor (a timely topic in light of current events in states like Wisconsin, Indiana, and Ohio) and how this can serve to push into the background the singly most problematic element the education industry deals with: disadvantaged prospects and likelihood for achievement among students, stemming from race and income inequalities
While Kahlenberg acknowledges that Rhee made some significant improvements to DC public schools—such as ensuring that students got textbooks on time and making efficient use of space by closing under-used schools—he asserts that contrary to popular claims, “she didn’t revolutionize education in DC.” ...
Like many education stakeholders, I appreciate President Obama’s budgetary commitment to education (even though he found an inhospitable audience in the House). Despite tough financial times, it’s commendable that he is taking a far-sighted approach to the health of the country by focusing on education. However, with his budget, we’re left facing the same problem we’ve faced over the past couple years - over-emphasis on competitive funding programs like Race for the Top.
Perhaps in examining the issue of competitive funding, we should consider largely philosophical roots of competition ideologies. Libertarianism is the poster-child for competition and privatization, but most would agree that this philosophy breaks down in certain categories: some needs simply are not fulfilled well relying on the private sector, and some of these needs—like education—comprise areas where we simply can’t afford market failings.
Maurice Elias recently blogged on this issue on edutopia. He wrote, “it is difficult for me to understand why we want, need, or should tolerate competition for a public function such as education. We don’t have competition for police and fire services. These are required to be uniformly excellent and equitable. They are not always, but ...
I have been fairly discouraged reading about the budget situations of states recently. And I am getting even MORE discouraged after learning about some of the tough choices they are making to save money.
One example: Early childhood education programs are being cut across the country.
A recent New Jersey Star-Ledger article talks about a plan by the state’s Senate Republican caucus to cut funding for early childhood education in urban districts, moving from full- to half-day preschools. They claim they don’t have a choice, given the financial situation of the state. And a recent Associated Press article describes Iowa Governor Terry Branstad’s proposal to, for budgetary reasons, scale back the state program that provides pre-school in most of the state’s districts. The Governor does not question the importance of pre-school – but limited state dollars are forcing the issue.
These proposed cuts are quite discouraging for advocates of early childhood education. They should also be discouraging for Americans in general, given the benefit that these programs have for society.
A recent evaluation of the Chicago Public Schools’ federally funded Child Parent Centers (CPCs) found that for every dollar invested in the preschool program, nearly $11 is projected to return to society over participants' lifetimes. That is the equivalent of ...
February is National School-Based Health Care Awareness Month, so I wanted to discuss school-based health centers (SBHCs) as beneficial models for communities nation-wide. The National Assembly on School-Based Health Care explains that SBHCs are comprised of partnerships between schools and local health care organizations to deliver health care (physical and mental) to students on a school campus. Currently, schools with SBHCs predominantly serve low-income students who historically experience health care disparities (although even schools with different student demographics could benefit from the SBHC model.) And while SBHCs serve the student and faculty population at the school where they are housed, many also open their doors to students from other schools, as well as to other members of the community. SBHCs can be funded from both government (local, state, and federal) and private groups, depending on the model each community develops. Currently, there are more than 1,900 SBHCs in 48 states and territories.
There are many compelling benefits to SBHCs. Besides providing care for populations that otherwise might not receive it, research indicates they increase school attendance and academic performance, decrease school drop-out rates, and ...
President Barak Obama’s State of the Union address has drawn a mixed response from players in the education community. I imagine all appreciate the president’s focus on education as an important issue, and approve of his connecting it to broader American self-interest with talk of jobs and competitiveness in worldwide markets. Likewise, few would disagree with Obama’s emphasis on long-term investment in education, parental involvement in children's learning, the shared responsibility of schools and their communities, recruiting more science, technology, engineering, and mathematics teachers, and the need to overhaul No Child Left Behind. It’s also refreshing that he pointed out teachers are the most important school-based factor in a child’s success; he emphasized the greater importance of parents (and though research more specifically shows the influence of socio-economic status, these two categories are related). His talk of curbing the reach of the federal government was also encouraging to many, although his actual policy emphases related to Race to the Top and other competitive funding measures seem to counter this rhetoric.
Many are concerned with federal oversight of schools, as well as competitive allocation of funds. In a statement responding to the State of the Union Address, American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten discussed the need to protect children from struggling segments of the population. Likewise, NEA President Dennis Van Roekel expressed his continued concern that “competitive grants such as ...
A recent Washington Post article on a vote in Wake County (NC) to end the district’s socioeconomic school integration plan and return to neighborhood schools has lit up the blogosphere. National observers ranging from Education Secretary Arne Duncan to Comedy Central’s Stephen Colbert have expressed concern (or to be fair to Colbert, "support") about the potential for the policy to resegregate the county's schools – and give rise to the problems accompanying segregated schools. Low-performing schools in low-income neighborhoods. High-performing schools in high-income neighborhoods. The best teachers flocking to schools in high-income neighborhoods. This would greatly change the educational landscape in the county, where currently some of the best schools are in the poorest neighborhoods - and 94% of parents are satisfied with their child's school.
Many in the media have focused on school board member John Tedesco’s controversial statement:
"If we had a school that was, like, 80 percent high-poverty, the public would see the challenges, the need to make it successful," he said. "Right now, we ...
I consider myself relatively well-informed when it comes to issues of charter schools. I have read a great deal of research and commentary on them, and I have experience working with (though not in) some of them. So I don’t often come across information on charter schools that surprises me. But yesterday, I did - a Los Angeles Times article entitled Charter Choices: Good Food, Free Food, No Food.
While I knew that charters are free from many of the regulations that govern traditional public schools, one thing I did not realize is that in California at least (I do not know about elsewhere) charter schools are “exempt from a state requirement to serve at least one nutritionally adequate subsidized meal a day to qualifying children.” Some charter schools in the state do not serve any meal at all. Students who attend these schools must bring their own or place orders with volunteers who run out to fast food restaurants to pick up food.
Of course, other California charter schools are extremely concerned with ...
Education Week recently wrote about a U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) report on student mobility in this country, done at the request of Senators Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) and Christopher Dodd (D-Connecticut) to help lawmakers prepare for the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. The report found that about 13 percent of children change schools four or more times before enrolling in high school, and that 11.5 percent of schools had high rates of mobility (meaning that more than 10 percent of students left by the end of the school year). As is almost always the case when considering education statistics, this mobility is not spread evenly throughout the student population. It disproportionally impacts students who are poor, African-American and from families that do not own their home. Schools serving a mobile population also have larger percentages of students who are low-income, have limited English proficiency and receive special education services.
The report also reviewed evidence on the effect of mobility on student achievement. Not surprisingly, it is negative. Students who change schools frequently have lower standardized test scores than less mobile peers, and they tend to drop out of high school at a higher rate.
According to teachers interviewed for the report, some of the challenges that schools face in educating this population include differences in ...
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