Pedagogue Blog

Matthew Lynch published in EdTech & Innovation

Is STEM education working, especially for women?

By Barbara Mader

STEM education remains in the spotlight 25 years after the term first emerged. Coined in the 1990s by the National Science Foundation, the acronym is applied to any curricula, event, policy or education program addressing Science, Technology, Engineering or Math. Most often it references Science and Math, but all four areas have become hot topics in the general education of K-12 students. The emphasis carries through to higher education and beyond, seeking to prepare young adults to assume 21st century worthy jobs. Anticipated areas of need include employees who are interactive as problem solvers, researchers, designers, and engineers.

The shortfall of current industry STEM prepared workers and anticipated workers needed over the next ten years can be compared to the 1950s and 60s shortfall of scientists in the space race era. The United States is losing ground in STEM expertise internally and globally for both workforce development and academia while other countries are ramping up efforts to produce scientists and engineers. Predictions put Asian engineering design and innovation surpassing American outputs in just a few years. STEM job growth is predicted to increase by 10% over the next decade, compared to a 4% increase in non-STEM industries. STEM prepared industry employees currently earn at least a $9.55/hr. higher than other industry counterparts. 

The National Girls Collaborative Project is an organization committed to spreading the word and encouraging girl to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, and math. Its goals include promoting the sharing of resources for maximum expansion of female inclusion in each group’s  projects; strengthening the outcome of current projects by sharing exemplary practice research practices; and using the leverage of a network of like-minded organizations to create a gender equity in STEM.

Of particular emphasis through 2016 is strengthening, reaching, and serving underrepresented female populations in STEM. Examples of practices include maximizing access to and use of relevant, high quality resources that can raise awareness of and break down access barriers for females interested in STEM courses and careers, and provide collaborative opportunities for teachers to enable sustained development of improved practices. Targeted methodologies include webinars, websites, professional development opportunities, and mini-grants.  To date, 39 states have participated in Collaboratives affecting over 8 million girls, and 4.5 million boys.

Despite proactive programs and opportunities for female students to engage in STEM forward learning, results show gender inequity in several course paths. While males and females show similar interest in math and science, males are three times more likely to pursue STEM careers. Females tended to pursue “softer” sciences such as biology; males tended to pursue physics and engineering, typically thought of as more male gender appropriate.

The disparity really begins to emerge at the higher education level. Women earn 57% of all Bachelor degrees but only 50% in science and engineering. Men earn over 80% of the degrees in engineering, computer science and physics, while women earn only 18-19% in the same fields. Women tend to earn their degrees, once again, in the “softer” science areas of psychology, social sciences, and biological sciences. Under-represented populations of women make up 16% of the degree earning population but receive only 3-5% of Bachelor degrees in engineering, computer sciences, and physical sciences.

Female populations, therefore, continue with inequitable representation in the workforce. Women make up 47% of the general workforce in the US, but hold only 2% of the Science and Engineering jobs. Minority women hold less than 10% of the 2% of these jobs. Female science careers cluster in social sciences, and biological and medical areas (about 50%) but average much less than 25% in computer and mathematical sciences, and engineering.

The glass ceiling has not been broken for STEM careers. Although these areas of gender inequity have been studied and discussed for over two decades, and presidents and the Federal policy makers have declared initiatives and policies aiming at leveling the gender field, little actual progress is reflected in real world applications.

Legal issues addressing job discriminating practices move slowly despite top down policies, initiatives, and business incentives, all theoretically unnecessary in a gender equal society. Career-life balance issues recently addressed by first Lady Michelle Obama and the National Science Foundation are beginning to place more information in the public eye but rate of change is unpredictable.

 

Read all of our posts about EdTech and Innovation by clicking here. 

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Barbara Mader is a retired teacher certified in special education, speech therapy, and as a Wilson Language Instructor. She taught special needs students in three states for over thirty years. She now tutors, blogs, edits, writes in eight categories for Examiner.com, and is developing a line of all natural non-chemical skin care products. As a hopeful novelist seeking an agent for her first romance adventure she wove together her love of gardening, ancient history, a little magic, and fairies. You can follow her online journalism work at http://www.examiner.com/user-bmader and her somewhat irreverent blog at http://barb-says.blogspot.com.

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Matthew Lynch published in Higher Education, Matthew Lynch

Diversity at College Level Bolstered by Online Offerings

Each year online learning initiatives becomes less of a fringe movement and more of an incorporated, and accepted, form of education. More than 6.7 million people took at least one online class in the fall of 2011 and 32 percent of college students now take at least one online course during their matriculation. It is even becoming commonplace for high schools to require all students to take an online class before graduation as a way to prep them for the “real world” of secondary education.

The flexibility and convenience of online learning is well known but what is not as readily talked about is the way distance education promotes diversity of the college population. With less red tape than the traditional college format, online students are able to earn credits while still working full time, maintaining families and dealing with illnesses. Whether students take just one course remotely, or obtain an entire degree, they are able to take on the demands of college life more readily – leading to student population with more variety.

The Babson Survey Research Group recently revealed that while online college student enrollment is on the rise, traditional colleges and universities saw their first drop in enrollment in the ten years the survey has been conducted. This drop is small – less than a tenth of one percent – but its significance is big. A trend toward the educational equality of online curriculum is being realized by students, institutions and employers across the board. The benefits of a college education through quality online initiatives are now becoming more accessible to students that simply cannot commit to the constraints of a traditional campus setting.

A controversial experiment that could lead the way to even more college credit accessibility is MOOCs, or massive open online courses. As the name implies, these classes are offered to the general public at a low cost, or no cost, in the hopes of earning their students college credit. California-based online course provider Coursera recently had five of its offerings evaluated by the American Council on Education for college credit validity. Four of the courses were recommended for college credit by ACE, and one was endorsed for vocational credit, providing student work verification through a strict proctoring process.

These credits are not earned through community colleges or online-institutions; Duke University, the University of California at Irvine and the University of Pennsylvania are on Coursera’s list of places the courses will earn credit for students that pay a nominal fee. Students that obtain these credits through Coursera can approach any higher education institution and seek their inclusion in a degree program, but the final discretion is up to the particular school.

MOCCs are certainly in an infancy stage and do not provide a “sure thing” yet for students that participate. In the Babson survey mentioned earlier, only 2.6 percent of schools offer a MOOC, but an additional 9.4 percent are building a MOCC plan. The potential for further diversity and equality in education through MOCCs is certainly on the horizon. This form of online learning means that students do not have to commit to an entire course of study to obtain credits or even commit to a particular institution upfront.

MOOCs will further eliminate the socio-economic barriers that keep promising students from seeking out college credits. Students are given more flexibility in scheduling at an affordable price. Though the MOOC trend has its dissenters, I believe it will win over even the most skeptical and increase accessibility for all people that seek higher education. After all, at one time the mention of online courses raised a few eyebrows in the educational community and look how far the concept has come. Further development of online initiatives, specifically in the area of MOOCs, represents the next big step for enriching the diversity of the college student population in America.

 

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Matthew Lynch published in Ask An Expert, EdTech & Innovation, Parental Involvement

Here’s how screen time is changing the way kids tell stories

Allison S Henward, University of Hawaii

Recently, at a child’s birthday party, I overheard a conversation between parents discussing their concern about “screen time.”

Phones, computers, iPads and the good old television are all around us. And this can be a source of anxiety for parents, caregivers and teachers. A recent report from the American Academy of Pediatrics suggests the amount of time young children spend viewing television and movies and playing on handheld devices is increasing.

As an early childhood media researcher, an early childhood teacher educator and a parent, I understand these concerns. But, I believe, it is equally important that we consider how children are learning from the time spent in front of the screen.

My research shows that children are creating complex oral stories through the characters they see on screen.

Educational opportunities in “screen time”

A number of studies show how viewing television and other media can contribute to children’s learning. Children have been known to improve their math and literacy skills from watching “educational” shows such as Sesame Street.

When children watch educational programs and interact with apps that promote learning, they make gains in literacy, numeracy and vocabulary. A recent article in Young Children, a publication of the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) (a nonprofit organization that works to promote early learning), shows how children can gain several skills through experience with computers and handheld devices.

These devices can facilitate better language and literacy outcomes, such as letter recognition, listening, comprehension and vocabulary. When children play games that link letter sounds to written letters, it can increase their ability to hear and identify individual sounds – skills children need in order to read.

How are children interpreting television show characters?
woodleywonderworks, CC BY

Researchers show that children learn from both print and digital picture books. Digital storybooks (e-books) that pair spoken word with pictures and print text can enhance vocabulary.

Apps that allow a “read-along” experience, for example, can help children develop a better understanding of concepts about stories and print, especially if they have printed text that children can see. E-books that highlight words as they are read, help young children learn that print is read from left to right in English.

Children learn from superheroes as well

But it is important to realize that it is not just “educational” television and media from which children learn. Children pick up ideas from television (even television not considered “educational”) and use them to enhance literacy.

Children can learn from superheroes, too. Researcher on early childhood learning Anne Haas Dyson found that seven- to nine-year-old children] took the superheroes they watched on cartoons and brought them into their fiction writing and dramatic play.

Her research shows children, like adults, often use media and media characters as tools. With the help of their teacher, children brought their home life and interests into school to make their writing come to life.

Dyson’s research demonstrates that when allowed, children use media – songs, characters from their favorite shows and movies – as a way to enhance their “school learning.”

My own research demonstrates how preschool children take unlikely characters in popular television shows and movies and blend them together to create complex oral stories.

Children bring what they learn from superheroes into fiction writing and dramatic play.
Stephen Train, CC BY-NC

I spent nearly a year in a preschool to observe how three- to five-year-old preschool children talked and thought about television, movies and handheld devices. These preschool children often talked about characters from a wide range of television shows and movies.

For example, one preschooler, I observed, “borrowed” Disney Channel’s Hannah Montana, a tween rockstar, as the protagonist in her tale. After introducing Hannah Montana, she brought Boots (the monkey from Dora the Explorer, a preschool cartoon) into her story. She spun a story in which Hannah Montana and Boots battled and ultimately defeated a villainous monster from a movie.

Preschoolers took ideas from shows such as Sesame Street, Mickey mouse Clubhouse, cartoons featuring Spiderman, Tinkerbell and Spongebob. Some combined these with shows that older siblings and family members watched such as action movies, professional wrestling and even monster movies.

Rather than repeating what they saw on television, they brought ideas from their own community to make new stories.

The stories children saw and the characters they knew from television also allowed them to relate to other children. Superheroes, characters from Frozen and other popular culture characters can give children from diverse backgrounds a common (and exciting) topic in which to create play scenarios.

And this play involves negotiating and talking with other children about characters and plot, which in turn enhances oral language. Oral language is a crucial aspect of literacy for young children.

How should adults monitor screen-time?

Although research shows the way in which children learn from media, there are also legitimate concerns about what children see on these screens.

Media is created from viewpoints and stances that may not always be acceptable to parents and teachers. Media can show people in inaccurate and stereotypical lights.

So what should adults do with all of the media content coming into their children’s lives?

Research with preschoolers has shown that conversations allow a child to examine who is being shown in media and the way they are being shown. And it is important to note that children’s view of these stereotypes often depends on their home lives and environments. These conversations are important for children.

Adults also need to recognize that screen time is one way for children to learn. It is certainly not the only way. The American Academy of Pediatrics suggests that children should engage with entertainment media for no more than one or two hours per day.

As they note, it is important for kids to spend time on outdoor play, reading, hobbies and using their imaginations in free play. Children need rich experiences in their lives and interactions with other people. Screens cannot make up for this.

Children need a healthy balance. While we should be careful in flinging open the gates of media, we should be equally concerned about chaining them shut.

The Conversation

Allison S Henward, Assistant Professor of Early Childhood Education, University of Hawaii

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

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Matthew Lynch published in Policy & Reform, Teachers

Understanding State Funding: 4 Types of School Financing Systems

Educators can argue that the funding within education determines student success, staff morale, and the overall functionality of school system. The importance of understanding all types of funding is crucial to your development as an Educator, parent/guardian, and student. In this blog, state funding will be addressed and aid in creating a better understanding of school financing systems.

States generally use one of four types of school financing systems to provide districts with state funds: foundation, general aid, flat rate/local effort equalization, and full state funding. When using the foundation financing system, states set a desired (guaranteed) per-pupil amount they wish to see spent on students’ education in the state (e.g., at $12,000 per pupil). States then make up the difference between the amount generated by districts’ local taxes and the state-guaranteed per-pupil amount.

General aid is a foundation approach using three separate calculations to establish the amount districts receive from the state. When determining state aid to districts, states consider the guaranteed minimum per pupil and calculations of the percentage of district resources below or above the guaranteed minimum.

The flat rate/local effort equalization financing system is based on a quantifiable unit of need, such as a district’s average daily attendance or total school enrollment, and on districts’ property tax rates to determine state aid. Schools are fully funded in Hawaii and Vermont, with no consideration of local taxes.

Two other states have rather unique ways of providing state funds to local school districts. In Pennsylvania, school districts receive a percentage of state funds based on the amount a district needs to address key educational principles established by the state. Wisconsin uses a guaranteed tax base system, where all districts, regardless of their level of wealth, have the same tax rate. As a result, Wisconsin raises the same amount allocated per pupil from a combination of state and local sources.

Tax sources of funding are equally diverse and vary according to states. The three main tax sources providing input to education are income tax, sales tax, and property taxes. Income taxation, however, is generally enacted at a federal rather than at a state level, with much federal education aid originating from income taxes. Taxes levied on corporations are also included in income tax, although the rate of taxation differs among states. Sales tax is generated based on the sale of goods or commodities, which is paid by the person buying the goods. A special type of tax, excise tax, is levied on items that are considered undesirable for consumption, or that consumers are encouraged to spend less on, including cigarettes, gasoline, and liquor. Sales and income taxes make up approximately two thirds of all monies channeled into education, while the income derived from excise taxes makes up the remaining third.

Currently, lotteries are being marketed as a novel way of paying for public education. But in many cases, education actually ends up getting the short end of the stick. Instead of using lottery funds as additional funding for schools, state governments use these monies to cover the education budget and spend the monies that would be traditionally earmarked for education on other issues. In short, public school budgets have not received any additional funding as a result of lotteries. In the end, it’s true that billions of dollars pour into the U.S. education system, but not in the manner that we have been led to believe.

Property taxation is the most important source of revenue-generating taxation at a local level. Approximately half of the revenue generated from property tax is allocated for education. The exact amount of revenue generated from property taxes varies from region to region, due to differences in property tax rates that are based not only on the perceived value of the property but also on the amount/percentage that a constituency is willing to charge its homeowners as tax.

The school district tax rate is determined by calculating the total assessed valuation of the district, which refers to the amount of money required to be generated divided by the local tax base. The school district tax rate, however, is subject to a legal maximum, which may not be exceeded. The school district tax is added to the tax rates of other services (including fire relief, ambulance, or police services) and is described as a percentage or “millage,” where one mill is equal to one tenth of a percent. Thus, a tax rate expressed as 312 mills is equivalent to 31.2%.

During the late 1960s and in the 1970s, property values and taxation increased far more rapidly than other forms of wealth, resulting in mass dissatisfaction with the rate of property taxation. This gradually led to various legal reforms regarding the taxation of property, which again varied between individual states. In 1993, Michigan decided to replace school funds generated from local property taxes with state-generated funds. The state increased both sales tax and taxes on luxury items such as cigarettes, reallocating funds to its poorer districts, and ensuring a more equitable education for all children in the state. Other states have followed suit and have come to rely less on property taxes as a funding base for their educational systems.

In some instances, wealthier school districts have reacted to the redistribution of educational funding by actively setting out to ensure that their schools are not endangered or placed on a fiscal par with less economically fortunate areas. The Parent Teacher Association (PTA), which can receive state and national funds, and Parent Teacher Organizations (PTOs), which cannot, work with local businesses to ensure that funds other than those generated and allocated by the state are available to their schools. Parent groups conduct fundraisers and seek monies from private foundations. Some parent groups have sought legal support to ensure adequate funding for their schools. These advocates want to ensure that all schools have a base minimum amount of money on which to operate their programs and services.

The allocation of funds for education is determined by the governor and can vary greatly from state to state. The authorities must determine how available funds will be divided among all educational entities in the state. States typically funnel education funds to school districts through state departments of education. Schools may receive funds based on any or all of the following: enrollment, educational programs, or the types of activities they offer students.

Furthermore, some funds are designated for specific purposes: some can only be used for technology; others are solely for textbooks or school supplies. Thus, some schools may have a pool of money allocated to one resource, while sorely needing another. This can have a direct impact on you as a teacher. For example, you may need art supplies for your third-grade class, but because no money is specifically allocated for this purchase, you may have to be creative in how you provision your art program. You may have to consider approaching local businesses for donations of money or supplies. You may also have to sharpen your grant-writing skills and apply to both corporations and foundations for that much-needed extra cash.

Take the time to review your school’s financing system and how state funding may be creating a greater impact that is unaware to you. If your school is lacking in areas that are effecting student success consider researching the suggestions made in this blog such as submitting grants for additional funding.

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Matthew Lynch published in Ask An Expert, Matthew Lynch, Policy & Reform, Teachers

Ask An Expert: Ending Corporal Punishment in Schools

Question: I recently moved from New Jersey to a small town in Louisiana. To my amazement and horror, my children’s elementary school still uses corporal punishment. Fortunately, it is an opt in system, but if parents do not consent to its use, their children are automatically suspended, whether it is in school or at home. What does research say about the effects of corporal punishment? What can we do to end this deplorable practice? Marcia E.

Answer: First of all, thank you for your question. It’s difficult to believe in this day and age that we still have some schools around the nation that are using corporal punishment as a form of discipline. At this point, there are only 19 states that now allow corporal punishment, which is allowing the school to use physical punishment on a child. Such punishment usually includes a spanking of some kind, typically done with a wooden paddle. Although not allowed in the majority of states, it is reported that there are over 200,000 children who are victims of it each year around the country. It’s difficult to imagine that so many children are going home throughout the school year with welts, bruises, and broken vessels, as punishment for something they did in school.

Spankings themselves, as well as corporal punishment, are controversial topics at best. There is a lot of evidence and research that has pointed to the fact that spanking as a form of punishment, at any age, can be problematic. We as a society need to be aware of this research, especially when it comes to it still being allowed in the schools of 19 of our states. Here’s some of the most troubling aspects of corporal punishment in schools:

• Research indicates that children who are disciplined with spanking go on to have more mental illness as adults. Spanking has been linked to children becoming adults who not only have mental health issues, but also experience more depression, and have problems with substance abuse.
• Spanking children is also believed to make them become adults who are more aggressive, antisocial, and who go on to abuse their own spouse and children.
• As a nation, we are concerned with our high school drop out rates. This makes me wonder how many adults would want to continue showing up at their jobs if they knew they would be paddled if they didn’t perform their jobs correctly. Perhaps if students were not being paddled, they may hang in there a while longer and take to their studies a little better.

Corporal punishment may be under attack, but until we outlaw it from every state in the country, we will have the problems associated with it each year. And those problems, as we have discussed, are far reaching and long lasting. They impact us as a society long after the child has completed their schooling.

While the Supreme Court allows corporal punishment in whatever states and school districts have it legally on the books, this is a matter of ethics. We as a nation need to do what is right by the next generation. By the looks of it, if corporal punishment continues in the 19 states it is currently allowed in, we will be raising a lot of children who may go on to have mental illnesses, be more aggressive, abuse their spouses, and have addiction problems.

Once they are adults, society can point the finger at them and say that it’s their own fault, and they have created the problems in their life by the choices they have made. But if we can agree that the writing is on the wall, and the potential long term impact is there, then we may need to start pointing a few fingers at the schools, as they are using a form of punishment that experts agree goes on to create more unwanted behavior.

Now is the time for parents around the nation, especially those who live in states where corporal punishment is still allowed, to take a stand. It’s time that we focus on more peaceful and less harmful ways to teach the children of the nation right from wrong. Getting rid of the paddles in the schools of this nation is a great place to start.

 

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Matthew Lynch published in Education Leadership

Why social interaction is essential to learning math

**The Edvocate is pleased to publish guest posts as way to fuel important conversations surrounding P-20 education in America. The opinions contained within guest posts are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official opinion of The Edvocate or Dr. Matthew Lynch.**

A guest post by Robert Sun

Not long ago, while visiting Israel, I had the opportunity to sit in on a fourth grade class at a progressive school in that country’s North District. The young teacher that day was leading her group of 19 students as they learned English. Over the 40 minute session, as the students were introduced to 20 new English vocabulary words, speaking them aloud and using them in sentences, I suddenly realized how important active, verbal and reciprocal exchange is to learning any new language.

And math, most definitely, is a language.

I know first-hand how difficult the task of learning a new language can be because, like those Israeli students, I had to learn English as a fourth-grade immigrant from Shanghai. Speaking English day after day, my new home in Philadelphia slowly became a much more inviting place—for me, a city of promise.

Fluency in English requires the mastery of 4,000 to 5,000 new and unfamiliar words. That’s a long process. By contrast, learning math should be much easier. After all, with math you don’t have to know what a “9” means; you only need to understand how a 9 can relate to a 3 or a 27, because math focuses on relationships and how numbers connect.

One reason I believe math is challenging for so many young people, is because it is so rarely spoken. In school, math instruction focuses on the written component: the constant litany of textbooks, board work and worksheets. At best, students listen to the teacher talk about math—but rarely do they speak it at length themselves.

Each of us, from the moment we hear our parents speak our name for the first time, gained our fluency for language through verbal interaction. The constant give-and-take, as we sharpened our pronunciations and built our vocabulary, became essential in our transformation from inarticulate toddler to fully functioning adult. The process of learning math would benefit from just such a dynamic. But it’s something we’re sorely missing.

All too often we forget that language acquisition demands a verbal component. You can focus on all the writing you want, from grammar to composition to reading—but without receiving the constant interaction, feedback and encouragement from people through conversation, your progress in mastering any new language will be limited.

Developing a working vocabulary is an exercise that can take many years. Until we build a foundation of competency, we are reluctant to speak because speaking is public—and in that public act we reveal ourselves.

Our education system seeks fluency in the language of math, yet it does not encourage students to use it in a social way, producing many who are anxious about math. If they don’t have to speak math, few people really know the extent of their math proficiency. It becomes easy to keep the “secret” of how weak they may be. Like all secrets, anxiety builds the longer the secret is maintained.

Over the last several decades, in fact, being “bad at math” has become socially acceptable. Admitting you are not proficient enables you to divert the subject and protect your deficiency. Unfortunately, so many people publically make this admission that it has become a culturally accepted way to avoid getting good at math. We need to change this dynamic.

I believe that as educators and as a society, we need to develop the idea of “social math”: the use of spoken math to inspire the human interactions that provide the feedback and motivation to master fluency. We can start to develop social math by encouraging our children, from a very early age, to speak as well as write the language of mathematics.

Just as the students in that Israeli classroom learned English by speaking words out loud, we can do the same when teaching math. Teachers can encourage their students to express themselves verbally using mathematical terms; even in the early grades, children can be asked to explain what they want or mean using numbers, or relationships between numbers. Anything that encourages them to talk about math and mathematical concepts is beneficial.

Today we understand how to remove the traditional stumbling blocks that prevent many from acquiring math proficiency:

  1. Provide immediate feedback; i.e., social engagement.
  2. Offer engaging and comprehensive content at hundreds of entry points, ensuring that no matter the skill level of a child, he or she can find an entry point to experience success and move progressively to advance their skills.
  3. Give children a sense of control and ownership over the learning process.
  4. Allow students the freedom to make mistakes, so they will push their skills right to the edge. That’s where the real active learning occurs.
  5. Encourage our children to SPEAK and write math so they will be truly fluent.

Technology has enabled us to develop tools that are designed to incorporate these features. Schools using these innovative tools discover that their students are eager to speak and practice mathematics.

Whenever children in a school are struggling to learn English, we invest considerably more resources into building their competence in that subject than we do when a comparable deficiency exists with math literacy. If our children are not expected to speak the language of math, they do not reveal their weakness and it becomes easier to ignore.

On the other hand, when we speak the common language of math with vibrancy and passion, we inspire our children to explore and pursue the rich opportunities offered in this essential and universal form of communication. This will benefit our next generation of thinkers immensely, providing them with the foundation to support careers in the STEM professions and every part of life.

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ROBERT SUN is the CEO of Suntex International and inventor of First In Math, an online program designed for deep practice in mathematics.

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Matthew Lynch published in Education Leadership

The 7 Qualities of Learning-Centered Leadership

A revolution is taking place in school leadership. New policies call for higher academic standards and accountability. So-called “accountability systems” include more methods to develop and monitor school change. Researchers have joined the fray, adding their opinions about the reinvention of instructional leadership in schools.

More focus on student results leads to local changes aligned with the performance goals of the educational system. The general presumption is that these changes will come automatically, since public reporting of school outcomes creates pressure for reform.  The development of direct incentives that yield innovation, efficiency, and solutions to performance problems will also be a source of change.

Accountability systems force the development of standards required for improved instructional and assessment practices. They also act as incentives for participation in the process. This simple logic of an accountability system is compelling, providing an irresistible rationale for educational reform.

The recent debate in the U.S. on the legitimacy of using standardized tests to gauge student learning has led to new leadership efforts and spending to help schools achieve better test scores. These efforts have pressured new instructional leadership, characterized by school analysts, researchers, and school leaders focusing on data in their decision-making. This new instructional paradigm was envisioned earlier in research.

This new instructional style has also been called “learning-centered” leadership. It began with a push by state education leaders to process student data from available achievement tests. Private companies enjoyed financial benefits, selling data reporting systems to schools to help them sort the data. State education leaders hired consultants, who created data analysis workshops and data retreats to instruct school leaders on effective data use. School leaders adopted new school reform plans and curricula coordinated with state learning standards, resulting in far-reaching changes in student learning. Positive results only happened when practitioners were willing to change their ways and conform to the new standards.

The biggest problem in data-driven decision-making is the implementation of new accountability practices. Most schools already had active, working internal accountability systems. Schools already made decisions based on data, such as class attendance, test scores, student discipline, available budgets, and teacher reputations. Administrative reliance on these old internal accountability systems has caused the most resistance to reforms in school instructional practice.

To use data to improve student performance, leaders need to factor in external accountability instead of traditional methods. This new model improves on traditional practices such as teacher evaluation, professional development, curriculum design, and building new cultures of learning. Older techniques will have to be changed to address the challenges of contemporary schools.

Practical systems rely on two-way information flow, connecting classroom practice with external accountability measures. This requires stronger links between teaching and leadership, teacher collaboration, learning matched with current instructional goals, and close monitoring of instructional outcomes. To succeed here, the leader must assist students in taking tests, avoid favoring test preparation over learning, and justify instructional practices changes to the community.

Here are seven factors to consider when doing this:

  1. Data Acquisition: Data acquisition refers to the processes of seeking, collecting, and preparing useful information for teaching and learning activities. The data gathered and processed at this stage comes from student test scores. However, other fields of information are needed to inform teaching and learning. Data storage is a vital element of data acquisition. There is a need to use local data systems, since the NCLB Act, when it was active, required certain information on student performance. Schools have created a retail demand for data storage and data analysis products.
  1. Data Reflection: Data reflection is the manipulation of student learning data toward improved teaching and learning practices. DDIS data reflection is a structured opportunity for both teachers and leaders to make useful sense of data, rather than guessing “what works.”Data reflection can be done at a school-wide level, grade level, or even in subject-area meetings.  Problem framing is a vital element of data reflection. This involves active thought on how data can improve outcomes, leading to a plan of action.
  2. Program Alignment: This involves matching the school’s instructional program to the content and performance standards in classrooms. Program alignment is an essential part of planning for instructional leadership, probably the most sensitive part of DDIS, in order to influence the outcome of the new policies.
  3. Program Design: It is through program design that the school’s policies, plans, and procedures are defined in such a manner that reported problems are addressed. Curricula, student service programs, and instructional strategies are modified to improve student learning. Program design also involves the inspection of the school’s access to budgets and grants, for starting and maintaining a new program.
  4. Formative Feedback: Feedback is always a crucial in the adoption of new strategies. The DDIS model creates a continuous and timely flow of information, designed to improve student outcomes. This feedback is different from data acquisition and reflection. It applies to information gathered to measure the school’s progress measured in terms of student performance.
  5. Test Preparation: This last part of the DDIS model consists of activities designed to assess, motivate, and develop student academic abilities, as well as strategies to improve performance on state and district assessment tests. Test preparation covers a wide range of issues, such as test formats, testing skills, and addressing weak areas, as well as test preparation.“Teaching to the test” refers to study content, called “formulaic instruction.” It is teaching students topics that are tested, without regard to holistic learning. Leaders in schools across the U.S. have changed multiple aspects of school life to gear their instructional programs toward test content. Schools where the DDIS mode was put into action didn’t narrow their curriculum to the test content. The researchers noticed instead that, in schools with DDIS systems, there were rich instructional systems designed to help students meet state exam standards.

A DDIS system of instructional leadership is insightful, innovative, and results-oriented. It increases precision in predicting student outcomes and developing key areas of study relevant to academic improvement.

Improvements and changes in instructional leadership have kept it relevant, even in the face of other leadership styles. It is accepted that schools must practice some level of instructional leadership. Instructional leadership remains a crucial aspect of the school setting.

 

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Matthew Lynch published in Diversity, EdTech & Innovation, Equity, HBCU's, Higher Education

Why do so few black males go into STEM areas?

**The Edvocate is pleased to publish guest posts as way to fuel important conversations surrounding P-20 education in America. The opinions contained within guest posts are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official opinion of The Edvocate or Dr. Matthew Lynch.**

Ebony O McGee, Vanderbilt University 

Dressed in a black hoodie and sagging jeans, DeAndre (name changed) swaggers down the street, singing loudly the gritty lyrics of a gangsta rap.

This routine typifies DeAndre’s journey to and from school. Many of those watching DeAndre’s behavior during his school commute could assume him to be a thug and a gangster.

Such a narrative, a result of the racialized and gendered narratives that black male adolescents live with in urban areas, is part of DeAndre’s schooling as well as out-of-school experiences.

Black males are presumed to lack intelligence when it comes to academics, particularly mathematics.

For more than ten years, I have been researching the lives and experiences of black STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) high school students all the way up the pipeline to black STEM faculty. I have looked at the achievements of black students in mathematics within their first eight or nine years of schooling.

Negative messages

I have found that black males who consistently outperform their peers in mathematics, are also victims of covert racial stereotypes and racial microaggressions.

The truth is DeAndre is a high school junior and a high-achiever in mathematics and science from an urban area. DeAndre is not hardened, but he is fragile.

His STEM identity is especially tenuous.

DeAndre is not alone. There are thousands of young men like DeAndre in urban cities across the country, who are STEM high-achievers and have the potential to succeed as STEM professionals.

However, too often they receive negative messaging about their continued success in STEM. Such messages from teachers or counselors downplay or minimize their mathematics abilities. The low expectations from these talented boys serve to further discourage them from pursuing STEM fields.

Academic challenges

As a result, black participation in STEM fields has been left far behind.

In 2011, whites held 71% of STEM jobs, Asians held 15% and blacks only 6%. In 2009 white students obtained 65.5% of the STEM undergraduate degrees. However, STEM undergraduate degrees for blacks have remained flat for the last 9 years.

Blacks received just 6% of all STEM bachelor’s degrees and less than half of those went to black males. Overall blacks received 4% of master’s degrees, and 2% of PhDs in STEM, despite constituting 12% of the US population.

Black kids face many challenges related to schooling. Boy image via www.shutterstock.com

When it comes to academic success, young black students face many other challenges that are only made worse by the negative messaging.

There are societal messages that equate black maleness with criminality, with teachers often being afraid of their black male students.

Often enough, as my own research  shows, unequal access to treatment results in poorer health outcomes for black kids.

The early academic years for these students are riddled with long-term (two months or longer) illnesses that negatively impact their schooling and result in attending at least one summer school term.

Some of these students also change schools quite often.

DeAndre, for example, has a higher rate of school transfer; his current school is his third high school in three years. This lack of continuity for high achieving black male students can lead to additional pressures to prove their intellectual abilities in mathematics to an unwelcoming or skeptical school culture.

Fighting racial stereotypes can also wear them down.DeAndre is weary of racial stereotypes in general and stereotypes about black males in particular.

DeAndre’s coarse behavior during his school commute is actually performed to repel or deflect potential violence via aggressive posturing, as evident in his “swagger.” In reality, he hasn’t been in any “real” fight since second grade and is filled with trepidation every time he walks home from school.

Such few options

Young black students also work toward what is called “performing whiteness.” This in their words means: talking ultra proper English while enunciating every syllable, dressing preppy, not talking about their families, pretending to go on vacations, not telling too many jokes and proving to their white female teachers that they are not to be feared but to be loved and nurtured.

The result is that their intrinsic motivation for learning mathematics and steadfast internal drive get constantly eroded by a host of structural and environmental challenges.

In addition to all these above challenges, they are often at schools that do not offer enough academic opportunities to support their interests. DeAndre’s school does not offer AP classes that would position him more favorably for a STEM college major.

Another problem that black kids face is an absence of role models. The successful black role models that students like DeAndre are exposed to are mostly athletes and rappers. DeAndre does not want to be an athlete or a rapper.

Even so, the likelihood of DeAndre going on to pursue STEM remains frail.

Instead DeAndre has chosen to be a social worker. Through this justice-orientated work, DeAndre wants to address the social and racial inequities in his neighborhood. We don’t know if he will use STEM in the future or not.

If DeAndre has managed to come this far, it is thanks to the support he has received from family members. DeAndre has fond memories of playing dominoes with his grandfather and mathematically complicated card games with his aunts.

His first mathematics teacher was his father. Today, DeAndre is like a human calculator, spitting out complicated number algorithms.

Diversity vital to STEM

As we work to minimize the fragility factors affecting youth like DeAndre, we often overlook what protects DeAndre’s STEM and academic identity. The socialization in mathematics that does happen in many black households remains unappreciated by schools as it does by the predominantly white social structures.

My experience of investigating lives, such as those of DeAndre has convinced me of the need for rigorous research that contributes to a more accurate and nuanced portrayal of black males in STEM.

The vitality of United States will be derived in large part from fostering the STEM identities of young men like DeAndre who reside within our urban communities. Their participation is important for innovation – and for a more equitable society.

Our DeAndres should not see a conflict between pursuing a STEM college trajectories and an unyielding sense of responsibility for the improvement of their home communities.

Read all of our posts about EdTech and Innovation by clicking here. 

____________________________________

Ebony O McGee  is the assistant Professor of Education, Diversity and Urban Schooling at Vanderbilt University

This article was originally published on The Conversation.

Read the original article.

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Matthew Lynch published in Policy & Reform

What You Need to Know: 9 Characteristics of Successful Schools

Do you want to have a successful school? Are you searching to work for a success school system? Check out this article to understand nine characteristics of success schools.

Successful schools often have exemplary leaders at their head. Other factors also define effective learning environments. A recent study conducted by the Office of the Superintendent for Public Instruction (OSPI) discovered that successful schools, which performed well on standardized testing measures, had nine characteristics in common:

1. Everyone in the school—students, faculty and administrators—shares a common goal and vision. The school’s individual mission statement has been arrived at collectively with input provided by many interested stakeholders.

2. Everyone in the school believes that all students can achieve and attain high standards. Students are encouraged to rigorously follow grade-appropriate courses of study.

3. School leadership is proactive in seeking solutions and is effective at promoting achievement among all concerned: students, staff, and interested stakeholders. In a high-performing school, leadership is assumed at many levels and is not simply confined to a principal; teachers and other staff are encouraged to take on leadership responsibilities.

4. Teamwork is apparent. Everyone in the school works together, communicates effectively with one another, and collaborates to ensure student success.

5. The curriculum is in line with state standards. Teachers understand state assessment procedures and use effective instructional methods grounded in research to support student performance on assessment measures.

6. Students are continuously assessed and are offered support whenever necessary. Teachers make adjustments to their teaching methods to ensure that all students have access to learning.

7. Instructional staff receive professional development opportunities in line with the school’s vision and educational mission. The ongoing learning of the staff coincides with the school’s direction.

8. Students are treated with respect and feel connected to the staff. Learning is personalized to meet individual student needs. Class sizes tend to be small.

9. The community is actively involved in the school. Education is not simply a responsibility for educational professionals.

Is your school successful? If not, what changes can you make or suggest to help your school implement these characteristics of success?

 

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Matthew Lynch published in EdTech & Innovation

Educators: Are You Really Technology Literate?

The Internet is firmly here to stay. Computers and the World Wide Web have come a long way since the net first launched in the late sixties. Computers and all their silicon associates have cemented themselves into the modern world. Cell phones, laptops, iPods, iPads, tablets – the list goes on and on. Technology-literacy has become a mandatory part of success in today’s world.

We are living in the Information Era. This has changed many aspects of the education system and its components. Among many other changes, there is a new concept of what a student is. Industrial-age schools saw students as passive individuals who sat and absorbed whatever a teacher taught them. Students growing up during the Information Era are expected to take ownership 
of their learning process. They are taught to be problem solvers and to use the resources available to them as efficiently as possible. Students educated within this new concept of schooling seem to be much more confident in their work. They are building their knowledge themselves and work with information to come to their own conclusions and opinions.

Technology is a very broad term. Essentially, it’s the intersection of several areas of science and engineering and refers to how we improve our lives through technical means. In today’s classroom setting, technology usually refers to sophisticated digital electronic devices. Key terms to be familiar with are hardware and software. Hardware is the physical infrastructure making up a certain item of technology. When referring to a personal computer, this includes things like the hard disk drives, the motherboard, and other components that make up the physical machine. Software is a set of instructions for the hardware—the programs, applications, and operating system.

Of particular importance in the realm of teaching is instructional software. These are programs or applications designed to provide instruction to a computer user, making use of various methods. Instructional software has been around since the late 1970s. Instructional software is usually not designed to replace the role of the teacher, but rather to assist teachers in providing students with more individual opportunities to learn. It can be a powerful aid to teaching when used and promoted correctly.

An important concept to be aware of is open-source software. While companies such as Microsoft or Apple do not allow their users to view the code that makes up their applications, large online communities have been created around software with freely available source code. These companies include Linux, Apache, Mozilla, and many others. The software they develop is free to download and can be modified extensively by the user to create any additions they desire, which can then be redistributed for free. Even without extensive experience in programming or modifying source code, you’ll be able to use these online communities to acquire open-source instructional software solutions at no cost to yourself other than your patience and time.

Another concept to be aware of in technology is cloud computing, which uses the capabilities of the Internet to provide services to technology users that are largely independent of their location or usage device. Gone are the days of having to use a personal computer to access the Internet. We can now use mobile phones and tablet computers to access the Internet while we are on the move. But the graphic-processing capabilities of a desktop-based personal computer are usually far more powerful than that of a handheld device. Programs have to be adaptable enough to be used efficiently on these different technology platforms. Cloud computing, which moves the heavy processing to remote servers, will become of increasing importance as the diversity of user devices continues to evolve and increase.

As a teacher, it’s your job to make sure your students are technology-literate. Limiting students’ exposure to all of today’s digital devices in favor of sticking with more traditional media will only hurt them in the end. Students need to be able to learn and compete effectively in a world where technology is only becoming more and more important to higher education, work, and every day life. Take the time that you need to become familiar with all the buttons and wires of the modern age, and you’ll become a resource as invaluable to your students as Wi-Fi.

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Matthew Lynch published in Education Leadership, list, Matthew Lynch

3 Reasons Why School Districts Should Revitalize Underperforming Schools

As we’re still working with an ever-growing achievement gap, it’s worth considering who should be the key players in reforming our lowest-performing schools. School districts need to take some of the lead in this. Let’s look at why:

  1. School districts have the power to emerge from bureaucracy and make a true difference.

There are many questions and critical issues facing schools as districts evolve from their bureaucratic roots. These questions include the roles that should be kept at the district level, those that should be eliminated, or those that should be passed on to others. Districts also have to look at new functions they may wish to take on and the capabilities needed to assume these functions. At least initially, they will need to determine whether decisions should be made at district level, school level, or elsewhere.

  1. Districts have the power to reach out.

There is also support for districts to take action to discover common interests between schools and the community, through ongoing outreach. Districts need to find ways for people to meet and discuss how to further common interests and work on them cooperatively in order to break down barriers. This type of outreach empowers families and communities, making them useful assets to school systems. Building relationships within the education system and holding open conversations are excellent ways to foster engagement.

  1. Districts are familiar with the unique challenges of their schools.

In the United States, there are low levels of achievement among students from low-income backgrounds and students of color. This is in contrast to the fact that students in educationally supportive states and those from advantaged backgrounds easily rival students from across the world. To put this into context, nine year-olds from White, advantaged backgrounds read as well as thirteen-year-old Black and Hispanic students. In addition, even though funding has increased, it has done so unequally and the achievement gap has grown.

Typically, schools that serve a large number of “minority” students face big issues, which put them at a disadvantage when compared to other schools. They have to deal with lower budgets, larger classes, and often less qualified teachers and school leaders. The effect of this has been to create an “educational debt” that negatively affects the students in these communities. Major efforts are needed to address this issue. Recruiting great teachers is important, but it is not the whole answer. Systemic elements are needed to support the work of talented educators. It is not the people who are at fault: it is the system that needs an overhaul.

As Ted Sizer once put it, “The people are better than the system.” We have come a long way in understanding how to create more effective school leaders and build a national commitment to educational leadership. However, we are not there yet. We need leadership to forge all of the various elements of school reform today into well-functioning systems that make sense for those working hard to achieve results for students.

Click here to read all our posts concerning the Achievement Gap.

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Matthew Lynch published in Matthew Lynch, Policy & Reform

3 Stories That Reveal How Important Arts Education Really Is

The arts have always had a secondary place in K-12 learning. If you doubt that statement, think of the first programs to go whenever budget cuts are implemented – music, fine arts and even physical fitness which includes dance. I’ve yet to hear of a school board or administrators discussing the way cutting math programs could help the school’s bottom line. There is a hierarchy of academics in America, and arts education tends to fall pretty low on the totem pole.

Let’s look at three notable events that show the state of arts education in America and what that reveals about our society.

  1. New York City schools lack arts education—and low-income students suffer the most.

A report from the New York City comptroller finds that many public schools offer no arts programs, and that low-income and minority students are hurt the most by it. The report is written based on data from the U.S. Department of Education that finds 20 percent of New York’s public schools have NO arts teachers. This includes one in seven middle and high schools, despite that fact that arts instruction at that level is a state requirement.

The biggest areas hit by the lack of arts teachers? Central Brooklyn and the South Bronx. In those schools, more than 42 percent have no state-certified arts instructors. Between 2006 and 2013, spending on arts equipment and other supplies dropped a whopping 84 percent, perhaps due to pressure to meet higher accountability standards in basic subjects.

At any rate, the lack of arts education in NYC schools is indicative of a larger cultural issue that undercuts arts education for the sake of higher test scores.

  1. The First Lady wants to make arts education a priority.

An estimated 6 million children have no access to arts education, and another 6 million have a “minimal” exposure, First Lady Michelle Obama said.

The First Lady Michelle Obama joined the stage with middle- and high-schoolers who performed in the first ever White House Talent Show, created to celebrate the importance of the arts in American education. At the opening of the show, the First Lady emphasized the need for arts programs to be a part of all school curriculum, and not something that comes secondary to other academic pursuits like reading, math and science.

“Arts education isn’t something we add on after we’ve achieved other priorities, like raising test scores and getting kids into college,” said the First Lady. “It’s actually critical for achieving those priorities in the first place.”

The Talent Show celebration comes two years after President Obama introduced the Turnaround Arts program in partnership with the U.S. Department of Education. The goal of the program is to see if strong arts programs aid in other strong student academic outcomes. In the original eight schools where the program has been implemented, reading and math scores have improved, and so has behavior. Two of the schools have shown so much progress that they are no longer considered in need of a “turnaround.” In each case, big-name artists or performers like Alfre Woodard and Sarah Jessica Parker have adopted the turnaround schools and provided guidance in the programming.

At the show, the First Lady announced that the program will expand to 35 schools in 10 states and the District of Columbia.

  1. Some districts have adopted arts integration as a creative solution.

Sometimes schools cannot afford to implement arts departments in their schools. Some districts have instead integrated the arts in their existing curricula. Instead of treating the arts like a separate, distant relative to other classroom endeavors, these programs integrate musical instruments, painting, dancing, drawing, singing and more into traditional subjects like science, math and language. When implemented correctly, these programs are enthusiastically received by students who learn comprehensively.

Take a look at the West Michigan Academy of Arts & Academics in Ferrysburg, Michigan. The charter school has found ways to make stale topics like economics interesting through dance, music and visual art learning components. WMAAA may appear to be a “fun” learning environment, but its arts integration actually has legitimate outcomes. The test scores of WMAAA students rival the highest-rated traditional public schools in its district and in neighboring ones too. By allowing students to be active, instead of burying them in text books or regular written assignments alone, learning moves from a place of isolation to one that has other applications beyond the topic at hand.

Public Middle School 223 in the Bronx is another example of a school using arts integration methods effectively. Students in the school – the lowest income district in all of New York – participated in a four-year arts integration program that took students from basically no arts learning to multi-faceted lesson plans with arts inclusion. The results? An 8 percent improvement in Language Arts scores, 9 percent improvement in math scores and less absenteeism. Whether the last point impacted the higher scores is irrelevant. If students want to be in school more because of arts integration, and their test scores improve as a result, that is reason enough to call a program a success.

Even when schools do not have the money to support an official arts integration program, teachers can make arts integration a reality on their own. Teachers do not need to be artistic to successfully use arts integration – they simply need to be innovative enough to merge art concepts with other content. Social media is an amazing platform for teaching ideas, particularly when it comes to the arts, and teachers should take advantage of these available resources from around the world to integrate arts and traditional academics.

As results range from increased engagement in schools to better test scores, one thing is clear from all this: arts education should be made a priority in U.S. schools.

 

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