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Matthew Lynch published in Equity, Higher Education, Matthew Lynch

Diverse Conversations: Mentoring Minority Faculty

Minority faculty find themselves at a huge disadvantage at institutions controlled by people of European descent. To discuss some of the ways in which institutions can ensure that minority faculty members are properly mentored and guided, I recently sat down with Olympia Duhart, Co-President of the Society of American Law Teachers (SALT), which has been hugely instrumental in promoting programs to address this important issue.

Q: Minority faculty have a particularly hard time in traditional universities – what has been your experience in terms of the specific reasons for this?

A: Difficulties experienced by traditionally underrepresented faculty members can often be traced to the lack of both institutional and informal support systems in place. Both schools and faculty members should be intentional and explicit about offering support for minority faculty. Often, colleagues with good intentions have no perspective or context for the additional difficulties faced by faculty of color. Someone has to start the conversation.

Q: What are some of the specific challenges for minority faculty and some of the symptoms of their struggle? There was an article recently in Diverse (in 2012) that suggested minority faculty experience higher levels of job related stress. Have you observed these kinds of trends in your experience? If so, what strategies have worked to combat these types of problems?

A: Given the multiple responsibilities imposed on faculty members and the increasing workload many of us are juggling today, it is not surprising that faculty members are often struggling with job-related stress. Adding an extra layer of otherness to those duties – and the especially low numbers of faculty of color in the law school arena – makes things even more challenging. Even faculty members who do not deal with institutional bias are coping on a regular basis with microaggressions in the form of bias in student evaluations, slights by colleagues and an expectation that we have to be more qualified than our non-minority counterparts. In my own experience, I have also struggled with “imposter syndrome” – fueled in large part by the novelty of being a woman of color from a low socio-economic background without so-called fancy credentials. Thanks in large part to mentoring and support I’ve received from colleagues – of all backgrounds – I’ve reframed my story. I take great pride in bringing a unique perspective to the table, and I am even more proud to do my part to inspire students who share my background.

Q: Shifting emphasis slightly, what are some of the strategies used at the Society of American Law Teachers to mentor minority faculty?

A: One of SALT’s core values is diversity. It informs our work within and beyond the classroom. It also drives us to create programming that will increase minority representation on both sides of the podium. We strive to promote education equality in all arenas. This translates to our formal mentoring program, “Breaking In” programs designed to increase the numbers of minority law teachers, tips for new teachers at our teaching conference, programing for diversity in law school leadership and BA to JD Pipeline Programs held throughout the country to increase access to law school for students of color. After all, a diverse law school student population is the foundation for more diversity among law faculty. But one of our most successful strategies has been the network we sustain through our members. Each SALT member is committed to offering support to underrepresented faculty members. Sometimes the support means advocating on their behalf to protect tenure and security of position. Other times that support means sharing a syllabus. And sometimes it means taking the time to listen and offer some advice.

Q: Which of these strategies has been the most successful?
A: The national network of law professors available through the engagement with SALT has been invaluable for many people. For me, it truly opened up a world of mentors, advisors and friends who have made this profession rewarding. It’s also given me a chance to play my part in honoring the special social responsibilities that come with the practice of law. Furthermore, I was also very lucky to have so many people in place at my home institution (Nova Southeastern University) who embraced me. One of the most important lessons I’ve learned is to take advantage of the mentoring opportunities available to you. And it is very important to think about the mentor you select. For me, it has always been important to connect with people who engage with the world around them.

Q: What do you feel are the most effective strategies for mentoring minority faculty in general? Would you say what works at Nova Southeastern University is representative and consistent with what works at most other types of institutions?

A: It’s not a mystery. We need more representation. Isolation can have a negative impact on anyone’s ability to thrive. The “critical mass” we talk about among the student body is also important among faculty. A diverse faculty is essential for a robust classroom and effective legal advocacy. Most importantly, it is a crucial component of training students to succeed in a diverse society. At Nova Southeastern University’s Shepard Broad Law Center, we are very fortunate to have a Director of Faculty Development who provides a structured support system for all faculty members through scholarship critique, one-on-one advice and a no-risk environment for teaching development. In my role as Director of the Lawyering Skills and Value Program, I have also worked deliberately to showcase diversity in our skills program. For instance, for the first-year oral arguments we made a dedicated effort to reach out to voluntary bar associations to judge the competition. It was important to expose the students to practicing attorneys from the Muslim Bar, the Gay and Lesbian Lawyers Network, the Cuban American Bar Association and the Caribbean Bar Association, among others, to dispel their assumptions about what a lawyer looks like. This type of support serves the students, but it is also empowering to minority faculty. In addition, faculty members benefit tremendously from informal support. People have helped me by talking me through a tough time, dropping an email and treating me with me respect. They have invited me over for dinner, collaborated with me in the classroom and challenged me when I needed it. I also do my best to mentor others by reaching out to junior faculty, offering to moot a presentation, read a paper or work through a teaching idea. We get to carry each other.

Q: What advice would you give to administrators and those in charge of mentoring minority faculty?

A: First, start a conversation. It is important to keep the discussions open about the hurdles that still exist. Until we can talk honestly about the barriers still in place because of racism, sexism, homophobia, and other types of bigotry, we can’t even begin to start thinking critically about correcting those disparities. But more importantly, follow up the talk with action. Place minority faculty members in leadership roles. Confront the biases that still infect the classroom. Support efforts to educate faculty about the importance of cultural competency. Connect diversity in the classroom to the broader issue of social justice. Create a culture in your institution that encourages diverse viewpoints.

Q: What are some of the strategies for recruiting minority faculty and helping them integrate into the existing faculty and administrative organization of an institution?

A: It always surprises me when people say they can’t find any minority faculty members or administrators. I see excellent candidates for teaching and leadership positions all the time. However, one constant obstacle I’ve observed is the need for “experience.” That, of course, is key. But elevating traditional experience into a super-factor is often a tool for eliminating stellar candidates to teach or lead. Exclusions based on factors that appear to be race or gender-neutral often operate to the exclusion of underrepresented minority groups. Until the academy becomes more diverse, the over emphasis on traditional experience will often eliminate large segments of the population. Institutions should challenge themselves to think more expansively about the type of faculty and administrators they want to support. And what kind of experience they want to value.

Q: What resources have you found to be most useful to support the mentoring of minority faculty?

A: Just talking about diversity is never enough. The best resources move beyond messaging into movement. At the university level, there are a few avenues to consider. Is there an organized, concerted effort to promote inclusion? Is there a financial commitment to diversity initiatives? Is diversity a recognized and promoted value for the university? Is there training for minority faculty? Is there education of the larger faculty, students and community about the value of diversity? Is there a culture that encourages mentoring? Is there a sense of community and collaboration in the university setting? On the broader level – such as through organizations such as SALT – those avenues change. Through volunteer efforts by dedicated law teachers who are willing to give up their valuable time to mentor others, we have made great strides in supporting minority faculty. We are proud of the progress we have made, but there is still so much work to do. The most useful tools to advance the mentoring of minority faculty bolster diversity through specific acts, creative ideas and hard work.

This concludes our interview. Thank you to Professor Olympia Duhart, J.D., for participating in this interview.

 

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Matthew Lynch published in Education Leadership, Matthew Lynch

The Seven Principles of Sustainable Leadership

The main responsibility that all education leaders have created a learning system that engages students intellectually, emotionally, and socially. Sustainable leadership therefore goes beyond the temporary gains in achievement scores to create long-lasting, meaningful improvements in learning processes. Let us look at the particular principles that define sustainable leadership:

1. Sustainable Leadership Lasts

One of the major characteristics of sustainable leadership is that it involves planning and preparing for succession – not just as an afterthought, but from the first day of the school leader’s appointment. Sustainable leadership requires that leaders pay serious attention to leadership succession. This can be achieved through grooming successors for them to continue with reforms, and keeping successful leaders in schools much longer, especially if they are making great strides in promoting learning. It also involves resisting the urge to search for “irreplaceable charismatic heroes” to become the saviors of schools, including succession in all district and school improvement plans, and slowing the rate of principal turnover.

2. Sustainable Leadership Spreads

A suitable way for leaders to leave a lasting legacy in their schools is to ensure that they share and help develop their vision with other school actors. Leadership succession in this sense therefore means more than grooming one’s successor. It actually means distributing leadership throughout the school through its professional community so that others can carry the torch of school improvement after the current principal is gone.
Sustainable leadership cannot just be the responsibility of one person. The school is a highly complex institution, and no one leader can control everything without assistance. In summary, sustainable leadership is and must be a shared responsibility, if it is to be carried out with success.

3. Sustainable Leadership Is Socially Just

Another aspect of sustainable leadership is that it aims to benefit all students and schools. Sustainable leadership is conscious of the fact that the magnet, lighthouse, and charter schools and their leaders effect surrounding schools. It is also sensitive to privileged communities “poaching” from the local leadership pool. Sustainable leadership recognizes and takes full responsibility for the fact that schools affect each other in interlinked webs of mutual influence. In this aspect, and in knowing the above facts, sustainability is tied to social justice.

Sustainable leadership is not just about maintaining improvement in one’s own school,. School leaders who truly care about sustainability should accept responsibility for the schools and students and be aware that their actions have an effect on the wider environment.

4. Sustainable Leadership Is Resourceful

The systems of sustainable leadership provide certain intrinsic rewards while at the same time offering external incentives that attract, motivate, and retain the best and brightest in the leadership pool. These systems provide time and opportunity for school leaders to network, support, and learn from one another, while at the same time coaching and mentoring their successors. Sustainable leadership carefully utilizes its resources to develop the talents of its educators, instead of lavishing rewards on selected proven leaders. The systems of sustainable leadership take care of leaders while encouraging them to take care of themselves. Eventually, leadership is only sustainable when it sustains the leaders themselves.

5. Sustainable Leadership Promotes Diversity

Leaders who promote sustainability prepare and recreate environments that stimulate continuous improvement on a broad level. They enable people to adapt and prosper in increasingly complex environments by learning from each other’s diverse practices. Most innovative schools create and promote this diversity.
Sustainable leadership does not impose standardized templates on entire communities.

6. Sustainable Leadership Is Activist

Standardization has increased the problems that traditional schools had. Moreover, formerly innovative schools have lost their edge. In an unhelpful environment, sustainable leadership must include some sort of activism. Leaders must be willing to pursue improvement for their schools, even if it means being labeled as difficult.

7. Systems Must Support Sustainable Leadership

Most inspiring school leaders do more than manage change – they actively pursue and model a form of sustainable leadership. The measure of developing sustainability is the commitment to and protection of deep learning in schools by attempting to ensure that school improvements last over time, especially after the charismatic leaders have left. by distributing leadership and responsibility, considering the impact of their leadership on schools and communities in their neighborhood, avoiding stress and burnout, promoting and bringing about diverse approaches to school reform , and activism, leaders develop sustainability.

While most school leaders want to achieve the goals that matter and inspire others so as to leave a lasting legacy, they are often not responsible for their school’s failure. Most of the blame rests with the systems in which they lead. To institute change that matters, spreads, and lasts, we must ensure that the systems in which leaders work make sustainability a priority.

 

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Matthew Lynch published in Higher Education

False Positives: Low Student Loan Default Scores

**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.**

Guest post by Bob Hildreth

Ask the “best” colleges about the student debt crisis and they are likely to trot out the very low default rates of their graduates, only 1 to 2 percent. Most of the defaulting students, they point out, come from for-profits. They also believe that the national default rate at 11.8 percent is at a manageable level.

But these rates hide more than they reveal. Default rates are managed to be low. It is in the best interest of everyone involved to keep them low: the government wants to keep the lid on its troubled policy, the government’s collection agents want to earn their fees by keeping debtors current, and the colleges want to keep the mother’s milk of government subsidies flowing in their direction.

The “best colleges” have little experience with debt defaults. They either don’t know or are reluctant to admit that, when it comes to the government’s loan program, colleges are all bunched together. Even for a college with zero defaults the only default rate that matters in a crisis is that of all debtors from all colleges.

The government is lenient, letting 9 months of no repayments pass before calling a student in default. Compare that to only 90 days on car loans or 3 months on mortgages. Students are also allowed to clear their defaults by switching from stricter repayment plans to easier ones. College lobbyists have convinced the government to measure default rates after only three years knowing that defaults accumulate over time. In fact, one in five students with over $15,000 in debt defaulted on his or her loan in the 10 years after graduation. That’s a 20% default rate.

The Federal Reserve of New York has created its own measure to gage student debt stress. Using consumer data the Fed measures how long students go without paying their debts. By this calculation in 2014 past due rates on student debt reached as high as 63%. 

That leaves the government like the famous emperor without clothes. If the future of our children and the solvency of our colleges were not at stake the government might have already stopped lending. But there is probably no default rate so high that the government would abandon these priorities. At the same time it is easy to guess that changes are afoot. One of the most likely targets are controls on tuition increases. That will cause a fire storm on Washington’s DuPont Circle, the home of college lobbyists. If these lobbyists can suggest a way to put clothes back on the emperor, they should speak now.

____

Bob Hildreth is the Founder and Chairman of the Board of Inversant, a Boston-based non-profit that helps families learn about, apply for and save for college without incurring student debt.

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Matthew Lynch published in Ask An Expert, Matthew Lynch

New Teacher Tip: Avoid Procrastination

Procrastination works as a virus that slowly engulfs you. It can have devastating effects on your growth and career. Putting off any task that you have to accomplish is a habit that can actually make you lose a lot of time.

When you put off a task, you are leaving something incomplete. The feeling that you have not successfully completed something can nag you subconsciously. This can become a feeling that does not allow you to concentrate completely on the task at hand. While this phenomenon may not be obvious, procrastination does lead to bad time management as well.

As the work piles up, stress levels also increase. So whether it is calling a parent and discussing a difficult child, writing the narratives on the report card, or a long-term project like planning a school event, it is a good idea to take the bull by the horns and begin the work. Here are some tips that can help you:

• Make a list of all the tasks that you have been postponing for some time. Try and identify whether these tasks have something in common. Doing this will help you determine the specific kind of jobs that you tend to postpone. Is it that you postpone tasks that have no deadline or those that involve doing something that you are uncomfortable with?
• Keep a list of all the tasks that you need to do and prioritize them. Tell yourself that jumping the priority list is not allowed.
• Finally, reward yourself with something that you like when you complete each task. Take a break and sip a hot refreshing cappuccino before you start the next thing, take a walk, or simply pause to look out the window; rewards, both big and small, can help you stay motivated and focused.

The biggest hurdle in tackling procrastination is identifying the root cause of the procrastination. Once you have identified the cause, you shall be able to address the issue directly and consciously.

 

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Matthew Lynch published in EdTech & Innovation, Teachers

The value of student and teacher input in EdTech

**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 Garrett Zimmer

OK so I’ve been wanting to ask this question lately.  Who do we lean on for input and advice when we have to teach or create something?  Maybe advice isn’t the right word, perhaps I’d rather use perspective.

What stakeholders are we looking to for their perspective when designing a project, a lesson, a company, or technology? As teachers, leaders, or even team members do we put stake in the perspective of everyone, or are we dismissive of some perspectives simply because they don’t hold a specific degree or level of experience.  I’ve had my share of high growth leadership experiences and I’ve found some of the best results and insights seeded from the most unlikely sources.

Let me briefly share my example.  During the very beginning of my 1st career in Sales and Marketing I sat in a strange and unique position. I believed I was gifted, charismatic, intelligent, and I even outsold most of my co-workers with years of sales experience.  My youth gave me little credibility, in spite of the fact that I’d been professionally selling since the age of 7. See I grew up in a very religious organization where going door to door selling bible philosophy for hours each week was the norm.  I experienced rejection, learned and honed abilities in ice-breaking and relating to people’s needs, but my unique perspective and experience went unrecognized, till a few years in when my talents were noticed by a great manager.

See it’s very easy to seek out someone’s views if they come with a degree, or 50 years of experience, and quite honestly I think those views should hold much more weight. But are we just as apt to dismiss the views of someone else a little lighter in experience?

Let’s take a step into the EdTech and general Startup landscape though.  Market research and understanding your market is so important for startups and getting it wrong can have devastating impact.  I’ve seen and heard of countless companies fail a launch or cost themselves so much by putting out a product that just failed to meet the needs of their intended target market. I’ve also seen many companies launch a product and spend their marketing dollars targeting one segment, and a year later shift their marketing to a whole different audience because it turns out that the product is actually perfect for the later.

It’s easy to take a top level approach when designing a piece of software, a tool, or a business product and say Who’s Buying this, let me appeal to them. Who’s backing this, or investing in it, let me appeal to them. However, are we forgetting about who is using this? I remember my good friend Shawn Q, a clinical informatics specialist, told me a story of the E-Health Management system that went over budget by something like 500% because it just didn’t work for the ground floor nurses who were supposed to be using it. This is directly resulting from not keeping the end user in the loop and conversation.

EdTech and the Education market though is so much more complex.  Education is so directly tied to every level of our lives that the stakeholders are vast and varied.  Governments, Administrators, Lobbyists, Employers, Post Secondary Institutions Teachers, Parents and Students are all Key Stakeholder groups with a public and personal interest.    Of course with so many voices in the discussion, efficiency dictates that emphasis be placed on those who pay the bills.  The Administrators, the Governments, and the Institutions.  I advocate for that voice as a strong part of the equation in the hopes that that voice resonates the needs of the rest.  But even further I support the importance of actually connecting with each stakeholder group, to make sure nothing is missing.

Some Educational tech companies seem reluctant to drive their business with Teachers and Students in mind, and instead pay homage to their own vision of what is good and right and effective. In everything from connectivity to compatibility and even down to price modeling, some still fail to match their offering to meet the needs of the people using it. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not disparaging. There are many that build Advisory Groups and speak with Teachers, and Administrators and the Thought Leaders with years and years of experience. And I do the same in my development. But how many are going to the students, to the brand new fresh out of college teachers to see what their perspective is?

What a thought Garrett, you’re CRAZY! Ask an uneducated student to give insight on a project that they can’t even begin to understand the complexity of designing, much less the complexity of the market. Wait! Ask a teacher who just stepped out of college and doesn’t understand what it’s really like in the classroom yet? CRAZY! All you would get is kids that want every game ever made loaded into the software, and teachers who want the price to be free. I say “so what!” Yes you’re going to get some of that, but you will also get a wealth of information that adds amazing value for that group. And perhaps that’s the value add, that really makes your product stand out and help millions of students and teachers.

I’m a Kid Friendly YouTube Content Creator and I can tell you 100% that there are some really amazing and intelligent kids out there who know what they want. My interactions around my own EdTech startup company with Teachers and thought leaders, both inexperienced and experienced, have yielded such amazing insights into what they need and want. By working closely with a diverse group of end users, designing for them, my product has become theirs as much as ours.  I strongly believe that by keeping all the stakeholders in the conversation, our product will solve real teacher and student concerns.

So if you’re a Teacher, an Administrator, or even an EdTech Startup yourself and are not regularly in the trenches to talk with the day to day soldiers, you’re likely missing valuable information that could make you more successful.  To reword a Famous President’s mantra:  “And so, my fellow leaders – ask not what you can do for students and teachers, ask what they can do for you.”

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

__________

Garrett Zimmer is an experienced entrepreneur, speaker, and leader with a background in business and a passion for educational leadership.  Garrett has been awarded a Parliamentary Citation from the Government of Canada and various honors for his work with educational boards and councils across Ontario Canada. He continues to advocate and work for the future of students everywhere in the educational sector.  Garrett has spent the past 10 years as an entrepreneur and runs a popular Kid Friendly Youtube Entertainment Channel called PBJellyGames.

If you’d like to learn more about Garrett or MineGage, follow him on twitter: @PBJellyGames or visit the Minegage website www.minegage.com.

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Matthew Lynch published in Higher Education, Matthew Lynch, OpEducation

Diverse Conversations: Online Universities and Underserved Student Populations

College attendance has become a necessity for entry into the contemporary workforce. This shift is a direct result of President Obama’s goal of having the largest percentage of college graduates out of all the countries in the world by 2020. With this edict has come an influx of students that may not have attended college as early as a decade ago. That being said, online colleges are taking the president’s challenge to heart and paving the way for underserved students to earn degrees and a better living. To find out more about this trend, I sat down with Cynthia G. Baum, Ph.D., president of Walden University. Cynthia has more than 20 years of leadership experience in postsecondary education, during which she has served as a campus president and regional vice president for a number of institutions.

Q: How does online learning lead to success for first-generation and minority students?

A: Online education increases access to higher education, an attribute that is particularly relevant for first-generation and minority students. It provides an alternative for students who want to begin or continue their studies at any stage in their life, have family responsibilities to consider, or want or need to continue working while earning a degree. For many first-generation and minority students, an online learning environment helps make higher education possible.

As a first-generation college graduate myself, I know what my parents sacrificed to make sure that I could pursue the education I wanted. My parents were bright, hard-working people who had some college education but neither of them was able to complete their degree. There wasn’t a Walden University for them, where they could go to school and have a full-time job in order to support our family. Online institutions like Walden provide opportunities for students from all walks of life to get an education, advance their careers, and make an impact in their professions and communities.

Q: What are some of the benefits of online education for underrepresented populations?

A: The online learning environment allows students to network with classmates and faculty from across the country and around the world. In particular, for first-generation and minority students who may not have had the opportunity or experience to network with others beyond their local community, this presents an amazing opportunity to benefit from the practical experience and shared knowledge of their peers. Students learn to work with one another as part of a virtual team while gaining the skills and knowledge needed to succeed in the workforce. In many cases, students are given the opportunity to immediately put what they have learned into practice.

Another benefit is the asynchronous online environment. There is a saying in the online classroom—there is no back row. Due to the nature of online learning, greater emphasis is placed on participation. Students must participate in discussions through online postings in their classrooms. Because of the asynchronous environment, students don’t feel rushed and have time to think through and reflect on their responses. It also provides the opportunity to share ideas in a safe environment, which can be a confidence booster for minority and first-generation students.

Q: What types of support services do online institutions need to offer in order to help first-generation and minority students succeed?

A: As they enter their programs, students can benefit from a new student orientation that helps them understand how to engage in the online classroom, identifies university resources available to them, and helps them think through important life areas such as time management and how to solicit the support of their family and friends. Self-assessments in writing and math can also help direct students to the support they may need in those areas. Having access to a well-resourced virtual library, research support, and a career services center provides students with tools and resources they need to be successful, build their networks, and move into a thriving career.

At Walden, we find it valuable to have support teams available 24/7 through email, phone, and chat to guide students with technical issues and to answer questions in areas such as registration and financial aid. We also provide other resources—such as virtual communities where students can connect with other students with similar career interests, cultural and ethnic backgrounds, hobbies, etc.—to help create a sense of camaraderie and belonging to the institution. This can be extremely valuable for first-generation or minority students who benefit from connections with classmates who share similar experiences and challenges.

Q: How can online institutions help guide first-generation students or others who may be at risk for not graduating?

A: We know from research that the first year of any student’s program is critical to their long-term higher education success. Assigning an academic advisor to the student from day one provides them with guidance and the necessary tools and resources to support their long-term success. Programs of study that are sequenced help to “scaffold” learning—where later courses build upon the skills of earlier ones—and take the guesswork out of what courses to take next. With the flexibility of online programs, students can fit school into THEIR life, not the other way around.

Just like brick and mortar institutions, online institutions can also provide writing tutors, math tutors, academic advisors, and career services professionals to support students at every stage of their learning experience. Effective mentors and support staff not only help students adjust to the online classroom but also support them to be confident, active participants in higher education. And virtual communities help to provide peer support. These types of support may not be available in the day-to-day environments of many minority or first-generation students and could be the critical difference in their higher education success.

Q: What role should online institutions like Walden continue to play in providing quality higher education?

A: It is clear that the online environment offers flexibility and convenience that is critical to the ability of working professionals to pursue their dreams of higher education. But at Walden, we not only offer convenience, we develop our programs starting with the end in mind; that is, the knowledge and skills that are important not only in the discipline being studied but also to employers in the field. We seek employer input and involve both subject-matter and curriculum design experts in determining the curriculum and design of every course. By using standardized assessment techniques, we have a wealth of data on what our students are learning in order to make continuous quality improvements in how and what we teach.

By providing students with access to both higher education and a quality learning environment, online institutions can provide students the opportunity to pursue their dreams, reach their potential, and use what they learn to make a difference in their professions, communities, and society at large.

That concludes my interview with President Cynthia Baum. I would like to thank her for consenting to this interview and for her contributions to the field of higher education.

 

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Matthew Lynch published in Ask An Expert, Matthew Lynch

Ask An Expert: The Effects of Teacher Burnout

Question: One of my colleagues had to take a leave of absence because of stress related issues. Basically, she burned out. I am a new teacher and I don’t want the same thing to happen to me. How does teacher burnout effect the education system, and how can we ameliorate it? Dwayne J

Answer: Dwayne, as you know, teachers have strong commitments to their work. Most of them feel passionately about teaching, and see it as a “calling.” The emotions that teachers undergo include love for (most) students, hate for the paperwork, the feeling of excitement when they see a student finally understand a concept, etc. Then there’s the dread of filling out report cards, the feeling of burn-out in December, and the nervous feeling associated with the first day of school every year. These emotions affect teachers across the board, without regard to experience.

Burnout refers to extreme stress experienced by those who work in intense occupations, especially in offering services that are subject to chronic tension levels. It usually means the inability to function fully in one’s job due to the prolonged stress related to these jobs. Stress and burnout are linked closely to an individual’s state of mind. Burnout is three-dimensional and includes feelings of emotional exhaustion or tiredness; teacher “depersonalization,”  in which they develop a negative and distrustful attitude towards their students, parents, and their colleagues; and a reduced sense of accomplishment and self-esteem.

It also brings about other negative effects, such as increased absenteeism, decline in classroom performance, and poor interpersonal relationships with colleagues and students. Burned-out teachers are usually less sympathetic toward the problems of students, and are less committed to their jobs. They develop lower tolerance for classroom disruptions, are less prepared for class, and are generally less productive. As a result, burned-out teachers can have a negative influence on the morale of new teachers.

Burned-out teachers are more narrow-minded about their practices, and resistant to changes in those practices. They resort to blaming others for low achievement or failure. If schools are to succeed at providing students with an effective, relevant education, teacher’s emotions must not be ignored.  Teachers need to feel validated in their work so that they can continue educating our youth to the best of their ability.

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Matthew Lynch published in Policy & Reform

Education: “The saddest thing in life is wasted talent” (from A Bronx Tale)

**The Edvocate is pleased to publish guest posts as way to fuel important conversations surrounding a 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.**

Public schools are engaged in underachieving and under-educating. Low goals are set but rarely reached.

Commentary from Bruce Deitrick Price

When you talk about wasted talent, people immediately think of an individual wasting his or her talent. It’s always a sad story but an individual story. A person makes bad decisions. Little by little that person is on a road where he will not be able to develop his talents to the fullest.

But what about a society where children have their talents wasted for them? Not by a lobotomy or by drugs. No, their talents are squandered by systematic planning and careful effort. The technical name for this is social engineering. A more popular name is “deliberate dumbing down.” Savor that melancholy phrase. And now let us ask, but how could it happen? Here’s the general blueprint:

If the kids can run a 100-yard dash, you make them walk. If they can dance all day, you make them sit in a chair. If they can learn a new language every year, you don’t teach new languages. If they can learn to read and enjoy books, you don’t teach them to read or you give them books you know they will hate. If they like math, you find ways that are difficult and cumbersome, until finally they can no longer learn to do math. In short, you use methods that don’t work. That’s how you give every child a handicap, a limp, a disability, something that will keep them from reaching their potential.

Public schools in America have been skilled at this for decades. That’s why the 1983 Nation at Risk report  could conclude that our public schools are so bad they must have been designed by a hostile foreign power. Very hostile.

When you look at the resulting mediocrity, and the counterproductive approaches used to achieve this decline, you start thinking about what might have been. You realize you are looking at a landscape full of waste and sadness. You think of Bruegel’s panoramic vistas of dying and destruction. In some of those famous pictures, everyone is  visibly wasting away, if not already carved up. Or you think of broken and blasted terrain like the battlefields of World War I, where all the soldiers seem to be walking wounded. Everywhere there is a sense of defeat.

Don’t you imagine exactly such images when you read that “Nearly Half Of Detroit’s Adults Are Functionally Illiterate”?

But now we’ve stepping on the gas. The Common Core has ratcheted the whole process to a new level. Many children start their school years unhappy and never recover. They come home each day depressed or anxious. They mutilate themselves. They fall sleep crying at night. They have nightmares. According to one of the century’s most memorable headlines, “Little kids cry and pee their pants.” (See short video for why this is happening.)

Louis CK famously summed up the insanity: “My kids used to love math. Now it makes them cry.”

(Quick memo to our obtuse Education Establishment: school should be fun; you’ll get better results that way.)

Robin Eubanks maintains a website called Invisible Serf’s Collar where she  argues that slavery is the insistent motif  throughout public education.  Children have metal collars around their necks. Perhaps you can’t see them. But you will notice that the children are becoming intellectual cripples. One blog post, several months back, was titled “Censorship Before the Fact: Prescribing What the Child Does and Believes Invisibly.”

Well, isn’t that the whole essence of slavery, that humans are not allowed to have a life of their own or thoughts of their own?

Look what we are losing. Americans once prided themselves on their freedom to choose, to develop in different directions. The schools were supposed to enable that individuality. But John Dewey, starting 100 years ago, crusaded against individuality. He wanted all the little children to be similar, even interchangeable.  The school’s real job is to hammer down the differences, and extinguish the individual sparks.

Naturally there is a great deal of waste. That’s Dewey’s goal, whether he wants to admit it or not. Imagine millions of children all of whom will be 25% or 50% less than they could be. Try to add up all that loss, in the child’s life and society’s life.

That’s not to say there is suffering. If a person is brought up in the twilight, they do not miss bright days. They have never seen them. No, the children are just slowly squeezed and shaped to fit a smaller mold.

Behold the mediocrity and unnecessary failure, all created by policies instituted by our Education Establishment. You have to be impressed by how  implacable they are. People all over America are lamenting the crazy homework that children bring home. The kids are crying  and the mothers are upset. Does the Education Establishment apologize? Does Bill Gates say he’s sorry for causing all this pain? Does Jeb Bush back away from Common Core? No, they just make excuses and keep on grinding down the public.

The saddest thing in life is wasted talent. Our K-12 schools are full of it.

Only one policy can save us. We must try to raise every child as high as each child can be raised. Forget Dewey. Don’t be fooled by so-called “social justice”  as that is often merely code for leveling.

We can do so much better. Kids have to master the 3 R’s and then they can learn geography, history, science, the arts, and whatever else you want.  This is precisely what everyone has been doing around the planet for thousands of years. It’s not rocket science. You want rocket science? That would be the weird, perverse voodoo that our Education Establishment uses to slow everything down.

As noted, we can easily do much better. The question really is, how long will Americans put up with the current nonsense?

———————

Bruce Deitrick Price explains educational theories and methods on his site Improve-Education.org. For tips on initiating reform, see his: The Bill of Rights for Students 2015.

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Matthew Lynch published in Diversity, Equity, list, Matthew Lynch

3 Challenges and Rewards of Educating Undocumented Students in America

Immigration reform has been a hot button issue in the United States for decades. Earlier this year, the Obama administration, along with members of the Republican Party, outlined a plan for comprehensive immigration reform. When they sit down to work out the details, it is critical that higher education finds its way to the center of the discussion. A college education is a virtual prerequisite for securing the American dream and currently it is an option that is off the table for more than one million undocumented students.

Let’s have a look at some of the challenges (and triumphs) that come with educating undocumented immigrants in America.

1. $761 million. That’s the amount that the surge of undocumented immigrants was projected to cost the US in 2014. The estimation from the Federation for American Immigration Reform issued a report on the 37,000 illegal immigrant minors after analyzing data from the Department of Health and Human Services and education funding formulas in all fifty states.

The majority of student immigrants came to the US from Central America.

While some aren’t thrilled about the additional costs of teaching the immigrants, immigrants’ rights groups say that it’s a small price to pay to help these children in need.

Jorge Baron of the Northwest Immigrant Rights Projects said, “We’re one of the wealthiest countries in the world. We should be able to handle this if we focus our energy and some resources and we make sure that kids are treated well, and treated the way we, in America believe kids should be treated.”

The battle of education funding is one that never ceases. The recent recession zapped available dollars; most states in the US are still spending less per student than they did six years ago in 2008. The addition of so many immigrants has spread the education money even more thin — but is the cost worth it?

2. Obama has worked to protect the interests of undocumented K-12 school students in America. The Obama administration has strengthened its stance on protecting public schools students who are undocumented immigrants. The policy includes guidelines on appropriate and inappropriate enrollment practices and they take the place of similar wording from 2011. The administration says that the reason for the enhanced language is due to 17 filed complaints on school enrollment policies in school districts in New Mexico, Colorado, North Carolina, Louisiana, Ohio, Michigan, Georgia and even Washington D.C.

In referencing the new parts of the policy, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said “Our message is simple: Let all children living in your district enroll in school.”

The guidelines are just a small piece of a larger push for immigration reform from the Obama Administration, which is hoping to put enough pressure on Senators that some action for larger immigration reform is taken before summer recess that starts in August.

In 2011, Obama showed his support for immigrants and their right to education when he enacted the Dream Act that halted deportations of students and in some cases, their families. While the student portion of this legislation got a lot of attention, it also took a closer look at avoiding deportations of low-priority immigrant without criminal records.

3. Children of immigrants get the short end of the stick as far as higher education is concerned. In a conversation I had with Luis G. Pedraja, Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs at Antioch University in Los Angeles, he that not allowing the children of illegal immigrants access to higher education has some far-reaching impacts.

“Children of illegal immigrants face limited prospects, greater financial burdens, a lack of support networks, and fear. While some states allow undocumented students to attend state institutions, pay in-state tuition, or provide some level of state financial aid, many states bar them from even enrolling. In addition, they cannot receive federal financial aid, loans, or work-study money. Because of their status, most of them will not find substantial employment that will allow them to pay tuition. Unless they receive scholarships, the majority of private universities will be out of reach. The few who do attend colleges most likely will have to work several low paying jobs to cover living expenses and tuition while they attend classes, often preventing them from full-time studies. In addition, they must cope with the constant fear of deportation for them and their families,” he said.

I believe that educating immigrants is something the US should do with their heads held high. These young students crossed the border to our country and giving them the gift of education is our responsibility. These unaccompanied minors are worth investing in; the face of America is changing and the radical transformation is largely due to immigrants. Educating today’s school-age immigrants and giving them access to higher education means better workers in the future – these educated students will positively impact the wealth of this country.

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Matthew Lynch published in Policy & Reform, Teachers

Reforming K-12 Education: How the Activists are Doing It

By Matthew Lynch

Activism when it comes to public K-12 education is flourishing. Laws regarding K-12 education are no longer simply handed down and enforced without pushback – student, parents, teachers and outside activists have a larger voice than ever when it comes to the decisions impacting the future of their public schools.

After some thought, I came up with the most impactful things (in no particular order) that education activists have done in the past few years when it comes to K-12 education:

Student-driven change. When it comes to the paths of their educations, K-12 public school students are standing up for their rights more than ever before and empowering positive changes in their learning experiences. In April, over 100 Chicago Public Schools students made news when they skipped their standardized testing to protest the tests instead. Speaking to the press, one CPS student said that the protest was designed to draw attention to the fact that “standardized testing should not decide the future of our schools and students.” Student-led zombie flash mobs took place in front of the Philadelphia School District headquarters to oppose the closing of public schools in the city. Hoards of students in other cities like Denver, Providence and Philadelphia followed suit and spoke out against the advance of high-stakes testing and school closing. They rallied together and marched relentlessly to prove their strong dislike against standardized testing – and the belief the effects are not a true measure of success in the real world. While there may have been some parental encouragement behind the scenes, these students appeared to act alone in their pursuit of a better public school learning experience.
Parents as reformers. In California, the parent-led “trigger movement” made waves as parents demanded more from failing public schools. Dessert Springs Elementary School in Adelanto is an example of a school that was transformed from a consistently failing school (students had reading scores in the bottom 10 percent of the state) to a public charter that better served its student body – all because parents took a stand and demanded the change. The Lone Star State had some big news this year when a coalition led by parents was successful in petitioning the state to reduce by two-thirds the number of tests required to graduate high school. In 2011, the state required at least 15 high-stakes tests on students prior to earning their diploma. Two years of hard work later, the Texas legislature passed an education bill reducing the number of tests to five.

Activists stepping up. During 2013, civil rights advocates found an audience with Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. In January, these public-school supporters gathered in DC to discuss their grievances to the Department of Education. The Journey for Justice came as Chicago was on the cusp of closing around 50 schools, and New York and Philadelphia had voted to close more than 20 each. These activists had every right to speak up – research shows that the closing of public schools in urban areas has the biggest negative effect on Latino and Black students. Mass school closures often shake up communicates and disrupt children’s learning, among other effects on displaced students. Perhaps the biggest public school activism success story for 2013 was the teacher union-led Scrap the Map in Seattle. After months of protesting Washington’s mandatory MAP standardized testing at Garfield High School, a decision was made to make the test optional for students throughout the state. In 2013, public school activists came out en masse and took to their local, state and federal legislators to protest detrimental closings and other public school legislation.

Pushing for increased funding. In 2013, activists were vocal about the need for stronger programs in science, technology, engineering and math. Thankfully, President Obama listened. His 2014 budget includes $3.1 billion in investments in federal STEM programs – an increase of nearly 7 percent over the budget of just two years ago. Of that total, $80 million is intended to recruit 100,000 well-qualified educators and another $35 million is earmarked for the launch of a pilot STEM Master Teacher Corps. The rest of the money will go to supporting undergraduate STEM education programs and investment in breakthrough research on the way STEM subjects are best taught to modern learners. At the urging of advisors and activists, the president realized that demand for STEM-related jobs is there and the money allocated to STEM learning initiatives will better prepare today’s students for the worldwide workforce.

Supporting Race to the Top. Over the last 2 years, education activists have continued to support the president’s incentive-based Race to the Top program, which was launched in 2012 and it rewards states that are willing to reform their education models to best adapt to modern student learning needs. The Race to the Top initiative has raised standards for learning to reflect a push toward college and career readiness. Each year, the program gives even more in federal funding to states that prepare plans for reforming their student offerings and 2013 was a big year for it. To date, the program has allocated more than $4 billion among 19 states that have shared well-developed plans to improve learning standards, teacher effectiveness and struggling schools. The states that have been granted the funds represent 42 percent of all low-income students in the nation – making the initiative an effective way to close the achievement gap and equalize funding in areas where schools may struggle based on their geographical location.

Lobbying for college affordability. College affordability activists urged the president to make earning a college education more affordable for all Americans and convinced him that this will impact future K-12 classrooms. In August 2013, the President announced plans to assign a ratings systems to colleges by the 2015 school year that takes items like tuition, graduation rate, debt and earnings ratios of graduates and percentage of low-income students who attend into consideration. The grand plan? To base the amount of federal financial aid colleges receive on the rankings system by 2018. The overall principle is not to call out colleges but rather to make them more accountable to students, and to ensure that every American with college degree aspirations has the actual means to make it happen. Long term, this will impact the quality of teachers in the classrooms, particularly in urban settings where research has shown that the most effective teachers are generally those who come from the same background. More lower-income college students earning degrees will have a positive impact on the entire education system and the college scorecard initiative is a step in that direction.

What would you add to my list?

photo credit: Steve Rhodes via photopin cc

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

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Matthew Lynch published in Diversity, Higher Education, Matthew Lynch

Minority faculty revisited: Why is America so disproportionate?

If America is the land of opportunity, then earning a college degree is the key to really tapping the potential of that opportunity. In the last century going to college has transitioned from something reserved for the elite to something that everyday citizens can aspire to do (with enough financial aid). There’s certainly a case to be made for the need for more diversity on college campuses, but overall our nation’s university system is improving the variety of students on campus and making the experience attainable to all class levels. It’s not perfect; but there’s a push to improve.

One area where colleges and universities consistently fall short, however, is in the number of minority faculty they employ. There are not enough professors of color. There are not enough women. There are not enough who represent the LBGTQ+ community. If we truly want our student body to be diverse and feed into a diverse workplace, we need to start where those students are earning their educations.

Not an accurate representation

Compared to the general U.S. population, diversity in college faculty is much lower. This isn’t to say that all the professors are white, of European descent (though that number is high) though. A recent report from Mother Jones found that:

At some schools, like Harvard, Stanford, the University of Michigan, and Princeton, there are more foreign teachers than Hispanic and black teachers combined.

So we are hiring diverse faculty members on a global stage, but not a national one. There are an estimated 41.7 Black Americans, and an estimated 54 million Hispanic ones, according to the 2010 U.S. Census numbers. That comes out to about 13.2 percent and 17 percent of the total U.S. population, respectively. To put this in perspective, there are student protests going on at Michigan public universities, demanding that 10 percent of faculty members be African American. When you take urban areas like Detroit (where 84.3 percent of the population is Black) into account, asking for 10 percent is a drop in the bucket – yet students are rallying to get the support to make it happen.

Can we change?

So the real question in all of this is not so much “is this happening?” but “what can we do to change this?” The first part is awareness which it seems we are achieving.

The second part is for schools to take on the responsibility and step up to change it. That isn’t happening on as wide a scale as it should, but there are glimmers of hope that adding more minority faculty members is on the horizon for a good number of schools. A few good examples include:

  • Brown University, which has announced that it is dedicating $100 million to look into diversity and race issues on its campus in the next decade. The faculty at the Providence campus is overwhelmingly white and male.
  • Lewis & Clark College in Oregon planned a diversity forum for December 7 after a Rwandan student reported being assaulted because of his skin color. The school’s president Barry Glasner has also said an action plan is being put in place to improve diversity in faculty and students, as well as race relations at the school.
  • The University of Connecticut plans to hire a Chief Diversity Officer who will works towards improving diversity of the student population AND of faculty and staff. UConn’s president Susan Herbst has said publicly that she was disappointed in the lack of diverse faculty members when she first arrived on campus four years ago and that UConn is severely lacking in an area where it really should shine. The trend of hiring Chief Diversity Officers is a positive one, as long as these executives are really empowered to make changes.

In the end, more minorities on college faculty only serves the benefit of everyone. It gives minority students realistic role models and gives non-minority students the chance to work with professors who may not look like them. Even the colleges themselves benefit from the added life experiences these minority faculty members bring to the table. In order to tap into the potential of a truly diverse, truly experience-rich college experience, we need to pay just as much attention to the variety in our faculty as we do to our students.

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Matthew Lynch published in EdTech & Innovation, Policy & Reform, Teachers

STEM Learning Must Go Beyond Memorizing Facts and Theories

By Steven Korte

There is a growing global demand for science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) professionals. At the same time, experts in science education are calling for students to become more “scientifically literate.” This call, however, is about more than filling jobs.

A basic understanding of scientific concepts, processes, and ways of thinking is critical for students to succeed in the world of today and tomorrow. According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s 2014 report on the results of the international PISA 2012 science assessment, “An understanding of science and technology is central to a young person’s preparedness for life in modern society.”

This means that students must go beyond memorizing science facts and theories; they must gain experience with the tools and practices of science. Technology can help. While technology alone does not create scientific understanding, it represents a key tool for promoting inquiry investigations.

A substantial body of research confirms the positive impact of inquiry-based instruction on students’ understanding of science, including substantially higher learning when compared to traditional instruction. Further, education experts specify that technology is most effective in supporting student learning in science when it is used in an inquiry context. Indeed, blending technology into data collection, analysis and visualization as part of inquiry-based instruction has been shown to deepen students’ understanding, and increase their motivation and interest in science.

Districts transitioning to or implementing STEM programs should consider the following points:

  • Lab investigations and technology tools should be connected with classroom experiences, including lectures, readings and discussions. Lab experiences and technology are much more effective when fully integrated into the curriculum and the flow of classroom science lessons.
  • Whether teachers choose to use a structured, guided or open inquiry format, lab activities should give students the opportunity to apply the scientific process to their learning. These activities should allow them to question and investigate; make predictions; collect, analyze and interpret data; refine their questions; and engage in argumentation from evidence. This builds problem-solving and higher-order thinking skills, as well as “soft skills” such as communication and collaboration.
  • Inquiry-based investigations inside and outside the classroom should engage students in real-life scientific and engineering practices. Students should also have the opportunity to use real-world tools to make data meaningful for them while they “do” science.
  • Traditional labs can be time-consuming and classroom sets of industry equipment can be prohibitively expensive. Be sure that lab investigations and technology tools are specifically designed for instructional use to save time and money, and reduce frustration. For example, traditional cell respiration labs are typically complex and inaccurate. In a respiration lab activity built to facilitate student understanding, the setup for a carbon dioxide or oxygen gas sensor should be simple, so accurate data can collected in minutes with minimal frustration.
  • To maximize your technology investment, make sure tools such as sensors and probes are compatible with any classroom environment and work on a variety of platforms, including iPads, Chromebooks, Android tablets, Mac and Windows computers, and netbooks. In addition, make certain the tools match the ability levels of your students.
  • A key part of the scientific process is the sharing, analysis and discussion of data. Consider how students’ data will be transmitted from tools, such as sensors, to their computer or tablet. Will it be done via a USB or wireless connection? Will the data be transmitted directly to the student’s device or will it go to the cloud first? Can students do this themselves or will they need teacher assistance? Allowing students to get their data faster gives them more time for analysis and discussion, which is key to building scientific understanding.
  • When possible, consider investing in multi-measure sensors that allow for the collection of multiple, simultaneous measurements in a single sensor, e.g. for areas such weather, advanced chemistry, or water quality. This not only helps keep costs down, but also helps conserve instructional time by reducing the time it takes to set up sensors and collect the data.
  • If inquiry-based instruction is new to your district, conduct professional development workshops that guide teachers to begin with more highly-structured activities and then move students, over time, to open-ended investigations where they take more responsibility for planning their activities. Each stage of this transition should informed by teachers’ assessments of students’ readiness to complete learner-led investigations.
  • Instructional resources and professional development workshops should also provide suggestions on ways to scaffold student capabilities. This will ensure that teachers can provide multiple levels of guidance and support for investigations. It will also help teachers to select the level of support that best matches their students’ skills and experiences, so they can accomplish challenging tasks.

Across the country and around the world, teachers are effectively implementing inquiry-based science instruction that takes advantage of technology tools for collecting, analyzing and visualizing data. When students “do” science, rather than simply read about it, they deepen their understanding, they develop problem-solving and critical thinking skills, and they retain more content knowledge. They are also more motivated to learn and to continue building their science literacy. This is not only critical for students who decided to pursue STEM careers, but also for life in the modern world.

Steven Korte is the CEO of PASCO Scientific, a developer of innovative teaching and learning solutions for K–12 and higher education since 1964.

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