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Matthew Lynch published in Higher Education

Seattle University Students Stand Behind Their Faculty

Note: The following guest post comes to us courtesy of Jacob Bell, a junior at the University of Maryland pursuing a dual degree in journalism and general biology. He currently works as the staff writer and web content manager for Student Voice and is a general assignment reporter for the University of Maryland’s student newspaper, The Diamondback. Jacob is also the features chair of “Stories Beneath the Shell,” which is an online multimedia publication. You can learn more about Jacob by connecting with him through LinkedIn or following him on Twitter, @realjacobbell.

In late May and early June, instructors at Seattle University casted ballots on whether they wanted to unionize. Since then, not a single ballot has been counted. Instead, administrative efforts have impounded the vote and put the faculty’s unionization status in limbo.

Seattle University employs nearly 350 adjunct faculty members. Adjuncts, along with graduate student and full-time, non-tenured instructors, are referred to as contingent faculty, and make up more than 75 percent of instructors at U.S. higher education institutions, according to a 2014 report by the House Committee on Education and the Workforce Democrats

The same report states that adjuncts earn an estimated annual median salary of $22,041, meaning many of them “often live on the edge of poverty,” and make less than half the amount of full-time faculty members.

“[On] most campuses … the majority of the teaching is now done by adjunct and contingent faculty, rather than tenured-track or tenured faculty,” adjunct communications instructor Dr. Louisa Edgerly said.

Contingent faculty also lack many of the benefits offered to tenured instructors, such as job security, career growth and smaller, less varied course loads.

When Seattle University faculty attempted to address these issues with university administrators, the response was less than proactive, according to Edgerly.

The faculty then turned to unionization as a way for contingent instructors to get the same benefits and securities as tenured instructors, and filed a petition for an official vote among campus instructors on the matter to the National Labor Relations Board, a governing body for all things related to unions.

Though the NLRB approved the faculty’s initiative, university administrators appealed the decision. The administrators reasoned that the university did not fall under the state’s, and by extension the board’s, jurisdiction because of its religious affiliation. Due to the appeal, the ballots from the vote will remain impounded until a final decision is made.

“As a student, my big concern about this is that it really makes sense to support the faculty because a union would create far more longevity for faculty on this campus,” junior public affairs major Izzy Gardon said. “Odds are good that probably none of the [adjuncts] will be at this institution come the decision for this case. It’s probably gonna be 4 to 5 years away, millions of dollars in lawyer fees, and many of them won’t be here to see that.”

Gardon is the social media director for the university’s Student Coalition for Faculty Rights, an organization devoted to students supporting their faculty. In the last year, the coalition held a rally, took photos, wrote newspaper editorials and hosted “project engage,” an event where students wrote letters to the university’s president, in an effort to educate students about the pertinent issues their instructors are facing.

Gardon is also the external chief of staff for the Student Government of Seattle University, which has lent its support to the faculty and requested the withdrawal of the administration’s appeal of the NLRB decision.

“We hold forums, we publish polls, and so if you ask your average student here, we really do reflect the climate here on campus and really try to act as a barometer of student voice,” Gardon said.

According to a recent SGSU poll, 74 percent of university students support their faculty having the choice to unionize.

While their opinions may differ from those of students and faculty, Gardon added that administrators have been flexible and supportive of the coalition’s initiatives.

Seattle University has taken steps in recent years to try to improve faculty wages and benefits, including securing $5.6 million that will go towards keeping faculty and staff salaries competitive, increasing the minimum full-time annual salary from $24,600 to $42,000, and offering modified full-time faculty appointments to part-time instructors teaching more than four classes per year.

Many people at the university are looking to these measures as a starting point for more benefits and increased negotiations between faculty and administrators. Moreover, countless students are using issues like faculty unionization as a platform to improve dialogue between them and the administration and solve many of the ingrained problems in higher education.

 

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Matthew Lynch published in Ask An Expert, Matthew Lynch, Teachers

Why You Should Join an Educational Association

Most new teachers will at some point consider joining an educational association. Educational associations not only provide support; they also provide continuing education for teachers. New teachers will soon find that most fellow teachers belong to the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), or the National Education Association (NEA), or both. The decision as to which one to join is usually guided by the school location and fellow teachers’ involvement. Two of the main benefits of membership are professional collaboration and mutual support. Dozens of professional organizations provide continuing support for teachers, from further training to collective bargaining for better working conditions. These organizations tend to create communities where teachers can get help and protection regarding teachers’ rights, expand teaching knowledge, receive teaching materials, and even relieve stress by connecting with other teachers.

The Internet is a wonderful resource for training materials and teaching resources as well. Check out the following links for information on:

Training materials:
– Education Week (www.edweek.org)
– Teacher Magazine (www.teachermagazine.org)

Activity ideas:
– Inspiring Teachers (www.inspiringteachers.com)

Connecting with other teachers:
– Education World (www.education-world.com)

Teaching organizations:
– The Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (www.ascd.org)
– National Middle School Association (www.nmsa.org)
– National Association for the Education of Young Children (www.naeyc.org)
– National Association for Gifted Children (www.nagc.org)
– The Council for Exceptional Children (www.cec.sped.org)

Remember, with education, the more you know, the better you do! Don’t miss out on the opportunities to expand your knowledge and connection base that teaching associations provide!

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Matthew Lynch published in EdTech & Innovation

Coolcher launches virtual classroom platform

The new online creativity platform delivers live, online courses in the areas of language, arts, music, and STEM
(ATLANTA, GA) December 2, 2015 — Coolcher today launched its virtual classroom platform offering online classes taught by teachers from around the world. The classes can be scheduled to fit with any school’s calendar. For a one-time fee, schools and after-school centers get access to all courses for an unlimited number of classes for one year, giving students the opportunity to enjoy unique courses, and interact live with not just the teacher, but also with their peers from around the country.

“We created Coolcher as parents who were looking for courses that help our daughter learn more about her heritage, but were unsuccessful in finding anything,” said Jatin Grover, the founder of Coolcher. “With this new platform, we hope to bring the whole world to kids around the U.S.—a whole world of new and unique subjects, and a whole world of new cultures.”

The platform also connects homeschoolers with other students and homeschoolers who are taking the classes at the same time. The virtual classroom environment gives homeschoolers a connection with more students, bringing with it enhanced collective knowledge and creativity.

“More and more, every high-paying job requires not just skills but creativity, and to boost creativity the development of the right brain should begin at an early age,” said Grover. “Our unique courses in creative areas and multi-linguistics speed up the development of students’ right brain as well as giving them tools for college preparedness by teaching world cultures.”

Coolcher courses are community-led, and the company is always looking for teachers who bring a creative approach to their lessons. Teachers who would like to be added to the Coolcher portfolio to work with kids around the country and the world can share information about themselves and their courses at coolcher.com.

About Coolcher

Based in Atlanta, GA, Coolcher is a virtual classroom platform that connects kids at school and at home with teachers from around the world. Our teachers bring courses in subject areas like language, arts, crafts, and STEM for live, online classes. These teachers bring not just their knowledge, but also their cultural background to help expand kids’ worldview.

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

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Matthew Lynch published in Equity, Matthew Lynch, Policy & Reform

Why Inclusion of Special Needs Students Works

By Matthew Lynch

Students with mild disabilities are generally part of a regular classroom and some may spend short periods of time each day in a resource room receiving specialized education.  Referred to as “pull-out” programs, these programs have been under fire because they separate and label children, yet they do not produce the required improvements in the students’ academic performance.  In light of this, more mainstream classroom inclusion has become a popular choice for students with special needs.  With inclusion, the child is fully included in the regular class for the entire day.  A special education teacher works with the special needs children in the classroom, and all resources needed by the child are brought to the regular classroom. Inclusion has its share of nay-sayers however who voice concerns about the inclusion programs.  Teachers of regular classes have concerns, which include:

  • A lack of support services for students when they are moved into a regular classroom;
  • Lack of training for even the most experienced teachers when it comes to supporting and working with disabled students;
  • Limited content and field experiences in teacher education programs focused on learning disabilities;
  • Limited involvement of regular teachers during creation of the IEP;
  • Concerns expressed by parents of “regular” students in the inclusive classroom that their children would not get the attention they need.

Inclusion is directed at ensuring that students with disabilities are able to benefit from the best learning situations possible. Prior to change a made to NCLB in 2003, educational progress of children with disabilities was not tracked. In 2003, NCLB required that states include the achievement scores of 95 percent of all special education students in their annual progress reports. Hence another level of inclusion was instituted, one designed to ensure that special needs students were progressing. States were allowed to include accommodations for special needs students taking the test, such as extended test time, one-on-one testing, and helping students to write answers. Students with severe cognitive disabilities were also allowed to take an alternative test.

Despite concerns expressed by some teachers and parents about inclusion, evidence suggests that it works. Teachers have testified to the benefits that their students have received in terms of increased performance and comprehension.  Prior to testing these students, they fell by the wayside and there was no way to tell what they were learning or even if they were learning.  The exposure to the testing has given these students a place in the educational arena and exposure to more attention, opportunities and self-sufficiency.

There is another aspect to inclusion of students with special needs that is important too, and that is how it positively impacts mainstream peers. Rather than remove students who are different from classrooms, there is a blending of them and it teaches the mainstream students more about compassion, understanding and that every student learns in a different way. These are traits that cannot be taught from a book, but must be learned in the classroom through experience – and they are important.

I think the move to include more special needs students in daily classroom settings is a smart one, and the accompanying testing enforces it. Perhaps this generation of K-12 students will be the highest-achieving yet.

photo credit: zilverbat. via photopin cc

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

Still Relevant: 3 School Library Systems Doing it Right

Despite many K-12 libraries finding themselves on the chopping block in the budget cuts of recent years, I believe this aspect of student learning is essential for academic and real-world success. Librarians, information associates, media center specialists – call them what you want, but these professionals are just as important to student success as homeroom teachers and administrators. I’ve written before about what K-12 libraries need to look like in the coming years to maintain relevancy. Today I want to look at three school library initiatives that are reaching students in the right way and cementing the libraries’ priority spot in their respective schools and districts.

Ogden School District, Utah

At the end of last school year, the Ogden School District laid off ALL teacher librarians as a drastic budget cut. An uproar from the parents, students and community at large ensued and resulted in seven of the original 20 returning to full-time spots. With something to prove, the returning librarians spent the summer developing a plan to help students become top-notch researchers in the digital age. This includes information technology training that puts the responsibility of learning into the hands of the students – and teaches them to dig a little deeper than a simple Google search for information.

Takeaway: Successful K-12 libraries will not simply house information; their staffs will teach students how to access that information for lifelong learning.

The Meadowbrook School of Weston, Massachusetts

In November, this elementary school library was honored by the American Library Association for its interdisciplinary learning track for third graders. The “Transforming Tales” program starts in the physical library, where third graders read fairy tales from across the globe. The students compare cultures through the fairy tales read and then take those comparisons back to social studies, music, art, math and P.E. classes. In the end, the third graders develop their own fairy tales in groups and incorporate building blocks, song, dance and drawing into their depiction. The end product is the result of cross-curricular learning but it all starts within the school library walls.

Takeaway: School libraries should be the common thread that ties all disciplines together for most effective K-12 student experiences.

New Augusta South Elementary School, Indianapolis

In May, this elementary school library was honored by the American Library Association as the National School Library Program of the Year. Headed by librarian Lauren Kniola, this open-access library facilitates student learning all day (not just during scheduled library visits) and also takes the lead on technology training for teachers. To help with student research, the school library has a link that maintains bookmarks of previous student’s research to help others find information more quickly. By welcoming students and teachers through the library doors, New Augusta South makes the library the hub of the school and encourages collaborative learning.

Takeaway: The resources of a K-12 library should be accessible to all students and teachers, all the time. This can be accomplished through open-access policies during school hours and virtual access to materials and research around the clock.

What all three of these library systems are doing right is avoiding isolation. By collaborating with other teachers and staff, these libraries are using their own resources most effectively and giving students the skills to succeed in research, technology and literacy well beyond their K-12 years. Instead of making information a commodity, these and other successful school libraries are viewing that information as a common right amongst students and educators – to the benefit of every individual at the school.

What other characteristics do you think make a successful K-12 library system?

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Matthew Lynch published in EdTech & Innovation, Matthew Lynch

2 Bold Moves Made By Pearson Education in 2015

Depending on your view of Pearson, described as “the world’s largest education company” by the Washington Post, any news about the company may serve as good or bad. Love it or hate it, Pearson is the top education company in the world. During 2015, Pearson made a series of bold moves, which are chronicled below.

Pearson picked education as its sole focus. In July, the Washington Post reported that Pearson was making a move to focus solely on education. “The company is selling its stake in the Financial Times to Nikkei Inc., a leading Japanese media organization, for $1.3 billion, a move that Pearson Chief Executive John Fallon said was precipitated by the changing journalism business model and by Pearson’s desire to focus entirely on education, according to Financial Times.”

Because credit-rating service Moody’s downgraded Pearson’s credit outlook to negative due to instability in the higher education arena, this move gave Pearson “nearly $1.5 billion in net proceeds;” providing the company the potential to improve its standing with Moody’s.

The article further stated that Pearson had lost a few “big testing contracts” in New York, Texas, and Florida. But the news wasn’t all bad for Pearson. The Post also reported that the education giant is the primary vendor for the Partnership for the Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers. It is also one of only two multi-state consortia charged with designing new Common Core specific exams — a task that comes with nearly $360 million in federal funds.

Many view Pearson as a monopoly because of its size and number of contracts it holds. But because of the recent losses, and news that it wants to reaffirm its standing within the education community, this may either signal the beginning of the end for Pearson or the start of something greater.

Pearson to spend $2.3 billion on education. It was announced in August that, after selling two media outlets for nearly $2 billion, Pearson had plans to spend over $2.3 billion on education across the globe. According NPR.org, Pearson’s chief executive John Fallon and North American CEO Don Kilburn plan to invest a considerable amount of money to strengthen its position as a global education leader.

“In recent years, we’ve developed an increasing focus on our biggest, most exciting opportunity — to help people make progress in their lives through learning … it’s become clear to me and the Pearson board that the scale of the challenge requires our undivided attention,” said Fallon.

The article further articulated the company’s position on education as it highlighted just how much Pearson spends on education annually. Pearson spends $1 trillion “each year on education—most of it public money” globally. That is an astonishing amount of money and an amount that most people are likely not aware of.

But Pearson has faced criticism as of late due to lost contracts and its relationship to Common Core. No matter to Pearson, though, as their plans will not change and they will just continue to roll out educational materials.

Kilburn said that the company plans to invest more into bringing education into underprivileged areas and continuing to develop public-private partnerships so that more students will have the ability to attend college. I sincerely hope that this is true and not just something said to generate good press.

This is, of course, just the start of the company’s strategy. But based on where Fallon and Kilburn want to take the organization, this certainly seems like a giant leap in the right direction.

What do you think of Pearson’s business moves in 2015?

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

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Matthew Lynch published in Diversity, HBCU's

4 ways HBCUs can prepare students for the lack of workplace diversity

Historically Black Colleges and Universities have always been places that encourage greater diversity when it comes to higher education, both on their campuses and in the greater college landscape. From their origins as being the only places people of color could go for a college education to their role today as welcoming all students and instilling cultural awareness, HBCUs stand as models of multicultural learning at its best.

Are HBCUs doing enough to prepare their students for the real workplace, though?

The reason so many college administrators, myself included, stand firmly by the necessity of HBCUs in contemporary college education is this: HBCUs provide a heightened diversity-centric environment that is not able to be duplicated in other settings. This is why these schools are so fantastic. But is all that idealism blindsiding our students later on? Do HBCUS give students a false sense of what to expect in the real workplace? There has to be a blending of what is actually happening in the workplace with what the ideal CAN be with the right people who work for it.

So how can HBCUs promote diversity while still preparing their students for the reality of the American workplace today?

Tell the truth.

Start with the facts of the workplace reality right now, today, this moment. This is so vital to students’ understanding of what they are going to face in the workplace. Yes, diversity is increasing in most fields (thanks in part to better college recruiting and minority programs) but things like the wage gap between minorities (including women) and white men have to be addressed. It’s okay to present these facts and not have a concrete solution in place. It is the responsibility of HBCUs to let their students know what they are up against – and inspire these students to make changes when given the opportunity.

Promote leadership.

Instead of teaching our students how to work for someone else, we should be training them to be leaders. This is true in every field and in every classroom. Have a group of education students? Encourage them to take that next step and become administrators. Students in health care? Set them up to be accepted to medical school. If you have a class of students who are interested in computer science, suggest pairing it with a business or entrepreneurship double major or minor. We should show our students the path to the next level, one step above what they are hoping to achieve, so that they can become the diverse decision-makers of tomorrow’s workplace.

Teach legal rights.

Our students should know what the boundaries are in workplaces when it comes to discrimination and how to recognize unfair treatment. We need to tell them how to report it, file lawsuits and hold their employers (or potential employers) accountable. At the same time, we should be sure our students aren’t wasting too much time in their careers looking for problems. It is important to know when something is unfair, but to put energy into building up careers for their benefit too.

Empower them with knowledge.

As cheesy as it may sound, an education is everything when it comes to breaking through workplace barriers. Minorities and women have to work twice or three times as hard as their peers to earn as much respect and money in the same roles. It’s not fair, but it is a fact – at least at this point in our country’s history as an economic powerhouse. What is learned in classrooms can’t be taken away, or denied. We have to encourage our students to be lifelong learners and love knowledge for the sake of it. That excitement about learning is what will keep them ahead in their fields and help them impart that empowerment to the next generation of students.

There is no way to completely change diversity in the workplace overnight but I truly believe that HBCU graduates have the best shot at improving it significantly. As instructors and administrators, we need to make sure our students are taking the best of diversity practices with them when they leave our campuses, but not entering the American workforce completely blind to its realities. It is our responsibility to teach our students what they can expect, but also how to be the change that they want to see.

Read all of our posts about HBCUs by clicking here.

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Matthew Lynch published in EdTech & Innovation

The Rachael Ray Show surprises Kindergarten teacher with Redcat Audio Systems

I just love a heartwarming holiday story – especially when teachers and students are the beneficiaries.

Kindergarten teacher Heidi Solivan got an early Christmas present when the classroom technology she was fundraising to buy was donated instead. Solivan had four Redcat audio systems from Lightspeed Technologies at the top of her classroom wishlist and was surprised with the fully-donated systems on an episode of The Rachael Ray Show that aired on November 24.

Producers from the show contacted Lightspeed Technologies, a leading provider of classroom audio solutions, after they found Solivan’s GoFundMe page that had about $775 raised so far in donations. Solivan teaches a full-day, full-inclusion class with special education students, English language learners, and students who struggle with attention or hearing difficulties. The speech pathologist at Solivan’s school purchased one Redcat system last year and Solivan had access to it for one week. That was enough to sell the Kindergarten teacher on the system, which includes a microphone on a lanyard so students throughout the classroom can hear the instructor without vocal or hearing strain.

The producers told Solivan that she would be doing a Skype session with them about the need for the Redcat systems but then surprised her twice: Rachael Ray was waiting on the other end of the Skype chat, and the postal worker delivered the systems right to Solivan’s door during the session.

Solivan has already put the systems to use, and says that they are “going to allow the students to hear every sound that we’re making, and it will allow us to slow down and be clear. We won’t have to raise our voices to get their attention, because we’ll already have it.”

Solivan added her thankfulness to Lightspeed Technologies and encouraged other classrooms to work towards incorporating the Redcat systems.

“Every classroom teacher should have this,” Solivan said.

You can check out the entire segment on The Rachael Ray show here:

A little more about Lightspeed Technologies

Lightspeed classroom audio systems allow teachers to speak in normal conversational tones while being assured that every child has an equal opportunity to hear all of the instruction. The no-installation Redcat provides clear, low-volume, highly intelligible sound that is evenly distributed throughout the classroom so every child hears every word. The company’s audio system for small group instruction, Redcat, gives teachers the ability to gain insights into small group interactions and learning. The Topcat has become the premier solution for new construction and renovations due to its ease of installation, wireless connectivity, and remarkable audio quality. For more information about Lightspeed classroom audio products, visit www.lightspeed-tek.com.

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

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Matthew Lynch published in Equity, Higher Education

Feet on campus, heart at home: First-generation college students struggle with divided identities

**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.**

Linda Banks-Santilli, Wheelock College

First-generation (FG) college students, or students whose parents have not earned a four-year degree, face unique psychological challenges.

Although perhaps supportive of higher education, their parents and family members may view their entry into college as a break in the family system rather than a continuation of their schooling.

In families, role assignments about work, family, religion and community are passed down through the generations creating “intergenerational continuity.” When a family member disrupts this system by choosing to attend college, he or she experiences a shift in identity, leading to a sense of loss. Not prepared for this loss, many first-generation students may come to develop two different identities – one for home and another for college.

As a former first-generation college student who is now an associate professor of education, I have lived this double life. My desire to help other first-generation students resulted in research that provides insights into the lived experiences of first-generation students at Wheelock College, a small college in Boston, Massachusetts, that has a high percentage of first-generation students. In 2010, 52% of our incoming undergraduates were first-generation college students.

Nationally, of the 7.3 million undergraduates attending four-year public and private colleges and universities, about 20% are first-generation students. About 50% of all FG college students in the US are low-income. These students are also more likely to be a member of a racial or ethnic minority group.

Why do they decide to go to college?

Most first-generation students decide to apply to college to meet the requirements of their preferred profession. But unlike students whose parents have earned a degree, they also often see college as a way to “bring honor to their families.”

In fact, studies show that a vast majority of first-generation college students go to college in order to help their families: 69% of FG college students say they want to help their families, compared to 39% of students whose parents have earned a degree. This desire also extends to the community, with 61% of FG college students wanting to give back to their communities compared to 43% of their non-first-generation peers.

And while their families often view them as their “savior,” “delegate,” or a way out of poverty and less desirable living conditions, many first-generation students struggle with what has been described as “breakaway guilt.”

First-generation students are torn between family and college expectations. Eva the Weaver, CC BY-NC

Their decision to pursue higher education comes with the price of leaving their families behind.

They may feel they’re abandoning parents or siblings who depend on them. And families too may have conflicted feelings: first-generation college students’ desire for education and upward mobility may be viewed as a rejection of their past.

Perceived as different at home and different at school, first-generation college students often feel like they don’t belong to either place.

The challenge of higher education is to recognize the psychological impact that first-generation status has on its students and to provide help.

First-generation students lack resources

Not all first-generation college students are the same, but many experience difficulty within four distinct domains: 1) professional, 2) financial, 3) psychological and 4) academic.

Most of all, they need professional mentoring. They are the ones most likely to work at the mall during the summer rather than in a professional internship. They can’t afford to work for free, and their parents do not have professional networks.

Often, first-generation students apply only to a single college and do that without help. They can’t afford multiple application fees and they are unsure of how to determine a good fit, as their parents have not taken them on the college tour.

Many FG students fill out the financial aid forms themselves. As one FG college student explained:

“They put all these numbers down and expect you to know what each one means. My mother doesn’t know and she expects me to find out and then tell her how it all works.”

FG students worry about the families they leave behind and try to figure out how to support them.

One first-generation student managed to enroll in college but was still worried about her mother’s lack of support. Miles away from home on a college campus for the first time, she divided her time each semester between paying her parents’ bills online and completing her assignments. Her parents didn’t own a computer or know how to use one.

Stigma of being a first-generation college student

Colleges need to recognize that FG students do not easily come forward to seek help.

Even though there are many successful former FG role models, such as First Lady Michelle Obama, US Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor and US Senator from Massachusetts Elizabeth Warren, there is considerable stigma associated with FG status.

Stigma forces some students to be invisible. Javier Garcia, CC BY-NC-SA

As a result, some FG college students may choose to remain invisible. Once they identify, their academic ability, achievement and performance may be underestimated by others. Their background is viewed as a deficit rather than a strength. And they are unnecessarily pitied by others, especially if low-income.

In extreme cases, other students and faculty may question their right to be on campus. Low-income, first-generation college students may arrive to college with fewer resources and more academic needs, making them targets for discrimination.

In a recent New York Times video on FG students at Ivy League colleges, a FG college student at Brown University who was born in Colombia told faculty that she was from New Jersey to avoid having to reveal that she was a first-generation college student.

But, there is another side to the story as well.

There are FG college students who view their status as a source of strength. It becomes their single most important motivator to earning their degree. These students are driven and determined. They can perform academically in ways that are equal to or even better than students whose parents have earned a degree.

These students too may benefit from a FG support group to help alleviate the internal pressure they place on themselves to succeed.

How colleges can help FG students

First-generation college students need customized attention and support that differs from students whose parents have earned a degree. They need to feel like they belong at their college or university and deserve to be there.

Higher education, with its unique culture, language and history, can be difficult for first-generation college students to understand. Students whose parents have attended college benefit from their parents’ experiences.

They come through the door understanding what a syllabus is, why the requirement for liberal arts courses exists and how to establish relationships with faculty. They can call their parents to ask for help on a paper or to ask questions about a citation method. They can discuss a classic novel they have both read.

This FG research has raised awareness on the Wheelock campus that has led to positive change. In 2014,the college applied for a First In the World federal grant to help implement a new FG program. Though we were not awarded a grant in the first round of competition, we will continue to seek funding.

Colleges and universities have the ability to redesign their institutional cultures, teaching practices and academic support services to be more inclusive of first-generation college students.

For instance, they can offer required courses in a variety of different formats (hybrid, on-line, face-to-face) and timings (between semesters, during summers) to help FG students reduce degree completion time and save money.

They can recruit former FG faculty members to advise and mentor FG students. A FG web page for FG students and families can be created that features success stories, user-friendly financial aid as well as scholarship information, and links to other opportunities.

With the right support from institutions of higher education, FG students can earn their degree, reinvent themselves and reposition their families in positive ways for generations to come

________________________

Linda Banks-Santilli is Associate Professor of Education at Wheelock College

This article was originally published on The Conversation.

Read the original article.

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Matthew Lynch published in Equity, HBCU's, Higher Education

Leading Successful HBCUs: Part I

Many HBCUs have closed over the last three decades and many are in serious trouble financially and in terms of leadership.

Here to discuss this issue is President William B. Bynum of Mississippi Valley State University.

Q: First, what would you say has been the principle function of HBCU’s in the last three decades and what, on a related issue, do you think have been the particular challenges to these types of institutions in the United States?

A: We know that HBCUs, of course, were created to deal with the educational gap and all that was happening to folks of our race. What is little known, though, is HBCUs have always been open to and granted access to other races. However, the principal function has been, of course, to make sure that there’s an educated population within the African-American race and to make sure that those upward mobility opportunities were afforded African-Americans so that we could have similar opportunities to advance in this country, as have other races.

We never got to separate but equal, but of course the opportunity was – I think folks knew that it would be in the better interest of the country to have an educated black citizenry. That’s why HBCUs, of course, were created. Ultimately, it is in the best interest of the country to have that educated citizenry.

The major issues that are facing HBCUs – the challenges – are the lower enrollments that we are seeing now. Obviously, we know that there’s a significant gap. Only 3% of blacks who are choosing higher education are choosing HBCUs. That number is significantly down from where it was pre-1970. We know that’s a major issue: low enrollment.

Graduation rates. We’ve come under fire because of our published graduation rates and how we are faring against other types of institutions with greater resources. That’s been an issue or challenge. However, whenever those facts and figures are given, they never account for or control for the fact that HBCUs are dealing with the first-generation college population. And in terms of socio-economic difference and where our students are coming from, there’s a significant disadvantage. Unfortunately, people are comparing as if it’s an apples to apples comparison, when you and I both know that’s way far from the case.

When you look at the few amount of resources HBCUs have been given, one of the facts I like the most is, while we only receive 3% of the black-going college population, HBCUs are producing between 16 and 17% of the degrees that are earned by African-Americans.

Q: Given the social shifts we have seen in the last three decades and the challenges to HBCU’s, what do you feel needs to be done to preserve these institutions?

A: First and foremost, let me be very clear on the record that there is still a significant need for HBCUs in this country. We are still a relatively young country when it comes to integration and full participation by African-Americans.
For some reason, even though we saw Civil Rights laws in the late ’60s and early ’70s come to pass, people are assuming that a lot distance can be made up in the 40 years since that time. You and I both know, as educators and researchers, that that’s not a long time. But people are expecting HBCUs to have made up all of that gap, even though they haven’t been provided with the amount of resources they need in order to do so.

But here’s what I’d like to get at. First, they are still needed and necessary because HBCUs still provide a sense of nurturing and mentoring that predominately white institutions still are not able to do. I make a point every time I speak to a high school student, students who are considering higher education, to emphasize the fact that HBCUs have an entire campus that is dedicated to their success – not two or three persons who are responsible for minority students. You’ve got a whole culture and environment of people who are invested in the history and success of those people at HBCUs and because of the population that is being served.

If HBCUs close, those other schools are not seeking to serve those students who we serve, who may be coming under-prepared from high school but simply need some remedial work. You can gauge one thing, but you can never gauge a person’s heart and how much determination and willingness they’re willing to put into something.
I think HBCUs give people that opportunity to demonstrate that, despite what they may have dealt with in earlier life, if they have the wherewithal and the drive and ambition, that they can be extremely successful people.

What we need to do to stop the conversation about closure and merger and those things is there’s no doubt we’ve got to find new ways to navigate the terrain. The days of more coming is not there. We’ve got to be very resourceful. We need to be sure that we are sending the message that we, again, are open to all races. We know there’s no doubt we need to build our endowments. Of course, you and I know that there are only about five HBCUs that have endowments above $100 or $150 million. Endowments are what sustain an institution, so we’ve got to make sure that we’re building our endowments.

And, of course, we’ve got to continue to produce high-quality graduates that compete in a global society. That’s going to be extremely important. Of course, our graduates continue to exemplify themselves. One of the other figures I like, which I don’t have the exact percentages, are the number of Ph.Ds., like you and I, in this country. A large percentage of those persons started out at historically black colleges and universities. That is extremely important.

Finally, the online programs. Because of what is happening in terms of being able to reach those non-traditional learners and students, HBCUs have to be very nimble and really look at improving their online classroom offerings.

Q: Obviously the last three decades have seen shifting trends in education with African American students and other minority students accepted at a whole range of higher education institutions but how have HBCU’s responded to these trends in particular?

A: You’re absolutely right. As we just talked about, as I look at that pre-1970 number of our students who went to HBCUs versus the three percent it is now, we are facing stiff competition. Obviously, because most young people today have been raised in a totally different era and time, they are used to certain things. They are more open. Obviously, they are more technologically savvy, and they’re used to amenities that oftentimes are not as available at HBCUs.

There’s no doubt that when we’re comparing Mississippi Valley against Old Miss and Mississippi State, our physical plants aren’t the same. A lot of those students are choosing those other predominately white institutions because, physical plant-wise, all the HBCUs have not been able to keep up the way other schools have.
We say today, students make decisions as they’re walking, meaning what they see. “What type of room am I going to be living in?” Obviously, we all know there is a preference for single rooms, not the double occupancy small room. We know the tendency is for individual or small group showers, not the gang [?] showers we often see in older residence halls. We know students want to see wireless all over the place. We know students want to see knew student unions and recreation centers.

Unfortunately, because of those low endowments, because of some of the lack of funding received from institutions, we haven’t been able to keep up with those predominately white institutions. That’s a major reason why we’re losing students.
I’m always saying while need to do some of those things, we need to continue to stay true to our mission. That is the holistic development and education of students. We need to maintain our small class sizes and our individual attention and the fact that we really do nurture students. We need to stay true to those missions.

Often, what has happened is that a lot of HBCUs have become — and this is a little more controversial statement, so let me see if I can say it correctly — we’ve changed our mission and our focus by trying to chase other schools, and we really just need to stay true to our mission.

For instance, there are schools that I know about and have been affiliated with who had good retention rates and good graduation rates, to have sought to “recruit” a better quality student. They have changed their admission standards in order to go after a higher SAT or GPA or ACT score student. In turn, they were not looking to serve students who had historically done extremely well at those institutions.

I think we have to be very careful at HBCUs about what we’re really chasing. Again, we need to get back to the basics and get back to our foundation. We need to really understand we have a certain niche, and our niche is being able to work with students and prepare students and wrap our arms around them, give them the support and individual attention and nurturing they need, so that they can, indeed, really prosper and graduate. We should not be too focused on trying to compete with what are supposedly better quality students.

Personally, I don’t believe in that. As a sociologist, I know that you look at a student’s high school grade point average. What has happened is too many HBCUs put emphasis on SAT and ACT scores, which we of course know our students don’t do as well on. However, many schools are changing their standards and putting more weight on a one-time test as opposed to what students have demonstrated during the course of their academic career in high school.

We’ve got to be very careful how we respond to some of those trends, but in the case Mississippi Valley, we’re going to stick to our foundation. We’re going to stick to our mission in terms of what we were founded to do. We’re going to continue working with students who desire higher education who understand, “I may not be as prepared as I needed to be for college; however, I’ve got a heart, I’ve got a willingness, I’ve got a desire to learn. If I’ve got a caring, dedicated, committed faculty, while I may enter at one point on entryway, I’m going to be even with those students at Ole Miss and Mississippi State by the time I exit.”

Q: Although you just started your tenure at Mississippi Valley State University, you have been very successful at righting the ship through a number of different policies and programs. What, in general terms, has been your approach to preserving the legacy of MVSU, while making much need changes?

A: I think I’m shifting it because what happens, unfortunately – and you know this –what I’m trying to do is refocus faculty, staff and students on why we really exist. Why we’re here. That is, of course, being more student-centered and making more decisions in terms of what is best for our students.

My approach has been laying out expectations, creating an environment of transparency and producing a collegial working atmosphere. My vision for MVSU incorporates individuals working across the board to achieve our goals. I don’t believe in silos. I believe we indeed have to work as a team and across division lines if we’re really going to make sure the students persist.

We’re building on a traditional framework that work here while I incorporate those new ideas that will help sustains and contribute to the relevance of Valley. The vision, in case you haven’t heard it yet, that we’ve set is something that already existed on the campus. I’m just putting a new twist and a new emphasis and making it crystal clear what we mean. That vision is One Goal, One Team, One Valley.
That one goal is student success. We’re going to be about student success. Enrollment, holistic development, retention, graduation and career advancement. All decisions that we make need to be made with students first and foremost in mind. Not our ourselves as individuals, but what’s best for our students.

The one team is the university and community working together. It is extremely important that the university, especially a university like Valley in the area we’re in, that we make inroads and make it very clear that we want to partner with community stakeholders who are interested in this institution and see us an asset. We’re going to do that and make sure I’m reaching out to folks and letting folks know, “We want to be your education institution of choice.” For this area, this region, we want to be that institution. We’re working with the community to build those partnerships.

Finally, the one Valley, that is students, faculty, staff, alumni and friends of the institution actively demonstrating school pride and spirituality that is second to none. In case you didn’t catch that, that’s school pride and spirituality. The spirituality is intentional in the sense that that’s one of those foundational things we need to reconnect to in terms of an HBCU. When a student is connected spiritually – and I’m not talking about any specific religion; I’m talking about to a higher being and a different energy source – a student then gets grounded. They have a new perspective. As a result, they tend to persist longer. Some of those things are not about necessarily changing the academy, but getting folks in the academy to think in a totally different way. The institution has become too much about us as faculty and staff, as opposed to about serving the students who we enter for.

Here’s a quick example of what I mean by student-centered decision making that I’ve shared with the staff here. If there is an office that has two or more employees, there’s no reason that office should be closed any time during the 8:00-5:00 work day. What has happened is, often times because I want to go to lunch with a particular person or with whomever I’m working with, I may close that office down for an hour while I go to lunch, not understanding that that student who is in class or other activities, you never know when that student is going to need to frequent your office. For that student to have just a small amount of time to come to an office and then see a sign or no sign and no one in the office, that’s not being student centered.

Being student centered is, if there are two or more people in an office, that office should never close during the day. They should straddle their lunch hours so that the office is open the entire 8:00-5:00 workday. That’s what I’m trying to do – to get people to think differently about who we are really here to serve and to make sure students get a return on their investment for the dollars they are investing in their education.

Well, that concludes part I of my interview with President Bynum. In Part II, the president will continue to dispense expert advice on how to lead successful a HBCU.

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Matthew Lynch published in Diversity, Higher Education

Do full-ride scholarships really increase college diversity?

The cost of going to college can be a deal-breaker. Even with Pell grants, scholarships, and some student loans, the overwhelming ticket price of higher education is a major deterrent. This is especially true for minorities, first generation college students, and those coming from low socio-economic backgrounds. There is both a legitimate concern over what that college degree will cost, as well as a cultural barrier that often tells these students a college education is just not for them (both within their circles, and outside them).

But what if colleges were to take away cost as a factor – completely? Throughout the country there are schools that are combatting low diversity numbers with a novel idea: full-ride scholarships for those who qualify.

Now full-ride scholarships are certainly nothing new. They’ve been given out to promising students, and those in financial need, and athletes for decades. What’s so different about this new slew of full-ride initiatives is that they acknowledge a lack of diversity and are targeting minorities, women and underserved students.

The University of Michigan recently rolled out a full-ride scholarship program that targets students as young as 7th grade. The Wolverine Pathways initiative seeks to find students of academic promise from racial and socioeconomic disadvantage and give them a chance to earn a full ride to the university by the time they graduate from high school. Students will be paired with tutors and mentors in three academic sessions per year. If they complete the sessions successfully, and are then accepted to the university, they will be given a scholarship for four years.

It’s certainly needed at Michigan, where only 12.8 percent of the 2015 freshman class are minorities. The school saw a dip from the height of its minority representation (which was only 13.8 in 2015) after affirmative action was struck down for college admissions. Since then, the university claims it has looked for ways to boost its diversity – and the Wolverine Pathways program could finally do just that.

Arizona State University also announced a full-ride program for new MBA students in the fall of 2016 that is designed to improve diversity. Based on the student’s residency, the scholarship could be valued as high as $94,000.

But will these and other full-ride programs actually work?

Finances are certainly an obstacle when it comes to creating diverse college campuses but it is not the only issue. College freshman from homes with no college graduates are at a higher risk of dropping out that first year. Students who have never learned basic life skills, including how to budget and pay bills, often get overwhelmed at college and drop out to start earning immediate money instead.

Then there is the whole idea of young people being handed something they don’t truly understand the value of – and squandering it. It’s usually a decade or more later when college dropouts of all races and backgrounds look back and realize that they probably should’ve stayed in school. That’s around the time their college-educated peers are finally paying off those student loans, advancing in their careers, and finally cashing in on the quality of life that a college education provides. It’s very difficult to explain to an 18 or 19-year-old student the total value of a college education, both in the immediate and over the long term. Not having to pay for that value could translate into students who do not respect that education the way they should. This is not a point specific to minorities, but to young people in general.

So how can colleges and universities bring in diverse students, retain them, and graduate them debt-free?

It starts with the teaching and mentorship structure, like the one Michigan has in place, but needs to continue to college campuses. Students who we know are statistically more likely to drop out need hands-on guidance counselors, and mentors, and professors who work hard to keep them engaged and learning. There needs to be retention programs in place that actively check in on progress and don’t simply offer an open-door policy. All of this is vital if colleges are serious about having a diverse student population that succeeds on its grounds.

For programs like the one at Arizona State, it also means more targeted recruitment. If you say you are lowering financial barriers in order to bring in a more diverse student group, then you must find that student group and offer them spots. That takes a lot of dedication but is well worth it.

The bottom line is this: Simply giving students free access to a college degree is not enough for those students to succeed. Colleges and universities offering these types of programs need to recognize how the financial constraints of college are simply one issue on the road to attaining a degree. Academic support, mentorship, cultural inclusion and so many other factors must also play a role in these incentives for them to truly be successful at boosting campus and workplace diversity.

Matthew

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Matthew Lynch published in EdTech & Innovation

Technology and Multisensory Learning: A New Twist to an Old Application

Technology in K-12 classrooms is evolving at a rapid pace. Of K-12 teachers, 86 percent think that education technology is an essential in the classroom, and 96 percent say that the technology improves student engagement levels. Despite teacher support, only 14 percent use digital curricula and 31 percent use other technology resources. The disconnection between what teachers really want and actually have is a matter of access, money and time resource

In addition, any technology that is considered “cutting edge” often comes with some red tape. Getting new equipment approved takes more than just funding – it often takes convincing on the part of the teachers that it really is necessary, and that it will make a difference in their teaching outcomes.

I recently became acquainted with the company Peerless-AV and a wireless projector system that it believes is the key to overcoming technology obstacles in K-12 classrooms. Its Short Throw Projector AV System (projector not included) applies a modern take on the classroom technology of projection that has been around for a few decades. The projector system comes with a built-in wireless receiver and streams sound and HD content (up to 1080 pixels) from up to 131 feet. Teachers can connect up to five audiovisual input devices (all wirelessly) including their computers, tablets, DVD players, MP3 players and even VHS tapes. Instead of having to switch between media devices, and deal with all of the cords that accompany it, teachers have a streamlined way to project their content from many device sources. Teachers are also able to stream their own audio in real-time through a microphone, even with their backs to the class and audio playing from the source – making it possible for students to hear teachers over any audio being played.

Peerless-AV gave away one of its high-tech projector systems through a contest that saw 27 entries from teachers across the country. The winner was a special education teacher from Ludlow, Kentucky named Kristen Goodpaster. She reports that both retention and engagement of her students has risen after implementing the Wireless Short Throw Projector AV System and its audio-visual features. Goodpaster’s district saw just 72 percent of its high school graduates from 2011 pursue a college degree, something that she feels could be remedied with the right technology implementation in K-12 classrooms.

“For teachers looking to incorporate more technology into the classroom, my advice would be not to fear the change. For each lesson or chapter in the textbook, I would recommend thinking of the most effective way of displaying this information for students that learn best through physical activity or visual stimulation, whether it may be a video, an interactive game, an infographic or an image, and to work at least one of these elements into the classroom each day,” Goodpaster said.

To me, the Peerless-AV Wireless Short Throw Projector AV System is a smart way to blend all of the available audio-visual technology at a teacher’s disposal. Not only does it streamline many parts into one process, but it improves the engagement levels of students exposed to it. Research has found that the brain processes visual information 60,000 times faster than text alone, and that visual learning aids in classrooms improve learning comprehension by as much as 400 percent. It’s also widely accepted that students learn best through multisensory approaches to subjects. Simply reading about something on a page has a smaller impact than seeing the same information presented with visuals and sound. When possible, employing multisensory learning is an effective way to teach that taps into the best of how each student comprehends materials.

I like the idea of products that implement collective learning through technology. There is a big push to get an iPad or other tablet device into the hands of every individual student, and while I support this for some reasons, I also think too much segmentation of the learning process eliminates the inherent benefits of the classroom. If every student spends his or her classroom hours on a customized, individual learning track then why be in a classroom setting at all? Students could feasibly get all of the learning they need on their own, if the technology were right, but something becomes lost in that accomplishment: the ability to learn from others around you and receive other educational perspectives to enhance your own.

A product like this Peerless-AV Wireless Short Throw Projector AV System takes the best of available technology and multisensory learning and combines those things with a communal learning process. It allows for teachers to speed up or slow down lessons if needed but keep the attention of the class in the process. It is easy to use and cuts out the clunkiness of multiple audio-visual systems and their wires.

As more classroom technology is developed, I would encourage companies to look for ways to make the jobs of teachers easier. Instead of introducing something brand new, figure out how to simplify the technology that teachers already use – and streamline multisensory learning.

What technology makes teaching easier for you?

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

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