Pedagogue Blog

In the 21^st century, it is important for colleges not only to have computers and the Internet that students can access; colleges should implement up-to-date and popular technology for students to use in their everyday lives. The place to begin this goal is in the Instructional Technology Department. IT Departments should help colleges create their IT strategies. But, it is of utmost importance to include students in a college’s IT strategy to make it the most effective.

What is an IT strategy?

A college’s IT strategy focuses on how to implement and use technology to improve professors’ teachings, students’ learning, and to help the college run smoothly. The strategy should try to implement and follow the Department of Education’s Higher Education National Education Technology Plan. The NETP lists five principles to remember: learning, teaching, leadership, assessment, and infrastructure. For example, at Smith College, some guiding principles of their IT strategy are:

• Encouraging innovation and risks in the use of technology for faculty research and effective teaching.
• Use technology to improve education and become an advantage for students.
• Enable faculty, students, and staff to effectively work and study anytime, anywhere, and with any device.
• Include technology in efficient and effective administrative services and decision-making.

While creating an IT strategy, consider the students of the college in order to help them succeed in their classes and careers. Is the technology easy for students to use? Does it create an appeal to study at the specific college or university? Is the university using and implementing technology that is up-to-date and popular with young adults? Does it personalize student performance?

However, just considering students isn’t enough to involve them in a college’s IT strategy.

Create Student IT Committees.

There are many committees involved in creating college IT strategies: the IT department, administration, a group of staff and professors, and a student committee. Create a “Community of Interest”—regular, informal gatherings of both IT and non-IT professionals, faculty, and students. Each group should have an interest in technology. This community will help create IT decisions by being a sounding board, beta testers, and discussion forum.

Students should also be used to gather feedback on how well a current IT strategy is being implemented and what improvements can be done to improve the support in teaching and learning.

Have the IT Department and its services easily accessible to students.

Since a college’s IT strategy should be focused on the student, the IT departments and offices should be easily accessible to students. Brigham Young University’s Office of IT’s mission is “dedicated to providing legendary service across campus. [BYU’s OIT] often work behind the scenes to ensure that the university can fulfill the goal of aiding its students.” Students should be able to easily contact the IT Department if they have issues with any of the college’s technology, from Internet connection to computer lab issues.

Many IT Departments also offer training services to students for free. These can be one-on-one program tutoring sessions or mini-classes on different software programs. Brigham Young University offers training sessions on all Microsoft Office applications, Adobe Creative Suite programs, Qualtrics, Endnote, WordPress, and much more. These courses are instructor-led, solution-based programs that include projects and practice time.

Florida State University has a “Technology Sandbox” in its IT Department. According to its website, “The purpose of the Technology Sandbox is to create a dynamic learning environment where College of Education students can learn and practice using various instructional technologies and tools and have a clear understanding on how they can be embedded into real life teaching, learning, assessment, and research.”

Colleges should also advertise their IT department and strategy to its students. This can be by posters across campus promoting IT courses or jobs, seminars, or even its services. The IT department’s web page on a college’s website should be easy to find and navigate with a contact number noticeable.

IT Departments should employ students and encourage student IT/IS jobs in other departments.

One great way to get students involved in a college’s IT strategy is to employ students. Students can be hired for the IT department’s online/phone help service. Brigham Young University offers students the opportunity to be a system engineer to “assist in the designing, building, and maintaining of enterprise-wide systems to support monitoring of IT infrastructure.”

Other departments can higher students with IT/IS experience. Students can help social media managers to advertise their college. The university’s bookstore can employ student IS workers to help with computer issues.

IT Departments should work with departments across the university to encourage students in careers that involve instructional and educational technology such as K-12 Technologist, Educational Technology Instructors, Educational Software Consultant, Data Analysists, computer programmers, and much more.

No matter what a college’s specific IT strategy is, one important thing to remember is to keep the success of students as its focus. According to the Department of Education, “It is impossible to redesign students to fit into a system, but we can re-design a system for students. This can be the difference between success or failure for our students that need the promise of higher education the most.”

 

In this multi-part series, I provide a dissection of the phenomenon of retention and social promotion. Also, I describe the many different methods that would improve student instruction in classrooms and eliminate the need for retention and social promotion if combined effectively.

While reading this series, periodically ask yourself this question: Why are educators, parents and the American public complicit in a practice that does demonstrable harm to children and the competitive future of the country?

One of the biggest challenges for students in the public education system is the system itself, especially the ongoing political and economic constraints under which it must operate. Although the opportunities for academic success depend critically on the appropriation of adequate funding, there are many examples in which funding was entirely inconsistent with the needs of students.

Assuming that the American public is willing to pay for the education of their children if they can be convinced of the efficacy of the programs they’re asked to fund, these appropriation-based educational failures show that inadequate communication can undermine even the best strategies for academic success. Failure to communicate with the public can thus result in students who are effectively disenfranchised or given less viable but more “cost-effective” alternatives.

Some schools have experimented with grading, making use of modified grading practices to try to address the quandary of students who dig themselves into an academic hole at the beginning of the school year. Often no amount of effort over the bulk of the school year can extricate such students from the catastrophically low grades they post in the first six to eight weeks of the school year.

As various studies have shown, such students typically have few options left to recover or to use the remaining school year effectively when they score so poorly on initial exams. It is also often the case that students do not know what options are available to them at all. For instance, Friess points out that many strategies for recovering from initially failing grades have been described in the popular press even though they are not available in most schools.

One of the most effective of the recovery strategies is the “zeros aren’t permitted,” or ZAP program, which has transformed homework patterns at schools across the nation. One of the students who experienced a turnaround due to the program is Nathan Harth, who attends Coons Rapids Middle School in Minnesota. On many weekdays after school, Nathan may be found sitting with up to 150 other students in the school’s media center. Nathan was “zapped” – meaning that a teacher handed him an orange “Zapped” ticket during school hours.

Students who receive a ticket must call their parents to inform them, and then spend an hour or more after school in a supervised study hall, completing their homework. Many of the students were zapped by teachers; many other zapped themselves, taking advantage of the quiet, supervised space to complete work that they know they would not get done at home.

The principal of Coons Rapids, Michelle Langenfeld, claims that ZAP has done more to improve homework completion than any other program she is aware of. The evidence is the astonishing rise in grades. According to Langenfeld, nearly half of the 1,500 students at the school have been zapped during the school year. The number of F’s has dropped from 500 to just 87; the number of D’s has dropped from 800 to 254. “We did not have a single student in eighth-grade math fail math in the first quarter,” Langenfeld says. “That’s unheard of!”

Social studies teacher Ryan MacSwain says he zaps students two or three times a week. “Many teachers were doing great things individually,” he notes, “but this has transformed the school culture a little bit. I would say that many teachers have seen a dramatic increase of homework done by students.”

As well as improving grades and keeping students from failing, the ZAP program has had another unexpected consequence. Before the implementation of the program, students would mill around the school property after class. Now, with ZAP, that no longer happens; students are either on their way home or doing their homework in the study hall.

Nathan Harth had been earning D’s and F’s on his report cards before the implementation of ZAP. Now he’s turning in mostly B’s and C’s, and he is thrilled. “If this program wasn’t here, I would be failing,” he says.

Unfortunately, ZAP and strategies such as “minimum grading practices” tend not to be a feature of most public schools. There is the added problem, with both strategies, of inadequate research to establish optimal standards for use.

In any case, it is important to establish open lines of communication between students, teachers, parents, administrators, and counselors as early as possible in each school year. Working to maintain lines of communication throughout the academic year ensures that problems leading to poor performance can be addressed as early as possible.

Teachers might encourage their students, for instance, to request additional support if they have trouble understanding a certain academic area, or if they appear to have social or emotional needs. Likewise, parents could have a regular point of contact with teachers and administrators to share and receive relevant information about their child’s academic progress.

Some lines of communication are obviously in place already. For example, most schools have systems that include progress note sharing and the development of academic report cards at key intervals. However, effective communication to ensure consistent academic standards requires two-way dialogue about the needs of the individual student.

Teachers might work with administrators to apply more transparent grading policies and more transparent standards in general. Sharing curriculum with students and teachers, and providing clear insight as to what students will be tested on, are practices employed by many teachers. The application, however, is inconsistent. Schools must emphasize the need for more targeted communications with struggling students and their parents as a means of trying to improve academic performance.

 

In this multi-part series, I provide a dissection of the phenomenon of retention and social promotion. Also, I describe the many different methods that would improve student instruction in classrooms and eliminate the need for retention and social promotion if combined effectively.

While reading this series, periodically ask yourself this question: Why are educators, parents and the American public complicit in a practice that does demonstrable harm to children and the competitive future of the country?

As educators, we know that minority children and those from lower socio-economic brackets are at a greater risk of falling behind academically, and eventually dropping out of school altogether. Things like alternative schools have been around for decades as a way to remediate any student who is behind his or her peers. But what if we could eliminate the need for these separate schools altogether?

Because of problems in identifying the optimal allocation of limited resources under high-stress educational scenarios, many districts have turned to costly intervention programs designed to keep “at-risk” students in school. Improved communication about the needs of struggling students might help generate support for the higher-cost intervention programs designed to keep “at-risk” students in school.

These intervention programs tend to be among the first to go when there are budget constraints, leaving educators with a very short list of effective low-cost options. More open and effective communication about standards and academic expectations could allow for the better application of intervention programs.

There is ample evidence that the programs are focused on at-risk students work.

Indeed, compared with the costs of retaining students, these programs are highly cost-effective. Let’s take a look at one of these programs.

Umoja (the Swahili word for “unity”) is a program for at-risk students developed in Chicago. Corey (his name has been changed), a teenager who came through the program, is the son of a single mother and has a sister whose severe disabilities required much of his mother’s time. Growing up, he did not enjoy the close supervision and parenting of other kids his age.

Corey first entered the Umoja offices as a freshman. He expected to be handed some pamphlets and told to come back as a senior. However, Executive Director Lila Leff personally took him under her wing. She accompanied him to several college campuses and arranged for him to talk to college students who came from a similarly disadvantaged background.

As a result of Leff’s interest, Corey became more engaged in his studies. He chose to participate in electives that honed his debating skills and learned to research and to examine all sides of a given issue. His presentations on pertinent issues such as race relations, police brutality, and problems associated with public transportation, have been well received in some venues. He has spoken at local community groups and boards.

With the assistance of Umoja, Corey submitted a successful application to Ohio State University and graduated four years later. Out of a desire to give back, he entered AmeriCorps, and recently completed his first year of teaching. Next year, he’ll teach in a Chicago high school. But he has bigger plans. He’s wavering between becoming a chef and becoming President of the United States.

For students such as Corey, a program like Umoja represents the difference between success and failure. Though the programs are expensive, they are nevertheless crucial and are arguably much cheaper than letting the talents of America’s youth go to waste.

Intervention programs like Umoja work. However, they should be used in tandem with clear communications about standards and expectations. All students should be aware of the intervention programs that are available to them.

In this multi-part series, I provide a dissection of the phenomenon of retention and social promotion. Also, I describe the many different methods that would improve student instruction in classrooms and eliminate the need for retention and social promotion if combined effectively.

While reading this series, periodically ask yourself this question: Why are educators, parents and the American public complicit in a practice that does demonstrable harm to children and the competitive future of the country?

It’s not enough to establish consistent standards for students – educators must also communicate those expectations effectively. How can a child meet standards if he or she does not even know what is expected?

Communication is deeply tied to consistency.

Research suggests that a confluence of factors determines the achievement trajectory and the decision to remain in school or drop out for an individual student. Dropping out is influenced by the individual student’s developmental history, including early family experiences, elements of the home environment, and the student’s personality. Other factors include the quality of teaching supports and the circumstances of the individual student at any given point in his education.

Collins and Sroufe, Sameroff, and Sameroff and Chandler all offered transactional models to explain the positive correlation of retention and high school dropout rate. These models depend on the contract between the individual and his educators and are based on the assumption that each interaction affects subsequent interactions.

The core of the developmental transactional model holds that behaviors are always a product of developmental history and current circumstance. As Jimerson et al. explain, in the transactional model, “early developmental history is given some priority, not because it ineluctably causes later outcomes, but because what the child takes forward from these experiences in part frames subsequent transactions with the environment.” Bronfenbrenner draws a similar conclusion – that the effects of educational experiences on children are further determined by the transactional nature of their experiences within the classroom, their early developmental history, and their contemporaneous experiences outside a formal educational setting.

The principle point is that a variety of factors influence a student’s education. There are many stakeholders and influences when it comes to academic success. Later outcomes tend to be a reflection of earlier factors and, concerning grade retention specifically, the experience of being retained can also be one of the factors leading to dropout. As we have seen, retention can lead to self-esteem problems, poor socio-emotional adjustment, isolation from peers, and emotional disengagement from school.

It is, therefore, critical that educators identify the experiences a student has had or may be having that have the potential to affect his education in the future. Teachers, administrators, and educational support staff – anyone in the school setting with an investment in the individual student – should make an effort to engage with the student to determine the factors that are influencing his current performance level. Furthermore, a substantial effort should be made to communicate with the student and his or her parents to identify those extracurricular experiences that are probably impacting academic performance.

All communication should lead to the clear definition of academic standards and expectations, and to how they might be achieved on a practical level.

As anyone with experience in the field knows, it is important to be particularly sensitive to socioeconomic conditions when communicating with students and their families. However, in schools forced to struggle with high rates of student failure and grade retention, the political and economic pressures to reduce subsequent dropout has made communication difficult. In other words, most education professionals don’t manage the communication side very well.

 

In this multi-part series, I provide a dissection of the phenomenon of retention and social promotion. Also, I describe the many different methods that would improve student instruction in classrooms and eliminate the need for retention and social promotion if combined effectively.

While reading this series, periodically ask yourself this question: Why are educators, parents and the American public complicit in a practice that does demonstrable harm to children and the competitive future of the country?

Benchmarks are necessary to judge student progress – but are we failing kids with our current way of measuring success?

An important way to eradicate the pass or fail system is through the creation of clear standards to gauge academic achievement. The need for such a focus is highlighted by one of the best-known contemporary criteria for judging student progress, the Common Core. The Common Core and similar standards suffer from an acute lack of clarity. The need for clear standards is critical.

Clear standards provide the advantage of an external check on the teaching and learning process as well as a guide for educators attempting to define expectations for success. They give educators a reliable foundation for making decisions about student progress.

The most important characteristic of effective standards and goals is consistency. If for example, a school establishes an achievement requirement for grade advancement, that standard must be applied consistently. If such a standard is to apply to the district or the public education system as a whole, it must be applied in the same way everywhere.
There are several problems involved in applying standards in an educational context. One is that all students are different, and a format that might work for one student could spell disaster for another. Another problem is that quantitative measurements of intelligence and understanding are difficult to employ. Measuring the quality of written expression, for instance, inevitably entails a measure of subjectivity.

And if quantitative, more objective assessments are applied, such as the number of specific types of a clause in a piece of writing, the question arises of whether a student’s performance necessarily reflects his writing ability. These and similar problems warrant some consideration in the context of the development of educational standards. What is the best policy, for instance, when it comes to the assessment of skill that is relatively subjective, such as clarity of expression, or creativity, in writing?

Even oral communication skills cannot be assessed in a completely objective manner. There are certain qualities in a presentation that are irreducibly individualistic. Can we assess the persuasiveness of a speech, for instance, or its appropriateness for a specific audience, with standards that are completely objective?

The solution to the problem of subjectivity usually entails development of precise guidelines designed to identify the things that teachers should be looking for. Appropriate training for teachers in interpreting and applying such guidelines is also necessary if educational goals and standards are to be applied and assessed with maximum consistency.

In Fair Isn’t Always Equal, Wormeli discusses the importance of assigning grades that clearly and consistently reflect the quality of the student’s performance. As Wormeli points out, a student who performs inconsistently might receive a grade that is unfairly skewed if the grade consists of an arithmetic average. Skewing can occur because of just one or two outlier performances.

Another grading alternative involves attainment of a threshold or minimum grade. Assessment procedures based on minimum grades are, however, rarely based on empirical research. What literature there is tends to cite the works of Thomas Guskey, and Guskey states that he knows of no studies that explore the effectiveness of minimum grading as a policy.

Indeed, he goes so far as to state that the application of minimum grading is probably ineffective. Proponents of appropriate minimum thresholds usually make use of hypothetical situations rather than actual data. Guskey suggested fifty percent as an appropriate threshold. Wormeli, however, makes a convincing case for sixty percent, while the popular press reports schools that use thresholds as high as seventy percent.

What, then, should we aim for regarding standards and goals, and how should we use them?

First, schools and school districts must work to create consistent standards and ensure that teachers understand them. Consistency, however, is not limited to teachers’ interpretation of standards. Many alternative strategies to retention and social promotion involve early identification of and targeted academic assistance for low-achieving students, as well as individualized instruction, parental involvement, curriculum development, school restructuring, summer school options, and personalized tutoring programs.

To effectively manage standards in education, we also need consistency in the application of strategies for academic support. We need clear standards not only for what is expected of a student, but what students should expect of themselves, what parents can do to support their children, and when and how various strategies or interventions might be used.

*The Edvocate is pleased to produce its “Best of the Best” resource lists. These lists provide our readers with rankings for education-related blogs, twitter accounts, edtech influencers, products, etc. These lists are meant to be fluid, and for that reason, they are regularly updated to provide up to the moment information.*

Who are the biggest edtech influencers in the world? The Edvocate editorial team has exhaustively researched the movers and shakers of edtech and selected 20 global influencers. To frame our methodology, we decided to define edtech influencer broadly. On this list, you will find administrators, bloggers, journalists, policymakers, researchers, innovators, businessmen, activists, etc. who are transforming the edtech space as we know it.

The influencers that we chose are all active in the area of edtech, doing something influential in 2017, well-known throughout the edtech landscape, and making an impact globally. We are excited to witness how these influencers continue to change the world this year, and we are anxious to see who will stand on the shoulders of these giants, and as a result, make our list next year. Without further ado, here is The Edvocate’s 2017 EdTech 20: A Ranking of 20 Global Edtech Influencers.

Sponsored By

1. Anant Agarwal

Founder and CEO of edX

What His Current Focus Is: Professor Anant Agarwal is currently a professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.  He is also one of the founders and the CEO of edX, a MOOC (massive online open course forum) and non-profit organization.  He created and taught the first edX course – one on circuits and electronics – which boasts an enrollment of over 155,000 students from over 160 countries across the world.  In addition to his work at MIT and on edX, Anant hacks on an online circuit’s lab called WebSim in his free time.

How He’s Transforming the EdTech Space: Anant has long been an outspoken advocate of MOOCs, which strive to make education accessible to learners at low or no cost, worldwide.  edX draws courses from the nation’s – and the world’s – leading educational institutions.  They offer many free courses, and students can choose to pay a fee for a certificate.  These fees help continue to fund free classes.

What His Background Is: Anant was born in Mangalore, India in 1959.  He studied at St. Aloysius Mangalore, the Indian Institute of Technology Madras, and received his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University.  In addition to edX, Anant has worked on various engineering and computer technology endeavors including Sparcle, Alewife, Virtual Wires, LOUD, Oxygen, and Fugu.

What May Surprise You About Him: According to an interview on Life Hacker, Anant admits to having dabbled in standup comedy in college.  He finds humor to be an essential quality of a strong leader.

Twitter: @agarwaledu

Email: [email protected]

 

2. Salman Khan

Founder and Executive Director of Khan Academy

What His Current Focus Is: Salman Kahn is an American educator who has founded both an online education platform called the Khan Academy, as well as a physical school, the Khan Lab School.  The Khan Academy is a free service that offers over 6500 video lessons on a range of topics and subjects, through primarily focused on math and science. The Khan Academy’s YouTube page has more than 2.9 million subscribers.

How He’s Transforming the EdTech Space: Khan’s goal is to reach as many students as possible, regardless of resources, and so his mission is to make his lessons accessible and free.  Kahn’s videos, therefore, have become vital educational resources for rural African and Asian students.

What His Background Is:  Kahn graduated from MIT with a Bachelor’s of Science in math, electrical engineering, and computer sciences; he then earned an MBA from Harvard.  Kahn worked hedge fund analyst.  As his online tutoring and education videos gained popularity, he quit his hedge fund position in 2009 to shift his focus to crafting and developing his online education endeavors.

What May Surprise You About Him: The Khan Academy began as a way for Kahn to tutor his cousin long-distance.

Twitter: @khanacademy

Email: [email protected]

 

3. Angela Maiers

Founder of Maiers Educational Services, Teacher, Writer

What Her Current Focus Is: With over 25 years of experience in education, Angela Maiers is a strong proponent of helping students feel passionate about learning and schools.  She is the creator of the You Matter Movement and an advocate for the Genius Hour in schools.  The You Matter Movement is centered on helping teachers help students feel seen, recognized, and valued which, in turn, helps them plug into their education.  The Genius Hour is an idea she borrowed from Google’s 20% Time policy for their engineers.  Under this theory, students are given (at least) one class period per week to pursue their passions under the tutelage of a teacher.

How She’s Transforming the EdTech Space: Maiers works to help teachers and students understand and employ the innovative power of technology.  Through Twitter, Instagram, and other social media, Maiers encourages teachers and other adults to send Mattergrams, messages tagged #YouMatter that encourage students and children to recognize their power to impact the world in a positive way.

What Her Background Is: Maiers is an alumna of the University of Iowa.  She received a Bachelor’s in Education.  She also holds a Master’s degree in Education and Curriculum from Drake University.  She has 28 years of teaching experience across a range of grade levels, and her work has impacted over 78,000 American classrooms.

What May Surprise You About Her: Maiers claims that the elementary school job of being the milk carrier is the most important, most coveted of responsibilities, and can be used as a microcosm of viewing your place in the world.

Twitter: @angelamaiers

Email: [email protected]

 

4. Nichole Pinkard

Associate Professor at DePaul University in the College of Computing and Digital Media

What Her Current Focus Is: Pinkard is an Associate Professor at DePaul University in the College of Computing and Digital Media. Her research is focused on the design and use of pedagogical-based social networks, new media literacy learning outcomes, ecological models of learning and developing pathways for urban youth. She is a strong  advocate for digital literacy and believes that it will lead a revolution in the world of education. This is why she founded the Digital Youth Network in 2006. This Network seeks to help educators learn to teach with technology and digital media. It further seeks to ensure that technology is available to everyone, regardless of their socioeconomic background.

How She’s Transforming the EdTech Space: Pinkard founded the Digital Youth Network (DYN) in 2006, and she has been creating initiatives that transform the edtech space every since. The DYN model begins with sixth to eighth-grade education and focuses on mandatory in-school media arts classes and optional after-school programs. She was also a co-founder of YOUmedia, a public learning space for teens that immerses students in a context of traditional media to produce new media artifacts like games, videos, and virtual worlds. In April 2010, Pinkard co-founded RemixWorld along with Robert Chang. RemixWorld is a cloud-based social learning network for primary and secondary education, which seeks to safely and securely connect children and adolescents with curriculum, extended learning, and mentorship opportunities.

What Her Background Is: Pinkard holds a B.S. in Computer Science from Stanford University, an M.S. in Computer Science from Northwestern University, and a Ph.D. in Learning Sciences from Northwestern University.

What May Surprise You About Her: Nothing. We mean that in a good way.

Twitter: @npinkard

Email: Nichole can be contacted via her website: http://digitalyouthnetwork.org/#our-team

 

5. Elijah Mayfield

VP of New Technologies for Turnitin

What His Current Focus Is: Right now Turnitin is building products that support student writing with immediate feedback. Elijah leads a team of more than 30 people and spends most of his day talking through machine learning algorithms that can give better feedback in the student writing process. He frequently visits schools that are using Turnitin products to build up a user-centered understanding of what’s working.

How He’s Transforming the EdTech Space: Turnitin is making it possible for every student to feel self-assured in their ability to write. To get there, teachers need help, and with Turnitin products they can assign writing more often, with more student-driven opportunities for practice and revision.

What His Background Is: Elijah graduated from the University of Minnesota, Morris, a public liberal arts college near his hometown in rural Minnesota. Most of Elijah’s Ph.D. in Language Technologies was finished at Carnegie Mellon before he dropped out to start a company, LightSide Labs, focused on improving student writing. After several grants and successful pilots, Turnitin acquired LightSide Labs and employed the team to work on developing even more creative solutions.

What May Surprise You About Him: Elijah started his Ph.D. at Carnegie Mellon at age 20. He published his first scientific paper at age 18.

Twitter: @turnitin

Email: [email protected]

 

6. Mark MacDonald

President and CEO, Hero K12

What His Current Focus Is: Hero gives schools and those who work in education a tool that makes a significant difference in school culture and climate. Everything else becomes easier if the school’s culture is a positive place to grow and learn. Mark now wants to take the company to the next level and start acquiring other edtech companies to integrate thus allowing shared customers to get all the data and analysis needed to make the right decisions every day.

How He’s Transforming the EdTech Space: Hero focuses on outcomes, not simply product. Mark believes in focusing on the outcome of student success first, then using technology to help make the outcome happen. There may be easier challenges than school culture to tackle but not many are more important.

What His Background Is: Mark takes pride in having had the chance to help a public company grow tenfold and evolve during his tenure. He says this has allowed him to try new things, fail on a few, and still see success materialize through the right planning and execution. The last group of businesses he ran before Hero focused on the education market and this is where he discovered that it was a lot of fun having passionate customers who are focused on making a difference.

What May Surprise You About Him: Mark’s three kids don’t necessarily think that running a technology company serving education makes him cool. He was really hoping it would.

Twitter: @HeroMatters

Email: [email protected]

 

7. Sabari Raja

Nepris CEO and Co-Founder

What Her Current Focus Is: Sabari is focused on growing the Nepris footprint globally with a mission to inspire every student to new careers and possibilities through real-world connections. She is committed to building an inclusive team of people equally passionate about this mission and who go above and beyond to serve their education and industry customers. She is getting ready for a Series A fundraising round in 2017 that will help bring Nepris to more students in the U.S. and international markets. Apart from growing her company she is also committed to being a role model for her two boys ages 9 and 12.

How She’s Transforming the EdTech Space: Sabari’s passion is transforming students lives by democratizing education through technology. Engaging girls and minorities in STEM careers is a driving force. Her vision and leadership with Nepris has helped bring real-world exposure to many rural and lower socioeconomic students.

What Her Background Is: Sabari came from India to the U.S. to get her Masters in Computer Science at LSU and later got her EMBA from SMU. Sabari worked in edtech for 18 years leading product/content strategy, publisher relations, and emerging market growth. She serves on the Champions Board of Texas Girls Collaborative and is a new board member at EdNet. Sabari frequently speaks on the topic of entrepreneurship and education technology at events like SXSWEdu, Smartbrief, TCEA and others.

What May Surprise You About Her: Sabari grew up in rural south India on a coconut farm and still frequently visits the family farm. She has a comedian’s sense of timing and weaves humor into her work and speeches.

Twitter: @sabari700

Email: [email protected]

 

8. Carol Ribeiro

CEO of the Virtual High School

What Her Current Focus Is: As the President & CEO of VHS, Ribeiro is passionate about providing students with equal access to quality education, and has dedicated the last 17 years to helping shape The Virtual High School’s online learning program. The collaborative program has expanded from its initial cohort of 30 schools to its current participation of more than 600!

How She’s Transforming the EdTech Space: Carol is transforming edtech through her work at the Virtual High School (VHS Inc.), an online learning pioneer. For the last twenty years, the nonprofit organization has set the standard for quality online education. VHS provides courses taught in global online classrooms for secondary school students and online professional development for educators. VHS design and delivery standards are the model used by the National Education Association in their recommended standards for online learning.

What Her Background Is: Carol is senior executive with more than 20 years of experience in education management, operations and human resources, systems development, and online education. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Computer Information Systems from Bentley University and an MBA from Clark University.

What May Surprise You About Her: Carol is an online learning pioneer, but she’s not the first in her family with pioneering spirit – she’s related to legendary pioneer Daniel Boone! During Ribeiro’s time at VHS, the organization has won numerous awards globally, including the Stockholm Challenge Award for Global Excellence in Information Technology, and is a three-time winner of the United States Distance Learning Association’s (USDLA) award for Excellence in Programming and Excellence in Best Practices. Carol Ribeiro, was named a finalist in the Leadership category of the 2017 EdTech Digest Awards program.

Twitter: @carolannriberio

Email: [email protected]

 

9. Robert Romano

CEO and Founder of BookheadEd Learning, LLC, the Creator of StudySync

What His Current Focus Is: Robert is presently focused on serving as the CEO of BookheadEd Learning LLC, a privately held California-based company developing academic content with forward-thinking designs and advanced technology solutions for education. Its flagship product is StudySync, a comprehensive 6-12 ELA curriculum that offers powerful digital instruction that brings together fiction and nonfiction texts with video and other multimedia elements to advance students’ reading, writing and critical thinking skills.

How He’s Transforming the EdTech Space: In 2009 Robert created StudySync with the vision of leveraging technology and social learning to engage students in the great works of literature. As one of the nation’s most highly regarded literacy curriculums, StudySync provides these digitally-connected students with media-rich learning experiences, real-world topics, and a direct read-write connection, while giving teachers flexible digital tools and engaging print resources supporting teaching, differentiation, and standards-based assessment. In 2013 StudySync partnered with McGraw Hill Education to exclusively distribute StudySync in the k – 12 channel. The product has also received numerous prestigious awards including the coveted Innovation Award from the Association of Educational Publishers (AEP).

What His Background Is: Robert Romano is a successful entrepreneur who has assembled top academic and creative talent to produce innovative and efficient educational technology for today’s students. Robert Romano previously founded of EdVantage Software, a highly successful edtech company that he sold in 2001.  With undergraduate degrees in Engineering and English, Robert went on complete an M.A. in Literature and the Teaching of Writing. Combining those areas of study, he has dynamically impacted education in the language arts classroom through the innovative use of technology.

What May Surprise You About Him: Robert has written an historical novel on the civil war that he expects will be published in 2018.

 

10. Steven Anderson

Co-founder of #EdChat on Twitter, Education Consultant

What His Current Focus Is: Steven Anderson is an educational expert who focuses on the fusion of technology and social media in pedagogy.  Anderson is a blogger and a former classroom teacher and district technology director.  He hosts the weekly #EdChat on Twitter, which boasts over 1500 participants each week.  Anderson’s #EdChats have earned him the Twitterer of the Year distinction twice.

How He’s Transforming the EdTech Space: Anderson works to help teachers meet students in the places where they live: the digital universe.  He travels the country, speaking at schools and conferences about how to safely and appropriately integrate social media in classrooms and how to leverage students’ knowledge of technology to help them learn and grow.

What His Background Is: Anderson is a native of North Carolina, where he still currently resides.  He earned his bachelor’s degree in Middle-Grade Math and Science Education from Western Carolina University and then obtained a Master’s degree in Instructional Technology from East Carolina University.  He was the director of technology at Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools in Winston-Salem, NC.

What May Surprise You About Him: Anderson is also the author of 3 books geared toward educators and administrators about efficacy in using technology.

Twitter: @web20classroom

Email: [email protected]

 

11. Dr. Julie Carter

Co-Founder & CEO, GreyED Solutions   

What Her Current Focus Is: Dr. Carter’s current focus is assisting K12 school districts and EdTech organizations transform themselves for the digital age. Through organizational alignment, strategic planning and professional development, she is fostering change and adaptation in teaching, learning and leadership. Her focus on understanding organizational culture and ecosystems leverages the power of stakeholder insights and builds capacity for impacting learners through the purposeful implementation of technology. As part of her focus she serves as a liaison to EdTech organizations influencing their product development, identifying the most important gaps and needs in the market from the educator perspective.

How She’s Transforming the EdTech Space: She’s co-created FilterED, an adaptive, digital toolset offering school leaders a comprehensive, actionable view of their current technology landscape. This is transforming the edtech space offering leaders insights into previously intangible elements of their organization, providing the evidence needed to prioritize and measure ongoing technology initiatives.

What Her Background Is: Dr. Carter’s background in education began as a classroom teacher and media specialist before becoming the Executive Director of Technology for Minnetonka Public Schools. There she oversaw one of the best 1:1 computing efforts in the country, recognized by Apple and the National School Board Association (NSBA). She was named as Tech & Learning’s Leader of the Year in 2010 for her innovative use of technology and as one of “20 to Watch” by the NSBA in 2010.

What May Surprise You About Her: She studied computer science prior to blending her passions for technology and education and pursuing a degree in education leadership.

Twitter: @greyedsolutions

Email: [email protected]

 

 12. Rafranz Davis

Instructional Technology Specialist for Arlington, Texas School District

What Her Current Focus Is: As an instructional technology specialist, Rafranz helps educators to effectively implement technology into their classrooms. She is a speaker, blogger, and an edtech advocate who is never afraid to speak truth to any situation. She is a voice for diverse perspectives in edtech, which have been missing since edtech’s inception. She is the author of The Missing Voices in EdTech: Bringing Diversity into EdTech, a book that puts a spotlight on the fact that the education community has failed to consider the viewpoints of people of color in discussions about edtech.

How She’s Transforming the EdTech Space: By advocating for diverse populations in edtech, she is giving a voice to a population that edtech influencers and policy makers have never acknowledged. Because of her, and people like her, discussions around the intersection of edtech and diversity have increased exponentially. Just visit your favorite edtech blog or read the keynote and presentation titles at your favorite conference. Not to mention, when it comes to the implementation of edtech in an educational environment, Rafranz is a trailblazer.

What Her Background Is: Rafranz obtained an associate’s degree from Navarro College and bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Texas A&M University–Commerce. Since her undergraduate days, she has devoted her life to helping educators implement technology in educational environments. She was a middle school math teacher before becoming a curricular strategist and technologist.

What May Surprise You About Her: Rafranz is never afraid to call a spade a spade.

Twitter: @rafranzdavis

Email: Rafranz can be contacted via her website: http://rafranzdavis.com/

 

13. Vicki Davis

Creator of the Cool Cat Teacher Blog, IT Administrator and Teacher at Westwood Schools

What Her Current Focus Is: Vicki Davis is a current school teacher and blogger with over 138,000 Twitter followers. She is also a blogger and freelance writer who focuses on professional development for teachers, inspiring them to use technology and build meaningful relationships with their students.  Through her blog and her two books, she reaches hundreds of thousands of teachers, inspiring them to share their trials and triumphs and learn from one another, creating a holistic, wholesome environment to foster student achievement.

How She’s Transforming the EdTech Space: Davis’ blog, the Cool Cat Teacher Blog, has garnered much attention and numerous awards, including the Edublogger Award for Best Teacher Blog.  Her current project, the global collaborative app project MAD About Mattering, encourages students to create “apps that matter” in collaborative environments, applying the skills and knowledge they learn in the classroom to better the world around them.

What Her Background Is: Davis has been a full-time teacher and IT director at a school in Camilla, Georgia since 2002.  She was inspired to begin pursuing professional and teacher development when she began to feel stretched thin – ineffective in the classroom and not as present as she would have liked at home with her children.  Two of her children have learning differences, and she began her educational ministry in hopes to better understand students who learn differently like her own children.

What May Surprise You About Her: Davis and her students have traveled all over the world, including to Qatar, India, China, Hawaii, and UAE to present to teachers worldwide about the impact of technology.

Twitter: @coolcatteacher

Email: Vicki can be contacted via her website: http://www.coolcatteacher.com/contact/

 

14. Shelly Sanchez Terrell

Co-founder of #EdChat, Creator of 30 Goals Challenge for Education

What Her Current Focus Is: Shelly Sanchez Terrell is a teacher educator and e-learning specialist.  She has worked with teachers and taught English language learners in over 20 countries.  She has also been recognized as one of Microsoft’s Heroes for Education for her work promoting teacher-driven professional development and the integration of technology in the classroom.  Terrell offers webinars and online presentations each week to reach out to teachers across the United States and the world.

How She’s Transforming the EdTech Space: Terrell has inspired over 10,000 teachers to transform their classrooms through her 30 Goals Challenge, which guides the teacher to integrate new technology in his or her classroom, avoid the dreaded “teacher burnout,” and reconnect with students.  The Goals Challenge helps teachers set both short- and long-term goals to reinvigorate his or her passion for education.

What Her Background Is: Terrell received her Bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Texas at San Antonio, and her Master’s degree in curriculum instruction ESL from the University of Phoenix.  She worked as an ESOL teacher and social media community manager before shifting her focus to teacher training and outreach.

What May Surprise You About Her: Terrell has not only taught English to language learners in the United States but has taught abroad in Germany and to online learners in Spain as well.

Twitter: @shellterrell

Email: [email protected]

 

15. Jess Gartner

Allovue CEO and Founder

What Her Current Focus Is: Jess Gartner, a former Baltimore City public school teacher, founded Allovue, a K-12 education finance technology company that empowers educators to strategically and equitably allocate resources. Allovue’s software platform, Balance, integrates seamlessly with districts’ existing accounting systems and other data systems to help educators budget, monitor, and evaluate spending. Allovue also provides supplemental services, including funding equity analysis, diagnostic skills surveys, financial management training, and cost-effectiveness analysis. Allovue is currently working with districts across 15 states to analyze their education spending.

How She’s Transforming the EdTech Space: $700B of annual education spending data is stored in archaic systems, further obfuscated by complex accounting codes. Compelled to reveal connections between school spending and student outcomes, the Allovue team is transforming how education finance data is managed and analyzed.

What Her Background Is: Before founding Allovue, Jess studied education policy at the University of Pennsylvania and received her MA in Teaching from Johns Hopkins. She’s a former Baltimore City middle school teacher, where she saw first-hand how resource allocation impacts student success. Jess has been featured as Forbes Magazine’s 30 Under 30 in Education. In 2016 she received the Maryland TEDCO Entrepreneur of the Year and the Johns Hopkins Outstanding Alumni Award.

What May Surprise You About Her: Jess Gartner believes that education finance is a civil rights issue, necessitating increased financial transparency to evaluate resource equity. Jess leads a national #edfintech company that provides technology solutions making strategic and equitable budgeting easy, efficient, and effective.

Twitter: @jessgartner @allovuebalance

Email: [email protected]

 

16. Todd Brekhus

President of myON

What His Current Focus Is: Todd Brekhus has made it his goal to personalize literacy in a way that will transform learning for all students. With myON and its expansive literacy ecosystem, Todd and his team aim to provide unlimited access to reading beyond the classroom walls. myON works to inspire the love of reading and learning by leveling the playing field with unlimited access to books and furthers the ability to provide unlimited opportunities for all students.

How He’s Transforming the EdTech Space: Todd and his team have built a literacy ecosystem that offers students instant access to more than 13,000 enhanced digital books with multimedia supports, daily news articles, real-time assessments, and close reading tools.

What His Background Is: Todd led the digital product concept and planning at Capstone Digital for myON and other digital products since 2008. Previously, he was the VP and Chief Marketing Officer for PLATO Learning, president and COO of Learning Elements, and Education Program Director for MCI WorldCom, where he helped develop and implement the Marco Polo program. Before that, he spent eight years in education as a teacher, department chair, and technology director.

What May Surprise You About Him: Todd’s very first job in 1982 was unpacking Apple II computers for the head librarian in the Bloomington Public School District.

Twitter: @ToddBrekhus

Email: [email protected]

 

17. Chaks Appalabattula

Founder & CEO of Bloomz, Inc.

Twitter: @achaks

Email: [email protected]

 

18. Johnjoe Farragher

Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Defined Learning

What His Current Focus Is: As the CEO of Defined Learning, it is Farragher’s goal to build and maintain strong customer relationships and provide thought leadership in identifying best practices that provide educators with the best possible experience. Through Defined STEM, a product of Defined Learning, students can engage in project-based learning (PBL) and use what they know to solve real-world problems. The curriculum is aimed to save educators time when creating unique and relevant project-based lessons, while also opening students’ eyes to a variety of STEM careers.

How He’s Transforming the EdTech: With his Defined STEM curriculum, Farragher saves teachers time and makes PBL easy to implement by providing pre-built, project-based performance tasks complete with research resources. To help educators effectively implement PBL in their classrooms, Farragher added Performance Task PD, a professional development community.

What His Background Is: With 20 years in educational media, Farragher has used creative marketing campaigns to make Defined Learning a success. He started in education as a salesman for United Learning. From 1992–2009, he was Senior VP of strategy and business development for Discovery Education. Farragher’s vision led to the development of the widely adopted United Streaming.  He started Defined Learning in 2009, which has grown to partner with thousands of schools.

What May Surprise You About Him: A Chicago native, Farragher is an avid sports fan and enjoys cheering for the Bears, the Cubs, and the Blackhawks.

Twitter: @DefinedSTEM

Email: [email protected]

 

19. Lucy Gray

Education Consultant, Co-founder of the Global Education Conference

What Her Current Focus Is: Lucy Gray is an educational consultant, Apple Distinguished Educator, and Google Certified Teacher.  Gray’s consulting is focused on presenting to teachers and staffs about best practices in technology integration, information literacy, global education initiatives, and harnessing the power of social media.  Currently, Gray is working as an innovation coach, mentoring elementary school teachers to explore and create mobile learning opportunities.

How She’s Transforming the EdTech Space: Gray creates hands-on experiences for teachers, coaching them through the process of creating cultures of creativity and innovation in their schools.  Instead of simply presenting or lecturing, she dives into schools, meeting regularly with their employees to promote positive change.  She also works as a liaison in transitioning schools toward 1:1 technology integration.

What Her Background Is: Gray received her degree in art history and elementary education from Beloit College in 1989, followed by a Master’s degree in technology in education from National-Louis University in 2002.  She has taught in the Chicago Public School system, University of Chicago Laboratory Schools, and has worked in various capacities at the University of Chicago.

What May Surprise You About Her: Gray makes all of her consulting presentations available for free on her web page at http://www.lucygrayconsulting.com/presentations.php

Twitter: @elemenous

Email: [email protected]

 

20. Eric Sheninger

Award-Winning Former Principal and Author

What His Current Focus Is: Eric is an award-winning former principal who is changing the way that schools think about and also utilize technology. His primary focus is helping schools harness the power of edtech and use it not only to connect with students but also to help them achieve academically. He is an accomplished speaker and author who tweets about all things education.

How He’s Transforming the EdTech Space: Eric is an avid blogger, and his thought-provoking and practical posts shed light on the need for thoughtful technology implementation, more effective learning strategies, and stronger school branding, among other ideas. He is helping schools lead and learn in a digital age. He is responsible for Pillars of Digital Leadership, which is a framework that seeks to transform school cultures.

What His Background Is: Eric is a senior fellow and thought leader on digital leadership with the International Center for Leadership in Education. Before that, he was an award-winning Principal at New Milford High School. Under his helm, the school became a globally recognized model for innovative practices in edtech. Sheninger holds two bachelor’s degrees — a B.S. from Salisbury University and a B.S. from University of Maryland Eastern Shore — and a master’s in education from the East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania.

What May Surprise You About Him: Even with his busy schedule, he has found time to write 5 books.

Twitter: @e_sheninger

Email: [email protected]

 

Conclusion

As you can see, there is no shortage of global edtech influencers out there. Who did we forget? Do you have any edtech influencers who you know and follow? Let us know.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In this multi-part series, I provide a dissection of the phenomenon of retention and social promotion. Also, I describe the many different methods that would improve student instruction in classrooms and eliminate the need for retention and social promotion if combined effectively.

While reading this series, periodically ask yourself this question: Why are educators, parents and the American public complicit in a practice that does demonstrable harm to children and the competitive future of the country?

To be effective, solutions to the problem of poor individual academic achievement should include all stakeholders: students, parents, teachers, administrators and school counselors. They should be well thought out and tested for appropriateness. As an academic intervention, grade retention, which is the current educational approach, remains a double-edged sword and, as we have seen, can be a dangerous approach for addressing academic struggles. It often does more psychosocial harm than academic benefits, and social promotion can have similar effects.

We clearly need more research in the area of psychosocial fallout from grade retention and social promotion, but there are also alternative strategies available, both for managing individual educational achievement and for managing the accountability of schools for providing quality educational opportunities. The problem with the alternatives is their disparity regarding current availability and application and the lack of available resources to implement such strategies.

Any solution to the problem of poor academic achievement must also establish a strategy for implementation, including a solid time frame.

In the forthcoming chapters, we will take a closer look at some of the key strategies for improvement of academic achievement, considering how they relate to the broader goal of any successful academic system: to create students who are ready for college and high-level jobs.

Click here to read all my suggestions for alternatives to social promotion and retention.

In this multi-part series, I provide a dissection of the phenomenon of retention and social promotion. Also, I describe the many different methods that would improve student instruction in classrooms and eliminate the need for retention and social promotion if combined effectively.

While reading this series, periodically ask yourself this question: Why are educators, parents and the American public complicit in a practice that does demonstrable harm to children and the competitive future of the country?

Are teacher accountability standards completely out of control? More specifically, does teacher accountability fuel the social promotion and retention motivation?

The notion of accountability has historically applied primarily to school boards and school governance systems. By 1927, the complexity of accountability had grown to the point that Yale Professor George S. Counts wrote in 1927 that the role of school boards, the principle accountability body, had “the basic purpose of education and the relation of the school to the social order.”

The problem, though, was the severe undermining of the goal-setting aspect. The more favored economic and social classes, including small-business owners, professionals, and business executives, tended to make up about 76 percent of urban school board members. In other words, the appointment of school board members was based upon social status, having little to do with actual investment and qualification for the position.

Comparing the American system to international models, Rothstein emphasizes that other nations use inspections for school accountability and manage to overcome the most serious impediments experienced in the United States. In particular, Rothstein emphasizes that the English system employs professional inspectors rather than volunteers and that their inspection system subsequently undergoes revisions on a fairly regular basis.

The North Central Regional Educational Laboratory also discusses five strategies to help students succeed that are worth considering. Emphasizing the high-stakes testing and accountability movement as key in the promotion of retention and social promotion policies, the report outlines the intensification of learning, the provision of professional development to ensure skilled teachers, expanded learning options, access to informed teachers, and early and frequent interventions to support students, including ongoing diagnostic assessments to help schools develop intervention strategies for failure and accelerated learning.

Citing the hallmarks of successful intervention, the report establishes that early intervention offered regularly and frequently—and tied to the work students are doing as a part of their normal school routine—provides the best support for students. The material used in the early intervention should supplement classroom instruction, be paced to accelerate learning, and be offered in a multifaceted form.

So how can accountability standards be changed to positively impact students?

Click here to read all my suggestions for alternatives to social promotion and retention.

In this multi-part series, I provide a dissection of the phenomenon of retention and social promotion. Also, I describe the many different methods that would improve student instruction in classrooms and eliminate the need for retention and social promotion if combined effectively.

While reading this series, periodically ask yourself this question: Why are educators, parents and the American public complicit in a practice that does demonstrable harm to children and the competitive future of the country?

Are the very policies put in place to “help” students actually hurting them?

If a student experiences retention or social promotion, the policies themselves do not help to reverse poor academic performance. Retention prevents a student from having to take on more of an educational challenge. In that respect, it is reactionary. It does nothing to address the student’s initial failings at his or her current grade level. The same is true of social promotion.

An effective alternative strategy must be able to provide comprehensive support for academic, social, emotional, and psychological needs of students, along with clear and measurable goals and objectives for students, teachers, administrators, and parents.

In a brief on the issues raised by the No Child Left Behind Act, Garcia considers the factors that might if effectively implemented, have assisted with the success of states’ educational reforms. He looks closely at addressing the need for a coherent testing program and managing trade-offs between the high expectations of students and the high numbers of low-performing schools.

Garcia outlined the need to lead educational policy with standards rather than tests, and to have a system in place to ensure the quality of all tests, particularly with respect to alignment with state standards. He also outlined the need to establish an anchor for proficiency at the end of high school that would help students to be prepared for college and high-growth careers. He considered the creation of college-ready and high-growth career-ready students to be the point at which school policies should aim, with standards and expectations mapped backward to set expectations for earlier grades.

Targeting responses was another strategy that Garcia thought would be helpful to low-performing schools. He also recommended establishing categories for poor performance and distinguishing the most academically needy schools, targeting the most substantial assistance or interventions to those schools with the lowest performance rates.

Sustaining public support amid expanded testing and accountability will inevitably help to make schools more successful. Making state testing and accountability systems as transparent as possible and fostering a third-party organization to mount a sustained public engagement campaign, as Garcia suggests, would prove useful in addressing some of the main challenges to the application of effective academic standards and the supporting of all students to achieve exceptional academic results.

There are, however, at least two distinct types of strategies when it comes to educational reform. First are the strategies designed to bring about improvement by improving the education and standards in a broad way. Most of the strategies outlined by Garcia fall into this first category, and they apply to a range of aspects of the education system.

The second category targets the grading system. The grading system, after all, is the basis for retention and social promotion. Alternatives include a system allowing for varied academic assessments, or one offering a different system for academic progression, one that does not rely on graded knowledge and skills testing like our current system.

Click here to read all my suggestions for alternatives to social promotion and retention.

 

In this multi-part series, I provide a dissection of the phenomenon of retention and social promotion. Also, I describe the many different methods that would improve student instruction in classrooms and eliminate the need for retention and social promotion if combined effectively.

While reading this series, periodically ask yourself this question: Why are educators, parents and the American public complicit in a practice that does demonstrable harm to children and the competitive future of the country?

Retaining or socially promoting a student takes a simplistic approach to education that is outdated and harmful. Finding alternatives to avoid both is imperative and entirely possible in today’s educational climate. Perhaps the most influential alternative to social promotion and retention is effective teaching and teachers who are willing to go the extra mile to make sure students are up to speed.

Some teachers may need professional development to help them diversify their approach to meet the instructional needs of lower performing students. Protheroe points to examples like the Metro Nashville Public Schools, who have established a comprehensive program for professional development, supporting veteran and, especially, new teachers who serve in high-poverty areas. The program includes work on the so-called Ruby Payne Framework to improve teacher understanding of poverty. There is also, according to Holt and Garcia, some important training with differentiated instruction and the Dignity with Discipline program.

Buena Vista Elementary, which is under the Metro Nashville umbrella, is a striking example of the success of these types of involvements. The school is just a few miles from downtown Nashville, in an area plagued by poverty and underdevelopment. A third of the students are homeless and live in one of the numerous shelters nearby. Violence is common, and almost all of the students receive free or reduced-fee lunches.

Despite the inherent difficulties of running a school in such a disadvantaged area, Buena Vista is a vibrant and thriving environment. Every student has a netbook, and there is an iPad for every two students. There are two teachers for every classroom (one is usually a student teacher on a paid placement), as well as a highly qualified phalanx of support staff on call.

The principal, Michelle McVicker, is focused on raising the students’ math and language arts skills. She ensures that each student has a goal and knows what he or she is working toward. “You should be able to ask any student what his or her math and reading goals are and get an answer,” she says and demonstrates that she means it by pulling a student out of a classroom and eliciting the answers.

In the “War Room,” every student’s goal, as well as their current data status, is captured and posted on a wall, with color charts indicating which ones are still in need of help, from blue (advanced), through green (proficient) and yellow (basic), to below basic (red). Two years ago, Buena Vista was considered a failing school. Nearly every card was in the red zone.

McVicker was hired and given free rein to acquire the tools she needed to get the school out of the red. Some of these were technological – as well as computers, classes use Smart Boards and projectors – but she also hired a fresh crew of teachers, commenting: “Because my teachers are all new, they have no bad habits to break.”

The majority of the cards in the War Room are now in the green and yellow zone. The turnaround is well under way.

Protheroe discusses changes to grouping practices and considers how some schools have moved toward increased use of multiage classrooms, with students of different ages grouped together in the classroom to enable continuous progress rather than have to worry about promotion year to year. Specific strategies include interventions to accelerate learning, such as strategies to help students “double-dose” in reading and math instruction to address the problem associated with providing remediation.

Protheroe suggests identifying struggling students and focusing attention on them early, doing whatever can be done to extend learning time, and taking a student’s socio-economic status into consideration when working with them. Beyond these measures, Protheroe also identifies extended learning time as an alternative to retention. Roderick, Engel, and Nagaoka reference the comprehensive evaluation conducted at Chicago Public Schools via the Summer Bridge program. This program found that test scores improved among third, sixth, and eighth graders.

The largest gains were among the sixth and eighth graders. A total of ninety hours of instruction were offered at summer school for third through sixth graders: three hours per day for six weeks. Eighth graders received 140 hours of instruction, attending four hours per day for seven weeks. Evaluations also identified several factors that were associated with larger gains, such as assigning students to teachers who had worked with them before. Teachers reported being more likely to adapt the curriculum to meet the needs of the individual student since they were better informed of those needs.

Researchers studying this and other similar afterschool programs have determined that such systems for additional instruction tend to be more successful when there is a careful assessment of the individual student needs and designing of instruction to address those needs. Afterschool and regular day teachers were better able to support students when they communicated with each other about progress and problems.

At the same time, it is also important that the staff at afterschool programs have the knowledge to apply instructional strategies that support the student’s work efforts. Poggi notes that special professional development may well be required to provide this level of knowledge and skill to staff.

Interventions to accelerate learning are catalyzed by efforts to increase the effectiveness of teachers and extend learning time. Ultimately, a combination of these efforts proves most successful as a retention or social promotion alternative.

Click here to read all my suggestions for alternatives to social promotion and retention.

In this multi-part series, I provide a dissection of the phenomenon of retention and social promotion. Also, I describe the many different methods that would improve student instruction in classrooms and eliminate the need for retention and social promotion if combined effectively.

While reading this series, periodically ask yourself this question: Why are educators, parents and the American public complicit in a practice that does demonstrable harm to children and the competitive future of the country?

In my previous post, I discussed some suggestions for alternatives to social promotion and retention that include material customized to students’ interests and I’d like to continue that conversation here.

Some really workable solutions to sidestepping retention and social promotion include a focus on transitional classes for students, allowing promotion or enrollment in the following grade even while students repeat specific subjects or courses they failed in a previous year, with a primary focus on unlearned skills. Bucko suggests that stressing student ability is helpful in encouraging students to lean that they can be successful.

Siegel and Hanson propose direct instruction in basic skills, including the intensive one-on-one teaching of reading, writing, and arithmetic, as a strategy for helping four to six-year-olds with meeting basic academic standards.

Dawson suggests that schools should use instructional strategies or practices to alter retention, with cooperative learning and mastery learning strategies, direct instruction, adaptive education, individualized instruction, peer-tutoring, and curriculum-based assessments designed to initiate learning.

Some support options are more reactive, with Glasser proposing that students be encouraged to take responsibility for self-evaluation, beginning as early as the first grade. The emphasis on student self-grading emerges as a viable strategy for helping both students and teachers agree on the quality of work, with better grades being offered for improved performance.

Logically, it works to have a balance between applied supports and persuading students to take responsibility for their actions. The latter option theoretically supports a longer-term success rate. Encourage a child to be responsible, and you encourage them to take pride in and be attentive to the work they do.

Glasser also suggests the that courses with varying completion times and segregation points can be useful for struggling students. They suggest the need for an emphasis on quality rather than quantity in selecting courses. McDonald and Bean use an algebra course as an example, observing that if a student requires two years to achieve competence in algebra, they should be allowed that amount of time.

Glasser also proposes that students should receive accommodations in testing if required. In the Common Core era, this idea seems promising. In this proposal, students would be allowed to finish tests individually or cooperatively, with the amount of time allowed for a test being eliminated as a factor affecting the grade. Baku also suggests that classes be smaller and instruction more individualized.

For students who simply have trouble taking tests, or with the mastery of certain particular subjects, delayed testing also provides a good alternative to retention or social promotion. According to Newman, the practice of postponing testing may be beneficial for demonstrating accountability. Delayed testing may also be a workable option for those schools that administer minimum performance and achievement tests in March and April, leaving approximately two to three months the school with no clear objective.

Researchers have shown quite clearly that there is a correlation of between retention and the likelihood of dropping out. One of the strategies that these researchers have found to be effective in reducing dropout rates is having educators collaborate with other stakeholders on a regular basis to devise and implement more effective plans for student achievement.

Research consistently shows that community counselors work effectively at addressing issues like depression, substance abuse, aggression, and hopelessness; all potential barriers to an adolescent’s academic success. Lerner and others also emphasize in their research that educators should try to work collaboratively with community-based mental health agencies.

Another well-documented positive factor is parental involvement, which various researchers have noted is pivotal to student success. Hall and others, for instance, found that collaboration between school representatives and parents or guardians of students proved valuable in future education planning. Parental involvement to aid poorly performing children must, however, be carefully coordinated if it is to be effective. Counselors can help develop a plan or strategy for parents that will involve them in their child’s education.

Click here to read all my suggestions for alternatives to social promotion and retention.

In this multi-part series, I provide a dissection of the phenomenon of retention and social promotion. Also, I describe the many different methods that would improve student instruction in classrooms and eliminate the need for retention and social promotion if combined effectively.

While reading this series, periodically ask yourself this question: Why are educators, parents and the American public complicit in a practice that does demonstrable harm to children and the competitive future of the country?

When a child is struggling academically, the course of appropriate remediation is often as varied as the child himself. There is no one way bring a child up to speed – which is why blanket policies of retention and social promotion are so ineffective. Alternative strategies aren’t just preferable; they are necessary.

Alternative strategies for managing poor academic performance include various instructional plans and student management plans. Although clear categorization of alternatives is difficult to establish and maintain, the alternatives include proactive and reactive supports – academic, social, and blended supports.

A book by Glasser discusses the potential for increased enthusiasm and academic performance based on the modeling and relating of schoolwork directly to student interests and needs. For instance, a student interested in science but struggling in reading might be enticed to work harder at reading if directed toward specific scientific literature. A slightly older alternative, involves merit promotion and the use of a specific test or tests as the sole criteria for retention. A student who does better in a specific area moves to the next grade based on their performance on a single test (the tests that have the best results).

Incentive models tend to work quite well. Academic incentive programs tend to stress viable alternative strategies and emphasize service provisions to struggling students. Intense remediation in basic subject areas can help potential retainees, especially in grades five through to eight. Siegel and Hanson also discuss the potential for students to receive supplemental instruction in the areas where they are struggling. However, the proposed remedial aid has to be designed, so there are minimal absences from regular classroom activities. The general goal is to avoid slowing down a student’s general academic progress. Other school-based supports include stress counseling and study skill programs.

The Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) reported on the effectiveness of stress counseling and study skill programs for students in sixth and seventh grade who are failing in two or more subjects. Their results showed that enrollment in summer counseling and study skills programs, as well as makeup courses, can be useful. Although this report is 1985, it sheds some light on the evolution of educational interventions.

Siegel and Hanson also recommend high-quality extended day programs for students as retention alternatives.

The PDE also proposed learning resource programs for students identified by counselors, teachers, or administrators as being potentially in need of academic supports. Problems with academic performance, absenteeism, referrals, or recommendations emerged as criteria for inclusion in such a program. However, this alternative option needs to be there before students can use it. The decision to use the program must fall, in the end, on the students and their parents, because such programs depend entirely on the individual’s willingness to accept help.

The curriculum also should combine cognitive- and affective-based strategies, including reading, mathematics, and English, with other efforts to work on life skills, goal-setting, and critical thinking, sometimes with students getting practical experience by working with the sick and elderly. This alternative should, the PDE suggests, involve evaluation and reward for students who successfully follow the program and manage to graduate from high school.

The PDE also suggests that students should be in self-contained classrooms for basic subjects taught by volunteer teachers, with an emphasis on competence. Individualized instruction is also important, as it has been shown to help students to maintain a minimum required average grade for a given period. For struggling students, such minimum grade requirements may be daunting without targeted backups and supports.

For some struggling students, of course, the program described above will not work at all. Sometimes a rebound program or even a formal reading program may be more suited to their needs. For such cases, the PDE offers the Rebound Program, which focuses on seventh- and eighth-grade students and offers targeted interventions for reading challenges.

The target population for the Rebound Program is those students who have academic difficulties in the regular classroom. However, with this particular alternative strategy, the objective is for students to work within the Rebound Program for at least nine weeks so that they can receive individual instruction in a self-contained classroom with a single teacher and a maximum of fifteen students.

A formal reading program placement may work for children five years of age or older who are struggling to achieve the required level for reading. Another alternative for younger children is the abolition of the practice of delaying entrance into kindergarten classrooms. Siegel and Hanson suggest such placements depend on students’ developmental, not chronological, age.

Click here to read all my suggestions for alternatives to social promotion and retention.