Equity

Matthew Lynch published in Diversity, Equity, Teachers

4 Ways to Help Your Students Embrace Diversity

When you’re a culturally responsive teacher, one of your major goals is to help all students become respectful of all the cultures and people that they’ll interact with once they leave class. I admit: this can be daunting, given that the world at large is infinitely more complex and diverse than the microcosmic environment that the student inhabits.

In typical educational and social settings, students tend to show classic in-group/out-group behaviors. In general, most students are comfortable interacting with people, behaviors, and ideas that they are familiar with, and react with fear and apprehension when faced with the unfamiliar. Culturally responsive instruction can help you show your students that differences in viewpoint and culture are meant to be cherished and appreciated, not judged and feared.

How can you, a culturally responsive educator, overcome human nature’s fear of the unknown and help students become more respectful of cultures with different ideas? Fortunately, I have a few tips to make this a lot easier for you.

1. Provide students with evidence that people who don’t look or act like them are still people just like them.

You can teach this viewpoint by building a culture of learning from one another rather than a culture of passing judgment on differences in values and beliefs.
There are a wide range of classroom activities that can help students recognize the essential humanity and value of different types of people. For instance, providing students with an opportunity to share stories of their home life, such as family holiday practices, provides fellow students with a window into their peer’s cultural traditions.
Another thing you can do is show your students everyday photographs of people of different ethnicities, shapes, sizes, and garb. This gives students the opportunity to see people that look very different from themselves and their family engaging in the same types of activities that they and their family participate in. This can help humanize types of people that your students have never had an opportunity to meet.
Welcoming guest speakers into the class that hail from differing backgrounds and have all made a positive contribution to important fields can also help dispel any preconceived notions that students might possess about the relative competence and value of people from different cultures.

2. Teach your students about multicultural role models. This demonstrates that people of all genders, ethnicities, and appearances can have a positive influence on the world and deserve to be respected and emulated.

It’s important to avoid teaching students about the same minority role models repeatedly; after all, if students never learn about prominent African American citizens other than Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X then it’s likely that some students will assume that few other African Americans have made substantial contributions to American culture and politics. If students are taught about the contributions that people of various ethnicities, genders, and creeds have made to a variety of different artistic, scientific, and political fields, then they’re more likely to respect and value diverse culture backgrounds as a whole.

3. Craft the right environment for culturally responsive learning. Use your wall spaces to display posters depicting cultural groups in a non-stereotypical fashion. Students can also mark the countries from which their ancestors immigrated on a world map, and classroom signs can be hung in several languages.
These added touches might seem innocuous, but they go a long way in helping students absorb the rich diversity that surrounds them, both in the classroom and in the world outside the school walls. Such touches will help promote an environment in which students from diverse backgrounds feel more comfortable being themselves and will help insulate students from the cultural and ethnic stereotypes that pervade television and other mass media outlets.

4. Teach students to embrace their own culture and heritage. Another important goal of culturally responsive education is to teach students to respect and appreciate their own culture and heritage. Minority students can sometimes feel pressured to dispose of their cultural norms, behaviors, and traditions in order to fit in with the prevalent social order. When this happens it can create a significant disconnect between the culture of the student’s school and community lives and can interfere with emotional growth and social development, frequently resulting in poor performance in social and academic domains.

Providing opportunities for students to investigate unique facets of their community is one effective way to help students gain a greater appreciation for their own culture. Having students interview family members about cultural practices and traditions or write about important learning experiences that the student has experienced in his home community are just two of the many ways that students can explore their heritage.

Using a culturally-centered instructional approach can help facilitate cultural pride among diverse students. Given the current federal and state preoccupation with standardized testing in core subjects, it is particularly crucial that educators consider the impact of multiculturalism in core curricula such as math, science, reading, and writing. Providing diverse students with examples of diverse contributors to these fields and using culture-specific subject matter when teaching core topics will help them perform better in these highly scrutinized and important domains. Placing ethnically diverse students in a situation that emphasizes the strong points of their culture’s preferred means of learning may help provide them with a greater sense of self-efficacy and achievement.

How do you promote a culturally responsive, accepting classroom? I would really appreciate hearing your thoughts, so don’t hesitate to leave a comment below.

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

3 Things We’d Rather Not Hear About Gender Bias in K-12 Classrooms

Think back to your own days as a student in the classroom. Do you remember particular times when you noticed a difference in the way boys and girls were treated by the teacher?

Whatever your own gender, you may have felt like you were punished more harshly, expected to do more, or even completely ignored as a result. You certainly did not imagine this—research backs up the theory that there are many differences in how boys and girls are treated in the classroom.

It’s true that different treatment of the genders in K-12 classrooms is certainly not something that teachers do purposely, but the subtle ways that girls and boys are treated differently has an academic impact later on. For this reason, it’s good to know how gender bias affects students in K-12 schools.

Listed below are a few things that most of us would rather not think about when it comes to gender bias—but is still rather important to know.

1. Teachers pay more attention to boys than to girls.

Teachers tend to pay more attention to boys than girls by having more interactions with them. They tolerate behavior in boys that is not tolerated in girls, and tend to provide boys with more criticism and praise. Differences in the extra attention given to boys are due in part to the fact that boys simply tend to demand more attention, while girls tend to be quieter and more reticent.

Boys not only tend to dominate classroom discussion, but also access and use computers and technology more often than girls.

2. Gender representation in textbooks still leaves something to be desired.

Gender representation in textbooks and other educational material is also problematic. This has improved greatly over the past 30 years, but is still a problem. Educational materials still portray women as being more helpless than men, and stereotyping, tokenism and omission are still prevalent.

3. Boys and girls still tend to gravitate toward different subjects in school.

The types and levels of courses predominated by males and females continue to differ as well. Boys are still more likely to enroll in mathematics, science and engineering than girls and are more likely to take advanced courses in these subject areas. This enrollment pattern is not true for biology, English and foreign languages, where girls tend enroll in more advanced courses. Overall, women are underrepresented in professions that center on mathematics, science, engineering, medicine, and business leadership.

Hasn’t there been some progress though?

There are those who believe gender bias no longer exists. Proponents of this perspective contend that boys are not more accommodated than girls in the classroom. They suggest that in actuality, boys’ needs are often overlooked, as they learn best when they have more frequent opportunities to get up and move around, and engage in classroom debates– classroom activities that are often discouraged.

There is also a strong focus on the fact that the gaps in education levels between boys and girls have virtually closed since 1970 and now, even though they still lag behind boys in mathematics and science, girls in high school do better than the male students in reading, writing and other academic subjects, earn more credits, are more likely to get honors, and are more likely to further their education at colleges or universities.

While it might be argued that it is difficult to see gender bias in schools, there can be no question that in terms of money earned there is a gender bias in the work force. The average earnings of women with a high school diploma is 85 percent of that of men with the same level of educational attainment, and that figure drops to 80 percent for college graduates. This means there is a level of gender bias, even if it is somewhat hidden in the school system. Gender bias is evident as students move into the workforce. Men are more likely to be given jobs with higher status and higher salaries than women.

So the problem of gender bias as it relates to success is one that extends well beyond K-12 classrooms, but it certainly originates there. As teachers become more aware of the ways that their actions impact the long-term success of their students, gender interactions will likely improve and equalize. It is just a matter of being willing to change traditional classroom models and interactions for the betterment of all students – regardless of gender.

What do you think about gender bias in K-12 classrooms? Are boys and girls being treated fairly in the classroom? Leave a comment below.

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

Ask An Expert: A Change in K-12 Teaching Education

Question: For 22 years I have been a elementary school principal in Minnesota. With each passing year I notice that our students are changing, as they gain more and more access to information prior to starting school. However, the teachers that we employ seem to be evolving at a slower pace. What can be done to better train our teachers? Lilith P.

Answer: Modern classrooms are full of sophisticated youngsters that show up with a detailed view of the world formed from more than home life experiences. Instant access to knowledge from the age a child can press a touchscreen on a Smartphone and widespread socialization from as young as six weeks old in the form of childcare atmospheres mean that kids arrive at Kindergarten with less naivety than previous generations. Teachers are not handed a clean slate but rather one that is already cluttered with random knowledge that must be fostered or remediated.

It stands to reason that if students are changing, teachers need to change too. More specifically, the education that teachers receive needs to be modified to meet the modern needs of K – 12 classrooms. There are policy and practice changes taking place all over the world – many driven by teachers – that address the cultural shifts in the classroom. Some that show a lot of promise include:

• Subject-specific recruiting by colleges and universities. The book Teaching 2030, written by 13 experts in K-12 classroom pedagogy, calls for education schools to stop letting in any and every education major in the broad sense of the subject area. Instead, the experts suggest that colleges become more selective to meet the demand of actual student need. Young people that are interested in teaching high-demand subject areas like mathematics, bilingual education, physical science and special education should be viewed as more valuable to institutions of higher learning. This needs-based philosophy addresses actual voids in the industry and better equips schools to meet students’ needs.

• Virtual learning options. Though colleges often get all of the attention when it comes to online learning programs, K-12 education is also shifting more toward distance learning options. During the 2010-2011 school year, 1.8 million students in grades K-12 were enrolled in some type of distance learning program. That is up from just 50,000 in the 2000-2001 school year, according to the International Association for K-12 Online Learning. This is a trend that teachers-to-be simply cannot ignore. Virtual learning is not reserved for only those that can afford it; 40 U.S. states have state-run online programs and 30 of those states provide statewide, full-time K-12 schools. The University of Central Florida is one of the only schools to offer a virtual-school emphasis for education majors that lets students apprentice with Florida Virtual School instructors.

• Continued classroom learning for administrators. Since the people at the top are generally the decision-makers, they should be required to return to the field every now and then. On the other hand, the teachers that are actually in the student trenches should be empowered to help change educational policy based on the reality of the modern classroom. The Center for Quality Teaching supports a “teacherpreneur” program that would “blur the lines… between those who teach… and those who lead.” Actionable strides toward closing the public education gap between teachers and administrators are necessary for real, effective change to take place in K-12 classrooms.

Public education in America needs teachers that are better trained to meet the needs of specific student populations, those that understand the necessary role of distance learning, and those that are willing to speak up to facilitate classroom change. Without these teachers, effective reform to meet global demand is not possible.

 

 

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Matthew Lynch published in Diversity, Equity

We cannot teach race without addressing what it means to be ‘white’

**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.**

Jennifer Harvey, Drake University

We have steeped ourselves in higher education today in a framework for understanding difference that insists we should “value diversity.” Even then, in terms of realizing a robust multiracial environment in colleges across the nation, we have a very long way to go.

We know higher education’s commitment to diversity is not mere window-dressing.

For instance, the Higher Learning Commission (HLC), an independent corporation founded in 1895 that grants accreditation to post-secondary educational institutions in 19 states, requires a commitment to diversity.

But the skyrocketing costs of college, which make access difficult for the more economically marginalized, and an incarceration crisis that sees young black men and women imprisoned at astronomical rates, are only two of many factors that create racialized outcomes when it comes to higher education.

Colleges and universities bear institutional responsibility for taking such racialized outcomes seriously (as the HLC accreditation processes insist). One small but important piece of such responsibility means considering how discussions of race take place in classrooms.

Some of the questions that arise in this discussion are: how can academics help students engage meaningfully in the public discussion now riveted on race and racial violence? What is missing in our current understanding of diversity? And is our current paradigm of diversity adequate for including challenging issues that get raised in regard to white racial identity?

These are important questions to ask, especially since events in Ferguson, Missouri last August that have been followed by numerous killings of African American men, women and children — first by the police and now by a 21-year-old white male in Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina.

As a professor of religion and ethics who writes extensively about the role of faith communities in challenging racial injustice, I’ve been grappling with these issues as they show up in my classroom for many years. How do we effectively teach the next generation of young people such that they are better prepared to make a desperately needed impact on the US racial climate?

White racial identity

When 70% of blacks cite problems with policing relative to race and only 17% of whites do the same, we, as academics, know that able teaching on racial difference is essential for students.

But the very way in which diversity is framed creates a serious logjam when it comes to race in the college classroom. The premise of diversity is not merely that we are all different (and that students need to learn about that), but that our differences are goods to be celebrated and embraced.

We tout the innate value of diversity for college life: citing the importance of learning in diverse environments to equip our students to navigate a pluralistic world.

But there’s a major gap that goes unaddressed in this framing.

The particular difference “white” racial identity and experience represents in the context of US history and current climate makes it hard to “celebrate” the “goodness” of whiteness.

How far is white racial identity considered in discussions?
greg lilly, CC BY-NC

Students know this. I regularly help my students explore the failure of the diversity paradigm by asking them whether a group of black students carrying signs that read “Black is beautiful” is the equivalent of a group of white students carrying signs that read “White is beautiful.” They quickly shake their heads and tell me “no.”

“Why not?” I ask. “Shouldn’t valuing diversity include all diversity? If we can’t equally celebrate both of these scenes, then what are missing?”

They typically can’t explain why these two scenes are not the same. But, they know they are different. And understanding the reasons the scenes are different becomes a critical starting point for us to think about the historical, ethical and moral challenges of “whiteness” in the United States.

Inadequate framing of race

I believe our “diversity” paradigm is failing because it does not give us the tools to unpack and explore this conundrum.

The need to ably teach matters of race difference and historical as well as contemporary racial realities in the US could hardly be more urgent. But our ability to engage, discuss and home in on “whiteness” is stymied by a paradigm that cannot help students understand the difference between the two scenes just described.

Such inadequate framing of race certainly does not help us engage white students in the room, for whom the conundrums evident in the difference between these two scenes are embedded in their actual racial identities as “white people.” (Ask students of color in the room to talk about their racial identity and most can do it. Ask white students to do it and you get an uncomfortable silence.)

So, the diversity paradigm needs something more that can help faculty and students alike directly engage the complexities “white” poses for thinking about race.

How to engage white students

Academics are recognizing this and finding different ways to address these challenges. At a recent gathering of the National Conference of Race and Ethnicity in American Higher Education (NCORE), several workshops focused on the distinct challenges of engaging white students on race.

Psychologists who study racial identity development have helped educators think about the ways racial identity is formed in response to racial environment.

Such studies explain a great deal about the reactions of white students to racial conversations. For example, if you are taught to genuinely believe in “equality” but experience “white privilege,” the high level of cognitive dissonance that it generates has to be first addressed. Only then can any effective teaching take place about race and racial injustice.

Through race theories and historical work, academics are enabling students to understand how race and racial identities are constructed. These tools help students see the many challenges of a white racial identity as well as that of black or Latino. This can be a potentially transformative education for students today.

Lean in to move forward

There’s an irony here, of course.

It’s people of color who are most negatively impacted by the racialized outcomes of higher education and the structural violence of our national landscape. Yet, the gap educators are starting to address puts greater focus on the study of “white.”

So, let me be clear. The point is not that academics believe white students should get even more resources and attention. The point here is that we are coming to recognize that our racial destinies are completely bound up together.

We need to lean in, and explicitly take up the challenges of whiteness if we are to produce teaching and learning that can adequately impact the lives of all, in this racially plural, white hierarchy that is the United States.

____________The Conversation

Jennifer Harvey is Professor of Religion at Drake University.

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

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Matthew Lynch published in EdTech & Innovation, Equity, Matthew Lynch

Technology and Graduation Rate: A Direct Correlation

There is a lot of talk out there about ways to raise the graduation rate. U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan proudly wore #80 in the NBA All-Star celebrity game to tout the highest graduation rate the country has seen since 1974. Educators are collectively working harder to help students make it to the high school finish line and get prepared for college and the workforce. There is a lot of credit to be handed out for the successful graduation rates around the country (of course, there are still plenty of areas for improvement) but I think one shining area deserves a lot of the praise: technology.

The website DropoutPrevention.org singles out technology as a leader in high school graduation upsurge. The site states:
“Educational technology is needed for a variety of reasons. It provides an alternative method of learning for those who struggle to learn using traditional methods.

Technology can be used to address multiple intelligences and also to provide authentic learning experiences for students.”
In other words, technology has made it possible for students who fall off the traditional path to jump back on and finish what they spent most of their childhood working towards. This may be in the form of taking remote classes from home, remedial classes in on-campus computer labs or even by enrolling in full-time online schools, public or private. The technology available for these options benefits students who face difficulties with a normal school schedule including teenage parents, students with short-term or long-term illnesses, teens with substance abuse struggles, or those who had poor academic performance due to learning disabilities or bullying.

Equality through Technology

Technology is also a great equalizer in K-12 classrooms. Students have the same access as their peers to whatever technology is available in their district and specific classroom. While there is certainly some technology discrepancies between one district and another, often based on the socioeconomic status of the families within that district, within each one students have fair access to technology. In a way, things like computers and mobile devices in classrooms usher in the technology of the outside world and give students who may not otherwise have access a chance to use it for learning purposes.

Having in-classroom technology more directly impacts the graduation rate by providing customized learning experiences. A student who needs extra help on a particular topic need not hold up the entire class, or feel embarrassed asking for that help, when there are computer modules and tablet apps available for individual learning experiences. Teachers who spot a trouble area with a particular student can gear that teen towards more exercises to master the topic. Of course technology is not the magic wand to fix all problems, but it does allow for more flexibility of the learning process which in turn makes it easier for a wider group of students to stay in classrooms until the end of the K-12 journey.

College Prep

K-12 educators used to have the goal of helping their students reach high school graduation, but now the pressure is on to create students who go on to achieve college goals too. No matter how advanced the technology options in a particular school district, they are dwarfed by the reliance on and widespread use of technology on college campuses. High school students who become acquainted with technology for things like course selection, class management and actual learning modules are better prepared when they arrive on college campuses. There is very little hand-holding when it comes to higher education (perhaps too little based on college dropout rates) and students need to be self-sufficient in life skills and technology ones when they cross the bridge to college life.

How big of a role do you think technology has played in high school graduation rates?

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

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

Retirement in Presidential College Ranks Opens Diversity Door

College presidents must be able to multitask. Though not in the official job descriptions, these administrative leaders must be figureheads, court the general public, delegate effectively and always keep an eye on the horizon to guide their ships to bigger, better waters. It is a tough job and like many high-profile ones, comes with its share of scrutiny in the public eye.

As the latest wave of college presidents looks towards retirement, the higher education community has the opportunity to promote a more diverse presidential core. The next five years will set the tone for college leadership at the highest level for the coming decades and really for the entire student population too.

Just the Facts

• 61. Average age of college presidents in 2011.
• 92. Percentage of college presidents aged in the mid-50s to mid-70s.
• 14. Average number of years retiring college presidents first serve in the role.
• 40. Normal number of new college presidents in the American Association of State Colleges and Universities every year.
• 109. Actual number of new college presidents from April 2011 to August 2012.
• 6. Number of new college presidents this school year in the California State system alone.
• 13. Percentage of college presidents who are racial or ethnic minorities, as of 2012.
• 14. Percentage of college presidents who were racial or ethnic minorities in 2006.
• 26. Percentage of women college presidents.

Qualified Prospects

In the past, college presidents from other schools and college vice presidents have most often ascended the ranks to fill empty presidential seats. While this still happens about 19 and 25 percent of the time, respectively, other leaders like provosts and deans are increasingly being considered to fill the college president vacancies. Some schools even search outside the college community to find leaders from other industries that fit the bill. There is really no hiring formula that applies to all college president spots and a “qualified” candidate could feasibly jump several levels of hierarchy to claim the spot.

Encouraging Diversity in Presidential Ranks

The first step to building diversity at the highest college administrative level is simply recognizing the opportunity at hand. American institutions of higher education often consider how a diverse student, and even faculty, population should look but do not extend that to top-tier leadership roles. Colleges need to rethink that strategy. I believe the trickle-down diversity effect works well in college settings. Instead of starting with the largest group (students), start cultural change at the top of the pyramid. If a school has a well-balanced student population already in place, chances are that the faculty and administration reflect that fact too.

The next step is to actively include diversity in the search process. I’m not saying that white men with the right qualifications should be excluded from the running; I just mean that colleges with open president seats should make sure the short list of candidates has some variety in experience, ethnicity, sex and race. The Rooney Rule, established in 2003 by the NFL, mandates that at least one minority candidate be interviewed for all head coaching spots. I think colleges need to do that same with their academic leaders.

Those in lower to middle-level leadership roles in colleges that have presidential aspirations should get ready now. Make sure your name is associated with talks about the future of the college by getting yourself involved in the action. Get published. Envision yourself on the same plane as the college presidents that went before you but realize that you have a unique voice to lend to the college community you want to lead. Embrace the turning tides. Be an active part of the changes in college administration and you will in turn be part of the progress.

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Matthew Lynch published in Equity, Matthew Lynch, Policy & Reform, Year-Round Schooling

Time to Learn: Revisiting the School Calendar Debate

The nine-month school calendar that emerged over a century and a half ago has proven resistant to change. It remains the predominant organizational structure within which learning takes place today, despite significant social, economic, and cultural changes over the past century that could have resulted in alternate ways to structure time for learning. Still, most school districts continue to organize learning around a traditional school calendar, with Summers being a period of limited or no district-sponsored learning activities.

One explanation for the present school year is that it follows the 19th-century agrarian calendar, freeing up the youth to work on farms during the summer months. Other explanations include the notion that children should not be exposed to the discomfort of early 20th-century, factory-like, non-air-conditioned school buildings in the summer.

Missing from these explanations for a nine-month calendar, however, are discussions that focus directly on student learning and achievement, which should be at the forefront of conversations focused on schooling. The propensity to naysay an alternate or modified school calendar routinely includes an array of non-achievement-based concerns. Issues that too often enjoy parallel positions of importance include: family vacations, costs, use of facilities, extracurricular activities, teacher and administrator stress, and even the summer-recreation industry.

Students in the U.S. spend fewer days in school than their counterparts in many industrialized countries. In Japan, for example, students attend school 243 days a year, and academic learning does not end once the school day is over. The school day is instead extended, as many students attend Juku. Juku are privately run after-school services that primarily focus on academic subjects, although some provide tutoring in the arts and sports.

Public schools involved in extended learning time efforts provide a U.S. version of a Juku; albeit one that is public and available to all students. They recognize that the amount and quality of time does influence learning, and their efforts result in improved learning and achievement for a number of children. Even though extended learning programs may primarily focus on low-performing, high-poverty schools, given the international achievement gap, all schools should keep a close eye on the success of these schools.

Extension to the school day is important, but extension to the school year is important as well. Research suggests that not only do achievement gaps develop when children from low socioeconomic backgrounds are away from school, but the rate of these gaps accelerates during the summer months. Comparable achievement occurs during the school year for children from both backgrounds.

During periods away from school, however, skills for children from higher socioeconomic backgrounds continue to grow, while no such advances occur for children from low socioeconomic backgrounds. Evidence suggests that modified calendars have a positive impact on achievement for students from low socioeconomic backgrounds, and thus should remain a viable option for schools seeking to improve achievement for students living in low socioeconomic environments.

Clearly, a structure for learning is needed that restores our stature as a well-educated nation and contributes to our ability to be a major player on the global economic playing field. Just as important, we need to provide enough time for learning so that young people have an education that allows them to grow into competent and confident adults able to choose how to live their lives. Holding on to a rigid traditional school calendar seems imprudent when viewed in light of such goals. Historically, supplemental schooling experiences to the nine-month calendar have existed. The time is ripe to flip the arrangement so that the traditional calendar becomes supplemental to more effective arrangements of time for learning.

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

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Matthew Lynch published in Equity, Higher Education, Matthew Lynch

Retirement in Presidential College Ranks Opens Diversity Door

College presidents must be able to multitask. Though not in the official job descriptions, these administrative leaders must be figureheads, court the general public, delegate effectively and always keep an eye on the horizon to guide their ships to bigger, better waters. It is a tough job and like many high-profile ones, comes with its share of scrutiny in the public eye.

As the latest wave of college presidents looks towards retirement, the higher education community has the opportunity to promote a more diverse presidential core. The next five years will set the tone for college leadership at the highest level for the coming decades and really for the entire student population too.

Just the Facts

• 61. Average age of college presidents in 2011.
• 92. Percentage of college presidents aged in the mid-50s to mid-70s.
• 14. Average number of years retiring college presidents first serve in the role.
• 40. Normal number of new college presidents in the American Association of State Colleges and Universities every year.
• 109. Actual number of new college presidents from April 2011 to August 2012.
• 6. Number of new college presidents this school year in the California State system alone.
• 13. Percentage of college presidents who are racial or ethnic minorities, as of 2012.
• 14. Percentage of college presidents who were racial or ethnic minorities in 2006.
• 26. Percentage of women college presidents.

Qualified Prospects

In the past, college presidents from other schools and college vice presidents have most often ascended the ranks to fill empty presidential seats. While this still happens about 19 and 25 percent of the time, respectively, other leaders like provosts and deans are increasingly being considered to fill the college president vacancies. Some schools even search outside the college community to find leaders from other industries that fit the bill. There is really no hiring formula that applies to all college president spots and a “qualified” candidate could feasibly jump several levels of hierarchy to claim the spot.

Encouraging Diversity in Presidential Ranks

The first step to building diversity at the highest college administrative level is simply recognizing the opportunity at hand. American institutions of higher education often consider how a diverse student, and even faculty, population should look but do not extend that to top-tier leadership roles. Colleges need to rethink that strategy. I believe the trickle-down diversity effect works well in college settings. Instead of starting with the largest group (students), start cultural change at the top of the pyramid. If a school has a well-balanced student population already in place, chances are that the faculty and administration reflect that fact too.

The next step is to actively include diversity in the search process. I’m not saying that white men with the right qualifications should be excluded from the running; I just mean that colleges with open president seats should make sure the short list of candidates has some variety in experience, ethnicity, sex and race. The Rooney Rule, established in 2003 by the NFL, mandates that at least one minority candidate be interviewed for all head coaching spots. I think colleges need to do that same with their academic leaders.

Those in lower to middle-level leadership roles in colleges that have presidential aspirations should get ready now. Make sure your name is associated with talks about the future of the college by getting yourself involved in the action. Get published. Envision yourself on the same plane as the college presidents that went before you but realize that you have a unique voice to lend to the college community you want to lead. Embrace the turning tides. Be an active part of the changes in college administration and you will in turn be part of the progress.

 

 

 

 

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

3 Easy Ways New Teachers Can Organize for Maximum Success Before School Starts

As the new school year begins, most students look forward to joining their new class, and as a new teacher, you hope to make this academic school year as effective for your students as possible. Being a superstar teacher brings to mind engaging your students and upholding your standards, but the truth is that much of your success will actually come from the efforts you make before your students even set foot in the classroom. Staying organized is actually very important and will save you from a lot of headache later on. Here are three organization-related tips to use that will set you and your students up for success before they even set foot into your classroom.

  1. Arrange your classroom in a way that works best for you and your students.

The set up and layout of the classroom will determine the ease with which the children can move around the classroom. When setting up a classroom, you also want to consider your teaching style. Here are just a few things you should consider when deciding the layout of the classroom.

Teacher’s desk. In the traditional setting, this is one item that is generally kept in the far corner of the room or toward one wall in order to avoid the teacher’s desk being in the middle of high traffic. On the other hand, if your approach to instruction is likely to be more flexible and interactive, you might want to have the teacher’s desk closer to the students’ tables and chairs.

Students’ desks. The layout of students’ desks depends on the kind of interaction that you want with students. For example, for sessions that involve direct instructions, it is best for students to face the front of the room. On the other hand, when you want students to work in groups, it may be better to group students in clusters.
Overhead projector or multimedia projector screen. Remember to keep the screen at a height and angle that allows everyone to see the screen easily. You can make sure of this by sitting in each seat to determine if you can view the screen comfortably from all positions.

Classroom supplies. Keep frequently used items closer to the students. Items used less often can be stored in a cabinet. The pencil sharpener and trash should be kept slightly away from the students to avoid distraction.

Announcement board. Decorate the board to liven up the classroom, as well as to communicate with students about important events during the academic year. Consider these suggestions:

  1. Make the board colorful with project work that has been completed by students.
    b. Put up a “quote of the day” that is relevant, inspirational, and motivating. You may also make this a revolving duty of the students.
    c. Allow students to put up pictures of places they visited on a holiday.
  2. Make sure you have all your supplies handy.

Okay, so now you have decided on the layout of your classroom and feel that you are ready for the new a new batch of students. Not really! There are many other things that you need to prepare before you can feel comfortable about welcoming your new students.

Being an organized teacher will make your life a whole lot easier; trust me. If you have your materials and supplies in one place, you will not have to frantically look for folders or paper clips at the last minute. It will also help your classroom management efforts and decrease the frequency of classroom disruptions and misbehavior. Ensure you have the following supplies:

  • Textbooks
    • Plan books
    • Classroom reading books
    • Attendance register
    • Paper clips
    • Grade book
    • Rubber bands
    • Stapler and staple pins
    • Tissue
    • Pencil, pens, erasers and pencil sharpeners
    • Tapes of different kinds
    • Folders and folder tags

Take home packets are also a must for students at the start of the New Year. This packet helps you communicate important information to students and their parents. If you keep parents informed from the beginning, you have made the first step in building strong parent-teacher relationships. Make sure that you include the following in the take home packet.

  • Welcome message to parents
    • School rules
    • Supply list
    • Emergency and approval forms to be signed by parents
    • Transport rules and bus route
  1. Organize your cabinets.

From the very beginning of the school year, there is so much paperwork that a teacher needs to keep track of. As a result, your cabinets can quickly look as if though they have been hit by a tornado—overflowing with folders, teaching materials, handmade cards from students, and other supplies. Use these tips to keep your cabinet organized and in order:

  • Create a designated place for your material. All folders should be marked and kept in one place. There should also be a separate place for personal belongings.
  • Highlight all original copies of master sheets with a yellow colored highlighter, to tell you that this is the master, preventing you from giving it away or losing it.
    Label all your files and folders, and mark the worksheets based on the folder that they need to go into. Once you have identified the specific folders that each worksheet goes into, you can ask a student or volunteer to help you with the filing.
  • Many times there are some sessions in a year that require more material than others. If you feel that material from one session is crowding your cabinet, try putting all the relevant teaching material into one box. Remember to label it and store it in a cabinet in the classroom. You can then find all the required material ready for use when the time comes.

Then, every three months go through everything in your cabinet and throw away any unnecessary items. When you discard items, put them in a carton labeled as ‘free’ and let everyone know that they can dig around to see if they can use anything. Something that you discard may be useful to someone else.

Bonus tip: Do these during the first week of school to stay in control.

Completion of items on the following checklist will surely help you feel more comfortable, organized, and in control when the horde of excited students appear at your door on the first day of school!

  • Prepare class rolls and records
    • Create nametags for each child
    • Get to know the schedule for each student, including gym, art, library and lunch
    schedules
    • Create a folder that can be used by a substitute teacher in case you are unable to
    make it to the school; this should include the daily schedule and seating chart
    • Create a file for each student that contains information about the child and
    • correspondence from parents
    • Develop tentative lesson plans for the next week and place them in a folder

By starting the year off with a bang, you are setting the tone for the rest of the school year. Instead of dealing with classroom management issues, organizational issues, and disgruntled parents, you will be able to enjoy a relatively stress free year. Good luck to you and I hope you have an outstanding year.

 

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Matthew Lynch published in Equity, HBCU's, list, Matthew Lynch, Mississippi

4 Interesting Facts about Education in Mississippi

Mississippi is my home state, and an interesting state at that. Some time ago I wrote an article about what MLK would say about education in Mississippi, and I wrote it because of some startling realities about education in this state. I brought up that 24% of people in the state are estimated to live below the poverty line, and that many of Mississippi’s poorest residents are children of color — many of them are black children. For this reason, among others, Mississippi may need special attention when it comes to addressing P-12 education.

Here are a few sobering facts about education in Mississippi.

  1. Public education in Mississippi is ranked last in the nation year after year. Public education in Mississippi ranked last, yet again, on Education Week’s Quality Counts report . The state received an “F” grade for academic achievement, and a “D” for the chance of success for students.

There is no easy fix for this. Even academic programs targeted for at-risk students can only go so far. With a poverty rate of 24 percent in the state, the problems that impact student success in classrooms extend far beyond it. To really see a difference in student outcomes, the state needs economic initiatives that boost the life quality of residents and give more opportunities to students once they are done with school. Recognizing that these outside factors go hand-in-hand with student outcomes in classrooms is the first step toward moving Mississippi out of last place and putting it on course to be a P-12 leader in the country…

  1. Mississippi is short on education funding—by $1.5 billion. Durant Public School teachers in Mississippi spend their evenings on the Internet, browsing for math and other problems to give their students because the school doesn’t have up-to-date textbooks.

School leaders say that new books aren’t in the budget, nor are reading coaches to help improve the districts academic rating of “D.” To save money, teachers and their assistants have already been reduced and administrators took pay cuts.

The troubles in Durant, located about 60 miles north of Jackson, illustrate a picture of the state as a whole. Mississippi legislators have ignored a state law and spend $1.5 billion less on education than what is required; the cuts in the state are the deepest in the country.

State funding was originally cut as tax revenues plunged during the recession. According to early estimates, the state could fall $280 million short again in 2016.

Durant has 588 students in grades K-12. The teacher turnover rate is high, and when new teachers are hired they tend to be recent graduates who are inexpensive to bring on board.

Sanders-Tate, the superintendent in Durant, dreams of raising the schools rating from a “D” to “A,” but knows it’s a challenge.

“When you don’t have what you need, you’ve got to make do,” Sanders-Tate said. “I’m tired of making do for the kids when they deserve the best like everyone else.”

  1. Mississippi has one of the highest teen pregnancy rates in the nation, with 50 births for every 1,000 young women between 15 and 19 years old. Despite this, attempts to educate young people in the state about safe sex practices have been met with hostility.

Alarmed by the high rates of teen pregnancy, and high number (76 percent) of high school students who report being sexually active by age 17 in the state, members of the business community lobbied the state to make sexual education courses mandatory in public schools. Those lobbying won a partial victory — but actual implementation of the rule has been slowed down in the religious and conservative state.

The Los Angeles Times reports that mother Marie Barnard was pleased when Mississippi made sex education mandatory after many decades of disallowing it. She was less than pleased, however, when she found out one of the “lessons” involved students passing around an unwrapped piece of chocolate candy and observing how “dirty” it became with more contact. The message does not provide an educated view on sex, or show respect to young people who have been sexually active, she said.

The candy example is just one way the noble goal to educate Mississippi’s youth about responsible sexual activity has gone awry. Part of the enacted law requires parents to sign a permission slip allowing their children to take sex ed courses in the first place. There are also issues of enforcement and the exact curriculum being taught. Individual districts, for example, can choose to implement abstinence-only sex education classes.

So it seems the battle for a sexually-informed generation in Mississippi wages on, even in public school classrooms.

  1. Mississippi received a grade of “B” for its early childhood programs, compared to a national average of “D+.” There is a silver lining to every cloud. Despite being one of the worst-performing states in many categories of education, Mississippi ranks second nationally when it comes to Head Start enrollment (third nationally when it comes to Kindergarten enrollment and access to full-day Kindergarten programs). Getting kids signed up for early childhood programs is just the start of course. These children need to learn enough while in those classrooms, but getting them started as early as possible is definitely a step in the right direction when it comes to the future academic success of students in the state.

It is also one of the relatively few states in America that is pushing for mandatory Kindergarten. Representative Sonya Williams-Barnes, a Democrat from Gulfport, authored of “KIDS Act” that would change the mandatory school age for children in the state from 6 to 5 years old, in essence making Kindergarten mandatory for children in the state.

So how does Mississippi stack up against other states when it comes to the Kindergarten issue? There are only 15 states and the District of Columbia that require Kindergarten by law, and there are actually six states that do not even require public schools to offer Kindergarten. Despite the bad rap Mississippi often gets when it comes to student achievement numbers, the state does pretty well on Kindergarten access and has nationally high numbers for attendance. So adding in a Kindergarten requirement would not make a huge difference in the amount of kids who attended, but will just be more of a formality.

All this said, where Mississippi could really use the legislative boost is when it comes to pre-K education — an area where strides are being made. The Mississippi Department of Education reports that two-thirds of all the kids who entered Mississippi public Kindergarten in the fall of 2014 did not have the base-level skills required for adequate learning. In my opinion, the age of 5 is too old for mandatory education in the state, but it will probably be a few more decades before Mississippi, or any other state, requires it any younger. Hopefully this latest proposal will pass with no problems to show that state leaders are unified when it comes to early childhood education initiatives in Mississippi.

My home state of Mississippi needs to make some big changes as soon as possible. I want nothing more for the state to have sufficient money to put towards improving education, and to see the ratings improve drastically.

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

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