Matthew Lynch

Matthew Lynch published in Ask An Expert, Matthew Lynch February 4, 2016

Ask An Expert: School Systems and Business Models

Question: For over 20 years I have worked in the business sector, and I have always wondered what would happen if school districts operated more like businesses? Care to chime in, Dr. Lynch? Pamela A.

Answer: Pamela, I agree, education could be changed for the better if schools were to think of themselves as businesses and the students as the customers. In a business model, students might receive more one-on-one attention, making them feel more satisfied with the education they are receiving. If a child acquires the love of learning at a young age, he or she is more likely to reach higher levels of educational attainment.

In all good businesses, employees create and produce products based on the general needs and wants of the customer/consumer. If students are the customers, then the school curriculum should be created to meet their needs. The task of the employee is to manage and motivate the people they are supervising. Teachers will implement change in their classrooms by individualizing instruction to meet the general needs of their students.

Thinking of the students as customers reinforces the idea that the student is in full control of whether or not they pay attention or engage themselves in academic activities. Certainly, state laws require the majority of American students to attend school until they are 18 years of age. Sooner or later, truant students will be tracked down by the school attendance officer, who will inform parents that their child’s lack of attendance is against the law.

However, once the student is in school, there is absolutely no way for teachers to force the child to pay attention and fully engage in schoolwork. Part of the teacher’s profession is to find ways to motivate children by providing them with appealing learning activities. Also, schools have to accept the fact that in order to engage students and keep their attention, you must earn their respect and trust. Student learning is comparable to profits in a business. Student learning is what happens when the business of schooling is managed correctly.

In keeping with the business model, successful schools must realize that quality education is paramount. Administrators and the boards need to understand that educated students are not just products and schools are not just businesses; they are places to foster a love of learning and to create productive futures for American children and the country itself. That’s my take on the subject.

Matthew Lynch published in Equity, Higher Education, Matthew Lynch February 4, 2016

Diverse Conversations: Finding a Mentor

Mentorship is a huge part of professional success in higher education. If nothing else, having a solid mentor helps higher education professionals to develop valuable contacts and integrate themselves into their employer institution.

Finding a mentor, though, can be a tricky thing. Some people are naturally good at formulating mentor-mentee relationships. Others simply don’t know where to start.
To get some insight into how higher education professionals can go about finding the right mentor for their career goals, I sat down with Dr. John Caron, senior associate dean, Academic and Faculty Affairs at Northeastern University College of Professional Studies, who has made mentorship a key area of his professional focus.

Q: Starting with a fairly obvious but important question, tell me some of the key benefits of having a mentor in a higher education professional setting?

A: I’ve found that having someone you can reach out to when you need advice or talk through an issue you’re dealing with is immensely valuable when working in a higher education professional setting. Throughout the course of my professional life, which spans about 25 years, I’ve been fortunate to have had many mentors at different points and times during my career.

One of the most influential mentors to me was a former supervisor who became a mentor to me for seven or eight years. As a first generation college graduate, I found myself wanting to pursue a doctorate degree while working full-time and I was trying to figure out how to make that goal happen. My mentor had actually gotten her doctorate while working full-time, so she was great at helping me map out the pathway and more importantly instill the confidence in me to make this happen. I don’t think that I would have done it without her – she was a role-model because she not only achieved it herself, but showed me how I could do it.

Q: What sort of mentorship has played a role in your career? What have been some of the key highlights for you?

A: One key role my mentors have provided me with is helping me navigate new positions in higher education that required a different level of leadership. For example, as you take on positions of increasing responsibilities, the leadership skills that worked in previous positions may not work. My mentors were very helpful in giving me advice about how to develop skills I needed to be an effective leader.

Q: Mentor-mentee relationships can be immensely valuable but they can also emerge in various different forms. What importance should higher education professionals place on finding a mentor who aligns to their professional goals? Is it important to choose a mentor who has, say, specific experience in the academic field you are targeting?

A: It definitely helps to have a mentor who aligns with your professional goals, but I’ve found that it’s not critical to choose a mentor with specific experience in the field you are targeting.

That being said, choosing a mentor in the field you are currently in or would like to pursue does help because he or she can help you prepare your CV properly, introduce you to key people and contacts and explain nuances of the field such as language, culture, expectations, etc. One of my mentors was in the same field as I am (higher education), so she knew about the experiences I was having and she could relate. There was a moment, however, when I decided to leave higher education and pursue an opportunity in the private sector. I asked my mentor what she thought about the move. She couldn’t really advise me about the private sector because she had always worked in higher education. She told me not to be risk averse and follow my instincts. If the fit wasn’t right for me, the experience would be valuable if I returned to higher education. It turned out that she was right. I use the insights I gained from my experience working in the private industry every day.

Q: Considering an example, if the goal was to transition from teaching to an administrative position, what type of mentor should a person seek out?

A: I would suggest that person seek someone who has made the transition herself or himself and can help that person navigate the differences and challenges.

Q: How do people in academia actually go about finding a mentor?

A: Some people find a mentor by working closely with someone and this can happen in a variety of ways such as through a faculty or teaching assistant relationship, a former supervisor, collaborating on a research endeavor or grant opportunity, or asking a professor to read an article and provide feedback and suggestions. I have found two of my most influential mentors by working closely with someone – they were former supervisors of mine.

My first supervisor and I became friends through work and then colleagues after I moved on from that job, yet we managed to stay in touch. A lot of advice was actually given to me on the tennis court because we both liked to play tennis. We would also see each other at conferences, make a point to have breakfast together or lunch, and I would just call her up when I needed to talk to her. I think that goes to an important point that having a mentor requires some work – you have to cultivate the relationship and you need to stay in touch. It doesn’t really work if you go two to three years without talking to each other; it really works best if you stay in touch on a regular basis.

This person mentored me for seven to eight years, but unfortunately passed away about 10 years ago. After that there was a long time when I didn’t have a mentor. I started to realize that something was missing – like my compass wasn’t working – and someone pointed out that I hadn’t had a mentor in about five years, and suggested I find another. I ended up getting a job at Brown University and my current supervisor at the time evolved into a mentor/friendship relationship.

I’ve found my mentors through close professional relationships, but for others it can also happen by chance. Conferences are a great way to meet colleagues and professionals. Additionally, if you are presenting at a conference, you may be approached by someone who has feedback on your topic of expertise, and an initial conversation can flourish into a mentorship.

Q: What are some of the best resources for finding a mentor?

A: I would start by looking beyond the obvious. If you’re only looking within your department to find a mentor, expand your search. Consider groups and organizations you’re a member of, or even reach out to individuals you are affiliated with through LinkedIn. You can approach someone in a leadership role in your organization to see if he or she can help you find a mentor, especially if you are looking to grow in a specific area within your organization or would like guidance in your field or even in another field you are interested in pursuing.

I believe finding a mentor is more often an individual experience; you need to be willing and able to seek out a mentor. No one is going to walk up to you and kindly offer to be your mentor. Therefore, it’s important that you take initiative to seek out the help and guidance that you need.

Right now I’m working with a consultant and over time I’ve found that he’s really become more of a mentor to me. I can imagine that when our consulting relationship ends, I will continue to seek him out as a mentor because we’ve just clicked. And that brings me to an important point: you know when you’ve found the right person when you both click. And if you find that you don’t have that click you should keep looking because sometimes it doesn’t work out.

Q: Have you found that some institutions actively cultivate mentorship and if so, how? What are some of the more effective strategies?

A: I have heard or have worked at companies or institutions in a consulting role where they have programs in place where you can request to shadow someone in a different department, or you can be paired with someone at a senior level to talk about career advice and aspirations.

Colleges and universities or companies that are intentional about this, especially for entry-level and even sometimes mid-level employees, can create a structure or pathway for their employees that can be enormously helpful.

Q: What advice would you give about utilizing a mentor relationship? What are some of the best ways to make use of this type of relationship in higher education?

A: It’s great if you can find a mentor who you trust and who stays with you throughout your professional career. Some people have more than one mentor, like I’ve had, to help them navigate different aspects of their personal and professional life.

I would suggest that once someone finds his or her mentor that they be flexible with that person; because many mentors are executives, they are by nature, very busy.

I would also recommend to be grateful. Your mentor is giving his or her time to you in exchange for the pleasure of watching your career unfold. He or she has no ulterior motive, make this person glad he or she signed on. Don’t just reach out to your mentor when things are not going well. Share your positive stories with your mentor as well.

For the most part, a good mentor knows you really well and that person will be honest and supportive. I trusted the feedback that one of my mentors gave me because she could give it to me in a way I could hear it. It was honest but supportive, but wasn’t harsh. It allowed me to reflect on our conversation and really contemplate her advice and recommendations.

And if you don’t find someone that you click with, keep looking. Eventually you will find someone that you not only click with, but who will offer you invaluable advice and guidance through hopefully many different career paths and changes as you navigate higher education. And as your relationship grows, you might even find that your roles may reverse and that you will become a mentor to that person!

My thanks to Dr. Caron. This concludes our interview.

Matthew Lynch published in Equity, Matthew Lynch, Policy & Reform February 4, 2016

Single-Sex Classrooms Making a Comeback for All the Wrong Reasons

There is a debate about equity in education that extends beyond zip codes, race and socioeconomic status and cuts right to the heart of something predetermined: sex. The controversy over whether or not single-sex schooling models actually make an academic difference is one that has raged for the better half of a century. Early reasons for separating young men and young women in their studies were simple enough – there was a cultural belief that removing the distraction of the opposite sex would lead to greater focus and higher academic gains. As the country moved away from the “separate but equal” mentality in all facets of life, the virtues of single-sex schooling faded too. In some eyes, separating young women and young men was not just pointless but was sexist.

The back-and-forth over single-sex schooling never completely faded from the educational landscape, though, and neither did all-girls or all-boys schools. In recent years, it seems that the argument FOR single-sex schooling is making a comeback for many of the same reasons it was born in the first place. Around 500 public schools in the U.S. now offer some form of all-girls or all-boys schooling, either in entirety or in individual classrooms. It is a fact that young women, even those who show strong propensities toward STEM topics, lose interest in math, science and affiliated fields around middle school. This is also a sensitive age where young women traditionally start to put more stock in what the opposite sex thinks about them. This is enough to make some people like former New York City mayoral hopeful

Christine Quinn spearhead campaigns to open public magnet middle schools for girls where they can pursue STEM topics without a loss of self-confidence around men.
But is the loss of interest in traditionally non-glamorous topics like engineering, science and math really related to the presence of the opposite sex? It seems that would be a simple answer but of course, nothing simple can ever be accepted at face value. This idea that young women are dropping non-feminine topics at an impressionable age because of the opposite sex is flawed.

It is possible that outside factors like parental influence weigh on what a young woman pursues as she gets older. This can be a direct effect when a parent steers a child in a certain direction, or it can be the indirect effect of seeing the roles a mother and father play in their own homes. If father is an engineer, and mother is a preschool teacher, it is possible that a young woman will relate more fully to her mother’s path, even if she has an interest like dad in engineering topics. A preschool teacher is a noble career, of course, but one that is also dominated by females. In 2011, only 2.3 percent of U.S. preschool teachers were male. In this example case, even a young woman who attends an all-girls STEM school may end up taking the young childhood education path for reasons that have nothing to do with her feelings about the opposite sex.

And what about LGBT students? The number of K-12 students who identify themselves as non-heterosexual in one way or another is rising. One of the arguments for single-sex schooling is that it takes away the tingly, budding attraction emotions in young people but it becomes irrelevant if a student has no interest in the opposite sex anyway.

The American Civil Liberties Union has even come out against single-sex schools, particularly in cases where those schools are public ones, in its “Teach Kids, Not Stereotypes” campaign. The ACLU believes that separating young women and young men is a slippery slope and one that could inadvertently bring unfair outcomes to the students. It seems that there must be a better way to encourage young women, and men, in their academic studies without implementing the archaic practice of total separation in classrooms.

Are you in favor of, or against, single-sex schooling models?

Matthew Lynch published in EdTech & Innovation, Matthew Lynch February 3, 2016

BYOD, Customized Learning and Virtual Academics: K-12 Trends for 2014 — Part II

On Monday I wrote about what lies ahead for K-12 schools in 2014 when it comes to life skills programs, expansion of cloud technology, and a greater emphasis on individual school branding. In all three cases, the trends have been part of classrooms for some time but are sure to see rapid growth in the coming year.
I want to continue that conversation today with three more trends I think we will see emerging, or expanding, in the U.S. K-12 classrooms of 2014:

BYOD: This movement which embraces mobile technology through the devices that students already own has already gained momentum in many districts across the country, but expect it to move rapidly towards mass adoption within this calendar year. Places like Chesapeake Public Schools are already allowed to use privately owned electronic devices to access the wireless network on the school system’s filtered Internet. In Chesapeake, as in the other public and private schools where BYOD policies exist, students must sign a responsibility form that says they will only use the mobile device for academic enrichment while on school property. Students who bring their own devices into the classroom eliminate the initial costs and are also already comfortable with the technology. The downside of course is that not all students can readily afford such technology but look for schools to develop technology financial assistance programs for families to help offset the full cost and maintenance of school-owned devices.

Customized learning experiences: Self-initiated and self-directed learning experiences are based upon individual needs, preferences and abilities of students who are then the masters of their own success. The traditional way to look at learning is through teachers creating and assigning all work for students in a one-size-fits-all approach. By contrast, customized learning that students help direct focuses on feedback techniques that provide strategies for improvement during the process, instead of waiting until much further down the road to see if the methods are working. Customized, or personalized, learning is often met with hostility, especially as teachers must relinquish some classroom control for this trend to really work.

On the flip side, customized learning has the ability to incorporate a variety of resources, such as virtual learning, to aid in the learning process while making it a way for teachers to moderate one-on-one learning experiences in practical ways. I think that the idea of handing control to students is hypothetically frightening to some educators and administrators but once they’ve actually tried it on a small scale, personalized learning actually looks more attractive from an adult’s perspective.

Online learning: Virtual learning is certainly not new to the K-12 scene, but its increasing popularity can’t be ignored. It used to be that online learning was associated only with distance learning, or students who went through the academic process off of school grounds. Today, online learning is more segmented and often just one part of a more traditional learning experience. Virtual learning is no longer all or nothing; it has become mainstream and will continue to transform in-classroom learning in the coming year.

Virtual learning also makes it possible parents, teachers and students have access to information they may need no matter where they are physically located. This, in essence, expands the classroom and gives students more time and space to complete and comprehend their lessons. There are many spinoffs of online learning, like the increasing availability of Massive Open Online Courses, which make virtual academics a returning trend for K-12 learning in 2014.

On Friday I will wrap up my list of K-12 trends for 2014. Has your school embraced any of today’s trends fully?

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

Matthew Lynch published in Education Leadership, Matthew Lynch February 1, 2016

4 Ways School Administrators Can Discover Their Unique Leadership Style

Each administrator has his own unique personality traits. So as can be expected, some leadership styles will appeal more to some school administrators than others. The natural differences in personality among various leaders lead to preferences that run below the leader’s awareness.

What often happens due to these personality traits is that a leader develops judgments, and responds to his or her environment by focusing on certain leadership aspects more than others.

Variations caused by factors such as age, upbringing, and gender have been shown to affect the way personality is developed and expressed. Practices are also influenced by the interaction between personality and contextual aspects associated with the workplace. Examples of these contextual aspects include the perceived nature of work, the leadership experience, the school level, and the leader’s position.

So which is the best way forward? What can school administrators do to find the leadership style that simply clicks for them and leads to unbridled success? Here are a few tips.

1. School leaders and administrators should first acknowledge their inborn, natural tendencies toward some practices over others. They should then reflect on whether these preferences affect their leadership practices. Honesty and transparency in admitting personality differences would motivate the leaders to consider ways to satisfy the various needs of their schools. Self-awareness is a necessary step before leaders can really engage in effective team-building.

2. Delegate, delegate, delegate. Many researchers consider delegation vital for leadership success. Research has shown that delegation is dependent on personality preferences, which translate to foregone conclusions in leadership behavior and in competence. The leader’s preferences are heavily influenced by what is natural, comfortable, and enjoyable for the leader.
Delegation allows the leader and team members to do what they do best.

3. School leaders need to consider the administrator’s preferences when it comes to shaping school leadership responsibilities. They will end up attempting more modest efforts, which sounds counterintuitive—but the success of this practice is actually based on sound research. While this may be more supportive of a differentiated rather than instructional leadership style, the importance of including varying differences of opinion is vital for any leadership model.

4. School leaders should embrace their differences as assets when working together. As schools seek to redefine themselves as learning communities, its members must work together in a friendly, cooperative fashion, by challenging and engaging with each other. Jungian theory finds that diversity generates synergy and innovation. Most leadership researchers and theorists have noted that human differences provide the creative tension needed in the forward movement and growth of any institution. Models of leadership that ignore the nature of leaders tend to be far less effective.
As school principals work to close the achievement gap in learning, they should strive to build a conscious understanding of their own natural preferences, in relation to instructional leadership.

Human differences are often depicted as weaknesses, and are quickly pushed aside. Seeking to address them in a meaningful way, instead of dismissing them, can be a seed for success in educational leadership.

Do you think that leaders need to be aware of and develop their unique leadership qualities to be successful at school? Why (or why not)? Please leave a comment below and share your thoughts.

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

Matthew Lynch published in Matthew Lynch, Policy & Reform February 1, 2016

Future Trends in K-12 Classroom Management and Discipline

K-12 Classroom management and discipline is all about the balance between learning within the classroom and discipline. Today, various trends are currently popular. Strategies that come to mind include Wong’s Pragmatic Classroom, which stresses the need to define expectations for students, and Canter’s Behavior Management Cycle, which emphasizes a distinct discipline model.

So far, though, despite the range of strategies and their fluctuating popularity, all strategies applied to date have their pros and cons, their various strengths and weaknesses.

Above all, there is an increased importance applied to classroom management these days. A relatively new open-mindedness also applies to classroom discipline strategies (the recognition that it is not, after all, better to punish the child for inattention or some indiscretion).

What does this point to? Inevitably, there are several trends to be aware of:

• We are likely to see an increase in success for one strategy or another. Existing strategies for classroom management and discipline approaches tend to be, in general, quite effective. Inevitably, there is also the need to make some allowances for teaching style. Some teachers excel with one approach to classroom management and discipline. Others prefer alternative methods. While this is unlikely to change because it is unlikely that there will be a single strategy deemed more effective than the rest, we can be fairly sure that the handful of top recommended strategies will see an increase. We should see an increase in their strengths and a corresponding reduction in weaknesses as overall efficiency and effectiveness are improved.

• Because of the increased use of technology in the classroom, we can certainly expect to see more of an integration of technology within the classroom, in part as a management approach but perhaps also as a discipline approach. Teachers may well find means of applying technology. Whether it is some sort of integrated system used via a system like the iPad (with more and more public school classrooms enjoying access to this type of technology) or some online database for monitoring student behavior in class will depend on the circumstances. It is likely that teachers will have increased scope to experiment, very likely knowing ten or fifteen years down the line precisely which of these various resource types is likely to be the most effective.

• With a bit of luck, although this trend is less certain, teachers may well also see a greater transfer of learning responsibility to the child. A further advantage of the integration of technology to the classroom is the increase in scope for independent activity among children. In many other areas of school life (for instance, library use and general self-care areas), children are already encouraged to take a lead, to the effect that they learn relevant skills faster and that much more effectively. Very likely, teachers will have means of encouraging students to be more independent in their discipline – in their self-discipline –and, depending on the way in which curriculum and standards develop, perhaps also in terms of how they go about learning within the classroom, moving from task to task and perhaps even having independence in their learning choices.

One thing is for sure though — we can expend change to classroom management and discipline strategies in public education classrooms. We may not have the full story yet on what is likely to happen five to ten years down the road, but we have some signs of change, some definite evidence of the types of shifts. How exactly these individual shifts play out? Only time will tell.

Matthew Lynch published in Ask An Expert, Matthew Lynch February 1, 2016

New Teacher Tip: Getting Ready for the First Day of Class

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. Use the checklist below as a guide to make sure you have taken care of all the aspects of classroom preparation that need to be addressed prior to the first day of school.

Teacher Supplies

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. You should also make sure you have adequate numbers of the following items:

• 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 for New Students

Take home packets are a must for students at the start of the New Year. This packet helps you communicate the objectives of the class for the year to students and their parents. It also helps you communicate important information concerning rules and consequences, the school calendar, special events, and any new activities or changes that have been made over the summer months. 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

Additionally, you may want to accomplish the following activities during the first week of the new academic year.

• 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

Completion of items on this 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! Also, 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.

Matthew Lynch published in Matthew Lynch, OpEducation, Policy & Reform January 31, 2016

3 Reasons Today’s Students Might Be Worse Off than Their Parents

The great dream of all parents is that their children will grow up to have even better life circumstances than they do. Parents want their little ones to have more materially and academically – to, in essence, face more opportunities in their lives and continue to progress. In America, this desire has translated to a reality in general terms. Robert J. Gordon of the New York Times reports that a typical American was four times as “well off” in 2007 as in 1937, and eight times better off compared to 1902. He points out that these numbers of improvement have traditionally had a direct correlation with the level of education achieved. As the American public has become better educated, its quality of life has risen.

But just how far up can improvement numbers rise? At what point do Americans become so comfortable with their ways of life that they simply stop trying to achieve more?

If you look at the education system, beginning with the K-12 years and extending into the college years, it looks as if current generations of Americans may end up worse off than their parents, and potentially their grandparents too.

Let’s look more closely at how this is happening—and why.

High school dropout rates are not improving: In 1970, 80 percent of Americans graduated with an official high school diploma. That number was only at 74 percent in 2000. The numbers are climbing back up, with the Department of Education reporting that the dropout rate was only 7 percent in 2011 but the way those numbers are calculated needs consideration. Those who group G.E.D. earners in with other high school diploma recipients when it comes to graduation rates present a skewed view because long term, G.E.D. students earn around the same amount as high school dropouts.
“Teaching to the test” is hurting our students: Initiatives to democratize education, like No Child Left Behind, have actually hurt schools by placing too much emphasis on teacher performance and ignoring the learning needs of the students. Increasingly, K-12 teachers have to prove themselves to onlookers and at the demise of the young people who are there to learn.
Minority groups are being left behind: Certainly factors outside the school environment can affect the likelihood that a student will earn a high school diploma. In 2011, 14 percent of Hispanic students dropped out of high school, compared to 7 percent of Black students and 5 percent of White students, proving that minority groups are still at a disadvantage when it comes to the American education system. Poverty, hunger, family dysfunction and just a general lack of educated role models play into the way these numbers add up.

If the high school dropout rate is higher than it has been in past generations, one of the first places to look for answers is in the classroom. What can educators do to ensure the students sitting at their desks are equipped to outperform their ancestors academically and in their careers? Is there really any way to battle environmental factors and stringent teacher accountability metrics and come out on the winning side of educating America’s youth?

For the graduates of 2020 and beyond to live up to their parents dreams of a better life, a better foundation is needed in K-12 years. The flame of desire when it comes to academic achievement must be fanned in the foundational learning years. A future that is “better” than the present is one that not only has material gains, but academic ones too. At some point, having things will simply not be enough anymore. American students will need a renewed love of learning to come out ahead of past generations and that passion will need to be born in K-12 classrooms.

In what ways do you think this generation of students will be worse or better off from its parents’ generation? Leave a comment below—I would enjoy hearing your thoughts on this.

Matthew Lynch published in Diversity, Equity, Higher Education, list, Matthew Lynch January 29, 2016

4 Fascinating Truths about First-Generation College Students

College attendance has become less of a privilege and more of a necessity in the contemporary workforce. This cultural shift is a reflection of President Obama’s goal of having the largest percentage of college graduates out of all the countries in the world by 2020. With this push has come an influx of students that may not have been part of the college scene as early as a decade ago. Availability of courses online and expansion of options at the community college level have paved the way for non-traditional students to earn degrees and a better living. A growing demographic in college attendance and graduation are first-generation students.

First-generation college students face a unique set of challenges, and some of them may just surprise you. Here are some fascinating truths about first-generation college students.

Half of the college population consists of first-generation students. A 2010 study by the Department of Education found that 50 percent of the college population is made up of first-generation students, or those whose parents did not receive education beyond a high school diploma. The National Center for Education Statistics released numbers in 2010 that broke down the educational levels of parents of current college attendees. Minority groups made up the largest demographics of students with parents that had a high school education or less, with 48.5 percent of Latino and Hispanic students and 45 percent of Black or African-American students included. The parents of students of Asian descent came in at 32 percent with a high school diploma or less and Native Americans at 35 percent. Of students that identified themselves as Caucasian, only 28 percent were first-generation college students.

Though higher in minority groups, these numbers show the overarching trend of first-generation college attendance in all American demographics. While an education is viewed as an advantage in the job marketplace, the degree alone does not automatically lead to better opportunities and pay. In order to ensure optimal career success in the growing group of first-generation college students, the specific needs of these young people must be addressed – beyond what lies in textbooks.

First-generation students are less prepared to make the most out of their education. The simple assumption is that a higher number of educated first-generation college students will translate to better jobs for these graduates and a better quality of life. The answer to the equation is just not that simple, however. Even with a college degree, first-generation students often come from low-income, minority or immigrant families and do not have the same set of life skills and personal capital of middle-to-high income bracket students.

Parents of first-generation students also do not have the life experience to adequately guide their children to the next step in succeeding in the college-educated workforce. A 2004 report in the Journal of Higher Education put it this way: “first-generation students… may be less prepared than similar students whose parents are highly educated, to make the kind of informed choices… that potentially maximize educational progression and benefits.”

The transition from a college setting to a full-time career is often bumpy for all college students, especially first-generation graduates. The things learned in a classroom simply cannot adequately translate to the real-world; in addition to “book smarts” colleges and universities have a responsibility to prepare attendees, particularly first-generation ones, for the challenges of the modern workforce.

Mentorship and academic success programs go a long way in helping first-generation college students. There are some federally funded programs in place to address the specific issues that face first-generation college students, like the TRIO and Robert McNair programs that lend academic and tutoring services to this group. The problem with these programs, and others like them, is that they are not required for college graduation and are vastly underutilized. A better approach is proactive mentorship and advising that mandates interaction between students and professors or other staff members that can provide real-world guidance. These programs would focus on the translation of knowledge to marketplace settings from people that know the ropes.
Some students may need to learn how to apply what they learn to the real world. Colleges and universities should place continued focus on developing skills and employability among students. Schools with especially high numbers of first-generation students, like California State University Dominquez Hills, have implemented workforce “101” courses to up the social and intellectual skills of future graduates. It is not enough to assume that students inherently know how to apply classroom skills to a real-world environment, particularly in the case of first-generation ones.

Researching the needs of these students should be a priority of all institutions of higher education as it would help them form a better-prepared student body and strong workforce.

Matthew Lynch published in Matthew Lynch, Policy & Reform January 29, 2016

Year-Round Schooling: Should We Add on Extra Time, Too?

In this series, I’ve advocated for K-12 schools to shift from the traditional summers-off school calendar to year-round schooling. Consistency, less time spent relearning material, and the implications that year-round schooling has for closing the achievement gap are just a few of my reasons for feeling so strongly that this shift take place. There’s another piece to this argument though, and one that deserves a closer look. Along with more evenly splitting up time off, should schools be adding more time to their school days or more total days in the classroom?

Where We Stand

Let’s look at where American schools rank right now when it comes to days in school versus time off. Thirty states require schools to have a 180-day calendar, two ask for more than 181 school days and the rest ask for between 171 and 179 days on the official school calendar each year. Minnesota is the only state in the nation that has no minimum requirement for number of days students are in the classroom (though the state averages 175 school days). This means that in states with the lowest day requirements, students are out of school for more days than they are in it (as many as 194 days per year), a number that contrasts greatly with other developed nations.
Korea has the highest required number of school days, at 225, followed by Japan at 223 and China at 221. Canadian requirements are close to the U.S., at 188 days, and England is at 190 days. When all developed nations are considered, the international average for days in school is 193 – a full two weeks+ higher than most of the U.S.
But are all these days considered equal?

How long are the school days in places like Korea, China and England? It varies, but it is not uncommon for Korean high school students to spend 16 hours each school day in classrooms. That is more than twice the amount of time that American students spend at school, and perhaps a bit too extreme. Korean students consistently rank at the top of developed nations when it comes to subjects like math and science, though, vastly outpacing U.S. student. By contrast, in England school-aged children spend 6.5 to 7 hours at school – the equivalent of American students (but they spend more days in the classroom).

A Call for More Time in Classrooms

When comparing the amount of time dedicated to educational settings in the U.S. and competing economies, it becomes glaringly obvious that our standards of what is acceptable in terms of days in school varies greatly from the rest of the world. Even President Obama has been vocal about the need for American schools to add more time in the classroom – either through longer school days or more days on the school calendar.

“Today, it puts us at a competitive disadvantage. Our children spend over a month less in school than children in South Korea. That is no way to prepare them for a 21st century economy,” said President Obama in 2009.

Predictably those comments have received some pushback in the years since, both from parents who believe their children are already under too much pressure at school and need every single day off they are allotted, and from teachers unions who want to know how educators will be properly accommodated for the extra time spent in classroom instruction. The idea of adding more time to student school calendars is an unpopular one – but I’m not sure that is reason enough to rule it out.
Is it time to turn the U.S. K-12 school calendar completely on its head by abolishing summers-off schedules and adding time in the classroom? Would such actions make a significant positive impact on student performance, particularly in STEM topics?