Matthew Lynch

Matthew Lynch published in Matthew Lynch, Policy & Reform

Why The U.S. Education System is Failing: Part II

In part I, I examined problems hindering the U.S. education system. Understanding these issues and how heavily they will influence student success in the coming decades is vital to making needed improvements in the education system. The rapid changes in learning technology and student demographics, along with the shrinking global landscape, have led to a call for education reform in recent years. There is no time to sit by idly as a diverse group of students wade through average to below-average educational opportunities. Instead, discussions on improvements, advancements and reforms need to be established and ongoing. In part II of my series, I will continue to examine the reasons why the U.S. education system is failing.

Stagnant school spending. As the U.S. economy continues to improve, according to news headlines, one area is still feeling the squeeze from the recession years: K-12 public school spending. A report this month from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities found that 34 states are contributing less funding on a per student basis than they did prior to the recession years. Since states are responsible for 44 percent of total education funding in the U.S., these dismal numbers mean a continued crack down on school budgets despite an improving economy. If we cannot find the funding for our public schools, how can we expect things like the achievement gap to close or high school graduation rates to rise? It was understandable that budgets had to be slashed when the bottom dropped out of the economy. Now we are in a more stable place, though, it is time to get back to funding what matters most: the education of our K-12 students.

Outdated teacher training methods. With respect to the students of the past, 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 information from instant 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 – kids arrive at Kindergarten with less naivety than previous generations. Teachers don’t, in other words, get a clean slate. Instead, they get young minds cluttered with random information and ideas, all of which need fostering or remediating.

Lack of teacher education innovation. It stands to reason that if students are changing, teachers must change too. More specifically, it is time to modify teacher education to reflect the demands of the modern 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. Public education in America needs teachers who are better trained to meet the needs of specific student populations, though; who understand the necessary role of distance learning, and are willing to speak up to facilitate classroom change. Without these teachers, effective reform to meet global demand is not possible.

The school to prison pipeline. Sadly, over half of black young men who attend urban high schools do not earn a diploma. Of these dropouts, too, nearly 60 percent will go to prison at some point. Perhaps there is no real connection between these two statistics, or the eerily similar ones associated with young Latino men. Are these young people bad apples, destined to fail academically and then to live a life of crime? If some of the theories of genetic predisposition are true, perhaps these young men never stood a chance at success and have simply accepted their lots in life. But what if those answers, all of them, are just cop-outs? What if scoffing at a connection between a strong education and a life lived on the straight and narrow is an easy way to bypass the real issues in K-12 learning? Students who are at risk of dropping out of high school or turning to crime need more than a good report card. They need alternative suggestions on living a life that rises above their current circumstances. For a young person to truly have a shot at an honest life, he or she has to believe in the value of an education and its impact on good citizenship. That belief system has to come from direct conversations about making smart choices with trusted adults and peers.

Well that is the end of part II of on my series. Stay tuned for par III and remember to comment.

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

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Matthew Lynch published in Higher Education, Matthew Lynch

Change is Here: Why Higher Education Needs the Hispanic Community to Succeed

The face of higher education is rapidly evolving as more middle- to low-class young people find ways to obtain a college degree or technical training. The Hispanic population in the U.S. is no exception as the number of college applicants and enrollees increase every year. While these strides benefit this specific group of students, everyone stands to benefit from Hispanic higher education success.

The Numbers

The U.S. Census reports that the estimated Hispanic population in the nation is 52 million – making residents of Hispanic origin the largest  minority in the country. In fact, one of every six Americans is a Hispanic. That number is expected to rise to over 132 million by 2050 and Hispanics will then represent 30 percent of the U.S. population.  Children with Hispanic roots make up 23 percent of the age 17 and under demographic  — making future higher education legislation critical for this growing and thriving minority group.

The Issues

Young people of Hispanic origin face specific challenges when it comes to higher education. Many prospective students are first-generation Americans, or even undocumented residents, and do not have the first-hand experience or guidance from parents regarding the college experience in the U.S. Like all other ethnic groups, Hispanic youth face financial difficulty when trying to determine if college is a possibility. Many young Hispanics may feel overwhelmed by the social and financial pressure associated with college attendance and are in need of the right guidance. While higher education initiatives are changing to address these issues, only 13 percent of the Hispanic population over the age of 25 had a bachelor’s degree or higher in the 2010 Census.

Federal Initiative

The Obama administration recognizes the rapid growth of the Hispanic community, specifically as it impacts higher education, and has put several pieces of legislation into motion including the DREAM Act. First introduced in the U.S. Senate in August 2001, the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act was designed to reward children in good standing that came to the country illegally. Temporary residency is granted for a six-year time frame for young people that seek out higher educational pursuits with an option for permanent residency after completion of a bachelor’s degree or beyond.

The bill went through several iterations before President Obama announced in June 2012 that his administration would stop deporting undocumented immigrants meeting DREAM Act criteria. While this legislation applies to more than Hispanic immigrants, they are the group that stands to benefit the  most from its enactment. With no fear of deportation, Hispanic youth with higher education aspirations are free to pursue them and work toward a better individual and collective future.

What’s Ahead?

Increasing higher education opportunities for Hispanics has obvious positive benefits for the demographic itself, but the influence will be felt even further. Think of it as a ripple effect, where the Hispanic community represents the initial splash and all other ethnic groups feel the impact too. The Obama Administration has made known its goals to make the U.S. the leader in college degrees earned in proportion to population. In order for this goal to be met, Hispanics (specifically those of Latino descent) will need to earn 3.3 million degrees between now and 2020. The economic success of geographic areas, specifically urban areas, is directly affected by the number of college graduates that study and stay there. In states like Texas, this is an especially poignant point where a one-point college graduate rate increase can result in $1.5 billion more in annual economic activity for cities like San Antonio. Without the help of Hispanic youth, these numbers are difficult, if impossible, to achieve.

Legislation like the DREAM Act is just the start of changing the culture of higher education to be more welcoming to Hispanic youth. Individual colleges and universities must also step up and offer academic and financial aid programs with specific Hispanic needs in mind. The future achievements of higher education in the U.S. are dependent upon the inclusion and success of Hispanic students and the same is true of a stable economic climate. The sooner that federal and state initiatives, along with colleges and universities, embrace these inevitabilities, the better.

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

2 Most Embarrassing HBCU Scandals and Mishaps of 2015

The HBCU (historically black colleges and universities) world had its share of scandals and mishaps during 2015. In order to grow and survive in the current economic climate, HBCUs will have to learn from these mistakes. Here are the biggest scandals and mishaps HBCUs faced in 2015.

Spelman bids adieu to Bill Cosby professorship. Bill Cosby could not escape bad news in 2015. After information from a lawsuit against him was leaked, Cosby’s worst year ever continued. Based on what was revealed, it seems to be for good reason.

According to The Associated Press, top HBCU Spelman College decided to end its relationship with Cosby and his wife Camille in the face of this information. “Spelman told The Associated Press in a statement Friday that the college has parted ways with the 78-year-old actor and comedian. A deposition released this month shows the married father of five acknowledged he got sedatives to give to women before sex.”

The report also mentioned that “the Cosbys donated $20 million to the college in 1988.”

In addition to ending the endowed professorship, the college also returned “related funds to the Clara Elizabeth Jackson Carter Foundation,” a foundation started by Bill and Camille Cosby.

While Cosby hasn’t been charged with a crime, the details of the lawsuit seemed to be substantial enough for Spelman and other colleges to severe ties with Cosby.
Temple, Amherst, and the University of Massachusetts, all schools that Cosby attended, have decided to part ways with the famous comedian.

Spelman, and all other educational institutions who have received money from Cosby could have continued to use the funds given to them. But it was not worth the bad PR and potential loss of current and future students. Spelman, a school for women, has a social responsibility to uphold, and considering what Cosby has been accused of, this move is warranted.

Georgia HBCU set to merge with PWI. In less-than-stunning news, the Georgia Board of Regents decided to merge HBCU Albany State University with a Predominately White Institution (PWI) Darton State College. The new school will boast close to 9,000 students and will retain the Albany State University name.
While the move to combine two state colleges isn’t shocking, it did take some by surprise that the board decided to merge an HBCU and a PWI. In recent years, we’ve seen HBCUs merging in order to keep their cultures intact, not shutter their doors, but the move in Georgia doesn’t follow that path.

According to the Atlanta Journal Constitution, the move was partially made because of declining enrollment at both institutions. “Both schools have faced enrollment declines in recent years. Albany State’s enrollment has dropped 25 percent in five years; Darton has seen a 14 percent enrollment decline since its peak in 2012.”

The Journal also reported that the school will become southwest Georgia’s largest college.

Even without the declining enrollment figures, some have concerns that Albany State will lose its culture and identity by merging with a PWI. Hank Huckaby, chancellor of the university system of Georgia, said that Albany State’s history and culture will not be compromised by the merger (but he didn’t really give specifics on how that will happen).

This announcement was not the first on mergers in the state. A merger between Kennesaw State and Southern Polytechnic State universities was finalized earlier this year. The largest merger, between Georgia State University and Georgia Perimeter College, is in the works now.

I have mixed feelings about this particular merger. On one hand, it’s a way to keep both universities going and not leave students with no options. It does feel like the identity of Albany State will somehow get a little lost, but I suppose time will tell.

Did we miss anything?

Read all of our posts about HBCUs by clicking here.

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Matthew Lynch published in Equity, Higher Education, Matthew Lynch

3 Biggest Losses for K-12 Education in 2015

All in all, 2015 was a good year for K-12 education. However, for all the great wins we experienced, we also had some major losses. Let’s look back at just a few of these disappointments.

In 23 states, poor students see less school funding. Poverty makes it more difficult for children to succeed in school, and they come to school at a disadvantage. These students tend to have more needs than their middle-class and well-off peers. Children from poor families are behind their counterparts on nearly every measure of academic achievement.

In 23 states, state and local governments together spend less per student in the poorest districts than those that are more affluent, according to 2012 federal data reported in The Washington Post. The differences in funding are severe in some states. Pennsylvania spends 33 percent less on the poorest school districts per pupil than on the wealthiest. In Missouri, the difference is 17 percent.

Across the United States, states and localities on average spend 15 percent less per pupil in the poorest districts than in the most affluent, according to The Washington Post.

This news is troubling. We need to find ways to ensure that children from low-income families receive an excellent education and their fair share of federal assistance. Our country needs to work hard to find ways to help homeless students and those in poverty and provide resources such as after-school and summer programs to help our poorer students succeed.

In addition, if we want to narrow the education gap, we have to help our underprivileged students. Poverty doesn’t mean that students cannot succeed; they can.

However, poverty does place additional pressures on children and add some additional challenges. Funding is one big way we can help our students from poorer schools and give them a better chance at success.

The opportunity gap is widening in America. The economic status of the parents of today’s K-12 students determines the long-term economic quality of the children’s lives more today than in previous generations. Children living in poverty conditions today are more likely to stay in them throughout adulthood than in previous generations, according to new information from Robert Putnam, author of “Our Kids: The American Dream in Crisis,” which examines how kids experience inequality the most and the devastating long-term effects.

Putnam revealed to Mind/Shift that the opportunity gap is making it impossible for a third of kids to gain access to the right steps to achieve the American Dream. This “opportunity gap” is a result of many factors, including a lack of equality in resources and treatment of students in America’s school systems, starting as young as preschool.

I think that the only way to truly close the opportunity gap is in our K-12 education system. As a society, we cannot go into homes and change what takes place there, at least not on the mass scale that is needed. We can, however, educate our nation’s children and give them the tools to elevate their quality of life. Schools are certainly places where social services, like free and reduced-price lunch programs, are appropriate, but to really facilitate long-term change, we need to give students the educational tools to rise above issues like poverty as they grow. This is only possible with targeted programs in at-risk areas that take specific backgrounds and life situations into account and employ teachers who come from similar backgrounds so students have relatable role models.

2016 USDOE funding is $2 billion less than 2015. Congress went to work on education funding in 2015, and the results aren’t pretty. According to ThinkProgress.org, the Senate Appropriations Committee put forth a bill that included education funding for the next fiscal year. The funding level is about $2 billion less than it was in 2015, which means a potential loss of programs.

The Senate’s version wasn’t as bad as what the House came up with. The appropriations committee in the lower chamber wanted to slash $2.8 billion from the Department of Education.

What’s at stake is the department’s research ability. Think Progress’s article stated that the department “would lose 80 percent of its research budget and all funding for preschool development grants, School Improvement Grants, and the Advanced Placement Test Fee program, which allows low-income high school students to afford tests that provide them with college credits.”

That’s fairly significant.

In December of last year, the department awarded the preschool development grant to 18 states. That totaled almost $300 million that went towards allowing more kids access to preschool programs. If the House and Senate continue cutting the grant, this will hurt thousands of children nationwide.

When we see politicians making drastic and harmful decisions like this, it shows just how empty politics can seem at times. Getting rid of the education department’s research budget and slashing preschool grants may save money, but it will hurt us in the long run.

Hopefully, both sides are able to compromise so that the cuts stop short of hurting kids who are about to start their education.

What were the biggest losses for K-12 education in 2015? What did I miss?

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

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Matthew Lynch published in Diversity, Equity, Matthew Lynch

Black Boys in Crisis: Is Punishment Too Harsh?

It’s no secret that Black boys are considered the trouble makers of society. In America’s prison systems, black citizens are incarcerated at six times the rates of white ones – and the NAACP predicts that one in three of this generation of Black boys will spend some time locked up. Do these numbers tell the true story though? Are Black boys inherently more dangerous than their white and Hispanic peers – or are they the products of racial profiling and a society that sets them up to fail?

In the first part of this series I looked at the connection between low reading ability and a lifetime of struggle for Black young men in the U.S., but today I want to focus on a non-academic area that impacts this group in childhood: punishment that begins in K-12 classrooms.

Troubling Stats in Schools

Nearly 75 percent of all schools in the U.S. report at least one violent incident in their schools each year, but that number rises to 82 percent for schools with a majority of Black students. Though Hispanic boys are the most likely to be involved with gang activity at school, it is certainly an issue for Black boys too – with 31 percent of students nationwide reporting seeing Black gang activity in their schools. Violence is just one part of the criminal side of K-12 hallways, though. There are also higher numbers of non-violent crimes, like theft, in schools where more students are Black than any other race.

All of that being said, there still IS violence in schools where Black students are the minority, and committed by non-Black students. Yet, over and over again statistics show that punishment for Black boys – even first-time offenders – in schools is harsher than any other demographic. Consider these facts:

• Black students make up just 18 percent of children in U.S. preschools, but make up half of those youngsters who are suspended.
• Black boys receive two-thirds of all school suspensions nationwide – all demographics and both genders considered.
• In Chicago, 75 percent of all students arrested in public schools are Black.

Also troubling is the fact that not all of the Black boys taken from their schools in handcuffs are violent, or even criminals. Increasingly, school-assigned law enforcement officers are leading these students from their schools hallways for minor offenses, including class disruption, tardiness and even non-violent arguments with other students. It seems that it is easier to remove these students from class through the stigma of suspension or arrest than to look for in-school solutions.
Minnesota civil rights attorney Nekima Levy-Pounds writes that “it is a continual affront to the human dignity of black boys to be treated as second class citizens within the public school system and made to feel as though they are not welcome in mainstream classroom settings.”

In Minneapolis, for example, an Office for Black Male Student Achievement has been created within the public schools to address the specific challenges that face young black males face when navigating the public school system. It appears that the effort may just be smoke and mirrors, however, as only $200,000 has been dedicated to it – which amounts to just $28 per African American boy.

School-to-Prison pipeline

School suspension, and certainly arrest, is just the beginning of a life considered on the wrong side of the law for many Black boys. By 18 years of age, 30 percent of Black males have been arrested at least once, compared to just 22 percent of white males. Those numbers rise to 49 percent for Black men by the age of 23, and 38 percent of white males. Researchers from several universities concluded earlier this year that arrests early in life often set the course for more crimes and incarceration throughout the rest of the offender’s lifetime.

Turning our backs on the misbehavior of our K-12 youth doesn’t teach them a lesson, or lead to lives that are changed for the better. It only simplifies the present, paving the way for a future of crime and other misbehavior. In order to change the troubling trends of Black men and crime, we first need to address the way Black boys are disciplined in K-12 schools and look for better solutions to suspensions and arrests.

photo credit: Elliott Fusy-Pudal via photopin cc

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Matthew Lynch published in Education Leadership, Matthew Lynch

Adopting a Transformational Leadership Style

Transformational leadership is all about perception. It only works if it is able to influence the core—the follower’s feelings. Charismatic and inspiring, transformational leaders are well versed the power of language and imagery. “Transformational characteristics” are included in training courses, but the personal effort of the leader determines whether transformational leadership is achievable.

The positive connection between transformational leadership and job characteristics is so strong, we should almost expect an opposite result in organizations that do not employ  it. When switching to a transformational style of leadership,  a principal or dean must understand how he or she is to influence task perception. The shaping of daily tasks in a transformational manner helps foster positive perceptions among followers.

Transformational behaviors are a continuous process. A school intending to convert to this style should assess the departments where it is needed. The organization should include transformational components in their yearly assessments, such as 360-degree feedback and managerial surveys. These could replace needs assessments.

Transformation doesn’t happen overnight, but it is worthwhile for any school to build on these principles, since the long-term effects enrich the entire institution. Students learn leadership from the school. Transformational leadership in student affairs would help ensure that students initiate this leadership later in life.

Combating Negativity Through Transformational Leadership

Meta-analytic research has produced evidence of a positive relationship between transformational leadership and work-related results. These findings demonstrate that transformational leaders make work meaningful by providing autonomy. Followers of transformational leaders feel strongly that their work is esteemed and self-congruent.

Transformational leaders motivate by increasing self-efficacy in followers, by facilitating social identification within a group, and by linking organizational values to follower values. This allows followers to feel more determined in their work and augments their perceived empowerment.

While cynicism and intentions to quit are widely considered symptoms of employee negativity, initial research in organizational behaviors has considered them to be generalized traits. Recent studies found cynicism to be a specific construct; a reflection of the followers’ perception of the leader. Cynicism is a product of ineffective leadership and lack of participation and consultation in decision making.

Transformational leadership encourages a feeling of empowerment in all followers. There is an inverse relationship between cynicism and transformational leadership, because persons under a highly transformational leader are usually intellectually stimulated and constantly challenged to be open-minded. Various studies have demonstrated relationships between follower empowerment and job satisfaction, decreased anger and frustration, and a sense of organizational attachment.

Intention to quit (ITQ) is another form of employee’s negative reaction to poor leadership. Factors that have been linked to ITQ include poor pay, and lack of job satisfaction and goal commitment. Employees are unlikely to have ITQ toward an organization where their need for efficacy is met in their respective job responsibilities. Highly resilient followers are more likely to adapt after setbacks at work, rather than leave the organization.

Universality of Transformational Leadership

Is transformational leadership a universal style of leadership, or is it regional or culturally limited? Many sources have attempted to carry out cross-national studies to establish this.

A study by Boehnke, Bontis, Distefano, and Distefano investigated the existence of universally consistent behaviors. They sampled 145 senior executives in two divisions of a global petroleum company and its subsidiaries around the world.  One of the major findings of the study was that the basic dimensions of leadership that produce extraordinary performance are universal, with little variation in the six different parts of the world sampled. However, some leadership differences were attributed to the different corporate cultures in the two company divisions.

In the final result, transformational leadership is identified as consistent with a clear majority of sampled behaviors, as provided in the executives’ descriptions of their version of exceptional organizational performance. Terms such as visioning, intellectual stimulation, team building, coaching, and inspiring behavior appeared in 68% or more of the responses. All those attributes refer to a transformational style of leadership.

It is intriguing to note that the only non-transformational characteristic in more than half of the reports was “recognizing and rewarding,” at 62%, which is an element of the transactional style of leadership. It is apparent that transformational leadership is widely accepted as an exceptional leadership technique. It is applicable in all kinds of organizations, including the school setting. Whether you are a practicing leader or someone who aspires to become one, you would be well advised to add transformational leadership to your repertoire.

References

Transformational leadership is a theory of leadership that was developed by James Burns (1978), and has been written about by many other scholars since then. To read more of James Burns’ work on transformational leadership and other topics, click here to visit his Amazon.com page.

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Matthew Lynch published in Higher Education, Matthew Lynch

2 Biggest K-12 Education Wins of 2015

2015 was a good year for K-12 education, and we had some great wins. Let’s look back at a couple of these accomplishments:

Social programs keep child poverty rates from doubling. More children are living in poverty conditions in the U.S. than official numbers present, according to a new report from the Annie E. Casey Foundation. The Measuring Access to Opportunity in the United States Report uses the Supplemental Poverty Measure, a standard first implemented by the U.S. Census in 2011 that measures the impact of important social programs like SNAP and the Earned Income Tax Credit on true poverty rates. It also accounts for rising costs and other changes that affect a family’s budget. Unlike the federal “poverty level” standard, the SPM takes geographical costs of living into account.

According to SPM measurements, without social assistance programs, the child poverty rate would almost double from its current 18 percent to 33 percent. Not surprisingly, children of color are more likely to live in poverty than their white peers. The report found that both Latino and African-American children have a 29 percent SPM rate, while white children sit at just 10 percent nationally.

A few other findings from the report:

• California has the highest child poverty rate, using the SPM, followed by Arizona and Nevada.
• States with some of the largest child populations, like Florida, New York, and Texas, have among the highest child poverty rates using the SPM. Poverty rates among southeastern states are also higher than the national average.
• The lowest rates are in the upper Midwest and northern New England.

So what do these findings mean for the children in our K-12 schools? Correlating a child’s poverty rate to success in life (and in school), The Annie E. Casey Foundation suggests the following steps:

• More support of quality early-childhood education opportunities.
• Expansion of the Earned Income Tax Credit so families can keep more of their earnings.
• More access to programs like SNAP and child care and housing subsidies.
• Better job training and childcare support for parents.

You can read the full report here.

I’ve long believed that educational assistance is the biggest step towards breaking the cycle of poverty for all children, especially minorities. When we look at our future generations, the key to eradicating poverty lies in the opportunities we provide kids in our K-12 schools and the assistance we give their families to raise their quality of life.

K-12 education news coverage on the rise. Mainstream media drive conversations, so analyzing what is being covered in the news gives a general indication of public perception on issues.

A new report from leading education reform policy strategist Andrew R. Campanella, titled “Leading the News – 25 Years of Education Coverage,” reveals how news media has presented K-12 education stories over the past quarter-century. So what does education news coverage look like?

In short, coverage of K-12 education in the news media is on the rise — up 7.7 percent in 2014 over the average of the 25-year span.

Not surprisingly, local news outlets provide the most education news coverage. In fact, local news outlets commit 6.82 percent of their air time to covering K-12 education or schools. That’s nearly three times higher than the national news coverage average of just 2.3 percent. What’s more is that local education news coverage appears to be on the rise.

From 2010 to 2014, the top education news story topic by far was sports, garnering 13.6 percent. At a distant second was special events (5.1 percent), followed by education funding (5 percent) and academic subjects (4.65 percent). As far as groups of people, students get the most mentions at 62 percent, followed by administrators (42.7 percent), teachers (28.3 percent), and parents (23.5 percent).

Coverage of educational policy is on the decline though — down 36 percent in 2014 over the 25-year average. Within the education policy category, funding and school choice were the most-covered topics. These two topics garnered 2.5 times more coverage than all other educational policy reporting combined (which includes 10 other specific issues).

Looking ahead, the report forecasts that coverage of school choice, school safety, and state education standards will continue to rise while teacher issues, funding, federal programs, and class sizes will continue to decline.

This is just a snapshot of all the report entails. You can read the rest of it by clicking here.

I can’t say I’m very surprised that local outlets provide the most coverage on K-12 education, but I was surprised to see that funding and federal programs are seeing less air time. I’d be interested to see an update of this report in another 5 years to find out if the trends in K-12 educational coverage continue on the same path.

What were the biggest wins for P-20 education in 2015? What did I miss?

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

3 Wins for Higher Education in 2015

2015 was a good year for higher education; we experienced some great wins. Let’s look back at just a few of these accomplishments:

Bernie Sanders released plan to ease student loan debt. According to Forbes.com, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, one of the Democratic candidates in the 2016 presidential race, has plans to work to forgive some student loan debt if elected president.

In a speech he gave to students at the University of Iowa back in February, Sanders said that the federal government has made billions of dollars off student loan interest payments in the last 10 years.

“We must end the practice of the government making billions in profits from student loans taken out by low and moderate income families. That is extremely regressive public policy. It also makes no sense that students and their parents are forced to pay interest rates for higher education loans that are much higher than they pay for car loans or housing mortgages,” Sanders said.

Sanders’s numbers are correct by the CBO’s standards but have been openly challenged. According to the Washington Post, the math is fuzzy, and there is no way of knowing if the federal government is making a true profit off student loan payments.

Either way, numbers show and prove that the federal government has to pivot towards a new process for collecting payments from student loans or risk creating a new set of economic problems.

That, more than anything, seems to be part of the point that Sanders is making. He also acknowledges that if students weren’t forced to pay back so much of the loan, or if the interest rates were lower, they would then have the ability to reinvest into the economy by purchasing a new car or a new home.

Talk of student loan debt and higher education will continue to increase as we head into the 2016 election season. Sanders is an Independent running as a Democrat, and he is a socialist and fiery progressive. His approach to certain issues may turn some off, but the radical views that he has on fixing the financial issues within higher education should turn positive attention to a problem many students struggle with.

FIU to receive federal grant to train autism certified teachers. Florida International University received some good news: the United State Department of Education will bestow the university with a new grant aimed towards training more teachers certified to work with students who have autism.

According to fiu.edu, the grant is worth $1.25 million and will be used to pay for the tuition of students who attend the school to attain their Master’s of Science in Special Education.

As of this fall, “the $1.25 million grant, Project OPERATE, will pay for the tuition of nine students who are accepted into the accelerated master’s program every year through 2020.” The program is just 12 months but is targeted at “educators who already teach students on the autism spectrum.”

Information posted in FIU’s article portends that more students will continue to be identified as autistic, so the need for more educators who work in this discipline will increase as well.

Not only is this great news for FIU, it is a positive for those who work in education. Hopefully, by graduating more students through this program, we will see an increase in attention paid to special education and autism. With the rapid rate at which children are being diagnosed with spectrum issues, this next generation of teachers must know how to help students with autism succeed. I hope it is only a matter of time before more colleges have robust autism-in-education training programs too.

For any students who may want to apply for the program, the deadline to do so is August 3rd. The deadline to receive consideration for Project OPERATE is July 15th, and details may be found by e-mailing [email protected].

Future of higher education upgraded to stable. Higher education might not be in bad shape after all. According to Washingtonpost.com, Moody’s has officially upgraded the higher education industry from negative to stable.

In July, “the firm predicted that higher education will stabilize, for the first time post-recession, allowing more predictability in operating budgets. They upgraded the whole sector to ‘stable.’”

The article lightly detailed why the rating was elevated and whether it is sustainable. Due to rising revenue based on growth in tuition and federal research funding, the industry has experienced stability, which is something higher education hasn’t been accustomed to since the start of Obama’s second term.

But that news isn’t necessarily grand for students. Tuition growth may be great for the industry as a whole because it decreases volatility, but rising college costs due to tuition increases have priced many students out of higher education. Hopefully this will lead to a reduction in how often colleges and universities are forced to raise tuition because of budget cuts and low funding from state legislatures.

But overall, this is good news. Higher education’s former negative outlook was bad for all involved. An uptick in that outlook will surely help this arena in remaining stable and improving its standing in the coming years.

In your estimation, what were the biggest wins for higher education in 2015?

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Matthew Lynch published in Matthew Lynch, Policy & Reform

P-16 and P-20 Initiatives: Critical for Education Reform

If the goal of P-12 education is to prepare students for success in the adult world that follows, there seems to be a bit of a disconnect when a high school diploma is handed over. Students are sent off to college as adults and there is a sharp separation between the support and guidance in all the classrooms they’ve ever visited and the new ones on the horizon. We seem to assume that our well-educated youth will know exactly how to act on their own when it comes to secondary education. That’s a problem. In this article, we will discuss how P-16 and P-20 initiatives are critical for education reform in the U.S.

A study from Harvard University found that only 56 percent of college freshman actually receive a degree within six years, and only 29 percent of students in two-year programs actually finish. If those numbers were applied to a P-12 system words like “outrageous” and “failure” would be tossed around, particularly if these were public schools. Yet, so far, the American public seems content to let these numbers lie. Culturally, there are many “acceptable” reasons why students make a goal to earn a college degree and then change their minds. They are, after all, adults right?

Enter the concept of P-16 education. The term used to describe the goal of creating a seamless education system of public education that spans the years from pre-school through college completion. One of the major themes of P-16 education is to reduce the number of high school graduates that need remedial education at the college level. This, in turn, will reduce college dropout rates and ensure a more qualified workforce.

Taking that concept a step further, P-20 initiatives support collaboration between academics and workforce training. Instead of handing over a college degree with a “good luck,” colleges and universities with P-20 programs strive to guide students in their early careers. Organizations like the P-20 Council of Connecticut offer readiness workshops and help college graduates find and keep jobs.

States and individual colleges that have put P-16 and P-20 programs into place have seen success. Things like achievement gaps narrow when students are given a more streamlined approach to their entire education and how it all amounts to workforce readiness. Education reform through these specific initiatives is the key to cultivating the life success of all students, regardless of their race and socioeconomic status. It seems like there is a lot of talk about supporting P-12 students from disadvantaged backgrounds, but it quiets after high school.

Shouldn’t that be the time when students blazing a new family trail should have the MOST support? Additionally, if these students have always had support on their P-12 journey – how are they supposed to feel when they are suddenly on their own?

Students from disadvantaged backgrounds can certainly benefit from P-16 and P-20 programs, but I believe the value of these initiatives is even more far-reaching. Even young adults with a strong family support system regarding their educations, and successful role models, are coming of age in a time much different than previous generations. Workforce readiness is a whole different ball of wax than even a decade ago. Young adults cannot be expected to know or understand the full ramifications of their roles in the economy without close guidance, particularly in the early years of their careers.

College and the years that follow it should certainly be a time of self-discovery, and not everything should be taught or mandated by the country’s education system. Educators, from preschool through college, should do a better job of preparing students for what life will bring them, though. More focus on the immediate years following P-12 will result in better academic outcomes that translate into a better quality of life for students.

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

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Matthew Lynch published in Matthew Lynch, Policy & Reform

Pre-K Learning: How Young is Really Necessary?

In his State of the Union address last week, President Obama brought up the topic of universal Pre-K learning and praised the programs already in place in states like Florida, South Carolina and New Jersey. He connected Pre-K initiatives to his Race to the Top program that has the lofty goal of making the U.S. the worldwide leader in college attendees and graduates. His administration contends that the academic skill sets needed to reach that goal must have their foundation before Kindergarten and that the responsibility for that lies in public funding.

From an educator’s point of view, I’d say the President and his education advisors are right on. It’s no secret that the U.S. lags behind other developed nations when it comes to academics, particularly in areas like science and math. To compete as a nation on a global scale, this generation of K-12 (or P-12) students simply need to know more than their parents did as children. This fact has led to some passionate discourse both for and against more stringent academic standards that start in early childhood and extend into the college years.

Admittedly, universal Pre-K programs tend to benefit disadvantaged and at-risk students the most. Children from middle-to-high class socioeconomic backgrounds do not feel the positive effects of preschool as strongly as their low-income and minority peers. In families where at least one parent can be home with children in the early years, and able to do basic learning activities with them, the impact of Pre-K programs are virtually non-existent by the time the child is in mid-elementary school. Children that participate in play-oriented preschool programs but have attentive parents that expose them to minimal learning fare just as well, or better than, peers who attend regimented Pre-K programs.
Of course academics are not the only benefit to Pre-K programs.

Socialization and an idea of what to expect when the school years come along are also an integral part of the Pre-K process. Kindergarten used to be an adjustment year for children, but now kids who arrive in these classrooms are expected to know much more. Common Core standards exist at the Kindergarten level, with the expectation that these students will know how to read simple sentences competently, do basic addition and subtraction problems and understand basic time concepts. States that already have tax-funded Pre-K programs test Kindergartners and report back to the preschool provider the results. In some cases, future funding rests on whether or not the Pre-K program adequately prepared enough students for the academic rigors of Kindergarten.

So then the question becomes one of impact. Will universal learning at a younger age make a big enough difference long-term to justify the added cost and resources? How much time do children really need to learn what they will need to know to compete globally?

Parents seem to be split on the issue, with one side affirming the need for stronger academic standards and the other side bemoaning the difficulty of material their young children bring home from school. Districts throughout the country have listened to parents’ complaints when it comes to implementation of all-day Kindergarten (versus the traditional half-days) and some parents have even decided to homeschool their children because they so strongly disagree with the academic rigor. Given this cultural climate, I wonder what is to be expected when more states roll out Pre-K programs? Right now it is voluntary for families – but will that always be the case?

Is universal Pre-K a necessity – and if so, are American educators, parents and young students really ready for it?

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