After spending a decade and a half in the field of education, and much to my chagrin, not much has changed. K-12 schools are still underperforming, losing the global war for intellectual supremacy year after year. The power to counteract this is within our grasp, but we are too busy fighting political battles over state and parental rights. Our kids deserve better.
The bottom line is that most valuable commodity that we have is our children, and the future of the United States is inextricably tied to them. Unless we provide our children with a world-class education now, we will suffer later, when they are unable to lead or compete in the global economy.
Let’s stop fighting these petty turf wars. Who cares if Common Core is tied to President Obama or not? Flawed as it may be, it has the potential to ensure that all children graduate with the skills that they need to become productive citizens. It could be a game changer, but many of us reject it because it feels too much like a nationalized curriculum, or because we simply don’t understand the potential benefits. I brought up Common Core because it’s a divisive issue, driven more by politics than practicality.
It’s funny how we say that it is all about the kids, but at the end of the day, education policy makers create laws based on what is best for stakeholders. They don’t want to upset educators, teachers unions, parents, business, etc. Who cares about what upsets kids?
Take ten minutes out of your day and talk to a high school dropout. Ask them why they dropped out? The answers that you get will give you valuable insight into what is wrong with U.S. Education system. Instead of listening to the feedback from students, we would rather do a deep dive into the data, or pay a consultant six figures.
Our kids deserve better. They deserve access a quality education regardless of where they live in this country. The only thing standing in our way is us. If we could learn to focus on what matters most, our children, then and only then will we be able to reform the U.S. education system and secure our children’s future.
State and local lawmakers have put policies in place to address and prevent bullying. Many schools too have implemented interventions to improve school climate to reduce bullying behaviors.
Despite these efforts, in my research and experiences in schools as a counselor educator and school counselor, I have found bullying based on bias continues to be an issue in school settings.
“Bias-based” or “identity-based” bullying, defined as students being bullied specifically based on their race, nationality, gender, sexual orientation, disability, religion, socioeconomic status or weight, is far more difficult to recognize or address when compared to traditional forms of bullying.
Teachers too may fail to notice and address such behaviors and, at times, may even be involved in them.
Response to bullying
Bias-based bullying incidents involve explicit and implicit forms of racism, sexism and other forms of prejudice or discrimination. They are not only harmful emotionally, socially and psychologically to students, but are also a violation of a student’s civil rights.
The U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights urges schools to be vigilant in the identification and prevention of bias-based bullying and provides guidance on specific laws that prohibit bias based harassment such as Title IX, a federal law, that prohibits discrimination on the basis of gender or sexual orientation, Section 504 or Title II, which protects individuals with disabilities, and Title IV, which protects individuals from harassment based on religion, ethnicity or shared ancestry.
Despite this protection, however, bias-based bullying behaviors persist and can go unnoticed, or even be endorsed, by teachers in the field.
For example, a recent study investigated physical education teachers failing to respond to bullying behaviors against students being targeted due to their weight. Studies have also highlighted teachers failing to respond to students being bullied due to their sexual orientation.
Failure to recognize bias-based bullying behaviors can lead to tragic consequences.
Ryan Halligan, a 13-year-old student who committed suicide in October 7, 2003, was targeted primarily with homophobic slurs. A more recent case was that of Kennedy LeRoy, a teen who committed suicide in June 2015 after he was bullied partly due to having Asperger’s syndrome.
Bullying by teachers
Worse still, some students report being victimized not just by their peers but by their teachers as well.
In a study titled The Youth Voice Project published by my colleagues, Charisse Nixon and Stan Davis, students in special education testified that their teachers were more abusive toward them than toward their peers in general ed.
Although this information may seem surprising, teacher involvement in bullying students extends beyond special education settings to general and alternative education settings.
Although most schools are preparing educators and staff to recognize and respond to bullying, behaviors that are based on bias are often overlooked.
The results of a study I conducted indicated that educators may lack the knowledge of and skills to respond to bias-based bullying.
I investigated perceptions of undergraduate students in teacher education programs. I asked participants about their perceptions of their role when faced with a situation involving bias based bullying.
Most people consider themselves outsiders and do not respond to bullying. Denise Krebs
Approximately 50 percent of participants considered themselves to be outsiders or not involved in situations involving bias-based bullying. Additionally, participants believed that they lacked the knowledge and skills to respond to situations involving bullying and prejudice.
There was one encouraging finding, however. After participating in a full-day workshop that included bullying prevention and prejudice reduction, participants reported significant changes in attitude. Their knowledge and skills to respond to situations involving bullying and prejudice improved. And they also changed how they perceived their role – from considering themselves to be outsiders (57 percent pre-workshop, 20 percent post-workshop) to defenders of victims of bias based bullying (20 percent pre-workshop; 78 percent post-workshop).
Training teachers
So how can schools respond to bias-based bullying?
School administrators can include questions regarding bias-based bullying on their school environment, assessments and evaluations. This can help schools gain a better understanding of what forms of bias-based bullying are most common in their schools. Training teachers to recognize and respond to bias-based bullying could also improve the likelihood that they would intervene when they saw bullying.
These initiatives can be effective when implemented as a part of an intervention that includes the whole school, parents and the community.
How teachers manage their classrooms is an important part of achieving an effective learning environment. Educators know that all students learn differently, and choosing the right instructional stylecan mitigate behavioral issues and make good instruction possible. According to the National Comprehensive Center for Teacher Quality, a significant body of research also demonstrates that classroom organization and the ability to effectively manage student behavior “significantly influence the persistence of new teachers in teaching careers.” Within this context, it is clear that instructional theory and classroom management strategies are among the most important aspects of teacher education.
While classroom management theory is constantly evolving, there are three key theorists who stand out when it comes to modern education. Throughout the 20th and 21st centuries, experts like B.F. Skinner, William Glasser and Alfie Kohn revolutionized the ways that teachers deliver education. Understanding their theories can help educators define their own classroom management methods and make decisions about how to best approach interactions with students.
B.F. Skinner’s contribution to learning theory can’t be overstated. His work is based upon the idea that learning is a function of change in overt behavior. According to Skinner, changes in behavior are a result of individuals’ responses to events, or stimuli, that occur in their environment. When a stimulus-response (S-R) pattern is rewarded, the individual is conditioned to respond similarly in the future. The key to Skinner’s theory is reinforcement, or anything that strengthens the desired response. This could include praise, good grades, a reward or even a feeling of accomplishment. Of course, negative reinforcement occurs when a stimulus results in increased response when it is withdrawn. The central tenet of Skinner’s work is that positively reinforced behavior will reoccur. This is why information is presented in small amounts. Responses can be reinforced, and reinforcement will be applied to similar stimuli.
Skinner’s work in operant conditioning has been integrated into both classroom management and instructional development. When applied to programmed instruction, the following should occur:
Practice should occur in a question-answer format that exposes students to information gradually through a series of steps.
The learner should respond each time and receive immediate feedback.
Good performance should be paired with secondary reinforcers like praise, prizes and good grades.
Instructors should try to arrange questions by difficulty so the response is always correct, creating positive enforcement.
There are many obvious ways that Skinner’s work has been directly incorporated into modern school systems. Though rewards were utilized for good behavior long before Skinner, many behavior management systems utilized in today’s classrooms are influenced by his theories. Teachers utilize immediate praise, feedback or rewards when seeking to change problematic student behavior, and some even use “token economies” to reward students in a systematic way.
William Glasser coined the term “choice theory”in 1998. In general, this theory states that all we do is behave. Glasser suggests that almost all behavior is chosen, and we are driven by genetics to satisfy five basic needs: survival, love and belonging, power, freedom and fun. In choice theory, the most important need is love and belonging because connectedness with others is required as a basis in satisfying all other needs. The classroom should therefore be a needs-satisfying place for students.
Glasser’s work impacts learning theory in a variety of ways. It has been utilized in schools across the globe and has changed the ways that teachers deliver instruction.
First, Glasser identifies teachers as managers who need to work effectively if they want to successfully teach their students. The role of teachers as managers requires them to guide students in understanding that working hard and being obedient is worth it and will have a positive influence on their lives. Teachers can achieve this through developing positive relationships with students and creating active, relevant learning experiences that enable students to demonstrate mastery and success.
When it comes to developing lessons, teachers who practice choice theory work to make sure that student classroom activities are designed to satisfy the students’ needs. This allows learning to increase while diminishing disruption. Students are able to “connect, feel a sense of competence and power, have some freedom, and enjoy themselves in a safe, secure environment,” according to Funderstanding. There are three common characteristics of classrooms and schools that apply choice theory:
Coercion is minimized because it never inspires quality. Students aren’t “made” to behave using rewards and punishments. Instead, teachers build positive relationships with their students and manage them.
Teachers focus on quality. They expect mastery of concepts and encourage students to redo their work and try again until they have demonstrated competence and high-quality work. The emphasis is on deep learning through application.
Self-evaluation is common. Students are provided with helpful information and take ownership of their learning by evaluating their own performance. This promotes responsibility and helps students reach goals while becoming skilled decision-makers who are actively involved in their own education.
Alfie Kohn’s work critiques many aspects of traditional education, namely the use of competition or external factors as motivation. Kohn maintains that societies based on extrinsic motivation always become inefficient over time. He questions the hierarchical structures at work in mainstream education. Positions of authority are “unnaturally scarce,” and such systems assume that all people have a competitive nature. He argues that positive enforcement only encourages students to seek out more positive enforcement, rather than truly learn. Kohn believes that the ideal classroom emphasizes curiosity and cooperation above all, and that the student’s curiosity should determine what is taught. Because of this, he argues that standards should be kept very minimal and is critical of standardized testing. Kohn also argues that a strict curriculum and homework are counterintuitive to student needs. When it comes to classroom management, Kohn believes that most teachers rely too heavily on extrinsic motivation rather than more intrinsic factors. He suggests teachers keep cooperation in mind because when curiosity is nurtured, rewards and punishments aren’t necessary.
To implement Kohn’s approaches in the classroom, teachers can allow students to explore the topics that interest them most. Students “should be able to think and write and explore without worrying about how good they are,” he suggests. In general, Kohn believes that there is too much emphasis on achievement rather than the learning process. He emphasizes that not all students learn at the same pace, and standards do not take this into account. In general, Kohn believes in classrooms where the student is at the center of everything. Ideally, such a classroom would feature:
Multiple activity centers with various classroom structures for group work
Displays of student projects
Students exchanging ideas
A respectful teacher mingling with students
Students excited about learning and actively asking questions
Multiple activities occurring at the same time
In terms of modern school systems, Kohn’s approaches are more consistent with those used in elementary classrooms. The key element is a “shift from a quiet, well-managed classroom to one that is lively and features an emphasis on student learning,” explains Thomas Hanson on OpenEducation.net.
When educators are able to focus on classroom organization as a means of behavior management, they achieve better results for students. If you are interested in education topics like this, consider the online Master of Education from Husson University. Graduate-level education is ideal for teachers looking to advance their career and become leaders in the classroom and beyond. In addition, this degree program is ideal for individuals interested in becoming curriculum/instructional specialists, corporate trainers, course designers, education policy developers or adjunct faculty members.
Regardless of your professional focus, Husson’s program helps educators develop successful learning techniques through an inquiry-based approach. You can learn more about this fully online program here.
**The Edvocate is pleased to publish guest posts as way to fuel important conversations surrounding P-20 education in America. The opinions contained within guest posts are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official opinion of The Edvocate or Dr. Matthew Lynch.**
A guest post by Anica Oaks
While there is a current push toward private education in many circles in today’s society, the reality is that there are many happy, well-rounded, and well-educated children from both private and public institutions. It really does come down to choosing what’s best for your child. However, that choice isn’t an easy one. As you weigh the decision of private versus public, it’s important that you consider the advantages of each as well as your child’s actual needs. You should also ask some important questions before making the decision so that you are fully informed.
Benefits of Public Education
The news is often touting the shortfalls of the public school system; however, it actually offers a number of benefits that you might not otherwise recognize. If you’re considering private versus public education, be sure to include these benefits in your deliberation:
More qualified teachers: Teachers in the public sector are more likely to have master’s degrees and to have spent more hours pursuing continuing education courses.
More time on core subjects: A national report found that students in public schools actually spend an additional three hours every week studying the core subjects of English, math, social studies, and science compared to their private school counterparts.
More diversity: Public schools are available to students of any race and socioeconomic status, which creates more diverse student population.
Advantages of Private Education
That being said, the private school system also offers a number of advantages to its student population. While you are likely more aware of many of the benefits of private education, it is still important to keep these in mind:
Smaller schools and class sizes: Statistics indicate that private schools on average are half as large as public schools. Just as schools are smaller, so are the class sizes, offering an average student-teacher ratio of 9:1 compared to 17:1 in public school classrooms.
Less bureaucracy: Private schools aren’t mandated by all of the state regulations that public systems are, which results in less bureaucracy.
High parent involvement: Parents who invest in private education typically have a strong say in their children’s educations, so private schools lend themselves to high parent involvement.
Finding the Best Fit for Your Child
It’s tempting to rely on what everyone else is saying about a school when you are making your decision. But, you truly need to focus on what is best for your child. Consider the options, which range from your typical brick and mortar public schools to more contemporary charter schools, and be sure to visit and ask questions to find what works best for your child.
As you make your decision, ask about the curriculum, student-teacher ratio, and even the school’s expectations for parents. Having all of this information up front will help you make an informed decision for your child.
Selecting the right school for your child is important. Take the time to consider the advantages of public and private options and ask questions to find the right fit for your child.
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Anica is a professional content and copywriter who graduated from the University of San Francisco. She loves dogs, the ocean, and anything outdoor-related. She was raised in a big family, so she’s used to putting things to a vote. Also, cartwheels are her specialty. You can connect with Anica here.
The growth of community colleges in the U.S. has improved access to higher education tremendously, especially for students from low-income families. However, completion rates at these schools are less than 30 percent.
Could the mental health of community college students play a role in their degree completion?
We recently partnered with researchers, nonprofits and community colleges across the country to study the mental health conditions of community college students.
Mental health on college campus
The first signs of most mental health conditions often appear during or before the typical college age range – 18 to 24 years. Symptoms can include lack of energy, loss of concentration, lack of sleep or even substance abuse, which can affect school performance. Depressed or anxious students can also feel pessimistic and lose their motivation.
In previous research, we and other research groups have extensively documented the high prevalence of mental health disorders in four-year institutions. Recent studies also indicate that mental health disorders could be increasing among the youth.
What about mental health issues of community college students specifically?
Community college students are more vulnerable to mental health problems. trizoultro, CC BY-ND
So in winter 2015, we conducted an online survey of a random sample of over 4,300 students at 10 community colleges across the nation, and used standard brief assessments to measure symptoms of mental health conditions such as depression and anxiety.
To compare with four-year school populations, we examined these same measures from Healthy Minds Study, a national survey from the academic year 2014-2015, which included nearly 16,000 respondents from 16 institutions.
Here are the community college data
The results from our study “Too Distressed to Learn” leave little doubt that mental health is, in fact, a major concern for community college students.
Nearly half (49 percent) of community college students show symptoms related to one or more mental health condition, such as depression, anxiety, suicidal ideas, nonsuicidal self-injury or eating disorders.
In other words, approximately six million students, of the approximately 12 million students in community colleges nationwide, have symptoms of mental disorders. We found depression and anxiety to be among the most common conditions. About 36 percent students showed symptoms of depression and 29 percent had disorders related to anxiety.
For younger students ages 18-24 in community colleges, these numbers are even higher: 40 percent for depression and 33 percent for anxiety.
Furthermore, mental health conditions appear to be considerably higher at community colleges, as compared to four-year schools. Among students ages 18-24, 23 percent of community college students are experiencing the most severe frequency and number of depressive symptoms, as compared to 11 percent of four-year students.
Are students getting help?
This troubling situation is compounded by the fact that most students with mental health conditions are not receiving adequate support.
Among community college students with a mental health condition, we found only 41 percent were receiving any mental health care (counseling and/or medication) in the previous year. This number is even lower – 35 percent – among community college students in the age group 18-24. Although still not adequate, by comparison, 45 percent of students in the age group 18-24 find support at four-year schools.
There is a similar disparity in the counseling or support that students receive from non-clinical sources, such as friends and family: 60 percent among community college students, compared to 79 percent among four-year students.
The lower use of mental health services among community college students is driven in part by the fact that more of these students lack health insurance: 14 percent, compared to just 3 percent in our four-year sample.
Additionally, community colleges offer significantly fewer campus services.
Fewer community college students have access to mental health services. Joe Houghton, CC BY
For example, many community colleges do not have any mental health counselors, and among those that do, the ratio of counselors to students is 1 to 3,000, compared to 1 to 1,600 at four-year institutions.
Here’s what can be done
The reality is that improving this situation will likely require an influx of additional resources, particularly more robust campus health services and programs. So, how can institutions and other stakeholders build support for funding these resources?
For many years, four-year schools have been using data extensively to make the case for increased support of mental health services. Data from our study, which is one of the first large-scale assessments of mental health among community colleges throughout the nation, could serve as a starting point.
We know there is a relationship between depression and student retention. In fact, four-year schools have used this argument persuasively for finding more resources.
In addition, there are a number of partnership opportunities, and successful experiences at other institutions nationwide, from which institutions and students can benefit. For example, many students today are engaging in peer-led initiatives.
An example of such an initiative is Active Minds, a national organization supporting student advocates for mental health. It has chapters at over 400 campuses (including some community colleges). Campus administrators can partner with the Campus Program of Jed Foundation, which helps institutions help develop and implement a campus-specific plan to improve their support for student mental health.
Single Stop is another national nonprofit that has been assisting community college students with accessing public benefits and services; such an organization can also help students access mental health services in their respective communities.
It would be easy to view our new findings as another reason to be discouraged about the state of higher education, particularly community colleges. But we believe these findings highlight a whole new set of opportunities to improve the prospects for millions of students.
An ever-growing wealth of services and programs can treat or prevent mental health conditions. The challenge, and opportunity, is to make more and better investments in this area.
A teacher librarian shares her best practices for tuneful teaching
By Shannon McClintock Miller
“Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything.” ~Plato
One of the most important gifts we can give to our young children is a healthy foundation for lifelong learning. We want to capture their excitement, bottle their enthusiasm, and give life to their imagination. As educators, we look for resources that support and enhance these magical learning experiences. As shown in the Learning With Music infographic above, music stimulates and connects the different areas of the brain. For our youngest learners who are at a crucial time of development, this is an essential building block for their future.
In the article Music and Learning: Integrating Music in the Classroom from John Hopkins School of Education, Chris Boyd Brewer touts the benefits of using music throughout the day. “The intentional use of music in the classroom will set the scene and learning atmosphere to enhance our teaching and learning activities,” he writes. “Plus, using music for learning makes the process much more fun and interesting.”
Let’s look at 10 ways to incorporate music into your classroom, instruction, and library collection.
Bookend your day with music. Music promotes listening and focus as we get started with our morning and as we end activities in the afternoon. This is also important with focusing children at home. At school or at home, songs can remind kids to wash their hands for snacks or clean toys up at the end of the day.
Use music to establish a positive learning space. The right music creates the atmosphere you want for a given lesson, contributes to the community of the classroom, and builds rapport. The new series School Time Songs from Cantata Learning sets a fun tone for everything you do.
Cantata’s books combine stories, illustrations, and songs to captivate young learners, build literacy skills, and instill a lifelong love of reading. In the back of each book there is a CD that contains the song. You can also find all of the music online by scanning a QR code included three places within each book.
Inspire your students to release energy and tensionthroughout the day. Whether for one student or a gym full of kids, brain breaks fueled by music motivate kids to get some healthy exercise and help them refocus on learning.
When you kick off a new topic or lesson, really hook your students with music. Music will reinforce new information. It can be paired with other resources, such as non-fiction and research, to provide guiding questions and bring new concepts to life.
Use music to enhance imagination. We all know that kids love to dream about who they might be someday. With the new STEM series from Cantata Learning, they can do just that by taking a closer look into science, technology, engineering, and math information, careers and interests.
Engage students’ brains to learn and memorize. Kelly Benge, who is a 5th-grade special education teacher in Iowa, uses the Read, Sing, Learn…Songs About the Part of Speech series to teach her class to identify the parts of speech. Benge said, “The music engages the brain to learn and memorize in ways nothing else can. The songs draw in the interest of students, especially those who get easily distracted.”
Teach students to be more receptive and sensitive to understanding things differently.The Mad Monkey, from the Songs About Emotions series, takes a look at the social emotional aspect of children. It will help them understand others’ emotional perspectives, too.
Use music as a collaborative tool among teachers. One of my favorite new series is Fairy Tale Tunes. Just think how perfect these are for a “fractured fairy tale” unit! This is an important piece of the curriculum which holds lots of potential for collaboration among teachers within the classroom, art, music, and library.
Facilitate a multisensory learning experience in a musical makerspace. Heather Fox, who is a teacher librarian in Iowa, set up a musical makerspace in her library by placing Cantata Learning book covers in a display and having students use iPads to scan the QR codes to listen, read, and sing. As part of the multisensory learning experience, they could also create musical instruments in a station she set up out of recycled goods.
Bring fun to learning! Karyn Lewis, who is a teacher librarian in Texas, wrote, “I invited the pre-K and kindergarten English language learner students to the library once a week to work on vocabulary using several of the Cantata Learning ebooks and songs. We couldn’t help but sing, clap, and dance along to the books we read together! They requested to play the song again and again.”
Music will bring noise to classrooms and libraries, but ultimately it creates lifelong learners through stories, movement, curiosity, collaboration, rhythm, and fun!
Shannon McClintock Miller is a teacher librarian, international speaker, consultant, and author. She is a recipient of the 2014 Library Journal Mover & Shaker Award and the 2016 ISTE Make It Happen Award. Follow her on Twitter at @shannonmmiller.
Some parents are so angry with the testing regime facing their children that they have come together in an attempt to boycott primary school exams. Preparation by teachers for these standardised achievement tests (SATs) in England have involved a narrowing of the curriculum, including a specific focus on spelling, punctuation and grammar.
Parents believe that their children should be stimulated instead by more enriching activities and projects. There is also a worry that the tests may cause undue stress and pressure on their young children to perform well. These beliefs are widespread: more than 49,000 parents have signed a petition to abolish SATs altogether.
An awareness of pressure
Teachers are under considerable pressure for pupils to perform well on SATs. Performance-related pay and position in school league tables depend on test results. Parents believe that exam results will have a bearing on their young child’s future and understandably want them to do well.
But the children are also well-aware that their performance on the SATs is important to their teachers and parents. Teachers may unwittingly transmit the stress they are under to their pupils. Children can also pick up on their parents’ attitudes and associated behaviour and feel under pressure to make them proud.
Too much, too young? Shuravaya/www.shutterstock.com
This pressure from parents is perhaps the largest source of stress for children aged ten to 11 who are working towards their Key Stage 2 exams. One Year 6 pupil my colleagues and I interviewed described the source of the pressure he felt:
You want to get them [SATS questions] right because other people want you to get them right and, like, you don’t want to disappoint people.
Test anxiety
Stress and pressure about forthcoming exams can result in what education researchers have termed “test anxiety”. This can present itself via a number of symptoms.
Children can suffer from negative thoughts such as: “If I don’t pass this test, I will never get a good job”. They can also suffer physiological symptoms such as tight muscles or trembling and distracting behaviours such as playing with a pencil. The effects of anxiety during a test can influence the child’s ability to process and understand test questions and perform at their best.
It is well established that pupils with high levels of test anxiety perform more poorly in their exams. The overall prevalence of test anxiety in primary school children is on the increase and it is fairly common for children at the end of primary school. Year 6 pupils report experiencing anxiety either some or most of the time when asked two weeks prior to their exams.
But there are differences in how SATs are viewed by different children. Some perceive them to be stressful, while others view them as a challenge. As well as pressure from parents, pupils in Year 6 have cited the demands of the testing situation as a cause of stress. This includes completing exams under timed conditions and having no contact with classmates or teachers. There are also concerns about exam results being used to influence which set a child will be put in at secondary school. Another Year 6 pupil my colleagues and I interviewed said:
You look at your booklet and you’ve got like loads of questions left and you’re like, ‘I can’t do this’. You just want to just sit there and go ‘I can’t do this’ and walk off.
The extent to which children aged six to seven, working towards Key Stage 1 exams, feel test-anxious, is unclear. Very little research has been conducted exclusively with them. Some younger children, however, have been found to display clear signs of anxiety or stress during the period leading up to the SATs.
Reducing the pressure
How resilient a child is can reduce the negative effects of test anxiety on performance. Specifically, children who believe they can succeed, trust and seek comfort from others easily and who are not overly sensitive, can be better at combatting the problems associated with test anxiety. Parents may therefore help their children by attempting to nurture and boost their resilience.
Keeping SATs “low-key” is crucial to minimising anxiety and stress among children. Parents should reassure their children that results are not critical and that the most important thing is that they try their best. In the classroom, teachers should direct time and effort towards familiarising children to the format and procedures involved in standardised testing. For instance, practising with past test papers while children sit at individual desks, could help.
Both parents and teachers could also keep a conscious check of how they may subconsciously transmit feelings of stress or tension to young children. Pupils who display signs of test anxiety require more space and understanding, both at school and home – this includes increased tolerance during the testing period.
The world has changed in so many ways since the start of the 21st century. With the internet and mobile communication just within arm’s reach, new possibilities have opened up across the world. In this new world, education has become even more important. Although the U.S. has proven to keep up with all the technological changes, there’s one area we continue to fall behind in. Education.
This problem begins early on in the national academic system. The Council on Foreign Relations, for example, conducted a recent study in the U.S. and discovered that education reform and national security declines every year. In other words, failure in educational performance can jeopardize the U.S. national security, including the country’s ability in a high-skilled global marketplace. Educational failures, as noted by Joel I. Klein, also “puts the United States future economic prosperity, global position, and physical safety at risk” as well.
As it turns out, there’s no high-stakes exam that can account for this; but thestudiesreleased by the Southern Education Foundation show that more than half of the students enrolled in U.S. public schools live in poverty. A measurement that places the U.S. on the road to overall social decline.
The problem is so severe, that it’s even begun escalating to universities. Resulting in a hailstorm of complaints from college faculties and concerns by other officials.
College faculty also complains that first-year students are poorly prepared in:
Subject matter
Critical thinking skills
Mathematics skills
Writing and verbal abilities
Study skills and library skills
Knowledge and understanding of history, science, and literature.
Did I miss anything?
A significant amount of first-year students also don’t know anything academic and aren’t genuinely interested in anything academic. The most compelling evidence, however, is the fact that college officials graduate most of these students, even though they still lack the characteristics of an educated person.
“Why?” you ask.
I’ll give you a hint. Money!
The Problem
As I noted earlier on, the problem starts with our policies. To put it another way, it starts with the way we govern schools, measure success, and teach children. In all honestly, there are a number of teachers out there right now discussing subjects they themselves aren’t even the experts in. If a teacher isn’t invested in the subject he/she is teaching, than why would they value teaching the subject in the first place? The answer is simple, they won’t.
For this reason, college professors have begun blaming high school teachers for the student’s inability to learn. As college faculty points the finger at high schools, we must remind ourselves that the criticisms given to high schools, should also be applied to colleges and universities. We also need to remember that high school teacher’s went through college classes out here, and were granted degrees from our schools.
The Overall View
By now I’m sure we’ve all heard of the amount of budget cuts district have gone through over the past decade. But with a combination of budget cuts (resulting in overcrowded schools), poverty levels increasing, political pressure, and distractions at nearly every corner, it’s no wonder why we haven’t overcome this problem yet.
Although we have education officials advocating for systemic change in education the reality is, this is a project that will require more than a few hundred-thousand people, including parents/guardians, government officials, teachers, and everyone else invested in the child’s education. There’s a reason why mentors say, “It’s takes a village to raise a child.”
A resolution
Encourage Kids to Learn at Their Own Pace. Schools and school districts have been hot to adopt all kinds of new technologies from iPads to changing classroom structure. Some of these things have had a small effect on a child’s learning in the classroom while others, haven’t had any effect according toLaura Hamilton. Such technology-based curriculum encourages kids to learn at their own pace and set their own goals. In addition to this, it also gives teachers the opportunity to focus on smaller groups in the class that might be struggling with certain material.
In order for this to work effectively, teachers must know how to use these tools, and students must be willing to be in the time and effort. The teacher can’t learn for the student, that’s up to the young scholar.
Invest in Training Teachers – and Their Supervisors. The quality of a child’s teacher is single handedly the most important factor in a child’s success in the classroom; and there’s no question that we need to do a better job of producing properly trained teachers, principals, and other officials.
Better training for teachers is only the first step. We also need to improve the quality of our districts and education leaders, so that they have the right tools to lead teachers, districts, and most importantly, children to a path of success.
Focus Less on Test Scores. As a student in junior high school, I always felt a teacher’s primary role was to produce quality test takers. In other words, they want the classroom environment to emphasize the learning process vs. hammering away on the importance of memorization or test taking skills. At a larger level, this made me feel like the education system perpetuates a test taking culture vs. critical thinking and passion for learning.
Get Families Involved. Words cannot describe how important it is for parents to get and stay involved in their child’s life when it comes to learning. As parents, you cannot leave it up to the teacher to educate your child on everything he/she needs to know. It’s not fair to them, and it’s not fair to the child. Raising a child is a joint process, and requires everyone to get involved, and stay involved even if you feel your child will excel in a certain subject.
Get Out of the Classroom. Students desire experience and out of the classroom instruction. When I helped run an after school program, I learned that the environment is everything for a child. For instance, whenever we did rehearsals in the gymnasium, the kids were more likely to play and run around. But when I switched up the environment and did rehearsals in the hallways, or on the grass area, they were more likely to listen and focus on building a community.
Although “school is not life,” it should reflect more of it. To put it differently, I think a child should always be challenged to learn. This shouldn’t only happen in a classroom setting, but everywhere they go and every event they participate in.
“This job of keeping our children safe, and teaching them well, is something we can only do together, with the help of friends and neighbors, the help of a community, and the help of a nation.”
The sphere of ethical responsibilities and moral dilemmas is not just limited to teachers. Professionals from all fields—including doctors, architects, engineers, or psychologists—face ethical issues during their professional duties and find themselves grappling with right and wrong. That’s why most professions have generated a universal code of ethics that every professional belonging to the group is supposed to follow. Doctors abide by the Hippocratic oath, for example. But as mentioned, the teaching profession unfortunately has no universally accepted code of ethics. The InTASC Standards come close. A number of organizations have formulated useful codes of ethics. The National Education Association (NEA) Code of Ethics is an example. A number of state education departments also have their personalized formal codes, for example, the Alaska Professional Teaching Practices Commission.
Here is the NEA Code of Ethics:
PRINCIPLE I
Commitment to the Student
The educator strives to help each student realize his or her potential as a worthy and effective member of society. The educator therefore works to stimulate the spirit of inquiry, the acquisition of knowledge and understanding, and the thoughtful formulation of worthy goals.
In fulfillment of the obligation to the student, the educator—
1. Shall not unreasonably restrain the student from independent action in the pursuit of learning.
2. Shall not unreasonably deny the student’s access to varying points of view.
3. Shall not deliberately suppress or distort subject matter relevant to the student’s progress.
4. Shall make reasonable effort to protect the student from conditions harmful to learning or to health and safety.
5. Shall not intentionally expose the student to embarrassment or disparagement.
6. Shall not on the basis of race, color, creed, sex, national origin, marital status, political or religious beliefs, family, social or cultural background, or sexual orientation, unfairly:
Exclude any student from participation in any program
Deny benefits to any student
Grant any advantage to any student
7. Shall not use professional relationships with students for private advantage.
8. Shall not disclose information about students obtained in the course of professional service unless disclosure serves a compelling professional purpose or is required by law.
PRINCIPLE II
Commitment to the Profession
The education profession is vested by the public with a trust and responsibility requiring the highest ideals of professional service.
In the belief that the quality of the services of the education profession directly influences the nation and its citizens, the educator shall exert every effort to raise professional standards, to promote a climate that encourages the exercise of professional judgment, to achieve conditions that attract persons worthy of the trust to careers in education, and to assist in preventing the practice of the profession by unqualified persons.
In fulfillment of the obligation to the profession, the educator—
1. Shall not in an application for a professional position deliberately make a false statement or fail to disclose a material fact related to competency and qualifications.
2. Shall not misrepresent his/her professional qualifications.
3. Shall not assist any entry into the profession of a person known to be unqualified in respect to character, education, or other relevant attribute.
4. Shall not knowingly make a false statement concerning the qualifications of a candidate for a professional position.
5. Shall not assist a non-educator in the unauthorized practice of teaching.
6. Shall not disclose information about colleagues obtained in the course of professional service unless disclosure serves a compelling professional purpose or is required by law.
7. Shall not knowingly make false or malicious statements about a colleague.
8. Shall not accept any gratuity, gift, or favor that might impair or appear to influence professional decisions or action.
Teachers’ concerns for the best interests of students will motivate them to engage in ethical teaching and other educational practices. Teachers must also abide by a number of laws that exist not only to protect students, but also to protect teachers. Make sure you know what professional codes you are expected to uphold. Your action as an individual affects the tone of your community – school and otherwise – as a whole. Make your workspace a place that you’re proud of.
The arrival of summer generates excitement. But it could also bring challenges for both parents and educators. Many students experience a loss in math learning during the summer months known commonly as “summer slide.”
Students from middle-class families may not be as affected as they have access to more resources to make up for the learning loss. However, those from lower-income backgrounds could experience significant losses, particularly in math and reading.
Researchers point to the summer slide as a contributing factor in the persistent academic achievement gap between students from lower-income backgrounds and their middle-class peers.
But, does race also conflate with class, when it comes to summer slide? What does summertime mean for black children and the parents and caregivers who care for them?
We are education researchers who are black and parents to two black children – one in elementary school and another in preschool. If the U.S. imagination constructs summer as a time for swimming, free play, baseball and lazy days on the beach, it has never played out this way in our home.
We feel the weight of summer – both for its limitations and its possibilities. To us, the summer is less a time to focus solely on fun and more of what we call the “summer soar.”
Summer goals for black parents
The term “summer soar” is not taken from research or policy studies. We use it to reflect the triple burden that some parents of color – in our case, black parents – could endure during the summer months.
For these parents, summertime provides time to accomplish three goals: (1) reinforce what was learned in the previous year, (2) get a head start on the upcoming year and, most importantly, (3) supplement valuable yet missing curriculum knowledge generally not offered in traditional schools that reflects students’ racial and cultural identities.
Let’s look at what we mean by missing curriculum knowledge.
We offer an example of this in a study we conducted with a researcher at Sacramento State College, Julian Vasquez-Heilig. The study examined how culture and race were addressed in the most recently adopted 11th grade U.S. history Texas state standards.
Findings highlighted that topics in the social studies standards did not fully address the contributions of people of color in the U.S. In the case of black people, much of the focus centered only on cultural contributions and not on the other ways black people contributed to the U.S. narrative.
Added to this was the tendency to give partial attention to the legacy of racism. This history of U.S. racism was not discussed as foundational to the development and maintenance of the country.
Black students’ mis-education
This is not unique to Texas nor found in the area of social studies alone. Education researchers have long acknowledged how official K-12 school curriculum and approaches to teaching fail to affirm black students’ cultural identities. They also reinforce the belief that black people have not made any contributions to the U.S. society.
As a result, black students run the risk of experiencing what historian Carter G. Woodson called “mis-education.” Mis-education is a process where school knowledge helps to foster a sense of contempt or disregard for one’s own histories and experiences, regardless of the level of education attained.
So, for us as parents and educators, the “summer soar” is not just about further developing our son’s academics. It is also about fostering a consciousness to help ward off the subtle effects of mis-education – a concern shared by many black families.
Why it is uniquely burdensome
We recognize that black parents are not the only ones worried about their children’s academic achievement and social development. Families, in general, are critical about the overreliance on standardized testing that makes school less a place for meaningful engagement.
Yet what makes the “summer slide” and as a consequence the “summer soar” experience of black parents uniquely burdensome is the context in which it occurs.
Along with the curriculum and teaching problems black children encounter in schools around race and culture, there is a legacy of positioning black males and black children in troubling, dehumanizing ways.
For example, scholars note that black children, specifically black boys, are often viewed as mature and “adult-like.” Their behaviors and experiences are not seen as part of the normal arc of childhood development. Scholars find that in this “adultification” process, black children are not given the allowance of childhood innocence.
These “deficit-oriented” perspectives are found not only in academic literature, but also in public policy, popular media and everyday conversations. A contemporary reflection of this is found in the call for the popular #BlackLivesMatter movement.
Being black in the summer
To be clear: We don’t feel we are approaching the “summer slide” or our “summer soar” from a place of unfounded anxiety or as parents too focused on their child’s education.
Black people have been and continue to be dealt with in schools and society in deeply problematic ways. Just consider the growing number of black families that are choosing to homeschool their children.
In a study that examined the perspectives of 74 African-American homeschoolers in the U.S., researchers Ama Mazama and Garvey Lundy found that the second most important reason that black parents chose to homeschool, right behind concerns with quality of education, was to protect against the racism found in traditional school settings.
Being black in the summer (or anytime really) is not easy. The challenge black families face is navigating an educational context that requires excelling in mainstream school settings, while buffering against the very same education systems that deny one’s humanity.
This summer, like all summers for us, is filled with ambitious goals. We want to help our rising second grader memorize multiplication facts, advance his reading level and improve his writing. But we also want to introduce him to poetry and literature by black authors, teach him about ancient African civilizations and expose him to the concepts of fairness and justice as key to the black struggle in the U.S.
Our task is not easy. But it is our reality – one that we share with countless others – that goes unrecognized in the popular discussions around “summer slide” and the idyllic dream of a lazy summer.
