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Matthew Lynch published in EdTech & Innovation

How LRM is transforming teaching and learning

Behind every successful adult is at least one person who pushed him or her to greatness. If you ask some of the world’s highest achievers what motivated them to keep going, they usually mention a specific person who inspired them along the way – a parent, a teacher, a mentor, a coach.

Think about the people in your own life who made a positive impact when you were young. If you are an educator, it was probably a teacher of your own who inspired you to take that next step and answer the call to teach. There were likely other less-direct influences on your career choice, and others who influenced other parts of the positive parts of your adult life.

Now imagine what it would look like if all of those mentors – those teachers, those coaches – had been able to combine their efforts for a singular purpose: guiding you on the road to successful adulthood. It’s a pretty amazing thought, right? But most of those people were probably from different circles of your life with you (a kid) being the only connection between them. Technology is changing that though, by better aligning the important relationships in a student’s life.

More specifically, Learning Relationship Management is delving deeper into how mentors like teachers and coaches help guide all students to success — both academically, and in other areas of life. The Learning Relationship Management Alliance is a leader in this student-friendly technology that can also be applied to other groups that benefit from mentor support, like senior citizens in assisted living.

The LRM Alliance created this infographic to summarize exactly what the vision is for this relationship technology, including a need to cultivate authentic relationships, personalize learning, streamline content, and connect networks in a student’s life. Take a look:

 

So how is the LRM Alliance progressing these ideas in a coherent way that any district can implement? By combining the strengths of several leading companies to raise awareness about the many benefits to this learning setup. This group of edtech innovators is changing the way students succeed through electronic means that extend beyond academic pursuits. The five companies that make up the LRM Alliance are:

Through community-enabled mentorship, the strengths of a variety of people associated with each student is tapped. This includes, and is not limited to, parents, teachers, sports coaches, and more. Even older siblings can be included in the community to help encourage, monitor and ultimately guide the student to positive learning outcomes.

When it comes to personalized and blended learning, LRM allows K-20 brick and mortar schools and online schools to move from small pilot programs to large, full-scale implementation. Teachers and administrators have more information on how students are progressing and can tailor lessons to better fit their needs and learning styles. Personalized learning paths are in turn supported through learning relationship management and strengthened by the mentors outside the classroom who are in the student’s network. Learning Relationship Management does not just setup personalized and blended learning lesson plans; it gives students the tools to execute those plans.

Learning Relationship Management is not just about prescriptive methods, though, or simply handing out assignments. The students themselves are an integral part of the process of goal-setting, intervention planning and the communication that takes place about them. Every student can benefit from LRM tools because it does not dictate what people must take part. If a student lives with grandparents, or has a drama teacher but no sports coaches, or even has a trusted teacher he wants to keep in the system even when class has ended, LRM technology makes all of that possible.

Learning Relationship Management has the potential to combine what schools are already doing right with a stronger support group outside the classroom. There can be numerous people (invited by the student and overseen by the lead adult administrator) who weigh in on the goals, benchmarks and activities of the student. There is a lot of power in the community-enabled coaching model and the more people who can contribute to the success of a student — in a streamlined, productive way — the better that student will fare in school, and in life.

You can learn more about the Learning Relationship Management Alliance and its member companies at the organization’s site.

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Matthew Lynch published in list, Matthew Lynch, Policy & Reform, Teachers

2 Ways Common Core Standards Can Put Us Back on the Map

I have written before about how Common Core has come under attack by almost every type of person you can think of, especially due to its politically-charged nature. Politics aside, though, the standards espoused by Common Core can help American students succeed in an ever-changing knowledge economy.

Consider this: in 1965, just 11% of jobs required post-secondary training, but by 2020, 65% of U.S. jobs will require post-secondary training, according to the Committee for Economic Development.

How can Common Core help us with this, exactly? Let’s look at how.

  1. Common Core can be our gateway to education equity. To meet the growing demand for post-secondary educated workers, P-12 schools must have rigorous and effective academics in place like the Common Core benchmarks. I’ve always said that our public schools should be the great equalizer when it comes to giving all of our kids the American Dream. These classrooms SHOULD provide access to the same educational opportunities, no matter what the color of the child’s skin or how much money that child’s parents earn. That’s the ideal but it’s far from reality.

Implementing Common Core Standards is one way to improve the equality of quality education in our K-12 classrooms. States are still free to create the curriculum that makes the most sense for their students, but the basic agreement on what kids should learn, and when, should have some national guidance. We also know that to accommodate the rising demand for Science, Technology, Engineering and Math jobs, strong STEM learning initiatives must be in place in our classrooms. We owe it to this generation of students to equip them with what they will need to succeed academically and economically and Common Core Standards are designed to do just that.

  1. Common Core standards acknowledge the reality of our workforce today and in the future. Generally, in the education community’s frantic pace to stay accountable with each other and the government, I think some other aspects of our society get inadvertently left out of the education process. The business community is one.

However, it seems like the business community is not allowing itself to be left out of the process. You will notice that prominent business leaders, such as Bill Gates, are highly outspoken about educational standards such as the Common Core ones.

Yes, business organizations are concerned about the quality of education in our schools. And, if you think about it, they SHOULD be. These students are, after all, our future workers and the drivers of the American economy.

I’ve heard the argument that teaching our kids in a way that prepares them for the competitive global workforce is treating them as “commodities” and not like children. I suppose there would be some merit to that if science hadn’t proven time and time again that kids thrive in learning environments and that the economic status of your life impacts its quality immensely. Setting our kids up to succeed economically on the world stage not only benefits our nation as a whole, but provides those kids with lifelong skills that will elevate their own quality of life through adulthood. Common Core standards play a big role in helping students become ready for an improved quality of life.

What do you think? Is Common Core judged unfairly? Do you think a set of nationally-imposed standards will prepare us for the growing demands of our changing economy?

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Matthew Lynch published in Policy & Reform, Teachers, Testing

Should we grade teachers on student performance?

Should teachers be judged on student performance? Is it a fair assessment of their skills as educators?

A recent study published in Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis is the latest in a number of forms of research that cast doubt on whether it is feasible for states to evaluate teachers based partially on student test scores.  Research shows us that little to no correlation between high quality teaching and the appraisals these teachers are given.

We have seen a sharp rise in the number of states that have turned to teacher-evaluation systems based on student test scores. The rapid implementation has been fueled by the Obama administration making the teacher-evaluation system mandatory for states who want to receive the Race to the Top grant money or receive a waiver from the 2002 federal education act, No Child Left Behind.  Already the District of Columbia and thirty-five states have placed student achievement as a significant portion in teacher evaluations.  Only 10 states don’t necessitate student test scores to be factored into teacher evaluations.

Many states also use VAMs, or value-added models, which are algorithms to uncover how much teachers contribute to student learning while keeping constant factors such as demographics in mind.

These teacher-evaluation systems have drummed up controversy and even legal challenges in states like Texas, Tennessee and Florida when educators were assessed using test scores of students they never taught.

Just last month, the American Statistical Association urged states and school districts against VAM systems to make personnel decisions.  Recent studies have found that teachers are responsible for up to 14 percent of a student’s test score, in combination with other factors.

In my opinion, we need to make sure students are exposed to high quality teachers. But is it fair to subject teachers to tough standards based on how students test? I do not believe so, especially in underprivileged areas.  If we continue to scrutinize teachers with these types of stressful evaluations, it will only discourage teachers from taking jobs in urban and minority schools – perhaps where they are needed the very most.

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Matthew Lynch published in EdTech & Innovation

Edtech aims to save time, combine resources

It’s no secret that teachers spend a lot of non-instructional time on paperwork. It seems as data tracking with students has improved, the amount of it that teachers are asked to do has risen. Grading assignments and filling out report cards are just a drop in the bucket of keeping up with the data needed for individual students, schools, districts and states. The data is well-intended of course and meant to ensure that students are on track, both academically and otherwise.

It just takes time. A lot of it. Technology has made it easier to track student achievements and development but in most cases, has not streamlined that data in the best way possible. Even digital systems often overlap with each other and require the same data to be entered more than once.

Just this week, MIDAS Education released its EEM (Education Enterprise Management) solution intended to bring all student data together in one spot. EEM is an edtech-wide movement that favors integration of information systems, rather than having a need for separate ones. Customized instruction is the aim of the MIDAS system that gives real-time access to teachers, parents, students and administrators through a user-friendly Web interface. MIDAS is not just a curation tool that gives users a single sign on —  it actually replaces all of these systems with a single platform powered by one massive database.

MIDAS encompasses the functionality of up to 13 different software packages in one EEM solution, with a single log-in and an intuitive user interface.

I really like the idea of housing everything in one spot and making it accessible to everyone who needs the information. This not only saves time for the educator and administrators, but ultimately benefits the students. More streamlined policies on data strengthen the help kids can receive throughout their P-20 careers.

For more information, please visit MIDASEducation.com.

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Matthew Lynch published in EdTech & Innovation

4 Keys to Getting Reluctant Readers from ‘No’ to ‘Wow’

Interactive, multimedia environments can turn reading into something that students actually enjoy.

By Ted Levine

Reading is the most fundamental skill an early learner can develop to start on a path towards success, both as a student and as a young citizen. But I hear from educators all the time about how hard it is to engage reluctant readers, especially at the elementary level when development is most crucial. So the question then becomes: What tactics can we use as educators to encourage those reluctant readers to turn the corner, and ultimately to get them excited about reading and learning?

Just like any other skill, reading is something everyone needs to work at. It requires time, effort, and repetition in order to be properly developed. While educators have the important task of working with young learners to develop their reading skills, student also need support and encouragement at home. No tactics or “shortcuts” will help reluctant readers make progress unless there is time carved out in class and at home to focus on their reading. Having said that, there are some key tactics that educators can use to help drive reluctant readers down the path towards reading proficiency—and even enjoyment.

1) Invite young learners to engage in multimedia learning environments. A multimedia learning environment may consist of reading texts, photographs, videos, audio, and even some interactive elements, all mashed up into one single experience. Technology is often overlooked when it comes to reading, but multimedia learning environments can provide an incredible springboard for students who are reluctant to pick up a book.

Young learners are often drawn into the excitement and movement of multimedia elements, particularly video and interactive content. By contrast, huge chunks of text and reading environments that lack any visually engaging components are daunting for reluctant readers.

We recently held a webinar with Dr. Kimberly Greene, an associate professor of education at Brandman University. Dr. Greene had strong opinions about the importance of shorter passages, approachable fonts, and digital reading environments that deliver an inviting experience. Another of her strong opinions is the second tactic I will share:

2) Don’t send reluctant readers into environments that are too “childish.” This point struck a particularly strong chord with the webinar’s attendees, who were mostly upper elementary and middle school educators.

For example, let’s take a 6th-grade student who currently reads at a 3rd-grade level. The print or digital reading environments available at that reading level often have a childish design. Reading something obviously designed for young kids can be a source of embarrassment for the student to read in front of his or her peers, and oftentimes is counterproductive to achieving the desired outcomes for this type of student. Instead, every student in this example 6th-grade class should be able to experience an interactive reading environment like Kids Discover Online, where every student in class has the same rich reading experience, but at slightly different levels.

3) Start small. For a reluctant reader, sitting down to read for a full hour might feel overwhelming. Aim to have them start with just 15 minutes of reading. You can even begin with five or 10 minutes. No marathon runner kicks off their training season with a 26-mile run. The point is to break down the walls of intimidation and frustration, and to gradually build up your learner’s skills.

4) Create “wow” moments. Getting kids to read is one thing; getting them excited about reading is another. I believe that giving students a reading experience filled with iconic photographs, beautiful illustrations, short-form video, and interactive elements that support the text will create the “wow” moments that every educator so desperately seeks to deliver to his or her students. Having these inspiring moments when they “get it” will lead students to approach reading with feelings of excitement instead of apprehension. Rather than seeing reading as a chore, they will look forward to it and engage on a deeper level with the content.

If we can instill that love of reading in our students, we are giving them a huge head start on the road to academic success.

Ted Levine is the president and CEO of Kids Discover, follow him on twitter, @KIDS_Discover

 

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Matthew Lynch published in Higher Education, Teachers

6 Fun Careers To Keep Students Excited about School

**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 Anita Ginsburg

Some kids love school, where others struggle a bit more to find excitement and motivation. With a vast and varied career world, one of the best ways to keep kids interested and excited about school is to talk to them about some of the fun careers waiting for them when they finish.

Animator

For the artistic minded creative student the idea of drawing and creating for a living will likely get them excited. If you have a student that seems to spend more time doodling in the margins of their papers than taking notes, take the time to talk with them about enhancing their skills and becoming an animator. They could be working for their favorite tv show, software company, or publisher.

Event Planner

To the social kid that likes to plan parties, talk with them about considering a career in event planning. Whether they enter the wedding business, high end parties, kids events, or something else, they could make a career of planning parties for the rest of their lives.

Meteorologist

Many kids are fascinated with how the world around them works. Talk to your students about the weather and the many fun science based careers. One of the easiest to get kids excited about is meteorology because it is quick and easy to take them outside for a day and explore how the weather around us works.

Mechanical Engineer

To the kid that likes to tinker with objects and loves to figure out how things work, a career in mechanical engineering may be exactly what they are looking for. Encourage students that may have a knack for engineering based careers to embrace their desire to figure out how things work and practice with things such as models, puzzles and logic games. They should be excited about the many career options available with an engineering management master’s degree. 

Toy Designer

Most kids love to play with toys, so the idea of coming up with ideas and designing them as they grow is a dream come true. Encourage students to think about the toys they like to play with and the kinds they wish they had. They may just design the next big thing.

Zoologist

For all the animal lovers, a career in zoology may be just perfect. Zoologists work directly with the animals, as well as in conservation and educational settings. Visit the zoo with your students and let them meet with zoologists to find out more about this exciting career.

Even the most studious of kids will have times that they struggle to stay focused and thrilled about their studies. It can be very challenging to keep kids excited and working hard throughout school, but giving them something to motivate them through the tough times can be exactly what they need.

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Matthew Lynch published in HBCU's, Higher Education

How should we measure the size of a university’s endowment?

Sarah Waldeck, Seton Hall University

Congress is rattling its saber at colleges and universities with endowments worth U$1 billion or more. Committees from the House and Senate have sent a joint letter to 56 private colleges and universities, asking for comprehensive information about endowment spending and management policies.

Thomas W. Reed, representative for New York’s 23rd Congressional District, is talking about legislation that would require colleges and universities with endowments of $1 billion or more to spend 25 percent of their endowment earnings on financial aid or forfeit their tax-exempt status.

But what is so significant about the $1 billion mark? Are all endowments with $1 billion so huge that Congress should treat them differently than endowments with less than $1 billion? And are all endowments less than $1 billion so small that Congress should ignore them?

From my perspective as a professor who has studied endowments, the only real significance of $1 billion is that it shocks the public because it sounds like so much money.

What really matters is how much buying power a school needs and how much buying power an endowment has. The bigger a school’s budget, the more endowment is necessary. To figure out which colleges and universities have large endowments, you have to consider a school’s expenses.

How do endowments work?

An endowment is like a savings account that exists to support college or university operations. The assets in an endowment usually come from donations. The funds in an endowment are invested; each year a school spends a portion of these returns and then puts the remainder back into the endowment.

In good financial times, an endowment allows a school to spend more on priorities like financial aid, research budgets or professor salaries. In bad financial times, an endowment acts like a rainy day fund to ensure that schools will not have to dramatically reduce spending in important areas.

Because an endowment’s primary purpose is to support institutional operations, the strength of a $1 billion endowment is relative to the size of an institution’s expenses.

How does an endowment work?
Philip Taylor, CC BY-SA

To illustrate, I want to take a closer look at three of the schools that received the congressional request for information because they have endowments of $1 billion or more. In the context of this discussion, there’s nothing particularly special about these three schools except that they demonstrate why expenses are relevant to endowment size.

Each year, the National Association of College and University Business Officers ranks endowments by their absolute value. In 2015, Harvard was at the top of the heap with an eye-popping $36.4 billion endowment. Vanderbilt University was in 23rd place, with $4.1 billion. Grinnell College was considerably farther back, coming in 50th with an endowment of almost $1.8 billion.

Now let’s add a fourth school to the mix: Colgate University. As before, in the context of this discussion there’s nothing special about Colgate except that it helps illustrate why endowments and expenses need to be considered simultaneously.

When measured only by absolute endowment value, Colgate is way behind Harvard, Vanderbilt and Grinnell. Colgate comes in 103rd place, with an $892 million endowment. And Colgate was spared the congressional letter because its endowment did not exceed the $1 billion threshold.

Expenses matter

Now consider these same schools, this time in light of both absolute endowment value and all expenses – the costs incurred to fulfill the school’s educational mission, to administer the institution and to fundraise. Unsurprisingly, these four schools have wildly different expenses. Harvard and Vanderbilt are large research universities, while Grinnell and Colgate are small liberal arts colleges.

In 2013 (the most recent year for which data is readily available), Harvard had expenses of $4.4 billion; Vanderbilt, $3.8 billion; Grinnell, $97.6 million; and Colgate, $172.2 million. There’s been a lot of discussion about whether colleges and universities are doing enough to control costs. But to measure the strength of an endowment, we can assume that current institutional expenses are representative of future institutional expenses.

An endowment helps fund scholarships and research budgets.
kylebaker, CC BY-NC-SA

Grinnell’s endowment is so enormous that it can pay for a whopping 18 years of expenses, until today’s infants are ready to matriculate. Harvard’s endowment is large enough to cover eight years. And Colgate – which does not exceed the $1 billion threshold – can pay for five years.

But Vanderbilt, with its $4.1 billion endowment, cannot cover even two years’ worth of expenses.

Some academics have argued that endowments are excessively large once the endowment can cover more than two years of expenses. Others have suggested that an endowment is much bigger than a school needs when it can pay for more than five years of expenses.

At some point, an endowment may become vastly larger than what a college or university needs to ensure its success. No school really needs an endowment that is large enough to cover a half-decade or more of expenses. But to determine whether an endowment is so large that it warrants different treatment than others, Congress must consider the endowment in relation to institutional costs. It cannot simply use $1 billion as some kind of magical threshold.

Modifying endowment tax policy

Favorable tax policy is one of the reasons that endowments can accumulate $1 billion or that a school can have an endowment large enough to cover 18 years of expenses. The government collects fewer tax dollars than it otherwise would because donations to endowments qualify for the charitable deduction, and endowments do not have to pay taxes on their investment returns.

In my view, schools like Harvard and Grinnell are going to fight tooth and nail to hang on to this preferential tax treatment. But when a college or university has an endowment that is large enough to cover its expenses for years and years into the future, I believe lawmakers should conclude that the forgone tax dollars would be better spent elsewhere. At some point, an endowment has such ample funds that it no longer needs government subsidy. This means goodbye to tax-free investment returns and to the charitable deduction.

Eliminating the charitable deduction may mean that donors would give less, but they would not stop giving altogether. As I’ve described elsewhere, research has shown that the charitable deduction is only one of the reasons that donors give to colleges and universities. Some donors feel a responsibility to “give back” to their alma matter. Others desire the social status and public recognition that giving can provide, or want to influence institutional policy. Some people give simply because it makes them feel good. For many donors, a combination of all these factors motivates them to give.

But even if eliminating the charitable deduction means that some donors would choose to direct their giving elsewhere, chances are that the recipient organization would need the donation more than a school with a very large endowment.

Although schools are unlikely to see it this way, less preferential tax treatment would actually be a sign of success: it means that donors have been so generous and the endowment has been so well-managed that the school now requires less public assistance than others do.

So, legislators should stop fixating on the $1 billion mark and instead evaluate endowments in their larger institutional context.

Before Congress singles out certain endowments for less preferential tax treatment, it needs to distinguish between endowments that sound obscenely large and those that actually are.

The Conversation

Sarah Waldeck, Professor of Law, Seton Hall University

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

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Matthew Lynch published in Diversity, Equity

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

**The Edvocate is pleased to publish guest posts as way to fuel important conversations surrounding P-20 education in America. The opinions contained within guest posts are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official opinion of The Edvocate or Dr. Matthew Lynch.**

Jennifer Harvey, Drake University

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

White racial identity

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Inadequate framing of race

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

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

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

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

How to engage white students

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

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

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

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

Lean in to move forward

There’s an irony here, of course.

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

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

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

____________The Conversation

Jennifer Harvey is Professor of Religion at Drake University.

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

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Matthew Lynch published in EdTech & Innovation

4 Types of Media That Schools Should Use to Tell Their Stories

Whether local, national, or social, each type of outlet serves a distinct purpose.

Guest post by Christopher Piehler

In the first part of this two-part series, I wrote that “Schools Should Shout Their Success Stories from the Rooftops.” This time around, I will take a look at the benefits of telling those stories in a variety of media outlets.

Local media is the best place to start. Whether your local news coverage comes from a massive daily newspaper and three TV stations or just a website run out of someone’s spare room, outlets that focus on your community are vital to telling your story to the people whose votes can change how you do your job. Yes, it’s nice for people in your immediate area to know about the great teaching and learning that happens every day at your school. But on a more practical note, the local media can be a crucial ally to a district that is presenting a bond measure to the public. If you aren’t working with them to tell your story, you are leaving it up to them to hopefully “get it right”.

I recently spoke to a superintendent in a district that serves 32,000 residents, more than 50 percent of whom don’t have kids in the school system. When he introduced a bond measure in 2015, he started his outreach to those non-parent voters by building an ongoing relationship with the local media—which in his case consisted of one local news site. As a result of this and other efforts (which I’ll get to later), he succeeded in passing a $67.5 million bond. And now, when he wants to share his district’s challenges and successes with those non-parents, he knows he has a place where his voice will be heard.

National media can be a harder nut to crack, but it’s worth the effort. If there’s a glaring need in your district, the more people you ask for help, the better chance you have that someone will help. For example, a teacher I know was trying to crowdfund four classroom audio systems for her school. She was far short of her goal—and then The Rachael Ray Show found out about her quest and devotion to her students. The next thing she knew she was on TV, answering the door to a mailman who delivered the donated audio systems.

Of course, national media coverage is about more than just pointing out a need and getting free stuff. Having a positive story about your school or district told by a high-profile TV show, magazine, or newspaper puts a powerful seal of approval on the work that you’re doing for your students and community. It’s also a great morale-builder for teachers and staff. As a bonus, the fact that a local school was featured in the national media will often become its own local news story, with a heartwarming headline like “Celebrity chef Rachael Ray gives teacher an on-air technology gift.”

One tip about approaching national media outlets: The bigger the organization, the more likely it is to have an education specialist. Find that person and follow his or her work for a few months before pitching your story.

B2B or trade publications are not as glamorous as The Rachael Ray Show or as widely read as Time magazine, but having your story showcased in Scholastic Administrator or eSchool News has both short- and long-term benefits.

In the short-term, sharing your story with your fellow educators around the country opens the door to fruitful collaborations. In the long term, developing a reputation for innovation serves as a job recruitment tool for educators who may be moving to your area.

Social media and community portals: In part 1 of this series, I wrote about the power of Twitter, so I won’t go over that again, but I will say that social media is an indispensable part of every school’s storytelling operation. On Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, you have complete control over the text, images, and timing of everything you post. These are fantastic places to solidify your brand with your community, parents, and staff. And because most people have personal social media accounts, they’re familiar with how the platforms work, so pretty much everyone can help their district maintain a positive social media presence.

If social media is the cake, community portals are the icing. Back to that superintendent in the district of 32,000: At the same time he was telling the story of his bond to the local media, he added a button to his district’s website that let anyone in the community ask a question, which would then be promptly answered by the appropriate person.

The superintendent said that this one-on-one communication played a big part in clarifying the benefits of the bond and ultimately getting it passed. Districts around the country are using various portals to connect with their communities, and they’re learning an important lesson: Sometimes the most important part of telling your story is listening first.

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Christopher Piehler is the Lead Storyteller at PR with Panache! The former editor-in-chief of THE Journal, he has worked for a variety of consumer and B2B publications. He has been an ed tech commentator on both TV and radio, has served as a CODiE award judge, and has been a speaker at the FETC and CoSN conferences.

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

Are You Prepared for These Drawbacks of Bringing Tech to the Classroom?

As much progress as technology can help a classroom make, it isn’t always a positive force. There are some drawbacks to trying to introduce technology into classrooms, even when the implementation is done in the most thoughtful and well planned out of ways.

Most dramatic shifts in how humans act and interact are accompanied by difficulties, especially at the outset. Though these difficulties may not outweigh the benefits of the new paradigm, they are nevertheless real. Technology in schools is no exception. Some of the problems associated with technology are mechanical: we all have memories of a teacher struggling to get a projector or program to work, or of losing a week’s work on a project because of a glitch in a system. Other problems may be less obvious.

Many schools must deal not only with students who lack access to technology, but also with those who have too much access. Some students spend most of their free time at home playing computer games, surfing the Internet, or texting on their cell phones. This obsession with technologically based entertainment spills over into the school environment. Teachers must be aware of students who are surreptitiously playing games on cell phones or tablets in the classroom, who are using school computer time to communicate with friends, or who are not getting the social contact or exercise they need because they are hunched over their device at every free moment. See the accompanying “Survival Tips” for help with students and cell phones.

Another difficulty is that the World Wide Web contains not only beneficial information, but also information that may be harmful. Young people may not have the skills or desire to filter out the negative elements from the positive. As a teacher, you should be aware of this and should make an effort to tutor children in possible danger areas on the Internet: chat rooms, sexual trolls, and so on.

Just as you as a teacher must do your research on how to best extract benefits from technology, you must also do your homework when it comes to being prepared to combat the negative impact technology can have. Make sure you’re equipped to handle not just the best, but also the worst of what happens when the modern age comes to school.

Educators – how do you deal with the difficulties of seamlessly incorporating technology and teaching?

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