k12

Matthew Lynch published in Policy & Reform

Education Policy: A Fight for Systematic Change

By H. Davis

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 the studies released 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 to Laura 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.”

-Barack Obama

 

 

  • no reactions
0
Share
Matthew Lynch published in Ask An Expert, First Year Teachers, Teachers

Educators: These Two Principles Are Your Universal Code of Ethics

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.

  • no reactions
0
Share
Matthew Lynch published in Ask An Expert

What summertime means for black children

Keffrelyn Brown, University of Texas at Austin and Anthony L. Brown, University of Texas at Austin

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.

Summer is a time to fill in the curriculum gaps for black kids. Black family image via www.shutterstock.com

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 far back as the turn of the 20th century, notable scholars including W.E.B. Du Bois, Carter G. Woodson and Anna Julia Cooper addressed the problems and limitations of schooling for African-Americans.

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.

Black male children are portrayed in some troubling ways. Boy image via www.shutterstock.com

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.

The Conversation

Keffrelyn Brown, Associate Professor of Cultural Studies in Education, University of Texas at Austin and Anthony L. Brown, Associate Professor of Curriculum and Instruction, University of Texas at Austin

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

  • no reactions
0
Share
Matthew Lynch published in Early Childhood, EdTech & Innovation, Elementary Education

Why schools should provide one laptop per child

Binbin Zheng, Michigan State University and Mark Warschauer, University of California, Irvine

A recent international study by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development found no positive evidence of impact of educational technology on student performance.

It did not find any significant improvement in reading, math or science in countries that heavily invested in technology to improve student achievement. In fact, the report found that technology perhaps even widened the achievement gaps.

Does this mean we should abandon attempts to integrate technology in schools?

We are researchers of technology and learning in K-12 environments, and our research suggests this would be shortsighted.

Impact of one-to-one laptop programs

For the last 10 years, our research team has been investigating what are called “one-to-one” programs, where all the students in a classroom, grade, school or district are provided laptop computers for use throughout the school day, and often at home, in different school districts across the United States.

The largest one-to-one laptop program in the world is OLPC (One Laptop per Child), which mainly targets developing countries, with the mission “to create educational opportunities for the world’s poorest children.” In the United States, the Maine Learning Technology Initiative (MLTI) launched a one-to-one laptop initiative in fall 2002, which made Maine the first state to use technology to transform teaching and learning in classrooms statewide. Later, these programs were extended to other school districts as well.

In addition to our own extensive observations, we conducted a synthesis of the results of 96 published global studies on these programs in K-12 schools during 2001-2015. Among them, 10 rigorously designed studies, mostly from the U.S., were included, to examine the relationship between these programs and academic achievement. We found significant benefits.

We found students’ test scores in science, writing, math and English language arts improved significantly.

And the benefits were not limited to test scores.

Laptop use led to significant benefits for students.Tim & Selena Middleton, CC BY

We found students with laptops wrote more frequently across a wider variety of genres. They also received more feedback on their writing. In addition, we found they edited and revised their papers more often, drew on a wider range of resources to write, and published or shared their work with others more often.

Student surveys, teacher interviews and classroom observations in these studies revealed that students with access to laptops worked more autonomously and gained experience in project-based learning. This allowed them to synthesize and critically apply knowledge.

For example, researcher Chrystalla Mouza found that elementary school students with access to laptops were able to create electronic storybooks and publish reports in language arts classrooms.

One-to-one laptop programs also enhanced students’ 21st-century skills – skills needed in an information age – such as the ability to locate and use internet resources. Students also improved their collaborative learning skills – that is, they were more capable of working collaboratively with others.

Research led by Deborah L. Lowther at University of Memphis found that when students were given a problem and related answer to consider, students with laptops exhibited higher problem-solving skills than those in the comparison group.

A closer look at the OECD report also reveals that students in the United States performed particularly well on technology-based tasks such as online navigation, digital reading and using computers to solve math problems.

Can laptop use reduce educational gap?

However, our study did not find firm evidence on whether these one-to-one laptop programs helped lessen the academic gap between academically advantaged and disadvantaged students.

Earlier studies have found that laptop programs could help shorten the achievement gap between low-income students and their peers. We did not find such positive evidence in all programs.

One possible explanation is that difficulty in using technology sometimes places an extra load on already challenged students. In contrast, wealthier students are usually more tech-savvy so they can maximize the benefits of using computers to support learning.

Not all laptop programs are effective

One issue here is that not all programs are successful. In our study, although most programs were successful, there were some stark failures as well.

These tended to be in school districts that treated computers like magical devices that would solve educational problems merely through their distribution, without sufficient planning on how they could best be deployed to improve learning.

Some schools phased out their laptop program. Mere access to a computer does not improve learning. Schoolchildren image via www.shutterstock.com

Some of these schools, after observing no progress with laptops, decided to phase them out. For example, Liverpool Central School District, a public school district in a suburban community near Syracuse, New York, decided to drop the laptop program from fall 2007.

A school district in Philadelphia had to abandon its program after being sued over its use of laptop webcams to capture pictures of students at home. The district claimed it was an effort to track down missing laptops.

For schools and classrooms that are already poorly organized, merely having access to a computer connected to the internet will not improve learning. However, for classrooms that focus on improving students’ writing, analysis, research, problem solving and critical thinking, those same internet-connected computers could be invaluable tools.

Technology to train future citizens

Perhaps we could learn a lesson from the business world. When computers were first introduced into corporations, it took a number of years to increase productivity.
Today it is hard to imagine any field of commerce or knowledge production succeeding while shunning computers.

Well-organized programs that make individual computers available to students are already getting excellent test score results. Such programs are critical for helping students develop necessary skills for the future. These programs deserve our support.

The Conversation

Binbin Zheng, Assistant Professor, Michigan State University and Mark Warschauer, Professor of Education and Informatics, University of California, Irvine

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

  • no reactions
0
Share
Matthew Lynch published in Education Leadership

School’s In! Five Ways to Make this School Year Your Child’s Best Yet

**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 column by Michele Kambolis

With back to school season in full gear, parents and kids are filled with both excitement and tension, wondering how they can set themselves up for success. Studies have shown that children who thrive at school have a home life filled with healthy habits, great connection and a commitment to self-awareness. How can you ensure you’re providing thefoundation your child needs to thrive this school year? Follow these five tips and see your child flourish.

Self-care is the new medicine

Whether a child is struggling with difficulty focusing, sleep problems, stress, irritability, or any other roadblock, tools for self-care constitute the most powerful medicine there is. Time to relax, and check in with oneself, not only stabilizes the brain system, making it easier to learn. It contributes to life-long resiliency and happiness. But self-care looks different for everyone,so make a commitment to learn a whole host of self care skills: mindfulnessmeditation, yoga, progressive relaxation, imagery, walking outside, or simply taking a long deep breathe together can all go a long ways towards integrating mind and body, leaving kids (and parents) feeling calm and relaxed. Keeping a healthy sleep schedule and choosing nutritionally loaded foods should be high on your self-care list. Both are immune boosting and help ensure your child’s metabolic system is running effectively.

Tear-free homework

Homework stress almost always tops the list of pressures children worry about. A parent’s deep sighs, frustrated tones and questions about grades and homework can leave kids feeling overwhelmed. Instead, make this year’s homework time tear-free with a fresh approach. Studies show that kids who agree to a homework contract are more independent and successful. Include the time and place where homework will be done, placing distracting technology aside and add an enjoyable activity once homework is done. Incorporate yourself in the contract, including that you’ll be available without taking over, consistently remain calm and keep the lines of communication open with teachers.

Inspire perseverance

Hold back on giving your child all the answers when they’re struggling with a question. Instead, give them room to explore the possibilities they see – no matter how ineffective or ‘wrong’ these might seem to you. Key to perseverance is seeingthings in a new light; encourage your child to come up with alternativeways to solve a problem or to complete a task in a totally different way. Studies show that the average adult thinks of no more than three or four options in a specific circumstance, while the average child can come up with sixty. Taking time to think outside the box may go far to help your child develop the new insights that make perseverance possible.

Get to know your thinking traps

We’ve all heard the Buddhist quote, “Rule your mind or it will rule you”, but learning to be internally in charge is easier said than done. With committed practice, we can teach something very powerful; we can challenge faulty thoughts rather than accept them as truth. Faulty thinking patterns,like perfectionistic thinking or exaggerated thinking, creates thinking traps that children can get stuck in, fuelling anxiety and unhealthy coping behaviours. The trick, instead, is to learn to notice these patterns, see the signs of negative thinking and stop, before getting snagged in the trap. With self-awareness and practice,children can learn to see their own thinking traps and reframe their thoughts in a positive way, leaving them more empowered when facing challenges.

Make time for play

With busy schedules and the explosion of technology use, many children have lost the essential, brain-supporting work of play – and a child without play is a child who cannot thrive. The latest research demonstrates that imagination and creativity fostered through play are as important as intelligence in predicting how successful a person will be later in life. So make play a priority. Schedule in times for creativity and encourage the offbeat. Conjuring up odd and open-ended questions stimulatesimaginative freethinking and gives kids opportunities to explore a wider range of ideas. Make the outrageous seem possible for your children, keeping in mind that laughter crushes our brain’s stress hormones, cortisol and adrenaline.

Five small steps can create large, and happy, results.

________________

 

Michele Kambolis (MA) is a registered Child and Family Therapist and Parent Educator and a Registered Clinical Counselor dedicated to raising awareness about mental health issues. Kambolis writes a popular weekly parenting advice column, “Parent Traps” for The Vancouver Sun and Postmedia Network chain of newspapers. She is also the author of Generation Stressed: Play-Based Tools to Help Your Child OvercomeAnxiety.

  • no reactions
0
Share
Matthew Lynch published in Bullying

Why bullying needs more efforts to stop it

Jonathan Todres, Georgia State University

The tragic consequences of bullying have become a regular part of the news cycle. In April, an eighth grade girl in Missouri and a sixth grade boy in Pennsylvania committed suicide. Bullying was an important factor, according to their families.

While such devastating cases understandably draw the most attention, they risk leaving the impression that bullying is an issue only in severe cases. In fact, bullying is pervasive and often causes harm. As awareness spreads that bullying is not just a childhood rite of passage but a significant public health issue, the demand for action has increased.

A breadth of actors, from federal agencies to state legislatures to schools, are grappling with how to address the problem. And now a new report by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine – a leading independent research organization – provides critical insights into bullying’s consequences and what is needed for an effective response. I served on this study committee.

Understanding bullying’s impact

Contrary to traditional views of bullying as mere child’s play, research shows that bullying has significant short- and long-term adverse consequences for targets, perpetrators and others who witness bullying.

Children who are bullied are more likely to suffer a variety of psychological disorders, including depression and anxiety. They are more likely to contemplate or attempt suicide, though as the Academies report explains, “there is not enough evidence to date to conclude that bullying is a causal factor for youth suicides.” Youth who are bullied also report various physical symptoms, including headaches, sleep disturbances and stomach pain.

Children who are bullied suffer from a range of mental and physical health problems. Boy image via www.shutterstock.com

The impact can be felt for years. In many cases, the mental health consequences of bullying persist into adulthood.

Importantly, it is not only the targets of bullying who suffer. Children who bully others and bystanders who witness bullying are also at greater risk of adverse mental health consequences.

The report also found that children who are both perpetrators and targets of bullying “appear to be at greatest risk for poor psychosocial outcomes, compared to those who only bully or are only bullied and to those who are not bullied.” These children may show mental health-related symptoms such as depression, anxiety and withdrawal. They may also show behavior-related symptoms, such as anger and aggression.

While the Academies report found that more research is needed, it also identified a number of ways to advance anti-bullying efforts.

Assessing law and policy responses

In the past 15 years, all 50 states and the District of Columbia have adopted or revised anti-bullying laws. While this legislative action is promising, few studies have measured the actual impact of anti-bullying laws and policies.

Law has played a key role in responding to many public health issues, from infectious diseases to road safety to tobacco use. To ensure it does the same for bullying prevention, a process for continually assessing and refining anti-bullying laws and policies is needed, according to the Academies report.

Among other things, the Academies report calls for an annual meeting among policymakers, social scientists and professionals who work with children to review research that assesses the implementation and effect of anti-bullying laws and policies. The aim is to develop better evidence and ensure that research informs decisions Congress and the state legislatures make to address bullying.

Identifying bullying

Research shows that many school administrators and teachers continue to have trouble identifying bullying and intervening successfully.

An essential step to identification of bullying is training for teachers and others who work with children and adolescents. As the Academies report recommends, “evidence-informed bullying prevention training [should be provided] for individuals, both professionals and volunteers, who work directly with children and adolescents on a regular basis.”

The report notes that such training programs must be ongoing and evaluated to ensure that professionals and volunteers who work with youth can effectively identify bullying and intervene appropriately.

Confronting cyberbullying

Another critical component of this issue is cyberbullying, given the prominence of social media in the lives of children and adolescents.

Cyberbullying presents unique challenges. Girl image via www.shutterstock.com

In some respects, the online world can be viewed as simply another locale where bullying occurs. But it also presents unique challenges. The 24/7 nature of social media may make a victim of bullying feel it is impossible to escape bullying behavior. It also can blur the line between what happens on- versus off-school campuses. As policymakers and schools consider how best to address cyberbullying, technology companies are uniquely positioned to play a role.

The Academies report urges social media companies to develop and evaluate “policies and programs for preventing, identifying and responding to bullying on their platforms.” It also calls on social media companies to post their policies online so they are widely accessible to the public.

Ensuring a safe environment

So long as bullying persists, and children are hurt, we are not doing enough.

We need more research to address gaps in our understanding of bullying and its consequences. And we must ensure that our responses are based on proven effective programs.

From policymakers to parents, tech companies to teachers, we all have a role to play in preventing bullying and ensuring safe environments for children. Building upon evidence-based research can ensure that we are not just responding to bullying, but that we are responding effectively.

The Conversation

Jonathan Todres, Professor of Law, Georgia State University

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

  • no reactions
0
Share
Matthew Lynch published in Policy & Reform

Explainer: What is wrong with America’s civic education

Peter Levine, Tufts University

Any election demands knowledge, attention and wisdom from the whole electorate. When a campaign season does not seem to be going well, there’s often angst about whether the public has been sufficiently educated.

Anxious eyes turn to our public schools.

For instance, writing in The Atlantic recently, Jonathan Zimmerman, professor of education and history at New York University, decried the incivility of the 2016 campaign and named “a flaw with civic education.” He wrote:

Put simply, schools in the United States don’t teach the country’s future citizens how to engage respectfully across their political differences.

I have studied and advocated civic education for almost two decades. I believe civic education must be improved in the United States. First, though, it’s important to understand the condition of America’s civic education.

State of civic education

Schools have a role in educating citizens, and they perform it in several ways. Almost all public schools offer explicit courses on American government, civics or, more broadly, history and social studies.

Some require volunteer service and connect the service to classroom education as a way of teaching civic skills. Most schools also offer a range of extracurricular activities in which students learn to take leadership and make collective decisions.

Forty states require civics courses for graduation. Although each state writes its own standards, what they say about civics overlaps a great deal. For example, all states’ standards require the U.S. Constitution to be covered in the curriculum. And every state and the District of Columbia expect all students to learn about the functioning of the government.

How well are America’s future citizens being prepared? Kim Davies, CC BY-NC-ND

It is not surprising, then, that 97 percent of high school seniors say they have studied civics or government in school.

What students know – and don’t know

But what exactly are students learning? Is the situation as dire as some seem to believe? Or, do the students demonstrate a reasonable level of learning?

The answers to these questions depend on how you measure what students learn from their civics classes.

For example, after the federal government released its National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) Civics Assessment report in 2011, The New York Times published an article titled “Failing Grades on Civics Exam Called a ‘Crisis.’”

But, a closer look reveals that students actually got a lot of the NAEP’s questions correct. When presented with a plausible list of ideals, more than half of eighth graders could choose the one that’s stated in the Preamble to the U.S. Constitution.

Clearly, they had studied the Constitution and remembered what they learned.

On the other hand, when eighth graders were asked to choose a “belief shared by most people of the United States,” a majority (51 percent) picked “The government should guarantee everybody a job,” and only a third chose the correct answer: “The government should be a democracy.”

Students are entitled to their own opinions about guaranteed employment, but this result suggests they misunderstood the U.S. political mainstream and current policy.

Students are spending time learning facts, but not learning how to discuss issues. woodleywonderworks, CC BY

A close and nuanced view of what young people are learning reveals both the strengths and weaknesses of the current curriculum. Almost all students are spending time learning about core documents, especially the U.S. Constitution. However, they don’t always perform as well on questions about current events or apply their knowledge to current politics.

For instance, after the 2012 election, my colleagues and I conducted a telephone survey of young adults and found that only 10 percent met a standard of “informed voting” that we defined as correctly answering most questions about current politics and the recent campaign, having an opinion about a major policy issue, choosing a candidate whose position was consistent with their expressed opinion about that issue and actually voting.

Learning to talk and listen

The deficit that Jonathan Zimmerman names is not a lack of knowledge of the formal political system or even of current events, but an inability to discuss controversial issues with civility. Some students do learn to do that in their civics or social studies classrooms, but many students miss that opportunity.

Deliberation is one of the advanced skills necessary in a democracy. In courses and schools where “civic education” devolves into learning a lot of facts about the official political system, students don’t learn such skills. They may even forget the factual details that they have crammed for tests.

Most state standards for social studies are long lists of fairly miscellaneous topics that must be covered. That way of defining and regulating civics leads to a lot of cramming information.

On the bright side, at least eight states have started using the C3 (College, Career and Citizenship) Framework to guide revisions of their standards. In the C3 framework, instead of studying one topic after another, students explore content in order to address important questions and prepare for active citizenship. The idea is to make civic education deeper, more purposeful and more interesting.

Inequality in civic education

Some students already experience exciting and challenging civic education, but some do not. Unfortunately, the most advantaged young people tend to get the best opportunities in civics, as in most other areas of education.

For instance, opportunities to discuss social problems and current events are more common for white students and students who plan to attend college than for kids of color and those not heading for college. The same is true for community service opportunities.

Opportunities to discuss current events are more common for white students. ITU Pictures, CC BY

Furthermore, schools themselves send implicit messages about who matters in society, whose voice counts, who has power and how power is exercised. For instance, African-American and Latino students are far more likely than white students to be punished for the same infractions. Schools that serve disadvantaged kids are more likely to be authoritarian and discriminatory.

Since a school represents the government, these kinds of disparities send powerfully alienating messages about civic engagement and further expand gaps in civic engagement by offering the most empowering experiences to more advantaged kids.

Need for innovation

Civics in the 21st century should be excitingly different. The political world for which we are preparing students has changed dramatically, as have our students’ demographics and backgrounds. For instance, to stay informed, citizens once had to understand how a printed newspaper was organized, but now they have to know which social media to trust, follow and share.

Clearly, there is a need to innovate. The point is not to “bring back” the civics we once had, which never produced an impressively informed adult public.

A major priority in improving civics should be to expand opportunities for high-quality learning and engagement where they are most scarce today. That way, we can help students learn that politics and civic affairs are interesting, relevant and
even enjoyable.

The Conversation

Peter Levine, Associate Dean for Research and Lincoln Filene Professor of Citizenship & Public Affairs, Tufts University

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

  • no reactions
0
Share
Matthew Lynch published in Early Childhood, Elementary Education, Parental Involvement

Reading to your child: the difference it makes

Peggy Albers, Georgia State University

If you are a parent or a teacher, you most probably read stories to young children. Together, you laugh and point at the pictures. You engage them with a few simple questions. And they respond.

So what happens to children when they participate in shared reading? Does it make a difference to their learning? If so, what aspects of their learning are affected?

Shared reading for language development

British researcher Don Holdaway was the first to point out the benefits of shared reading. He noted that children found these moments to be some of their happiest. He also found that children developed positive and strong associations with spoken language and the physical book itself, during these moments.

Since then a number of studies have been conducted showing the value of shared reading in children’s language development, especially in vocabulary and concept development.

Early childhood researcher Vivian Paley, for example, during her work in the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools, found that kindergarten children learned when a story was dramatized in shared reading. Not only did children develop oral language, they imaginatively learned the conventions of a story, such as character, plot and themes. In shared storytelling, children also learned how to use language in multiple ways.

Other research found that shared reading was related to the development of expressive vocabulary. That is, children developed listening skills and built an understanding of grammar as well as vocabulary in the context of the story.

Connecting words to emotions

As a language and literacy researcher, I work with teachers to develop reading strategies that develop children’s interest in reading and help them think critically. Kay Cowan, an early childhood researcher who studies the role of the arts in language learning, and I conducted two studies to understand children’s language development in grades one to five.

Grade 5 child generates vocabulary through shared reading. Kay Cowan, CC BY

We worked with approximately 75 children across grade levels. We began our language study by talking with the students about the power of words, and the role they play in and outside of school. Following this, we discussed the pleasures associated with words. We then read “Shadow,” an award-winning picture book by children’s author Marcia Brown, and poems by Shel Silverstein, another children’s author.

Children were then asked to think of an “absolutely wonderful” event that they had experienced, and associate an emotion with it. Children chose a personal event that elicited emotions. They then drew contrasting images of the word that showed opposite emotions, and studied synonyms and antonyms to understand the “shades of meaning.” They then wrote descriptive poetry to convey this emotion.

All children – even those who were at the risk of failing – used vivid language. Children described words like “ebullient” and “melancholy” in ways that related to their own emotion.

One child described her word “ebullient” as “bright,” and “merry,” and “never asking for anything.” “Ebullient” was also “warm,” and “gypsy-like,” and so on. Another described loneliness as “…making me feel cold/Like an icicle/wanting to melt away.”

Following this exercise, children noticed that their writing was much better. It showed us how wide and varied reading, repetition and varied encounters with words were extremely important for children to have a depth of understanding as well as verbal flexibility – being able to express the meaning of word in different ways.

Why home matters

The quality of exchanges between children and adults during shared reading is found to be critical to their language development. So, the role of home in shared reading is crucial.

Long-term studies by linguistic anthropologist Shirley Brice Heath and other literacy scholars have documented children’s ability to read as related to their families’ beliefs about reading, the quality of conversation at home and access to print materials prior to their entry into school.

Mother reads with children. Diana Ramsey, CC BY

For 10 years, Heath studied two communities a few miles a part, one black working-class and one white working-class. She documented how family practices (e.g., oral storytelling, reading books, talk) influenced children’s language development at home and in school. For example, children read and talked about stories, were asked questions about the stories or told stories about their lives, events and situations in which they were involved. Parents engaged their children in these experiences to prepare them to do well in school.

Similarly, researcher Victoria Purcell-Gates worked with an Appalachian family, specifically mother Jenny and son Donny, to help them learn to read. With Jenny, they read and talked about picture books, listened to and read along with books on tape and wrote in a journal. With Donny, they shared reading, labeled pictures and wrote stories. Jenny was able to read picture books to her sons, while Donny learned to write letters to his dad in prison.

Other researchers have found that when parents, specifically mothers, knew how to interact with their children during shared reading using positive reinforcement and asking questions about the story, both children and mothers benefited.

Mothers learned how to ask open-ended questions, and prompted their children to respond to stories. Children were more engaged and enthusiastic about the shared reading experience. They also were able to talk more about the story’s content, and were able to talk about the relationship between pictures and story.

What’s more, shared story experiences have also been shown to have an influence on children’s understanding of math concepts and geometry in kindergarten.

Children more readily learn math concepts like numbers, size (bigger, smaller) and estimation/approximation (lots, many) when parents engaged in “math talk” while reading picture books.

Shared reading in a digital world

While shared reading is often associated with print books, shared reading can be extended to digital texts such as blogs, podcasts, text messages, video and other complex combinations of print, image, sound, animation and so on.

Good video games, for example, incorporate many learning principles, such as interaction, problem-solving and risk-taking, among others. As in shared reading, children interact with their parents, teachers or peers as they engage in stories.

South African children share reading on computer. Amy Seely Flint, CC BY

Literacy researcher Jason Ranker’s case study of eight-year-old Adrian shows that young children can actually “redesign” how stories are read, discussed and told when they engage actively with video game narratives.

Adrian, who played a video game, Gauntlet Legends, created a story in Ranker’s class, to which he added many drawings to show the movement of characters.

In this case study, Ranker found that children like Adrian who play video games learn how to produce stories that do not follow the linear pattern found in print stories (exposition, climax, resolution). Rather, children experience stories at “levels” that allow characters and plots to move in many directions, eventually coming to resolution.

Similarly, children with access to certain apps are coordinating their storytelling on a touchscreen. They choose characters for their stories. They move them around with their fingers, and drag-and-drop them in and out of the story. If they want to create more complex stories, they work with others to coordinate characters’ movements. Sharing stories, then, becomes collaborative, imaginative and dynamic through these digital mediums.

Children, in essence, have redesigned how stories are told and experienced, demonstrating imagination, vision and problem-solving.

One thing that is clear across research is that rich complex language development does not happen merely by pointing at letters or pronouncing words out of context. It is engagement, and guided attention to language conventions, that matter in shared reading.

Ultimately, what is important is that shared reading must be a joyful experience for the child. Sharing stories must allow for a personal connection and allow for interaction and a shared learning.

The Conversation

Peggy Albers, Professor of Language and Literacy Education, Georgia State University

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

  • no reactions
0
Share
Matthew Lynch published in Early Childhood, Elementary Education, Parental Involvement

Should parents ask their children to apologize?

Craig Smith, University of Michigan

Have you ever felt deserving of an apology and been upset when you didn’t get one? Have you ever found it hard to deliver the words, I’m sorry?

Such experiences show how much apologies matter. The importance placed on apologies is shared by many cultures. Diverse cultures even share a great deal in common when it comes to how apologies are communicated.

When adults feel wronged, apologies have been shown to help in a variety of ways:
Apologies can reduce retaliation; they can bring about forgiveness and empathy for wrongdoers; and they can aid in the repair of broken trust. Further, sincere apologies have the physiological effect of lowering blood pressure more quickly, especially among those who are prone to hold on to anger.

How do children view and experience apologies? And what do parents think about when to prompt their young ones to apologize?

How children understand apologies

Research shows that children as young as age four grasp the emotional implications of apology. They understand, for example, that an apology can improve the feelings of someone who’s been upset. Preschoolers also judge apologizing wrongdoers to be more likable, and more desirable as partners for interaction and cooperation.

Children as young as four understand the emotional meaning of an apology. Funkyah, CC BY-NC-ND

Recent studies have tested the actual impact of apologies on children. In one such study, a group of four- to seven-year-olds received an apology from a child who failed to share, while another group did not get an apology. The participants who received the apology felt better and viewed the offending child as nicer as well as more remorseful.

Another study exposed children to a more distressing event: A person knocked over a tower that six- to seven-year-olds were building. Some children got an apology, some did not. In this case, a spontaneous apology did not improve children’s upset feelings. However, the apology still had an impact. Children who got an apology were willing to share more of their attractive stickers with the person who knocked over the tower compared to those who did not get an apology.

This finding suggests that an apology led to forgiveness in children, even if sadness about the incident understandably lingered. Notably, children did feel better when the other person offered to help rebuild their toppled towers. In other words, for children, both remorseful words and restorative actions make a difference.

When does a child’s apology matter to parents?

Although apologies carry meaning for children, views on whether parents should ask their children to apologize vary. A recent caution against apology prompting was based on the mistaken notion that young children have limited social understanding. In fact, young children understand a great deal about others’ viewpoints.

When and why parents prompt their children to apologize has not been systematically studied. In order to gain better insight into this question, I recently conducted a study with my colleagues Jee Young Noh and Michael Rizzo at the University of Maryland and Paul Harris at Harvard University.

We surveyed 483 parents of three- to 10-year-old children. Most participants were mothers, but there was a sizable group of fathers as well. Parents were recruited via online parenting discussion groups and came from communities all around the U.S.. The discussion groups had a variety of orientations toward parenting.

In order to account for the possibility that parents might want to show themselves in the best light, we took a measure of “social desirability bias” from each parent. The results reported here emerged after we statistically corrected for the influence of this bias.

A card from daughter to mother. Todd Ehlers, CC BY-ND

We asked parents to imagine their children committing what they would consider to be “transgressions.” We then asked them how likely they would be to prompt an apology in each scenario. We also asked parents to rate how important they felt it was for their children to learn to apologize in a variety of situations. Finally, we asked the parents about their general approaches to parenting.

The large majority of parents (96 percent) felt that it was important for their children to learn to apologize following an incident in which children upset another person on purpose. Further, 88 percent felt it was important for their children to learn to apologize in the aftermath of upsetting someone by mistake.

Fewer than five percent of the parents surveyed endorsed the view that apologies are empty words. However, parents were sensitive to context.

Parents reported being especially likely to prompt apologies following their children’s intentional and accidental “moral transgressions.” Moral transgressions involve issues of welfare, justice, and rights, such as stealing from or hurting another person.

Parents viewed apologies as relatively less important following their children’s transgressions of social convention (e.g., breaking a rule in a game, interrupting a conversation).

Apology as a way to mend rifts

It’s noteworthy that parents were very likely to anticipate prompting apologies following incidents in which their children upset others on purpose and by mistake.

This suggests that a focus for many parents, when prompting apologies, is addressing the outcomes of their children’s social missteps. Our data suggest that parents use apology prompts to teach their children how to manage difficult social situations, regardless of underlying intentions.

Parents may prompt an apology to mend an interpersonal rift. Girl image via www.shutterstock.com

For example, 88 percent of parents indicated that they would typically prompt an apology if their child broke a peer’s toy by mistake (in the event that the child did not apologize spontaneously).

Indeed, parents especially anticipated prompting apologies following accidental mishaps that involved their children’s peers (and not parents themselves as the wronged parties). When a child’s peer is a victim, parents likely recognize that apologies can quickly mend potential interpersonal rifts that may otherwise linger.

We also asked parents why they viewed apology prompts as important for their children. In the case of moral transgressions, parents saw these prompts as tools for helping children take responsibility. In addition, they used apology prompts for promoting empathy, teaching about harm, helping others feel better and clearing up confusing situations.

However, not all parents viewed the importance of apology prompting in the same way. There was a subset of parents who were relatively permissive: warm and caring but not overly inclined to provide discipline or expect mature behavior from their children.

Most of these parents were not wholly dismissive of the importance of apologies, but they consistently indicated being less likely to provide prompting to their children, compared to the other parents in the study.

When to prompt an apology

Overall, most parents in our study viewed apologies as important in the lives of children. And the child development research described above indicates that many children share this view.

But are there more and less effective ways to prompt a child to apologize? I argue that parents should consider whether a child will offer a prompted apology willingly and sincerely. A recently completed study sheds some light on why.

When should parents prompt an apology? Zvi Kons, CC BY-NC

In this study – currently under review – we asked four- to nine-year-old children to evaluate two types of apologies that were prompted by an adult. One apology was willingly given to the victim after the apology prompt; the other apology was given only after additional adult coercion (“You need to say you’re sorry!”).

We found that 90 percent of the children viewed the recipient of the prompted, “willingly given” apology as feeling better. However, only 22 percent of the children connected a coerced apology to improved feelings in the victim.

So, as parents ponder the merits of prompting apologies from children, it seems important to refrain from pushing one’s child to apologize when he or she is not ready, or is simply not remorseful. Most young children don’t view coerced apologies as effective.

In such cases, interventions aimed at calming down, increasing empathy and making amends may be more constructive than pushing a resistant child to deliver an apology. And, of course, components like making amends can accompany willingly given apologies as well.

Finally, to arguments that apologies are merely empty words that young children parrot, it’s worth noting that we have many rituals that involve rather scripted verbal exchanges, such as when two people in love say “I do” at a wedding or commitment ceremony.

Just as these scripted words carry deep cultural and personal meaning, so too can other culturally valued verbal scripts, such the words in an apology. Thoughtfully teaching young children about apologizing is one aspect of teaching them how to be caring and well-regarded members of their communities.

The Conversation

Craig Smith, Research Investigator, University of Michigan

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

  • no reactions
0
Share
Matthew Lynch published in Ask An Expert, Bullying, Education Leadership, First Year Teachers, Policy & Reform,

14 Signs of Cyberbullying in the Classroom

By Gabe Duverge

One of the biggest trends affecting education across the country is the migration of bullying to digital media, which is commonly referred to as cyberbullying. About 7 percent of students in grades 6-12 experience cyberbullying each year, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. Unlike traditional bullying, cyberbullying is much harder for educators to detect and address. The perpetrators are often able to maintain anonymity, and much of the cyberbullying activity occurs outside of school.

Like traditional bullying, there are warning signs for teachers to watch for in their students. These signs can help you identify a victim or a cyberbully and step into the situation. Cyberbullying can be quite harmful to the well-being of students if it goes unchecked. In addition, the negative effects on students can severely damage your ability to manage the classroom.

Emotional Signs of Cyberbullying

Emotional changes in a student might be hard to see, but they are often some of the most severe signs. These signals show that cyberbullying has really had an emotional impact on a student.

1. Becomes a Loner

Cyberbullying victims often take every opportunity to keep to themselves. They refrain from being in groups and take steps to isolate themselves. For typically outgoing students, this will be an obvious change.

2. Mood Swings

You may witness a victim have emotional outbursts and mood swings. A situation may go from very calm to contentious quite quickly. This can occur both in a group setting and on an individual level.

3. Increased Stress

A student struggling to manage stress could be a cyberbullying victim. You may notice this during normally stressful times or in situations where the student wouldn’t normally be stressed.

4. Displays Aggressive Behavior

Lashing out aggressively is common among cyberbullying victims. This is especially true among students who are not usually aggressive. They may show aggression against peers or even educators during any situation.

5. Displays Symptoms of Depression

One of the severe effects of cyberbullying is depression. Among youth, depression may manifest as constant sadness, restlessness, a lack of enthusiasm, chronic fatigue and other symptoms. If teachers witness a student with symptoms of depression, they should immediately contact a guidance counselor and the parents. Untreated depression can have very negative effects on a student.

Academic Signs of Cyberbullying

Teachers are in the best position to identify the reasons behind a student falling behind academically. Victims of cyberbullying can take steps backward in the classroom just like in other aspects of their life. Here are a few academic-related clues that cyberbullying may be taking place.

6. Doesn’t Attend School

Teachers may see students miss school more frequently. If a student begins missing significant time, contact a parent to better understand the reason. This is a good time to get clues on whether something else is afoot.

7. Work Ethic Drops

Maybe a student stops turning in homework or submits incomplete assignments. Victims of cyberbullying may stop contributing in class regularly. This is especially true of often-successful students who are struggling with a cyberbullying situation.

8. Skips Class

Cutting class is never acceptable, but some students may try to avoid interacting in class by skipping it altogether. This may be to avoid the cyberbully or just to act out.

9. Loses Interest in School

Cyberbullying can turn a once-star student into someone less excited about school. If students who are regularly involved in the classroom begin to care less, they may be suffering from cyberbullying.

10. Grades Drop

The overall grades of victims of cyberbullying often drop. This may include performing poorly on tests, missing assignments and struggling in group projects. A sudden drop in grades may be a cry for help from a victim truly struggling.

Social Signs of Cyberbullying

Cyberbullying can have a tremendous impact on how students relate to their peers socially. Cyberbullies typically attack someone they know well. Students may stop trusting their usual social group and withdraw. Here are a few specific examples.

11. Stops Participating in Social Activities

A student who is on a team or in an after-school club may stop participating because of cyberbullying. Teachers who notice a previously involved student suddenly lose interest in extracurricular activities may want to explore what’s wrong and move from there.

12. Stops Eating or Sleeping

This may be harder for teachers to notice, but students struggling with cyberbullying often sleep and eat less. This will be evident during lunchtime or if a student falls asleep during class.

13. Hurts Self

Self-harming is not uncommon for victims of cyberbullying. While a teacher may not quickly notice this, they may notice a student wearing different clothing or trying to hide signs of self-harm. Friends of the student may also provide clues to potential self-harming.

14. Changes in Friends

Students who suffer from cyberbullying may switch their group of friends completely. This could be a sign that the cyberbully is someone close to them or that their feelings of self-worth have changed.

Understanding Cyberbullying

The increasing use of digital communication by young people is driving the rise in cyberbullying. Teachers must develop a strong understanding of cyberbullying and other issues affecting education. The online graduate education degrees at Campbellsville University can help you advance your career by gaining the knowledge and credentials you need. Learn more about taking the next step in your education career today.

  • no reactions
0
Share