school reform

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

These 3 Studies on Education Results May Shock You

Studies are a dime a dozen these days, but there are still plenty that force you to pay attention. Let’s talk about three education related ones that just might surprise you.

  1. Being uneducated is more dangerous than chain smoking. According to the Post’s  review of a study published in PLOS ONE, “more than 145,000 deaths could have been prevented in 2010 if adults who did not finish high school had earned a GED or high school diploma – comparable to the mortality rates of smoking.”

That’s staggering considering smoking and education aren’t necessarily congruent.

For decades Americans have been warned about the horrors of smoking because of the adverse effects that it has on one’s health. While having an education has always been synonymous with success, not sure if anyone, or any study for that matter, has ever gone this far to connect poor health, or death related to poor health, to lacking a proper education.

The study, according to the Post, doesn’t directly correlate poor education with death. Rather it counts death as “an estimate of education’s impact on mortality, and do not indicate direct causality.”

While this study doesn’t directly state that failure to attain an education will result in death, it does portend that death is a consequence of one’s failure to gain an education. Make sense?

This type of information is multi-faceted because of how far it stretches. Personal responsibility plays a role; the government has an act in this play; the private sector and many other areas are also complicit.

How we move along with the information posted from this story will be interesting as well. Because, maybe more than anything, this shows just how stark the consequences are for our society if we fail to properly educate our children.

The results may be death.

  1. The Ivy Leagues may not be worth it. Saving a year’s worth of salary for one year of higher education at Harvard may yield great career results for some but that may not be true for all.

According to U.S. News and World Report, a recent Brookings Study shows that “other schools may either not cost as much and yield a similar salary and success of loan repayment, or they may cost about the same but generate higher earnings potential.”

Harvard is a small sample size and represents a limited portion of the zenith of college costs. But, in essence, the study shows that one may earn just as much for the duration of their career by attending a college with cheaper tuition.

That’s not a knock against Harvard as students, and their parents, are free to choose any school that matches with their educational goals.

This is an alternative that students have always taken. Take Ronald Nelson, a student who was accepted  to all eight Ivy League schools.

Instead of choosing a prestigious Ivy League school, and the tuition that came along with it, Nelson went with the University of Alabama.

He said that Alabama “offered him a full scholarship and admittance into their selective honors program.” Nelson also wants to save for medical school and states that going to an Ivy League higher education institution would not allow him that luxury.

Still–students and parents have to make the decision that’s best for them. Rising costs of higher education will likely force more students to choose cheaper schools over ones with higher tuition rates.

  1. Closing the achievement gap would increase the GDP by $10 trillion by 2050.

Talk about boosting the economy.

One study after another has shown a wide educational achievement gap between the poorest and wealthiest children in the United States. This prompted researchers at the Washington Center for Equitable Growth, a group focused on narrowing inequality, to study and conclude that if America could improve education performance for the average student, everyone would benefit.

The U.S.  ranks behind more than 33 advanced industrialized countries that make up the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development when it comes to math and science scores. The study used scores from the 2012 Program for International Student Assessment, a test used around the world to measure and compare achievement.

America ranks behind countries such as Korea, Poland and Slovenia in the 24th spot.

Elimination of the achievement gap in the U.S. will boost the economy — but this requires raising the country’s average score to 1,080.  The average combined score for the U.S. is 978, and the O.E.C.D average is 995.

If the U.S. could move up a few notches to number 19 – so the average American score would match the O.E.C.D. average – it would add 1.7 percent to the nation’s gross domestic product over the next 35 years, according to estimates by the Washington Center. This could lead to approximately $900 billion in higher government revenue.

If the U.S. scores matched Canada, number 7 of the O.E.C.D. scale, America’s gross domestic product would increase by 6.7 percent. After taking inflation into account, this is a cumulative increase of $10 trillion by 2050.

The achievement gap in America is a pressing issue, and it is certainly something we have to hone in on to eliminate. I hope to see our country’s O.E.C.D. ranking improve in the near future so we can narrow, and eventually close, the achievement gap and benefit from the boost in the economy too.

What do you think of these bizarre study results? Do any of these statistics surprise you?

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

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Matthew Lynch published in Diversity, EdTech & Innovation, Teachers

Goalbook publishes white paper on universally designed instruction

5-Step Instructional Design Process makes learning rigorous and accessible for all learners

SAN MATEO, Calif. (September 22, 2015) – Goalbook has published a white paper, Different Paths Up the Same Mountain, which outlines a 5-Step Instructional Design Process for educators to apply in the classroom.

The new state and Common Core standards were intended to prepare all students to be college and career ready in the 21st century.  This transition has occurred as general education classrooms have increased in diversity, including students with special needs and English Language Learners. Diversity and variability is the norm – not the exception – in the US K-12 classroom.  School and district leaders across the country are adapting their instructional approach to address the diversity of learners present in classrooms.

Rob Neu, Superintendent of Oklahoma City Public Schools, states, “At Oklahoma City Public Schools, we are committed to providing our diverse student population a wide range of opportunities for learning and experiences that prepare them well for the future.  Increasing academic rigor is a central pillar of our district strategic plan.”

Neu observed, “Goalbook’s white paper articulates a clear approach for how educators can design instruction that provides access to high levels of learning for all students.”

Research organizations such as the National Center on Universal Design for Learning have emphasized the importance of acknowledging learner variability: the idea that there is no such thing as the “average student.”  Different Paths Up the Same Mountain presents actionable steps for educators to incorporate best practices from pedagogical research into instructional design.

“Instructional practice is the key to student success.  Our 5-Step Instructional Design Process unifies two important frameworks for educators, standards-based instruction and Universal Design for Learning,” states Daniel Jhin Yoo, Founder of Goalbook and author of the white paper.

Yoo puts forward, “Every student can learn – planning instruction for a diverse group of students doesn’t require multiple lesson plans – instead, it’s about offering students multiple pathways for success.  We help teachers make this instructional approach easier to apply.”

The full publication is available for download at www.goalbookapp.com/differentpaths.

About Goalbook

Goalbook empowers teachers to transform instruction so that ALL students succeed.  Goalbook’s Toolkit and Pathways blend pedagogical research and intuitive technology into its easy-to-use online tool and leading professional development for educators.  The team partners with over 500 district customers in 45 states, working closely with district and school leaders to create scalable and sustainable change to instructional practice. Founded by former teachers and administrators, Daniel Jhin Yoo and Justin Su, Goalbook was part of ImagineK12’s inaugural class and the first company funded through New Schools’ Ed-Tech Seed Fund.

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

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Matthew Lynch published in Diversity, Higher Education, Matthew Lynch, OpEducation

Why Colleges Need Athletes as Minority Mentors

When it comes to getting more minorities into college, and then graduating them, there are a lot of different ideas out there. Stronger high school recruiting, better guidance programs for first-generation students, and more minority faculty members are just a few of the ways to make college campuses more diverse to the benefit and success of everyone.

Having strong minority role models as mentors is another, and perhaps the most powerful idea of them all. Successful people who look like the students a particular college or university is trying to graduate, and who come from a similar background, can leave a lasting impression and inspire students to similar heights.

One particular group of minority mentors that I feel should be getting even more involved in the minority recruiting and mentorship process are student athletes. Whether still athletes at the school, or alumni, this particular subset of minority mentors should play an important role in graduating other traditionally disadvantaged students.

Maurice Clarett as mentor

One great example of a college-athlete-turned-minority-mentor is The Ohio State University alum Maurice Clarett. The former college running back has taken on a new role as both a cautionary tale, and inspiration, to other young people. If his name sounds familiar, it is because his claim to fame was not just on the football field or as a national champion in the sport. Clarett served four years in prison for aggravated robbery and carrying a concealed weapon. It was behind bars that he started reading up on personal development and ways to grow beyond a delinquent and even ways to rise above his association with being a football star.

Today he talks with other college athletes about things like personal responsibility and being accountable for actions, no matter what their upbringing. Clarett has visited athletes at Alabama, Notre dame, Tennessee and Mississippi State. He recently spoke with the national champion Florida State football team and acknowledged that many minority college athletes come from home environments that leave them “undeveloped” and without the skills needed to function successfully in life. Taking advantage of the resources available on college campuses and determining to be better than life’s circumstances are two lessons that Clarett tries to pass along to the people he mentors.

A story like Clarett’s is so much more powerful than the seemingly-empty warnings from adults on college campuses, many of whom look nothing like the students they are trying to influence and have no shared life experiences. By finding ways to tap into the stories of athletes, colleges can give their students a more impactful way of committing to success.

Mirroring smart mentorship

Traditionally getting into college on an athletic scholarship has been a way that minorities have been able to break onto college campuses, particularly if they came from educational environments that simply did not offer the same resources as advantaged peers. I’d argue that getting these athletes to graduation day is simply not enough; a whole other realm of life skills is needed to ensure that they are successful long after their athletic playing days have passed. When the cheers die down and the attention turns to the more practical things in life, these student athletes need ground to stand on. Pairing them up with mentors, or at the very least bringing in former athletes to share their after-college success stories, is a great way to inspire greatness that lasts a lifetime.

Leadership. Teamwork. Hard work. Earning a “win.” Losing gracefully. All of these are lessons that college athletes know in the context of their respective sports. Translating that to life beyond college can be challenging but can be made much easier with the help of mentors that have a common understanding with the students they address. Schools should make this as much a priority as recruiting minority students to sports and academic programs. Colleges and universities have a responsibility to their students to prepare them for all aspects of life and proper mentorship can be a necessary building block in that process.

How do you think colleges can best mentor minority students?

 

 

 

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Matthew Lynch published in Matthew Lynch, Policy & Reform, Testing

4 Ways Common Core Teaches Life Skills

One of the loudest arguments against Common Core Standards is that they don’t apply to “real-life” situations and that their methods are too far removed from what actually happens in the workplace. It’s unfortunate that this argument is so prominent, because these standards were developed with the opposite intent.

Connecting the material that kids learn with the real world abilities they need to succeed is a foundational element of the internationally benchmarked standards. At the heart of Common Core is a recognition that students must be able to retain what they learn and that is accomplished by using real-life examples and applications.

Here are just a few of the ways that the transition to the standards and new Core-aligned assessments will teach life skills:

  1. Emphasis on the “how” of things. You can find the answer to anything by typing your question into a search engine box. Think about how often you rely on this technology to find answers to your everyday queries compared to the amount of effort you used to expend as a student before the Internet existed. Common Core puts an emphasis on the journey to finding answers, particularly when it comes to the math standards. It eliminates rote memorization and gives students the freedom to decide their own path to finding a correct answer.
  2. Computer-based test taking. When was the last time you did anything in your professional life that was handwritten? Even if you are in a business where you handwrite invoices, receipts or memos, technology likely comes into play with communications, bookkeeping and other day-to-day functions. We ask our high school students to complete assignments online, take college assessment exams online and even apply to college online. It makes sense to shift to a universal computer-based assessment model for our younger students, too. The Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) test aligns with Common Core benchmarks using familiar technology that helps take away some of the test-taking anxiety, allowing students to focus solely on showing what they have learned. These new tests also require more writing and break away from the decades-old “fill in the bubble” multiple-choice format that focused on rote memorization rather than any true critical thinking.
  3. Better feedback. When you are on the job, your superiors do not wait until you’ve been promoted to review your strengths and weaknesses from the previous position. The end goal for tests like PARCC is to return answers to students in the year that the assessment is taken so it can have an impact on what they are learning in the present. Instead of reporting back to students on what they know, PARCC testing informs them about where they still need improvement in a timely way that allows that progress to take place more quickly.
  4. Discipline-specific writing skills. Despite the dominance of digital technology, more than ever, many jobs demand strong writing skills. Common Core standards address this growing need by calling for more rigorous reading, writing and critical thinking across subjects. It is not enough to simply know something—you must be able to communicate that knowledge. Common Core does not supplant or discount language arts instruction, but strengthens it through better connecting the practice of writing with the needs of employers today.

Students, parents and educators are discovering Common Core and hearing a great deal of conflicting information. One truth that should not get lost in the public debate is how the new standards promise to create a generation of K-12 students who are not only prepared for the world stage, but who excel on it.

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Matthew Lynch published in Education Leadership, Matthew Lynch

7 Things that Schools Can Learn from Entrepreneurs

When school administrators are looking for places to find inspiration, one rich source of knowledge is the world of entrepreneurship. There is so much that can be gleaned from the successful pursuits of entrepreneurs that educators would do well to have a look at the techniques used as they seek innovation and success.

Here are seven things that schools can learn from entrepreneurs.

Drive has been the main focus of many research studies, and has been described as “the will to conquer” and “the joy of creating and of getting things done.” While these phrases accurately describe an entrepreneur’s zeal to succeed, they can also accurately apply to the educational arena, where that same spark of fire to get things done is often at the heart of the mission. Educators are compelled by a deep seeded need to change the world, and school leaders must both feel this same drive themselves and also harness it in their followers.

The need for entrepreneurs to show leadership stems from the fact that they are founders of their ventures and, as such, there are no established standard operating procedures or even organizational structures that they can fall back on while starting from scratch. This is the main difference between entrepreneurs and corporate managers, since the latter often have more well-defined goals, objectives, structures, and work procedures to guide them. Too often, educators fall into the trap of becoming corporate managers and are wary of stepping out into innovation. But innovation is how change happens! If the school environment isn’t working towards the goals of educating its students, then it’s time to make substantive, fresh and exciting changes. Unlike entrepreneurs, educators have to jolt themselves into innovation.

Another attribute of entrepreneurs is the ability to lead their business and to be able to allocate resources. So too must leaders in education be able to lead their schools and to allocate resources. The difficulty here is that, while entrepreneurs and schools both face the same tight budgets, schools live with the knowledge that there will be always be a baseline of funds available. Again we come to the innovation that entrepreneurs bring to the table, but this time in the light of resource allocation. Educators must be creative with the limited resources at hand, and must be willing to work diligently to figure out how to squeeze each dollar out in the most effective way. They would do well to learn from entrepreneurs who face the loss of a business for failed resource allocation rather than simply waiting another year for new funds from the state.

Entrepreneurs are required to observe and interpret labor market changes to position their enterprises as players in the market. Schools don’t always realize it, but they’re facing those same labor market changes and would do well to make the application and recruitment process as attractive as possible through outreach and communication, just as entrepreneurs must do. For both educators and businesspeople, getting the right people is THE key to success.

Research has shown that the information and communication strategies within a business are strong determinants of service quality and the organizational culture. Entrepreneurial leaders therefore have to carefully conceptualize and implement practical channels and instruments of communication if they are to achieve meaningful results. This same thing is true for educators. Accurate and effective communication are essential factors in employee retention and happiness, and can help schools to keep those good staff members around.

It has been proven again and again that satisfied employees in business enterprises increase customer satisfaction. In education, satisfied teachers and staff increase educational outcomes for students. This is why leadership tasks should include workplace design and implementation of some sort of reward and incentive scheme that is geared toward improving teacher’s service. Administrators have their hands tied in the case of monetary compensation, but there are other opportunities for educators to create effective incentives for staff through innovation and partnership. Empowerment for educators comes from their sense that they are heard and valued members of their school community.

A school setting with a traditional top-down, heavy-handed approach to management does not generally have the structures in place to listen to new ideas. An entrepreneur is on the other hand open to all new ideas, regardless of how out of the box they might seem. The biggest threat facing any company is the failure to open the doors to the creativity that’s right there in house. The same is true for a school environment. Instituting a policy of being open to any and all ideas, no matter how far afield they might be, is perhaps the greatest lesson that schools can learn from the entrepreneurial world.

The entrepreneurial spirit and the educational spirit are two sides of the same coin, with each having the same necessity of innovation, creativity and open mindedness in order to create success.

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Matthew Lynch published in EdTech & Innovation

Insights from a strategic district realignment: Doing right by all students

By Javier Baca and Pam Betten

In Sunnyside Unified School District (SUSD), located near Tucson, AZ, we serve nearly 18,000 students.  In the fall of 2013, our administration was faced with some tough decisions, because  additional funding didn’t pass in an override election. Our student population is comprised of 91% Hispanic Students, an 86% free and reduced lunch population, and a highly mobile population. We had to ask ourselves the question, how do we maintain the high quality programs offered in each of our schools with less money?

It was determined that the district would have to make several potentially difficult changes including the temporary closing of one of our middle schools, and the permanent closure of another which would inevitably lead to the realignment of various school boundaries within SUSD.  While all programs in each of our schools are standardized, meaning students have the same core programs across all campuses, the questions of how we serve our student population best, with the fewest changes possible still remained.

The proposed changes represented a major enrollment shift that would affect nine elementary and four middle school buildings, impacting over 50% of our student body.  We knew our approach to each of these changes needed to be thoughtful, strategic, and more importantly, we needed to ensure transparency in the process so all stakeholders, students and parents included, were informed and had a voice in the decisions being made.

Creating a Communications Plan

We began the process by conducting extensive research to ensure that we had the right information to build a strategic and comprehensive communication plan, making certain stakeholders were accurately informed of any and all proposed changes.  With so many proposed changes affecting so many of our students, we needed everyone to know what we were doing, why the changes were happening, what the benefits were and who would be impacted.  We recognized these changes could be disruptive to student’s families as well as our staff, inasmuch, focus was put on the needs of students, families and staff first and foremost, while still meeting financial obligations.

We believe that there is no such thing as over communicating!  We held multiple meetings on various, critical topics crucial to the success of the proposed changes: Governing Board meetings, Town Halls that were open to the public, face to face meetings with students and their families as well as with staff at each building affected.  It was important to us that we had meetings at the buildings, especially those receiving the new students in order to answer questions, meet with principals and set a welcoming tone.  This type of change needed to be strategic, student centered and community-focused, not just operationally driven.

Increased class size was the overwhelming concern for all families within the district.  It was important to us that this was addressed immediately; communicating to families that class size would remain the same in the face of any proposed change.

Deploying the Right Technology Tools 

The hard decisions that we had to make were inevitable; however we did have a choice about how we approached these changes.  By enlisting the help of various tech tools, we were able to navigate the process more efficiently, accurately and with more clarity.

Our administrative team had made the decision to implement GuideK12, a geovisual analytic software solution, with the knowledge that it would be instrumental in scenario planning for each individual change being proposed.  The platform gave us the ability to visualize student data mapped against existing and changing school boundaries; allowing for better understanding of potential impact, real-time scenario analysis, and scenario comparisons. During our meetings with families, at board meetings and more, we were able to take these scenario-maps and visually show the impact of proposed changes, highlighting details that could very well be lost in spreadsheets.

Understanding Needs of All Stakeholders

SUSD used the platform to determine projected enrollment and school boundary changes, allowing us to assess staffing levels and specialties currently in each school as they determined the impact due to building closures.  The ability to understand individual student needs geographically was vital throughout the creation of a comprehensive plan.

We were very careful to determine the needs of special populations programs, their proximity to new buildings and the capacity of new buildings to receive the programs. This information was instrumental to determine the best location for each location based on district and individual school resources.

When making large changes that affect so many of your students, you need to be comfortable with the process being a little messy, in order to minimize the disruption for students, families and staff in our community. Looking solely at the numbers may be easier, but does not automatically result in what is best for students.   By moving thoughtfully, strategically, having a strong understanding of your community’s needs, as well as utilizing a strong communication plan you too will see a much smoother transition with minimal disruption!

From start to finish, we were able to gain approval and make all necessary changes in just five months.

Insights from Experience

Advice to other districts:

  1. Create a cross-functional team of people (PR, Operations, Curriculum and Instruction, IT, Transportation, etc.).
  2. Include people on the team who understand the culture of the community you serve.
  3. Create a communication plan to clearly communicate and address the concerns of each group of stakeholders and address them early and throughout the process!
  4. Clearly define the what, why, and who of your strategic plan and determine the benefits and risks.
  5. Be sure you have solid data and excellent systems to analyze data and make decisions.
  6. Think through all affected areas: Food Service, Transportation, HR, Academic Performance, Special Ed., etc.
  7. Communicate frequently and clearly about “why” the changes are needed to parents, students, school board, faculty, community, and all affected stakeholders.
  8. Enable the organization to work as a team, break down any silos.
  9. Most importantly, Keep students, staff and learning front and center!

 

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

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About the authors:

Javier Baca is the Executive Director of Information Technologies at Sunnyside USD, he oversees more than 10,000 devices and a 35-member team. He can be reached via email at [email protected]. 

Pam Betten is the Director of Middle Schools and One-to-One at Sunnyside USD, she can be reached via email at [email protected]

The district’s twitter handle is @sunnysideusd

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Matthew Lynch published in EdTech & Innovation, list, Matthew Lynch, Policy & Reform

8 Ways to Rescue Public School Libraries from Becoming Obsolete

Public school libraries have always served an admirable purpose in education. In an indirect way, K-12 libraries have given students support in learning endeavors and been a go-to spot for information. With that being said, as the first Internet-generation rises through the public school ranks, libraries need big changes to remain relevant. It is not enough to simply “be there;” school libraries need to reach out to students and pull them in with helpful resources that combine traditional and contemporary theories in literacy.

Many school libraries are already making strides to capture and maintain the interest of students, while others seem to always be trailing just a few steps behind. Programs like the YOUmedia initiative housed at Chicago’s Harold Washington Library incorporate student-led publishing, music as a form of literacy and encouragement in academic pursuits to keep K-12 kids interested in what the library can do for them. Though YOUmedia does not take place in a public school, the open access to urban students and push towards literacy through technology are applicable to school settings.

Public school libraries need to grab the ever-divided attention of these youth. Here is what they need to achieve just that:

  1. Unbiased, and unlimited, access to information. This is at the core of every K-12 library’s purpose. All students have a level playing field when it comes to obtaining information and learning.
  2. Catalyst for social change. In their own quiet ways, school libraries have provided progressive thought through the materials they have provided over the years. Long before Internet search engines reigned supreme, students were able to research what they wanted in private, without fear of retaliation. Providing access to a wide variety of information has made school libraries an important piece in forward thinking.
  3. Safe oasis. School libraries have always afforded students a quiet, safe place for extracurricular meetings and studies. They have also given teachers a place to escape or quietly prepare for classes without unnecessary distractions. Students and teachers do not have to answer for themselves in a library setting, but can take some quiet time to get ready for what comes next.
  4. Community space. Most school libraries have several areas that can serve numerous purposes. Extracurricular clubs, planning committees or just friends who want to study together can meet in school libraries and have the space needed to accomplish tasks.
  5. Digital access. Instead of blocking websites or banning mobile devices from within library walls, schools should be finding ways to take part in the digital side of students’ lives. This goes beyond e-book offerings and extends to things like mobile apps and permission-based email reminders of upcoming school library events.
  6. Remote access. Students should have the ability to tap into school library resources off campus. The most basic necessity is an online card catalogue that is browser-based so students can look for what they need any time of day and from any location. Remote access may also mean digitizing archival photos and documents so students can access them from home and use the information in reports and other assignments. There is certainly something to be said of visiting the physical library for learning purposes, but without instant, remote options, students will bypass any help the school library provides in favor of a more convenient route.
  7. Life skills development. Libraries should not simply hand out books, but should take a vested interest in what the information contained means for long-term student success. School libraries should not just act as a support system to other life skills initiatives, but should create their own opportunities to guide students.
  8. Live events. A great way to earn the attention of contemporary students is to engage them in literacy in a live, personal way. This might mean inviting an author for a book reading or bringing in a local celebrity to discuss a book or media trend. School library staff should not be intimidated by geography; technology has made it possible to host these live events via Skype or other video software.

Libraries of the Future:

Experts agree that a blend of foundational values and access through technology are paramount to school library success. Library expert Doug Johnson says that all libraries have three primary responsibilities in the coming decade: providing “high touch environments in a high tech world;” offering virtual services; and standing ground as uber information hubs. Rolf Erikson is the author of Designing a School Library Media Center for the Future and he says that he is very “wary” of tradition because he feels it has kept administrators and library faculty from embracing innovation in the past. He believes that especially at the elementary school level, future libraries need to look beyond mere text materials to provide a learning space, not simply a “warehouse space.”

There is really no reason why school libraries should fear competing sources of information. With the right adjustments, K-12 libraries can work alongside the rest of the data that students access on a daily basis. Remaining relevant is simply a matter of carrying foundational ideals forward and adapting to an ever-changing information culture.

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

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

4 Ways to Find (and Keep) the Best Teachers

When it comes to school reform, we often think of getting rid of bad teachers. However, an issue that is possibly more pressing is hiring, training the best teachers. School districts continuously engage in the complementary processes of recruiting and retaining teachers. The strain on school budgets impacts the ability of school districts to hire and sometimes to retain high quality teachers. There are steps that every school and district can take, however, to strengthen its staff no matter what the financial situation. We will soon discuss a few ways to do this, but first, let’s look at why teachers leave their profession.

Why do teachers give up?

The highest proportion of new teachers in any given year is female, with White women accounting for higher numbers than women in ethnic minority groups. There is evidence, however, that in the early 1990s the number of new minority educators increased. No matter what their gender or ethnicity, teachers show a similar trend in high turnover and drop-out rates, both in their early years of teaching and when nearing retirement, producing a pattern related to age or experience.

Higher attrition rates have been noted in Whites and females in the fields of science and mathematics, and in those who have higher measured academic ability. Location of teaching position also impacts mobility and attrition rates. Most studies show that suburban and rural school districts have lower attrition rates than urban districts. Public schools, on average, actually have higher teacher retention rates than private schools.

Teachers are looking for increased salaries, greater rewards, and improved working conditions. Educators tend to transfer to teaching or even non-teaching positions that meet desired criteria. These findings suggest teacher recruitment and retention is dependent on the desirability of the teaching profession in relation to other opportunities. The inherent appeal of teaching depends on “total compensation” which compares the total reward from teaching, both extrinsic and intrinsic, with possible rewards determined through other activities.

Schools with high percentages of minority students and urban schools are harder to staff, and teachers tend to leave these schools when more attractive opportunities become available. Certain factors, which can apparently be influenced by policy change, may affect individuals’ decisions to enter teaching, as well as teachers’ decisions to transfer within or leave the profession.

Now, with all that explained, let’s look at four ways to find and keep the best teachers in schools in an era when teacher turnover is high:

  1. Pay more, and pay ethically. This is pretty simple. Not surprisingly, higher salaries are associated with lower teacher attrition, while dissatisfaction with salary is associated with higher attrition and a waning commitment to teaching.

The traditional system, whereby teachers are paid based solely on their years of experience and level of education, has caused many critics to claim that it does not promote good teaching, or is not as fair as other systems that pay based on performance, ability in certain skills, or willingness to teach in areas of high need. On the other hand, proponents of the traditional system argue that teachers’ experience and education are crucial indicators of their performance, and that because of its open and fair assessment it is the only logical choice. To reach an optimum balance, educators and policymakers have created numerous methods for revising how teachers are compensated, each seeking to adjust teacher incentives differently.

As the scientific evidence on these methods’ effectiveness is extremely limited, it is difficult to choose among them. Historically, implementing any pay reform, let alone directing a critical study of one, has been a demanding issue. A number of ambitious and interesting reforms have folded, often within a few years, under opposing political pressure or from fiscal restrictions. Attempts to study the few surviving reforms have yielded little usable data to date.

  1. Create a support system for new teachers. Lower turnover rates among beginning teachers are found in schools with induction and mentoring programs, and particularly those related to collegial support. Teachers given greater autonomy and administrative support show lower rates of attrition and migration. Aside from higher salaries, better working conditions and intrinsic rewards are the most important factors for teachers.
  2. Recruit teacher candidates from alternative teacher education programs as well as traditional teacher training programs. Literature on the influence of preservice policies on teacher recruitment and retention are limited, however there are two important points that should command attention of school districts. One of the recommendations of the National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future in its report, What Matters Most: Teaching for America’s Future was that teachers be licensed based on demonstration of knowledge and skills.

This edict led states and teacher education programs to require teachers to pass a battery of tests before they exited teacher education programs and/or before they were licensed by states. These actions resulted in a reduction of the number of minority students entering and completing teacher education programs. Therefore school districts seeking more diverse teaching staffs will see a limited number of minority candidates available for recruitment.

A second pre-service teacher policy districts should look at is the difference between candidates completing traditional teacher education programs and those completing alternative route programs. Teacher candidates completing alternative route teacher education programs tend to be older and more diverse. Further, they tend to have higher retention rates than candidates completing traditional programs. Recruiting teacher candidates from these programs could address both the needs for more diverse teaching staffs and the desire to retain good teachers.

  1. Districts: pay attention to what teachers want.

Districts wanting to retain their best teachers should strongly consider what matters to teachers who remain in their teaching positions. Mentoring and induction programs tend to matter to in-service teaches, as does class size, autonomy, and administrative support. It is also interesting to note that state accountability practices also impact teachers’ decisions to remain in their positions.

Financial circumstances notwithstanding, districts have control over some of these issues. They should consider publicizing situations favorable to in-service teachers, as a tool for both recruitment and retention. As districts develop their reform agenda, they should put at the forefront a vision for the type of teaching force needed to support their plans for reform, and use empirical studies as a guide to recruit and retain teachers.

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Matthew Lynch published in Matthew Lynch, Policy & Reform

The Role of Public Schools in the Advancement of the Communities

Public schools can play a significant role in the general improvement of their respective communities, and can operate as a major platform for enhancing child welfare in the community. Social reformers, politicians, and educational leaders have utilized various initiatives in the past to strengthen the relationship between schools and communities to achieve the common purpose of improving child welfare, and learning conditions for all children.

These initiatives suffer obstructions similar to those experienced by schools when they are focused on the work of educating. Detrimental poverty, racial and ethnic differences, socioeconomic differences, inactive families, low or no parental involvement, and insufficient political willingness and support for improvement all impact the efforts to advance the welfare of children. Any of these factors may obstruct the learning process of a child, and also may make it difficult to enhance the child’s overall well-being.

Historically, schools have played a significant role in helping communities evaluate issues concerning child welfare and eliminating situations that impede children’s progress. During the Great Migration of 1880–1924, a huge number of impoverished children moved into the schools of American cities. The majority of immigrants were poor and undereducated.

Social reformers and policy makers pressured public schools to work toward improving children’s lives. Many schools devoted themselves not only to educating poor children, but also to providing them with proper nutrition and other amenities required for healthy living. Teachers devoted their time to teaching English to immigrant students. Many schools offered non-academic services, including school nurses, gyms, playgrounds, and mid-time meals or lunches for poor students.

Some schools also started offering night classes for parents to help them learn English and other important parental skills that could assist them in caring for their children. Many schools encouraged teachers to improve school-parental ties by visiting students’ homes and instructing parents on how to offer a better learning environment for children at home. However, such initiatives faced a certain degree of opposition from parents who were not ready to leave their ethnic and racial identities.

A major hurdle was the economic impracticability of sustaining such child welfare activities. Most of these initiatives were criticized as “socialistic,” but many children enjoyed the benefits of programs intended to improve the overall situations of children and their families. Children not only experienced better living conditions; they also gained many opportunities to rise out of poverty. As a result, more immigrant children started coming to school regularly.

Ever-increasing fiscal burdens on schools created by child well-being initiatives caused political opposition and social criticism. In order to reduce costs, many state governments withdrew funding for social services offered by public schools. As a result, the upsurge of underprivileged children in the late 1980s and early 1990s was met with reduced and nonexistent services emanating from schools.

The depressed socioeconomic conditions of underprivileged families were responsible for undermining the learning process and academic achievement of many children. Teachers again tried to find innovative ways to help students and tried to support their local public school systems by assisting in improving social conditions and creating better learning opportunities.

Social reformers began making better use of schools to improve socioeconomic situations in different communities. Many full-service school programs were introduced to bolster the relationship between schools and communities, with the main objective to improve situations and provide better environments for children, their parents, and the community overall.

Most of these experimental policies for child welfare and social reform suggested that the efficiency of school-community relationships and their positive impact could be maximized by increasing parental involvement in schools. By encouraging parents to take an active role in the education system, policymakers tried to improve school services by making schools more accessible to parents. This also helped schools improve their relationship with parents, and helped them improve students’ performance.

Many researchers set out to substantiate analytically that parental involvement strengthened the school-community relationship by improving social conditions of students. Educational researchers suggested that parental involvement could positively improve the academic achievement of children. Studies revealed that those students whose parents were involved with their learning process were performing better, attended classes more regularly, and scored higher on school examinations than students who were lacking parental support and involvement in their learning.

Studies also suggested that low-performing schools could help failing students by trying to engage parents in the educational process of students. Researchers confirmed that schools could help students who have learning disabilities, or who belong to families from low socioeconomic backgrounds by interacting with and training their parents how to help these students with their learning and schooling processes.

In order to increase parental involvement, many schools use strategies such as inviting parents for open meetings with other parents, arranging social programs, asking parents to volunteer during school social and sports events,  issuing regular newsletters, connecting with parents through phone calls, and arranging for parent and teacher conferences.  These strategies may seem manipulative, and often fail to involve parents in the educational system. Still, school administrators and teachers may use these types of initiatives to increase parental involvement, while excluding parents from serious decision-making processes.

Often school administrations do not allow parents to raise their concerns about ineffective administrative policies, substandard teaching, and faulty grading systems. Regulated initiatives by schools to involve parents in the learning process of their kids often remain lopsided and ineffective because such activities restrict parents from interacting with the education system in a meaningful way.

School administrators and teachers often exploit regular parent-school collaboration methods by providing limited and biased information. They rely on parents being unquestioning and passive, and believe that only education professionals can truly improve student learning. Often they ignore the rights and abilities of parents to make decisions, as well as the ability of parents to contribute information and suggestions for improving the schooling process. Additionally, some administrators are unwilling to make accommodations for parents unable to take part in regular parent-teacher meetings and similar activities because of their work schedules.

Many schools do not engage in unprincipled measures to restrict parental involvement. Most genuinely value the input parents potentially provide. In order to improve parent-teacher collaboration, many have experimented with innovative ideas and have open door policies which allow individuals to observe school processes. Parents can visit at any time to scrutinize teaching methods, and how their children perform within the school structure. Such initiatives demand a flexible structural bureaucracy that allows parents to play a meaningful part in the decision-making process.

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Matthew Lynch published in Policy & Reform

Are charter schools working in New Orleans?

Doesn’t seem like its been 10 years, but Hurricane Katrina changed the landscape and lives of so many when it made landfall in New Orleans a short decade ago.

When talking about Katrina, it’s nearly impossible to do so without nuance. To be singular when mentioning a storm that caused over 7,000 teachers to lose their jobs and the creation of an all charter school system in New Orleans is almost dangerous.

But focusing on one issue may not be.

Education in New Orleans isn’t what it used to be pre-Katrina. Thousands of teachers who helped lead the former school system were let go after the storm. They were, as described by Salon.com, the backbone of the city’s middle class.

Now that the school choice movement has completely enveloped New Orleans, the leaders of it are attempting to tout how successful its been. They celebrate higher test scores and stricter disciplinary measures.

It is a model that many are attempting to sell across the country.

Yet we’re still left to wonder how well it’s actually working.

Salon.com has a piece that delves into the waters of the new New Orleans educational system. While slanted, it still gives great depth into what students, parents, and leaders are going through in an effort to create more change or at least sustain what’s been created.

From the looks of it, the Recovery School District that is laced with charter schools are ostensibly autonomous. Each school is led by the theory of singular creation but ultimately falls under the dressing of formality.

A strong emphasis on test scores is made for each school, and if one or a few schools start to lag behind, they face being consolidated under the wing of another, more successful school.

It’s also worth noting that most of the city’s educational leaders are white. Prior to the storm, the leadership closely represented the make-up of the community and students.

New Orleans is 65% black.

Whether it is a production of the storm due to displacement or a planned theory, the city has certainly taken on a different hue and form since Katrina.

Nuance deserves a place when speaking about New Orleans pre and post Katrina. And the city’s educational system most definitely should be talked about in layers.

Still–recognizing how damaging, or may successful, school choice has been for one area doesn’t mean the carbon copy of it may work for the next region.

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