The Global Education Crisis
As many of you know, I have been doing research on the global school non-completion rate. I believe that the lack of education is at the root of most of the world’s problems. Yet as countries examine their critical economic crises, the ignore the long term critical problem of school achievement and completion. As Thomas Friedman in his brilliant book, The World Is Flat pointed out, “A student in Bangalore, India is now as globally competitive as a student in Bangore, Maine.” Mr. Friedman spends many pages discussing the need for globally competitive school systems. The best graduates from New York City schools are not competing for jobs with the best graduates of Montreal schools but the best graduates in the world. The economic success of India and China is based, to a large degree on their ability to focus improvement on their school systems. If a nation wishes to be globally competitive, then it stands to reason that they must improve their school achievement and completion. Yet when we look at the completion rate of some of the world’s nations, we see a vast chasm. Let us look at a few countries using data from the United Nations, the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the World Bank, and Oxfam.
In Canada: 9.8% dropout per year.
In Singapore: 1.6% dropout per year
In Morocco: many children in rural areas do not attend school even though it is free and compulsory through primary school. Literacy rates are estimated at 39 percent among women and 64 percent among men. The female literacy rate in rural areas among women is estimated to be only ten percent.
In the Philippines: 5.7% per year
In India only 80% of the country go to school, 46% graduate
In Japan 84% graduate
In Fiji, 15% graduate from primary school
In South Korea, 71% graduate.
In Brazil, 14% dropout
In the UK, 64% graduate.
In Germany 83% graduate
Ireland has a 60 percent graduation rate.
How can a nation address its short term economic problem without addressing its long term education problem?
National Youth At-Promise Conference, San Diego
| February 22, 2009 | ||
| 9:15 am | to | 11:30 am |
| 12:45 pm | to | 3:00 pm |
John Bell, Coordinator of Leadership Development at the Alabama Department of Education and my co-author will be presenting two sessions with me. The topic will be “From At-Risk to Academic Excellence: What Successful Leaders Do.” In addition, we will be presenting material from our new book, Creating School Cultures that Embrace Learning: What Successful Leaders Do.
John is in his 31st year as an educator having been a high school teacher, a middle school principal, a high school principal, a headmaster, and a university adjunct instructor. He spent 18 years in the Montgomery Alabama Public School System. John was selected teacher of the year and was named Administrator of the Year by the Alabama Art Educators Association.
John is a group leader at the Harvard University Graduate School of Education’s Principals’ Center. He has also served as a member of the Harvard Principals’ Center Advisory Board.
Besides coordinating the Alabama Leadership Academy, John is also the project administrator for Governor Bob Riley’s Congress on School Leadership.
Register @ www.leaders.rapsa.org
Fixing No Child Left Behind
When Congress convenes one of the things it will have to address is the much postponed revision of the Elementary and Secondary School Act (No Child Left Behind).
I have mixed feeling about No Child. There are several positive notes in the legislation. First, who can argue with the objective that any child should be left behind? Second, districts have to dis-aggregate graduation rate data by ethnicity, special education, and economic levels. This means that schools can no longer & “hide under the rug” the disparities in graduation rates between minority groups and their higher achieving groups.
But No Child was developed to produce a global American Education Standard and it has failed to do so. A simple high-stakes assessment is indicative of nothing. Imagine that you go to a doctor and she tells you based on a single test you are going to die an extremely painful prolonged death. We would seek an additional doctor and request additional testing.
States control educational standards and some state standards are extremely low while others are much higher. “Good” high performing schools are supposed to receive additional funding under the current legislation while “poor” low performing schools are to be punished. Isn’t that backwards? Shouldn’t low performing schools be given additional resources (more funding, smaller classes and more teachers) to help them raise their achievement levels comparable to those higher performing schools?
Low performing schools are supposed to allow students to transfer out to higher performing schools. Yet in many cities, the number who wish to transfer out exceeds the available space.
The new Congress and the new Secretary of Education will have a difficult job especially in light of the current national economic crisis. We wish them well. The future of America depends on their response.
I Want to Thank You
I want to thank all of you who read this blog. You have made this past year my greatest intellectually productive in my life. Those of you who subscribed (easy to do by registering on the right side of this page) know that I am now posting a blog two times a week. By the end of the month, there will be three postings a week.
For those of you submitting comments, suggestions and reactions (at franklin@schargel.com) I want to thank you for taking some of your valuable time for your suggestions.
The year just passed produced two new books. The first, 152 Ways to Keep Students in School (the first 26 ways are posted on the resource section of this website) as well as my publisher’s (Eye on Education’s Website, www.eyeoneducation.com) is the fastest selling of all my books. From At-Risk to Academic Excellence: What Successful Leaders Do, is the first book in a new series. I have been blessed by two extremely talented co-authors, Dr. Tony Thacker and John Bell both from the Alabama Department of Education. Dr. Gene Bottoms, Senior Vice President of the Southern Regional Education Lab (SREB) wrote the forward. You can find the forward and Chapter 4 of the book on my website.
Creating School Cultures That Embrace Learning: What Successful Leaders Do is the second book in the series and will be published in early February by Eye on Education. In the Leadership and Culture book, we asked the leaders of 90/90/90 schools to explain their success in increasing student achievement and produced a positive school culture. A section of the book will appear on these pages in February.
I have been traveling and presenting workshops around the country. In 2008, I presented for over 6,000 people in Texas, Savannah, Atlanta, Texas (again), South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas (still again), Kentucky, Texas (once again), Florida, Arkansas, Calgary, New Orleans and Texas.
This year promises to be just as active starting with Clearwater Florida this month. I have signed contracts to be back in Savannah, San Diego, Phoenix, Virginia, North Dakota and Texas. If I am in your neighborhood, please come up and say hello. I really love presenting and meeting field-based people.
This year I produced several new activities. Failure has been receiving the greatest reaction of them all.
I am currently working on several books. Volume Two of the highly successful Best Practices to Help At-risk Learners is currently being worked on. In addition, there will be a new administrators book and several other projects.
Finally I want to thank you for your hard work this past year. In spite of the demands of high-stakes testing, and No Child Left Behind, you have persevered against enormous challenges. Thank you for all that you do. Thank you for making a difference.
Stay well and stay in touch.
Franklin
Florida’s America’s Promise Summit and the 2009 Effective Strategies Institute, Clearwater Florida
| January 12, 2009 12:00 pm | to | January 17, 2009 12:00 pm |
I am honored to have been chosen as the keynote speaker at the Florida’s Promise Summit and the 2009 Effective Strategies Institute, being held at the Belleview Biltmore Hotel and Spa in Clearwater, Florida on January 12-17, 2009. In addition, I will be delivering 3 breakout sessions. To those of you in or near Clearwater, come and visit and say hello.
