In Education–You Get What You Pay For
Attendees at my workshops are informed that 15 states produce nearly 80 percent of all school dropouts. I ask them if they believe that their state is one of those states. Some correctly say “yes”; some correctly say “no”; and some incorrectly identify their state’s position. I follow up and ask what the states on the list have in common. Most correctly state that the states are predominantly rural, are positioned along the southern and western borders, and have a large minority population. What they fail to identify is that the states spend less on education than the majority of states. With the American economy at the beginnings of a recession/depression, educational spending will be a major issue in the next few months.
The General Accounting Office estimates that the 50 sttates need to spend an additional $112 billion just to put school buildings in a reasonable working order.
In the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) of the top 15 states in reading, 10 are among the top 20 percent of state spenders. Among the top 15 states in science curriculums, more than half are among the top 20 spenders.
Money however is not the magic answer to all of the problems. Obviously, Washington DC spends more money on education than any single state and has a terrible record. Massachusetts, is 43rd in spending and is high in achievement. But Massachusetts, is a state with one of the highest per-capita incomes in the country and a high concentration of elite public and private schools.
The reality is that when the data is released on achievement or dropouts or graduation rates, we need to look at how much each state spends on achieving those results.
West Fargo Public Schools
| April 15, 2009 |
I will be presenting several workshops for the West Fargo, North Dakota and surrounding school districts. The workshops will be about Building America’s Competitiveness: From the Schoolhouse to the Workplace and Helping Students Graduate: Tools and Strategies to Prevent School Dropouts.
The Art of Leadership
| April 25, 2009 |
My co-author, Dr. Tony Thacker and I will be presenting material from our two books, From At-Risk to Academic Excellence: What Successful Leaders Do and Creating School Cultures That Embrace Learning: What Successful Leaders Do at Alabama State University’s Southern Normal Campus at Brewton, Alabama. The theme of the conference is The Art of Leadership.
Dr. Thacker works for the Alabama Department of Education and is on the Alabama Governor’s Committee on High Quality Teaching.
If you are in the neighborhood of Brewton, come and say hello.
April 19-22 National Forum on Dropout Prevention Strategies for Native Communities- Phoenix, Arizona
| April 19, 2009 1:00 pm | to | April 22, 2009 12:00 pm |
I will be presenting a pre-forum workshop on Sunday, April 19, 2009 @ 1-4 PM dealing with the 15 Effective Strategies entitled, “Helping Students Graduate: Tool and Strategies to Help Students Stay in School.” The pre-forum workshop will specifically address the Native American Dropout Rate. Native Americans have the highest dropout rate in the Nation.
In addition, I will be presenting a session on Monday, April 20th dealing with successful schools for school administrators and potential administrators entitled, “From At-risk to Academic Excellence: What Successful Leaders Do”. I will add material from my newly published book, “Creating School Cultures That Embrace Learning: What Successful Leaders Do.”
The Forum will be held at the Sheraton Crescent Hotel in Phoenix.
For more details, go to www.dropoutprevention.org and look at conferences on the right side of the homepage.
