When Will They Learn?
The Wall Street Journal published an article dealing with the lack of educational achievement as indicated by ACT test scores.
Only about a quarter of the 2009 high school graduates taking the ACT admissions test have the skills to succeed in college, according to a report on the exam that shows little improvement over results from the 2008 graduating class.
The Iowa City, Iowa-based ACT said 23% of this year’s high school graduates had scores that indicated they were ready for college in all four ACT subject areas, or had at least a 75% chance of earning a grade of C or better in entry-level courses. Last year, a similar ACT analysis found that 22% of the class of 2008 was college-ready.
About 1.48 million of the 3.3 million members of the high school class of 2009 took the ACT, typically in their junior year. ACT said its report was based on comparing students’ ACT test scores in English, reading, math and science with the grades they earned in related courses during their first year in college.
The report comes as budget concerns are forcing many state universities to cut back on slots for new students and raise admission standards. Many are also eliminating remedial courses, making it tougher for unprepared students to stay in school.
Among single subject areas, the level of preparedness was worst in science, where only 28% of students were ready for college-level biology. Another problem was math, where 42% were deemed prepared for college algebra.
.A Department of Education report in April on the results from the National Assessment of Education Progress found that U.S. high school students haven’t made any significant progress in reading or math for nearly four decades.
ACT said about 40% of 2009 test-takers were unable to use the correct adverb or adjective to form a sentence, or couldn’t use the correct preposition in a phrase. The same proportion couldn’t solve multi-step math problems involving percentages and fractions.
Bob Schaeffer of FairTest, an antitesting advocacy group, said the class of ’09 was in the 5th grade when the NCLB law passed. “No Child promised to improve college readiness,” he said. “The data show, in fact, that scores have been stagnant that achievement gaps are essentially unchanged.”
I disagree with Bob Wise, president of the Alliance for Excellent Education who is quoted in the article as saying, “The only way you improve these numbers and get them higher is by improving your secondary schools.” No, the only way to get these numbers higher is by having the colleges not accept students who are not prepared to do college work. If students and high schools are made aware that colleges will not accept substandard high school work maybe both parties will work harder.
We need your help!
John Bell, Tony Thacker and I are working on a book dealing with Teacher Leadership and we would appreciate it if you help us by completing a survey. Please go to:
http://alex.state.al.us/phpESP/public/survey.php?name=Teacher_Leadership_Survey
This is a voluntary survey that seeks to collect and analyze information about educators’ current understanding of the role of teacher leader in public education. The intent of the questions is to develop a comprehensive understanding of teacher leadership and the degree to which teacher leadership is utilized and implemented. Responses will be used to support state work and for research. Survey content may also support scholarly writings about the subject.
Thank you.
SEEN Magazine
I have a regular article appearing in SEEN Magazine starting with the Fall 2009 issue. SEEN is published by the SouthEast Education Network, Knight Publications and is distributed tri-annually to schools, teachers, principals, superintendents, state departments of education and universities.
This issue focuses on the background of school dropouts as well as No Child Left Behind emphasis on the problem.
Contact 866-761-1247 for additional information.
WELCOME BACK!
Hope that your summer was restful and that you had the opportunity to recharge your batteries, catch a little sun, travel and relax. The new school year should bring new challenges as well as new opportunities. No Child is suppossed to be revised and more changes are in the works from the Obama Administration. Hopefully they do not add any additional burdens.
I have been travelling and working on 4 new books. (More about them in the coming months.) My schedule is posted to the right of this page. If I am in your neighborhood, stop by and say hello.
Hope this school year brings you joy and enjoyment. May it be the best year of your life, so far.
Franklin
See Franklin on You Tube
Click here to see my entire portion from the “New Mexico in Focus” TV Show on July 26, 2009.
New Report on School Violence
Ontario School-Based Program Helps Prevent Teen Dating Violence, Especially Boys
A school-based program that integrates information about healthy relationships into the existing ninth-grade curriculum appears to reduce adolescent dating violence and increase condom use two and a half years later, according to a report from the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH). The effects of the low-cost intervention implemented in some Ontario schools appear stronger in boys.
The report published in the August issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine found that approximately one in 10 to one in five high school–aged teens are hit, slapped or beaten by an individual they are dating each year, according to background information in the article. Dating violence among adolescents often leads to intimate partner violence in adulthood and also is associated with injuries, unsafe sex, substance use and suicide attempts.
Dr. David A. Wolfe, Director of CAMH’s Centre for Prevention Science, and colleagues conducted from 2001 to 2004 a randomized trial of a 21-lesson curriculum delivered by teachers with special training in the dynamics of dating violence and healthy relationships.
The program, known as the “Fourth R: Skills for Youth Relationships,” was taught to 968 students at 10 randomly selected high schools. Dating violence prevention was integrated with core lessons about healthy relationships, sexual health and substance use prevention using interactive exercises. Relationship skills to promote safer decision making with peers and dating partners were also emphasized. Another 754 students at 10 different schools were assigned to a control group, where similar objectives were targeted but without training or materials.
When the adolescents were surveyed two and a half years later—at the end of grade 11—rates of physical dating violence were greater in the control students (9.8 percent) than in the students who participated in the program (7.4 percent). Although both boys and girls typically perpetrate dating violence, the intervention had a stronger effect on boys; 7.1 percent of boys in the control group and 2.7 percent in the intervention group reported physical dating violence, compared with 12.1 percent of girls in the control group and 11.9 percent of those in the intervention group. Sexually active boys in the program also reported a higher rate of condom use (114 of 168 or 67.9 percent vs. 65 of 111 or 58.6 percent).
Dr. Wolfe stresses teaching healthy relationships at an early age, to reduce the significant impact of violence on health and well-being across the lifespan. “Adolescence is confusing enough, but when you couple this with peer pressure and self esteem issues, some youth can be easily overwhelmed,” says Dr. Wolfe. “This is a time of life when youth may first start dating and experimenting with drug use and sex – which can be difficult especially when you consider that kids are just learning how to socialize with one another in a more mature context.”
The program met mandated education requirements in Ontario, meaning that no additional class time, scheduling or human resources assistance was needed. The average cost of training and materials was $16 (Canadian) per student.
The study concluded that interventions using skills-based interactive delivery can be combined effectively; and that with supplementary training, teachers can implement evidence-based prevention programs to garner significant improvements over status-quo classroom methods. Similar to efforts made with academic subjects, the best policy may involve earlier introduction of these important topics at a lower grade level, with increasing knowledge and practice introduced in core courses throughout high school.
The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) is Canada’s largest mental health and addiction teaching hospital, as well as one of the world’s leading research centres in the area of addiction and mental health. CAMH combines clinical care, research, education, policy development, prevention and health promotion to help transform the lives of people affected by mental health and addiction issues.
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DISCLAIMER: Information on this site is not to be used for diagnosis, treatment or referral services and CAMH does not provide diagnostic, treatment or referral services through the Internet. Individuals should contact their personal physician, and/or their local addiction or mental health agency for further information.
Technical enquiries: webmaster@camh.net
© 2008 Centre for Addiction and Mental Health
A PAHO/WHO Collaborating Centre. Fully affiliated with the University of Toronto.
Kudos from the Vision to Practice Fifth Annual Institute: Seven Million Minutes from Pre-Kindergarten to Graduation Conference in Richmond Virginia
I delivered three presentations in Richmond including a keynote entitled, “Building Global Economies from the School House to the Workplace.” Here are a few of the comments:
“I found the presentation to be very motivation. I am excited about sharing this information with my staff.” High School Principal
“Fantastic, Fantastic!!!” High School Assistant Principal
“ Insightful. Cuts through the road blocks to what educators can do.” Board of Education Member, City Councilor
“ Dynamic, great, relevant content” Malla Zapatero, Coordinator, Psychology Services Hampton VA City Schools
“Franklin is not only knowledgeable but enthusiastic and passionate and makes all the difference to us.” Kim Chandler, Director of School Counseling, Gloucester High School, Gloucester Virginia
“The information is useful for all school divisions in all states.” Mary Kolman, Director of Special Education an Pupil Personnel Services, Bath County Public Schools, Warm Springs Virginia
“Franklin’s presentation was delivered at a good pace with multiple activities meaningful to the points he was stressing. High School Assistant Principal
“This session was a wonderful refresher on those interventions need to decrease dropouts. Your humor and passion was evident!” Dr. Brenda M. Metteway, Director of Secondary Education, Petersburg City Public Schools
“The program really emphasizes the impact a teacher has on the lives of children for a long time! Very exciting, invigorating and informative!” Dr. Alvera J. Parrish, Assistant Superintendent for Instruction, Petersburg City Public Schools
If you would like Franklin to speak at your staff training or conference, contact him at franklin@schargel.com
EYE ON NEW MEXICO
I have just taped “Eye on New Mexico” for KOB for broadcast on Sunday morning at 10AM. On the show I have said that Dr. Veronica Garcia- State Superintendent, Governor Richardson and Winston Brooks, APS Superintendent are attacking the dropout problem all wrong. The following Sunday, August 16th, Dr. Garcia and Winston Brooks will be offering a counter argument. We need to have a dialogue because we are losing too many kids in this state. If you miss the show, you can see it on line at KOB.com starting on Sunday Afternoon.
84% of States Fail To Provide Students an Opportunity To Learn
The Schott Foundation for Public Education found that only eight of 50 states provided disadvantaged students equitable access to moderately proficient public education systems.
The study shows minority and low-income students have only half the opportunity to learn in our public schools as their White non-Latino peers.
The data was summarized in Lost Opportunity: A 50-State Report on the Opportunity to Learn in America, a state-by-state study released by the Schott Foundation for Public Education. The study analyzed student performance data reported by state departments of education to determine both the quality of and access to instruction provided in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.
“This serves as a wake-up call to every governor, legislature, state education commissioner, and schools superintendent that falsely believes we are getting the job done in our classrooms,” said Dr. John Jackson, President and CEO of the Schott Foundation. “According to their own data, only eight states are providing a moderately proficient, high-access public education to all. After a decade of leaving no child behind, we are finding an entire generation of students is again all but forgotten.”
Idaho, Maine, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Oregon, Washington, Vermont, and Virginia were the only states identified as providing both a moderate-proficiency and high-access education for all students.
Rounding out the bottom, eight states – Arizona, Arkansas, Illinois, Michigan, Missouri, Nevada, Rhode Island, Texas, and West Virginia, along with the District of Columbia – appear to provide low-proficiency and low-access education, according to their own data.
Some states provided moderately proficient education for most students but demonstrated low access when providing that education to historically disadvantaged students. These states included: Connecticut, Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Maryland, Massachusetts, Montana, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.
Seventeen states were found to provide high-access, but low-proficiency education to their students. These states included: Alabama, Alaska, California, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Tennessee, and Utah.
The state-by-state data, disaggregated by race, ethnicity, and income, can be found at www.otlstatereport.org.
“Over the past decade, we have declared that data is king in education improvement,” Jackson said. “The state data is clear. If you are a Black, Latino, Native American, or low-income student in this country, odds are you are not receiving high-quality learning opportunities. After more than a half century, we are still not providing truly equal educational opportunities to all students. After more than a quarter century, our nation is still very much at risk. Quality for a few and access for some is hardly the standard to which we should hold our states and school districts.”
Delving deeper into the state-provided data, only six states offer Black students a relatively equal opportunity to learn, compared to their White, non-Latino peers. Eighty percent of states fail to offer Latino students a fairly good opportunity to learn, while nearly 80 percent of states fail to offer low-income students a strong opportunity to learn. Low-income students have the highest opportunity learn in those states with low minority populations.
The report highlights the educational and economic effects of that gap. California and New York each account for 15 percent of the nation’s nearly $60 billion annual economic burden attributable to opportunity to learn inequities. Texas accounts for an additional 12 percent. The next three states — Illinois, Michigan and Pennsylvania — account for 5 percent each. New York’s share of the economic effect of inequity is nearly three times its percentage of the national population.
WHAT CAUSES STUDENTS TO DROP OUT?
There are four major causes of students dropping out of school:
a. The child him/herself
b. The family situation
c. The community they live in
d. The school environment
In order to prevent students from dropping out of school, we must attack the causes listed above. Some of them are out of our control. For example, we cannot address the community they live in or in most cases, their family situation. But we can address the choices they make and the school environment. One of the ways of doing so is for educators to ask a serious of tough questions.
How inviting a classroom environment is there for the student? Are the walls painted in “happy colors” or are they drab institutional gray or green? Are your bulletin boards filled with student work, left blank or with commercial advertisements?
Are all students encouraged to learn? Has the school created different classes for students – those designed to pass and those designed to fail? Those who will go on to college and those who will drop out. What role can you, as a classroom instructor, play in overcoming this paradigm?
How many students start in your school or system, graduate? Does the school track their progress through the system? Are “safety nets” built in for those who are identified as at-risk? What “pillars” support these safety nets? Are you one of these safety nets? Do you know how to get additional assistance in helping students graduate? (Is there additional counseling, mentoring, after school learning activities, service-learning projects designed to connect school to the world of work? As you track, is the largest reason for kids leaving school, “miscellaneous”?
How many students who dropouts are actually pushed out? (Students who are told, by word or action, “I do not want you in my class” or “I don’t need you in my school.”) How close to graduation are students who dropout? Do they need one credit or ten? What has the school done to help them make up the credit? What role can you, as a classroom instructor, play in overcoming this paradigm? What is done to support the “psychological” dropout – the child who is physically in the school but mentally is miles away. What role can you, as a classroom instructor, play in overcoming this paradigm?
