03.10.10
Posted in Education at 6:43 am by Travis
“The policy center concluded that the restructuring models promoted by Obama are an improvement over No Child Left Behind but warned that because they include “specific directives that are not supported by research, it is unwise to prescribe them” to schools. “The federal government should be careful about directing people to do things when it doesn’t have the evidence,” says center President Jack Jennings.”
via Firing teachers: First step to reform or useless effort? – USATODAY.com.
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02.03.10
Posted in General at 9:41 pm by Travis
The first thing we do is start highlighting black figures that we have never heard of. Don’t get me wrong there is nothing wrong with this, but I believe that “hindsight is 20/20″. In other words, to clearly see the present you have to look at the past. Dr. Carter Woodson who we consider the father of Black History Month wrote a deeply thought provoking book that many quote the title of, but have never read, “The Mis-Education of the Negro“. Although this text was published in 1935, it is highly relative and prophetic for today’s issues surrounding black America. Anybody who is especially interested in educational reform would do good to read this book or even buying the audio book for your iPod/iPhone/Touch/iPad or whatever you listen to these days. So this month’s lesson people is go and read The Mis-Education of the Negro and then tell me if you agree with what many are calling educational reform, empowerment, and post-racial America. Peace
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01.30.10
Posted in General at 2:20 pm by Travis
Now it’s here. After months of speculation and rumor, Apple has finally shown us its latest creation, the iPad. Since I am in educational technology, I will look at it from that perspective first. Would I get one? Sure. I was looking to getting an iPod Touch soon because teachers should have a Touch or iPhone in their toolkit, but I think I will wait for the iPad. I like the mobility factor, web access and access to a well established app store. I am not crazy about the absence of Flash or the camera, but the benefits outweigh its short comings in my opinion.
Here are my thoughts on a few areas in education.
Labs are so 20th Century.
The golden days of putting kids in a lab with a room full of computers are over. I am sorry to tell you this principals and administrators, but they are. Frankly, there’s no time. It takes time to get kids to the lab, settled in, software up and work done, and this is if there are no hardware or software bugs to hold things up. We have to then log off, straighten up and leave the lab. Time, time, time. A one to one solution is a must if you are going to take advantage of time and true collaboration. Cost is no longer a factor. Netbooks and now the iPad have changed the excuse of cost for a one to one solution. The iPad won’t destroy the netbook market, but it does offer a very valid alternative. If it had Flash, then it might be a different story.
Everyone is looking at the textbook option as a distinct advantage of the iPad, but we need to look beyond just reading a textbook. This platform has the ability to offer a highly interactive textbook experience. Something that allows students to interact with other students within the context of the lesson within the chapter. The absence, again, of Flash may be Apple’s way of forcing ed tech software companies to develop apps which I suggested to some company reps several months ago. I know a few good supplemental web based software programs that have to have Flash to operate. The iPad gives the advantage to the netbook on this one because some companies have already altered their sites to take advantage of the small screen. We want highly interactive and engaging classroom. Kids will not stay focused on lectures and neither will adults for that matter. Combined with other interactive technologies such as IWBs (Interactive Whiteboard), one could have one the most engaging classrooms where students cannot wait to learn. Google Docs and Zoho alone make the iPad worth placing in the classroom. Zoho has an iPhone app already and you can do some cool stuff with Zoho Notebook.
School administration
I am just thinking out loud here, but mobility is perfect for the on the go school administrator. The iPad allows the mobile school administrator the freedom to process and go. Attention ed tech software developers, administrators need dashboards in the form of apps. The need to be able to pull up the current status of say, test score data. Teachscape is definitely on the right road because they will soon be releasing their classroom walkthrough app for the iPhone. This is a major plus for the mobile administrator. Classroom walkthroughs are to be quick, in an out, getting a snapshot of the learning taking place in the classroom. A team of administrators can go through their school and with a good dashboard, began to compile the data and see what is gong on in a matter of minutes. They can then sit down and perform a more in depth analysis of the data for improving instruction. Real time access to data for discipline. Pull up a student’s file. Administer discipline and record the a incident. Until I get my hands on one, I can only speculate and hypothesize, but you can see the Ipad can definitely enhance education beyond textbooks.
Digital Divide
This is something that is not talked about much, but there is a belief out there that low income, under-performing students don’t “deserve” engaging cutting-edge technology. Whenever we talk about these types of technology, we believe that only the “good” kids should have them. The ” other” kids will tear them up, steal them or sell them. This perception has to change. Diversity also means a diversity of access. In reality, these students need the technology more in most cases. These technologies empower and inspire. When done right, educational technology makes kids take ownership for their learning, and they will go to the ends of the earth to protect their ability to learn. Only when kids become disconnected from the learning do they disregard it and the tools that they use. All of our talk of AYPs, testing and benchmarks along with the rationing out of technology has caused all lot of this disconnect. 911 emergency! Reconnect the community.
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12.23.09
Posted in General at 12:21 am by Travis
By now, you should know that I am an advocate of the teaching and guidance of Edward Deming as a road map for true educational reform. You should also know by now that I am not a fan of heavy corporate influence into education and educational reform. Since we seem to continue down this road, I thought it would be good to align Deming’s principles of manufacturing with that of education. After all, his methods have made Toyota the number one automaker in the world since we love to judge success by numbers. I have to agree with others on this one question. How do we turn over our schools to some of the people who almost destroyed the financial system with some of the same principles that they want to use on our schools?
Edward Deming’s 14 Points.
1.”Create constancy of purpose toward improvement of product (student learning) and service(edification of society ), with the aim to become competitive ( in the global market) and to stay in (the) business (of educating and preserving society), and to provide (candidates for) jobs.
If the teacher, as the reformers put it, is the single most important part of the child’s achievement in school, then the vision and the articulation of that vision shared among all stakeholders is the single most important factor in educational reform from leadership. Where are you going, how you propose to get there, are the other people on this journey aware of this and what do you do after you get there? The vision is the guiding principle for what is to take place in the district, school and classroom while involving the community.
The problem is that this is especially true for educational technology. Many school leaders are so removed from ed tech since they have IT staff and/or educational technology specialist in their schools. Many administrators think, “These people handle all of the ‘technical stuff’ while I focus on student achievement.” Wrong! In the 21st Century, with 21st Century learners and 21st Century mandates, effective learning and achievement (there’s a difference) can not be attained by avoiding the importance of technology inside the curriculum. Technology must be seen as important as any other learning strategy that those highly paid consultants hash and rehash for us every summer and fall.
I said technology in the curriculum, not just shuffling students off to a computer lab for drill and practice work. Many people in education and the community see technology from the aspect of what I call “The Matrix Effect”. This is taken from the scene in The Matrix where Neo learns kung fu by just plugging in while the operator uploads the information into his brain. This is what I think subconsciously happens when we think of computers in school and computer labs. We teach all of the learning strategies from the consultants then we take them to the computer lab and transfer that into their brains with drill and practice.
Once the technology is seen as equally important, we have to ask ourselves, “How do we measure its effectiveness and how do we change it, improve on it and what does the next level of progress look like? The visioning process is a tedious one but well worth the time and effort. Right now, many schools are operating with a wild west mentality. Technology is being acquired with no real sense for purpose because it was not part of the visioning process, no one can be sure if what is being acquired will really work. What’s worse is there is no way to measure it. It could be too much or not enough.
I have been looking over the NCES report from their survey of Educational Technology in public schools.
There is a portion of the survey that reflects the “Percentage distribution of public school districts reporting whether they employ an individual responsible for educational technology leadership full or part time, by district characteristics: Fall 2008″
- 17 % of schools survey had no one in a leadership position for educational technology.
- 32% of schools surveyed had someone part-time.
When you look at the numbers from other categories, the numbers are more disturbing.
- Although school districts of less that 2500 students had 42% of people full time in ed tech leadership, 21% did not.
- While 36% of Rural schools had someone full time, 23% did not.
The poverty concentration reveals an evolution of the digital divide. With all of our schools being connected to the internet, many still do not have enough computers to take advantage of this. What’s worse is educational leadership in these schools. According to the survey, of the schools with 20% or more of students in poverty, 47% have someone full time, 33% have some one part-time, and 20% have no one at all. This means that over 50% of the schools surveyed that have 20% or more poverty have either no one or someone part-time in ed tech leadership. Now some will argue that something is better than nothing, I disagree. With all of the challenges that come with schools in high poverty, a part-time tech leader could be like having no one at all because they may not have the time, nor have the adequate resources to provide quality PD on curriculum integration.
Remember, constancy of purpose. Constantly defining and refining the purpose for what we are doing.
District characteristic Yes, full-time devoted to this role Yes, part-time devoted to this role No
All public school districts ………………………………………………………………. 51 32 17
District enrollment size
Less than 2,500 ………………………………………………………………………………….. 42 37 21
2,500 to 9,999 ……………………………………………………………………………………. 70 23 7
10,000 or more …………………………………………………………………………………… 83 12 5
Community type
City ………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 79 16 5
Suburban …………………………………………………………………………………………… 67 22 11
Town ………………………………………………………………………………………………… 66 24 10
Rural ………………………………………………………………………………………………… 36 41 23
Region
Northeast …………………………………………………………………………………………… 66 24 10
Southeast …………………………………………………………………………………………… 69 22 10
Central ……………………………………………………………………………………………… 43 34 23
West …………………………………………………………………………………………………. 43 40 16
Poverty concentration
Less than 10 percent …………………………………………………………………………… 60 26 13
10 to 19 percent …………………………………………………………………………………. 48 35 17
20 percent or more ……………………………………………………………………………… 47 33 20
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11.24.09
Posted in General at 7:37 am by Travis
Blacks hit hard by economy’s punch – washingtonpost.com.
Look at what and how much companies are paying for work from foreign laborers.
Take a look at the Foreign Labor Certification Policies and Regulations from the Department of Labor.
The INA directs the Secretary of Labor to certify that there are not sufficient workers who are able, willing, qualified and available and the employment of an alien will not adversely affect the wages and working conditions of workers in the United States similarly employed. The regulations of the Department of Labor delineate the specific rules to be followed for each program, which requires labor certification from the Secretary of Labor.
Go to the FLCDataCenter.com and look at the H1B data. This a list of every employer in every state that has requested permission to hire foreign workers for certain jobs. You can download the data file in either an Access database file or text file to open in Excel. Look at the jobs, what they are paying and explain to me this. With unemployment as high as it is especially in our community, why are they continually being allow to hire foreign workers? Are you telling me that you can’t find anybody to work these jobs for the prevailing wage. A wage is a wage when you have nothing.
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11.18.09
Posted in General at 11:57 pm by Travis
The CBC recently wrote a letter the chairman of the FCC concerning net neutrality as if they are not in favor of it. Other organizations such as The Alliance for Digital Equality have joined with these members and blue dog democrats, of all people, to oppose net neutrality. First, I have one question. Have we not learned anything from the health care debate when with dealing with “blue dogs”? I guess not. What also amazes me is how we have just ignored all of the classic conservative code language for corporate welfare and still submit ourselves to this agenda. “Competition and private investment?” “Consequences that government action may have on network investment?” “An objective review of the fact will reveal the critical role that competition and private investment have played?” “Spur adoption and expand the use of broadband networks?” Are you kidding me? This is conservative code class 101, but we seem to want to go down this road.
In the letter from the ADE, it states:
Most arguments for network neutrality fail to account for the very real economic constraints facing the disadvantaged, undeserved, and un-served communities that we and the CBC represent. Our constituents are more at risk of being blocked from participating in the digital future due to rising price pressures and lack of investment in broadband infrastructure precipitated by ill-conceived, empirically unsupported, and hastily formulated regulations than a slowly loading web page.
Both of these letters are sincere in the efforts, but there are two things wrong with them. One, these letters should have been written to the telcos which are partnered with some of these groups and have given to their political campaigns, and two, IT’S TEN YEARS TOO LATE! The FCC is not the problem. The Telcos playing games with the bandwidth is. This is nothing but “digital red-lining” only you can see the lines because they exist as “ones” and “zeros”. Do you honestly think that anything but marginal bandwidth will go to the under-served communities at all? Ask them why an ISP was caught throttling bandwidth after lying about? They blamed bit torrents, but bit torrents are one of the best ways to send large files over the internet without clogging the pipe. Bit torrents allow open source software to be shared on the net.
Open source software allows small companies, startups and nonprofits to have an even playing field when they need software, but don’t have the financial resources to buy the over-the-counter stuff. The issue is not just about connection, but content. No connection in the world is worth anything if you can’t access good content. The media companies are afraid of you, the consumer creating better content than they can provide and sell big ad time for. They are afraid that Joe Public may start a show out of his living room that runs circles around the stuff they produce today. They are afraid that grass roots movements may produce news and content that empowers new movements of thought and action that cause them to rise up and say, “Enough is enough!” They are afraid that these movements may cause the masses to think once again instead of relying of corporatized “eye candy” for information for which they charge massive amount of ad dollars. The music and movie industries are afraid that the masses may produce music and movies that once again speaks to the hear of the human experience which makes us think and act. It’s the Matrix, revisited.
Content is the oil of the internet. This is why Comcast is eager to buy NBC Universal. If the ISP owns the content then they can pretty much do what they want because it becomes an issue of intellectual property and copyright, and they can ration it out as they see fit. Depending on what tier you are on, you may see content that will empower and enlighten you, but I really doubt it. They are not concerned about the free flowing of ideas and information. It’s all about the Benjamins, baby.
The CBC remarks how ten years ago broadband was “only a nascent service reaching only about one percent of households’. What the CBC does not understand is that ten years ago, the telcos promised to have a 45 megabit pipe installed and ready to go. Only thing they got sidetracked with their mergers and layoffs slowly killing off any competition that they have convinced the CBC and others that they really want.
What they should ask the telcos is why after all of the government subsidies and tax breaks from the past ten years, we are still not in the top ten countries in the world for broadband adoption on technology that we created? Why do we pay on average of $45 for a 12Mbit connection while Japan pays $30 for a 102Mbit. Yeah, that’s right 102 megs! I invite the members of the CBC and their supporters to do a little research. Spend some time over here at the OECD and look at the history of broadband adoption in the country. Your “come to Jesus meeting” is with the wrong folks!
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10.28.09
Posted in General at 7:14 am by Travis
Education Week: STEM Defection Seen to Occur After High School.
The late Gerald Gracey told us in his most recent book reveals what has been going on. In his book, “Education Hell: Rhetoric vs. Reality”, he mentions a quote from science writer Dan Greenberg who explained it this way from his 2007 article in The Chronicle of Higher Learning entitled, “No Mystery Why Americans shun Science Careers.”
Why are so many science jobs and student slots in the U.S. filled with foreigners? For the same reason jobs in the lettuce fields and apple orchards are filled by foreigners. Many qualified Americans shun science because, far more then the drum beaters for research let on, science can be a risky, unrewarding career choice… No amount of improved high school science is going to fix this problem, which is essentially economic. A doubling of salaries and improved conditions for getting ahead is a scientific career would bring in many American recruits. But that’s not going to happen. Despite the glorification of science, the marketplace sets the value and the price. Which is why foreigners flock to our schools and labs while Americans seeks their fortunes in other fields.
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10.11.09
Posted in General at 9:02 pm by Travis
The Chancellor of the DC Public schools will be in Little Rock this week. If I get a chance to go, I will let you know, maybe even tweet from the event.
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09.23.09
Posted in Education at 7:58 pm by Travis
Taking Technology Out of the Classroom
via Techtonic Shifts : Taking Technology Out of the Classroom.
Okay, I am a little confused. Jose’ Bowen talks about taking technology out of the classroom, but he uses podcast to engage his learners. His justification for taking out the technology is as he stated, “Just because you have a PowerPoint presentation doesn’t mean you have a good lecture.”
Let me explain something. Educational technology is not about teaching; it’s about learning. It’s about engaging the students with the technology so that they collaborate, create and take ownership of their learning. If you spend more time trying to figure out if your PowerPoint should fly in or out, or you go to the conferences to find the latest, “cool” gadgets to wow your students then you are wasting your time. Your students have already seen the latest gadgets and have them and been using them for about six months. Technology was never meant to replace curriculum, classroom management, planning, differentiation and attention to diversity. If you think that this is what technology is about in the classroom, please leave now.
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08.21.09
Posted in Education at 7:24 pm by Travis
Out of all of the shouting, gun toting and reminiscing for the 1940’s, we have largely ignored one casualty in the heath care debate, education. Arne Duncan, President Obama, Rev. Sharpton, and Speaker Newt Gingrich have come together to tackle education reform. Secretary Duncan has the brand new “Race To The Top” Program which I like to call NCLB v.2.0 beta. Standards and assessments, everything a growing child needs to succeed in the market place. No attention to curriculum and instruction, but oh, I forgot. Those items are understood to automatically be there and work in favor of all children.
The issue I am raising is how poverty which is not truly figured into the administration’s formula for success. According the rhetoric, it’s the teacher’s fault that the little poor kids can’t pass the test. These sorry teachers are holding the educational system back. Fire ‘em! Fire ‘em all I say!
Now I’m not the smartest person in the world, but I think you have to actually be in school to be taught anything which brings be to my point. What are we going to do about the number of uninsured families and children?
According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities,
Findings about Children
- The number of uninsured children under age 18 rose by 600,000, from 8.05 million in 2005 to 8.66 million in 2006. The percentage of children who lack health insurance also rose from 10.9 percent to 11.7 percent.
- As Table 2 indicates, the number and percentage of children who are uninsured declined from 1999 through 2004, but that trend stopped and began to reverse in 2005.[3]
- Rising enrollment in SCHIP and Medicaid was the main factor that drove down the number and percentage of uninsured children from 1998 to 2004. These enrollment increases more than offset the declines in employer-based coverage of children that began in 2000.
- From 2004 to 2006, the percentage of children covered by public insurance remained unchanged and thus could not offset the continued reduction in the percentage of children covered by employer-sponsored insurance. The result was an overall reduction in children’s coverage.
This Washington Post article explains it best here.
Children without health coverage are three times as likely as insured children to lack a regular doctor, according to a report released last month by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Research from the American College of Physicians in 2000 found that uninsured children were less likely to be up to date on immunizations and to receive treatment for sore throats, earaches and other common childhood illnesses. A University of Texas study found that kids with insurance tend to have fewer school absences.
Kids with insurance stay in school. It doesn’t matter if you are a “highly qualified” teachers who never needs on-going professional development, ever again. Who comes into the classroom with a near divine-like discernment for the diverse needs of the student and thus can reach all of the children every time they teach with Jedi-like abilities. Who do not need a curriculum that addresses the diverse needs of the learner or effectively use technology within the curriculum. It doesn’t matter that they can have every child hitting those numbers, and walk away with enough merit pay to make athletes jealous.
The kids have to be in school to learn. What does the assessment data say about that? Get on with it already!!
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