education reform

A Nation At Risk +40 | A Review of Progress in US Public Education [hoover.org]

On 12/20/2023, in education, education reform, K-12 related, learning ecosystem, policy, by Daniel Christian

A Nation At Risk +40 | A Review of Progress in US Public Education — from hoover.org

Forty years ago, the release of A Nation at Risk led to what we know today as the modern school reform movement. With its calls for increased academic rigor, more productive use of instructional time, more effective teaching, and more impactful leadership, A Nation at Risk set in motion policy and practice changes at every level of the education system. But after four decades, what has been the result? And where do we go from here?
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Forty years on, significant challenges remain. The COVID-19 pandemic has had devastating effects on student learning, and chronic absenteeism remains at alarming rates. Even prior to the pandemic, student achievement, as measured by standardized tests, seemed to have plateaued despite ever-increasing resources—in time, dollars, research, technology, and human capital—being devoted to school reform.

Much has been tried in the effort to improve our schools. Has any of it made a difference?

Some big/recent developments re: education/lifelong learning in Michigan

On 12/11/2023, in 21st century, career development, change, collaboration, colleges, community colleges, education, education reform, higher education, K-12 related, legislatures / government / legal, lifelong learning, Michigan, skills, strategy, United States, universities, workplace, by Daniel Christian

Michigan launches lifelong learning department with acting director — from mlive.com by Simon Schuster

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

The Michigan Department of Lifelong Education, Advancement, and Potential, deemed MiLEAP, took its first steps Friday [12/1/23] as Gov. Gretchen Whitmer launched the department with an acting director in place to lead it.

The department will handle everything from child care licensing, formerly in the department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs, to scholarship administration, which was previously handled by the Department of Treasury.

More than 300 state government employees from four different departments are being consolidated into MiLEAP. The department will have three offices: early childhood education, higher education and education partnerships.

Also re: Michigan, see:

Growing Michigan Together Council | Recommendation Report
November 28 Discussion Draft

Excerpt:

Growing Michigan Together Council Recommendation

Develop a lifelong education system for Michigan kids that prepares them to be successful in a 21st century economy.

01 Redesign the Michigan P–12 education system so that all students have a broad set of future ready skills and competencies to thrive in work and life, and guarantee up to a 13th year to ensure all students achieve this standard
02 Provide all students opportunities to gain up to two years of publicly funded college credits or postsecondary training once they are prepared to succeed
03 Align secondary, postsecondary, higher education, and skills training to create a seamless system of continuous learning so that all Michiganders can be prepared for and adapt to a changing workplace

From GPTs (pt. 3) — from theneurondaily.com by Noah Edelman

BTW, here are a few GPTs worth checking out today:

ConvertAnything—convert images, audio, videos, PDFs, files, & more.
editGPT—edit any writing (like Grammarly inside ChatGPT).
Grimoire—a coding assistant that helps you build anything!

Some notes from Dan Fitzpatrick – The AI Educator:

Custom GPT Bots:

These could help with the creation of interactive learning assistants, aligned with curricula.
They can be easily created with natural language programming.
Important to note users must have a ChatGPT Plus paid account

Custom GPT Store:

Marketplace for sharing and accessing educational GPT tools created by other teachers.
A store could offer access to specialised tools for diverse learning needs.
A store could enhance teaching strategies when accessing proven, effective GPT applications.

From DSC:
I appreciate Dan’s potential menu of options for a child’s education:

Monday AM: Sports club
Monday PM: Synthesis Online School AI Tutor
Tuesday AM: Music Lesson
Tuesday PM: Synthesis Online School Group Work
Wednesday AM: Drama Rehearsal
Wednesday PM: Synthesis Online School AI Tutor
Thursday AM: Volunteer work
Thursday PM: Private study
Friday AM: Work experience
Friday PM: Work experience

Our daughter has special learning needs and this is very similar to what she is doing.

Also, Dan has a couple of videos out here at Google for Education:

The future of generative AI in higher ed? How to be critical, pragmatic, and playful at once? Nothing like having someone you admire ask you hard questions in a friendly way. This Q&A with Leon Furze got me to take a stab at articulating some responses.https://t.co/IxreZYwWmv

— Anna Mills, annamillsoer.bsky.social, she/her (@EnglishOER) November 13, 2023

Tuesday’s AI Ten for Educators (November 14) — from stefanbauschard.substack.com by Stefan Bauschard
Ten AI developments for educators to be aware of

Two boxes. In my May Cottesmore presentation, I put up two boxes:

(a) Box 1 — How educators can use AI to do what they do now (lesson plans, quizzes, tests, vocabulary lists, etc.)

(b) Box 2 — How the education system needs to change because, in the near future (sort of already), everyone is going to have multiple AIs working with them all day, and the premium on intelligence, especially “knowledge-based” intelligence, is going to decline rapidly. It’s hard to think that significant changes in the education system won’t be needed to accommodate that change.

There is a lot of focus on preparing educators to work in Box 1, which is important, if for no other reason than that they can see the power of even the current but limited technologies, but the hard questions are starting to be about Box 2. I encourage you to start those conversations, as the “ed tech” companies already are, and they’ll be happy to provide the answers and the services if you don’t want to.

Practical suggestions: Two AI teams in your institution. Team 1 works on Box A and Team 2 works on Box B.

“13 Nuggets of AI Wisdom for Higher Education Leaders” [Klitgaard Stricker] + other AI-related items for our learning ecosystems

On 11/10/2023, in 21st century, adjunct faculty, Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning / Deep Learning / Algorithms, colleges, community colleges, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, education, education reform, education technology, emerging technologies, experimentation, faculty, future of higher education, game-changing environment, higher education, human-computer interaction (HCI), innovation, instructional design, intelligent systems, IT in HE, law schools, learning, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, liberal arts, library / librarians, lifelong learning, Microsoft, platforms, teaching & learning, trends, universities, by Daniel Christian

A future-facing minister, a young inventor and a shared vision: An AI tutor for every student — from news.microsoft.com by Chris Welsch

The Ministry of Education and Pativada see what has become known as the U.A.E. AI Tutor as a way to provide students with 24/7 assistance as well as help level the playing field for those families who cannot afford a private tutor. At the same time, the AI Tutor would be an aid to teachers, they say. “We see it as a tool that will support our teachers,” says Aljughaiman. “This is a supplement to classroom learning.”

If everything goes according to plan, every student in the United Arab Emirates’ school system will have a personal AI tutor – that fits in their pockets.

It’s a story that involves an element of coincidence, a forward-looking education minister and a tech team led by a chief executive officer who still lives at home with his parents.

In February 2023, the U.A.E.’s education minister, His Excellency Dr. Ahmad Belhoul Al Falasi, announced that the ministry was embracing AI technology and pursuing the idea of an AI tutor to help Emirati students succeed. And he also announced that the speech he presented had been written by ChatGPT. “We should not demonize AI,” he said at the time.

Fostering deep learning in humans and amplifying our intelligence in an AI World — from stefanbauschard.substack.com by Stefan Bauschard
A free 288-page report on advancements in AI and related technology, their effects on education, and our practical support for AI-amplified human deep learning

Six weeks ago, Dr. Sabba Quidwai and I accidentally stumbled upon an idea to compare the deep learning revolution in computer science to the mostly lacking deep learning efforts in education (Mehta & Fine). I started writing, and as these things often go with me, I thought there were many other things that would be useful to think through and for educators to know, and we ended up with this 288-page report.

***

Here’s an abstract from that report:

This report looks at the growing gap between the attention paid to the development of intelligence in machines and humans. While computer scientists have made great strides in developing human intelligence capacities in machines using deep learning technologies, including the abilities of machines to learn on their own, a significant part of the education system has not kept up with developing the intelligence capabilities in people that will enable them to succeed in the 21st century. Instead of fully embracing pedagogical methods that place primary emphasis on promoting collaboration, critical thinking, communication, creativity, and self-learning through experiential, interdisciplinary approaches grounded in human deep learning and combined with current technologies, a substantial portion of the educational system continues to heavily rely on traditional instructional methods and goals. These methods and goals prioritize knowledge acquisition and organization, areas in which machines already perform substantially better than people.

Also from Stefan Bauschard, see:

Debating in the World of AI
Performative assessment, learning to collaborate with humans and machines, and developing special human qualities

13 Nuggets of AI Wisdom for Higher Education Leaders — from jeppestricker.substack.com by Jeppe Klitgaard Stricker
Actionable AI Guidance for Higher Education Leaders

Incentivize faculty AI innovation with AI.

Invest in people first, then technology.

On teaching, learning, and assessment. AI has captured the attention of all institutional stakeholders. Capitalize to reimagine pedagogy and evaluation. Rethink lectures, examinations, and assignments to align with workforce needs. Consider incorporating Problem-Based Learning, building portfolios and proof of work, and conducting oral exams. And use AI to provide individualized support and assess real-world skills.

Actively engage students.

Some thoughts from George Siemens re: AI:

Sensemaking, AI, and Learning (SAIL), a regular look at how AI is impacting learning.

Our education system has a uni-dimensional focus: learning things. Of course, we say we care about developing the whole learner, but the metrics that matter (grade, transcripts) that underpin the education system are largely focused on teaching students things that have long been Google-able but are now increasingly doable by AI. Developments in AI matters in ways that calls into question large parts of what happens in our universities. This is not a statement that people don’t need to learn core concepts and skills. My point is that the fulcrum of learning has shifted. Knowing things will continue to matter less and less going forward as AI improves its capabilities. We’ll need to start intentionally developing broader and broader attributes of learners: metacognition, wellness, affect, social engagement, etc. Education will continue to shift toward human skills and away from primary assessment of knowledge gains disconnected from skills and practice and ways of being.

AI, the Next Chapter for College Librarians — from insidehighered.com by Lauren Coffey
Librarians have lived through the disruptions of fax machines, websites and Wikipedia, and now they are bracing to do it again as artificial intelligence tools go mainstream: “Maybe it’s our time to shine.”

A few months after ChatGPT launched last fall, faculty and students at Northwestern University had many questions about the building wave of new artificial intelligence tools. So they turned to a familiar source of help: the library.

“At the time it was seen as a research and citation problem, so that led them to us,” said Michelle Guittar, head of instruction and curriculum support at Northwestern University Libraries.

In response, Guittar, along with librarian Jeanette Moss, created a landing page in April, “Using AI Tools in Your Research.” At the time, the university itself had yet to put together a comprehensive resource page.

From Dr. Nick Jackson’s recent post on LinkedIn:

Last night the Digitech team of junior and senior teachers from Scotch College Adelaide showcased their 2023 experiments, innovation, successes and failures with technology in education. Accompanied by Student digital leaders, we saw the following:

AI used for languagelearning where avatars can help with accents
Motioncapture suits being used in mediastudies
AI used in assessment and automatic grading of work
AR used in designtechnology
VR used for immersive Junior school experiences
A teacher’s AI toolkit that has changed teaching practice and workflow
AR and the EyeJack app used by students to create dynamic art work
VR use in careers education in Senior school
How ethics around AI is taught to Junior school students from Year 1
Experiments with MyStudyWorks

Almost an Agent: What GPTs can do — from oneusefulthing.org by Ethan Mollick

What would a real AI agent look like? A simple agent that writes academic papers would, after being given a dataset and a field of study, read about how to compose a good paper, analyze the data, conduct a literature review, generate hypotheses, test them, and then write up the results, all without intervention. You put in a request, you get a Word document that contains a draft of an academic paper.

A process kind of like this one:

What I Learned From an Experiment to Apply Generative AI to My Data Course — from edsurge.com by Wendy Castillo

As an educator, I have a duty to remain informed about the latest developments in generative AI, not only to ensure learning is happening, but to stay on top of what tools exist, what benefits and limitations they have, and most importantly, how students might be using them.

However, it’s also important to acknowledge that the quality of work produced by students now requires higher expectations and potential adjustments to grading practices. The baseline is no longer zero, it is AI. And the upper limit of what humans can achieve with these new capabilities remains an unknown frontier.

Artificial Intelligence in Higher Education: Trick or Treat? — from tytonpartners.com by Kristen Fox and Catherine Shaw
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In Memphis, A New School Graduates Its First Class [Chaltain]

On 11/02/2023, in attention, changing business models, creativity, Design Thinking, education, education reform, Emotion, engagement / engaging students, experimentation, K-12 related, learning ecosystem, participation, project-based learning, real-world assignments, reinvent, society, student-related, youth, by Daniel Christian

In Memphis, A New School Graduates Its First Class — from samchaltain.substack.com by Sam Chaltain
And a new documentary film captures it all…

Crosstown High: Rethink High School

Crosstown High is a learner-centered public charter school that engages students in meaningful, project-based work and authentic relationships that will prepare them to be self-directed, lifelong learners. We are located inside Crosstown Concourse, a landmark adaptive reuse development project in the heart of Memphis.

Also relevant/see:

60-second strategies, various fall activities for kids, and other K12-related items

On 09/29/2023, in art, Augmented Reality (AR), change, content development, aggregation, repositories, creativity, education, education reform, engagement / engaging students, ideas, innovation, instructional design, K-12 related, Learning Experience Design, multimedia, teachers, writing, XR - extended reality, youth, by Daniel Christian

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8 Fall Activities for Kids With a Digital Spin — from classtechtips.com

Redefining What High School Is Supposed to Look Like — from edutopia.org by Brittany R. Collins
From restorative grading to paid internships, an equity-centered approach to education creates rich learning opportunities for all students.

We have a networking party with special tables and food, and the students have to stand and mingle. We emulate this sort of a networking party, because they have to learn how to do it. They have to dress the part that day, and I film it so we can watch it back to give them some feedback.

Digital Promise Launches FutureLab to Investigate Transformative Approaches to Teaching and Learning — from digitalpromise.org

Digital Promise announced [on 9/26/23] the launch of the Digital Promise FutureLab. This cutting-edge initiative embodies Digital Promise’s long-standing dedication to innovation in education and aims to not only revolutionize the current state of education, but to reimagine a new world of learning.

FutureLab is funded in part by Digital Promise’s recent gift from MacKenzie Scott.

“Innovation is in Digital Promise’s DNA, and we are reaffirming our commitment to push the boundaries of what’s possible in education,” said Jean-Claude Brizard, President and CEO of Digital Promise. “We believe the Digital Promise FutureLab will be a catalyst for transformative change in education. It’s a significant opportunity to collaborate with visionary educators, technologists, and researchers to create a more equitable future for learners worldwide.”

In Iowa, a “Billy Madison Project” Yields a Different Way to do School — from by Sam Chaltain
A great flood reveals a new path . . .

The idea was simple: ask sixty community leaders to fan across the city’s public schools, follow in the footsteps of its youngest citizens, and report back on what they saw.

Fifty-nine said yes. What they found, Pickering says, “were kids with dead eyes. Kids not engaged. And kids who knew that school was a game – and the game was rigged.”

So the Billy Madison team used its findings to design a prospective high school that would actually produce what its participants said they wanted to see:

Let kids pursue their passions. Give them real work to do. And get them out of the school building, and in the community.

Passion. Projects. People.

How 9 of the World’s Most Innovative Schools Ignite Children’s Love for Learning — from learntrepreneurs.com by Eva Keffenheim
And equip the next generation to become changemakers.

This thought-provoking discussion delves into the topic of system replacement in education. Is school transformation possible without replacing the existing education system? Joining [Michael] to discuss the question are Thomas Arnett of the Christensen Institute and Kelly Young of Education Reimagined.

In an educational landscape that constantly seeks marginal improvements, [Michael’s] guests speak to the importance of embracing new value networks that support innovative approaches to learning. They bring to light the issue of programs that remain niche solutions, rather than robust, learner-centered alternatives. In exploring the concept of value networks, [Michael’s] guests challenge the notion of transforming individual schools or districts alone. They argue for the creation of a new value network to truly revolutionize the education system. Of course, they admit that achieving this is no small feat, as it requires a paradigm shift in mindset and a careful balance between innovation and existing structures. In this conversation, we wrestle with the full implications of their findings and more.

From DSC:
This reminds me of the importance of TrimTab Groups who invent or test out something new apart from the mothership.

Technology in education — from unesco.org by ; via Eva Keffenheim
A tool on whose terms?

The 2023 GEM Report on technology and education explores these debates, examining education challenges to which appropriate use of technology can offer solutions (access, equity and inclusion; quality; technology advancement; system management), while recognizing that many solutions proposed may also be detrimental.

The report also explores three system-wide conditions (access to technology, governance regulation, and teacher preparation) that need to be met for any technology in education to reach its full potential.

Bloom Academy is the first and only self-directed learning center in Las Vegas – microschooling as true, nontraditional and permissionless education alternative. 5 Questions with Microschool Founders Sarah & Yamila.https://t.co/RvxtwGXvkZ

— National Microschooling Center (@microschooling) September 27, 2023

Campus Road Trip Diary: 8 Things We Learned This Year About America’s Most Innovative High Schools — from the74million.org by Greg Toppo & Emmeline Zhao

Since last spring, journalists at The 74 have been crossing the U.S. as part of our 2023 High School Road Trip. It has embraced both emerging and established high school models, taking us to 13 schools from Rhode Island to California, Arizona to South Carolina, and in between.

It has brought us face-to-face with innovation, with programs that promote everything from nursing to aerospace to maritime-themed careers.

At each school, educators seem to be asking one key question: What if we could start over and try something totally new?

What we’ve found represents just a small sample of the incredible diversity that U.S. high schools now offer, but we’re noticing a few striking similarities that educators in these schools, free to experiment with new models, now share. Here are the top eight:
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Learners need: More voice. More choice. More control. -- this image was created by Daniel Christian

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Empowering Parents: School Choice and Technology — from obviouslythefuture.substack.com
Ep 2 | Joe Connor, Odyssey Education, ESAs, Streamlined Technology Platform, Informed Choices

What does it take to empower parents and decentralize schooling? Why is a diversity of school models important to parents? Are we at a tipping point?
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PROOF POINTS: Lowering test anxiety in the classroom — from hechingerreport.org/ by Jill Barshay
Review of 24 studies finds quizzes boost achievement and alleviate stress over exams

Several meta-analyses, which summarize the evidence from many studies, have found higher achievement when students take quizzes instead of, say, reviewing notes or rereading a book chapter. “There’s decades and decades of research showing that taking practice tests will actually improve your learning,” said David Shanks, a professor of psychology and deputy dean of the Faculty of Brain Sciences at University College London.

Still, many students get overwhelmed during tests. Shanks and a team of four researchers wanted to find out whether quizzes exacerbate test anxiety. The team collected 24 studies that measured students’ test anxiety and found that, on average, practice tests and quizzes not only improved academic achievement, but also ended up reducing test anxiety. Their meta-analysis was published in Educational Psychology Review in August 2023.

The End of Scantron Tests — from theatlantic.com by Matteo Wong
Machine-graded bubble sheets are the defining feature of American schools. Today’s kindergartners may never have to fill one out.

Benefits of Pretesting in the Classroom — from learningscientists.org by Cindy Nebel

There are several possible reasons why pretesting worked in this study.

Students paid more attention to the pretested material during the lecture.
The pretest activated prior knowledge (some of them are clearly doing a lot of prework), and allowed them to encode the new information more deeply.
They were doing a lot of studying of the pretested information outside of class.
There are some great spaced retrieval effects going on. That is, students saw the material before lecture, they took a quiz on it during the pretest, then later they reviewed or quizzed themselves on that same material again during self-study.

Education in America is going to look very different 10 years from now.

In some places, that future is already here – and there are some incredibly talented people building it.

Here are 10 of those people you should be following ?

— rebelEducator (@rebelEducator) September 3, 2023

Big Ideas in Education — from edweek.org by various

Big Ideas is Education Week’s annual special report that brings the expertise of our newsroom—and occasionally those beyond our newsroom—to bear on the challenges you might be facing in your classroom, school, or district. Big Ideas questions the status quo and explores opportunities to help you build a better, more just learning environment for all students. Browse our collection.

Three items re: how Americans are feeling & thinking about their K12 & higher ed learning ecosystems

On 09/06/2023, in colleges, community colleges, education, education reform, higher education, K-12 related, learning ecosystem, society, teachers, trends, United States, universities, by Daniel Christian

RE: K12

K-12 Education Satisfaction in U.S. Ties Record Low — from news.gallup.com by Megan Brenan; via Matthew Tower

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

36% satisfied with U.S. K-12 education quality, matching record low in 2000
76% of K-12 parents satisfied with own child’s, 41% with U.S., education
Republicans’ satisfaction with K-12 education at new low of 25%

Still, parents of elementary and secondary school students remain quite satisfied with the education their child is getting, and they offer mostly positive reviews of the performance of their children’s teachers. If parental satisfaction wanes, however, parents may choose to move their child to a different school.

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RE: HIGHER EDUCATION

Our exclusive poll reveals a mixed bag for colleges — from chronicle.com by Rick Seltzer (and article by Eric Kelderman)

Exclusive new polling by The Chronicle suggests Americans still believe that college credentials have value, even as many hold reservations about higher education’s track record of benefiting society and educating students, our Eric Kelderman reports.

People would generally tell a close friend or relative that getting a college degree is worth it, according to a national survey conducted for The Chronicle. Almost eight in 10 respondents said they’d tell a close friend to seek a bachelor’s degree. Even among those who thought their own associate or bachelor’s degree wasn’t worthwhile, 57 percent would tell a friend to go for a bachelor’s.
…
But wait. Respondents were tepid when asked how well colleges were fulfilling key parts of their missions.

Only 30 percent said colleges were doing an excellent or very good job leveling the playing field for success.
Just 40 percent said colleges are excellent or very good at educating students.
A flashing red light: Those with more education felt worse about colleges’ ability to educate students than did those with a high-school degree or less.

The bigger picture: Colleges still have reservoirs of public support to tap, but they can’t expect to win more hearts and minds merely by telling their stories better. Higher ed’s skeptics include many people who’ve passed through campuses, suggesting business as usual won’t cut it — even when it comes to the core work of educating students.

Education for What? — from gallup.com

Despite enrollment and completion rates declining and Americans’ confidence in higher education falling, the economic case for earning a college degree remains solid. College graduates earn about $1 million more over the course of their working years than U.S. adults with no college degree, on average.

However, a college degree has value beyond financial gain.
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The results show that additional years of education beyond high school make for a healthier, more civic-minded individual who is more likely to interact with neighbors and family members, and to do work that aligns with their natural talents and interests.

Addendum on 9/11/23:

New study assesses recent community college students’ views on value of their education — from stradaeducation.org by Alicia Garceau Halbert
Most say they accomplished what they wanted from their experience, even though only 1 in 3 completed associate degree

Two items re: K-12 learning ecosystem that show the motivating power of choice

On 09/02/2023, in career development, change, changing business models, education, education reform, innovation, instructional design, K-12 related, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, learning preferences, more voice more choice more control, motivation, online learning, personalized/customized learning, by Daniel Christian

Build Your Own High School: Phoenix Students Choose from 500 Classes, Internships, College Courses, Career Programs & More — from the74million.org by Beth Hawkins; via Michael Horn
At Phoenix Union City, high school doesn’t refer to a building but a personalized path of experiences that teenagers create for themselves.

PXU City HS has no physical site — its 83 students create custom programs, choosing from a menu of some 500 options from Phoenix Union High School District’s bricks-and-mortar schools; its online-only program, internships; jobs; college classes; and career training programs.

But in the process, it became clear just how many high school-aged students were working, caring for siblings, filling in for their parents or significantly behind — or ahead and bored — academically.
…
If PXU City works as well for all its students as it does for Dominguez, he adds, every high school in the district ought to throw away the bell schedule and offer a truly personalized education.

‘Every day matters’: CCSD students, teachers kick off 2023-24 school year — from reviewjournal.com by Julie Wootton-Greener; via Michael Horn

There are 10 areas of study students chose from: architectural design, business administration logistics-distribution, computer science, construction technology, cybersecurity, diesel/auto technology, energy technologies, human and social services, teaching and training, and sports medicine.

Students pick a job within the program they’re working toward, but that can change, Cordia said, noting that there are hundreds of possible jobs within the automotive program.

The school received e more than 1,000 applications from interested students, he said, calling it “very humbling.”

Addendum that also involves changes within the K12 learning ecosystem:

Is the Post-Pandemic Era Ripe for Rethinking High School? — from edsurge.com by Rebecca Koenig

“Welcome Back to School. Your Teacher Is 2,000 Miles Away.” [Tagami] + other items re: the K12 learning ecosystem

On 08/28/2023, in education, education reform, K-12 related, learning ecosystem, parents/guardians, society, student-related, teachers, teaching & learning, trends, United States, youth, by Daniel Christian

Welcome Back to School. Your Teacher Is 2,000 Miles Away. — from wsj.com by Sara Randazzo; behind paywall
Some parents remain skeptical of piped-in teachers, while schools say they don’t have a choice

Plagued by Teacher Shortages, Some States Turn to Fast-Track Credentialing — from theconversation.com by Elaine S. Povich
Critics worry that the faster programs could do a disservice to young students.

From DSC:
It seems to me that this doesn’t address the problems of WHY teachers are leaving.

The Rising Trend in Private Education: Teeny, Tiny Schools — from wsj.com by Megan Tagami; behind paywall
Families reacting to an influx of voucher funds and postpandemic woes are increasingly choosing so-called microschools

From DSC:
If we can’t get violence in schools under control (a very difficult task without trying to impact peoples’ hearts and minds), this trend could pick up steam big-time.

How educational research could play a greater role in K-12 school improvement — from theconversation.com by Detris Honora Adelabu

Here are four things I believe can be done in order to make sure that educational research is actually being applied.

Build better relationships with school leaders
Make policy and practice part of the research process
Rethink how research impact is measured
Rethink and redefine how research is distributed

6 Challenges for Early Educators as Preschool Growth Halts — from edweek.org by Sarah D. Sparks & Gina Tomko; behind paywall

Addendum on 9/2/23:

American classrooms need more educators. Can virtual teachers step in to bridge the gap? — from usatoday.com by Alia Wong

Letter from the Editor: Experienced teachers are leaving Michigan schools. This is why. — from mlive.com by Matthew Miller

They talked instead about issues like pay, stress and the sense that they no longer had the solid backing of school administrators.

Sue Harper, who retired this summer from Kreeger Elementary in Fowlerville, blamed what she called “bulldozer parents.”
…
“I have never been one to quit anything, and teaching is my passion, but this is not teaching,” one teacher wrote. “This is hours of endless paperwork, this is social work, this is counseling, this is parenting, this is babysitting, this is coaching, this is everything but teaching.”

Also relevant/see:

Low pay, culture wars, and ‘bulldozer parents.’ Why Michigan’s best teachers are calling it quits. — from mlive.com by Melissa Frick and Matthew Miller

Now a change management coordinator for Fifth Third Bank, she said, “I don’t take the stress from my job home. I don’t feel guilty, like I always could be doing more for someone.”

Thousands of experienced teachers have retired or left the profession in the years since the COVID-19 pandemic first closed schools and shifted classes to Zoom.

Teachers say they’re burnt out, tired of a lack of support and lack of respect, feeling the impact of the increasingly acrimonious politics surrounding public education.

And finally:

Michigan Teacher Shortage Study: Comprehensive Report — from epicedpolicy.org by Tara Kilbride, Katharine O. Strunk, Salem Rogers, & Meg Turner; published in January of 2023

Let’s Use ChatGPT to ‘Think Different’ About K-12 Schools — from gettingsmart.com by Kara Stern

So, in addition to asking ChatGPT to think like a school communications professional, a principal, or a teacher, what if we asked ChatGPT to think like the populations we’re serving, as a way of improving the education (or UX) we’re delivering?

Why I Keep Teaching — from edutopia.org by Rachel Jorgensen
A veteran educator explains why, despite the many challenges, she continues to try to change students’ lives, in turn enriching her own.

EVERY TIME I SHOW UP FOR WORK, A STUDENT MIGHT CHANGE MY LIFE FOR THE BETTER

MY WORK HAS INVISIBLE RIPPLE EFFECTS

34 Ways to Quiet a Rambunctious Class — from edutopia.org by Daniel Leonard
From “Silent 20” to imaginary marshmallows, these teacher-tested strategies for all grade levels can help you snap an unruly classroom back to attention.

Per EdSurge:

‘THE MOTH’ GOES TO SCHOOL: For more than a decade, the nonprofit behind the popular storytelling podcast The Moth has run workshops in schools to help students share impactful stories from their lives. Now the group started a spin-off podcast, Grown, highlighting those student stories. Here’s what they’re learning, and why they say storytelling needs to be taught in schools.

The Power of Storytelling for Youth https://t.co/5OyBarJtQp #edtech via @EdSurge

— Daniel Christian (he/him/his) (@dchristian5) August 25, 2023

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DC: This article is behind a paywall so I couldn’t read it…but I think we need more *fixes/overhauls* and less coping.

More student centered; less legislative/administration centered. https://t.co/MsEe7058XV

— Daniel Christian (he/him/his) (@dchristian5) August 25, 2023

A great example of the morphing going on in the PreK-12 learning ecosystem [Christian]

On 08/21/2023, in change, education, education reform, homeschooling/homeschoolers, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, learning spaces, parents/guardians, society, student-related, United States, youth, by Daniel Christian

For many home-schoolers, parents are no longer doing the teaching — from washingtonpost.com by Laura Meckler; via Matthew Tower

Her program is part of a company called Prenda, which last year served about 2,000 students across several states. It connects home-school families with microschool leaders who host students, often in their homes. It’s like Airbnb for education, says Prenda’s CEO, because its website allows customers – in this case, parents – to enter their criteria, search and make a match.

An explosion of new options, including Prenda, has transformed home schooling in America. Demand is surging: Hundreds of thousands of children have begun home schooling in the last three years, an unprecedented spike that generated a huge new market. In New Hampshire, for instance, the number of home-schoolers doubled during the pandemic, and even today it remains 40 percent above pre-covid totals.

From DSC:
This is another great example of the morphing going on in the PreK-12 learning ecosystem.

“The Mass Exodus of Teachers” [Proctor] + other K12 related items

On 08/18/2023, in career development, education, education reform, K-12 related, leadership, parents/guardians, society, strategy, student teaching/teacher education, student-related, surviving, teachers, trends, United States, by Daniel Christian

The Mass Exodus of Teachers — from educationoneducation.substack.com by Jeannine Proctor
Understanding Why Educators Are Fleeing the Classroom and How to Bring Them Back

Stemming the tide will require nuance, empathy, and listening to what teachers say they need. While pay raises are indispensable, they alone won’t be enough. Districts must take an integrated approach that also addresses unmanageable workloads, lack of resources, and toxic school cultures.

Some best practices include utilizing multi-classroom teaching models, providing duty-free “coverage” periods, and hiring support staff to shoulder non-instructional burdens. Investing in mentoring and leadership opportunities can stem the turnover of principals and administrators too. Public recognition and appreciation can also go a long way.

Most importantly, we must work to restore teacher well-being, purpose, and passion.

From DSC:
The primary things that would help this very troubling situation:

provide higher salaries
deal with unreasonable workload expectations
address a lack of teacher well-being.

California’s dramatic jump in chronically absent students part of a nationwide surge — from edsource.org by Betty Marquez Rosales, Millika Seshadri, and Daniel J. Willis

Dee’s analysis found that since the pandemic the number of students who were chronically absent nearly doubled to about 13.6 million, with 1.8 million of them in California.

Compared with before the pandemic, Dee found that about 6.5 million additional students became chronically absent in 2021-22, including more than 1 million in California.

Daily Briefing: Dual enrollment for every 9th grader? — from chronicle.com by Rick Seltzer

The idea of default is also an important idea. If we do it by invitation, what we have noticed is that those who know about it know to say yes to the invitation. If it is a default schedule, and then you have to opt out, then our ability to address equity and enrollment for our low-income students and students of color, it makes us much more successful.

These would-be teachers graduated into the pandemic. Will they stick with teaching? — from hechingerreport.org by Nirvi Shah
We tracked down nearly 90 members of the University of Maryland College of Education’s 2020 class. Their experiences suggest the field isn’t doing enough to adapt to a new, more difficult era for educators

The number of people studying for careers in education has been declining for years. At the same time, schools have struggled to hold on to new teachers: Studies indicate that about 44 percent of teachers leave the profession within their first five years.

Then the pandemic came along, hammering teachers and the profession as a whole.

“The first three years of teaching are really, really hard even in a perfect school system,” said Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers. So for teachers who entered the teaching profession at any point during the pandemic, “this has been a helluva ride.”

As Back-to-School Costs Soar, More Parents & Teachers Turn to Charities for Help — from the74million.org by Sierra Lyons
But as the need increases, inflation makes it harder for nonprofits to meet this year’s demand.

A study from World Remit shows that the cost of school supplies in the United States has increased by over 25% compared with 2022.

Though inflation is the lowest it has been since March 2021, high prices are still stressing shoppers and increasing their reliance on local and national back-to-school drives. The nonprofit organizations that sponsor those drives, in turn, are struggling to meet the growing demand.

Excerpt from Tom Barrett’s Dialogic #329: The Transformative Power of Compassionate Leadership

Your Next Steps: ?Commit to action and turn words into works

Reflect on your current leadership style and identify opportunities to incorporate more compassionate practices. Consider the Appreciative Inquiry model to guide this process.
Develop an empathy-driven approach to problem-solving and team dynamics, focusing on fostering a culture of understanding, collaboration, and mutual respect.
Revisit your feedback mechanisms and explore how they can be made more compassionate. Consider how critique can be delivered with kindness to empower, rather than tear down.

What Defines a Next-Gen High School? — from michaelbhorn.substack.com by Michael B. Horn

Against that backdrop, Ken Montgomery, co-founder of Design Tech High, known as D-Tech, and Keeanna Warren, who just became the CEO of the Purdue Polytechnic High School network, joined me to talk about their school designs, in particular the importance of:

helping students connect to something bigger than the school itself;
offering competency-based learning pathways with a transformed assessment system;
allowing students to find their creative purpose aligned to the common good;
and building a more permeable school that is connected to the community and offers a deep sense of belonging.

They also talked about the role of AI (artificial intelligence) and the anxiety that their students feel around its emergence, as well as the barriers that arise to building school models that break the traditional molds—from policy to human capital.

Several items re: the Pre-K-12 learning ecosystems out there [from edutopia.org]

On 08/17/2023, in collaboration, education, education reform, engagement / engaging students, Europe, ideas, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, learning spaces, library / librarians, more voice more choice more control, participation, pedagogy, student-related, teachers, teaching & learning, youth, by Daniel Christian

Building Pre-K Students’ Skills to Codesign the Classroom — from edutopia.org by Sarika S. Gupta
In order to help ensure that young students’ needs are met, it’s important to seek feedback about their learning experiences.

VIEW CHILDREN AS ACTIVE LEADERS IN THEIR LEARNING
I was co-teaching in an inclusive preschool classroom 20 years ago when I led my first professional development workshop (the project approach). The aim was to show teachers that children could co-construct their learning experiences when they were invited to do so. Two groundbreaking Reggio Emilia books came to mind—Shoe and Meter and Everything Has a Shadow Except Ants. These inspirational books were part of a series published in collaboration with the Italian Ministry of Education called “The Unheard Voice of Children.”

The series recognized children as active leaders of their learning and endeavored to document the process of learning through children’s learning experiences.

Learners need: More voice. More choice. More control. -- this image was created by Daniel Christian

Let Kids Make Decisions — from edutopia.org by Sean Cassel
An overreliance on rules can backfire. Instead, teachers can focus on providing students with choices and teaching good decision-making skills.

I’ve deeply thought about that last part over the course of my career: Let kids make decisions. Twenty years later, I am a high school administrator tasked with enforcing rules every day. Let me be clear: Schools need rules to function, but they don’t have to be the focus. My school focuses on allowing students to make choices: It is a centerpiece of how we operate. And although kids don’t always make the right choices, often enough they do. An overreliance on rules, in either a classroom or an entire school, can limit the ability of students to grow and develop their decision-making skills.

Using Free Edtech Tools to Get to Know Your New Middle and High School Students — from edutopia.org by Matthew X. Joseph
Older students can use these tools to introduce themselves to their teachers and each other—even before school starts.

From DSC:
Some nice ideas and tools listed here to start developing relationships even before the first day of school.

An Intentional Approach to Improving Your Teaching Practice — from edutopia.org by Marcus Luther
By selecting one area for growth, collecting resources, and connecting with others, teachers can make meaningful improvements in the classroom.

Last summer, my focus was improving the level of inquiry in my classroom. I describe my process below, which transfers to any area or topic on which you might hope to focus your own professional learning.

Setting Up Libraries to Be the Best Space in School — from edutopia.org by Paige Tutt
We took a peek inside school libraries across America to see how librarians are reframing the space to support students’ social, emotional, and creative growth—while still prioritizing excellent reads.

The recently renovated library—now known as the Learning Commons—is a bright, spacious multipurpose hub within the school. There are bistro tables where kids can work together; comfortable and flexible seating; a makerspace where students can explore activities like sewing and jewelry making; an audio recording and production studio; and a video production studio where kids can create TikToks or YouTube videos using their phones or school-issued laptops. It’s a far cry from the space it used to be—an attendance sheet from 2008 tracked just 21 students signing into the library one day.

Learning Ecosystems

Will students be able to create their own personalized degree programs using GPTs? Plus other items re: AI in our LE’s.

“13 Nuggets of AI Wisdom for Higher Education Leaders” [Klitgaard Stricker] + other AI-related items for our learning ecosystems

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