parents/guardians

Teacher shortages: Some ways being used to address this issue

On 05/22/2023, in dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, education, education reform, engagement / engaging students, entrepreneurship, experimentation, homeschooling/homeschoolers, ideas, innovation, K-12 related, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, learning preferences, learning spaces, love of learning, maker movement, more voice more choice more control, new business models, parents/guardians, participation, personalized/customized learning, reinvent, society, student-related, teachers, traditional / tradition, United States, vision/possibilities, youth, by Daniel Christian

Being a new teacher is hard. Having a good mentor can help — from npr.org by Cory Turner

Excerpt:

[Besides this article’s focus on mentorship]

In March, I reported a pair of stories from Jackson, Miss., where the school district is paying for unlicensed classroom aides to go back to school and get their master’s degrees.

In April, I told the story of a remarkable idea: A new high school in San Antonio dedicated entirely to training high-schoolers in the art and science of good teaching.

From DSC:
I would add a few more items:

Significantly reduce the impact of legislators on K-12. If they do vote on something that would impact schools, each legislator that votes on such legislation must first spend at least ___ week(s) observing in some of the schools that would be impacted before even starting to draft legislation and/or debate on the topic(s).
Instead, turn over more control and power to the students, teachers, K12 administrators, parents, and school boards.
Provide more choice, more control as each student can handle it.
Stop the one-size fits all system. Instead use AI-based systems to provide more personalized learning.
Develop more hybrid programs — but this time I’m talking mixing what we’ve known as public education with homeschooling and smaller learning pods. Let’s expand what’s included when we discuss “learning spaces.”
Strive for a love of learning — vs. competition and developing gameplayers
Support makerspaces, entrepreneurship, and experiments
Speaking of experiments, I would recommend developing more bold experiments outside of the current systems.

Along the lines of potential solutions/visions, see:

Why ‘System Transformation’ Is Likely A Pipe Dream — from michaelbhorn.substack.com by Michael Horn
But I’m for System Replacement

Excerpt:

Foremost among them is this: Despite all the fancy models and white papers around what are all the levers to pull in order to transform a system, system transformation almost never happens by changing the fundamental tenets of the system itself. Instead, it comes from replacing the system with a brand-new system.

To start to understand why, consider the complicated system in which public schools find themselves. As Thomas Arnett explained, they are one part of a vast value network of federal, state, and local regulators, voters and taxpayers, parents and students, teachers, administrators, unions, curriculum providers, school vendors, public infrastructure, higher education institutions, and more.

New ideas, programs, or entities that don’t fit into these processes, priorities, and cost structures are simply not plug-compatible into that value network. They consequently get rejected, tossed to the fringe, or altered to meet the needs of the existing actors in the value network.

Special Education Myth Busting [Phillips-Krivickas]

On 05/16/2023, in assistive technologies, Bias | Diversity Equity & Inclusion (DE&I), neurodivergent/special needs, parents/guardians, reinvent, society, student-related, teachers, teaching & learning, youth, by Daniel Christian

Special Education Myth Busting — from gettingsmart.com by Karla Phillips-Krivickas

Excerpts:

FACT: 14% of all U.S. students have a disability.
FACT: At least 85% of students with disabilities can learn and achieve on grade level.
FACT: Students don’t outgrow their disabilities.
FACT: The majority of students with disabilities spend most of their day in regular classrooms.
FACT – Students with disabilities consistently experience the lowest academic outcomes.

Addendum on 5/22/23:

Getting Smart Town Hall re: Special Education Links (SHARED) – Google Drive

On a somewhat-related note, see:

What Does Assistive Tech Look Like with One-to-One Programs? — from edtechmagazine.com by Rebecca Torchia
In a recent episode of Focus on EDU, one special education teacher shared tips for working with parents and integrating tech’s assistive benefits into the classroom.

Excerpt:

As K–12 schools adopt one-to-one device programs, they have the opportunity to introduce more assistive technologies into classrooms. These accommodations can help bring equity into schools, and in ways that don’t make students feel singled out.

“When I started teaching, students who needed anything outside of that traditional pen-and-paper environment had to leave the environment in general education to be able to access those things,” Laura Hess, executive director of special education at St. Vrain Valley Schools in Colorado, said on an episode of Focus on EDU. “Now, a lot of districts across the U.S. are one-to-one districts, so all of our students have access to technology. Students don’t need to leave the classroom to access that support.”

“Microcredentials Can Make a Huge Difference in Higher Education” [Riggs], education debt swells, + several other items re: HE

On 05/15/2023, in colleges, community colleges, cost of getting a degree, economics, faculty/staff, higher education, law schools, learning ecosystem, liberal arts, parents/guardians, policy, student-related, United States, universities, by Daniel Christian

Microcredentials Can Make a Huge Difference in Higher Education — from newthinking.com by Shannon Riggs
The Ecampus executive director of academic programs and learning innovation at Oregon State University believes that shorter form, low-cost courses can open up colleges to more people.

That so much student loan debt exists is a clear signal that higher education needs to innovate to reduce costs, increase access and improve students’ return on investment. Microcredentials are one way we can do this.

As the Supreme Court weighs Biden’s student loan forgiveness, education debt swells — from cnbc.com by Jessica Dickler

KEY POINTS

As the Supreme Court weighs President Joe Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan, college tuition keeps climbing.
This year’s incoming freshman class can expect to borrow as much as $37,000 to help cover the cost of a bachelor’s degree, according to a recent report.

College is only getting more expensive. Tuition and fees plus room and board at four-year, in-state public colleges rose more than 2% to $23,250, on average, in the 2022-23 academic year; at four-year private colleges, it increased by more than 3% to $53,430, according to the College Board, which tracks trends in college pricing and student aid.

Many students now borrow to cover the tab, which has already propelled collective student loan debt in the U.S. past $1.7 trillion.

Access, Outcomes, and Value: Envisioning the Future of Higher Education — from milkeninstitute.org with Jeff Selingo, Gene Block, Jim Gash, Eric Gertler, and Nicole Hurd

Leaders of colleges and universities face unprecedented challenges today. Tuition has more than doubled over the past two decades as state and federal funding has decreased. Renewed debates about affirmative action and legacy admissions are roiling many campuses and confusing students about what it takes to get accepted. Growing numbers of administrators are matched by declining student enrollment, placing new financial pressures on institutions of higher learning. And many prospective students and their parents are losing faith in the ROI of such an expensive investment and asking the simple question: Is it all worth it? Join distinguished leaders from public and private institutions for this panel discussion on how they are navigating these shifts and how they see the future of higher education.

What the New ‘U.S. News’ Law-School Rankings Reveal About the Rankings Enterprise — from chronicle.com by Francie Diep

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

This year’s lists also offer a hint of how widespread the rankings revolt was. Seventeen medical schools and 62 law schools — nearly a third of the law schools U.S. News ranks — didn’t turn in data to the magazine this year. (It’s not clear what nonparticipation rates have been in the past. Reached by email to request historical context, a spokesperson for U.S. News pointed to webpages that are no longer online. U.S. News ranked law and medical schools that didn’t cooperate this year by using publicly available and past survey data.)

Report: Many borrowers who could benefit from income-driven repayment don’t know about it — from highereddive.com by Laura Spitalniak

Dive Brief:

Student loan borrowers who would stand to benefit the most from income-driven repayment plans, or IDRs, are less likely to know about them, according to a new report from left-leaning think tank New America.
Around 2 in 5 student-debt holders earning less than $30,000 a year reported being unfamiliar with the repayment plans. Under a proposed plan from the U.S. Education Department, IDR minimum monthly loan payments for low-income earners, such as this group, could drop to $0.
Just under half of borrowers in default had not heard of IDRs, despite the plans offering a pathway to becoming current on their loans, the report said. Only one-third of currently defaulted borrowers had ever enrolled in IDR.

Addendum on 5/16/23:

S2E26: Dan Willingham on Applying Cognitive Science to K12 Education [Groshell]

On 05/11/2023, in education, instructional design, K-12 related, learning, learning theories, microlearning, parents/guardians, psychology, student teaching/teacher education, student-related, teachers, teaching & learning, by Daniel Christian

From a teaching-related blog by Zach Groshell, PhD

Also see:

From a teaching-related blog by Zach Groshell, PhD

“Did you ask a good question today?”

On 05/09/2023, in colleges, community colleges, higher education, learning, parents/guardians, society, student-related, United States, universities, youth, by Daniel Christian

University Of Maryland, Baltimore County President Emeritus Freeman Hrabowski — his mother would ask him, "Did you ask a good question today?"https://t.co/N1xolEBs91

— Daniel Christian (he/him/his) (@dchristian5) May 9, 2023

Some items re: the state of — and the future of — higher education

On 03/31/2023, in adjunct faculty, Alternatives, business side of he, colleges, community colleges, cost of getting a degree, dangers of the status quo, higher education, leadership, parents/guardians, reinvent, society, sociology, staying relevant, surviving, United States, universities, youth, by Daniel Christian

When It Comes to College Closures, the Sky Is Never Going to Fall — from chronicle.com by Lee Gardner
Are you tired of reading nearly annual predictions of a looming wave of colleges shutting down? Not nearly as tired as one Chronicle reporter.

Excerpts:

I’ve learned a lot of things about how colleges work in the last 10 years, including that they die hard. They make new appeals to students and alumni. They scrimp. They raise their tuition-discount rate yet again. They limp along with budget deficits, sometimes for years. They make withdrawals from their endowments. They sell off assets. They look for partnerships, mergers, and buyers, although sometimes when it’s far too late.

I could be wrong, of course, and there may be a giant wave of college closures rearing somewhere on the horizon. But I can guarantee you that there are dozens of institutions in danger of quietly slipping toward a gradual end as you read this.

Also highly relevant here/see:

Contingent faculty jobs are still the standard, AAUP report finds — from highereddive.com by Laura Spitalniak

Dive Brief:

Colleges are continuing to increase their reliance on faculty positions that lack pathways to tenure, according to a new report from the American Association of University Professors. Over two-thirds of faculty members, 68%, held contingent positions in fall 2021, compared to about 47% in fall 1987.
Part-time work is also becoming more common. Almost half of faculty, 48%, taught part time in fall 2021, up from 33% in fall 1987. Less than 1% of all part-time faculty positions are tenured or tenure-track, according to AAUP.
Both of these factors are cutting into the number of available tenured positions, the report said. Fewer than 1 in 4 faculty members, 24%, held tenured full-time positions in fall 2021. That number fell from 39% in fall 1987.

Americans Are Losing Faith in College Education, WSJ-NORC Poll Finds — from wsj.com by Douglas Belkin (behind a firewall)
Confidence in value of a degree plummeted among women and senior citizens during pandemic

Excerpt:

A majority of Americans don’t think a college degree is worth the cost, according to a new Wall Street Journal-NORC poll, a new low in confidence in what has long been a hallmark of the American dream.

The survey, conducted with NORC at the University of Chicago, a nonpartisan research organization, found that 56% of Americans think earning a four-year degree is a bad bet compared with 42% who retain faith in the credential.

Skepticism is strongest among people ages 18-34, and people with college degrees are among those whose opinions have soured the most, portending a profound shift for higher education in the years ahead.

From DSC:
While I continue to try and review/pulse-check the K12 learning ecosystem, it struck me that we need new, DIRECT communication channels between educators, support staff, administrators, and legislators — and possibly others.

That is:

How can teachers, support staff, and administrators talk directly to legislators?
How can legislators communicate with teachers, support staff, and administrators?
Should we require relevant legislators (i.e., those individuals sponsoring bills or major changes to our k12 learning ecosystem) to go through training on how students learn?
What communication vehicles are present? Can they be anonymous?
Should there be an idea 1-800 hotline or an idea “mailbox” (digital and/or analog based)?

And what about the students themselves and/or their parents/guardians? Should they be involved as well?

Are High Schools Preparing Students for the Future? [xqsuperschool.org]

On 03/06/2023, in career development, curriculum, education, education reform, entrepreneurship, experimentation, future, K-12 related, leadership, learning ecosystem, parents/guardians, pathways, vocational / trades, youth, by Daniel Christian

Are High Schools Preparing Students for the Future? — from xqsuperschool.org; with thanks to Marisa Sergnese out on LinkedIn for this resource

Excerpt:

High school is the last stop before students enter the real world of college, career, and adult life. It’s where adolescents are supposed to develop both academically and socially, so they’ll graduate prepared for all the future has to offer. But does it?

Along with students, educators, families, and employers across the country, we at XQ believe it’s time to rethink high school to ensure that it does. We invited our readers to weigh in and here is what they told us:

Out of more than 300 participants polled, the vast majority—93 percent—said they didn’t think high schools are fully preparing students to succeed in the future.

That’s a dramatically high percentage—and it lines up with current research. A study from the Hechinger Report reveals that the vast majority of the nation’s two- and four-year colleges report enrolling students who are unprepared for college-level work. Furthermore, the National Center for Education Statistics reports that up to 65 percent of community college students take at least one remedial course.

Preparing Today’s Students for the Future Workforce — from rdene915.com by Rachelle Dené Poth

Excerpt:

Today’s high school students are the future of our workforce. Before long they will be in college or starting full-time jobs of their own. But how are today’s students preparing for their futures? What will the workforce look like when these students move on to the next stage of their lives?

Schools, districts, and even state education departments provide various programs for students to gain relevant work experience and gain necessary skills outside of the classroom.

What Are These Programs?
There are a number of school-based programs that support student growth through work such as…

Also relevant/see:

One Foot in the Future — from the BIG questions institute

As an excerpt from an email describing this new/free ebook, Homa Tavangar and Will Richardson write:

We need a fresh set of tools, frameworks, and lenses if we are to meet the future effectively.

With this new ebook, “One Foot in the Future,” we’re charting a different path forward, introducing readers to things like:

Design Fiction – A tool to help us become “archeologists of the future” and help us
Regenerative Learning – A lens that helps us see our work as it impacts all living things
Schoolpunk – A movement and a community to help imagine the future of education together.

And much more.

Our sense is that there is growing appetite to get out of the traditional school box and to design a more aspirational future. This new ebook is a great starting point for anyone who wants to do just that.

In one’s faith journey, it seems to me that this is one of the things that happens along the way. [Christian]

On 02/09/2023, in adult learning, communications, Daniel S. Christian, Emotion, faith, hearts -- matters of the heart, parents/guardians, youth, by Daniel Christian

In one’s faith journey, it seems to me that somewhere along the line, things move from I/we have to to I/we get to.

Reflections on “63% of educators consider leaving profession” [Merod]

On 02/02/2023, in career development, change, K-12 related, leadership, learning ecosystem, Michigan, parents/guardians, teachers, trends, by Daniel Christian

63% of educators consider leaving profession — from k12dive.com by Anna Merod

Dive Brief:

Thirty percent of surveyed educators said they plan to leave the education profession within the next three years, while another 33% said they would “maybe” do the same, according to a report released Wednesday by Horace Mann Educators Corp., a financial services company that focuses on educators.
For those thinking of leaving, the largest share — 42% — said they would retire. Another 28% said they would consider the private sector, and 10% would move to another public sector position, the survey found.
What would keep teachers in education? Respondents largely said higher salaries (57%), followed by improved parent or community support (42%), and better school or district leadership (41%).

From DSC:
Ouch! At one of our daughter’s schools (where she teaches third grade and is in her first year of teaching), many teachers left even before Christmas. As but one example of a flawed system, our daughter and other teachers are required to be there way before school begins (for early dropoffs) and way after school ends (for late pickups). If our society doesn’t start valuing teachers, all Americans are going to pay the price eventually.

And a heads up to the faculty and staff members working in higher education. These students are coming your way.

And then they’ll be at your doorsteps corporate world.

Bottom line: We all should care about what’s going on — or what’s NOT going on — in the PreK-12 learning ecosystem!

What is college for? Gov. Shapiro raises the question. Higher ed leaders are listening. — from The Philadelphia Inquirer by Will Bunch; with thanks to Ray Schroeder out on LinkedIn for the resource
Pa.’s new governor Josh Shapiro’s first move was to question the need of a college diploma as a job credential. U.S. universities, pay attention.

Excerpt:

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — What is college actually for?

No one expected this to be the initial question raised by Pennsylvania’s new governor, Josh Shapiro, in his first full day on the job. While he may not have stated it explicitly, this was the essence of the Democrat’s very first executive order, which opened up some 92% of job listings in state government — about 65,000 in all — to applicants who don’t have a four-year college degree.

In branding degree requirements for many jobs as “arbitrary” and declaring “there are many different pathways to success,” the Keystone State’s new chief executive was tugging at the shaky Jenga block that has undergirded the appalling rise of a $1.75 trillion student debt bomb in the U.S. and led, arguably, to a college/non-college divide driving our nation’s bitter politics. The notion is this: You can’t make it in 21st-century America without that most expensive piece of sheepskin: the college diploma.

So the $64,000 question (OK, $80,000 … for one year on some elite private campuses) is this: If you don’t need the credential, do you actually need college?

Something is clearly gained by giving America’s young people more career options that won’t contribute to that $1.75 trillion college debt bomb. But are we talking enough about what could be lost in a new system that not only devalues the university but also seems to ratify a dubious idea — that higher education is almost solely about careerism, and not the wider knowledge and critical-thinking skills that come from liberal arts learning?

From DSC:
To me — and to many other parents and families — it all boils down to the price tag of obtaining a liberal arts education. It’s one thing to get a liberal arts education at $5K per year. It’s another thing when the pricetag runs at $40K and above (per year)! Most people ARE FORCED to question the ROI of a liberal arts education. They simply have to.

On a relevant tangent here…many inside the academy have traditionally looked with disdain at the corporate world. The thinking went something like this:

Business! Ha! We are not a business! Students are not customers. Don’t ever compare us to the corporate world.

Having spent half of my career in the corporate world, I do not subscribe to that perspective. In fact, I’d like to ask those who still hold this point of view:

Where else can you pay tens of thousands of dollars for something and not be treated as a customer?! Don’t you typically expect value on your own purchases and positive returns on your investments?
How will you collaborate with the corporate world if you look upon them with disdain?!

But now that colleges and universities enrollments are not doing so well, perhaps there will be more openness to change and towards developing more impactful collaborations.

“Exhausted majority” wants to rethink K-12 education [Stef W. Kight]

On 01/25/2023, in education, education reform, homeschooling/homeschoolers, K-12 related, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, more voice more choice more control, parents/guardians, participation, passions, student-related, United States, youth, by Daniel Christian

“Exhausted majority” wants to rethink K-12 education— from axios.com by Stef W. Kight; via GSV

Excerpt:

Americans have drastically shifted some priorities on K-12 education since the start of COVID, a new study by Populace reveals.

Why it matters: There’s new pressure to change the existing model. Preparing students for college has fallen from 10th highest priority to 47th.

The study demonstrates what Populace co-founder Todd Rose called an “exhausted majority” who just wants kids to learn to think for themselves and find a career “with meaning and purpose.”

The big picture: Americans have a warped understanding of what the majority prioritizes in education.

U.S. adults overestimate the public’s desire for teachers to prepare kids for college, internships and only the highest-paying jobs. They also overestimate support for standardized processes and teaching social norms.
They underestimate preferences to allow students to learn at their own pace and according to their own interests and for kids to come away with more holistic, practical skills.

Also relevant/see:

New Survey: America’s Families are Rethinking K-12 Education — from schoolchoiceweek.com by the National School Choice Week Team

Excerpt:

K-12 education in America is experiencing a once-in-a-generation transformation, as tens of millions of parents rethink their children’s education and make crucial decisions about how and where their children learn. From exploring their school choice options to expressing interest in nontraditional learning models, parents are eager to find better or supplementary learning environments for their children. Parents don’t see this a dichotomous; a majority of them are open to change even as two thirds of all parents (67.9 percent) remain largely satisfied with the schools their children attend.

What do we mean by rethinking? Parents choosing new schools, parents considering options more frequently, and parents seeking to round out their children’s education by thinking outside the box and exploring new or nontraditional learning options.

On a related note see:

What Do Parents Prefer for their Children’s’ Schooling? — from michaelbhorn.substack.com by Michael Horn with Adam Newman and Christian Lehr of Tyton Partners

Closing the digital divide in Black America — from mckinsey.com
Five steps could help to bring broadband and digital equity to every Black household in the United States—urban and rural—while bolstering efforts to create a more inclusive economy.

Excerpt:

But broadband access is only part of a much bigger picture. Ensuring all Americans can fully participate in civic life and the digital economy requires affordable subscriptions, internet-enabled devices, applications, digital skills, and high-quality technical support. For example, while smartphone and tablet penetration are approximately equal among White, Black, and Hispanic and Latino adults in the United States, only 69 percent of Black Americans and 67 percent of Hispanic Americans have desktop or laptop computers, compared with 80 percent of White Americans (Exhibit 1).5 A 2020 OECD survey found that roughly half of Black workers had the advanced or proficient digital skills needed to thrive in our increasingly tech-driven economy, compared with 77 percent of White workers.6

Learning Ecosystems

Some items re: the state of — and the future of — higher education

In one’s faith journey, it seems to me that this is one of the things that happens along the way. [Christian]

Reflections on “What is college for? Gov. Shapiro raises the question. Higher ed leaders are listening.” [Bunch]

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