SNP article about working together for education

Acting alone, schools cannot prepare students for workforce

Critics of education like to refer to the Rip Van Winkle story to illustrate how slowly education changes. After 100 years of sleep, Van Winkle only recognized the schools because they had not changed at all. Our current global economy paired with the speed of growth in technology is forcing education to change, but many traditional public schools do not have the flexibility or funding to keep up.
Consider this explanation of technology’s future by Ray Kurzweil, a prominent inventor, mathematician, and entrepreneur: “An analysis of the history of technology shows that technological change is exponential, contrary to the common-sense ‘intuitive linear’ view. So we won't experience 100 years of progress in the 21st century -- it will be more like 20,000 years of progress (at today's rate).”
Schools cannot stay current, let alone act as visionaries. They do not have the funding, support from the business community, or time in their curriculum to stray from standardized test prep to adequately engage students in technology. The public is noticing. eSchool News reports that “a recent poll commissioned by the Partnership for 21st Century Skills shows the vast majority of U.S. voters believe students are ill-equipped to compete in the global learning environment, and that schools must incorporate 21st-century skills such as critical thinking and problem solving, communication and self-direction, and computer and technology skills into the curriculum.”
Bill McInturff with Public Opinion Strategies told eSchools the recent poll reveals that voters believe students are not workforce-ready, don't have the breadth of skills needed to succeed in today's world, and are not well-rounded enough.
Failing to teach these 21st-century skills is expensive for the end user, the student. In fact, a recent report by the National Science Foundation found that many of our newest scientists and engineers actually need skills-based training from a community college to be competitive. The report found that 50 percent of the science and engineering graduates who attended a community college went there to, “gain further skills and knowledge in an academic or occupational field.” These college graduates lacked the hands on, practical skills needed to be competitive in their fields. They didn’t have the right training in high school or in college, and now they must attend specialized programs on their own dime, or their company’s dime if they are lucky enough to get a job.
So what do we do? We work together to bring change.
The public needs to educate itself about the educational options out there for their children. They need to force partnerships between their school districts, career centers, local businesses and local colleges. School districts need to focus their finances on what they do well, and outsource what they cannot fund. Students need to have the opportunities for hands on experience through apprenticeships and internships, experiences that can enrich their college education by making the academic information relevant. The path to professional success is changing, and it can be revised to be much more efficient and affordable.
Our economy is global. Our business world is multi-cultural and multi-national. One company may have designers in the United States, manufacturing plants in Mexico, and customer service in India. But, our schools continue to try to do it all in one building with limited resources. That model is not effective, and it will not teach our students how to function in their future careers.
We need a partnership council, and we need one now. Who will join me?

SNP article I wrote about career centers

Career Centers deserve look from college-bound students

Educators spend millions of dollars on fads that are often under-researched or misapplied. In fact, a new body of research is examining high school reform and finding a large discrepancy between theory and reality.

For example, many schools started smaller “academies,” or schools within schools, to try to help students stay engaged in their learning. However, research is now finding, “This approach led to increased stratification of students by race, academic ability, and socioeconomic class,” according to a new book called Schools Within Schools: Possibilities and Pitfalls of High School Reform.

“Similar to many other educational reforms, the SWS [schools within schools] has been promoted and implemented without a solid base of empirical evidence to support it,” write the authors, Douglas Ready and Valerie Lee.

Educators struggle with the disconnect between what we know about learning and the way we design schools, so we often try to invent creative ways to connect the two. We know students learn better when we have smaller classrooms. We know students learn better when they are actively engaged in their subject matter. We know that students retain information better if they apply what they learn in real world settings. But, high school class sizes are growing and standardized testing is shrinking the time teachers have to do applied activities.

Rather than relying on the schools to find funds to invent new programs, parents need to educate themselves about the systems already in place, the programs that have already been tested, modified and tweaked. Career centers partner with local school districts, and they have evolved to fit modern educational needs. They no longer just serve students who want to learn trades; do not want to go to college, or students who are behavior problems at their schools.

While they still help at-risk students, many of their programs are designed for the college bound, offer college credit, and offer certifications to help students get a jump start. In fact, in 2006, the Delaware Area Career Center, the center that serves many of the northern Columbus suburban districts achieved a graduation rate of 98.8%. Over 60% of their students enrolled in higher education.

Students today have more educational options than ever before, and career centers are the best kept secret of those options. I am constantly returning to my mental rolodex of students who would have loved the opportunities they could have had if I had only known.

A new journey

I am on a journey, and I am realizing that journey is both exhausting and exhilerating. I spent nearly a decade teaching high school students in a suburban district in Columbus, Ohio. Parents used to come to me with concerns when their children were not performing up to their potential. I decided to do some research and create a suggested reading list for parents, but I found very little for the list. Most of the books helped teachers design lessons for the struggling student or taught them how to work with literacy issues in classrooms. For parents, most of the books dealt with the angst of the teenage years and how to navigate the adolscent years. I realized I would need to write the book parents could use, so I did. No Parent Left Behind: a handbook for parents of struggling students appeared in print in spring 2007. Almost immediately, schools started contacting me to come and speak to their staff about how to involve parents. One school even bought a copy for each freshman parent.

After I wrote my book, I knew I needed to leave the classroom to promote it. I could not miss school days to facilitate presentations and professional development, or the students would suffer. The position as a community relations coordinator at a local career center opened and offered a flexible schedule and the ability to meet and network with people in the educational community. When I began there, I planned to do a lot of community events and networking, which I did my first year.

I am very passionate about the fact that education is the responsibility of an entire community, and that doesn't just mean financial responsibility. The number one predictor of student success is parental involvement. I take that a step further. A school that truly prepares our students for the future should have businesses, as well as parents and social services, involved in a hands on way. The school should be the community center where students can learn much more than just academics: they should learn what success means TO THEM and learn about themselves, their responsibility to their society and the education they need to reach their goals. The mission of every school should be "To foster passion." Connecting students with local opportunities in business should offer a good return on investment for the businesses as they attempt to develop their workforce and groom tomorrow's leaders.

My job at the career center changed from networking to marketing. I am no longer in the community creating those types of connections for our students. I am now engaged in marketing, web site design, and screening for advertising opportunities and professional photographers and designers. Although I am sure I could learn to be really great at coordinating all those tasks, my daily tasks are no longer connected enough to education to satisfy me. So..I will move on.

I am a firm believer that life throws opportunities my way and I just have to make sure to keep my eyes open so I can take advantage of them. My new journey back to school as a doctoral student at The Ohio State University's will be an adventure in a variety of ways. I expect to be challenged academically, financially and philosophically as I navigate the coursework and begin thinking of my research interests for the future.

I plan to use this blog to share educational research I encounter during my doctoral coursework. I also plan to use it to help people see what life is like as a doc student. I hope current educators and administrators I have worked with will follow this blog to see what new perspectives I can bring to their schools. I also hope to offer a place where educators, parents, administrators, and business people can discuss issues about education and parenting students. The contribution readers of this blog can make will greatly help me shape my research interests and future workshops.