SITE Blog

Whose to Blame for Poor Urban Schools? Look more closely at the politics of schools to find out.

I am losing a lot of my educational friends lately or at least we are sparring on line. Like the press, they look at the older teachers of America and say, that the problems in education are the fault of the older, teachers the digital immigrants. Well, is it really?

When I question people about what happens in K-12 they rest the problem squarely on the shoulders of the K-12 teachers.

Why is America falling behind in academics? There are many reasons. We are 21st in the world in Science and 25th in the world in Math. We who started the use of the Internet…Well it is so bad that the Congress has created a solution.

US to back 21st century learning
By Maggie Shiels
Technology reporter, BBC News Website, Silicon Valley

The US Congress has given the go-ahead for a new centre to explore ways advanced computer and communications technologies can improve learning.
The National Center for Research in Advanced Information and Digital Technologies will focus on “bringing education into the 21st century.”Supporters said classrooms have failed to keep up with technology innovations.
“America’s reputation as an international leader rests in the hands of our youth,” said Sen. Chris Dodd.
“It should be among our top priorities to provide our students with the tools they need to maintain and build upon this standing.”
The Senator was one of the original sponsors of a bill that proposed the setting up of the centre. Meanwhile Congressman John Yarmuth of Kentucky spearheaded the passage of the bill through the House and said its timing could not be more critical.
“American businesses know that they need a well-educated workforce to face growing competition from China, India and Europe.”
The Federation of American Scientists said, “The creativity that developed extraordinary new information technologies has not focused on finding ways to make learning more compelling, more personal and more productive in our nation’s schools.
“People assumed that the explosion of innovation in information tools in business and service industries would automatically move into classrooms.”
That, the Federation said, has simply not happened.
The centre will support a ‘first of its kind’ comprehensive research and development program aimed at improving all levels of learning from kindergarten to university and from government training to college.
Missed opportunity
“Education is falling further and further behind the rest of the economy and we have to rethink our basic approach to helping people learn,” said Henry Kelly, the Federation’s president.
The FAS said that learning scientists and educators have known for years that people learn faster if education can be personalised and if students are motivated by seeing how their knowledge can help them solve problems they care about.
Story from BBC NEWS:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/technology/7569484.stm

Published: 2008/08/19 07:51:13 GMT

In the past the unmatched vitality of the United States’ economy and science and technology enterprise has made this country a world leader for decades, allowing Americans to benefit from a high standard of living and national security. But in a world where advanced knowledge is widespread and low-cost labor is readily available, U.S. advantages in the marketplace and in science and technology have begun to erode. A comprehensive and coordinated federal effort is urgently needed to bolster U.S. competitiveness and pre-eminence in these areas so that the nation will consistently gain from the opportunities offered by rapid globalization, says a new report from the National Academies.

Given the United States’ history of economic and scientific pre-eminence, it is easy to be complacent about these complex issues, the report says. Following are some indicators that illustrate why decisive action is needed now:

· For the cost of one chemist or one engineer in the United States, a company can hire about five chemists in China or 11 engineers in India.

· Last year chemical companies shuttered 70 facilities in the United States and have tagged 40 more for closure. Of 120 chemical plants being built around the world with price tags of $1 billion or more, one is in the United States and 50 are in China.

· U.S. 12th-graders recently performed below the international average for 21 countries on a test of general knowledge in mathematics and science. In addition, an advanced mathematics assessment was administered to students in 15 other countries who were taking or had taken advanced math courses, and to U.S. students who were taking or had taken pre-calculus, calculus, or Advanced Placement calculus. Eleven countries outperformed the United States, and four scored similarly. None scored significantly below the United States.

· In 1999 only 41 percent of U.S. eighth-graders had a math teacher who had majored in mathematics at the undergraduate or graduate level or studied the subject for teacher certification — a figure that was considerably lower than the international average of 71 percent.

· Last year more than 600,000 engineers graduated from institutions of higher education in China. In India, the figure was 350,000. In America, it was about 70,000.

· In 2001 U.S. industry spent more on tort litigation than on research and development.

Without a major push to strengthen the foundations of America’s competitiveness, the United States could soon lose its privileged position. The ultimate goal is to create new, high-quality jobs for all citizens by developing new industries that stem from the ideas of exceptional scientists and engineers.

Increase America’s talent pool by vastly improving K-12 mathematics and science education.

· Among the recommended implementation steps is the creation of a merit-based scholarship program to attract 10,000 exceptional students to math and science teaching careers each year. Four-year scholarships, worth up to $20,000 annually, should be designed to help some of the nation’s top students obtain bachelor’s degrees in physical or life sciences, engineering, or mathematics — with concurrent certification as K-12 math and science teachers. After graduation, they would be required to work for at least five years in public schools. Participants who teach in disadvantaged inner-city or rural areas would receive a $10,000 annual bonus. Each of the 10,000 teachers would serve about 1,000 students over the course of a teaching career, having an impact on 10 million minds, the report says.

Sowing the Seeds

Sustain and strengthen the nation’s commitment to long-term basic research.

· Policy-makers should increase the national investment in basic research by 10 percent each year over the next seven years. Special attention should be paid to the physical sciences, engineering, mathematics, and information sciences, and to basic research funding for the U.S. Department of Defense, the report says.

· Policy-makers also should establish within the U.S. Department of Energy an organization called the Advanced Research Project Agency — Energy (ARPA-E) that reports to the undersecretary for science and sponsors “out-of-the-box” energy research to meet the nation’s long-term energy challenges.

· Authorities should make 200 new research grants annually — worth $500,000 each, payable over five years — to the nation’s most outstanding early-career researchers.

Best and Brightest

Develop, recruit, and retain top students, scientists, and engineers from both the United States and abroad. The United States should be considered the most attractive setting in the world to study and conduct research, the report says.

· Each year, policy-makers should provide 25,000 new, competitive four-year undergraduate scholarships and 5,000 new graduate fellowships to U.S. citizens enrolled in physical science, life science, engineering, and mathematics programs at U.S. colleges and universities.

· Policy-makers should provide a one-year automatic visa extension that allows international students to remain in the United States to seek employment if they have received doctorates or the equivalent in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, or other fields of national need from qualified U.S. institutions. If these students then receive job offers from employers that are based in the United States and pass a security screening test, they should automatically get work permits and expedited residence status. If they cannot obtain employment within one year, their visas should expire.

Incentives for Innovation

Ensure that the United States is the premier place in the world for innovation. This can be accomplished by actions such as modernizing the U.S. patent system, realigning tax policies to encourage innovation, and ensuring affordable broadband Internet access, the report says.

· Policy-makers should provide tax incentives for innovation that is based in the United States. The Council of Economic Advisers and the Congressional Budget Office should conduct a comprehensive analysis to examine how the United States compares with other nations as a location for innovation and related activities, with the goal of ensuring that the nation is one of the most attractive places in the world for long-term investment in such efforts.

· The Research and Experimentation Tax Credit is currently for companies that increase their R&D spending above a predetermined level. To encourage private investment in innovation, this credit, which is scheduled to expire in December, should be made permanent. And Congress and the administration should increase the allowable credit from 20 percent to 40 percent of qualifying R&D investments.

The study was sponsored by the National Academies, which comprise the National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, Institute of Medicine, and National Research Council. They are private, nonprofit institutions that provide science, technology, and health policy advice under a congressional charter.
This news release and report are available at http://national-academies.org

THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES
Committee on Science, Engineering, and Public Policy

And Urban Schools? ????????

Academic freedom: the typical urban school district’s personnel and budgeting systems leave principals without much say in hiring teachers or allocating resources.

The Los Angeles Unified School District is the second largest school system in the nation–and perhaps the worst. Slightly less than half of its 75,000 employees are classroom teachers, meaning that Los Angeles spends just 35 percent of its budget on teacher pay. By comparison, the school systems in Houston, Texas, and Edmonton, in the Canadian province of Alberta, spend 49 percent and 56 percent, respectively, of their budgets on teachers. Since 1980, Los Angeles Unified’s enrollment has grown by 180,000 students, but the district has added only 15 schools with a total of 20,000 seats. As a result, nearly 200,000 students must be bused to a distant campus while most attend multi-track, year-round schools that can push more students through but offer 17 fewer days of instruction.

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0MJG/is_1_4/ai_111734747

Although elementary schoolers in Los Angeles have made real gains in literacy in recent years, among high-school students, only 23 percent in reading and 34 percent in math meet or exceed the national norm on the Stanford 9. Of the district’s teachers, 27 percent lack full credentials. The system has a chronic shortage of qualified principals.
If Los Angeles is the worst school district in America, its East Coast cousin, New York City, is a close second. And the Chicago schools, while improving, are still recovering from the day in 1988 when William J. Bennett, secretary of education in the Reagan administration, pronounced them the “worst in the nation.” Why are these three school systems in such deep disarray? Certainly not because they are the three largest.

None of them has more than a fraction of IBM or Toyota’s work force, and those companies are icons of good management. Nor is it because they serve high percentages of minority children from low-income families. Houston’s schools, which are equally minority and poor, perform well relative to other urban school districts. The reason is that the school districts in New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago are too centralized, much too top-down in their management, for their size.

In Washington DC, the chancellor of the DC Schools thinks that older teachers salaries were bloated, and their abilities non-existent. I wrote a little article about where I thought the blame should go and got strongly rebuked by a few personal friends, people with whom I have worked for a very long time. It’s the Black teachers, they are to blame. The teachers are the problem they say? I don’t think so. i know that there are teachers who teach as they were taught.
The plan that Rhee proposed shows an understanding that excellent teaching requires extensive training and experience. A seasoned, excellent teacher would have training in and experience with pedagogy and content. Such a teacher could easily craft lesson plans that adapt to various learning styles and reading levels and that challenge and improve student performance. She would have learned from experience how to maintain classroom order and how to develop and implement authentic assessments to gauge student mastery. These are concepts that everyone favors but that few teachers can implement successfully in their first few years on the job.
D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee has proposed an excellent way to improve education for all public school students. In return for their forgoing tenure, she wants to give superior, experienced teachers the opportunity to earn up to a six-figure salary [editorial, Aug. 26]. Though Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (I-Conn.) has argued that Rhee’s plan will attract “the best and the brightest teachers,” my hope is that her proposal will enable the city’s public schools to retain their finest, experienced teachers. These are the educators who are uniquely equipped to improve struggling schools.

Rhee’s plan would retain the best and brightest because it would compensate teachers for the tremendous workload associated with addressing the unique problems of high-needs schools. To fend off the excessive truancy, behavioral problems and child neglect that plague many such schools, experienced teachers understand that they should contact the parents or guardians of their 150 students (five classes of 30 students each), even if that means visiting students’ homes or scheduling meetings with social workers and the school nurse
However, Rhee’s definition of successful teaching should not rely too heavily on test scores. Though certain tests measure success, others consist of meaningless “gotcha” questions.

Forgive me for being thin skinned , and outraged about this blame being places on the individual teachers, but I have also been to the STEM meetings and to about 18 meetings that followed the
discussion on the Digital Divide. The blame there, took a different twist, in each of the groups
K-12 was the group that got the blame. Most of the time I was the only K-12 teacher in the audience. But there have been times when I was not, and ageism struck. A young teacher sitting beside me
not knowing my work, or advocacy, said, its the old teachers who are to blame for all of the ills of education. She went on to talk about her mother, who was a teacher and to say that
people like her mother ought to get out of education. I didn’t say much, unusual for me. but I thought what??

I was the only K-12 teacher on a committee, the National Information Infrastructure Advisory Council
. It was a lot of hard work. I learned a lot. I traveled all over the country, in areas of need, and difficulty. My teaching experience is also varied, I have taught in black schools, at the lower socioeconomic areas, in a so called charter school designed to welcome those who were interested in , in a science focused school, done team teaching and I have been a demonstration teacher for AAAS, for the use of hands-on science teaching. I have worked with Karen Buller of Niti.org and we wrote curriculum for American Indians.. and traveled to the schools in Indian country, sharing technology.
I guess most of my life has been teaching, with extraordinary experiences in professional development during the summer. As a legacy teacher. I was trained in a HBCU. Not much was expected of me, and not much was taught . According to the times, we had to be able to teach and to know curriculum to seventh grade level. The math was certainly not old or new. It was drill math. End of story.

So I think what I want to explain is that we had two societies and two kinds of schools. I boldly integrated into schools, teaching in schools as the only black teacher on the faculty of some schools who did NOT teach the tracked students. I taught , initially the gifted and talented students and I was good at it. I am an excellent teacher.

So what happened to me that did not happen to most minority teachers? I rested my professional development outside of the public schools. I was a child of museum study and my Sunday excursions to the Smithsonian, and I am stubborn. I went to the well where the movers and thinkers and those with ideas were working, in workshops, courses, expeditions, and especially had wonderful teaching experiences, learning experiences with NASA and with the National Geographic and three years of Oceanography at the National Aquarium in Baltimore. Sadly, most teachers get the WORST of professional development.

TAUGHT BY THE BEST

My reason for talking about those experiences is that I was taught by the best. From various groups like NCTM, and NSTA I gathered resources, knowledge, networks, and pearls of wisdom. Who can teach the use of geography and visuals like the National Geographic. I feel into a wonderful set of examples of how to.. and it has been a passport for the use of technology for the rest of my life.
That is not the usual case for teachers. Usually the professional development comes from within the school system, or a special group of experts that they trust. It has been wonderful to see school systems allow their teachers to use Blue Webn, Exploratorium, Thinkfinity, and the resources of the National Geographic. Some school systems , even advise their teachers of learning opportunities and initiatives that occur.

I believe that some of the politics in school systems and the
lack of professional development of merit are to blame for the teachers who do not measure up. Not being new teachers they have been allowed, encouraged to teach as they do. It probably didn’t make much difference.

They were teaching minority kids. Who cared?

There is blame in the politics of teaching, the bad professional development , the use of only in-house knowledge, and the stubbornness of schools resisting change and depth of content knowledge. I worry about the digitally naive and the content deprived teachers. But then, who cares? To people like Michelle Rhee, its the older teachers. I don’t think that rings true for all teachers.

We might also remember that there was a knowledge divide
a content divide , and of course the low expectations exoected for those who teach our most needy students.

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The Digital Divide

Bonnie Bracey Sutton

How do we raise public awareness of the digital divide problem?

The broadband dilemma? It is a real problem !!

The global situation?

There are have and have-nots in global, national and local situations.

What solutions are there? What are the problems?

Dr. Paul Resta and others eloquently expressed these ideas in our Digital Equity Symposium in San Antonio at the NECC Conference. Dr. Resta spoke of the knowledge divide, the digital divide, the language divide and the technical divide. But our concerns are not being addressed by the candidates for President. Dr Resta also spoke at our SITE Conference on these divides.

Most of us are still waiting to hear from the candidates about technology use in the United States in homes, schools and communities.

When will they address the broadband trouble?

Facing National and International Challenges: Bridging the Gap

“To narrow the digital divide, we need to identify resources and strategies that break down barriers. By using new digital strategies and Information and Communications Technology (ICT) systems such as ubiquitous tools, we can work toward developing an operational definition of digital equity” says Dr. Joyce Pittman.

We believe that sharing stories and engaging in a global dialogue can improve the economic, political and social quality of life for individuals, communities and countries around the world. Because of digital opportunities, we believe people everywhere can benefit from what we call digital equity.

Does the Digital Divide Still Exist?

Three K-12 leadership groups warned that the nation’s schools would not be able to prepare students for the challenges of the 21st century without using technology broadly and intensively — just as competitive U.S. industries have been doing for years. I have a special interest in this initiative, as I was involved in the 21st Century initiative when it was started years ago.

In a new report, “Maximizing the Impact: The Pivotal Role of Technology in a 21st Century Education System,” the State Educational Technology Directors Association (SETDA), the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) and the Partnership for 21st Century Skills urged renewed emphasis on technology in education.

The report urges federal, state and local policymakers and other stakeholders to take action on three fronts:

1. Use technology comprehensively to develop proficiency in 21st century skills. Knowledge of core content is necessary, but no longer sufficient, for success in a competitive world. Even if all students mastered core academic subjects, they still would be woefully under-prepared to succeed in postsecondary institutions and workplaces, which increasingly value people who can use their knowledge to communicate, collaborate, analyze, create, innovate, and solve problems, as specified in ISTE’s recently refreshed National Educational Standards for Students. Used comprehensively, technology helps students develop 21st century skills.

2. Use technology comprehensively to support innovative teaching and learning. To keep pace with a changing world, schools need to offer more rigorous, relevant and engaging opportunities for students to learn — and to apply their knowledge and skills in meaningful ways. Used comprehensively, technology supports new, research-based approaches and promising practices in teaching and learning.

3. Use technology comprehensively to create robust education support systems. To be effective in schools and classrooms, teachers and administrators need training, tools and proficiency in 21st century skills themselves. Used comprehensively, technology transforms standards and assessments, curriculum and instruction, professional development, learning environments, and administration.

Together, SETDA, ISTE and the Partnership for 21st Century Skills represent dozens of leading U.S. companies and organizations, six leadership states, education technology directors in all 50 states, 85,000 education technology professionals and 3.2 million educators throughout the country.

The full report, “Maximizing the Impact,” is available at http://www.setda.org/web/guest/maximizingimpactreport .

Do Teachers have a Voice in the Discussion?

Is there room for classroom voices that speak the truth?

The digital divide still exists and it is widening.

Voices from the real classrooms, need to be heard. But is anyone listening?

While people are talking about one laptop per child initiative and the film 2 Million Minutes, others are asking, “ What about me in my classroom in the US?:

The movie, “Two Million Minutes casts a bright spotlight on a crisis in this country.” says Bill Gates. Some across the digital divide in the US, see a bigger and a quieter crisis that does not involve all social classes.

Broadening education for all in the United States is a problem. Many complain of never really having professional development to learn to use the resources that technology can bring. Many teachers think of technology in tiny terms, ie using Powerpoint and some search engines. Funding has become scarce. Serious games are not even considered nor much investment in teaching the skills of programming. There may be digital natives and digital immigrants but there are also those who are digitally deficit in major ways.

Many students might as well be invisible, as little attention is paid to them or their educational needs for this era of emerging technologies.. The people who have a problem with literacy, there are solutions, but the push is for newer and emerging technologies which some think are 2.0 applications. Will there be a kind of WSIS on literacy and programs to effect literacy? Numeracy?

Using technology in the same old ways that we started out at the beginning of the technology revolution is not acceptable.

Here is a new thought about emerging use of technology.

Robert M. Panoff (President and Executive Director, Shodor, Durham, N.C.)explains in this set of examples.

“Computational science continues to advance the accurate
description and prediction of the dynamics of the world around us. Moving “beyond PowerPointless-ness,” we have the opportunity to help students see that computing really matters. Computing “matters” because quantitative reasoning, computational thinking, and multiscale modeling are the intellectual “heart and soul” of 21st Century science and therefore are the essential skills of the 21st Century workforce. “

He says that” Computing “matters” because it moves students others have identified as “at risk” to students self-identified as “capable, motivated, and employable.”

” Computing “matters” because we can demonstrate the power
of interactive computing to help students and teachers reach a deeper understanding and application of math and science.”

Computing “matters” because computational tools integrated with curriculum become both the content of education and the most effective method.

“ A world-class education requires world-class resources, and all math and science teachers should be able to bring interactive modeling environments to their own teaching practice. “

Every teacher and faculty member should be highly qualified in the use of interactive models and simulations in math and science; every student should be able to explore the dynamics of the world through interactive models and simulations; and all interactive learning objects should be validated, verified and accredited by linking to state and national standards.

Right now, however, “education is the least technology-intensive of any major industry in America,” said Don Knezek, CEO of ISTE. “In the digital age, how can we expect schools to improve student achievement — the most important outcome of education — without taking full advantage of technology to support students, teachers and administrators? No other leading industry would try to position itself for success today without using technology comprehensively and purposefully to achieve its goals.”

Those who are out of work, in poor health, live in social housing, live alone, or have a low level of qualification are being set at a further disadvantage by digital exclusion.

A full 75% of people counted as socially excluded are also digitally excluded. That means they’re missing out on the opportunities, choices, savings and services computers and the Internet provide, and that other people consider a normal and integral part of their everyday lives.

In my teacher workshops this year, I have helped many teachers to extend their reach, to explore, examine, get involved and connected to e-learning, or workshop information and if necessary, grant information.

The digital divide is very real and growing.

Bonnie Bracey Sutton

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CALL FOR CHAPTER PROPOSALS
Proposal Submission Deadline: October 30, 2008
International Explorations of Technology Equity and the Digital Divide:
Critical, Historical and Social Perspectives
A book edited by Dr. Patricia Randolph Leigh
Iowa State University, USA

Introduction
The digital divide refers to differential access between groups of individuals to computer-related resources and includes differential use of these same resources. In this edited volume, authors will explore the historical, political, sociological, and economic factors that engender global inequities related to digital technologies. In-depth examinations of the definition and origin of the ‘digital divide’ will illuminate its relationship to the histories of racism, sexism, classism, and imperialism/globalization. The contributing authors will present the phenomenon of digital equity from various critical social theory perspectives. These critical perspectives, together with the histories of domination and oppression on different continents, will provide contexts for understanding the fertile grounds made available for the international growth and expansion of digital inequity. (Read the article)

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Certainly the highlight of the year for most SITE members is the annual conference held each March. For many of us, it’s a good time to reenergize, to see familiar (and not-so-familiar) colleagues, to share cutting-edge ideas and research with others. It seems that we just finish with one conference and it’s time to plan for and submit presentations to the next (btw, March 2009 is in Charleston, NC, ). As with many professional organizations, it’s understandable that so many focus on the annual conference.

However, that annual SITE conference is only one of many activities and organizations that SITE engages with throughout the year. For example, a recent blog entry by SITE president Gerald Knezek describes his activities at the annual conference of the MOFET Institute in Israel. And one of SITE’s vice presidents is engaged in a number of activities that could provide SITE members with professional opportunities in China (more about these activities in subsequent blog postings).

While SITE has made significant efforts to bolster its stature in the international community (as was evidenced by the global presence at the March 2008 conference), it also remains committed to domestic US activities. Many of these activities include developing partnerships with key organizations such as ISTE, AACTE, NTLC, and various professional teacher education organizations.

By definition SITE is a collaborative association: there are actually two “Ts” in its acronym—”technology” and “teacher” [education]. As stated in its mission, SITE is “an international association of individual teacher educators, and affiliated organizations of teacher educators in all disciplines who are interested in the creation and dissemination of knowledge about the use of information technology.” To develop and maintain those bridges among individual teacher educators and affiliated organization requires a year-round commitment.

The best of these collaborations can yield powerful results. For example, SITE worked with a number of organizations and individuals to add language to the current Higher Educational Reauthorization Act, now referred to as the “College Opportunity and Affordability Act of 2008.” Through the combined efforts of ISTE, NTLS, AACTE, among others, SITE assisted in developing an addendum called “Preparing Teacher for Digital Age Learners.” The 2007 NTLS provided an opportunity for ISTE, SITE and AACTE to come together and discuss their perspectives on this potential legislation. (Special thanks go out to Don Knezek and Hilary Goldman of ISTE, along with its SIGTE members for taking the lead in this initiative.)

The “Preparing Teachers for Digital Age Learners” language is designed to replicate the former PT3 program, which benefited so many SITE members. As it now stands, the College Opportunity and Affordability Act of 2008 has passed Congress and is now before President Bush for his signature. At the moment, however, it does not appear that Preparing Teachers for Digital Age Learners funding will come close to that of the former PT3 program. Yet, it is a start.

Should this legislation be signed by the President (and funded), it may have a dramatic impact on future SITE conferences. Many can remember the impact that PT3 had. However, the development of this program and the advocacy that surrounded it required a year-and-a-half commitment and the collaboration of key organizations and individuals.

By continuing to follow this blog and the SITE home page, you’ll get a better sense of the year-round commitment that the SITE leadership and its members are making to foster the role of information technology as an educational tool both in the US and across the world.

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