Guiding Principles For Educational Reform

One reads a great deal concerning education reform nowadays. It might almost seem as if this were some new trend in education. Indeed, it is not. I have been an educator for over thirty years. My field of expertise is reading. After teaching in a regular elementary classroom for a couple of years, I completed a master's degree in reading and learning disabilities. Except for a five year break to attend seminary and serve as a full time minister, I have been a teacher of elementary reading. In 1995, I completed a doctorate in reading/educational psychology. At that point, I began teaching reading methods in a college setting.
Over my thirty years of involvement in education, I have seen many, many reforms. Some have come from the right, others from the left. In the field of reading, when I began my teaching, basal reading programs were in, and we attempted to teach every skill known to humanity. Next, whole language gained quite a following. Next, an oldie, but a popular one, reappeared: phonics. Now we are emphasizing a balanced approached-I think that is likely a step in the right direction.
We can easily extend this discussion beyond the boundaries of reading. When I started attending elementary school in 1960, math was a "drill and kill" activity. The expectation was learning of the basic math facts and procedures whether you understood them or not. It is rather easy to see if you learned under this method. Just attempt to explain "conceptually" why 1/2 divided by 4 is 1/8, and why to arrive at that one must "invert and multiply." I am surprised at how many cannot explain the multiplication and division of fractions at the conceptual level.
When I was about half way through my elementary school education, the so-called "new math" hit the educational world. I remember well spending most of my fourth-grade year (when it started in Kansas City) marking that 5 + 2 > 1 + 3. I liked this math. I was not too good at the old stuff, and I found this a breeze.
People become very opinionated about educational reform. I have seen many a battle over the issue of whole language vs. phonics. It seems like everyone gets involves. Classroom teachers form strong opinions. Politicians form strong opinions and include reform as part their political platform. They know education is a hot button issue with voters. One group that I watch with great diligence is the religious right. It seems as if they have turned such aspects of educational reform as phonics-based reading instruction and support for the No Child Left Behind Act into something resembling religious dogma. It seems to make little sense, turning reading methods into a religious or quasi-religions crusade, but that is what the leaders of the religious right seem committed to support (James Dobson, for example).
I reiterate: educational reform is not new. With that notion disposed of, I would like to suggest three principles of any lasting and useful educational reform. These are characteristics of reform supported over the long haul by much research and dictated by commonsense. I have arrived at these through observation of reform cycles that I have seen throughout my years of work as an educator.
First, education reform cannot be test-driven. Currently, the watchword is accountability. From this perspective, teachers are cagey, lazy actors who need to have their feet held to the fire to make them perform. I have observed thousands of teachers over the years, worked with thousands of pre-service teachers, and supervised well over a hundred student teachers. I must admit, one does rarely encounter a lazy, careless teacher, but it is unusual. The attempt to control teachers and student achievement by means of standardized tests is a misguided approach.
A recent study by the Educational Testing Service, makers of the SAT and nationally used teacher certification exams, revealed that there is much in student performance that cannot be controlled by schools. In fact, ETS discovered four variables: absenteeism, the percent of children living in single parent families, the amount of television kids watch, and how much preschoolers are read to daily by caregivers (especially parents) were very accurate predictors of reading test results used for No Child Left Behind reporting in eighth-grade. It seems that learning involves many variables (the four factors accounted for over two-thirds of the differences in aggregated state testing results). Home factors are things that schools and teachers cannot control.
Instead of testing and testing yet more, a better use of funding would be the improvement of conditions for parents and families. Funding Head Start results in a measurable increase in IQ scores for disadvantaged children. Why not continue to fund enriched environments for Head Start children when they leave the program and help retain ground already gained? Why not fund more "parents as first teachers" programs to go into the homes and teach parents how to help get their preschoolers ready for school? Why not spend more money eradicating poverty-especially since that seems to be the real issue?
Second, an effective reform program would insist on scope and sequence. By scope, I refer to the content taught, by sequence, I refer to when content is to be mastered. This was one of the downfalls of the whole language movement. It taught reading without any real coordination of materials, curriculum, or expectations for mastery in terms of when expected benchmarks should be met. Much more coordination of teaching needs to take place and curriculum guides and agreed upon content are essential.
At the same time, I am not implying that methodology needs to be completely standardized. There needs to be some general guidelines on how to go about doing things. Still, teaching is as much art as science. To address methodology too much turns teaching into a mechanical act, and we know that the relationship, or blending, of teacher and learner are all important concepts. What we need are standards and benchmarks without denying teachers the authority to make hundreds and thousands of critical decisions each day. What we need are flexible standards and flexible benchmarks.
Lastly, we need a new way of doing things. After all of the years of reform, after all the years of researching what works, an amazing trend is notable. Educational critic and researcher, John Goodlad, notes that the most common activity one observes in today's elementary schools is seatwork (i.e. worksheets, quiet work from textbooks, etc). The most common activity noted in high schools is lectures. Both of these approaches are notoriously ineffective. Just consider lectures, for example, how often do you "zone out" during sermons? And, if you do attend, what keeps you "plugged in?"
We have lost the wisdom shared with us by John Dewey so many years ago and supported by study after study. Children learn best by doing. Kids need to make a classroom democracy, not just study government in their civics textbook. They need to come up with ways they can recycle and begin a neighborhood recycling program, not just read about pollution. Education needs to become real. The real is better than the contrived. As psychologist Jerome Bruner has pointed out, doing is better than seeing, and seeing is better than just reading or hearing about something. Probably the best approach combines all three methods.
Reforms come and go. However, on these three principles, we can arrive at a reform that will stand the test of time. All of us want our schools to improve. Isn't it time to skip the political rhetoric of the right (including the religious right) and the left and do what is best for kids? Isn't it about time?

The Bright Tomorrow of Online Education

Online education will play a major role in the future of postsecondary education in America. Colleges and universities are scrambling to be aboard, and state legislatures, with long-term economy in mind, are making major commitments of support. There are, however, many hurdles before viable cost-effective/learning-effective online education programs are in common use. At this point, the majority of programs is simply an extension of passive lecture or lecture discussion through electronic means. Few institutions understand the economies of these programs, nor have they faced the structural changes that are required. As important, institutions have not understood the quality and accessibility of programs that will be needed to meet the challenge from private sector initiatives.
"You Can't Predict the Future But You Can Plan for It"
The following are ten important questions concerning the future of distance learning:
o Will faculty adapt? The pay isn't great, but the job of a full-time faculty member is really very nice. By tradition a faculty member controls his own work; functions independently; gets to perform by lecturing; and has adequate time for study, reflection and interaction with stimulating colleagues. The use of technology in education, and particularly in distance learning, requires cooperation, teamwork, performing a role in an organized structure, more effort in design than in delivery, and less self-directed time. Quite simply, it is counter-culture for faculty. Will sufficient numbers of faculty adjust to permit institutions to design and deliver educational services in new ways?
o Will online education grow through shadow colleges? In many instances, rather than face the obstacles presented by traditional faculty, the existing work rules, union contracts, and faculty attitude, many institutions have created new organizations outside of the basic institution. These organizations have new salary schedules, reward systems and work policies. Will this be the only way that colleges can restructure? Can these organizations exist within traditional institutions?
o Will college administrations adopt new, more sophisticated planning and/or management systems? While it will be difficult for faculty to adapt to new delivery arrangements, it will also be difficult for administration. In educational budgets, management has typically been concerned with only three variables -- classrooms, mean class size and professors. The use of information technology and online education introduces a myriad of new cost elements that have to be worked into the basic cost structure. New and more sophisticated planning/management systems must be put into place, or the new arrangements will simply cost more and will not be practical to initiate.
o Will state bureaucracies establish a single online education institution? It is no secret that in recent years state legislatures and bureaucracies have increased their control and decision-making with regard to public higher education. In a number of states significant appropriations are being made to develop infrastructures for distance learning. The question that will be asked is, "if distance programs are expensive to develop, and if all of our sites are tied together, why not have one organization that delivers these services statewide." Colleges and universities need to prepare to answer that question.
o Will funds become available to develop quality learning software that uses the full capability of information technology? To date, substantial state appropriations for online education have gone for infrastructure, equipment and networks. While these are useful, there is real question as to the need for these expenditures. There are so many networks (for example, the Internet) available to use. Important advancements in learning can be made if significant appropriations are shifted to learning software. This software should use the full capabilities of information technology and the research on adult learning.
o How will learning be certified? In the United States each institution basically makes its own decisions with regard to what learning will be credited. Very often decisions are based on a well entrenched "not invented here" syndrome. As increasing numbers of individuals register for courses and learn through a wide array of institutions, there will be a demand from the public for that learning to be assessed and credited toward degrees and certificates.
o Can colleges keep their certification monopoly? The strongest cards that colleges and universities hold in competing with private organizations in online education are prestige and certification control. To keep the certification monopoly. Colleges and universities are going to have to work with other organizations and be considerably more accommodating in recognizing learning that was not provided by their institution.
o How will on-campus and distance use of technology integrate? Much present online education is simply the extension of the lecture classroom to distance locations. But, there are few examples of the instructional software designed for distance coming back into use on campus. Materials that are developed that are time and place independent. As well as time variable. Can be used on campus with the addition of more interaction with college staff. This would provide new options for students and increase student volume. Thus providing more capability for greater expenditures on development of quality educational software.
o How can we substitute for the inspiration of personal interaction with faculty members? In all of my years at Miami-Dade Community College, I never received a letter complementing a college program without reference to a faculty member or other staff member who had inspired or contributed to the development of the writer. Almost all of us can point to an individual, very often a faculty member, who had major impact on our lives. Is there a way to keep that inspiration in an online education situation? Is there something to be substituted?

Three Sex Education Lessons From The Teen Pep Stories

One of the oft-repeated comments by characters in my novel, The Sex Ed Chronicles is that, in the absence of sex education, children learn about sex from their friends. However, the novel was based in 1980, before New Jersey high schools started to involve students in peer counseling.
On Valentines Day 2008, I read about a mini-controversy involving peer counseling on a New Jersey radio news Web site. The news coverage came out of one New Jersey high school: Clearview Regional High School in Harrison Township in the southern part of the state. There, parents object to peer counselors, high school juniors and seniors, counseling freshmen on a variety of topics related to sex education. The counseling model comes from a program called Teen Pep. Designed by the Princeton Center for Leadership Training (not affiliated with Princeton University), Teen Pep has been implemented in over 50 Garden State high schools for the past eight years. Therefore, Teen Pep is not a new program and school districts have had time to investigate its merits-only now, one school has made the news.
Teen Pep trains not only students, but also faculty advisors, to work one-to-one, but also as a team in various counseling situations. Schools contracting for Teen Pep work with the Princeton Center for a minimum of two years and there are supervisory field visits by qualified professionals to help ensure the program is running smoothly. A school that engages in Teen Pep makes a considerable intellectual investment, as well as a financial investment, to make it work. Part of this investment is to explain this program to parents.
Which takes me to lesson number one: if you are not ready to take these investments seriously, don't make them.
As I read about the incident at Clearview High, it became clear to me that the fault is not with the program, but with the school administration. It would have been easier for them to consult parents and clergy from the get-go, as they are supposed to do. I realize that teachers have objected to this-they did back in 1980 as well-but sex education is a subject where parents and clergy believe they have important opinions and knowledge.
I found it interesting to read that an advisory board would be formed after parents objected to individual aspects of the program. That should have been in place from day one.
Which takes me to lesson number two: after consulting parents, decide which topics students are qualified to discuss with peers.
Parental objections at Clearview stemmed from the idea that "kids were teaching kids to have sex. But there had to be clear differences between the topics teen peer counselors were allowed to teach, and those that had to be covered by a qualified sex education teacher-but they didn't make it in the press. Parents deserved to know, if they asked before school started. I realize that pro-abstinence organizations also use young speakers; their programs should be subject to the same parental review as the peer-counseling program.
Then I get to lesson number three: make sure you have qualified teachers.
The federal No Child Left Behind Act emphasizes a need for qualified teachers, meaning that a teacher should be certified in the subject they teach. That applies as much to sex education as any other subject. In the example of Clearview High, the program leader was an English teacher. When I reached family life education, I learned that sex education instructors were most likely to come from health education, home economics or social studies as well as nursing. I would also assume that guidance counselors could become qualified sex educators; they handle personal student issues as part of their job description.
It appears Teen Pep is working in most schools; only one school is in the news complaining, but those involved with this program should consider offering an alternative: to use degree candidates in counseling and education to counsel students.
This would not be peer counseling, but it would appease parents who worry about kids teaching kids about sex. It would also help provide professional development for sex educators.

Stuart Nachbar operates EducatedQuest.com, a blog on education politics, policy and technology. He has been involved with education politics and economic development as an urban planner, government affairs manager, software executive, and now as a writer. His first novel, The Sex Ed Chronicles, about sex education and school politics in 1980 New Jersey, earned a coveted "Publishers Choice" selection from iUniverse.

How Effective Is Distance Education?

Thomas Edison predicted early this century that motion pictures would replace textbooks as the principal medium of instruction. In a new study to be released today, the College Board cites that anecdote to warn that the higher-education community should employ a healthy skepticism toward those currently touting the virtues of the virtual, online classroom.
As colleges and universities invest in the latest computer technology to ride the early wave of euphoria over online distance education, the College Board study cautions that the trend could actually create barriers to higher education for poor and minority students.
In addition, the study, along with another to be released next week by the American Federation of Teachers, raises concerns about assessing the quality of courses offered online. The AFT report takes issue with the conclusion of several studies that online courses can be just as rigorous and successful as those presented in a traditional classroom setting.
In the past year or two, many schools have started to offer online courses, and some even offer entire degree programs over the Internet. So far, the course offerings have been targeted to the booming adult-learner market: working adults who have little time between career and family obligations to travel several times a week to a college campus for further training, and are attracted instead to the convenience of taking a course via computer at home or in the office.
But some think that the online market will expand to include some of the bread-and-butter core courses that undergraduates have traditionally taken in campus classrooms. Last year, Pennsylvania State University ran a test with four online courses that enrolled about 40 students. This year, it launched its World Campus, an array of 30 online courses across 10 programs that currently enroll 400, most of whom are graduate students.
Temple University has nearly three dozen online courses, with an enrollment of 500 or so students, mostly at the graduate level. University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School has joined forces with Caliber Learning to offer graduate business courses, using a combination of online and video-conferencing technology.
"There is no doubt the World Wide Web shatters barriers of time and space in the delivery of instruction," Lawrence E. Gladieux, the College Board's executive director for policy analysis, writes in its report. "But its advent is also likely to create new barriers and inequities, simply because of differential availability of the required technology."
The report, using U.S. Department of Commerce data, notes that, while 41 percent of white households have a computer, only 19 percent of black families and 19 percent of Latino families do.
And according to the Higher Education Research Institute, 80 percent of freshmen at private universities used e-mail in the past year, compared with 64 percent at public four-year colleges and only 41 percent at public, historically black colleges. Such statistics, the report warns, raise concern that a greater focus on online education will actually prove a barrier to poor and minority students.
Gary Miller, associate vice president of distance education at Penn State, dismissed such criticism. "By using the new technology, you're extending the university learning experience to more people," he said.
"Because the new technology has not reached everyone yet isn't a reason not to pursue it," Miller said. "If you use that line of thinking, there would be no college campuses in the country.
"And it doesn't mean it won't expand," he said. "Because of their perceived benefit, the penetration of radio ... into homes occurred at a much faster rate than one might have expected during the 1930s, given the economic situation." By venturing into online education, universities will generate demand and spur the market, forcing online access onto the social-policy agenda, he said.
The College Board report warns that private philanthropy alone -- much less the marketplace itself -- cannot fix the problem of access, and argues that government must play a role.
Lee Alley, associate vice president for distance education at Temple, agreed that, if access to the new online courses is not managed well, it could become a problem. But he also said he thinks that, for most schools, online education will be a supplement, and not a replacement, for traditional methods of instruction, or for the many safety nets and supports that commonly come with a campus-based education.
While both reports question the potential quality of online courses, Miller and Alley both argue that online offerings can be even better than classroom courses, and that the new competition from online offerings can generate improved quality across higher education.
"Online distance education marks a real shift in buyer-side clout," Alley said. "The epicenter of choice will be shifted to students, and that competition will push quality up to a new max that you don't currently see in a lot of remote college campuses."

We Need To Stress Fundamentals Again In Education

When I went to school, the philosophy was to teach the "3 R's," reading, 'riting and 'rithmetic. Having come into contact many college students and even graduates, I have found that many exhibit poor writing skills. When I have interviewed young people, and requested three paragraphs from them as part of the process, the result has convinced me that today's educational system has not sufficiently emphasized this aspect. While certain new developments and advances have furthered educated, this de-emphasis in necessary skills has been detrimental to our future generations.
Many of these young people are otherwise extremely bright and talented, so the lack of writing skills cannot be attributed to a any lack of intellect, or intelligence. My conclusion is that when schools and school "policy makers" decided years ago that other things were more important to teach than the "3 R's," they de-emphasized formal writing skills. Many of the same young people who have difficulty writing, have an incredible grasp of concepts, and an otherwise superb skill- set. However, it appears that many schools have maintained emphasis on only one of the "R's," reading, while placing far less emphasis on either writing or arithmetic. Many of the young people who exhibit writing challenges also have far less mastery of basic mathematical skills, such as addition, multiplication, subtraction and division. These individuals have been taught many sophisticated ideas and concepts mathematically, but a large number must depend on a calculator or some other device to do even the most basic of mathematical functions.
Have there been some benefits to today's students because of this change of emphasis? There certainly have been in the areas of technology, technology usage, interpretation, music and the arts. However, where I believe the system has "let down" these "kids" is in mastering many basic skills. In the attempt to educationally "reinvent the wheel," and correct some of the "malfunctions" of previous educational policy (such as teaching by rote, memorization, and not relating what was being taught to practical usage), the "new education" causes huge gaps in necessary skills. For example, if someone cannot adequately put thoughts to paper, how is one able to express himself to others? Today's over-dependence on such things as "texting language," has created a generation weak in grammatical skills, spelling ability, and vocabulary. The "abbreviations" used instead of words, the shortcuts, etc., are fine when using SMS or MMS media, but are not the optimum way to communicate in a regular written document, either on paper, in a Web- article, in a well- written Blog, etc.
Hopefully, educators will realize that written and basic mathematical skills are a necessary learning block that must be taught, used and mastered, if more sophisticated ideas are to be optimally learned. Educators must also learn that while the "3 R's" may not be "fun," they are necessary in the real world of everyday life and business. Many colleges and universities have realized the lack of these skills in their students, and have begun to emphasize important skills, such as writing. However, isn't it somewhat unfair to college students to have to shoulder addition stress and burden to have to first master these skills in college (often extending the length of time it takes to graduate, plus the additional expense), when the basics should have been adequately taught prior to that. One of the reasons that the SAT exams now has a written component is because of the recognition of writing as a necessary and essential skill.
Parents should emphasize these needs to their School Boards when children are younger, so that college students are far better prepared. Parents should do this from both an educational as well as financial point of view. Does anyone really believe that this educational deficiency and the fact that most students average five or more years to finish college today, are unrelated? Let's get back to some basics, so that students will be better equipped to handle life's challenges and needs!

Can the Education Nation Movement Finally Reveal the Truth About Card Debt and the Federal Reserve?

If the new Education Nation movement truly succeeds in getting qualified teachers to show people how credit card debt and the Federal Reserve operate then the national debt will begin to dry up, the economy will flourish and newly produced student scientists and inventors can actually start solving Earths' problems. If they fail, it could mark the end of our Constitution and our nation as we know it.
Some inquisitive Americans are finally waking up to the fact that education is the key to preventing man-made catastrophes such as the present depression we are experiencing which produces a domino effect knocking citizens down one by one as their wealth and dignity are stripped by the rich.
While the Nation waits for an "educational bailout" which will be controlled by the banking lobbyists telling congressional members which way to vote, you might want to pick up your domino and remove yourself immediately from a life of debt slavery by gaining a financial education light years ahead of the pack.
If you are a teacher, you will probably see the question "do you know how the Federal Reserve and card debt work" on a qualification test. If you answer "yes" you will not qualify, be sent to the unemployment lines wearing a dunce cap, so intentionally miss this question or avoid this knowledge altogether.
Now that you have some pros and cons of financial education you'll have the choice of entering a true age of Enlightenment or you can sit back and wait for the next bailout flying under the education banner to pass billions of dollars up the line with millions in bonuses handed out as usual to those who succeed in getting your money and still suppressing your knowledge!
If you're ready to search America's historical knowledge base then Google "the gig is up - money the Federal Reserve and you" before the education bailout top guns force these little pieces of history into oblivion. Be warned your life will never be the same after seeing the gig!
Now that you are educated about the Federal Reserve and plastic money it's time to cut the umbilical cord to free yourself from the bonds of financial slavery. You'll find the scalpel you need by searching "FTC debt video" which is a government cartoon version of a 1966 law stating what proof of a debt really means. No proof means nothing owed and you're free to go!
Debt collectors are simply telemarketers trying to coerce money from you. They can never prove you owe a penny over the phone and written collection notices are your opportunity to demand legal proof that you owe anyone anything. Use the search term "MSN money - debt collector bullies at it again" to see proof that 95% of collectors have absolutely nothing in the way of proof!
If the Education Nation fails to reveal the truth about debt and the Federal Reserve, at least you know how to rid yourself of it, shrink the banking cartels and remove their power. It's up to every individual to keep our constitutional rights of freedom and the rule of law even if public education fails.

Anthony Morrison - Online Entrepreneur Educator

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