Developing World Class Schools and Graduates
Explore Knowledge Academy in Nevada, has a 1-to-1 ratio of iPad tablets to students. Students as young as kindergartners use the iPad to learn traditional subjects in math, English, social studies, and science.
Here are the 10 iPad applications used by educators at the public charter school and recommended for other schools and families with iPads.
[Read more…] about 10 Educational Apps From Explore Knowledge Academy
Franklin is being interviewed on schoolbriefing.com on what it takes to be successful in schools.
https://www.schoolbriefing.com/3426/improving-school-success-and-raising-achievement/?code=schargel
As a result of the release of the film Bully, my publisher asked that I write a White Paper on the subject. You can access the PDF by going to the link below. Please disseminate it to anyone who can use it.
Dr. Harold Shinitzky is a colleague and a friend who is the co-author (along with Dr. Christopher Cortman) of “Your Mind: An Owner’s Manual For A Better Life: 10 Simple Truths That Will Set You Free.” Harold is the 2009 recipient of the Florida Psychological Association Distinguished Psychologist Award and the 2009 FPA Outstanding Contributions to Psychology in the Public Interest Award. He has also developed positive peer-oriented prevention programs for high-risk youth.
Making a difference in the lives of children, students and future leaders is the prominent goal of all prevention programs. The Social Black Belt (SBB) is a research-based youth prevention curriculum derived from Your Mind: An Owner’s Manual for a Better Life. Upwards of 1.3 million children dropout of school on an annual basis. That is equal to the size of the city of San Diego. The consequences of dropping out include lower lifetime wages, increase in criminal behavior, shorter lifespan. All too often children have to combat a myriad of life challenges. Navigating this maze may lead to poor decisions and unhealthy choices. The foundational philosophy of the SBB and the evidence that research reveals is that it is far more beneficial to address an issue rather than wait for it to become a problem. An ounce of prevention is worth far more than a pound of cure. As with the martial arts black belt, an individual does not look for trouble but is able to handle trouble when it present, the Social Black Belt fosters the development of adaptive coping skills to life’s challenges.
The SBB deals with a broad-base of preventive topics which have been associated with pro-social behaviors. These include Feelings Identification, Boundary Setting, Assertiveness, Conflict Resolution, Unhealthy Behaviors, and Emotional Healing.
The SBB has been developed to be a User-Friendly youth prevention curriculum that can be implemented in the schools, faith-based organizations or within a community program. There are three components;
The evidence-based results indicated that the students involved with the SBB achieved statistically significant increases in their Knowledge, Attitude and Behaviors. 91% of the students, teachers and administrators recommended the SBB for all students to participate in this course.
For more information about the Social Black Belt Youth Prevention Curriculum or to schedule an educational training program contact Dr. Shinitzky via email at [email protected] or call 727-560-2697 or contact Dr. Cortman via email at [email protected] or call 941-485-8586
The 2012 report update of Building a Grad Nation: Progress and Challenge in Ending the High School Dropout Epidemic, released March 19 by the Alliance for Excellent Education, America’s Promise Alliance, Civic Enterprises, and the Everyone Graduates Center at Johns Hopkins University, shows that the nation continues to make progress, with more than half of states increasing graduation rates.
The report also reveals that the number of “dropout factory” high schools””those graduating 60 percent or fewer students on time””decreased by 457 between 2002 and 2010, with the rate of decline accelerating since 2008. The number of “dropout factories” totaled 1,550 in 2010, down from 1,634 in 2009 and a high of 2,007 in 2002. The number declined by 84 between 2009 and 2010. As a result, 790,000 fewer students attended dropout factories in 2010 than 2002.
Key Report Findings
Parents, colleges and political figures have told children that they should go to college and they will receive high paying jobs. But increasingly that is not happening for many college graduates. Part of the problem, obviously is the weak economy and the highest unemployment rate for those ages 16-29 since World War II.
But a recent study published by the Association for American Colleges and Universities, “Academically Adrift: Limited Learning on College Campuses”, places the blame elsewhere. The report places the blame on what is being taught. The report states that colleges and universities are not teaching basic skills. If the students are to succeed, student achievement must be raised state 87 percent of employers. Sixty-three percent say that recent college graduates do not have the skills they need to succeed. And in a different study, employers say that entry-level writing skills are deficient. Gains in critical thinking, complex reasoning and writing skills are either “exceedingly small or non-existent for a larger proportion of students.”
The nonprofit American Council of Trustees and Alumni has rated schools according to how many core subjects are required. A review of more than 1,000 colleges and universities found that 29 percent of schools require two or fewer subjects. Only 5 percent require economics. Less than 20 percent require U.S. government or history.
A recent Roper Organization study found that nearly half of recent graduates don’t think they got their money’s worth from attending college.
Many colleges continue to build dorms with flat-screen televisions, tanning salons and new stadiums. With the added costs entailed in going to college, it would appear that the money should be used to improve the rigor of studies for the students, their parents and the nation.
According to a recent survey of residential broad-band service, 35 percent of all Americans -including 17 million children – live without access to broadband service. Only 46 percent of low-income households with children have broadband internet compared to 66 percent of all households. According to the survey, cost is holding households back from adopting broadband.
The Internet access group Connected Nation, revealed that 7.6 million children in low-income households are without broadband. That means no Google, no Wikipedia, no personalized learning, no checking emails and no Facebook.
Conservatives will argue that children do not need high speed internet. But the survey indicates that these children will have less chance at graduation and a greater chance at not being able to be employed.
My latest Huffington Post is below:
Hunting season has begun and educators are the targets.
Governors, state legislatures, and the United States Department of Education want to hold educators responsible for low school performance. But are they the only ones? Unfortunately, there is enough guilt to go around.
Let’s start with politicians who underfund education and therefore show that they do not value it even as they say they do. We are told that America spends more money on education than other countries. And while this is true, America spends LESS of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on education than many industrialized countries.
Current funding formulas used to fund schools is another major cause. Using property tax assessments to fund schools deprives areas with low taxable property like shopping malls, fewer funds to operate their schools. This causes low-income areas like Detroit and Newark to have less money to spend than Princeton, New Jersey or Bloomfield Hills, Michigan where median income is $200,000.
President Obama’s Race to the Top rewards successful schools and states. Shouldn’t money be given to schools that need to improve?
Schools of Education need to fill seats and accept students who have low SAT scores who would not be accepted in business or medical schools. Teacher education programs need a complete overhaul led by educational practitioners who understand what is taking place in America’s classrooms. For many of those who prepare educators, the last time they were in a classroom was the day they graduated from high school. Perhaps the answer is to simply better preparing teachers. In many colleges, student teaching takes place in the last year of preparation so the individual being prepared has no expectation of what confronts them in the classroom.
Shortages exist in certain educational fields such as special education. The present administration has put a major effort into the hiring of S.T.E.M. (Science, Technology, Engineering or Math) teachers, but is having difficulty in attracting enough warm bodies to fill classrooms. They may be looking for highly qualified but not highly effective teachers. Highly qualified teachers know what to teach; highly effective teachers know how to teach it. We have all experienced teachers who knew the material but lacked the ability to teach it effectively.
Some individuals enter the classroom because they see it as an opportunity to get a job and plan to leave as soon as another opportunity opens up. There exists a misunderstanding of what it takes to teach and for many, the preparation they receive at colleges or universities fails to adequately prepare them.
Politicians are trapped by simplistic views that educational outcomes are linear. Measurable outcomes of one human being (a student) cannot and should not be used to make evaluative decisions about the behavior of another human (a teacher) because the student may not be able to (out-of-school factors) or may choose not to learn. For example, should teachers be held accountable for habitually truant students?
Why are educators being held to a higher standard than surgeons? Do we expect lawyers to win every case, police to end crime? Do we expect coaches to win every game? No Child Left Behind and the Obama version, Race For The Top envisions that by December 31, 2014, ALL students will be reading at grade level. And even though Arnie Duncan, the U.S. Secretary of Education has given states permission to be exempt, the regulation is still written into the law.
The governors of Wisconsin, Florida, New Jersey, and Ohio and the mayor of Providence, Rhode Island have determined that educators and public education make highly visible, easy to attack victims. They are attempting to balance their budgets on the backs of public servants. But not all “public servants” only those who are “not essential.” Educators did not cause this problem. But it is easier to target educators rather than the financial, insurance and banking industries that did.
Prisons cost taxpayers more than $37 billion a year. (Source: The nation’s 2 million inmates and their keepers are the ultimate captive market: a $37 billion economy bulging with business opportunity by Michael Myser, Business 2.0 Magazine, March 15 2007: 12:37 PM EDT
No school district in the country spends that much on education.
Education affects parents, businesses, as well as law enforcement. But as importantly, it affects our future and our global competitiveness. It was not long ago that the president, businesspeople and state governors who were decrying the fact that our schools were not “globally competitive”. But since children don’t vote, they are easy targets.
States need to spend money on education and job programs in order to attract economic development.
Is it possible that the attack on education and the vilification of educators a gender issue? Police, fire, sanitation and prison guards are not being subjected to the cuts being made in education. Could it be that since the majority of educators are female they are less likely to complain when jobs and salaries are reduced?