Year: 2011

Racin’ to the College Tops

Eduflack accountability, higher ed, Obama

When we talk about grad rates, the discussion immediately centers on high schools.  Drop-out factories and GEDs.  Dual enrollment and AP/IB.  ELLs and special needs.  For most, graduation rates are simply a K-12 game.

Two years ago, though, President Obama declared that the United States would produce the highest percentage of college graduates in the world by the year 2020.  In the course of this declaration, many uncovered U.S. education’s dirty little secret.  College grad rates are atrocious.  At many campuses, particularly our state colleges and universities, the norm is a six-year graduation rate (meaning giving students six years to graduate from a four-year program) south of 60 percent. 
Yesterday, the Obama Administration decided to take a step forward in its confrontation of postsecondary drop-outs.  Citing a need to graduate 8 million more college students by 2020, Vice President Joe Biden announced new funding to deal with college graduation issues.
The announcement included $20 million to colleges to “implement plans that can increase success and improve productivity in postsecondary schools.”  It also proposed $123 million competitive funds to “support programs that embrace innovative practices” in higher education.  A proposed College Completion Incentive Grant programs throws another $50 million in the kitty for IHEs “undertaking reforms that produce more college graduates.”  The full package is being referred, by some, as a Race to the Top for higher education.
Let there no mistake.  The mission and goals articulated by Vice President Biden are both noble and necessary.  Billions of dollars are underutilized each and every year by students who enroll for a first year of college, but never return for a second.  And that is just in grant money, not including loans or savings.  After decades of preaching the importance of a college education, it is high time we started putting our money behind a sermon on the importance of actually earning the sheepskin.
The problem with such an ambitious and well-meaning agenda, though, is data.  In that, we have very little data, and the data we have is pretty poor.  The U.S. Department of Education captures higher ed data through the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System — or IPEDS — but such data is self-reported by the colleges and universities themselves (and many colleges actually disavow the very data they provide).  if a student drops out of our institution and re-enrolls in another, we have no idea.  We know college A has a dropout.  We know college B has an enrollee.  But our data systems don’t let us know that that dropout/enrollee is the same person.  Put simply, IPEDS is the best, worst, and only higher ed data system we have.
Last fall, I was fortunate to work on the development of College Measures, a website developed by American Institutes for Research and former NCES Commissioner (and thus IPEDS overseer) Mark Schneider.  Using IPEDS and other higher ed data sources, College Measures places a magnifying glass to key outcome measures for more than 1,500 four-year colleges and universities across the nation.  The results are startling.
The U.S. college graduation rate is just 57.6%, with public colleges posting a 55.1% grad rate and for-profits posting a 16.6% grad rate.  The first retention rate (meaning first-year students who return for a second year of college) is just 78.4% nationally.  That’s right.  More than four in 10 students enrolled in college won’t earn their diplomas.  And nearly a quarter of students who started college this past fall won’t return for year two this fall.  And don’t even get me started on what you see for particular IHEs.
Why are these numbers, as well as the wealth of information on state and individual institution performance found on College Measures, so important?  
Baseball philosopher Yogi Berra is famous for saying, “If you don’t know where you are going, you might just get there.”  While this may be true for baseball, it is the furthest thing from the truth in education, particularly higher education.  Noble goals, without the data to support them, are destined to fail.  If we are serious about improving college graduation rates, we need to be crystal clear on current numbers, current problems, and the general state of affairs.  if IHEs are going to innovate and reform, they need a clear understanding of the available data, need to determine the additional data necessary to declare mission accomplished, and then need to actually gather AND ANALYZE that subsequent data to truly determine the impact and return on investment.
Unfortunately, many of our colleges and universities just aren’t in a position to undertake such data efforts.  Initiatives like College Measures or Education Trust’s College Results Online are essential data pieces for connecting the rhetorical goals articulated by the President and Vice President with the realities happening on college campuses throughout the nation.  We know where we want to go when it comes to college grad rates.  But it’ll take us good data (and good people to analyze and interpret that data) to actually get us there.

Top Academic Educator Blogs

Eduflack Social media, teachers
We often hear the question, can educators effectively use new media and social media to help improve instruction?  Today, it looks like we have a new resource to help inform the question.  The good folks over at eCollegeFinder announced their Top 50 Academic Educators in the blogosphere.  Surprisingly, Eduflack is one of the blogs recognized.
When asked to provide advice to teachers out in the wonderful world o’ blogs, I opined:
“Avoid the jargon.  Education issues, particularly online education issues, are complex topics requiring serious discussion.  Jargon simply limits the debate while stifling true engagement.  When we communicate in terms that primary and secondary stakeholders can understand, we can ultimately improve the reach and impact of the education reforms we are trying to deliver.”
Regardless of what you may think of this blog and its impact on teachers, the list is worth checking out.  There are some terrific blogs, many of which don’t necessarily get the edu-spotlight but all of which offer some terrific content and guidance for those on the front lines of school improvement.
And special thanks to eCollegeFinder, a great little organization that helps folks find online teaching degrees from accredited colleges, for compiling the list and showing us some love.  Always appreciated. 

All the Edu-News …

Eduflack Social media

Back in late 2007, when Twitter was first coming on line, Eduflack thought it was one of the most ridiculous formats I had seen.  Who could communicate anything of value in just 140 characters?  And who would want to read such communications?

Of course, I was terribly wrong.  As 2009 started, I was forced to embrace Twitter, primarily because I had a number of organizations I was advising on social media and it seemed wrong to counsel them on Tweeting when I wasn’t doing it myself.  So I invested in the process.  The @Eduflack Twitter feed was launched.  And I’ve truly come to love it.
I entered the Twitter-sphere with a particular purpose.  I wasn’t going to use it to opine or be snarky (that’s what this blog is for).  Instead, I was to use Twitter to share all of those news articles, opinion pieces, research studies, projects, and events that I found interesting, but may not be able to blog about.  By taking this just-the-facts approach, and focusing only on education issues (instead of my personal issues), I like to think I’ve built something.  And my followers seem to think so to.
I realize, though, that no everyone has time to sift through countless Tweets to find the education ones between those from Charlie Sheen and Lady Gaga.  So I’m happy to announce the launch of The Eduflack Daily.  Through the terrific paper.li application, I’m able to launch a daily online newspaper that focuses on the top education stories found in the education posts I make and feeds I follow.  The Eduflack Daily comes out seven days a week, and you can subscribe to it so it is delivered to your email box each and every day, requiring zero actual effort (other than opening or deleting the email).
So if you want to see what those 6,000+ folks who follow @Eduflack are looking at, sign up for The Eduflack Daily.  Happy reading!
 

“Teacher-Proofing” Ed Reform?

Eduflack accountability, teachers

“There is no way you can say teachers are underpaid.  At first I believed it, then I looked at the numbers.  Teachers get paid for just 1,500 hours a year, not the 2,000 hours I have to work.  And they CHOOSE to defer a third of their compensation for when they retire, getting a pension I never get.  If anything, teachers are overpaid.”

No, this isn’t a spoof of a discussion coming out of Wisconsin this past week.  It is a real conversation Eduflack had with a real adult about the real issue of teacher compensation.  And it points to a real problem that has surfaced in our battle for education reform, school improvement, justice, and the American way.
Without question, teachers are central to most of the issues discussed in modern-day ed policy issues.  Performance pay.  Achievement gaps.  Last in, first out.  Qualified and effective teachers.  Turnaround models.  you name it, teachers are central to it.
In years past, teachers were considered central to the discussion.  The thinking was you couldn’t enact real, meaningful change in the classroom without winning over the hearts and minds of those classroom educators who had to put it into practice.  Then along came NCLB, and an Administration that focused on “teacher-proofing” the curriculum.  Today, we have movies, governors, and segments of the media that identify the teachers’ unions as public enemy number one when it comes to school improvement.
For the record, I believe in pay for performance.  Years ago, I worked with New Leaders for New Schools on their TIF-funded model, and have the privilege of working with and learning from the folks out in Denver who established the ProComp system.  ProComp is one of the only successful incentive pay programs in the United States, and for good reason.  There, the superintendent (now U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet) worked WITH the local teachers union to build an merit pay system that was beneficial to both the school system and the school teachers.  The union was at the table.  And with both sides collaborating, there was one clear winner — the students.
Yes, we have much work to do to provide a high-quality, effective education for all students.  We need better-trained, better-supported teachers in the classroom.  We need to shift from a culture of tenure to a culture of performance.  We need to focus on the outcomes (student learning and student performance) and not just on the inputs (teacher ed programs and praxis exams).  And we need a major shift toward a consumer-based system, where all those involved recognize that needs of the customer — the student and the family — are being met.
But we also need to realize that the strongest path to getting there is collaboration and partnership.  Teachers want to see their students succeed, so what is preventing it from happening at the expected levels?  The answer to that question doesn’t come from attacking the teachers unions, stripping teachers of collective bargaining rights, or ranting about teachers only working three-quarters of a year or getting their summers off.  The answer comes, as it did in Denver, by finding that common ground where the school system, the taxpayers, the teachers, and, yes, the students all win.
Otherwise, we are doomed to repeat what we have seen for decades in “education reform.”  New ideas and new programs coming down from on high, with teachers shutting their classroom doors, ignoring the reform, and just doing what they’ve always done.  
 

We Need a National Curriculum!

Eduflack accountability, Education Debate, national standards

First it was common core standards.  Then common core assessments.  Today, the Al Shanker Institute started talking about common core curriculum.  But instead of calling for a true national curriculum, the logical next step in the common core movement, they call for curriculum, defined as a “sequential set of guidelines in the core academic disciplines.”  is it too bold to ask for someone, anyone to come out and call for a national curriculum?

That is the question I explore this week over at the Education Debate, asking about A Common Curriculum?  Check it out.  

“I’m Glad I’m a Boy”

Eduflack Uncategorized

As most know, last week was Read Across America!  In schools across the country, adults came into classrooms to read to kids (many of them reading Dr. Suess in honor of his birthday).  Eduflack actually visited three schools during the celebration, reading to classes of first graders, third graders, and fifth graders in the process.

The beauty of Read Across America is that adults can bring in books that have special meaning them.  With my first graders, for instance, I brought in a few books my own kids love, including Duck for President and Pinkalicious (a book I have to read nightly these days).
During one of my stops, a colleague showed me a book that I just could not believe.  I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, smile or frown, or shake my head in amusement or disgust.  It was a book I had never heard of, but this person found, in all places, at an AAUW book sale.
The book is titled, “I’m Glad I’m a Boy! I’m Glad I’m a Girl.”  The book was written by Whitney Darrow, Jr. and published by Windmill Books in 1970 (the first printing).  At first read, folks seem to think Darrow was a serious author (in part because he father founded Princeton University Press).  But in reality, Darrow Jr. was a career cartoonist for the New Yorker.  And while this book was quickly pulled from school shelves (and you’ll see why below), it clearly was intended as satire, no? 
Here’s the full text of the book:
“Boys have trucks. Girls have dolls.
Boys are Cub Scouts. Girls are Brownies.
Boys are strong. Girls are graceful.
Boys are handsome. Girls are beautiful.
Boys are doctors. Girls are nurses.
Boys are policemen. Girls are metermaids.
Boys are football players. Girls are cheerleaders.
Boys are pilots. Girls are stewardesses.
Boys are heroes. Girls are heroines.
Boys are Presidents. Girls are First Ladies.
Boys fix things. Girls need things fixed.
Boys can eat. Girls can cook.
Boys build houses. Girls keep houses.
Boys are grooms. Girls are brides.
Boys are fathers. Girls are mothers.
I’m glad you’re a girl. I’m glad you’re a boy.
We need each other.”
If you want to see it with full illustrations, check it out here.  So the big question, satire or an honest look at 1970s value judgments?  And what would a parent say if their elementary school tot brought this home from the school library today?
  

Four More Eduflackin’ Years!

Eduflack Uncategorized

Oh, how time flies!  Four years ago today, I officially launched Eduflack.  On March 5, 2007, I officially entered the blogosphere.  At the time, I said ESEA reauthorization would be a major topic of discussion (I was right, but didn’t realize it still would be the case four years later).  I talked about the importance of taking the topic of school improvement to all stakeholders, and not just the usual suspects (right again).  And I noted the challenge of real education progress breaking through the “white noise.”  (I’m three for three.)

Of course, I also told readers “not to expect in-depth discussion or debate on the impact of” key policy issues.  (Really swung and missed there.)  But on the whole, still feel good about the ideas, analysis, opinions, and complaining often found here at Eduflack.
Since its launch, I’ve posted 706 essays to Eduflack (this is #707).  Reading First and SBRR are our most popular topics (thanks to the early years), with Arne Duncan and national standards nipping at the heels.  Our readership has increased month after month, to the point where I am regularly surprised by who is reading it (and even more so, who act on some of the things they read).  Eduflack has won a number of awards and recognitions, though I still say the only reason I do it is I find the writing cathartic.
In 2009, I launched the companion @Eduflack Twitter feed.  I did so because there were a number of interesting articles, studies, and events I just couldn’t write about for the blog, but wanted to share.  Today, @Eduflack has more than 6,000 Twitter followers, what seems like a pretty good number in the education space, particularly for just one fat man with a computer.
All of this is just a long-winded wind-up to say THANK YOU!  Thanks to all those who read Eduflack.  Thanks to all those who comment on the posts.  Thanks to all those who retweet the Tweets or through me a #FF.  And thanks to all of those who inspire it all, through their actions, their projects, their organizations, their research, and their words.
I truly enjoy spending virtually all of my time in the school improvement space.  I do it because I think we can make a difference, and effective communications is a key component of that difference.  A client once said I live at an interesting intersection of research, policy, and communications.  I’m not a Ph.D., a policy wonk, or a publicist.  I’m complicated.  I like that.  Eduflack … it’s complicated!  A new mantra for the coming years.
But I digress.  Thanks to all of those who have made these past four years so much fun.  You have me truly excited for year five.   

Deliverin’ in the Pelican State

Eduflack accountability, assessment, AYP, RTT

We often hear about how the latest and greatest in education reforms are happening down in the bayou.  For the past half-decade, New Orleans has been the place to set up shop if you have an idea to reform a school district, train a better teacher, or close an achievement gap.  You simply aren’t on the reform map if you don’t have a footprint in the Big Easy.

But there is a lot of interesting things happening across Louisiana.  A few years back, Eduflack had the privilege of working with the state department of education, along with educators and business leaders, to strengthen the high school experience, toughen graduation standards, and generally get more Louisiana students career and college ready.  That work, along with similar work done by groups like SREB, is happening across the state.
So it was no surprise to see the latest coming from Louisiana.  In Education Week this week, Louisiana State Supe Paul Pastorek and Sir Michael Barber, the founder of the U.S. Education Delivery Institute, place their flag in the ground to tell us how a “delivery unit” is being used to improve the education system.
I know, the first question is, what the heck is education delivery?  According to the U.S. Education Delivery Institute U.S. Education Delivery Institute, when states are ready to implement a reform agenda, delivery:
is defined as ‘a systematic process for driving progress and delivering results in government and the public sector.’  At the heart of the delivery approach is a set of tools, processes, and a common language for implementation.  Key features include prioritizing clear goals, understanding how services reach various constituents, projecting anticipated progress toward goals, gauging impact through real-time data, and regularly taking stock to intervene when necessary.
Essentially, it is a data-driven GPS for state-based school reform.  Plug in the intended destination (improved literacy rates, boosted high school grad rates, etc.) and the delivery model helps guide you to the destination, while adjusting for the changes you may face on your path.  It isn’t the reform, but it is what keep the reform moving forward.
Barber developed and refined the process “across the pond,” where he headed former British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s Delivery Unit.  But it is still relatively unknown here in the States.  So in their piece, Pastorek and Barber lay out the five key questions they are often confronted when talking about Delivery in Louisiana (after, of course, that introductory question, of “huh?”)
* What are you trying to do?
* How are you trying to do it?
* How will you know at any given moment whether you are on track?
* If you are not on track to achieve your goal, what are you going to do about it?
* The Delivery Unit should always ask the goal leaders and superintendent, “how can we help?
With 11 states ramping up their Race to the Top reform efforts (yes, DC, I’ll count you in the state pile), with other states moving forward with their reform efforts, despite the enticing carrot RttT offers, and with virtually all states trying to figure out how to keep up with the Joneses during these challenging economic times, the Louisiana Delivery model is an interesting concept.  We spend so much time talking about what we should reform, but so little time, if any, talking about how we get to the intended goal.  Could there be a proven model that can guide states and large school districts in a meaningful, productive way?
Pastorek sure seems to think so.  And EDI reports it is also working with Delaware, Kentucky, Massachusetts, and Tennessee.  So we’ve got a bunch of RttT winners, the top state in education standards, and a long-time leader in forward-looking school reform.  These folks may actually be on to something.

Eduflack for Senate?

Eduflack ESEA, national standards

For the past three years, Eduflack has touted the role the states (and localities) play in true school improvement.  As “interesting” as the federal role is with its carrot/stick approach, the real work is happening at the SEA/LEA level.  That was the case during the NCLB era, and it is certainly the case as we move into the College- and Career-Readiness Act era (OK, we need a catchy acronym for what EdSec Duncan and company are dreaming up for ESEA.)  Real change, real improvement, and real decisions are ultimately found in our state capitals.

This is even true in Eduflack’s home state of Virginia.  This year’s legislative session was an ongoing battle of priority between K-12 education (and to a lesser degree higher ed) and transportation.  Do we focus on roads or schools?  Add in the Old Dominion’s continued refusal to sign onto the Common Core standards, our inability to fund all-day kindergarten, our continued struggle with the role of charter schools in the state, and the highs and lows demonstrated in measures such as Quality Counts, and one can see that Virginia could be ground zero for a statewide effort to improve public education for all students.  Yet Virginia is rarely seen as a “reform” state.  In fact, most advocates and school improvement voices stay away from Virginia, concerned our state is not “open” to the sort of changes necessary to offer a lasting improvement that can narrow the achievement gap and provide real opportunities to students, particularly those from historically disadvantaged groups.
So why the background on Virginia and its commitment (or not) to public education?  Indulge me a little.  Historically, Eduflack likes to stay away from the personal on this blog (with the exception of bragging on my two perfect, incredible children).  I try not to write about my work on my local school board.  I try to stay away from detailing my day job and the organizations I do business with professionally.  Separating that side of Eduflack’s life from the opining and ranting on this platform just seems the prudent thing to do.  But today will be an exception.
On Friday, Eduflack’s state senator announced her retirement, after nearly four decades in public service.  This year, the residents of Arlington, Fairfax, and Falls Church will elect a new state senator to send to Richmond.  And dear ol’ Eduflack, apparently, is on the list of potential candidates to replace her.
Why do I post this here?  Simply as a matter of full disclosure.  The thought of serving in the Virginia State Senate never crossed my mind until I was approached this week.  I’m happy with my life.  I enjoy my work.  I love serving on the school board.  And I treasure every moment I get with my incredible wife and my perfect children.  Why in the world would I want to upset that balance?
At the same time, I can’t shake why I am motivated to do what I do in the first place.  Back in the fall of 2008, when I was bringing my daughter (the future governor of Virginia, and likely the first Latina woman governor of the Commonwealth) home from Guatemala, I wrote on my educational hopes for her and why I’m in this game in the first place.  Nearly two and a half years later, those concerns haven’t lessened.  If anything, they’ve grown stronger.
So those voices in my head ask a very simple question (simple to ask, not to answer).  is it better to focus on the local, ensuring my own children have the very best public education available in the Commonwealth?  Or is it better to fight for those conditions for all kids in Virginia?  And if the latter, can the Virginia State Senate really focus on public education (early childhood, K-12, and higher ed) in the sort of way where those conditions can take hold just as easily in Petersburg as they can in Arlington?
No wrong answers here.  Just pesky voices.

Tech-Savvy Kids?

Eduflack technology

In 2011, what exactly does it mean to be tech savvy?  Over at USA Today, the front page boasts an info-graphic of a recent survey conducted by Research Now for AVG.  They surveyed 2,200 mothers in 10 nations, asking about the tech skills of children ages 2-5.

The data came back on five categories: 1) operate a computer mouse; 2) turn a computer on/off; 3) play a basic computer game; 4) make a mobile phone call; and 5) open a Web browser.  Research Now found that 69 percent of kids ages 2-5 are reported as being able to operate a computer mouse.  Fifty eight percent are playing a basic computer game, while just 25 percent can open a web browser.
All lovely cocktail party statistics (as if parents of kids in that age bracket have time to go to cocktail parties), but it begs an important question.  Are those the right measures for being a U.S.-based, tech-savvy kid in 2011?
While I am not a mother, I am the parent of two kids that fit that age bracket.  The edu-son will be five this April.  The edu-daughter is almost three and a half years old.  Both are fairly tech savvy.  So how do they stack up?
They are both pros at playing computer games, and both can make a mobile phone call (the edu-daughter has also made an emergency call in French, for what it is worth).  Neither has opened a Web browser because there has never been a need, but I’m guessing they could if it meant accessing the game or song they wanted.  Neither has turned a computer on and off because we only use laptops in our house, so they know how to wake them up.  And neither operates a mouse … again because we are using laptops with touch pads.
The issue of using a computer mouse seems so 1998.  My edu-kids are quite adept at using both the iPhone and the iPad.  They know how to flip between apps.  They know how to adjust the volume on whatever technology they are using.  They know how to scroll the screen.  And our edu-son even knows how to download his own apps (assuming we can’t stop him in time).  They’ve mastered the tablet and the touch screen.  They know how to flip through an electronic photo album, believing that is that is the only way to look at pictures.  They know how to use technology circa 2011.  So where is the credit in that?
Believe it or not, the edu-wife and I have had conversations about this very issue, following a discussion on age-appropriate ed technology she was having that day (yes, you can imagine how exciting it is in Eduflack’s house).  The issue of the computer mouse was issue 1.  Are we equipping our kids with age-appropriate technology when they don’t know how to use a mouse?  Should we set up a desktop computer so they know a mouse and a full-size keyboard and one of those CD-ROM drives that can double as a drink coaster?  Are we missing the mark in preparing them for the tech they’ll need when they enter school?
I’m willing to be proven wrong, but I answered a resounding NO.  We are using age-appropriate technology, based on the games and apps we let our kids have access to.  We are helping them by providing access to the latest technologies, instead of teaching them on the machines I first learned on.  We are using tech as it will be used, not as it has been used.  And yes, we are using technology to supplement what they are learning in preschool and at home, not supplant it.
So I want to see the tech-savvy kids survey that looks at the wee one’s ability to use a touch screen.  Or to toggle between apps.  Or to enter a password to get past the welcome screen.  Flipping a computer on is so War Games.
And for those of you worrying my kids are simply glued to the glow of a microchip powered screen, don’t.  Our trampoline still gets more use than the iPad, and next month I start my great “teaching” adventure as coach of my son’s T-ball team.  But know I’ll be tracking stats on my iPad …