SCHOOL LEADERSHIPIS THE LIGHT AS BRIGHT AS WE THINK?

BY: VANETTA DUPREE

NEED FOR CHANGE

QUICK FIXES

Meet the Press

Educational researchers are saying our system is not working.

• In a book written by Richard Neal, he states:

• The public schools are extremely resistant to improvements because of the powerful Education Establishment, composed of entrenched teacher unions and school educrats and pandering politicians. His book discusses all of the reasons that a monolithic and monopolistic school system cannot meet the pluralistic needs of all children through a one-size-fits-all model.

DROPOUTS

The Drop Out Rate

• The status dropout rate represents the percentage of 16- through 24-year-olds who are not enrolled in school and have not earned a high school credential (either a diploma or equivalency credential, such as a General Educational Development [GED] certificate).

EDUCATION GAP

• The status dropout rate declined from 14 percent in 1980 to 9 percent in 2007. A decline was also seen between 2000 and 2007, the more recent years of this time span (from 11 percent to 9 percent).

• Status dropout rates and changes in these rates over time differ by race/ethnicity.

• In general, the status dropout rates for Whites, Blacks, and Hispanics declined between 1980 and 2007. However, for each year during that period, the status dropout rate was lower for Whites and Blacks than for Hispanics.

• The rate for Asians/Pacific Islanders was also lower than those for Hispanics and Blacks between 1989 and 2007. Although the gaps between the rates of Blacks and Whites and Hispanics and Whites have decreased, the decreases occurred in different time periods.

• The Black-White gap narrowed during the 1980s, with no measurable change between 1990 and 2007. In contrast, the Hispanic-White gap narrowed between 1990 and 2007, with no measurable change in the gap during the 1980s.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. (2009). The Condition of Education 2009 (NCES 2009-081), Indicator 20.

Status dropout rates of 16- through 24-year-olds, by race/ethnicity: Selected years, 1980-2007

Year Total1

Race/ethnicity2

White Black Hispanic

1980 14.1 11.4 19.1 35.2

1985 12.6 10.4 15.2 27.6

1990 12.1 9.0 13.2 32.4

1995 12.0 8.6 12.1 30.0

2000 10.9 6.9 13.1 27.8

2001 10.7 7.3 10.9 27.0

2002 10.5 6.5 11.3 25.7

2003 9.9 6.3 10.9 23.5

2004 10.3 6.8 11.8 23.8

2005 9.4 6.0 10.4 22.4

2006 9.3 5.8 10.7 22.1

2007 8.7 5.3 8.4 21.4

ROLE TRANSFER

The teacher’s “apple” is not as plain as it once was.

School leaders must acknowledge the fact that “the apple” represents so much more and, the problems are as diverse as the students in terms of background,

exposure, and what “they bring to the table.”

Yet, when any apple is cut through the center, there is always a “star in the middle”. Children should be the core of educational reform.

MATH/SCIENCE

ScienceDaily (Feb. 27, 2007) — Having a basic knowledge of scientific principles is no longer a luxury but, in today's complex world, a necessity.

Jon Miller, Michigan State University Hannah Professor of integrative studies and political science. (Credit: Michigan State University)

According to research conducted by John Miller, "We should take no pride in a finding that 70 percent of Americans cannot read and understand the science section of the New York Times."

LITERACY

As America changes, we must embrace this change and prepare. Studies show that we are in trouble.

• COUNTRY RANKINGS

Percent of 15-year-olds falling below international benchmarks:

1. South Korea            1.42. Japan                       2.23. Finland                     4.44. Canada                   5.05. Australia                  6.26. Austria                     8.27. Britain                       9.48. Ireland                    10.29. Sweden                   10.810. Czech Republic    12.211. New Zealand        12.212. France                  12.613. Switzerland           13.014. Belgium                 14.015. Iceland                  14.016. Hungary                14.217. Norway                 14.218. United States       16.219. Germany               17.020. Denmark                17.021. Spain                     18.622. Italy                       20.223. Greece                  23.224. Portugal                23.6

Source: UNICEF

COMPETITION

WEAK STANDARDS

POVERTY

CHILDREN FROM LOW-INCOME HOUSEHOLDS

• Simple comparisons between children in poor families and children in non-poor families using national datasets indicate that poor children are more likely to do worse on indices of school achievement than non-poor children are. Poor children are twice as likely as non-poor children to have repeated a grade, to have been expelled or suspended from school, or to have dropped out of high school. They are also 1.4 times as likely to be identified as having a learning disability in elementary or high school than their non-poor counterparts.

•

Read more: Poverty and Education - OVERVIEW, CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS http://education.stateuniversity.com/pages/2330/Poverty-Education.html#ixzz0garjDvAb

» Children and Adolescence 2010

ISOLATION

In today’s public schools, success forAfrican Americans is too often elusive.Our society still bears the legacy of along history of racism, exclusion andlow expectations for African Americanchildren, and our public educationsystem has not adequately respondedto remedy this situation.This persistent challenge is deeplyharmful to the African Americancommunity, to our state, our nation,and our democracy.

According to the African American Achievement Gap Report:

The Solution• They also suggest that a vision for success would mean turning

beliefs into actions which can turn the tide for African American students, and lead to higher educational attainment for African American children, preschool to graduation and beyond.

• This, in turn, will contribute to lowering costs for social services, health care, and criminal justice – the systems that now carry the burden of past failures to educate young African Americans.

• But more important, success in educating African American young people will make a significant contribution to the health of our democracy and specifically to economic recovery and development.

• The intelligence, talent, and imagination of this generation of African American students are precious resources, and we are all called to invest in their fullest development.

So, what is the solution?

School leaders must realize that:

• Prior

• Planning

• Prevents

• Poor

• Performance

Resources• The African American Achievement Gap Report. (2008). Retrieved at

http://healthequity.wa.gov/Meetings/2009/02-05/docs/Tab07b-AAG_ExecSum_AfAm.pdf

• Miller, John. (2007) “Scientific Literacy: How Do Americans Stack Up?”. Science Daily. Retreived at http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/02/070218134322.htm

• Neal, Richard. (2006). “The Deserved Collapse of Public Schools: How We Have Been Hornswoggled and Bamboozled - Even Flummoxed and Hoodwinked - by Entrenched Educrats, Tyrannical Teacher Unions and Pandering Politicians.”

• Science Daily. Jon Miller, Michigan State University Hannah Professor of integrative studies and political science. (Credit: Michigan State University)

• Turner, Derek. (2006). Broadband Reality Check II: The Truth Behind America’s Digital Decline. Retrieved at http://www.freepress.net/files/bbrc2-final.pdf

• U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. (2009). The Condition of Education 2009

(NCES 2009-081), Indicator 20.

If we, the school leader of tomorrow, don’t do something now, the future

is at stake.

Why get on the bus, if you don’t know where it’s going?