Our Mission… To assure high levels of learning for all students!
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Transcript of Our Mission… To assure high levels of learning for all students!
Our Mission…
To assure high levels of learning for all students!
Never in our nation’s history have the demands on our educational system been greater or the consequences of failure as severe. Beyond the high-stakes school accountability requirements mandated by state and federal laws, the difference between success and failure in school is, quite literally, life and death for our students.
Today, a child who graduates from school with a mastery of essential skills and knowledge is prepared to compete in the global marketplace, with numerous paths of opportunity available to lead a successful life. Yet, for students who fail in our educational system, the reality is that there are virtually no paths of opportunity.
The likely pathway for student who struggle in school is an adult life of poverty, incarceration, and/or dependence on society’s welfare systems.
-- Dropouts on average earn about $12,000 per year, nearly 50 percent less than those who have a high school diploma
-- 50 percent less likely to have a job that offers a pension plan or health insurance
-- They are more likely to experience health problems
--Rouse/Muenning, 2005: www.centerforpubliceducation.org
Poverty…
According to a US government report, The State of Literacy in
America, over 90 million US adults,
nearly one out of two, are functionally illiterate or near
illiterate, without the minimum skills required
in a modern society. Larry Roberts, Illiteracy on the Rise in America http://www.wsws.org
Poverty…
44 million cannot read a newspaperor fill out a job application.
Another 50 million more cannot read or comprehend above the eighth
grade level.
Larry Roberts, Illiteracy on the Rise in America http://www.wsws.org
Poverty…
Poverty…
43 percent of people with the lowest literacy skills live below the
government's official poverty line
Larry Roberts, Illiteracy on the Rise in America http://www.wsws.org
Incarceration
Russia and the U.S. are now the world leaders in incarceration, with imprisonment rates 6 to10 times that of most industrialized
nations.
http://www.proliteracy.org/downloads/ProLiteracyStateOfLiteracy%2010-25-04.pdf
Incarceration
Across the United States, 82% of prison inmates are
dropouts
Ysseldyke, Algozzine, & Thurlow 1992
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2248/is_n126_v32/ai_19619426/pg_4
Incarceration
According to the report, Literacy Behind Prison Walls,
70 percent of all prison inmates are functionally illiterate or
read below a fourth-grade level.
http://www.proliteracy.org/downloads/ProLiteracyStateOfLiteracy%2010-25-04.pdf
Incarceration
85% of juvenile offenders have reading problems.
http://www.literacybuffalo
Incarceration
Youth in Correctional Facilities
Average age: 15
Average Reading Level: 4th Grade (30% below this level)
www.edjj.org
Incarceration and Special Education
The incidence of learning disabilities among the general population based on U.S. Dept. of Education and local service providers is around 5%. This is in sharp contrast with the number of LD students in the criminal justice system, estimated to be as high as
50%. Bell, 1990: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2248/is_n126_v32/ai_19619426/pg_4
Incarceration and Special Education
Only 57% of youth with disabilities graduated from high school in the 2001-02 school year, according to the U.S. Department of Education
(2002)
http://www.ncset.org/publications/viewdesc.asp?id=3135
Social Costs
75% of those claiming welfare are functionally illiterate.
http://www.covinaliteracy.org/facts.htm
Social Costs
One study conducted by a University of California, Berkeley
economist found that a 10 percent increase in the graduation rate would likely reduce the murder and assault
arrest rates by about 20 percent
Moretti, 2005: www.centerforpubliceducation.org
Social Costs
The same study found that increasing the high school completion rate by just
one percent for men ages 20-60 would save the United States up to
$1.4 billion per year in reduced costs from crime.
Moretti, 2005: www.centerforpubliceducation.org
With such high stakes, educators today are like
tightrope walkers without a safety net, responsible for meeting the
needs of every child with little room for error.
Our Mission…
To assure high levels of learning for all students!
What do we mean by “high” levels
of learning?
Is a high school diploma enough for our current
students to be competitive in the global
marketplace?
“The high school diploma has become the ticket to nowhere.”
James Waller, Face to Face: The Changing State of Racism Across America
Education and Lifelong Earning:
High School Drop Out: $608,000High School Graduate: $802,000Some College: $922,890Associate Degree: $1,062,130Bachelors Degree: $1,420,850Masters Degree: $2,142,440Doctorate: $3,012,300
James Waller, Face to Face: The Changing State of Racism Across America
2006 College Graduates
US: 1.3 Million
India: 3.1 Million
China: 3.3 Million
What do we mean by “high” levels
of learning?
“High School + Plus”
If our mission is high levels of learning for all students,
the question is:
Is it possible?
“There are simple, proven, affordable structures that exist
right now and could have a dramatic, widespread impact on
schools and achievement—in virtually any school. An astonishing
level of agreement has emerged on this point”
--Mike Schmoker, 2004
Schools Do Make a Difference
Effective Schools Research of Ron Edmonds, Larry Lezotte, Wilbur Brookover, Michael Rutter, and others concluded that:
• All Children Can Learn• Schools control the factors to
assure that students master the core of the curriculum
Schools Do Make a Difference
An analysis of research conducted over a thirty-five year period demonstrates that schools that are highly effective produce results that almost entirely overcome the effects of student backgrounds
Robert Marzano, What Works in Schools, 2003
Schools Do Make a Difference
90/90/90 Schools
--Doug Reeves
Then why aren’t most schools getting these
results?
We must stop doing what we have done for
100 years…
Our Dilemma:
Our traditional US school system was not designed to
ensure that all students learn at high levels
Traditional US school system:
-- Professional isolation (1 room schoolhouse)
-- Failure is OK…
-- Few students went to college (10-15%)
-- Our job was to “sort” students (bell curve)
Agricultural Jobs in America
In 1870, half of the US population was employed in agriculture.
As of 2006, less than 1% of the population is directly employed in
agriculture.
Agricultural Jobs in America
As of 2004, the median hourly income was $7.70 for farmworkers
planting, growing and harvesting crops.
US Manufacturing Jobs:
Fifty years ago, a third of U.S. employees worked in factories.
Today, a little more than one-tenth of the nation's 131 million workers are employed
by manufacturing firms.
--USA Todayhttp://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/2002-12-12-manufacture_x.htm
US Manufacturing Jobs:
1950: 34%
2002: 13%
--USA Todayhttp://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/2002-12-12-manufacture_x.htm
Pension Benefits:
“Pensions are becoming a thing of the past…”
Rene Syler Pension Promises: The Death of the American Dream?
http://www.businessandmedia.org/news/2006/news20060118.asp
Health Benefits:
--Nearly 47 million Americans, or 16 percent of the population, were without health insurance in 2005. The number of uninsured rose 2.2 million
between 2005 and 2006.
--Over 8 in 10 uninsured people come from working families - almost 70 percent from
families with one or more full-time workers
http://www.nchc.org/facts/coverage.shtml
"We embrace explicitly the proposition that effective practice and popular practice are very likely two different things."
- Dr. Douglas Reeves