WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE WELL EDUCATED?

Dr. Len ElovitzChapter 2 in Hoy & Miskel

“… THE EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATIONS OF OUR SOCIETY ARE PRESENTLY BEING ERODED BY A RISING TIDE OF MEDIOCRITY THAT THREATENS OUR VERY FUTURE AS A NATION AND A PEOPLE. WHAT WAS UNIMAGINABLE A GENERATION AGO HAS BEGUN TO HAPPEN – OTHERS ARE MATCHING AND SURPASSING OUR EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENTS.

IF AN UNFRIENDLY POWER HAD ATTEMPTED TO IMPOSE ON AMERICA THE MEDIOCRE EDUCATIONAL PERFORMANCE THAT EXISTS TODAY, WE MIGHT WELL HAVE VIEWED IT AS AN ACT OF WAR. AS IT STANDS, WE HAVE ALLOWED THIS TO HAPPEN TO OURSELVES.”

• 1. DO YOU RECOGNIZE THIS STATEMENT?

• 2. WHERE IS IT FROM?– National Commission on Excellence in Education. A Nation at Risk: The

Imperative for Educational Reform.(1983)

• 3. HOW DO YOU REACT TO THE ABOVE STATEMENT?

• Do You Believe That Schools Should be Restructured?

• How? What Should They Be Like?

DO WE NEED TO CHANGE?

• Did You Know?

Age of Information

Age of Information

• Infoglut

• infowhelm

• 540,000 words today

• 5 X more than Shakespeare’s time

Age of Information

• New York Times gives more information to most people than a person in 1900 knew in a lifetime.

• 1.5 exabytes of new information a year (1 plus 18 zeros)

Who was John Paul Jones?

• The Maryland Colony

• What should kids know and be able to do?

• Cultural Literacy: What every American Needs to Know by E.D. Hirsch (1987)

• What Do Our 17-Yearolds Know? A Report on the First National Assessment of History and Literature by Diane Ravitch & Chester Finn 1987

Age of Information

• George Gilder said we are in the age of disposable information - in a 4 year program by the beginning of the third year, information learned as a freshman is either wrong or outdated.

Age of Information“The educational models of the past operate on the assumption that content was king. In fact, content is free and overwhelming in size. In a world of rapid information growth, it is context that matters. Context is king. This means that learners at all ages need to master two very important skills: 1 – the ability to locate information specifically related to the question they are exploring; and 2 – to establish the veracity and utility of this information.”

David D. Thornburg, The Future Isn’t What it Used to Be (1997)

“This is the first time in history that the student, teacher, and content do not have to be in the same place at the same time.”

David D. Thornburg, The Future Isn’t What it Used to Be (1997)

New Jersey Core Curriculum Content Standards

“First adopted by the State Board of Education in 1996. The standards describe what students should know and be able to do upon completion of a thirteen-year public education and provide local school districts with clear and specific benchmarks for student achievement in nine content areas.

Common Core Standards

• Math & Language Arts– What’s needed for college– What’s needed for work– What’s used around the world

• 46 States

• National Assessment?

Common Core State Standards initiative

• Standards for Mathematics and Language Arts Literacy are part of the

• Coordinated by the Council of Chief States School Officers (CCSSO) and the National Governor’s Association (NGA) in partnership with other national organizations. New Jersey is one of 44 states, Washington, DC and the U.S. Virgin Islands to join the state-led Common Core State Standards initiative.

Common Core State Standards

• CCSS

• Standards

Will the CCSS lead to a national curriculum?

Should the USA have a national curriculum?

What does the US Constitution say about education?

State of New Jersey N.J. CONSTITUTION SINCE 1875 CONTAINS CLAUSE –

“ THE LEGISLATURE SHALL PROVIDE FOR A THOROUGH AND EFFICIENT SYSTEM OF FREE PUBLIC SCHOOLS FOR ALL

CHILDREN IN THE STATE BETWEEN THE AGES OF FIVE AND EIGHTEEN YEARS.”

II. FEDERAL CONSTITUTION

NO MENTION OF EDUCATION

10TH AMENDMENT

“THE POWERS NOT DELEGATED TO THE UNITED STATES BY THE CONSTITUTION, NOR PROHIBITED BY IT TO THE STATES, ARE RESERVED TO THE STATES RESPECTIVELY, OR TO THE PEOPLE.”

PARCC

Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers

NJDOE & PARCC

Is this a good idea?

A Short History of American Education

Compulsory Education

• Massachusetts act of 1642– Required parents and masters to tend to the

educational requirements of the colony’s sons.– “The child is to be educated, not to advance his

personal interest, but because the state will suffer if he is not educated.”

– Selectmen were to ascertain if parents and masters were attending to “training in learning and labor and other employment”

– _All between 10 and 16 had to be schooled in “ye exercise of arms as small guns, halfe pikes, bows and arrows”

– Girls stayed at home and learned household tasks and embroidery

– Fines could be imposed– Law failed after 5 years

• Formalized, legislated commitment to providing education to citizens– Massachusetts’ Ye Olde Deluder Satan Act

(1647)• Settlement of > 50 required to hire a reading

and writing teacher and pay him what compensation the citizens deemed appropriate

• Settlement of > 100 required to establish and support a grammar school

Old Graduation Requirements

• 4 years of English

• 2 years of US History

• 1 year of Phys. Ed. For each year in HS

Code Requires

• Technology

• 21st Century Themes

• Project Based Learning

• Customized Learning (learning Plan)

Early Childhood Longitudinal Study

ECLS

What Matters1. The child has highly educated parents 2. The child's family is intact.3. The child's parents recently moved into a better neighborhood 4. The child's parents have high socioeconomic status.5. The child's mother didn't work between birth and kindergarten 6. The child's mother was thirty or older at the time of her child's birth.7. The child attended head start8. The child had low birthweight.9. The child's parents speak English in the home 10. The child's parents regularly take him to the museum11. The child is regularly spanked 12. The child is adopted.13. The child frequently watches television 14. The child's parents are involved in the PTA15. The child has many book in his home16. The child's parents read to him nearly every day

What Matters?

The child has highly educated parents

The child's family is intact

A family with a lot of schooling values education

What Matters?

The child's parents recently moved into a better neighborhood

The child's parents have high socioeconomic status

Successful parents are more likely to have successful kids

What Matters?

The child's mother didn't work between birth and kindergarten

The child's mother was thirty or older at the time of her child's birth

Women are more likely to be established - Education or job and likely to want the child more than a teenage mother

What Matters?

The child attended head start

The child had low birthweight.

Poor prenatal care is a good predictor of poor parentingHead start and High Scope

What Matters?

The child's parents speak English in the home

The child's parents regularly take him to the museum

Culture cramming doesn’t work

What Matters?

The child is regularly spanked

The child is adopted.

Child’s academic ability is more linked to biological parents’ IQ than to the adoptive parents’.

What Matters?

The child frequently watches television

The child's parents are involved in the PTA

PTA parent likely to have a strong relationship with Education

What Matters?

The child has many book in his home

The child's parents read to him nearly every day

Parents with a lot of books in the home are likely to be better off financially and value education more

IS EDUCATION A PUBLIC GOOD OR A PRIVATE GOOD?

• PRIVATE

• ABILITY TO EARN MORE MONEY, ENJOY A HIGHER

STANDARD OF LIVING AND BETTER QUALITY OF LIFE• MORE INTERESTING JOBS• POSSIBILITY OF MORE SCHOOLING• UNEMPLOYMENT LESS LIKELY• MORE OPTIONS FOR USE OF LEISURE TIME• INFORMED CONSUMERS – MAKE BETTER USE OF

RESOURCES• BETTER DIET AND HEALTH HABITS = LONGER HEALTHIER

LIFE

• PUBLIC• ENLIGHTENED CITIZENRY THAT IS NECESSARY FOR

DEMOCRACY

• MORE PRODUCTIVE CITIZENS EARN MORE AND PRODUCE MORE RESULTING IN HIGHER TAX YIELDS AND INCREASED PRODUCTION THAT CONTRIBUTES TO AN IMPROVED QUALITY OF LIFE FOR ALL

• REDUCTION IN CRIME RATE

• IS EDUCATION MORE OF A PUBLIC GOOD OR A PRIVATE GOOD? THEN WHO SHOULD PAY FOR IT?

• ARE THERE PUBLIC BENEFITS TO PRIVATE EDUCATION? IS THERE A DOWNSIDE?

If you could change (improve) one thing in public education to increase student achievement,

what would it be?

Do These Inputs Matter?

• Books in the Library

• Teacher salary

• Number of computer stations

• Class Size

• Racial mix

Which hypothesis is correct?

• There is a strong positive relationship between school quality and student achievement

• Or• There is a very weak relationship

between school characteristics and student outcomes

» Sadovnik

Equality Of Educational Opportunity

• The Coleman Report -1966

• 570,000 students, 60,000 teachers, 4,000 public schools

• SES mattered most

• Peer group associations matter

• Other inputs were weak

Top New Jersey High Schools 2008: By Rank

• http://njmonthly.com/articles/towns_and_schools/highschoolrankings/top-new-jersey-high-schools-by-rank.html

NJ Monthly -All High Schools.84

Scattergram

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350

High School Rank

DFG

NJ Monthly -Minus Magnets.89

Scattergram

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350

High School Rank

DFG

Coleman report also said”… improving the school of a minority pupil may

increase his achievement more than would improving the school of a white child increase his. Similarly, the average minority pupil's achievement may suffer more in a school of low quality than might the average white pupil's. In short, whites and, to a lesser extent, Oriental-Americans are less affected one way or the other by the quality of their schools than are minority pupils. This indicates that it is for the most disadvantaged children that improvements in school quality will make the most difference in achievement.”

DO SCHOOLS MATTER?

1. EDMUNDS (1979)

A. EFFECTIVE SCHOOLS RESEARCH

B. CORRELATES

2. LAZOTTE

EFFECTIVE SCHOOLS RESEARCH

SAFE ORDERLY ENVIRONMENT

A CLEAR SCHOOL MISSION

STRONG PRINCIPAL – INSTRUCTIONAL LEADERSHIP

CLIMATE OF HIGH EXPECTATIONS

A CONCENTRATION ON

INSTRUCTIONAL TASKS

MONITORING OF STUDENT PROGRESS

POSITIVE HOME SCHOOL RELATIONS

RECENT RESEARCH - ACHIEVEMENT GOES UP

A. STUDENTS COMPELLED TO TAKE ACADEMIC COURSES

B.CONSISTENT DISCIPLINE

C. ACADEMIC LEARNING TIME

D. Reduced Total Student Load (TSL)

Why do we want to raise student achievement?

• Individuals – Increased lifetime salary– Improved health – If you don’t have a Bachelor’s degree, you

are worse off than in 1975 if you do you are better off

Why do we want to raise student achievement?

• Society– Lower criminal justice costs– Lower health care costs– Increased economic growth

What’s the solution?

• Is it Structural?– Small schools– K-8 schools– Class size

• (about a 4% increase in achievement for a 50% cut in class size)

– Class grouping

What’s the solution?• Is it Alignment?

– Curriculum reform– Textbook replacement

• Is it governance?– Charter schools– Vouchers

• Is it Technology?

IT’S THE

TEACHER

Effect of Teacher Effectiveness on Student Achievement

• 3rd graders placed with 3 high performing teachers in a row averaged 96th percentile at end of 5th grade in math

• 3rd graders placed with 3 low performing teachers in a row averaged 44th percentile at end of 5th grade in math

• Tennessee’s State Math Test

“The results of this study well document that the most important factor affecting student learning is the teacher…more can be done to improve education by improving the effectiveness of teachers than by any other single factor. Effective teachers appear to be effective with students of all achievement levels, regardless of the level of heterogeneity in the classroom.”

William Sanders

• The effects on achievement of both strong and weak teachers persisted over 3 years

Dallas Study

• 1st graders placed with 3 high performing teachers in a row increased from 63rd percentile to 87th on ITBS math

• 1st graders placed with 3 low performing teachers in a row decreased from 58th percentile to 40th on ITBS math

• The difference in reading was 42 points

Dallas Study

• The negative effect of poor-performing teachers persisted through three years of high-performing teachers - it took 3 yrs. For the kids to catch up.

• Lower achieving students are more likely to be put with less effective teachers

“Highly Effective teachers are able to produce much greater gains than their less effective counterparts.”

“…not only does teacher quality matter when it comes to how much students learn, but also that, for better or worse, a teacher’s effectiveness stays with students for years to come.”

Tucker & StrongeIn Linking Teacher Evaluation and Student Learning

How do we get better teachers?

• Replace existing teachers with better ones– Increase pay

• No evidence that increased pay brings better teachers– Change certification standards

• No evidence that there are better teachers out there deterred by certification requirements

• “Love the one your with” (CSN&Y)• Improve the effectiveness of existing teachers

The Five Minute University