Students » Carol J. Carter

Hispanics one-fifth of K-12 students

CAROL’S SUMMARY: By 2050, the United States will be a majority Hispanic country. Right now, Hispanic students make up one fifth of k-12 students. Here are some questions to think through as we prepare to be the most educated country in the world by 2020:

Â· How many k-12 teachers are able to speak Spanish?

Â· How much will non-Hispanic children benefit long term from learning Spanish?

Â· In what ways do our schools and teachers need to work effectively with the
Spanish native population, their families and their parents?

Â· How will the US as a whole benefit from this rich cultural opportunity?

Â· What specific learning characteristics do k-12 educators need to know to maximize opportunities for Hispanic students and all other students as we march forward to set a world standard for education?

ARTICLE:

By Hope Yen, Associated Press

WASHINGTON â€” Roughly one-fourth of the nation’s kindergartners are Hispanic, evidence of an accelerating trend that now will see minority children become the majority by 2023.
Census data released Thursday also showed that Hispanics make up about one-fifth of all K-12 students. Hispanics’ growth and changes in the youth population are certain to influence political debate, from jobs and immigration to the No Child Left Behind education, for years.

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National Standards Gain Steam

CAROL’S SUMMARY: To gauge where we are against other developed and developing nations, national standards are an important benchmark. One of the national models currently in place in schools is provided by the American School Counselors Association (ASCA) . This model outlines a stair step program for students in K-12 in areas of academics, career exploration and personal skills. Certainly a â€œsoft skillsâ€ model like this can be paired with other measurements like test scores, attendance, school involvement and grades. Overall, our schools will be tasked with producing students who can measure or exceed world class standards and who can also be world-class citizens. Those two goals arenâ€™t mutually exclusive but need a dual emphasis to make that reality happen in the U.S.

Beyond national measurements, parents should be asking two important questions:

1) What experiences is my child having to promote learning, growth and understanding (these are often outside of schoolâ€”in the community and the world)

2) To what extent is my child learning to work hard on behalf of his goals? (the

rest of the world has many smart people able to work two or more jobs to

make their goals happen)

To be world class, America needs students who can stand toe to toe, intellectually, with students in other countries. Two, they will need to learn to work just as hard as their foreign counterparts. Three, they will need to develop their leadership skills to be truthful, honest and ethical members of their communities and the companies for which they will someday work. If we can start with this vision in K-12 and promote this in what we teach with our teachers, parents and principals, we will have a nation of world-wide leadersâ€”not just learned graduatesâ€”by 2020.

ARTICLE:

Governorsâ€™ Embrace Rooted in Competitiveness Concerns
By David J. Hoff

National standardsâ€”once the untouchable “third rail” of American education policyâ€”now have the backing of the nationâ€™s governors, a growing number of education leaders, and the U.S. secretary of education.

The National Governors Association last week adopted a policy statement endorsing a process to develop common academic standards by comparing student performance on international tests.

The governors join several education groupsâ€”the Council of the Great City Schools, the National Association of Secondary School Principals, and the American Federation of Teachers among themâ€”in endorsing the idea that the nation should set a common definition of what students should know and be able to do.

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Bridging the Character Education Achievement Gap

By Paul Sutton, Posted February 26, 2009 on www.edweek.org

Throughout his now-famous “Last Lecture,” the late Carnegie Mellon University professor of computer science Randy Pausch talked about what he called the “head fake.” It is the idea that learning and education work best when they work on the personal and general levels simultaneously. Itâ€™s clear what calculus can teach a high school student. But beyond that learning, a character education lesson on the dialogues between Socrates and Crito can teach critical-reading skills and democratic dialogue, while also teaching personal and social justice and integrity. The study of both calculus and Socrates demands intellectual rigor, and yet these subjects are not valued in the same way in our public high schools.

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Rethinking College Prep Costs in Tough Times

In an effort to optimally prepare their sons and daughter for college success, parents often pay thousands of dollars to give them a leg up before they ever step foot on campus. In our current challenging economic climate, families may need to revise their strategy and enlist the help of free resources right around them: the school guidance counselor, college admissions counselors, and other frugal parents whoâ€™ve already successfully helped their kids work through the maze.

1) What balance exits with school counselorâ€™s time between high-potential students and students who struggle? What alternatives can we develop to involve and challenge all level of students about their future so that they can all progress effectively? The advisory class during the semester and summer boot camp or reading programs are some possibilities to achieve this.

2) How can parents be more creative about helping their studentâ€™s access free or lower-cost resources? What is the trade-off to well-meaning parents who do too much work for their children? What does that teach their students about self-sufficiency? What does that teach their students about how to work through difficulty and figure things out on your ownâ€”a key component to adult and workplace success?

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By ALINA TUGEND, Posted February 28, 2009 on www.nytimes.com

WATCHING our sonsâ€™ college funds dwindle to almost nothing, I am grateful that my older son is on his way to high school, not a university, this fall. Otherwise, we would not only be facing a staggering tuition bill, but we would also have to pay for what has become the obligatory precollege marathon.

Perhaps nothing, except the anxiety before the birth of a first baby, can match the concern parents feel about prepping for college. There is the same desire to control the process and fear that making a mistake can ruin a childâ€™s future.

So I can understand the inclination to buy every product and service possible to cover all bases.

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Obama puts spotlight on education deficit

CAROL’S SUMMARY: According to the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education (2006), the United States ranks in the bottom half–16th among 27 countries compared–in the proportion of students who complete college degrees or certificate programs. President Obama has committed his administration to raise this standard so that by 2020, U.S. graduates lead in college graduation rates world wide. His appeal isn’t only in terms of what we owe our young people ethically, but what it’s costing us as a nation financially. In this country, 1.2 million high school students drop out every year. This translates into 9 out of every 30 students. Of those 9, 4 will be unemployed, 3 will be on government assistance, and 2 will have no health insurance (Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development www.ascd.org).

Turning around this disturbing trend must start earlier than high school. An article published by the Chicago Tribune (Dec. 11, 2008), reported that college preparation begins in elementary and middle school, too, based on separate studies by the ACT and the University of Chicago’s Consortium on Chicago School Research. The ACT report found that students who earned average scores in 8th grade had only a one-in-four chance of scoring high enough on the ACT to go to college. The Consortium study reported similar predictions.

These findings pose several important questions:

1) What can be done at the elementary school level to prepare students for success in middle school? Are we as a country addressing the needs of the whole child? Not only academically, but emotionally and socially?

2) What are middle schools (and parents) doing to prepare students to make a smooth transition from 8th grade to high school, what districts call “the freshmen transition”? As school reform advocates, how can we expand and support these programs?

3) What skills will graduates need in the 21st-century in order to complete globally? How can we help ensure that our schools are building the skills into the core curriculum?

ARTICLE:

He wants U.S. to have highest proportion of college graduates in the world by 2020.
By Frank James, Posted February 25, 2009 at www.latimes.com

Reporting from Washington â€” President Obama on Tuesday laid out a series of challenges for the nation to meet in job training and college attainment, part of an effort to give every child a “complete and competitive education.”

The president, in his first address to a joint session of Congress, said his administration would provide the support needed to give the U.S. the highest proportion of college graduates in the world by 2020. He said there was a vital need for Americans to complete more years of education if the nation is to compete globally.

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The 3 Râ€™s? A Fourth Is Crucial, Too: Recess

CAROL’S SUMMARY: Research shows that recess, or play time, has a direct impact on the academic success of students. It gives the brain a rest and helps improve behavioral, attention, and concentration problems. Creativity, imagination and stress-reduction are central to recreating and playing.

Questions to consider:
1. How much recess time does your childâ€™s school allow?
2. Can you apply this method to homework and chores?
3. How much fun is in your life? In your childâ€™s?

ARTICLE:

By TARA PARKER-POPE,

Posted February 24, 2009 at www.nytimes.com

The best way to improve childrenâ€™s performance in the classroom may be to take them out of it.

New research suggests that play and down time may be as important to a childâ€™s academic experience as reading, science and math, and that regular recess, fitness or nature time can influence behavior, concentration and even grades.

A study published this month in the journal Pediatrics studied the links between recess and classroom behavior among about 11,000 children age 8 and 9. Those who had more than 15 minutes of recess a day showed better behavior in class than those who had little or none. Although disadvantaged children were more likely to be denied recess, the association between better behavior and recess time held up even after researchers controlled for a number of variables, including sex, ethnicity, public or private school and class size.

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Academic Integrity and Student Plagiarism: a Question of Education, Not Ethics

CAROL’S SUMMARY: Currently, the fight against plagiarism is approached by two schools of thought: moral and criminal. Both insist on academic integrity, yet both remain rather vague as to the definition of the intangible plagiarism.

Susan D. Bloom suggests that in this information and common-knowledge age, a third school that teaches the skill of proper citation is needed. That having professors teaching when, where, and how to cite will help students avoid plagiarism.

Questions to consider:
1. Do you know when to cite a quote?
2. How do you cite information in your school assignments?
3. What would make citation easier for you?

ARTICLE:

By SUSAN D. BLUM,

From the Chronicle of Higher Education, February 23, 2009

Student plagiarism is a problem on many college campuses. The two main approaches that institutions use to prevent it call for treating plagiarism either as morally wrong or as a crime. But neither avenue can be universally successful.

Institutions that approach the problem of plagiarism as a matter of morality often create honor codes. Such codes appeal to the desire of students to do the right thing. The codes assume that, with appropriate social pressure, they will. Students are asked to affirm that they will practice virtuous conduct as members of an academic community.

But while students may subscribe to the principles embodied in the notion of academic integrity, other principles can lead them to plagiarize or accept their classmates’ infractions. For instance, friendship and friendliness â€” student solidarity â€” are virtues that often take precedence over adherence to an academic code of honor.

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The New Reverse Transfer

CAROL’S SUMMARY: The number of students transferring from four-year colleges to 2-year colleges has increased. Some have transferred due to financial hardship during this rough economy. Community colleges are cheaper and class sizes are typically smaller.

Community colleges can be an import stepping stone. It is extremely important to leave with an associateâ€™s degree, because it makes it so much easier if you decide to go back and earn a baccalaureate degree. Reverse transfer students should still graduate with a mindset of success with a track record (4 year and 2 year combined) which show their accomplishments and point to their potential for real contributions in the world of work.

Questions to consider:
1. If youâ€™re still in high school, have you decided what type of college you will go to?
2. Has this article affected your decision?
3. If youâ€™re already in college, does this sound like an advantageous move for you? What will you save financially if you spend four years at a state college versus a community college?

ARTICLE:

February 18, 2009, From the Chronicle of Higher Education, February 18, 2009

Stephanie Jamiot is a community college transfer student, but not the kind one might expect. Instead of following the steady flow of students who move from two-year institutions to four-year institutions, she is one of a growing number of so-called â€œreverse transfersâ€ who leave four-year universities to attend community college.

Cuyahoga Community College in Cleveland — Ohio’s largest two-year institution and the one Jamiot currently attends — had an 11 percent increase in the number of â€œreverse transfersâ€ this spring compared to last. These students mostly come from public and private institutions around Ohio. Nationally, the American Association of Community Colleges notes that a third of all two-year students previously attended a four-year institution. The recession has led to surge in community college enrollments this year, and some experts believe these “reverse transfers” are an important and sometimes overlooked portion of that growing student body at two-year institutions.

â€” David Moltz

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Economic-Stimulus Law Creates Jobs for Students, Too

CAROL’S SUMMARY: President Obama signed an economic-stimulus law back in February giving $200-million for Federal Work-Study. This will help create more work-study jobs for students with financial need.

Work-study jobs help students with financial need go to college and are predicted to help the economy because the studentsâ€™ wages go to either tuition or housing. Tuition money helps pay faculty salaries that they use toward goods purchased and housing money turns over into the local community-boosting the economy.

Questions to consider:
1. Have you considered a work-study job?
2. Who could you talk to for more information on work-study jobs at your school?
3. How will work study prepare you for success in the world of work?

ARTICLE:

By BECKIE SUPIANO,

From the Chronicle of Higher Education, February 19, 2009

Washington

The $200-million for Federal Work-Study in the economic-stimulus law that President Obama signed this week is expected to help an additional 130,000 students, each earning an average of $1,500 a year, according to government estimates. The money, despite rumors to the contrary, will not be pegged to a new community-service requirement.

Rather, an Education Department official said, the money “will be distributed to colleges by April 1 based on existing formulas and information that colleges have already submitted” to the department. Colleges will then be able to give undergraduate and graduate students the money next academic year.

Congress has not yet set the overall level of support for Federal Work-Study for fiscal year 2009. In recent years, the program has received about $980-million, and higher-education lobbyists believe lawmakers will not lower that amount. So the extra $200-million could push the total pot of money over a billion dollars, a height it reached in 2001.

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Princeton Student Finds Passion in Garbage

CAROL’S SUMMARY: Dumpster-diving isnâ€™t just for those down on their luck. A student at Princeton shares his experience dumpster-diving while practicing freeganism to help reduce waste. There is a lot you can learn about yourself and others through looking at patterns of consumption. Of course, some of these findings may not be so appealing, but they are interesting nonetheless.

Questions to consider:
1. What was your initial reaction to the idea of dumpster-diving?
2. What do you think of freeganism?
3. What else can we do to help reduce waste in our society?
4. How can these findings help us as a society to be more aware and leave less of garbage footprint?

ARTICLE:

By STEVE KOLOWICH, From the Chronicle of Higher Education, February 20, 2009

As a Princeton University student, Alexander Barnard has access to cafeterias staffed by an award-winning dining service. But he can still tell you the best time to scavenge grocery Dumpsters for edible food.

“Between 9 and 10 p.m.,” he says. “After the stores close, before the garbage trucks come around.”

Mr. Barnard, a senior majoring in sociology, gets many of his meals from the garbage, which is where he says too much of America’s usable food ends up. He is a practitioner of “freeganism,” an activist movement organized under the principle of “limited participation in the conventional economy and minimal consumption of resources,” according to Freegan.Info, an outreach group with which Mr. Barnard is affiliated.

“Freeganism is not just about being cheap,” he says. “It’s not just about living off the waste of society. It’s about trying to make an impact.”

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