A new study by the Milken Institute found a strong relationship between a well-educated population and a region’s economic performance.¹ Though it’s common knowledge that well-educated workers often make more money and have better jobs than less-educated workers, this study stands out in that it also found that just by their geographic location, less-educated people can make more money if they live in the same area as more-educated people.

Other key findings from the report include:

• Education increases regional prosperity. Adding one year to the average years of schooling among the employed in a metropolitan area is associated with an increase of real GDP per capita of more than ten percent, and an increase in real wages per worker of more than eight percent.
• Better educated = bigger benefits. The better educated the worker, the greater the benefit of additional schooling, to both the worker and the region. Add one year of college to a region’s workforce, for instance, and GDP per capita jumps 17.4 percent.
• Clusters count. In metros with clusters of high-skilled occupations, the share of workers holding at least a master’s degree is much higher than in metros without significant clusters, perhaps because of the intense competition for employment.

 

In order to use the findings to improve the economy, one recommendation by the institute is to increase the number of college graduates. As we all know, this is easier said than done. One of the greatest barriers that stands between a student and graduation is unpreparedness. This unpreparedness can start as early as preschool, and if not addressed, will stick with the student until graduation day, if they are lucky enough to make it there. Many of today’s students and high school graduates understand the need for some form of higher education in order to have real career options in the 21st century. However, many students today get left behind in K-12 and enter college unprepared, often taking developmental (or remedial) courses before they can enroll in a college-level course.

If you read my blog earlier this week you know every year 1.7 million 4-year and 2-year students will enroll in a remedial course. The vast majority of these students will not enroll in a college-level course.  Today I am leading the session Professionalism for Developmental Students:  Workplace Mindsets for Classroom Success at the NADE conference. I’ll be answering questions like: “How Does Lack of Preparation at the College Level Impede Employment?” and “How Can Faculty Set Expectations for Professional Success in Your Developmental Class?” Today’s students — developmental or otherwise — need to be held accountable for coming to class, doing the work, and passing the course. Today’s educators need to get an investment from their students and make a choice to show how the skills they are teaching will impact the student’s future prosperity. Not until we have accountable students and educators will we begin to have the graduation rates we desire.

This is LifeBound’s last day at the NADE conference. If you haven’t stopped by our booth, come say hello and learn more about becoming an academic coach for your students. You can also visit our coaching website at www.lifeboundcoaching.com.

¹“Better Higher Education Leads to a Better Regional Economy, Report Says.” The Chronicle. <http://chronicle.com/blogs/bottomline/better-higher-education-leads-to-a-better-regional-economy-report-says/>
²A Matter of Degrees: The Effect of Educational Attainment on Regional Economic Prosperity.” The Milken Institute. <http://www.milkeninstitute.org/publications/publications.taf?function=detail&ID=38801395&cat=resrep>

Children need to feel challenged in order to grow. In fact, researchers have found that when children don’t feel challenged in a certain activity, they’ll often change the activity to make it challenging.¹Â Young students have a natural desire to learn and to develop new skills; they want to engage in activities that allow them to improve and to excel. While it’s important to keep children safe as they experiment and try out new things, parents and teachers need to be careful not to interfere with important steps in a child’s learning process, even if those steps are difficult, frustrating, or even emotionally painful for the child.

In her blog, “Why It’s Important to Let Your Child Make Mistakes,” research psychologist Dr. Peggy Drexler explains the difference between keeping a child safe and protecting her from necessary failures:

“…[O]ur responsibility is to keep kids unharmed. That doesn’t mean shielding them from all possibility of defeat. It means letting them fail safely.”

She gives a few tips to help parents to accomplish this fine balance (these same tips can also be applied to a classroom setting):

• “Aim to be reliable, but non-interfering.”
• “Involve [the child] in the decision making.”
• “Let [the child] solve her own problems.”

When given the freedom to choose their own paths and the risks they want to take, children will naturally take bold steps forward. It’s important for adults not to dampen that boldness, or else their children might not be fully prepared to be successful, autonomous adults when they’re older.

In a similar blog by Time writer Paul Tough, “Back to School: Why Grit Is More Important Than Good Grades,” Tough makes the argument that school is the perfect environment for learning because students can fail safely. Thinking about grades only, this might not be readily apparent, but there are other educational benefits to consider. Tough explains: “…[W]hat we don’t think about enough is how to help our children build their character — how to help them develop skills like perseverance, grit, optimism, conscientiousness, and self-control, which together arguably do more to determine success than S.A.T. scores or I.Q.”

This idea, that success is more firmly rooted in strength of character than academic achievement, is supported by research. Tough cites a recent study that “found that adults who had experienced little or no adversity growing up were actually less happy and confident than those who had experienced a few significant setbacks in childhood.” If parents (or teachers) try to minimize the amount of difficulty that kids experience in school, however, whether that’s by helping too much with homework or encouraging kids to focus only on subjects they’re good at, these same children will grow up more disadvantaged than if they had only had a mediocre SAT score.

As reported in the Edutopia blog “Experienced Teachers Reflect on Their First Year,” one teacher, when asked what she’d learned that was most important since her first year of teaching, explained her philosophy for challenging children: “Create a learning environment in which students feel comfortable, and they’ll take the risks of making mistakes.” Since kids will seek out challenges of their own accord, it’s important that teachers and parents create an environment, both in the classroom and at home, that will help kids feel comfortable enough to take risks and make mistakes without fear of shame or rejection. This environment needs to be both physically and emotionally safe, free of both safety hazards and put-downs. Once that’s accomplished, and the students feel secure enough to move around and explore, the possibilities are endless.

LifeBound is dedicated to helping students embrace the best that is within themselves through learning what they have to offer the world, to taking the risks to go after what they dream for, to following through with people and actions which can make those dreams a reality. Coaching is one of the tools that can help students learn to understand themselves, solve problems, evaluate options, and move through challenge and difficulty with grace and ease. We conduct coaching training for students and educators who work with students. To learn more, visit www.lifeboundcoaching.com.

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¹Mandigo, James L., and Nicholas L. Holt. “Elementary Students’ Accounts of Optimal Challenge in Physical Education.” Physical Educator 63.4 (Early Winter 2006): 170-183. Academic Search Complete. Web. 6 June 2012.

Only 32 percent of students who graduate from high school are academically prepared for college, according to research from the Manhattan Institute Center for Civic Information¹. Remedial classes in English, writing, and math are offered at many of today’s community and four-year colleges to address the overwhelming amount of students leaving high school without basic mastery of their core subjects.

Remedial classes are controversial because their worth is questioned in the grand scheme of things. Yes, remedial classes can open opportunities for more students to enter college who otherwise wouldn’t have the academic credentials to pursue an associate’s degree or a bachelor’s degree. However, remedial classes can also offer a false hope to many students.

One study found students earning their associate’s degree who take at least one remedial class are half as likely to graduate in three or four years as the students who don’t. Another study of full-time students earning their associate’s degree at a community college found only 1.2 percent of those who took a remedial class finished in the standard 2 years. Only 13 percent finished their associate’s degree in four years². Of students attending four-year colleges, two-thirds of students who take remedial courses will not earn degrees within six years³.

Remediation has many costs. Experts say it costs taxpayers twice as much, since they pay for the remediated students to take the same course in high school and in college. It also costs the student. As the tuition for higher education rises, more students are dropping out due to the high cost. This is especially a problem for those who have only budgeted, for example, to go to school for 2-years to earn a two-year degree; when in reality it will take many who need remedial courses more than four years to complete an associate’s degree.

Remediation isn’t a college problem; it’s a preparation problem. The solution to remediation is in K12 schools, communities, policy makers, after school programs, parents, and students. We can’t close our eyes and wait for someone else to bring the money and solutions to solve the college remediation crisis. It’s a problem for the 1% and the 99%. Individuals and big corporations. Elementary schools and colleges.

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¹“Remediation at the College Level: Who Needs It, and Does It Help?” by Professor Bridget Terry Long. Usable Knowledge. http://www.uknow.gse.harvard.edu/leadership/LP101-407.html

²“Measure Would End No-Credit Remedial Classes At Colleges,” by Kathleen Megan. 19 March 2012. Hartford Courant. Accessed on 18 July 2012. http://articles.courant.com/2012-03-19/news/hc-remedial-bill-0320-20120319_1_remedial-work-college-credits-remedial-college-classes

³“College Preparedness Lacking, Forcing Students into Developmental Coursework, Prompting Some to Drop Out.” 18 June 2012. The Huffington Post. Accessed on 18 July 2012. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/18/students-lacking-college-_n_1606201.html

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Did you know that no matter the amount of money you have, donating some of it can make you feel better? In the article “Worried About Money? Give Some Away,” Linda Wasmer Andrews explains why giving money to those in need can boost your spirits:

It can make you feel connected: In one theory, it’s believed that people who have less money are more generous with their funds because they know what it’s like to sometimes need financial help from family and friends. Giving money can make you feel like part of a community, whether it’s feeling closer to family and friends or becoming part of a cause.

You’re making a difference: When you give even a small amount, you can take your mind off of your own worries, financial or not, by helping someone else out. Give a dollar at the checkout stand or register to walk for a cause.

It gets rid of stress. In a study by the University of British Columbia, researchers found a connection between being stingy with money and cortisol, a stress hormone. In the study, economic students played a game where they were each given $10 and could either keep it or donate it. Of the students who kept more of the money, they felt more shame, which researchers predicted to be a cause of higher levels of cortisone.

Sometimes the hardest part about doing something new is just doing it. If you want to become a charitable giver it’s never too early or late to start. Show your kids that you think it’s important to give to things you find important so they can mimic your healthy habits. Have a conversation about the things that inspire you and find out what inspires or concerns them. Are they concerned about the earth? Or maybe less fortunate kids in other parts of the country or the world?

Kids, and adults, may not have a substantial amount of money to give in a lump sum. If so, set a goal for how much money you can save every month and put that monthly sum away for an entire year. At the end of the year, donate to your cause.

If you could give to one cause, what would it be? What’s one step you can take to start making this wish a reality? Share in the comment box below.

Source(s):

“Worried About Money? Give Some Away,” by Linda Wasmer Andrews. August 12, 2011. Psychology Today. Accessed on August 14, 2011. <http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/minding-the-body/201108/worried-about-money-give-some-away>

If your kids and students are having trouble understanding numbers, it might be the way you’re teaching them. According to the article “Helping Children Understand Numbers,” the process of how we learn numbers is still very much a mystery, but maybe a little less so. The numerals we use today are relatively new, only having been invented about four or five thousand years ago. The short history of math suggests to researchers that our brains haven’t had time to fully evolve to processing these numerals and that math must be an invention of culture.

But, the evolution of math skills had to start somewhere. It’s believed that we do have an innate sense for math that is referred to as “the number sense”: a foundation of mathematics that stems from vision and reasoning. In this new study, researchers at Stanford University found why children learning numbers have a difficult time connecting numbers to words, and therefore understanding sets of things, and how teachers can fix the problem.

Researchers explain their finding as such: When learning numbers, children don’t know how to differentiate between “three” and “bears” in a set of “three bears.” Because our brains learn by guessing, giving a learning brain the word “three” before “bears” sets up an irrelevant expectation. In the study, researchers tried two methods to train two groups of students. One group of kids saw no improvement in their number sense when teachers used “look, there are three bears.” However, the group that was told “look at the bears, there are three!” saw 30% improvement on being able to identify small sets after this single, short session.

“The development of number sense in early childhood is the best predictor educationalists have of later mathematical ability.” What do you think of the findings? Do you think you’ll try a new approach to teaching numbers at home or in your classroom? Share with us in the comment box below.

Source(s):

“Helping Children Understand Numbers.” US News. August 3, 2011. Accessed on August 10, 2011. <http://www.usnews.com/science/articles/2011/08/03/helping-children-understand-numbers>