This week I would like to focus on the article "Early-Years Absenteeism Seen as Critical." If you are not in school, you cannot learn. This sounds simple. It seems like common sense. And yet many students, according to the article, are even chronically absent. This is true both at the elementary and the secondary level. On average, one in ten K-12 students nationwide misses 10 percent or more of school each year. If the school year is 180 days, that is approximately 18 days of school!
There seems to be a link between chronic absenteeism and poverty. According to a study by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, more than one in five Kindergartners living below the federal poverty line was chronically absent whereas only 8 % of students living above the poverty line were chronically absent. The article alluded to many reasons that affect whether children come to school. Some risk factors associated with living in poverty such as lack of mobility or transportation or an unstable home life seem to play a role. Apparently high kindergarten absences are the norm nationwide, perhaps due to the fact that kindergarten attendance is not mandatory in many states. Many parents also do not realize that Kindergarten today is much more academic. Many children are learning to read in Kindergarten, for instance.
Why does absenteeism in Kindergarten matter so much? Research has shown that children who miss more than 10% of Kindergarten score much lower on reading, math, and general knowledge tests in first grade. Chronic Kindergarten absences also predict continuing absences in later grades.
New York City schools seem to be taking on this problem and trying to get to the bottom of it. They are conducting assessments and interventions school by school. One of the things that they have learned is that if a younger child is ill, often an older sibling will need to miss school and stay home to take care of him or her. This is especially typical in families where both parents work. In a school in Rhode Island, school officials researched what was going on with their chronically absent students and realized that many parents who worked the night shift could not stay awake until 9 a.m. to bring their children to school. They started a morning program that allowed parents to bring their children at 7 a.m. and saw a dramatic decrease in absenteeism. I am impressed by the creative solutions that school administrators have come up with to combat the problem of chronic absenteeism. It seems smart to first assess what is going on in each school and then tailor the solutions to fit each local community.
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Saturday, October 9, 2010
Ed Week, October 6, 2010
On the front page of Ed Week I found an article that immediately demanded my attention:
"China Flexes Linguistic Muscles. Millions of Dollars Aim to Encourage Mandarin-Language Instruction in U.S." As a college-level foreign language instructor I am always interested in issues related to funding and foreign languages in the United States. Compared to many other countries, I feel we in the U.S. show an appalling lack of interest in encouraging the study of other languages. A disheartening side-effect of the current recession/depression is that many college-level foreign language programs in diverse languages such as German, Russian, Italian, and French are currently fighting for their lives. This Chronicle of Higher Education article documents what is going on in the state of Missouri, for example. The MLA or Modern Language Association will be holding a special one-day session at its annual conference in January 2011 on strategies for defending and maintaining existing Language Programs at the college level. In the state of Oregon we have gone from 50 viable German High School programs down to 15 in recent years. From the sound of this article, however, students in Oregon may soon be learning Mandarin.
According to the article, the Chinese government has provided millions of dollars in aid to establish Mandarin classes in K-12 schools and colleges all over the country. Martha Abbott from the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages said what China is doing is not anything new. She cited past efforts by other countries such as Japan, France, and Germany through their embassies and other organizations like Germany's Goethe Institute. The key difference seems to be in the vast amount of money China is investing. Ms. Abbott also indicated that a critical motive of the Chinese government is to promote Mandarin Chinese as a global language. I was also surprised to learn that the Chinese government had provided financial support to develop a high school AP course in Chinese language and culture. In addition, the Chinese government has worked to establish Confucius Institutes at universities throughout the world. They have also created or enlarged Mandarin Chinese programs at the elementary and secondary levels. School districts around the country are struggling financially, and the extra funding from the Chinese government is welcome. Our own government is also encouraging the study of under-taught languages that it views as crucial for national defense purposes. I learned that the National Foreign Language Center at the University of Maryland College Park administers the federal "Star Talk Program" started by George W. Bush in 2006. This year this program provided approximately $ 20 Million dollars for K-16 summer programs for teachers and students in desired languages, including Chinese.
One question I have long pondered is why the United States does not seem to view our many immigrants and their cultural and linguistic knowledge and expertise as the valuable resource I see them as. I think we should be capitalizing on the many heritage speakers of all languages we have in this country. I would also like to understand why, although all the research supports it, we do not have our children learning foreign languages at an early age. There are cognitive and neurological benefits for our individual students, and it seems like in our global economy it would be in our nation's best interest to have proficient speakers of all languages.
"China Flexes Linguistic Muscles. Millions of Dollars Aim to Encourage Mandarin-Language Instruction in U.S." As a college-level foreign language instructor I am always interested in issues related to funding and foreign languages in the United States. Compared to many other countries, I feel we in the U.S. show an appalling lack of interest in encouraging the study of other languages. A disheartening side-effect of the current recession/depression is that many college-level foreign language programs in diverse languages such as German, Russian, Italian, and French are currently fighting for their lives. This Chronicle of Higher Education article documents what is going on in the state of Missouri, for example. The MLA or Modern Language Association will be holding a special one-day session at its annual conference in January 2011 on strategies for defending and maintaining existing Language Programs at the college level. In the state of Oregon we have gone from 50 viable German High School programs down to 15 in recent years. From the sound of this article, however, students in Oregon may soon be learning Mandarin.
According to the article, the Chinese government has provided millions of dollars in aid to establish Mandarin classes in K-12 schools and colleges all over the country. Martha Abbott from the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages said what China is doing is not anything new. She cited past efforts by other countries such as Japan, France, and Germany through their embassies and other organizations like Germany's Goethe Institute. The key difference seems to be in the vast amount of money China is investing. Ms. Abbott also indicated that a critical motive of the Chinese government is to promote Mandarin Chinese as a global language. I was also surprised to learn that the Chinese government had provided financial support to develop a high school AP course in Chinese language and culture. In addition, the Chinese government has worked to establish Confucius Institutes at universities throughout the world. They have also created or enlarged Mandarin Chinese programs at the elementary and secondary levels. School districts around the country are struggling financially, and the extra funding from the Chinese government is welcome. Our own government is also encouraging the study of under-taught languages that it views as crucial for national defense purposes. I learned that the National Foreign Language Center at the University of Maryland College Park administers the federal "Star Talk Program" started by George W. Bush in 2006. This year this program provided approximately $ 20 Million dollars for K-16 summer programs for teachers and students in desired languages, including Chinese.
One question I have long pondered is why the United States does not seem to view our many immigrants and their cultural and linguistic knowledge and expertise as the valuable resource I see them as. I think we should be capitalizing on the many heritage speakers of all languages we have in this country. I would also like to understand why, although all the research supports it, we do not have our children learning foreign languages at an early age. There are cognitive and neurological benefits for our individual students, and it seems like in our global economy it would be in our nation's best interest to have proficient speakers of all languages.
Education Week, September 22, 2010
This week the article "Scholars Suggest Adding 'Gap Year' May Encourage College Completion" caught my attention. I am currently teaching two beginning, college German classes and I have many Freshmen in my sections. One of the students told me that he had taken a year off and worked with a non-profit organization in Central America. He not only improved his Spanish, he also seems to be extremely motivated and ready to get the most out of his college years. I also found this article interesting because I, myself, took a PELP or Planned Educational Leave before starting U.C. Davis. During this year I was an A.F.S. exchange student in Austria. I lived with an Austrian family and attended another year of high school there. This gap year was an unforgettable experience that changed the trajectory of my life. My college experience was better and more enriching because I took this year off.
According to research cited in the article, former "gappers" did demonstrate higher motivation in college than students who did not take a gap year. This took the form of "adaptive behavior" which included planning, task management, and persistence. It was suggested that a gap year might be key in dealing with motivational difficulties in college students. The most recent statistics from the U.S. Department of Education's National Center on Education Statistics indicate that only 7.6 % of 2003-2004 graduates delayed college entry for a year. 29% of these students traveled or pursued other interests. 84% worked. Karl Haigler and Rae Nelson, in their book called "The Gap Year Advantage" interviewed 280 students who had taken a gap year. They cited burnout and a desire to discover more about themselves as their top two reasons for taking a gap year. It seems to me that we as a society and perhaps schools have come to view whether high school students go on to college as a yard stick that measures our success. There are young people who are able but perhaps not quite ready to go to college. My own personal experience backs this up.
According to research cited in the article, former "gappers" did demonstrate higher motivation in college than students who did not take a gap year. This took the form of "adaptive behavior" which included planning, task management, and persistence. It was suggested that a gap year might be key in dealing with motivational difficulties in college students. The most recent statistics from the U.S. Department of Education's National Center on Education Statistics indicate that only 7.6 % of 2003-2004 graduates delayed college entry for a year. 29% of these students traveled or pursued other interests. 84% worked. Karl Haigler and Rae Nelson, in their book called "The Gap Year Advantage" interviewed 280 students who had taken a gap year. They cited burnout and a desire to discover more about themselves as their top two reasons for taking a gap year. It seems to me that we as a society and perhaps schools have come to view whether high school students go on to college as a yard stick that measures our success. There are young people who are able but perhaps not quite ready to go to college. My own personal experience backs this up.
Education Week, September 29, 2010
The article titled "Educators Advised to Be Cautious on Facebook Profiles" caught my eye this week because I have such mixed feelings about all of the technology tools we are learning about in our Ed Tech class. According to the article, teachers and administrators around the country have been placed on administrative leave and even lost their jobs because of inappropriate material posted on the internet. The Ohio Education Association recommended not posting anything that you would not want on the front page of the newspaper. With online profiles, blogs, facebook, twitter, etc., teachers' personal lives are much more visible and accessible to students. Teachers need to be aware and on "high alert" because teachers are held to higher standards.
I can see the value in many of the technology tools we are learning about in our Educational Technology course. Today I was able to work on the debate on Direct Instruction vs. Constructivism by adding my ideas to a Google document. I could then email both of my partners and let them know that they might want to take a look at what I had contributed. Although we are all working and do not have time to meet outside of class, we are still able to collaborate on this project. And yet, this particular assignment also causes me some concern! I know that we will be videotaped and that this will be posted to the internet. I am somewhat uncomfortable with this because I am not sure I want a video "out there" showing me defending direct instruction. What if I am applying for a job and a principal googles my name and stumbles across this video? Taken out of context, namely that I was assigned the role of defending direct instruction in my educational psychology class, the principal might think I am a zealous believer in direct instruction. In reality, I am very aware of the problems associated with this teaching methodology.
I can see the value in many of the technology tools we are learning about in our Educational Technology course. Today I was able to work on the debate on Direct Instruction vs. Constructivism by adding my ideas to a Google document. I could then email both of my partners and let them know that they might want to take a look at what I had contributed. Although we are all working and do not have time to meet outside of class, we are still able to collaborate on this project. And yet, this particular assignment also causes me some concern! I know that we will be videotaped and that this will be posted to the internet. I am somewhat uncomfortable with this because I am not sure I want a video "out there" showing me defending direct instruction. What if I am applying for a job and a principal googles my name and stumbles across this video? Taken out of context, namely that I was assigned the role of defending direct instruction in my educational psychology class, the principal might think I am a zealous believer in direct instruction. In reality, I am very aware of the problems associated with this teaching methodology.
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