Literacy is All

Even With Educated Workforce, U.S. College, Career Issues Loom

Clearly  American public schools and colleges are not graduating enough students with the engineering and advanced manufacturing skills to fill the jobs available in the country. The building of additional factories, as promised by both Republicans and Democrats, without addressing this short-fall, can only result in more US jobs being out-sourced to foreign workers or foreign countries.

One reason for this short-fall is discussed late in the Even With Educated Workforce, U.S. College, Career Issues Loom.

"Countries with low unemployment for young people and high educational attainment have youth policies that help young people transition from schooling to work and view it as a societal responsibility, says Hoffman of Jobs for the Future... Hoffman says there is respect for the vocational system, and in countries with some of the strongest vocational systems—Australia, Austria, Germany, the Netherlands, and Switzerland—the majority of students choose that path because it provides work experience along with education. The business sector feels it has a responsibility to the younger generation, and it's in their best interest to be involved in their education because they are the future labor force," says Hoffman. "We don't seem to have that in this country."

Summit to Make a Case for Teaching Handwriting

Summit to Make a Case for Teaching Handwriting.

Will teaching penmanship yield students who can fill the engineering and high-tech jobs the United States currently has to out-source to get trained workers? Does it really matter what individual teachers like to teach or don't want to see disappear from the curriculum? Some teachers get stuck in their favorites, be it cooking Thanksgiving feasts or making valentine cards. Curriculum needs to address the Common Core Standards and the changing world.

Common-Core Standards Drew on Ideas From Abroad

Common-Core Standards Drew on Ideas From Abroad.

Equipping U.S. Schools for the Global Fast Lane

Equipping U.S. Schools for the Global Fast Lane.

Can comparisons of US educational results help educators evaluate US schools? States that cited international comparisons as a factor in informing their academic-content standards most often looked to them in the areas of mathematics and science. They reasoned that they needed to ensure that their states were preparing to keep up with the demands of a competitive world economy. They also reported the importance of looking at "best practices" from high-achieving nations. 

Equipping U.S. Schools for the Global Fast Lane

Equipping U.S. Schools for the Global Fast Lane.

Education Week reports that only 29 states use comparisons with international test data, while 21 states and the District of Columbia are not currently using international data as a resource in guiding public policy. 

Teacher Quality, Status Entwined Among Top-Performing Nations

Teacher Quality, Status Entwined Among Top-Performing Nations.

This article captures the complexity of educational reform in the United States. It is important to heed the entire article; the changes that US education requires are entwined and cannot be resolved independently of other factors. One valuable comment: "successful nations have made teaching a respected and supported profession". Perhaps this is not yet viewed as important to this country's future.

The Classroom Is Obsolete: It's Time for Something New

In his article, The Classroom Is Obsolete: It's Time for Something New, Prakash Nair, president of Fielding Nair International, a Minneapolis-based school planning and design firm, says that school reform ignores the reality that today’s classrooms are obsolete. Reform discussions are driven by educators and a public that think “yesterday’s classroom equals tomorrow’s school.” Reform efforts are driven by those who define students’ success as their “ability to perform well on a standardized test, rather than their developing skills to navigate a fast-changing world.”

Nair believes that the underlying principles of learning should steer the discussion. That perspective forces educators and the public to address fundamental questions around how students should learn, where they should learn, and with whom should they learn. 

Panel Finds Few Learning Gains From Testing Movement

Panel Finds Few Learning Gains From Testing Movement.

Is education running down the wrong road as it ties test scores more tightly to teacher evaluation? Don't test scores portray how students, teachers and schools are doing in a valid and unbiased assessment of progress?

Is there another path in Frost's "snowy wood?" 

U.S. Reforms Out of Sync With High-Performing Nations, Report Finds

U.S. Reforms Out of Sync With High-Performing Nations, Report Finds.

Job One for Title I: Use What Works

Job One for Title I: Use What Works.