April » 2009 » Carol J. Carter

Learning Skills Course Appears to Help Students Succeed

CAROL’S SUMMARY:
Freshmen success courses which emphasize personal growth, self-awareness, academic strategies and solid job-related activities and exercises do help students succeed in college, career, and life. Bruce Tuckman’s research at Ohio State University corroborates much of the research from the National Resource Center on the First Year Experience (FYE), the National Association of Developmental Education (NADE) and the College Reading and Learning Association (CRLA).

But success-readiness doesn’t stop with one class. Prospective freshmen need to plan internships to discover careers and fields which interest them, join organizations on their campus or within their communities which can build their leadership skills, and reach out to establish rapport with people in fields and careers they might want to pursue. A freshmen success class, whether in the summer or fall of their first year of college, is just the beginning of the initiative needed for the challenges and rewards of today’s global world.

ARTICLE
Chronicles of Higher Education
By David Glenn

A learning and motivation course at Ohio State University appears to have succeeded in improving studentsâ€™ grades and retention rates, according to a study scheduled to be presented today at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association in San Diego.

To view the entire article visit
http://chronicle.com/temp/email2.php?id=mq24TxjvmCS4jmssbwdjy3XnbPmpndZx

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Education Standards Likely to See Toughening

CAROL’S SUMMARY: While some have accused Barack Obama of continuing Bushâ€™s education program, others see his vision and Arnie Duncan’s, the Secretary of Education, as bold and driven by accountability, as the article below indicates. While short on specifics, the administration is enlisting the support of governors across the country to drive this initiative, linking their expectations of stronger student performance to stimulus funding. The goal is to get students ready for college, without the need for remedial classes once they get there. Currently, the U.S. has 1.5 million college students remediated for English and 2.5 remediated for math. Governors, schools, parents and principals have their work cut out for them.

ARTICLE:

By SAM DILLON
Published: April 14, 2009

WASHINGTON â€” President Obama and his team have alternated praise for the goals of President George W. Bushâ€™s No Child Left Behind law with criticism of its weaknesses, all the while keeping their own plans for the law a bit of a mystery.

But clues are now emerging, and they suggest that the Obama administration will use a Congressional rewriting of the federal law later this year to toughen requirements on topics like teacher quality and academic standards and to intensify its focus on helping failing schools. The lawâ€™s testing requirements may evolve but will certainly not disappear. And the federal role in education policy, once a state and local matter, is likely to grow.

The administration appears to be preparing important fixes to what many see as some of the lawâ€™s most serious defects. But its emerging plans are a disappointment to some critics of the No Child Left Behind law, who hoped Mr. Obamaâ€™s campaign promises of change would mean a sharper break with the Bush-era law.

Visit www.nytimes.com to view the entire article

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Locked-In Tuition Is a Win for Families but a Tough Sell for Colleges

Many four year colleges are hard-pressed in these economic times to find ways to increase their revenues amidst state budget cuts and dwindling enrollments from students who are choosing more economically priced community colleges. In the article below, many colleges are trying to â€œcloseâ€ students and parents ahead of time through advanced payment plans. This may pay the college less over the long haul, but it ensures student attendance and commits students to that school for the course of their degree programs unless something goes really wrong.

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Too Busy to Start Over?

Many professionals who desire to make a career change may view this as an all or nothing proposition, but as the article below states, there are incremental steps anyone can take to move closer to their dream job. If you’re considering a new career field, here are a few questions to ask yourself to get yourself ready for a successful transition:

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India Defies Slump, Powered by Growth in Poor Rural States

CAROL’S SUMMARY: Indiaâ€™s lowest classes, long denied access to the basics of education and civil living, are now being given the opportunity to change their lives through learning. In the WSJâ€™s article below, some of the poorest and the weakest areas of India are resurging and fueling an economic force that is shoring up the rest of India which, like the rest of the world, is in financial decline. The potential for these â€œlower castesâ€ to participate in Indiaâ€™s future has tremendous implications for labor and vitality in the most far-flung and often forgotten parts of India as well as people in the poorest slums of the largest cities. Most importantly, people who have a had a culture and history of non-importance and the most degrading life conditions are now being given dignity, access and the ability to change their plight through exposure to education in this â€œflatâ€ new world.

ARTICLE:

By PETER WONACOTT

DEV KULI VILLAGE, India — This country’s path out of the global economic turmoil may start here, among a community of outcastes who dine on rats.

In Bihar, India’s poorest and least literate major state, the Mushahar are the poorest and least literate. Most are farm laborers. About one in 10 can read. So impoverished is this group that they hunt field rats to supplement a deprived diet. Mushahar is Hindi for “rat eater.”

But the outlook for the state’s two million Mushahar has brightened in the past year. Thanks to government aid programs, more Mushahar children are attending school. Increased state investment in roads and local factories has put their parents to work. Demand for laborers has pushed up wages for field work.

Visit www.wsj.com for the entire article

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On the Job, but on the Outlook for Work

CAROL’S SUMMARY:

Even introverts should open their minds to the power of social networking in a down economy. As the article below indicates, people who get out and meet others through womenâ€™s groups, special interests, sports and hobbies will have more job connections and information about jobs than people who keep to themselves. You can network in person or on-line through LinkedIn and sites like FaceBook, but a combination of both strategies is likely your best bet. So, put yourself out there and reap the rewards of expanding your social circle to people who can help you and vice versa.

ARTICLE

New York Times
by Laura M. Holson

Networking before the pink slip arrives is a measure of the anxiety seeping into nearly every corner of the work world.
So a few weeks ago, Katherine Wu, an executive at NBC Universal, packed an overnight bag with her yoga mat and drove 80 miles to Mohonk Mountain House in New Paltz, N.Y., to a retreat organized by 85 Broads, a womenâ€™s networking group. In between spa treatments and sun salutations, she and 17 fellow executives discussed career prospects in an unsettled economy.

To view the entire article visit

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/09/fashion/09networking.html?emc=eta1

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Europe’s Higher-Education Restructuring Holds Lessons for U.S., Report Says

CAROL’S SUMMARY:

Clifford Adelman from the Institute for Higher Education, is leading a new way of thinking in the U.S. based on the Bologna Process, the higher education agenda of 29 European countries. Like many of us, Adelman believes the U.S. is no longer on the cutting edge, nor can “we assume world-wide dominance oblivious to the creative energies, natural intelligence and hard work of other nations.”

The Lumina Foundation agrees with Adelman and will be working in three states–Minnesota, Utah and Indiana–to pilot some of the strategies from the Bologna Process. Most appealing to me, is that people from many perspectives will be surveyed–students, faculty, recent grads and, hang on to your hat, employers in an effort to define knowledge and skills needed from specific disciplines as they translate to real world success. Wow!
What a concept and how obvious in this age of serious global competition. I would encourage all states to follow suit as soon as possible.

The Lumina Foundation’s goal is to increase the quality of degrees–and I am sure there must be workforce equivalent to measure this longitudinally–from 39% to 60% by 2025. As I said, we could really benefit from this nationally. In this age of global achievement and opportunity, the U.S. needs to look out for best practices and then apply them to an educational system which can again become cutting-edge, hopefully on or before 2025.

ARTICLE
Chronicle of Higher Education
April 8, 2009

To view entire article visit
http://chronicle.com/temp/email2.php?id=tmVtWCKdrCC6W9rrvrhSmf5mcXpNkvfc

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Report Envisions Shortage of Teachers as Retirements Escalate

CAROL’S SUMMARY:Â

As the article below indicates, over the next four years, one third of the nationâ€™s 3.2 million teachers are slated to retire. In addition to that, many entering the professionâ€”one in three–drop out in their first five years of teaching.

What can we do to keep talented young teachers on the teaching track? What are we not doing in our schools of education to prepare these students for what lies ahead? How can we recruit some of the best and brightest people from industry to get their teaching certificates and become teachers in this tough economy? How can we look to other nations for top talent in teachers who can inspire and educate our students in the United States? How can more talented teachers become principals or leaders in their districts in other important capacities?

Many people with industry experience are now being considered for Superintendent positions. School boards value managers who are data driven, smart and able to motivate and inspire people beyond what they have always done. Michael Bennett in Colorado was a lawyer and a successful business person before he ran Denver Public Schools. Now that he is a United States Senator, his successor was the CFO under Bennet and has the same business sensibilities as the new Superintendent.

ARTICLE
New York Times

By SAM DILLON
April 7, 2009
Over the next four years, more than a third of the nationâ€™s 3.2 million teachers could retire, depriving classrooms of experienced instructors and straining taxpayer-financed retirement systems, according to a new report.

To view entire article visit

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/07/education/07teacher.html?emc=eta1

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Gossip Girls and Boys Get Lessons in Empathy

CAROL’S SUMMARY: Spoiled behavior among young adults has long been a problem, but schools are tackling those problems first-hand by developing programs and classes to teach students empathy. LifeBound publishes a book and a program called People Smarts for Teenagers, which focuses on teaching students what Daniel Goleman terms “emotional intelligence.” Goleman argues that your EQ is more important than your IQ in college, career and life. People Smartsâ€”and EQâ€”is all about how you understand and manage yourself, relate to and work with others, and handle life disappointments and setbacks. These qualities go into someoneâ€™s personal gristâ€”and those are some of the greatest indicators of life success.

ARTICLE:

By WINNIE HU
Published: April 4, 2009

SCARSDALE, N.Y. â€” The privileged teenagers at Scarsdale Middle School are learning to be nicer this year, whether they like it or not.
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English classes discuss whether Friar Laurence was empathetic to Romeo and Juliet. Research projects involve interviews with octogenarians and a survey of local wheelchair ramps to help students identify with the elderly and the disabled. A new club invites students to share snacks and board games after school with four autistic classmates who are in separate classes during the day.

Visit www.nytimes.com to view this entire article

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Community Colleges Anticipate Boom in Baby-Boomer Students

Students over 50 will be hitting college campuses this year at record rates. What does that mean for colleges and what does that mean for the students themselves?

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