Carol J. Carter

CAROL’S SUMMARY:

Employee satisfaction has hit a 22-year low. That’s how long the Conference Board has annually surveyed 5,000 households on the topic. In 1987, 61% of people reported being satisfied with their jobs and in 2005 it dropped to 52%. Today it’s 45%, sparking interest in “happiness coaching” in the workplace. According to the Wall Street Journal article below, employers are starting to hire trainers in the field of positive psychology to inspire workers to have a more positive attitude. Commonly referred to as “happiness coaches,” they may suggest the following tips for boosting office personnel and consequently office morale:

o “Write e-mails to your co-workers every day thanking them for something they have done.
o Meditate daily to clear your mind.
o Do something for somebody without expecting anything in return.
o Write in a journal about things you are thankful for;
o Look for traits you admire in people and compliment them.
o Focus on the process of your work, which you can control, rather than outcomes, which you can’t.
o And don’t immediately label events good or bad, but remain open to potentially positive outcomes of even the most seemingly negative events.”

The article also cites the following studies that indicate employees’ positive attitudes can be good for business:

o A 2004 study of 60 business teams in the journal of American Behavioral Scientist found teams with buoyant moods who encouraged each other earned higher profit and better customer-satisfaction ratings.
o A 2001 study at the University of Michigan says people who are experiencing joy or contentment are able to think more broadly and creatively, accepting a wider variety of possible actions, than people with negative emotions.

The value of coaching is also increasingly being implemented in the field of education, and to help meet the demand LifeBound offers academic coaches training twice a year in Denver, Colorado. Our training–which is attended by administrators and faculty across the country from k-12 through post secondary–is designed to boost emotional intelligence and develop leadership skills. Many of our participants who were formerly principals, teachers or counselors have been promoted to the district level after completion of our training sessions. Our next training dates are June 14, 15, and 16, 2010. For more information about LifeBound’s academic coaches training and the registration process, please call us toll free at 1.877.737.8510 or email contact@lifebound.com.

ARTICLE:

Thinking Happy Thoughts at Work
By SUE SHELLENBARGER
January 27, 2010

Like many workers, Ivelisse Rivera, a physician at Community Health Center, Middletown, Conn., feels stressed-out by mounting workloads. And she didn’t expect to get much help during her employer’s annual staff meeting last November—just the usual speeches on medical issues.

Instead, she got a big dose of something new: Happiness coaching. Keynote speaker Shawn Achor—a former Harvard University researcher and former co-teacher of one of the university’s most popular courses, Positive Psychology—extolled 90 listening employees to shake off dark moods at work by practicing such happiness-inducing techniques as meditation or expressing gratitude.

To her surprise, Dr. Rivera says, she drove home filled with thoughts about cheering up; “if I assume a negative attitude and complain all the time, whoever is working with me is going to feel the same way.”

To view this entire article visit www.wsj.com

CAROL’S SUMMARY:

President Obama’s first formal State of the Union address last night focused on the nation’s economy, and specifically, helping make college more affordable. “In the 21st century, one of the best antipoverty programs is a world-class education,” he said, calling for a $10,000 tax credit to families for four years of college, as well as an increase in Pell Grants. But even with financial aid, many students have trouble affording the basic fees. According to the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education, median family income increase by nearly 150 percent during the last 25 years, only to have college tuition and fees skyrocket by 439 percent during the same time period.

According to the Chronicle of Higher Education article below, Obama “urged Congress to finish legislation that would restructure federal student lending and proposed a more lenient loan-forgiveness program for graduates with federally subsidized student loans.” He will ask Congress to boost federal spending on education by as much as $4 billion in the coming 2011 budget, Education Secretary Arnie Duncan said earlier in the day. Of that total, $3 billion will go toward elementary and secondary education and $1 billion will be for higher education.

In the U.S., 1 out of every 4 college students drop out or stop out (postpone their education and enroll again later). Closely linked to college drop-out rates are the numbers of high school students who quit school. In a May 2009 report by the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts, and the Alternative Schools Network in Chicago, Illinois, approximately 600,000 students dropped out in 2008. If they had stayed in school and graduated, they would have generated over $1 billion in state and local taxes in just one year of their working lives. Consequently, addressing our nation’s drop out crisis is one antidote to the high cost of college. Without correcting the patterns of underachievement that often begin in middle school, the U.S. high school drop-out crisis will persist, making college even more unattainable.

What kinds of supportive strategies can we put in place at the middle school and high school levels to help students prepare for college and career success?

How can we boost students’ intrinsic motivation to see themselves as learners who have the ability to achieve academically?

How can we better serve students so that they excel in their areas of strength and interest while also providing opportunities to improve in areas of learning deficiencies?

ARTICLE:

The Chronicle of Higher Education
January 28, 2010
In a Speech Focused on the Economy, Obama Calls for Cutting College Costs
By Libby Nelson
Washington

In his first formal State of the Union address on Wednesday night, President Obama focused on the nation’s economic problems but also zeroed in on several issues of concern to higher education, including college costs.

He urged Congress to finish legislation that would restructure federal student lending and proposed a more lenient loan-forgiveness program for graduates with federally subsidized student loans.

To view this entire article visit www.chronicle.com

CAROL’S SUMMARY:

There are more men than women ages 18-24 in the USA — 15 million vs. 14.2 million, according to a Census Bureau estimate last year. But nationally, the male/female ratio on campus today is 43/57, a reversal from the late 1960s and well beyond the nearly even splits of the mid-1970s. The National Center for Education reports the number of females attending college in 2004 surpassed males by about 200,000 nationwide. According to a new study, “Gender Equity in Higher Education: 2010” by the American Council on Education, that gap has remained steady, however, the enrollment disparity between Hispanic men and women has continued to increase with enrollment of undergraduate Hispanic men ages 24 or younger dropping from 45 percent to 42 percent between 1999 and 2007, according to this same study. The percentage of undergraduates at community and four-year colleges who were male hovered between 42 percent and 44 percent from the 1995-1996 academic year to 2007-2008, the last year for which data was available, says the report. Fewer than half of foreign-born Hispanic men who live in the United States complete high school.

Jacqueline E. King, assistant vice president for policy analysis at the council and author of the report, added, “There has been some anecdotal evidence coming in from community colleges saying that since the recession, they’ve seen enrollment of non-traditional-aged men expanding pretty rapidly. They’ve been laid off or they’re worried about being laid off, so the job market is pushing them to upgrade.” King also found that 68 percent of college enrollees from low-income families were female; only 31 percent were male.

How can we do a better job getting Latin males into the college pipeline starting in middle and secondary schools?

What pedagogical approaches might need to be put in place that honor the different learning preferences between boys and girls?

How can we draw more men to the teaching profession who in turn become role models for boys?

ARTICLE:

The Chronicle of Higher Education
January 26, 2010
Female Undergraduates Continue to Outnumber Men, but Gap Holds Steady
By Andrea Fuller

The gender gap in undergraduate enrollment appears to have stopped widening for most groups, according to a report being released on Tuesday by the American Council on Education.

The percentage of undergraduates at community and four-year colleges who were male hovered between 42 percent and 44 percent from the 1995-1996 academic year to 2007-2008, the last year for which data was available, says the report, “Gender Equity in Higher Education: 2010.” Among undergraduates who were black or age 25 and older, even smaller proportions were male, but the ratio of women to men in those groups was relatively stable over that same time frame.

To view this entire article visit www.chronicle.com

CAROL’S SUMMARY:

Response to Intervention, or RTI, “provides extra help to struggling students with an aim of reducing the number of referrals to special education.” The Chula Vista Elementary School District in California has become a national model in how this process applies to English-language learners, which make up 36% of the district’s 27,450 K-6 students.

The Chula Vista Elementary School District implemented RTI during the 2004-05 school year and since then, credits it for the dramatic rise in mathematics and reading test scores for English-language learners, or ELLs. According to the Chronicle of Higher Education article below, “In 2008, the California Association for Bilingual Education recognized the district with its “seal of excellence” award. For the past two years, the district has ranked high on California’s academic performance index. It scored 833 on the state’s growth accountability index in the 2008-09 school year, as 31 of its 44 schools exceeded the target of 800. In addition, this district has never missed its state’s goals for adequate yearly progress under the federal No Child Left Behind Act, which is unusual for a district with so many students who aren’t fluent in English.”

John M. Nelson III, the district’s assistant superintendent for instructional services, told the Chronicle reporter that RTI changes teachers’ thinking “from ‘I taught it and it’s their fault if they got it or not’ to ‘I need to keep teaching it and supporting students.’ ”

Response to intervention provides “instructional triage” with three “tiers”:

1. Tier 1 instruction—teachers assess the needs of individual students during regular instruction periods. All students receive Tier 1 instruction.
2. Tier 2 is a subset of students needing additional help and subsequently receive instruction in small groups
3. Tier 3 identifies students needing intensive one-on-one instruction.

LifeBound’s stair-step programs for grades 5-12 offer a strategy for helping teachers apply the RTI model. Our programs are designed to strengthen critical and creative thinking skills and to assess student levels at the start of the course and again at the end so that schools can see the results. Each student book and matching curriculum is designed to address the developmental issues and key transition points at each grade level. To request review copies, please call the LifeBound office toll free at 1.877.737.8510 or email contact@lifebound.com.

ARTICLE:

Education Week
Published Online: January 22, 2010
RTI Said to Pay Off in Gains for English-Learners
By Mary Ann Zehr
Chula Vista, Calif.

Fernando Lugo and Hector Martinez are only in 1st grade, but already educators at Lilian J. Rice Elementary School have mapped out different instructional paths for them.

A few months ago, both of the English-language learners had limited awareness of how to sound out words, according to a screening test. Fernando was assigned to an hourlong intensive reading “clinic” four days a week and was soon reading on grade level, so he graduated from the extra lessons last month. Hector was put in the reading clinic as well, but made only limited progress, so the school’s reading expert now meets with him one-on-one for a half-hour four days a week.

Educators here in the Chula Vista Elementary School District determined what kind of instruction the boys needed through a “response to intervention” process, which provides extra help to struggling students with an aim of reducing the number of referrals to special education. As RTI catches on throughout the country, the district is on the cutting edge in its focus on how the approach applies to English-language learners, who make up 36 percent of the K-6 district’s 27,450 students.

To view this entire article visit www.chronicle.com

CAROL’S SUMMARY:

The blog article below from the Los Angeles Times and published in today’s ASCD Smart Brief, releases information from a national poll on children’s health from the University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital where parents rated public schools on the support children receive with behavioral, emotional or family problems. The report highlights that “About one-third of parents give primary schools an ‘A’ for providing support for kids with behavioral, emotional or family problems; less than one-quarter of parents give secondary schools an ‘A’.” The report concludes: “In the current economic climate, some stakeholders argue that school funds should be restricted to instructional services. However, drastic cuts to student support services may, in the end, work against instructional objectives, if behavioral or emotional problems interfere with children’s ability to learn.”

As most educators know, all learning is linked to emotions, which is why LifeBound’s programs are designed to boost academic, emotional and social intelligence to promote student success in school, career and life. One of the counselors we work with contacted us just last week to tell us about a sixth grade student in her class whose teenaged brother had committed suicide over the holidays. The sixth grader, along with his classmates, has been attending LifeBound’s People Smarts class, which focuses on becoming emotionally intelligent. On the assessments that we provided, the counselor saw what this student wrote in response to the question: What do you value most right now? He wrote, “LIFE (in all caps) itself!!!” And added, “I wish I could bring my brother back.” This counselor said she was so thankful that our program helped her have a window into this child’s internal world, and that the faculty knows how to better reach out to this student. Additionally, she credits our program for giving her and the students the requisite vocabulary and other tools for effectively communicating about how this incident has affected them and their school community. For a review copy of this book, please call the LifeBound office toll free 1.877.737.8510 or email contact@lifebound.com.

Since emotional intelligence (EI) is essential for school and life success, how can we integrate programs that teach EI into academics?

How can we ensure that student success and transition programs are in place in every school, that serve to both support the struggling students and help train other students to become peer leaders?

How can we help counselors become leaders in their schools and in their districts?

ARTICLE:

Parents grade public schools on how well they emotionally support children with problems
January 20, 2010 | 10:29 am
Los Angeles Times
by Tammi Dennis

In the latest national poll on children’s health from the University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital, parents got a chance to rate how well public schools support children with behavioral, emotional or family problems. Most schools didn’t get top marks.

The report highlight: “About one-third of parents give primary schools an ‘A’ for providing support for kids with behavioral, emotional or family problems; less than one-quarter of parents give secondary schools an ‘A’.”

In other words, about two-thirds of primary schools and three-fourths of secondary schools were found wanting in some fashion. On the bright side, only a fraction were given an “F.”

Here’s the report.

It concludes: “In the current economic climate, some stakeholders argue that school funds should be restricted to instructional services. However, drastic cuts to student support services may, in the end, work against instructional objectives, if behavioral or emotional problems interfere with children’s ability to learn.”

Still unclear is just how teachers and administrators would grade parents on the same “emotionally supportive of kids” scale.

This blog article is at www.latimes.com

CAROL’S SUMMARY:

Many American colleges and universities have longtime connections to aid work in Haiti and since the devastating earthquake earlier this week, are providing financial assistance and on the ground emergency relief. As the article below cites, “The largest effort to put teams of university doctors on the ground has come from the University of Miami, which began sending medical professionals to Haiti the day after the earthquake.” Because of its proximity to Haiti, Miami has dispatched several flights each day back and forth, transporting doctors and supplies to Port-au-Prince and bringing severely injured patients to Miami hospitals.

The program director for emergency and disaster management and homeland security at American Military University, Christopher M. Reynolds, said, “I knew of more than a dozen students and faculty members in Haiti, doing such work as logistics operations and search-and-rescue missions through the military. The university’s students get course extensions on the basis of their deployment papers.” Similarly, Wallace E. Boston Jr., president of the parent American Public University system, wrote the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to pledge their support. He launched an e-mail to more than 1,000 students and alumni informing them that he was creating a list where people can submit their skills and availability to FEMA. Dr. Kurt K. Rhynhart, a general surgeon at Dartmouth-Hitchcock, said in an e-mail message from Haiti, “I have never seen so much poverty and am humbled by it,” “But the people are the most friendly, proud, and thankful I have ever met. I am certainly glad I came and am sure this won’t be the last time.”

Disasters like this are strong reminders that we live in a global world. As educators, we play a key role in helping students envision the difference they can make as future professionals. Students tend to be more motivated and engaged in the classroom when they understand how education connects to careers and perhaps more importantly, why we work. While everyone needs a job to support themselves and their families, it’s the ability to use our gifts and talents to help other people that give real meaning to college and career success. Let’s champion our students to do and be their best. There’s a big world out there that needs them.

ARTICLE:

The Chronicle of Higher Education
January 21, 2010
American Universities Rush to the Front Lines in Haiti
By Andrea Fuller

Brian W. Loggie, a professor of surgery at the Creighton University School of Medicine, has gotten little sleep in the past week.

Days after a devastating magnitude-7.0 earthquake rocked Haiti, Dr. Loggie and several of his colleagues arrived at a medical facility in the Dominican Republic, 30 miles from Port-au-Prince, Haiti’s capital. Since then, they have been operating on victims and trying to manage the flow of the hundreds of people overwhelming the facility.

“What we’ve been seeing are just many, many, many patients, a lot of orthopedic injuries, a lot of open fractures that are infected,” Dr. Loggie said in a telephone interview. “We’re seeing so many amputations.”

There are dozens more doctors like Dr. Loggie spread across Port-au-Prince and nearby towns, performing surgeries in makeshift hospitals and calming frantic patients. While many American colleges are providing financial assistance to Haiti, some, like Creighton, have sent teams of nurses and surgeons.

To view this entire article visit www.chronicle.com

CAROL’S SUMMARY:

According to an annual nationwide survey, the recession hit this year’s college freshmen hard, affecting how they chose a school as well as their ability to pay for it. This week the Higher Education Research Institute at the University of California at Los Angeles, regarded as one of the premier research and policy organizations on postsecondary education in the country, released their 44th “The American Freshman: National Norms Fall 2009” report, which provides information about the demographic profile, perceptions, and mind-sets of their incoming freshmen classes. At the start of the fall semester, the Institute surveyed 220,000 first-time, full-time freshmen from 297 four-year colleges and universities. Some interesting findings summarized in the Chronicle of Higher Education article below include:

• “About two-thirds of freshmen said they were either somewhat or very worried about their ability to finance their college educations. Those citing “some” concerns about money increased about two percentage points, to 55.4 percent, while students citing “major” concerns remained at 11.3 percent, about the same as in 2008.”
• “A record-high 4.5 percent of freshmen said their fathers were unemployed. (That rate had long fluctuated between 2 and 3 percent.) The proportion of students saying their mothers were unemployed, which has risen steadily from 5.4 percent in 2006, reached 7.9 percent in 2009.”
• The number of students taking out loans was at its highest in nine years, at 53.3 percent. (Source: New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/21/education/21college.html?ref=education)
• “The proportion of students planning to major in business dropped in 2009 to a 35-year low of 14.4 percent, and those with “business career aspirations” fell two percentage points from 2008.”
• “78 percent of the freshmen said being financially well-off was an important objective, making that the most prevalent goal among incoming freshmen for the second year in a row. In second place was raising a family, which about 75 percent of the students said was very important to them.”
• “39 percent of freshmen said they would need tutoring while in college.”

The director of the survey, John H. Pryor, told the Chronicle reporter, “The effects of the economic downturn were spread across the college experience, whether the issue was how to pay for college or what majors and eventual careers to pursue.” The report also states that one in five of today’s freshmen entering a four-year college as a first-year student had remedial work in high school and that “Almost twice as many … believe that they will need special tutoring or remedial work in college.”

LifeBound’s transitions programs are designed to prepare students for college and career success, and the new edition of our book, Making the Most of High School, will include a chapter on personal finance. If students learn the requisite skills starting in middle school, they will be better positioned to succeed in life after high school.

How can we make college more affordable for students who desire to go and help them succeed once they get there?

How can k-12 school districts and parents better prepare students with the tools and confidence they need to persist and succeed to college graduation?

What programs can we put in place at the middle school and high school levels that help students see the connection between school and future career success?

ARTICLE:

The Chronicle of Higher Education
January 21, 2010
Cost of College Is a Big Worry of Freshmen in National Survey
By Ashley Marchand

Financial concerns, from paying for college to job prospects, dominated the new-student experience in 2009, according to an annual survey on freshman attitudes.

About two-thirds of freshmen said they were either somewhat or very worried about their ability to finance their college educations. Those citing “some” concerns about money increased about two percentage points, to 55.4 percent, while students citing “major” concerns remained at 11.3 percent, about the same as in 2008.

The survey, The American Freshman: National Norms Fall 2009, is conducted by the Higher Education Research Institute at the University of California at Los Angeles. This was the 44th year of the report, which provides institutions with information about the demographic profile, perceptions, and mind-set of their incoming freshmen classes.

To view this entire article visit www.chronicle.com

CAROL’S SUMMARY:

Based on the New York Times article below (also distributed by the ASCD Smart Brief), a new study from the Kaiser Family Foundation found that children ages 8 to 18 spend more than seven and a half hours per day using a smart phone, computer, television or other electronic device. Additionally, because many of them are multitasking, some children are actually cramming almost 11 hours on average of media content into those seven and a half hours. The study surveyed more than 2,000 students in grades 3 to 12 between October 2008 and May 2009. The report says that the heaviest media users are black and Hispanic youths and pre-teens (ages 11 to 14). As the article summaries: “The third in a series, the study found that young people’s media consumption grew far more in the last five years than from 1999 to 2004, as sophisticated mobile technology like iPods and smart phones brought media access into teenagers’ pockets and beds.”

When the study was conducted in 2004, media use was less than six and a half hours and authors of the survey concluded that it could not increase. Yet, not only has digital use increased, the study also found “that heavy media use is associated with several negatives, including behavior problems and lower grades.” While the study does not say whether media use causes specific problems, or whether troubled youths turn to heavy media use, here are relevant implications from the report:

• “47 percent of the heaviest media users — those who consumed at least 16 hours a day — had mostly C’s or lower, compared with 23 percent of those who typically consumed media three hours a day or less.
• The heaviest media users were also more likely than the lightest users to report that they were bored or sad, or that they got into trouble, did not get along well with their parents and were not happy at school.
• Other studies have established a link between screen time and obesity.”

For better or worse, technology is the way students communicate today. Our students are now living their lives on the electronic network, posting their photos, revealing their desires, making their friends, defining their identities. Stacey DeWitt on her Connect with Kids website writes, “Along with its benefits, the online world brings plagiarism and cheating, bullying, ‘sexting,’ cyberbullying and exposure kids have never had at such a young age.” Baroness Susan Greenfield, Oxford Professor of neuroscience and the Director of the Royal Institute, argues that “electronic media, especially social networking sites, are replacing children’s deep cognitive skills with short-term sensory ones,” thereby trivializing their notion of real friendship and community. Like so many things, perhaps technology is neither intrinsically good nor bad. It all depends on how students use it. So, here are logical questions:

What are constructive alternatives educators and parents can offer students? One alternative is building pen pal relationships with their peers in other parts of the world. Some children, particularly in poorer countries, are discovering for the first time the power of the web to connect human beings all over the globe for the purpose of conversation, collaboration and yes, friendship.

How can we help students navigate a brand new world built on the healthy craving for connection and keep students interested in reading books?

How can we accurately and effectively warn students about the perils of self-revelation and over-reliance on social media?

ARTICLE:

The New York Times
January 20, 2010
If Your Kids Are Awake, They’re Probably Online
By TAMAR LEWIN

The average young American now spends practically every waking minute — except for the time in school — using a smart phone, computer, television or other electronic device, according to a new study from the Kaiser Family Foundation.

Those ages 8 to 18 spend more than seven and a half hours a day with such devices, compared with less than six and a half hours five years ago, when the study was last conducted. And that does not count the hour and a half that youths spend texting, or the half-hour they talk on their cellphones.

And because so many of them are multitasking — say, surfing the Internet while listening to music — they pack on average nearly 11 hours of media content into that seven and a half hours.

“I feel like my days would be boring without it,” said Francisco Sepulveda, a 14-year-old Bronx eighth grader who uses his smart phone to surf the Web, watch videos, listen to music — and send or receive about 500 texts a day.

To view this entire article visit www.nytimes.com

CAROL’S SUMMARY:

CAT, City Arts and Technology High School, a charter school in San Francisco, California, adheres to the four R’s (rigor, relevance, relationships and results) to listen to each student and strengthen their voice with “basic skills and motivating ideals.” And it seems to be working for them. According to the article below, “Three-fifths of CAT students come from poor homes, but about half score at proficient or advanced levels on state tests. A remarkable four-fifths of all seniors enter a four-year college.”

In an article for www.education.com by Raymond J. McNulty of the American Association of Administrators, he cites a five-year study involving 75 high schools in 10 states. The initiative, known as “Models, Networks and Policies to Support and Sustain Rigor and Relevance for All Students,” is led by the International Center for Leadership in Education, which has enlisted the expertise of the Quaglia Institute for Student Aspirations. McNulty writes:

“While we have heard for some time the call for rigor and relevance, now education leaders are adding the third R for relationships. Schools across the country are realizing that rigor and relevance develop most naturally when they are cultivated on firm grounding in relationships. Relationships do not become a new standard or replace rigor and relevance. They are a way to improve learning. The recent work of the International Center has examined some of the most successful high schools in the country — schools that have the challenges of poverty, mobility and diversity but still have high rates of student success. In these schools, relationships among students and staff are deliberately nurtured and a key reason for student success. Students believe the staff genuinely cares about them and encourages them to achieve at high levels. If there is not a high level of positive relationships, students will not respond to higher expectations.” Findings from this study showed that “close to 20 percent [of students] surveyed give up when they encounter difficult schoolwork. Only 60 percent reported they try their best in school, and the same percentage said teachers recognize them when they try their best. The gap between wanting to achieve and persevering to meet that goal must be examined, as must the role teachers play in recognizing effort and perseverance.”
Source: http://www.education.com/reference/article/Ref_Rigor_Relevance/

Education’s goal must be rigor, relevance and relationships if we want to prepare students for college, work and life in the 21st century. Realizing this requires school staff to work collaboratively toward common goals through analyzing data, adopting best practices, taking risks and embracing change. Each of LifeBound’s student success books has a corresponding curriculum which incorporates the “Four Rs” based on The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s educational framework. Assessments are administered at the start and end of class to show results. To view curriculum samples, visit www.lifebound.com or call the LifeBound office toll free at 1.877.737.8510 to request that we mail these to you.

How can we help students do a reality check which closes the gap between wanting to achieve and persevering to meet these goals?

How can we as educators also close what McNulty calls, “the participation gap,” which is characterized by students who feel unwelcome, disconnected and lost in our schools?

How can we help students believe in their ability to meet high academic standards?

ARTICLE:

The San Francisco Chronicle
The four ‘R’s’ – a charter school that works
Bruce Fuller
Sunday, January 17, 2010

“Good audience skills are imperative,” Danielle Johnson reminds her restless 10th-graders as one, Raquel, nervously fiddles with her laptop before holding forth on her project portfolio at City Arts and Technology High School (known as CAT), a charter school of 365 students on a green knoll above the blue-collar southern reaches of Mission Street in San Francisco.

“I decided to use the story of my mom getting to this country as an immigrant,” Raquel says, moving into her personal-memoir segment, sniffing back tears as a blurry photo of her mother at age 18 appears on the screen. “I had never asked my mother about how she got here.”

CAT exemplifies President Obama’s push to seed innovative schools that demand much from all students, echoed by Sacramento’s $700 million reform plan that goes to Washington this week. How to bottle the magic of CAT teachers like Johnson – listening carefully to each teen, strengthening each voice with basic skills and motivating ideals – is the challenge facing would-be reformers.

To view this entire article visit www.sfgate.com

CAROL’S SUMMARY:

According to the Wall Street Journal article below, the evolving times and dour economy have left permanent scars on the job market. Even when the economy picks back up, certain positions such as those in the housing and finance sectors are not expected to return to their pre-economic crisis status. Also, the recession has accelerated unemployment in careers already on the path to extinction due to advances in information technology. These jobs include record shop workers, photofinishing establishments, and secretaries and mailroom clerks. Therefore, unlike recessions of the past, recovery will take longer because new jobs will need to be created. Workers will need to acquire a whole new set of skills necessary for surviving in the ever-changing job market.

While we cannot accurately foretell what jobs will flourish in the future, we can prepare today’s students for tomorrow’s careers by instilling emotional intelligence and critical and creative thinking skills in order for them to possess interpersonal skills and achieve problem-solving success. With an evolving employment landscape, it is critical for students to be sharp and adaptive. At LifeBound, our programs for grades 5-12 aim to develop academic, emotional and social skills to help students learn and succeed in the global marketplace. For more information on LifeBound programs visit www.lifebound.com or email contact@lifebound.com.

ARTICLE:

The Wall Street Journal
JANUARY 12, 2010
Even in a Recovery, Some Jobs Won’t Return
By JUSTIN LAHART

Even when the U.S. labor market finally starts adding more workers than it loses, many of the unemployed will find that the types of jobs they once had simply don’t exist anymore.

The downturn that started in December 2007 delivered a body blow to U.S. workers. In two years, the economy shed 7.2 million jobs, pushing the jobless rate from 5% to 10%, according to the Labor Department. The severity of the recession is reshaping the labor market. Some lost jobs will come back. But some are gone forever, going the way of typewriter repairmen and streetcar operators.

Many of the jobs created by the booms in the housing and credit markets, for example, have likely been permanently erased by the subsequent bust.

“The tremendous amount of economic activity associated with housing, I can’t see that coming back,” says Harvard University economist Lawrence Katz. “That was a very unhealthy part of the economy.”

To view this entire article visit www.wsj.com