CAROL’S SUMMARY:

As millions of students assess college applications this month—and in light of our country’s recession—they and their parents are thinking harder about how much tuition they’re willing to pay. Skepticism over the value of a college degree has dropped the number of students willing to borrow money for college from 67% to 53%, according to a survey of 800 college students by Sallie Mae, Reston, Virginia. Here are additional statistics from this report:

• College graduates generally earn at least 60% more than high-school grads (annually and over their lifetime) – 2007 report by the College Board, New York.
• College graduates participate more in their communities. They are twice as likely to volunteer and donate blood than high-school graduates – 2007 report by the College Board, New York.
• College graduates are generally healthier. They are less likely to smoke and more likely to exercise daily – 2007 report by the College Board, New York.
• A 2005 survey by the Pew Research Center reported that of 3,014 adults, 42% of college graduates reported being very happy while only 30% off high-school graduates reported being very happy.

For those who want to analyze the cost-to-income ratio further, there is a new online calculator, HumanCapitalScore.com, that predicts how much money a student is likely to make after graduation. But here’s the really important point to remember: No matter what students are paying for college, it’s more important what they do while they’re in school than where they go. Many people assume that going to a prestigious school automatically assures success in a given profession or vocation, but this isn’t necessarily true unless you have experiences and personal qualities to match what employers need. Whether you’re paying $100,000 at a big name school versus $14,000 a year at a vocational or state school, learning how to take measured risks, demonstrate resilience in the face of obstacles and develop your network and team work skills, are the abilities and qualities that the 21st century marketplace and the world value, in addition to knowledge. Success in life is about the choices you make while in school to stretch yourself that really matter in the bigger picture of college and career success. Here are questions for students:

What kind of network are you developing and who are the people you’re aligning yourself with that can help you create opportunities?

What kind of choices are you making about internships and other activities that show employers your potential and help you find your unique niche in the world?

What are you willing to do to make yourself stand out and develop 21st Century skills, regardless of where you go to school?

ARTICLE:

The Wall Street Journal
DECEMBER 16, 2009
Weighing the Value of That College Diploma
By SUE SHELLENBARGER

As millions of students labor over college applications this month, they and their parents are pondering just how big a tuition bill they want to pay.

Students are increasingly skeptical about the value of a college degree; the proportion who are willing to borrow money for college if necessary has fallen to 53% from 67% in the past year, based on a survey of 800 college students by Sallie Mae, Reston, Va.

Parents are thinking harder, too, about why they sign big tuition checks, based on a steady stream of email I have received since writing about the college cost-to-value equation a few months ago. Here is a look at a few perspectives on the issue:

To view this entire article visit www.wsj.com

CAROL’S SUMMARY:

Yoga is popular among the general population for its ability to help people relax, and more recently yoga’s benefits are catching on at schools nationwide. As the article below iterates, 100 schools in the state of Minnesota have faculty members trained to teach yoga to their students. They’re discovering that a calm child is better able to concentrate and perform optimally on tests and ultimately achieve academic success.

The article below also points out that “more educators are embracing yoga’s principles and methods and touting its benefits: improved self-esteem, self-awareness, acceptance and focus; learning to quiet the mind and shift to positive, peaceful thinking; better posture, flexibility, balance and coordination, and an increased ability to cope with strong emotions and calm down. Studies have linked yoga in schools to better grades, behavior, health and relationships among students.”

According to school social worker and registered yoga teacher, Kathy Flaminio, “Kids like to move, and the need for movement is critical. Yoga just regulates the system. It brings hyper kids to the center, and lethargic kids wake up. You’re changing the nervous system, and we know that if kids are stressed they’re not using the entire brain to learn. When we slow down the nervous system and they’re able to be calm, they open up and are better learners.”

LifeBound’s title, People Smarts for Teenagers: Becoming Emotionally Intelligent, guides students through their journey of discovering self, creating strong, healthy relationships and managing stress and other emotions. The People Smarts program works well on its own or could be formatted to complement programs such as yoga in many Michigan schools.

Important Questions to Consider:

With many schools cutting physical education classes, how can we raise awareness about the benefits of yoga for boosting not only a student’s physical and mental health but academic success?

How else can teachers, principals, schools and school districts incorporate emotional intelligence into the classroom to promote academic success?

ARTICLE:

Minnesota students acing yoga test
By SARAH MORAN, Special to the Star Tribune
Star Tribune
November 29, 2009

It’s just another day in gym class, and 50 calm and focused sixth-graders are breathing deeply in and out. They sit cross-legged on colorful yoga mats, eyes closed and hands resting on their knees as soothing music plays in the background.

“Inhale slowly … and exhale, and feel your body fill with all that wonderful air,” says their physical education teacher, Rochelle Gladu Patten. “We know that yoga is a practice that brings your body and mind and heart all together,” she tells them. “And that’s what yoga means — to connect.”

Every Tuesday and Thursday, students at Susan B. Anthony Middle School in Minneapolis spend 20 minutes practicing yoga poses in Patten’s class. It’s just one of many Minnesota schools embracing yoga as word spreads about its benefits for students. More than 100 schools in the state have staff members trained to teach yoga to kids of all ages.

To view this entire article visit www.startribune.com

CAROL’S SUMMARY:
While more girls are enrolled in college now than boys– 44% of boys and 57% of girls, according to the American Council on Education’s Center for Policy Analysis–women aren’t entering technology fields at the same rate as men. In an attempt to close the gender gap in technology classes, Fairport Central School District in upstate New York will begin a two-year pilot program starting the fall of 2010 by offering four all-girl technology courses at two middle schools, a ninth grade school and Fairport High School. According to the article below, computer support specialist, systems administrator and engineering positions are expected to grow significantly by 2010, yet the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics cites that although women make up more than half of the work force, they hold only 28% of positions in technology. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, women make up a small proportion of professionals in key technology fields:

Physics: 21 percent
Computer science: 18.6 percent
Aerospace engineering: 11.5 percent
Electrical engineering: 10.1 percent
Civil engineering: 9.5 percent
Mechanical engineering: 7.1 percent

Data on gender differences shows there are immutable differences between boys and girls- that there are genetic differences between the sexes. Girls prefer collaborating and working in quieter environments to understand a concept or process completely. They focus on doing quality work and helping others. Boys, on the other hand, tend to complete tasks quickly and they also are more motivated by competitive environments with clearly defined winners and losers than girls. The idea of all-girl technology courses is to draw on this knowledge of different learning styles and make technology classes more inviting for girls.

Regardless of the student’s gender, here are questions to consider:

How can schools and parents best apply the data on gender differences to promote cognitive and emotional development in both boys and girls?

What competencies will students need in the future to thrive?

Other than reverting to single sex schools, which is one option, what can schools do to transform themselves into ‘learning communities’ dedicated to creating the conditions to develop the gifts, talents and passions of all learners?

ARTICLE
Democrat and Chronicle via ASCD feed
by Ernst Lamothe, Jr.
November 16, 2009

The Fairport Central School District has approved an aggressive approach to counteract the gender gap in technology classes. The district will begin a two-year pilot program starting next fall to create four all-girl technology courses — one each at Fairport High School, Minerva DeLand School (ninth grade), and Martha Brown and Johanna Perrin middle schools. Enrollment will be voluntary in compliance with Title IX.

“Girls sometimes won’t take technology classes because they don’t want to be the only girl in a class or in a technology club,” said Dave Allyn, a special assignment administrator for the Fairport school district. “Job growth is happening in engineering and some of the sciences where old stereotypes persist about those male-dominated fields, and we need to make our young women aware that there is an opportunity for them.”

To view the entire article visit
http://bit.ly/3uZnQI

CAROL’S SUMMARY:
Today’s generation of students loves video games and some companies are trying to put this passion “to good use.” In the article below, children “are playing educational video games as part of their school curriculum, in after-school programs or via the Web from home.” Sasha Barab, professor at Indiana University, created Quest Atlantis, a game that incorporates science. Barab states in the article, “Partly what I have to argue to teachers is that there’s value seeing that content bound up in a real-world story.” These educational video games are online for interaction and collaboration, use core subjects such as physics and math to finish a task or trial and work toward solving problems that relate to the real world. In Gamestar Mechanic players even have to defend their solutions to other Gamestar Mechanic players. Alan Gershenfiled, a former executive at Activision and the founder of E-Line Media, says “You’re essentially designing a digital system for others. That’s a very powerful 21st century skill.”

A New York City public school called Quest to Learn opened this fall and focuses on game-based learning. While this high initiative is a great start to engaging students in learning, how can traditional schools incorporate such educational video games in to their curriculum? How can publishers work to create content which truly involves students in creating their own learning? How will the role of teachers need to change to become a skilled facilitator given the scope of interactivity which technology provides?

ARTICLE:
New York Times
November 2, 2009
Educational Video Games Mix Cool With Purpose
By STEFANIE OLSEN

One of KC Phillips’s favorite video games is the Xbox shoot-’em-up Halo, because, he says, his dad taught him how to play it when he was younger.

Now 15 and a high school sophomore in Madison, Wis., KC views the game with a more discerning eye. Last year, he played Gamestar Mechanic, an educational video game that asks players to solve a set of puzzles in order to win enough power to design and create their own video games.

“Now every single time I play video games, I really think about how the designers built it and what mechanics went into it,” he said.

To view this entire article visit www.nytimes.com

CAROL’S SUMMARY:

Often to the angst of their parents, many children spend time texting, watching television, listening to music and surfing the Internet –all while studying for tests and doing their homework. Based on the article below, the big question is: Can young people who have grown up with new technologies multitask more effectively than older generations, specifically their parents? “Kids are spending an extraordinary amount of time with media,” says Dr. Victor C. Strasburger, a professor at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine. “We don’t really know what they pay attention to, what they don’t. We don’t know how it impacts their school performance, whether it impacts their school performance.”

While studies have shown a decrease in productivity among adults who multi-task, some scientists surmise that the elasticity of the brain of children and teens might be more adept at these kind of mental gymnastics, but the verdict is still out. “The literature looking at media and its impact on attentional skills is just in its infancy,” said Renee Hobbs, a professor of mass media and communications at Temple University and a specialist in media literacy.

Dr. Dimitri Christakis, a professor of pediatrics at the University of Washington mentions a digital divide, previously between the rich and poor, but now between parents and their children. “Parents are digital immigrants,” says Dr. Christakis. “We’re fairly clueless about the digital world they inhabit.” According to Harris M. Cooper, a professor of psychology at Duke, “One of the things that homework is supposed to do for us is help us generalize where we feel we can learn.” Harris offers this advice to parents: “If they’re doing well [in school], permitting them to have some choice permits them to find their own style.”

Regardless of media’s impact on studying, students need the requisite skills to process and absorb new information in order to thrive in school, career and life. LifeBound’s Study Skills book is an effective tool for helping students develop their own best strategies for learning. To view a sample chapter and lesson plan, visit www.lifebound.com and click on books. To request a review copy of this book, send an email to contact@lifebound.com or call toll free 1.877.737.8510.

ARTICLE:
New York Times
October 13, 2009
18 and Under
Texting, Surfing, Studying?
By PERRI KLASS, M.D.

Certain subjects make self-righteous parents of us all: our children thinking they are doing homework when in reality the text messages are flying, the Internet browsers are open, the video is streaming, the loud rock music is blaring on the turntable — oh, wait, sorry, that last one was our parents complaining about us.

Heaven knows, I understand the feeling. And not just as a pediatrician. I have my own children — a high school student, a college student and a medical student — and I know the drill.

But if you ask the experts, they are pretty unanimous that we don’t know much.

“The literature looking at media and its impact on attentional skills is just in its infancy,” said Renee Hobbs, a professor of mass media and communications at Temple University and a specialist in media literacy.

To view this entire article visit www.nytimes.com

CAROL’S SUMMARY
Today’s commentary published in Education Week by Karen Chenowith, senior writer for the Education Trust Foundation, contains broad and profound implications supported by brain-based learning and cognitive research. In her observations of successful schools who work with disadvantaged students, she writes: “they based their teaching not on a preset philosophy, or a set of program prescriptions, but on what would best help their students learn” (italics mine). People often say that everyone can learn. Yet the reality is that everyone does learn. As Prentice Hall author, Dr. Lynn Quitman Troyka, writes in the introduction of some of her books, “Thinking is not something you choose to do any more than a fish chooses to live in water. To be human is to think.”

Indeed, the brain’s ability to act and react in ever-changing ways is known, in the scientific community, as “neuroplasticity.” This special characteristic allows the brain’s estimated 100 billion nerve cells, also called neurons (aka “gray matter”), to constantly create new pathways for neural communication and to rearrange existing ones throughout life, thereby aiding the processes of learning, memory, and adaptation through experience. Without the ability to make such functional changes, our brains would not be able to memorize a new fact or master a new skill, form a new memory or adjust to a new environment. The brain’s plasticity is the reason it can heal itself after stroke or injury and overcome addictions. According to Dr. Norman Doidge, author of The Brain That Changes Itself: “The brain is not ‘hardwired’ from birth, but holds a remarkable lifelong power to change—a phenomenon called ‘plasticity.’ Positive or negative environments, exercise, nurture, learning, and other experiences continue to change the brain throughout life.”

Which brings us back to today’s article. The reason a flexible approach to teaching works– as this article implies–is because students aren’t a one size fits all, nor is their intelligence fixed at birth. Everyone’s brain is unique and malleable for endless learning possibilities. As the principal at Imperial High School, Lisa Tabarez, in the Imperial Valley of California, quoted in this article said: “Every single student who comes before us has the ability to learn. As educators, we must accept our daily responsibility of taking students, at whatever level and place in their lives they may be, and helping them to learn—to learn how to become productive, contributing members of our society through the opportunity of education.”

How can we ignite and nurture student minds and emotions to transform learning?

How can the revolutionary findings in the field of neuroplasticity direct us to new possibilities for ‘rewiring’ the brain to help overcome learning disorders and to enhance memory, learning, and achievement in all learners?

What are the implications of cognitive research for student success and transition programs, which seek to address opportunities and vulnerabilities during adolescence?

ARTICLE:
Education Week
Published in Print: October 14, 2009
Commentary
Successful Schools Avoid False Choices
By Karin Chenoweth

I know I am not the first to notice that education as a field tends to get whipsawed between what seem like incompatible alternatives: We can teach phonics or surround children with literature; we can teach skills or content; we can prepare students for the workforce or for college; we can provide schools that are equitable or schools that are excellent. The examples are endless.

For the past five years, I have been examining schools that have, for the most part, sidestepped these battles. They are schools I have visited as part of my work for the Education Trust, a Washington-based nonprofit organization. The job involves identifying and writing about schools with significant populations of low-income children and children of color that are also high-achieving or rapidly improving. In many of these, just about all of the students meet or exceed state standards, and achievement gaps are narrow, or sometimes nonexistent.

To view this entire article visit www.edweek.org

CAROL’S SUMMARY
Chicago has been in the national and international news lately not only for losing the bid as host city for the 2016 summer Olympics, but for the tragic beating death of high school honor student, Derrion Albert, who was caught between two rival gangs on his way home from school on the city’s southside. Derrion’s murder is sparking a national conversation about youth violence. Many people compare the incident, which has been viewed by millions over YouTube, to Emmett Till’s brutal killing at the hands of white supremacists in 1955, when his open-casket funeral on television sparked the American Civil Rights Movement. Derrion was the third adolescent killed this school year. Since the beginning of 2007, close to 70 students have been murdered mostly on their way to or from school.

As the New York Times article below points out, youth violence isn’t only a Chicago problem; “it’s an American problem,” said Attorney General Eric H. Holder in his meeting yesterday with U.S. Secretary Arne Duncan, the former superintendent of Chicago Public Schools. As an admission counselor (who asked to not be identified) from another local high school on Chicago’s westside neighborhood said, “We’ve always heard of kids fighting kids, but they lived to tell about it. That’s not true anymore.”

Addressing such serious issues like youth violence requires support from many facets of society, including our school system. When former New York Times science journalist and co-founder of the Yale University Child Studies Center (now at the University of Illinois at Chicago) Daniel Goleman first coined the term emotional intelligence, he cited strong emotions as holding the potential for promoting great good in society as well as terrible atrocities, because some people use violence to release feelings of anger or frustration. LifeBound’s People Smarts for Teenagers program works with adolescents on developing self-awareness, as well as managing strong emotions. The principal at Skyway Elementary School in Colorado Springs, Patrick Webster, who used the People Smarts resources last spring told his counselor: “We have had ZERO disciplinary referrals from 6th grade this year, which is phenomenal.” In a typical time frame they would have received half a dozen by now.

As educators we need to cultivate a vision and establish a comprehensive game plan like they have in Colorado Springs for helping school communities curb violence and assess measurable goals. In addition to our resources for students and faculty, LifeBound provides programs for parents on coaching skills and other strategies so that they learn how to model the kinds of attitudes and behaviors they want their children to emulate. Children absorb how parents deal with a job layoff and other traumatic and stressful life events, and supporting parents in their roles is another effective way to stem the escalation of violence among school-aged children and teens.

For a review copy of People Smarts and more information about our programs for parents, please contact us by calling toll free 1.877.737.8510 or emailing contact@lifebound.com, and we’ll be glad to help you. Together we can answer the call to make a profound difference in our school communities.

ARTICLE:
Attorney General, in Chicago, Pledges Youth Violence Effort
By SUSAN SAULNY
Published: October 7, 2009

CHICAGO — Trying to spark what he called “a sustained national conversation” about youth violence, Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. met with public school students and elected officials here Wednesday, pledging a heightened crime-fighting commitment from the federal government toward vulnerable children.

Mr. Holder, joined by Education Secretary Arne Duncan, the former head of the local public schools, said the Obama administration was dedicated to being a full partner in the fight against youth violence, in part, because “too many of today’s victims become tomorrow’s criminals.”

To view this entire article visit www.nytimes.com

CAROL’S SUMMARY:

This week National Public Radio is airing stories on preventing violence in teen relationships and featuring the programs cropping up across the country that seek to address it.  Known as “teen dating abuse,” school officials say too many teens are hitting and slapping the people they’re dating, a behavior that is recognized by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention which estimates that 1 in 10 adolescents report an experience with physical violence from a dating partner.   Physical aggression isn’t the only form of abuse, name calling, insults, isolating their partner and using coercion to get a partner to do something s/he maynot want to like have unsafe sex. 

Many sociologists say the problem stems from the ways boys and girls are socialized in our culture; boys are conditioned to be aggressive and girls more passive.  And today’s media outlets tend to escalate violence through the content of some television shows and video games, and social media sites can create a haven for cyberbullying.   STo address these issues, schools and communities are bringing in programs such as Safe Dating, Student Connection and My Strength. 

At the forefront of this movement is a professor of psychology and psychiatry at the University of Toronto, Ontario, Dr. David Wolfe, who created a curriculum called, ”Fourth R:  Skills for Youth Relationships,” for 20 middle schools in Ontario and has grown to 800 schools throughout Canada.  Now his program is being adopted in the United States. Using interactive scripts related to sexuality, drugs and fighting into situations students are likely to face, Wolfe says the goal of his program is, “to identify healthy and unhealthy responses, and then practice them enough to feel comfortable.”

Another popular program that uses creative role-play to educate teenagers about the dangers of abusive relationships and how to prevent the cycle is “The Yellow Dress,” based on a real story about a teen girl who was murdered by her high school boyfriend. Their web site at http://www.deanaseducationaltheater.org/yellowdress.html discusses these topics with teen audiences after the performance:

• Recognize the early warning signs of abuse
• Learn how to help friends/family members who are victims or perpetrators of abuse
• Understand the cycle of abuse
• Access and utilize community resources.

Being inexperienced at dating makes teens more susceptible to dating violence, but the problem can have far reaching implications into marriage and domestic violence patterns later.   Coaching teens on how to set healthy boundaries is one of the keys to preventing a lifetime cycle of abuse.  LifeBound’s program, Success in Middle School: A Transition Road Map, helps students develop meaningful friendships with both sexes and encourages students to listen to their instincts that cue them on controlling or manipulative tactics by other people.  Making judgments about when someone is dishonoring you or making you feel scared can be difficult for students without well developed emotional intelligence.  Our People Smarts for Teenagers guides students through developing their EI, as well as, walks them through scenarios that help them learn to enforce their boundaries.

Important Questions to Consider:

How do we start as early as fifth grade to teach adolescents to develop a compassionate heart and listen to their instincts?

How can we help teens recognize when someone is trying to exert power or control over them?

How can we as educators do a better job coaching adolescents and teens on developing healthy relationships?

ARTICLE

by Brenda Wilson

School officials are worried that too many teens are hitting and slapping the person they’re dating. To target this dating abuse, violence prevention classes are springing up in schools around the country. This fall, middle and high schools in Wichita, Kan.; Providence, R.I.; Boise, Idaho; the Bronx in New York; Boston; and six other cities have lined up programs based on a curriculum that has proven effective in Ontario.

To listen to the podcast visit

http://www.npr.org/templates/player/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=113211662&m=113265246

CAROL’S SUMMARY:
As online high schools increase in popularity nationwide, educators and psychologists are seeking to address a potential pitfall for students of digital learning: social isolation. The upside of these programs is that students can work at their own pace and delve more deeply into subject matter than a traditional classroom might allow. The downside is that some students feel lonely and see they’re missing out on proms, homecoming football games, and other social venues customary to high school life. According to the article below, approximately 100,000 of the 12 million high-school-age students in the U.S. attend 438 online schools full-time, up from 30,000 five years ago, based on research by the International Association for K-12 Learning Online, a Washington nonprofit representing online schools. The article reports:

“Online schools appeal to gifted students who want to work at their own pace, students who dropped out of traditional high schools or who are taught at home by their families, students who travel with globe-trotting parents and teens with competitive outside pursuits like ballet, tennis or gymnastics. Many more students take some classes online, while attending traditional schools.”

Of the home-schooled population, approximately 1.1 million students (2.2 percent of the school-age population) were being educated at home in 2003, compared to an estimated 850,000 students in 1999, says the Department of Education. The National Home Education Research Institute concludes that the homeschooling population is increasing each year. The institute estimates that the number of chil­dren being homeschooled grows 7 percent to 12 percent per year.

1) How can programs like LifeBound’s People Smarts for Teenagers be introduced to home school populations, as well as more fully integrated into conventional school curriculum so that all students develop the requisite social and emotional skills to thrive in our global world?

2) What can local high schools do to help connect online learners with their student populations?

3) How can online programs foster human connection so that students don’t become lonely or miss out on the socialization important to teen and young adult development?

ARTICLE
Wall Street Journal
By Paul Glader
PALO ALTO, Calif. — Tatyana Ray has more than 1,200 Facebook friends, sends 600 texts a month and participated in four student clubs during the year and a half she attended high school online, through a program affiliated with Stanford University.

Although top public and private high schools abound in her affluent area of Palo Alto, the 17-year-old originally applied to the online school because she and her parents thought it looked both interesting and challenging. She enjoyed the academics but eventually found she was lonely. She missed the human connection of proms, football games and in-person, rather than online, gossip. The digital clubs for fashion, books and cooking involved Web cams and blogs and felt more like work than fun.

To view the entire article visit
http://bit.ly/Ybt7J

CAROL’S SUMMARY:

The Common Core State Standards Initiative is a joint effort by the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices (NGA Center) and the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) in partnership with Achieve, ACT and the College Board. Governors and state commissioners of education from across the country have created a state-led process to develop a common core of state standards in English-language arts and mathematics for grades K-12.

According to their web site at www.corestandards.org, these standards will be research and evidence-based, internationally benchmarked, aligned with college and work expectations and include rigorous content and skills. The NGA Center and CCSSO are coordinating the process to develop these standards and have created an expert validation committee to provide an independent review of the common core state standards, as well as the grade-by-grade standards.

In math, the goal is to have students “solve systems of equations; find and interpret rates of change; and adapt probability models to solve real-world problems.” In English and language arts, the goal is to have students be able to “analyze how word choices shape the meaning and tone of a text; develop a style and tone of writing appropriate to a task and audience; and respond constructively to advance a discussion and build on the input of others.”

There is still much work and research to be done if a national consensus on education is to be adopted, but one thing is certain: Students from the United States need to be prepared to compete in the global marketplace among students from Asia and Europe. With education reform inevitable, here are some important questions to consider:

· Could standards be developed by type of student? College-bound, career-school bound?

· Could we identify skills that will make students successful no matter what path they choose and emphasize cross-curricular learning?

· How can we better work with the initiatives such as the 21century skills, which foster critical thinking, technological literacy, cross-curricular core-competencies and global knowledge needed to compete with counterparts world-wide?

Whatever standards are developed, the voice of Higher Education and employers will need to be heard. Learning needs to be linked to success in the working world. To fuel our economy of the future, students will need knowledge, skills and the initiative to tackle the toughest problems with confidence, competence and faith that the solutions—while difficult and elusive—can and will come with a quality mindset and follow-through.

ARTICLE:

Skills Set Drafted For Students Nationwide
By Nick Anderson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Experts convened by the nation’s governors and state schools chiefs on Monday proposed a set of math and English skills students should master before high school graduation, the first step toward what advocates hope will become common standards driving instruction in classrooms from coast to coast.

The proposal aims to lift expectations for students beyond current standards, which vary widely from state to state, and establish for the first time an effective national consensus on core academic goals to help the United States keep pace with global competitors. Such agreement has proven elusive in the past because of a long tradition of local control over standards, testing and curriculum.

To view this entire article visit www.washingtonpost.com