Carol On Education » Carol J. Carter

Your College Degree Timing: Should you Detour from the Pipeline?

This year, student debt climbed higher than credit card debt in the U.S. Though the recession has encouraged more people to pursue higher education, it doesn’t mean that we have more graduates. The Obama administration, along with the Gates and the Lumina Foundation, reacted to the low college graduation rates by vowing to make America the number one country for college graduates, according to Jeff Selingo in his article “On Students’ Paths to College, Some Detours Are Desirable.”
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How Might Students Benefit from Teachers and Professors Who Are Leaders from the Business World?

The education paradigm must shift in order for 21st century learners to graduate, land jobs, and create jobsÂ in the future. Currently, we have many unemployed graduates who arenâ€™t being hired to fill many jobs which do exist, especially in the â€œstart-upâ€ economy.Â Â There is a disconnect between what the world of work requires and what students do in their sixteen plus years of learning. It is crucial to our economic success that students begin to connect what they are learning in class to what they might do in the short and the long term in the world of work.
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Practical Skills to Close the Job Gap: Risks that Bring Reward

The week before Thanksgiving, I attended the annual National Association of Gifted Children (NAGC) conference for teachers of gifted and talented students along with 4,000 others. One of the opening sessions featured Dr. Howard Gardner, Dr. Joseph Renzulli, and Dr. Robert Sternberg, all intelligence experts from varying points of view. Sternberg, in particular, addressed the disconnect between what we are teaching in school and the needs of the world of work, where graduates are falling short.
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Improved Literacy Skills Can Change Our Economic Future

Reading has been the sine qua non of culture and civilization for thousands of years. The spread of literacy from the upper echelons of society to the middle and lower classes is perhaps one of the most defining characteristics of modernism. According to the United Nations, the presence of illiteracy in the world today among less-developed nations has been connected to continuing cycles of poverty, poor health, and deprivation, and makes democracy in these nations difficult or nearly impossible to achieve ¹. So, the fact that reading scores for American high school graduates are the lowest they’ve been in 40 years should cause worry.
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At the Schools of the Future Conference: The Future of Learning

I’m at the Fourth AnnualÂ Schools of the Future Conference this week being held at the Hawaii Convention Center. The conference brings together leaders in education and technology to address the need for a paradigm shift in education. Over this two-day event, among many topics, we will explore how to create a 21st century learning environment; explore new roles for education publishers, teachers, and librarians; and how to blend, flip, and mobilize the classroom.

Yesterday morning I attended Dr. Mark David Milliron’s keynote, “Emerging Insights on Learning, Technology, and the Road Ahead in Education.” In his speech, Milliron outlined a few trends that we are seeing as education and technology converge in the classroom, and as more research is available on the pros and cons of the digital classroom:
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Preparation Before Remediation

Studentsâ€™ lack of preparation takes on many forms beyond academic deficits. It shows up with them not knowing what to expect from college, not knowing how to anticipate challenges and obstacles, and not having the grit and determination to succeed. It shows up with their lack of follow through skills, and their not knowing how to take advantage of resources to craft a college experience that will deliver the abilities and connections to launch a successful career. It shows up with students lacking the emotional and social awareness to make sound choices and navigate college systems. And it surfaces with students embracing unrealistic expectations of what simultaneously can be managed, including: full and part-time work, families, social lives, and other demands.

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Living with Grit: 4 Gritty Articles for Parents and Educators

Grit.

What does it mean to you? Maybe you tapped into your grit to pass your college physics course. Or possibly to look for a new job or train for a race. Grit is a powerful soft skill that could stand between you and success in any area of your life, personal, academic, or professional.

At LifeBound we often talk about grit in our Academic Coaching Training and books for teens. We ask coaches to work with their students to help them tap into their intrinsic motivation, dig deep to see the power they have over their lives, and discover their grit. We also encourage educators and parents to use the power of grit in their own lives.
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SAT Reading Scores Are Dropping: What Can We Do?

As several news outlets have reported, this year’s SAT reading scores are the lowest they’ve been in four decades (see Washington Post and NPR). There are several reasons that could factor into this decrease. One thing experts point to is the increased number of low-income students taking the test. This kind of trend, however, can’t fully explain why 56% of our high school graduates are not ready for college-level work. Nor should it matter, in an ideal world, whether your parents are low-income or not when it comes to your success as a student. The fact remains that there must be more we can do, as parents, teachers, and school officials, to improve reading levels and overall achievement levels for rich and poor alike, across genders and races.

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A Balanced Vision: How To Direct Passion With Understanding

When it comes to discussing the obstacles facing Generation Y, itâ€™s easy to get caught up in things that are beyond our control, like the job market or rising tuition. When informing youth of these issues, however, itâ€™s essential to their success that theyâ€™re also aware of what they can control: namely, themselves.

In his opinion piece on Gen Y, Don McNay contrasts two young men he knows. One has been actively searching for work for months and is close to getting a job at a fast food restaurant. The other has mostly given up and now stays at home and watches television. Of the first he says confidently, â€œIâ€™m sure [he] will make it as he keeps trying and trying.â€ For the second he can express no hope of success except by some undeserved miracle.

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The Power of Perspective: How Changing the Way We Think About Students Affects Their Performance in the Classroom

A teacher’s perspective greatly influences the experience and success of the individual’s in their class. Where one teacher might describe a class as â€œunruly,â€ another might describe the same group of students as â€œenergetic,â€ and just this sort of distinction can make the difference between student improvement and student devolution. The power of positive thinking and high expectations, especially on the diverse classrooms of today, is a vast pool of educational power that is tapped much less than it should be.
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