Educators » Carol J. Carter

The Education Gender Gap: From Grade School to Grad School

Since the 1980s, more women than men have been attending college. Since 1996, more women have been attending and graduating from college.¹ A study in 2008 found the male to female ratio for attending college was 43.6 and 56.4, respectively. The gender gap in education continues to widen in favor of women, but why?

The 2011 PIRLS (Progress in International Reading Literacy Study) found a consistent difference between girls’ and boys’ academic achievement in most countries. Â Fourth grade girls have a much higher average reading achievement than boys, and their 2011 results continue to show this pattern. In the United States, recent research found that girls had an advantage in reading at all grades, from kindergarten through twelfth grade. Â Another study conducted by PISA in 2009 showed that 15-year-old girls performed consistently better in reading than boys.³

Read the rest of this entry »

Share this Article with Your Friends:

21st Century Writing: More Does Not Always Mean Better

The ability to write well is meant to evolve naturally from a few simple sentences on a first-graderâ€™s notebook to the polished draft of a senior paper, and when it does the entire school experience tends to proceed naturally as well. In the workforce, good writing is the hallmark of a professional that can express himself clearly and display oneâ€™s company/product in an attractive way. This has only become more true in todayâ€™s world, where email, text messaging, and social media have taken over many of the communications that used to be performed by phone or in person.

In fact, the changing role of writing in the world today has many teachers wondering how they should adapt their teaching to make it more relevant to todayâ€™s writing needs, personally and professionally. Susan Lucille Davis, a writing teacher with over 30 years of experience, expresses this question in her blog, â€œTeaching Authentic Writing in a Socially Mediated World,â€ but admits that she herself doesnâ€™t have the whole answer. She and many of her colleagues agree, however, that the answer would need to address and prove relevant towards improving writing in the following categories:
Read the rest of this entry »

Share this Article with Your Friends:

Reading Scores Drop, Demand for Literacy Skills Rise

Itâ€™s clear that literacy is important to Americaâ€™s future, however, it’s also clear that we should begin to worry about what is to come if literacy scores in the U.S. continues to decrease.

Both the SAT and ACT scores in 2012 show poor reading levels. The SAT showed an average score that was one point lower than last year’s, and the lowest since 1972 (Layton and Brown 1-2). According to college readiness benchmarks in the SAT, only 49% of test takers were ready for critical reading at the college level (College Board 24). Only 57% of grads who took the ACT met their benchmark for reading scores, which is much the same result as last year’s tests; in fact, the average composite score for the ACT hasn’t shown much change at all in either direction since 2008 (ACT, Inc. 1,16). The reason these particular tests are important in evaluating high school graduates is because they’re one of the most important evaluation tools a college uses to determine whether an applicant should be admitted. As such, the tests are widely recognized by colleges as trustworthy in determining whether or not a student is ready for college-level work.
Read the rest of this entry »

Share this Article with Your Friends:

The Power of Literacy: Preventing Poverty, Dropouts, Crime

Did you know:

60% of America’s prison inmates are functionally illiterate and 85% of all juvenile offenders have reading problems.
Approximately 50% of the nation’s unemployed youth age 16-21 are functionally illiterate, with virtually no prospects of obtaining good jobs.

55% of adults with below basic reading comprehension did not graduate high school.1

By 2020, it’s predicted that:

Â 75% of jobs will require some form of higher education.2

Read the rest of this entry »

Share this Article with Your Friends:

Report Compares US School Districts with High-Achieving Countries

When we talk about improving student achievement in America, the conversation is usually about improving learning conditions for low-income students. While it’s valid that many low-income students do not receive the same education opportunities as their affluent peers, a new report by the Bush Institute finds that all American students are at risk when weighed against other developed countries.

The Bush Institute’s interactive map allows you to drill down to your state, county, and district to see your district’s scores and compare them to high-achieving countries. What’s unique about this interactive map is that it doesn’t just show that other countries have higher achievement rates, it adjusts your district’s reading and math score as if your district was “dropped into” one of the high achieving countries. For example, students in Denver Public Schools are in the 46th percentile in math and the 74th percentile in reading. However, if these students were dropped into Finland, they would be in the 32nd percentile in math and the 63rd percentile in reading.

Read the rest of this entry »

Share this Article with Your Friends:

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.”
Read the rest of this entry »

Share this Article with Your Friends:

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.
Read the rest of this entry »

Share this Article with Your Friends:

Study: More U.S. Students Graduating from High School and College

http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2012/11/05/record-shares-of-young-adults-have-finished-both-high-school-and-college/4/#section-3-high-school-completion-among-young-adults

More U.S. students are graduating from high school and college than ever before, according to a new Pew Research Center analysis. The increase in grads can be attributed in large to our changed economy. Since the 2007 recession, students have been drilled on the importance of having an education in order to land a job in a highly competitive job market. Adults have also returned to school to gain higher pay, change careers, or increase their level of education after a layoff.

Read the rest of this entry »

Share this Article with Your Friends:

Day 2 at the Schools of the Future Conference: Learning through Real-World Simulation

Over the past two days at the 2012 Schools of the Future conference, I had the opportunity to meet a variety of amazing people whose ideas are already making impressions on learners today and are bound to create new opportunities for learners of the future.

One of the highlights of the conference was hearing John Hunter’s keynote speech. John is a public school teacher who took his background in religious and philosophical studies and applied it to the 4th-grade classroom. In his quest to engage 4th-grade students in a lesson to become change makers and critical thinkers, he created a plexiglass real-world simulation game that exercises students’ critical and creative thinking skills, compassion, and strategic thinking. The World Peace GameÂ is a complex game that stands at 4 feet x 4 feet x 4 feet, has hundreds of pieces, a 13-page crisis document, a classroom of 4th graders versed on Sun Tzu’s The Art of War, and much more.

The quote he shares in his bio illustrates his game’s philosophy: “Accepting the reality of violence, I seek to incorporate ways to explore harmony in various situations. This exploration would take form in the framework of a game â€“ something that students would enjoy. Within the game data space, they would be challenged, while enhancing collaborative and communication skills.”

With his game, students are in control of the lesson and the world’s outcomes.â€¨â€¨ After all, these students are the ones who we will hand the world to; ripe with environmental problems, warfare, ethnic tensions, and economic disparity. Though John has been using a version of this game in his classroom since the late ’70s, his philosophy that learning should be in the control of the student and the teacher should act as facilitator is the future of learning. Flipped classrooms are asking students to be in control of their learning at home and to bring questions to class; computer software can customize learning for an entire classroom of individual students with different needs while the teacher stands by; individuals are in control of advancing their learning around the world with MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses); and the list goes on.

It was a great experience to be among leaders who were driven by a similar mission as LifeBound. My bookÂ Critical and Creative Thinking for TeenagersÂ also addresses the need for students to solve the world’s biggest problems through real-world experiences, exploration, and learning about innovative trailblazers before them. Leadership for Teenagers: From Ancient Times to the 21st CenturyÂ asks students to create a vision, become an influencer, and take action to create change in their life, school, community, and one day, the world.

John’s bookÂ World Peace and Other 4th-Grade AchievementsÂ is due out in 2013.Â You can also find out more about watching the documentary of the same title via his website, worldpeacegame.org.

Watch John’s TED Talk,Â Teaching with the World Peace Game, which shares the journey he took to create the World Peace Game and clips of his students speaking passionately about their roles in this political simulation.

Share this Article with Your Friends:

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.

Read the rest of this entry »

Share this Article with Your Friends: