There are all sorts of reasons to get an education. It gives you perspective on the world, it makes you a complete person, and of course most importantly of all, it helps you build a career.
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Resources for those who see a different future for public education and the students counting on us.
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Mary Perfitt-Nelson
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Scooped by Mary Perfitt-Nelson onto Rethinking Public Education |
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Mary Perfitt-Nelson's insight:
great article
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Giroux writes on pedagogy and fundamentalism in his book, 'America's Education Deficit and the War on Youth.'
Mary Perfitt-Nelson's insight:
Are we in the middle of a political class warfare?
Why educate the masses when we don't need them as workers? Let's put the cash in our pocket instead? 
Ivon Prefontaine's curator insight,
June 19, 6:48 PM
I like radical and this is radical. We need to ask, "What is school for? Does it serve any real educational purpose in its current structure?" Delete the scoop?
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Mary Perfitt-Nelson's insight:
Be data informed..........not data driven. PBL allows for formative assessment.
Ivon Prefontaine's curator insight,
June 12, 6:45 PM
It might be. The problem we need to solve is the desparate need politicians and bureaucrats have in needing numbers. Delete the scoop?
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Much is made of the necessity to 'scale up' in international development circles. Delete the scoop?
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Some education phrases and language need to die. Like these.
Mary Perfitt-Nelson's insight:
A quirky article to get you thinking. I would add a few more: Rubric, Stake Holder, Conversation,and Let's Unpack This. Delete the scoop?
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America's public education system could be on the brink of a once-in-a-generation revolution.
Mary Perfitt-Nelson's insight:
" I am calling for a moratorium -- not on the standards, or even on the testing, but on the high stakes attached to all of this -- until the standards have been properly implemented and field-tested." exactly..........there is great opportunity here. We must do it WELL. Deeming it a fail because all was implemented poorly won't cut it. Delete the scoop?
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On average, the benefits of a college degree outweigh their costs. Via Society for College and University Planning (SCUP), David Mackzum, Ed.D.
Mary Perfitt-Nelson's insight:
Woa, dog. Better analyze this one if you have kids of college age! 
Society for College and University Planning (SCUP)'s curator insight,
May 9, 9:16 AM
There is enormous variation in the so-called return to education depending on factors such as institution attended, field of study, whether a student graduates, and post-graduation occupation. While the average return to obtaining a college degree is clearly positive, we emphasize that it is not universally so. For certain schools, majors, occupations, and individuals, college may not be a smart investment. By telling all young people that they should go to college no matter what, we are actually doing some of them a disservice. 
Mary Perfitt-Nelson's comment,
May 9, 11:59 PM
I think we tell ALL young people this is the route. Nobody I know tells all kids this is not the route. Most tell them this IS the panacea.
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As part of an unusual study that surveyed 181 middle school physical science teachers and nearly 10,000 students, researchers found that the most successful teachers were those who knew what students would get wrong on standardized tests.
Mary Perfitt-Nelson's insight:
Very interesting article with many ramifications.
Ts need to KNOW the content; but moreover, they need to know the common roadblocks kids encounter while learning the content. Delete the scoop?
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Jack Hostager is a high school sophomore enrolled in an Eastern Iowa High School. His blog, Straight from the Desk, seeks to add the seldom heard voice of the student. Via Nancy Jones, Ivon Prefontaine
Mary Perfitt-Nelson's insight:
"We refuse to wait to find our place in the world. The question is whether school is going to help us or continue to try to stop us. It shouldn’t take a trip halfway across the country to answer that." 
Nancy Jones's curator insight,
April 21, 1:36 PM
A big "Ouch" together with a START the revolution! The world will be better for it.
Ivon Prefontaine's curator insight,
April 23, 7:20 PM
We stymie creative thought from the moment children enter school. Delete the scoop?
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This quote gets me thinking that anyone is capable of anything. It brings to mind the purpose and goal of education at its core. I just love it.
Mary Perfitt-Nelson's insight:
We can't "give" this. they have to want it. our job is to help them see that they want it; then help them discover how to take it "well" and make it their own. Delete the scoop?
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When it comes to higher education, there's a lot of resentment, recrimination, and outright hate going around the internet -- and real life. College admissions (as Ross Douthat suggests) is a shell game concocted to perpetuate elite privilege.
Mary Perfitt-Nelson's insight:
Interesting read by a guy WHO " went into college as a very smart and very focused kid from a middle-class family with a low net worth."
"The upshot of my strange and technically unsuccessful journey through elite education is that knowledge isn’t the ticket out of a limited social sphere that I once thought it was. But wisdom — or, to put it less pretentiously, learned life lessons — probably is. Perhaps that seems like a pretty vague reward for years of trouble, uncertainty, and expense. But instead of feeling a bitter solidarity amid today’s torrent of resentment toward our culture of education, I feel like focusing on how I haven’t been wronged, how I’m not a victim, how life isn’t stacked against me, how the horizon of possibility is still wide open. As far as I’m concerned, that’s worth its weight in debt." Delete the scoop?
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Jack Andraka, a high school sophomore, has developed a revolutionary new test for pancreatic cancer. The future of science is in the hands of our youth. Join…
Mary Perfitt-Nelson's insight:
Great kid who paved his own way! Delete the scoop?
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Seeking better results, the city divided Adlai E. Stevenson High School in the Bronx into nine theme-based institutions; today the Stevenson Campus has the most schools under one roof anywhere in the city. Delete the scoop?
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It seems as if the same battle is being fought in every aspect of American society ... Sadly, the classrooms of this country haven't been spared.
Mary Perfitt-Nelson's insight:
"The Wall Street crowd wants us to think of education in terms of means – which usually means finding ways to spend less – rather than ends. But when it comes to education, the “ends” are our children. And the means we choose for them, either consciously or through indifference, reveal who we really are as a people." Delete the scoop?
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Debate over the subject's relevancy brews even as the common standards expect students to master that content.
Mary Perfitt-Nelson's insight:
Is Algebra 2 needed for everyone?
""We want to give hope instead of [requiring] these advanced courses specifically designed for someone going to college," he said in an interview. "So, you're going to be ready, maybe not for college, but for the workforce, or a technical college. ... And you're going to graduate; we're going to keep you in school."" Delete the scoop?
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Instructional leadership is always hard work, but it’s even harder when our plates are overflowing with other responsibilities.
Mary Perfitt-Nelson's insight:
Making the job "doable" is a must. District leaders must fine ways to reduce the work load.
Ivon Prefontaine's curator insight,
June 4, 9:11 PM
We should never confuse the role of leader with leadership. Delete the scoop?
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Technology makes the tools, but what are the general characteristics that make an effective educator a 21st century educator?
Mary Perfitt-Nelson's insight:
Administrators ALSO need to embrace this thinking. They model and lead. They set the pace. They must be "on board" first.
Ivon Prefontaine's curator insight,
May 25, 11:28 AM
Should we not describe the teacher of today? We are almost 15% of the way through the Century. What makes us hold on to this thinking? Delete the scoop?
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TED is awesome… I recently watched a TED talk by Eddie Obeng who spoke about our fast changing world. His central focus was the idea that the pace at which the world is advancing is exponential whereas the pace of learning and education is and has been consistent. Schools are improving – we just can’t keep up.
Consequently, educators are feverishly looking for ways to make schools once-again interesting for kids.
One of my favorite progressive educational leaders and thinkers is Sir Ken Robinson@SirKenRobinson. He gave a TED talk in 2006 that has since been viewed by over 16 million people.
He is an advocate for fostering creativity in children because in the end, it will be creativity that solves the problems of tomorrow.
His concern (shared by many) is that our school systems and institutions are designed around conformity, greatly reducing the ability of educators to foster creativity.
Via Gust MEES, Leslie Hosey
Ivon Prefontaine's curator insight,
May 10, 7:02 PM
"His central focus was the idea that the pace at which the world is advancing is exponential whereas the pace of learning and education is and has been consistent. Schools are improving – we just can’t keep up.
Consequently, educators are feverishly looking for ways to make schools once-again interesting for kids." We need to allow environments where educators have time to keep up. Delete the scoop?
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Mary Perfitt-Nelson's insight:
Boy is this a great article. Nothing more irritating than stupid rules. To get around them as educators:
1. ASK kids the HARD questions that get them thinking 2. Stop grading things that don't matter 3. Get positive press when your kids do cool things 4. Find where the REALLY hard line is 5. Ask for administrative support BETTER
The best? Find out where the REALLY hard line is. Too many of us interpret parts of administration's sentences literally and wonder why we sit inside a straight jacket! Delete the scoop?
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When Shawn Murphy and I launched Switch and Shift, we k…
Mary Perfitt-Nelson's insight:
powerful video. Please watch!
"We hate school but love education". Delete the scoop?
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A new survey details a few key ways that teachers want to change schools and the education system as a whole. Do you agree?
Mary Perfitt-Nelson's insight:
Some great ideas! Delete the scoop?
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High school student Jack Hostager says:
Mary Perfitt-Nelson's insight:
This is not the case, in many many classes. However, it still exists. It still exists. Delete the scoop?
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Do you know the difference between contemporary and traditional learning and teaching styles? This handy chart breaks it down quite well. Via Karen Rockhold
Mary Perfitt-Nelson's insight:
‘Traditional’ (here) means centrally dictated, curriculum based teaching.“Contemporary” (here) means teacher driven, student-centric teaching.Traditional teaching focuses on short term recall, and is highly focused on measurability.Contemporary teaching focuses on students taking ownership of their learning and using real, useful materials.
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Educators should use the common-core standards as a springboard to deeper learning in schools, Ken Kay and Bob Lenz write.
Mary Perfitt-Nelson's insight:
"Visionary leaders see the common core as the leverage they need to dramatically change outcomes for students and the systems in which students learn. They call for students to not only master content and basic skills, but also critical dispositions like analysis, research, inquiry, and deeper learning outcomes, such as communication skills and critical thinking and problem-solving 1. First, some districts are using their common-core implementation to reinforce their commitment to a 21st-century learning model. 2. Capacity-building through professional development. 3. New assessment strategies. We still have time to follow a better path—to treat the common core as an opportunity to transform teaching and learning and embrace a broad and expansive notion of college and career readiness. Ts need to consider hopping off the first two levels and into deeper levels of knowledge (http://dese.mo.gov/divimprove/sia/msip/DOK_Chart.pdf) Thinking Routines are one such way to design learning so that students indeed take content to strategic and extended forms of thinking. http://www.old-pz.gse.harvard.edu/vt/VisibleThinking_html_files/03_ThinkingRoutines/03b_Introduction.html
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Simply said, this is a great article!
Perhaps our time, the here and now is redolent of times gone past where education had to face significant public criticism and attempt significant adjustments. The early 20th sentury in the USA was such a time. Educators need to lead from a firm values base and in line with what is best for students.
1. The paradox of high unemployment and a war for talent continues.
We don’t have a jobs crisis in the world, we have a skills crisis. Some clear evidence from this report.
45% of US employers say lack of skills is the “main reason” for entry-level vacanciesOnly 42% of worldwide employers believe new graduates are adequately prepared for work.This data echoes the data we hear regularly from clients. Companies need to invest heavily in internal development programs to stay competitive. Our research shows that the training industry grew by 12% this year, the highest level in 9 years.
This research also shows that employers would be willing to pay new workers 22% higher salaries if they did have the skills they need. Employers want “ready made” employees.
2. Worldwide educational institutions are out of sync with employer needs.
While 42% of employers believe newly educated workers are ready for work, 72% of educational institutions do. This is an enormous mis-match. Primary and secondary educational institutions are not keeping in touch with corporate recruiters and the needs of business.
Again our research validates this completely. Most of our clients are investing heavily in new corporate universities, onboarding programs, and what we call “continuous learning” programs. In fact the L&D industry is in the middle of a renaissance, as companies try to reinvent all types of training around new internet technologies.
3. Students don’t perceive that traditional education methods drive job skills.
The #1 cited way (60%) students believe they learn skills is through “on the job training.” (Our reserach shows that 72% of business managers say the same thing.) 58% cite that “hands-on learning” is best.
Lectures are the lowest rated learning method (30%) tied with “traditional online learning” (30%).
Unfortunately most colleges still rely heavily on lectures and the “for-profit” distance learning institutions rely heavily on “traditional online learning.” (Only 24% of academic program graduates say that they use hands-on learning in their program.)