Technology Teacher 05/26/2016

• Achievement Gap Report

  -" The wide variation in performance among schools serving similar students suggests that these gaps can be closed. Race and poverty are not destiny."- If the gap between low-income students and the rest hadbeen similarly narrowed, GDP in 2008 would have been$400 billion to $670 billion higher, or 3 to 5 percent of GDP- If the gap between America's low-performing states andthe rest had been similarly narrowed, GDP in 2008 wouldhave been $425 billion to $700 billion higher, or 3 to 5percent of GDP. - the persistence of these educationalachievement gaps imposes on the United States theeconomic equivalent of a permanent national recession. - Many teachers and schools across the countryare proving that race and poverty are not destiny; manymore are demonstrating that middle-class children can beeducated to world-class levels of performance. - there is a striking gap between the performance ofAmerica's top students and that of top students elsewhere. - All things being equal,a low-income student in the United States is far less likelyto do well in school than a low-income student in Finland. - this poor performance is surprising,considering the high per capita income in the UnitedStates, which is generally correlated with higher levels ofeducational achievement.- By onemeasure we get 60 percent less for our education dollars interms of average test-score results than do other wealthynations - 165 dollars a point on the pisa math- Impoverished students (a grouphere defined as those eligible for federally subsidizedfree lunches) are roughly two years of learning behind theaverage better-off student of the same age-only 9 percent of freshmen in the nation’s 120 “Tier1” colleges (whose total freshman enrollment is 170,000)are from the bottom half of the income distribution (Exhibit6)- While it is less clear how to address the racial andincome-based achievement gaps directly, understandingand acting on the lessons found in these system-basedachievement gaps will be among the most powerful toolsavailable to those who aim to achieve higher and moreequitable educational outcomes. -Important performance gaps exist at every level inAmerican education: among states, among districtswithin states, among schools within districts, and amongclassrooms within schools. This confirms what intuitionwould suggest and research has indicated: differencesin public policies, systemwide strategies, school siteleadership, teaching practice, and perhaps other systemicinvestments can fundamentally influence studentachievement- For example,we analyzed two mostly black public schools in poorneighborhoods within the same district (Exhibit 10). Onedramatically outperforms the other in reading and mathdespite having higher poverty rates- Indeed, there is actually more variation instudent achievement within schools than between schoolsin the United States. The 2006 PISA Science report by theOECD found variation within schools in the United Statesto be 2.6 times greater than the variation across schools. - which holds that accessto consistent quality of teaching is a key determinant ofstudent achievement.- Differences in achievement between states can be as high as two years of learning evenafter controlling for race and income- The results square withour common intuition that there is a high price for failing tomake full use of the nation’s human potential:-• If the United States had closed the racial achievementgap and black and Latino student performance hadcaught up with that of white students by 1998, GDP in2008 would have been between $310 billion and $525billion higher, or roughly 2 to 4 percent of GDP. (Themagnitude of this effect will rise in the years ahead asblacks and Latinos become a larger proportion of thepopulation.)- f the United States had closed the income achievementgap so that between 1983 and 1998 the performance ofstudents from families with income below $25,000 a yearhad been raised to the performance of students fromhomes with incomes above $25,000 a year, then GDP in2008 would have been $400 billion to $670 billion higher,or 3 to 5 percent of GDP. - By underutilizing such a large proportion of the country’shuman potential, the US economy is less rich in skills thanit could be. The result is that American workers are, onaverage, less able to develop, master, and adapt to newproductivity-enhancing technologies and methods thanthey could otherwise have been By that measure,the international achievement gap is imposing on the USeconomy an invisible yet recurring economic loss that isgreater than the output shortfall in what has been calledthe worst economic crisis since the Great Depression- Tests as early as fourth grade are powerful predictors offuture achievement and life outcomes. - When starting from a similar point, studentswho are able to improve their performance between thirdand eighth grade are much more likely to graduate withhonors and thus benefit from higher earnings over time- Lower education is highlycorrelated with unhealthy lifestyles, including higherincidences of smoking and obesity.- Education levels are also linked to civic engagement. Highschool graduates are twice as likely to vote than people withan eighth grade education or less. College graduates are50 percent more likely to vote than high school graduates.Lifting the achievement of lagging socioeconomic andethnic groups would almost certainly enhance the richnessof America’s civic life. - Lagging achievement is a problem for poorand minority children and for the broadmiddle class--In our observation, parents in poor neighborhoods areall too aware that their schools are not performing well;but middle-class parents typically do not realize that theirschools are failing to adequately prepare their children foran age of global competition- Inequities in teacher quality and schoolfunding are pervasive --d. First, on average, the United States systematicallyassigns less experienced, less qualified, and probably lesseffective teachers to poorer students of color--- unique nature of school finance systems inthe United States, schools in poor neighborhoods tend tohave far less funding per pupil than do schools in wealthierdistricts-- Since teacher salaries areone of the biggest components of district cost structures,affluent districts routinely outbid poorer ones for the bestteaching talent (in addition to offering typically betterworking conditions and easier-to-teach children)-- what changes in the salary and nonsalary components ofteaching would be required to attract and retain highercalibercollege graduates as well as experienced teacherswith records of success in raising student achievement,to devote their careers to teaching poorer students ofcolor? -- What is the link between true per pupil funding ina school or district and the quality and effectiveness of itsteachers?--What happens in schools and school systemsmatters profoundly-- evidencesuggests that while factors outside of school are certainlyvery important sources of unequal outcomes, superioreducational policies and practices at every level—federal,state, district, school, and classroom—matter profoundlyfor student achievement, and thus for students’ economicprospects and life chances.--Better data is essential-- Given the $600 billionthat the United States spends annually on its public schoolsystems, and the enormous economic stakes riding onimproved student achievement, it is remarkably shortsightedto invest so little in insights about educationalperformance. -- long experience around the world serving bothprivate companies and public-sector entities teaches usthat when large variations in performance exist amongsimilar operations, relentless efforts to benchmark andimplement what works can lift performance substantially-- In each of these cases,America’s commitment and actions taken to utilize itshuman potential more fully resulted in economic benefitsfor the nation as a whole.--

• What We Do

  • what we do

     

     

     

     

     

       

    Education & Career Programs These programs help youth create aspirations for the future, providing opportunities for career exploration and educational enhancement.

  • Character & Leadership Programs

    Helping youth become responsible, caring citizens and acquire skills for participating in the democratic process is the main thrust of these programs.

  • Health & Life Skills

    These initiatives develop young people’s capacity to engage in positive behaviors that nurture their own well-being, set personal goals and live successfully as self-sufficient adults.

  • Sports, Fitness and Recreation

    These Club programs help develop fitness, a positive use of leisure time, reduction of stress, appreciation for the environment and social and interpersonal skills.

• Program: Boys and Girls Club – Project Learn - CrimeSolutions.gov

  • Target Population and Sites
    The program targets economically disadvantaged young adolescents from public housing. It aims to increase effectiveness of out-of-school educational activities by targeting neighborhoods and youth who are most at risk and most in need of resources. Participating youth are typically between 10 and 14 years of age.
  • The Project Learn weekly curriculum includes:
     
     
    • 4 to 5 hours of discussion with knowledgeable adults
     
    • 1 to 2 hours of creative writing
     
    • 4 to 5 hours of leisure reading
     
    • 5 to 6 hours of school homework completion
     
    • 2 to 3 hours helping other youth with homework, projects, and skills acquisition
     
    • 4 to 5 hours of games and recreation that draw on cognitive and transferable skills
  • Project Learn aims to offer additional educational activities and resources, as well as enrichment activities, not otherwise available to low-income families in order to increase positive scholastic performance
  • School Grades
     At every follow-up, average grades of treatment youth were significantly higher than control and comparison group youth. At the 30-month follow-up the treatment group’s average score was 86.88, compared to 78.79 for the comparison group and 75.67 for the control group.
  • School Attendance
     At the 30-month follow-up, the treatment group had significantly fewer days missed (2.19 days) compared to the comparison group (12.33 days) and control group (16.67 days).
  • Behavioral Incidents
     There were no significant differences between the groups at any follow-up point in the frequency of behavioral incidents.

• Preschool to prison: no child too young for zero-tolerance | MSNBC

  • Overzealous enforcement of school discipline policies and all of the negative outcomes associated with them are often framed around older children and middle and high school students, but the government’s report shows just how deeply the disparities extend.
  • While black children represent only 18% of preschool enrollment nationally, they make up 42% of students suspended once and nearly half of students who are suspended more than once, according to the report, an analysis of Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC) data for the 2011-2012 school year

• Education racial gap wide as ever according to NAEP | MSNBC

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  • the achievement gap between white and minority high school students remains wide and steady.
  • But the white-black gap in math and reading scores in 2013 was 30 points, the latter of which grew five points since 1992.
  • The new data comes as the nation’s racial minorities have seen huge gains in high school graduation and college enrollment rates and as high school dropout rates among these groups remain high but show signs of decline
  • Since 2006, the national high school graduation rate has averaged an uptick of 1.3% a year, with major gains by black and Hispanic students.
  • Educators in predominately black and Latino schools were paid less than their counterparts in majority white schools and black students were found to be nearly four times more likely than their white counterparts to attend a school where less than 80% of their school’s teachers are certified.
  • Across the country only half of all high schools offer calculus and just about 63% offer physics. Next-level math and science courses like geometry and biology are limited.
  • “Achievement at this very critical point in a student’s life must be improved to ensure success after high school,” Driscoll said. “Many factors inside and outside the classroom contribute to student performance, and it is incumbent upon everyone in the education community to find ways to foster academic improvement in the years to come.”

• Announcements – EDU-582-Q4997 Educational Factors ...

  • “Research ties 14 factors to student achievement, and low income and minority children are at a disadvantage in almost all of them” (Barton, 2004).

  • Factors That Correlate with Student Achievement

     
          

    Before and Beyond School:     Birth weight   Lead poisoning   Hunger and nutrition   Reading to young children   Television watching   Parent availability   Student mobility   Parent participation

    In School:     Rigor of curriculum   Teacher experience and attendance   Teacher preparation   Class size   Technology-assisted instruction   School safety

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.