Paper? Check. Project? Check. And with that, Frisch LEADS comes to a close.
I will update you soon on the Frisch LEADS learning experience -- the mistakes I made and how I grew as a result -- but for now I thought I'd let you see what I ended up producing for my final project on education inequality:
Sunday, April 28, 2013
Sunday, April 21, 2013
The Search for Recent Research
Here I am, sitting at my dining room table trying to finish up a few paragraphs on the physical conditions of school buildings for my final paper. I have been toying with these paragraphs for days now because I keep running into the same problem: outdated research.
My paper is very data-driven, i.e. I rely heavily on studies, reports and dissertations published by people who have, well, done the work for me. For this section of my paper, I needed data on, among other things, the statistical relationship between the conditions of a school building and student achievement, low-income school districts and inadequate school facilities, and how specific aspects of school facilities impact learning. The information available on this topic is scanty to say the least, but there are a number of studies and dissertations from the 80's and 90's on the internet. The problem is that I can't use research from 1995 to talk about the current state of education inequality! I have yet to find a study done in the last 10 years on the school facilities gap, and I really need this information. I've changed my search terms at least 20 times but I cannot locate any relatively recent research on this topic.
This impasse that I have reached leads to an entirely different discussion about how recent research must be for one to use it in a paper, and what inferences one can make from old research about the current state of affairs.
However, for now all I ask is that you comment on this post if you know of any data that might help me move forward with this section of my paper!
My paper is very data-driven, i.e. I rely heavily on studies, reports and dissertations published by people who have, well, done the work for me. For this section of my paper, I needed data on, among other things, the statistical relationship between the conditions of a school building and student achievement, low-income school districts and inadequate school facilities, and how specific aspects of school facilities impact learning. The information available on this topic is scanty to say the least, but there are a number of studies and dissertations from the 80's and 90's on the internet. The problem is that I can't use research from 1995 to talk about the current state of education inequality! I have yet to find a study done in the last 10 years on the school facilities gap, and I really need this information. I've changed my search terms at least 20 times but I cannot locate any relatively recent research on this topic.
This impasse that I have reached leads to an entirely different discussion about how recent research must be for one to use it in a paper, and what inferences one can make from old research about the current state of affairs.
However, for now all I ask is that you comment on this post if you know of any data that might help me move forward with this section of my paper!
Monday, February 11, 2013
Paper Prep
This week we are being asked to outline the headings for our Frisch LEADS paper. I'm happy that I have the opportunity to get organized because the research I have compiled thus far is not in any sort of order on this blog.
I will be dividing my paper into two or three large sections:
Section I: The problems
Section II: Potential solutions
Section III: What can the average American do to help? (I am not positive that I will include this section. It really depends on how quickly I write the first two sections!)
In Section I, I will utilize a lot of the research that I have written about in previous blog posts. Here is my general outline for Section I (adapted from a previous post in which I ambitiously outlined a ridiculously extensive paper):
Section I: The problems
I will be dividing my paper into two or three large sections:
Section I: The problems
Section II: Potential solutions
Section III: What can the average American do to help? (I am not positive that I will include this section. It really depends on how quickly I write the first two sections!)
In Section I, I will utilize a lot of the research that I have written about in previous blog posts. Here is my general outline for Section I (adapted from a previous post in which I ambitiously outlined a ridiculously extensive paper):
Section I: The problems
- How is education unequal?
- Issues that stem from US public school system/federal funding system
- class size
- physical conditions of school building
- quality of teachers/administrators
- teacher-student ratio
- after-school programming/extracurricular activities
- variety of classes; Advanced Placement courses
- Issues that stem from a student's family or community
- English as a second language
- literacy
- security considerations
- emotional/psychological/physical health
- dropout rates
- lack of access to tutors, private lessons, extra-curricular activities, etc.
- Implications of education Inequality
- standardized testing
- teacher evaluations
- college admissions
- employment (aspirations and actual employment)
- social mobility
- emotional/psychological health
- literacy (individual, familial)
- economic implications (cycle of poverty)
- community growth or stagnancy
I understand that this outline is still fairly ambitious, but seeing as there is a plethora of information on all of these topics, I don't foresee myself running into difficulties in terms of finding information for each category. Of course, I will not be doing a thorough job on each of these topics since there are so many of them.
In section II, I will focus on proposed solutions that address many of the above-mentioned issues. I will include research on and analysis of the many solutions that are out there, from the most logical to the most impractical. My goal is to write an unbiased paper, so I have no qualms about criticizing the approaches that I mention. I will attempt to touch upon the pros and the cons of each approach. Here is an outline of Section II:
Section II: Proposed Solutions (information and analysis) (in no particular order,and this isn't a complete list)
- Charter schools
- voucher system
- Reforming federal funding to public schools
- online education
- early childhood education
- socioeconomic reform (talk about a broad and complex topic...)
- reforming curricula
- Selective hiring
- Student incentives
- Standardized testing reform
- blended learning (cutting costs, class size)
- team teaching (class size)
- resource sharing/clustered schools
- public schools as community centers
- specialized guidance programs for at-risk students
- career counseling
The structure of the possible section III has yet to be determined, but I think that I may profile organizations involved in promoting education reform and education equality, and provide readers with examples of how to get involved in this movement. I recently read through the Forbes 30 under 30 in education and noticed that many of the people on the list founded or are involved in amazing organizations that are working to improve so many aspects of education. I've also happened upon dozens of similar organizations and projects while curating articles for the RealSchool and Occupy Standardized Testing Facebook pages, so I'll be sure to check my Evernote archives for relevant articles.
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
A Mid-Blog Crisis
Disclaimer: This blog post is an original work. I promise. Google all you want! You won't find it anywhere else.
The mission: Find My Voice
The location: Blogland, circa 2013
The objective: Stop mooching off of others and actually say something original.
I know, I sound like an English teacher with the whole "find my voice" shpeel (and to be honest, those are the words directly out of my english teacher's mouth), but I think I need to do some serious voice-searching. I've spent my first few months in Blogland amassing research and sharing it would you, the people from the United States, the United Kingdom, and Germany (and that lone soul from the Dominican Republic) who actually read these posts. You may have noticed, nay (yes I just said "nay"), you've definitely noticed that I basically quote the words of others- namely authors of education inequality-related articles and books- and rarely venture into the scary world of My Own Opinion. Well folks, the time as come for me to leave my childhood behind and take this critical step towards adulthood. In my next few posts, I am going to work hard to include some words that originate from my own noggin, not Google Scholar. In fact, some might say that I am aiming to develop the "scholar" in me. Sounds fancy, no?
Despite the momentous, life-changing nature of the task that lies ahead, I hope that this mission- whether it succeeds or fails- will be a growth experience for me. After all, I do spend all of my free time writing on this thing. And I REALLY don't want to spend my entire winter vacation on a task that bares no fruit.
Until next time, enjoy my past unoriginal blog posts!
Sunday, January 13, 2013
The Essential: Excellent Educators
I recently read an excerpt from A Notion at Risk: Preserving Public Education as an Engine for Social Mobility*. The section is titled "Inequality in Teaching and Schooling: Supporting High Quality Teaching and Leadership in Low-Income Schools". Here are some interesting points. Most of this post is just quotes from the excerpt, but the quotes pretty much speak for themselves. I will update this post as I read more of the excerpt.
*This was written in 2000, so the exact statistics are no longer valid. However, I think this paints a fairly accurate picture of the current state of affairs, as not much as changed in our approach to education equality in the last decade or so.
A. Effective teachers are the key.
The author notes that effective teachers are exceptionally important to the academic growth of a student. Particularly disturbing is the piece I have underlined below. The author explains that certain studies have found that "African-American students are nearly twice as likely to be assigned to the most ineffective teachers and about half as likely to be assigned to the most effective teachers". Whenever I read a statement like this, I think of Jonathan Kozol, a well-known advocate of education reform who spent most of his life teaching in some of the poorest school districts in the country. I recently began reading his book The Shame of the Nation. In his introduction, Kozol talks about how segregated our public school system remains despite the fact that Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka legally integrated American schools nearly fifty years ago. Research like this is evidence that Kozol is correct in his sobering assessment.
"Students who are assigned to several ineffective teachers in a row have significantly lower achievement and smaller gains in mathematics and reading—yielding differences of as much as fifty percentile points over three years—than those who are assigned to several highly effective teachers in sequence. These studies also find troubling indicators for educational equity, noting evidence of strong bias in assignment of students to teachers of different effectiveness levels, including indications that African-American students are nearly twice as likely to be assigned to the most ineffective teachers and about half as likely to be assigned to the most effective teachers."
B. Teacher expertise is a major factor in student achievement.
"In an analysis of nine hundred Texas school districts, Ronald Ferguson found that teachers’ expertise—as measured by scores on a licensing examination, master’s degrees, and experience—accounted for about 40 percent of the measured variance in students’ reading and mathematics achievement at grades 1 through 11, more than any other single factor. He also found that every additional dollar spent on more highly qualified teachers netted greater increases in student achievement than did less instructionally focused uses of school resources. The effects were so strong and the variations in teacher expertise so great that, after controlling for socioeconomic status, the large disparities in achievement between black and white students were almost entirely accounted for by differences in the qualifications of their teachers."
C. Reading achievement correlates with teacher expertise.
This passage made me stop and reflect on how lucky I am to have always had english and history teachers who "use a wide variety of books, newspapers, and materials from other subject areas", "engage students in regular writing", and rarely "use reading kits, basal readers and workbooks".
"The National Assessment of Educational Progress has documented that the qualifications and training of students’ teachers are also among the correlates of reading achievement: students of teachers who are fully certified, who have master’s degrees, and who have had professional coursework in literature-based instruction do better on reading assessment than students whose teachers have not had such learning opportunities. Furthermore, teachers who have had more professional coursework are more likely to use an approach that integrates the teaching of reading with literature and writing, which is associated with stronger achievement. For example, teachers with more staff development hours in reading are much more likely to use a wide variety of books, newspapers, and materials from other subject areas and to engage students in regular writing, all of which are associated with higher reading achievement. They are also less likely to use reading kits, basal readers, and workbooks, which are associated with lower levels of reading achievement."
D. Expert teachers mean higher-order learning.
I am particularly fond of this passage because I am a fan of problem or project-based, higher-order learning and really, really dislike rote memorization.
"Expert teachers are a prerequisite for the successful implementation of challenging curriculum. Teachers who are well-prepared are better able to use teaching strategies that respond to students’ needs and learning styles and that encourage higher-order learning.15 Since the novel tasks required for problem-solving are more difficult to manage than the routine tasks associated with rote learning, lack of knowledge about how to manage an active, inquiry-oriented classroom can lead teachers to turn to passive tactics that “dumb down” the curriculum, busying students with workbooks and end-of-chapter fill-in-the-blank tests rather than complex tasks like lab work, research projects, and experiments that require more skill to orchestrate."
E. The importance of a good principal.
"While there is no evidence about the relative competence of principals in low-income schools versus schools generally, there is evidence that, all else being equal, principals’ leadership has a great deal to do with which schools are hard to staff. Study after study has noted that good schools in low-income communities have strong principals who serve as instructional leaders. While resources and working conditions certainly matter, research suggests that teachers who have options choose to enter and remain in schools where they feel well supported by the local administrator, irrespective of student wealth or poverty, and that schools with poor leadership typically have difficulty attracting and retaining teachers. In national surveys of teachers about their decisions to remain in teaching, administrative supports matter far more than the characteristics of the student body or even variables like student behavior and parent involvement."
F. The problem of staffing low income schools.
"Although there are many new teachers who cannot find jobs, there are also many job openings for which schools have difficulty finding teachers. In almost every field, schools with the largest numbers of low-income and minority students are much more likely than other schools to report that they have difficulty filling vacancies. These schools are also more likely to fill vacancies with unqualified teachers, substitutes, or teachers from other fields, or to expand class sizes or cancel course offerings when they cannot find teachers."
"These “shortages,” though, are largely a problem of distribution rather than of absolute numbers. Wealthy districts that pay high salaries and offer pleasant working conditions rarely experience shortages. Districts that serve low-income students tend to pay teachers less and offer larger class sizes and pupil loads, fewer materials, and less desirable teaching conditions, including less professional autonomy. They also often have cumbersome and inefficient hiring systems that make the selection process particularly slow and grueling for candidates. For obvious reasons, they have more difficulty recruiting teachers. In 1993–94, for example, schools serving larger numbers of minority and low-income students were four times as likely as whiter and wealthier schools to hire unqualified teachers."
"On virtually every measure, teachers’ qualifications vary by the status of the children they serve. Students in high-poverty schools are not only the least likely to have teachers who are fully qualified, they are also least likely to have teachers with higher levels of education— a master’s, specialist, or doctoral degree. Whereas only 8 percent of public school teachers in low-poverty schools taught without at least a minor in their main academic assignment field, fully one-third of teachers in high-poverty schools taught without at least a minor in their main field, and nearly 70 percent taught without at least a minor in their secondary teaching field. This is problematic given the studies that show lower levels of achievement for students whose teachers are not prepared and certified in the subject area they teach."
G. What state you live in matters.
"Inequality is most pronounced in the states and districts that have invested the least in preparing and hiring high-quality teachers. In states like Connecticut, Iowa, Minnesota, Montana, and Wisconsin, nearly all teachers hold both full certification and a major in the field they teach, and few if any are hired on emergency credentials. Not surprisingly, students in these states rank at the top of the distribution in mathematics and reading achievement on the National Assessment of Educational Progress. One might speculate that this distribution is largely a function of states’ student populations; however, research on the determinants of these outcomes has found that states’ levels of student performance are much more strongly predicted by the proportion of well-qualified teachers (those holding full certification plus a major in the field they teach) in the state than by student poverty, language status, or other background variables. As described later, these states have adopted specific policies that have allowed them to provide well-qualified teachers to all students. By contrast, states like Alaska, California, and Louisiana, which rank much lower on overall achievement, have many fewer teachers who are well qualified (that is, who hold certification plus a major in their field) and large numbers of teachers teaching out of field or on emergency credentials. These differently prepared teachers are allocated along class and racial lines.
*This was written in 2000, so the exact statistics are no longer valid. However, I think this paints a fairly accurate picture of the current state of affairs, as not much as changed in our approach to education equality in the last decade or so.
A. Effective teachers are the key.
The author notes that effective teachers are exceptionally important to the academic growth of a student. Particularly disturbing is the piece I have underlined below. The author explains that certain studies have found that "African-American students are nearly twice as likely to be assigned to the most ineffective teachers and about half as likely to be assigned to the most effective teachers". Whenever I read a statement like this, I think of Jonathan Kozol, a well-known advocate of education reform who spent most of his life teaching in some of the poorest school districts in the country. I recently began reading his book The Shame of the Nation. In his introduction, Kozol talks about how segregated our public school system remains despite the fact that Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka legally integrated American schools nearly fifty years ago. Research like this is evidence that Kozol is correct in his sobering assessment.
"Students who are assigned to several ineffective teachers in a row have significantly lower achievement and smaller gains in mathematics and reading—yielding differences of as much as fifty percentile points over three years—than those who are assigned to several highly effective teachers in sequence. These studies also find troubling indicators for educational equity, noting evidence of strong bias in assignment of students to teachers of different effectiveness levels, including indications that African-American students are nearly twice as likely to be assigned to the most ineffective teachers and about half as likely to be assigned to the most effective teachers."
B. Teacher expertise is a major factor in student achievement.
"In an analysis of nine hundred Texas school districts, Ronald Ferguson found that teachers’ expertise—as measured by scores on a licensing examination, master’s degrees, and experience—accounted for about 40 percent of the measured variance in students’ reading and mathematics achievement at grades 1 through 11, more than any other single factor. He also found that every additional dollar spent on more highly qualified teachers netted greater increases in student achievement than did less instructionally focused uses of school resources. The effects were so strong and the variations in teacher expertise so great that, after controlling for socioeconomic status, the large disparities in achievement between black and white students were almost entirely accounted for by differences in the qualifications of their teachers."
C. Reading achievement correlates with teacher expertise.
This passage made me stop and reflect on how lucky I am to have always had english and history teachers who "use a wide variety of books, newspapers, and materials from other subject areas", "engage students in regular writing", and rarely "use reading kits, basal readers and workbooks".
"The National Assessment of Educational Progress has documented that the qualifications and training of students’ teachers are also among the correlates of reading achievement: students of teachers who are fully certified, who have master’s degrees, and who have had professional coursework in literature-based instruction do better on reading assessment than students whose teachers have not had such learning opportunities. Furthermore, teachers who have had more professional coursework are more likely to use an approach that integrates the teaching of reading with literature and writing, which is associated with stronger achievement. For example, teachers with more staff development hours in reading are much more likely to use a wide variety of books, newspapers, and materials from other subject areas and to engage students in regular writing, all of which are associated with higher reading achievement. They are also less likely to use reading kits, basal readers, and workbooks, which are associated with lower levels of reading achievement."
D. Expert teachers mean higher-order learning.
I am particularly fond of this passage because I am a fan of problem or project-based, higher-order learning and really, really dislike rote memorization.
"Expert teachers are a prerequisite for the successful implementation of challenging curriculum. Teachers who are well-prepared are better able to use teaching strategies that respond to students’ needs and learning styles and that encourage higher-order learning.15 Since the novel tasks required for problem-solving are more difficult to manage than the routine tasks associated with rote learning, lack of knowledge about how to manage an active, inquiry-oriented classroom can lead teachers to turn to passive tactics that “dumb down” the curriculum, busying students with workbooks and end-of-chapter fill-in-the-blank tests rather than complex tasks like lab work, research projects, and experiments that require more skill to orchestrate."
E. The importance of a good principal.
"While there is no evidence about the relative competence of principals in low-income schools versus schools generally, there is evidence that, all else being equal, principals’ leadership has a great deal to do with which schools are hard to staff. Study after study has noted that good schools in low-income communities have strong principals who serve as instructional leaders. While resources and working conditions certainly matter, research suggests that teachers who have options choose to enter and remain in schools where they feel well supported by the local administrator, irrespective of student wealth or poverty, and that schools with poor leadership typically have difficulty attracting and retaining teachers. In national surveys of teachers about their decisions to remain in teaching, administrative supports matter far more than the characteristics of the student body or even variables like student behavior and parent involvement."
F. The problem of staffing low income schools.
"Although there are many new teachers who cannot find jobs, there are also many job openings for which schools have difficulty finding teachers. In almost every field, schools with the largest numbers of low-income and minority students are much more likely than other schools to report that they have difficulty filling vacancies. These schools are also more likely to fill vacancies with unqualified teachers, substitutes, or teachers from other fields, or to expand class sizes or cancel course offerings when they cannot find teachers."
" Minority and low-income students in urban settings are most likely to
find themselves in classrooms staffed by inadequately prepared, in-
experienced, and ill-qualified teachers because funding inequities, dis-
tribution of local power, and labor market conditions conspire to
produce shortages of which they bear the brunt. Shortages of qualified
teachers also translate into larger class sizes, lack of access to higher-
level courses, and poorer teaching."
"These “shortages,” though, are largely a problem of distribution rather than of absolute numbers. Wealthy districts that pay high salaries and offer pleasant working conditions rarely experience shortages. Districts that serve low-income students tend to pay teachers less and offer larger class sizes and pupil loads, fewer materials, and less desirable teaching conditions, including less professional autonomy. They also often have cumbersome and inefficient hiring systems that make the selection process particularly slow and grueling for candidates. For obvious reasons, they have more difficulty recruiting teachers. In 1993–94, for example, schools serving larger numbers of minority and low-income students were four times as likely as whiter and wealthier schools to hire unqualified teachers."
"On virtually every measure, teachers’ qualifications vary by the status of the children they serve. Students in high-poverty schools are not only the least likely to have teachers who are fully qualified, they are also least likely to have teachers with higher levels of education— a master’s, specialist, or doctoral degree. Whereas only 8 percent of public school teachers in low-poverty schools taught without at least a minor in their main academic assignment field, fully one-third of teachers in high-poverty schools taught without at least a minor in their main field, and nearly 70 percent taught without at least a minor in their secondary teaching field. This is problematic given the studies that show lower levels of achievement for students whose teachers are not prepared and certified in the subject area they teach."
G. What state you live in matters.
"Inequality is most pronounced in the states and districts that have invested the least in preparing and hiring high-quality teachers. In states like Connecticut, Iowa, Minnesota, Montana, and Wisconsin, nearly all teachers hold both full certification and a major in the field they teach, and few if any are hired on emergency credentials. Not surprisingly, students in these states rank at the top of the distribution in mathematics and reading achievement on the National Assessment of Educational Progress. One might speculate that this distribution is largely a function of states’ student populations; however, research on the determinants of these outcomes has found that states’ levels of student performance are much more strongly predicted by the proportion of well-qualified teachers (those holding full certification plus a major in the field they teach) in the state than by student poverty, language status, or other background variables. As described later, these states have adopted specific policies that have allowed them to provide well-qualified teachers to all students. By contrast, states like Alaska, California, and Louisiana, which rank much lower on overall achievement, have many fewer teachers who are well qualified (that is, who hold certification plus a major in their field) and large numbers of teachers teaching out of field or on emergency credentials. These differently prepared teachers are allocated along class and racial lines.
Brainstorming Break
Due to the craziness of the last few weeks, I have severely neglected this blog. Now that I am ready to get back on track with my research, I thought it might be a good idea to spend one post figuring out what I have accomplished thus far and where I intend to go in the coming weeks.
I just posted another set of links on education inequality, to add to about 10 links I have already posted. These posts are basically an aggregation of some of the research I have been doing. Although I am thoroughly enjoying collecting these contemporary articles, I think I need to start getting organized with my research. In the coming weeks, I hope to research the "problem" section of my paper in a more focused manner, according to the following rough guiding outline. I plan to modify the outline as I research, so this is not a final product. After that, I will turn to the "solutions".
I just posted another set of links on education inequality, to add to about 10 links I have already posted. These posts are basically an aggregation of some of the research I have been doing. Although I am thoroughly enjoying collecting these contemporary articles, I think I need to start getting organized with my research. In the coming weeks, I hope to research the "problem" section of my paper in a more focused manner, according to the following rough guiding outline. I plan to modify the outline as I research, so this is not a final product. After that, I will turn to the "solutions".
- The problems
- Quality of education
- Issues that stem from US public school system/federal funding system
- class size
- physical conditions of school building
- teacher:student ratio
- quality of teachers/administrators
- after-school programming/extracurricular activities
- variety of classes; Advanced Placement courses
- management and administration of schools
- special education
- Issues that stem from a student's upbringing or community
- English as a second language
- literacy
- security considerations
- emotional/psychological/physical health
- dropout rates
- lack of access to tutors, private lessons, extra-curricular activities, etc.
- Implications of education Inequality
- standardized testing
- teacher evaluations
- college admissions
- employment (aspirations and actual employment)
- social mobility
- emotional/psychological health
- literacy (individual, familial)
- economic implications (cycle of poverty)
- community growth or stagnancy
Putting Prose on Pause
This week (or rather, last week), we were asked to write a poem about our topic. I am no poet, but I hope that this piece conveys some of the realities that students in low-income school districts experience and want to express.
*Disclaimer: This poem is not written from my perspective. It is written from the viewpoint of students who experience education inequality.
hallways
*Disclaimer: This poem is not written from my perspective. It is written from the viewpoint of students who experience education inequality.
hallways
packed with students, rushing to class
(or not)
classrooms
filled with brightly colored posters
and the smell of whiteboard markers
teachers
the ones we take for granted now
but will want to thank later
doodles
cover the desks in the back row
documenting the fleeting thoughts of teenage girls
When will you realize?
We have hallways, classrooms, teachers and doodles
But our hallways are dirty
the floors haven't been washed in years
the linoleum is badly cracked
our classrooms are poorly lit
and don't have enough desks to seat our whole class
some kids sit on the floor
our teachers want to teach us
but instead they test us
and then hang their heads in disappointment when we don't do well
our doodles aren't about sports or fashion
they are about the places we work after school
when we should be doing homework or playing ball
my parents tell me "stay in school", "school is important"
how do I reply?
as long as my hallways and classrooms and teachers and doodles
are the way they are
I am better off
anywhere but school.
8 More Links on Education Inequality
1. William H. Schmidt: Inequality in the American Education System
While I do not agree with Mr. Schmidt's conclusion (that the introduction of the Common Core Standards is a move in the right direction), I find it interesting that he points out an area of education inequality not often discussed: tracking systems. I myself am undecided on the topic of tracking; I see both sides of the debate and cannot decide which is more compelling. This article makes a pretty good case against the tracking system.
2. No Education Reform Without Tackling Poverty, Experts Say
A panel of experts that met in Washington, D.C. in April concluded that the focus of the education inequality battle needs to be poverty, not public school educators.
Here is a quote from the article:
"The panel used their presentations to demonstrate how more affluent schools have made significant gains in academic improvement over the past 40 years while under-funded schools, despite making some strides, have been unable to close the achievement gap. The panelists urged lawmakers to avoid blaming the public school system and instead put programs in place to address the crippling poverty that obstructs student learning."
3. New York Times: SAT Scores and Family Income
This article is frightening. I've always heard that higher family income correlates with higher SAT scores, but seeing this data visually really brings it home. I've included the graph of all 3 sections on the same axis below.
4. School Funding Inequality Forces Poor Cities Like Reading, PA., To Take Huge Cuts
This article is a sobering reminder of how severely those in poor cities suffer. In 2013, twenty six states in the U.S. will spend less per student than they did last year. Thirty-five states thus far have spent less per student than they did before the recession. If you want to get a feel for how bad things are, take a look at what this article has to say about the Reading, Pennsylvania school district:
5. Evidence Says Education Inequality is Hurting the U.S. Economy
6. The Income Inequality Debate: Potential Causes
While I do not agree with Mr. Schmidt's conclusion (that the introduction of the Common Core Standards is a move in the right direction), I find it interesting that he points out an area of education inequality not often discussed: tracking systems. I myself am undecided on the topic of tracking; I see both sides of the debate and cannot decide which is more compelling. This article makes a pretty good case against the tracking system.
2. No Education Reform Without Tackling Poverty, Experts Say
A panel of experts that met in Washington, D.C. in April concluded that the focus of the education inequality battle needs to be poverty, not public school educators.
Here is a quote from the article:
"The panel used their presentations to demonstrate how more affluent schools have made significant gains in academic improvement over the past 40 years while under-funded schools, despite making some strides, have been unable to close the achievement gap. The panelists urged lawmakers to avoid blaming the public school system and instead put programs in place to address the crippling poverty that obstructs student learning."
3. New York Times: SAT Scores and Family Income
This article is frightening. I've always heard that higher family income correlates with higher SAT scores, but seeing this data visually really brings it home. I've included the graph of all 3 sections on the same axis below.
4. School Funding Inequality Forces Poor Cities Like Reading, PA., To Take Huge Cuts
This article is a sobering reminder of how severely those in poor cities suffer. In 2013, twenty six states in the U.S. will spend less per student than they did last year. Thirty-five states thus far have spent less per student than they did before the recession. If you want to get a feel for how bad things are, take a look at what this article has to say about the Reading, Pennsylvania school district:
"The Reading School District looks nothing like it did just a year ago. A $43 million deficit this year has resulted in 13 percent fewer teachers on its payroll, and a scramble to fill those gaps. Many furloughed rehires are teaching in unfamiliar fields. For example, Brad Richards, a longtime sixth-grade history veteran, presides over a kindergarten class. The capacity of pre-kindergarten has been cut in half. Because Pennsylvania schools by rule can't fire teachers unless a school is closed or a program is shut down, certain vocational and technology classes simply don't exist anymore. Fewer security guards monitor student brawls and school safety inside the halls, and those who remain operate without the help of police officers, whom the district deemed too expensive to hire from the city.
More students jostle for less space. The intermediate schools and the high school are flooded with extra kids, the refugees of three defunct middle-school "gateways" opened a few years ago."
This article points out that education reformers are arguing over things like school choice and charter schools, which only serve to continue the cycle of poverty (the issue of school choice is complex and multi-faceted, so expect a blog post devoted to that topic soon).
To understand how living in a poorer city effects the education system, consider these statistics quoted in the article: Reading, PA can spend only $7,572 per student per year. Does that sound like a lot? Well, only a short distance away in West Reading, the school district spends $10,633 per student per year. That is what having a poverty rate of 40.1% does to a city. Only 64% of Reading residents have a high school diploma, and only 10% have a bachelors degree. Many teenagers in Reading have dropped out of school to help their parents in times of economic hardship, and are thus unlikely to attend a university.
This article includes many more salient points and is definitely worth your time to read. However, you may want to have a box of tissues on hand when you read Ja'Nya's story.
Horace Mann famously stated: "Education then, beyond all other devices of human origin, is the great equalizer of the conditions of men, the balance-wheel of the social machinery." If school districts like that of Reading, PA cannot afford to spend as much as they need to spend on their students, how will we ever break the cycle of poverty in this country? Horace Mann was on to something when he called education "the great equalizer", but he statement is only true if we make it true.
5. Evidence Says Education Inequality is Hurting the U.S. Economy
This article makes a few very important points about how income level effects the education one receives, however what I found most informative about this article was the following paragraph:
"Poverty isn’t the only disadvantage faced by bright kids from poor backgrounds, The New York Times story said. At college, low-income students face competition from peers who grew up with perquisites many poor kids lack, such as preschools, tutors, summer camps, music lessons and stable, prosperous families. Low-income students often miss out on guidance from family members, can be easily swamped by mounting debts, and might feel pressure to contribute income toward their families."
High-income students have access to so many resources that are simply unavailable to their lower-income counterparts. To speak from personal experience, working with a tutor helped me jump 70 points on a section of the SATs. It isn't fair that some of my peers cannot afford to get the same kind of assistance!
6. The Income Inequality Debate: Potential Causes
The content of this link is nicely summarized in its introduction:
"While income inequality can be summarized in a few words, its multiple potential causes are more complex. Globalization and technological change have simultaneously led to greater competition for lower-skilled workers--many of whom have also lost union membership--while giving well-educated, higher-skilled workers increased leverage. Changes to tax rates, including favorable treatment for capital gains, may also play a role."
7. Research Traces Impacts of Childhood Adversity
7. Research Traces Impacts of Childhood Adversity
This article is a gold mine of information on the psychological and emotional implications of adversity experienced in early years.
Here is a quote from the article that explains the ACE study, which polled over 17,000 middle-class adults:
"Known as the ACE study and done in collaboration with Dr. Robert F. Anda at the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, the project analyzed longitudinal data on more than 17,400 middle-class adults in the Kaiser Permanente system.
Participants reported whether, as children, they had experienced repeated physical, sexual, or severe emotional abuse, and whether they had grown up with any of five types of "household dysfunction": a family member in prison; domestic violence; an alcoholic or drug abuser in the home; someone in the home who was depressed, mentally ill, or suicidal; or loss of at least one biological parent during childhood for any reason.
As it turned out, more than half the adults had had at least one type of severe abuse or home dysfunction in childhood, and one in 16 had experienced four or more. The number of traumatic childhood experiences, Dr. Felitti found, was directly proportional to a person's risk of a wide variety of major medical and social problems, from teenage pregnancy and drug abuse to adult heart disease and hepatitis.
"These results are almost unique in their magnitude," Dr. Felitti said. A boy with six indicators of abuse and home dysfunction was 4,600 percent more likely than a boy with no risk factors to become an intravenous-drug user, according to the study."
8. Steven Strauss: The Connection Between Education, Income Inequality, and Unemployment
The author of this article quotes statistics that tell us what we already know: the more education one has, the higher the likelihood of finding a high paying job. Although we in the 21st century are challenging this notion, the corrolation between education and income remains strong. Articles like these remind me how important it is for us to address education inequality right now.
Participants reported whether, as children, they had experienced repeated physical, sexual, or severe emotional abuse, and whether they had grown up with any of five types of "household dysfunction": a family member in prison; domestic violence; an alcoholic or drug abuser in the home; someone in the home who was depressed, mentally ill, or suicidal; or loss of at least one biological parent during childhood for any reason.
As it turned out, more than half the adults had had at least one type of severe abuse or home dysfunction in childhood, and one in 16 had experienced four or more. The number of traumatic childhood experiences, Dr. Felitti found, was directly proportional to a person's risk of a wide variety of major medical and social problems, from teenage pregnancy and drug abuse to adult heart disease and hepatitis.
"These results are almost unique in their magnitude," Dr. Felitti said. A boy with six indicators of abuse and home dysfunction was 4,600 percent more likely than a boy with no risk factors to become an intravenous-drug user, according to the study."
8. Steven Strauss: The Connection Between Education, Income Inequality, and Unemployment
The author of this article quotes statistics that tell us what we already know: the more education one has, the higher the likelihood of finding a high paying job. Although we in the 21st century are challenging this notion, the corrolation between education and income remains strong. Articles like these remind me how important it is for us to address education inequality right now.
Monday, December 3, 2012
Students Calling for Action
New York City public school student Claryssa Santana shares her experience in the NYC public school system:
Saturday, November 10, 2012
Two Peas (not) in a Pod: Ultra-Orthodoxy and the Internet
This week, we are being asked to look at a classmate's blog and discuss what they are doing for their Frisch LEADS project.
Here are two blogs that I am looking forward to following as the year goes on:
1. Danielle Silber is exploring what it means to live in ultra Orthodox Jewish communities as a woman. I think this topic is a fascinating one. As Modern Orthodox Jews, we are members of both the religious and secular worlds. Thus, we are probably in the best position to reconcile religious extremism and traditionalism with modern ethics and values. Yet, I find that many people in the Orthodox community stay on one side of the debate, either neglecting to take into account the not all together adverse culture of ultra religious communities, or making up implausible excuses on behalf of these communities without considering their actions against the backdrop of modernity. Many of my family members recently read Unorthodox by Deborah Feldman, a book detailing one woman's experience in the Chasidic neighborhood of Williamsburg. Although I have yet to read the book myself, from what I have heard it raises a plethora of questions regarding religious extremism, gender roles, and so on. One of my cousins read Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali after reading Unorthodox, and commented that one of the differences between the two books is that while both women detail the oppression they experienced in their respective religious communities, Feldman seems to have a lot more anger than does Hirsi Ali. Although I have not read either book, I found this observation interesting. Since I don't forsee myself having time to read Unorthodox in the near future, I look forward to following Danielle's progress with her Frisch LEADS project.
2. Ben Katz is researching the impact that the Internet has on human interaction and connection. This topic is particularly important in light of the immense amount of time that we moderns spend using the World Wide Web. Ben plans to explore social media, popular websites that impact how we learn and research (like Google, Wikipedia and Yahoo! Answers), sites like eBay and Amazon that have changed the face of consumerism, and sites such as eHarmony that have fundamentally altered the way in which we interact with other human beings. Here are some of the questions that Ben wants to answer: " To what extent has the Internet changed human behavior? Is this impact worldwide or just concentrated in certain privileged countries? Will this 'revolution' continue at the rate that it has? Has the Internet brought a positive change for us? To what extent must we remove ourselves from it? What are some instances where the Internet has changed people's lives?" All of these questions intrigue me, so I am very excited to follow Ben's progress!
Here are two blogs that I am looking forward to following as the year goes on:
1. Danielle Silber is exploring what it means to live in ultra Orthodox Jewish communities as a woman. I think this topic is a fascinating one. As Modern Orthodox Jews, we are members of both the religious and secular worlds. Thus, we are probably in the best position to reconcile religious extremism and traditionalism with modern ethics and values. Yet, I find that many people in the Orthodox community stay on one side of the debate, either neglecting to take into account the not all together adverse culture of ultra religious communities, or making up implausible excuses on behalf of these communities without considering their actions against the backdrop of modernity. Many of my family members recently read Unorthodox by Deborah Feldman, a book detailing one woman's experience in the Chasidic neighborhood of Williamsburg. Although I have yet to read the book myself, from what I have heard it raises a plethora of questions regarding religious extremism, gender roles, and so on. One of my cousins read Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali after reading Unorthodox, and commented that one of the differences between the two books is that while both women detail the oppression they experienced in their respective religious communities, Feldman seems to have a lot more anger than does Hirsi Ali. Although I have not read either book, I found this observation interesting. Since I don't forsee myself having time to read Unorthodox in the near future, I look forward to following Danielle's progress with her Frisch LEADS project.
2. Ben Katz is researching the impact that the Internet has on human interaction and connection. This topic is particularly important in light of the immense amount of time that we moderns spend using the World Wide Web. Ben plans to explore social media, popular websites that impact how we learn and research (like Google, Wikipedia and Yahoo! Answers), sites like eBay and Amazon that have changed the face of consumerism, and sites such as eHarmony that have fundamentally altered the way in which we interact with other human beings. Here are some of the questions that Ben wants to answer: " To what extent has the Internet changed human behavior? Is this impact worldwide or just concentrated in certain privileged countries? Will this 'revolution' continue at the rate that it has? Has the Internet brought a positive change for us? To what extent must we remove ourselves from it? What are some instances where the Internet has changed people's lives?" All of these questions intrigue me, so I am very excited to follow Ben's progress!
Saturday, October 27, 2012
10+ Links on Education Inequality
Here are some articles and videos I've found that relate to my project:
1. At 76, Jonathan Kozol is More Outraged Over Inequality Than Ever
This is an article about Jonathan Kozol, long-time education activist and author of multiple books on education inequality. Kozol is well into his seventies and still lecturing and writing in the hopes that our education system will one day give students equal opportunity to succeed.
Here's a quote from the article:
"What's happening now in America, says Kozol, is "not even a pretense of a meritocracy." We are willfully condemning the futures of poor children in our society and, by scapegoating teachers and underfunding schools we're destroying public education. If that legacy of public education is lost, "that precious dream of Thomas Jefferson at his very best," says Kozol, "it will imperil our democracy."
2. Kalamazoo, Mich., the City That Pays for College
I read this article in the NY Times magazine a couple of weeks ago. In November 2005, some unnamed donors decided to pay tuition for Michigan's public colleges, universities and community colleges for students who graduated from the Kalamazoo, Michigan high schools. The program, called the "Kalamazoo Promise", gives Kalamazoo teenagers hope for higher education. One in three Kalamazoo students lives below the national poverty line, and one in twelve are homeless. The Kalamazoo Promise is blind to family incomes, student grades and disciplinary and criminal records. The program requires families to reside in a Kalamazoo school district and graduate from a Kalamazoo high school. The hope is that families will live and work in Kalamazoo for longer, thereby boosting the local economy.
3. BoostUp
BoostUp is an organization dedicated to helping teens who are at-risk for dropping out of school the support they so desperately need to graduate. I've watched many of the videos on the site about student stories. As I watch these videos, I am reminded that these are just a handful of the adolescents in this country who are struggling to make ends meet. The site also provides statistics about dropout rates and ways for the average person to give these students a boost, whether it be by tutoring students after school, giving students resume and interview help, or donating to schools in need.
4. The Opportunity Gap, by David Brooks
I read this article back in July. Harvard political scientist Robert Putnam recently did a study on the socioeconomic gap in America by looking at opportunity inequality among children, the future of our nation. College-educated parents spend one hour more a day with their children. Upper-income parents have increased the amount of money they spend on their children's enrichment programs by $5,300 a year in the past forty years. Children from upper-income families are about twice as likely to play after-school sports and more than twice as likely to be captain of their teams. They are much more likely to participate in other extracurriculars.
"Equal opportunity, once core to the nation’s identity, is now a tertiary concern. If America really wants to change that, if the country wants to take advantage of all its human capital rather than just the most privileged two-thirds of it, then people are going to have to make some pretty uncomfortable decisions."
5. Income Inequality and Educational Opportunity, by Laura D'Andrea Tyson
This September 2012 article includes some sobering statistics about the education gap in this country.
Knowing the facts is the first step towards making a difference.
The 2012 census reports:
"Of the 20.4 million people with income below one-half of their poverty threshold, 7.3 million were children under age 18, 12.2 million were aged 18 to 64, and 940,000 were aged 65 years and older. The percentage of people aged 65 and older with income below 50 percent of their poverty threshold was 2.3 percent, less than one-half the percentage of the total population at this poverty level (6.6 percent)."
Here are some interesting graphs from the census report:
7. Education Gap Grows Between Rich and Poor, Studies Show
Yet another article with startling statistics about the state of education inequality in America.
"One reason for the growing gap in achievement, researchers say, could be that wealthy parents invest more time and money than ever before in their children (in weekend sports, ballet, music lessons, math tutors, and in overall involvement in their children’s schools), while lower-income families, which are now more likely than ever to be headed by a single parent, are increasingly stretched for time and resources. This has been particularly true as more parents try to position their children for college, which has become ever more essential for success in today’s economy.
10. Some informative and heart-wrenching videos about general socioeconomic inequality and education inequality:
Richard Wilkinson: How Economic Inequality Harms Societies
Inequality in the Public Education System
Disparity in Public Education Funding in America
Jonathan Kozol: Education in America (1 of 6) (Follow the related videos for parts 2-6)
This is America- Jonathan Kozol (Part 1 of 2)
Hans Rosling: New Insights on Poverty
1. At 76, Jonathan Kozol is More Outraged Over Inequality Than Ever
This is an article about Jonathan Kozol, long-time education activist and author of multiple books on education inequality. Kozol is well into his seventies and still lecturing and writing in the hopes that our education system will one day give students equal opportunity to succeed.
Here's a quote from the article:
"What's happening now in America, says Kozol, is "not even a pretense of a meritocracy." We are willfully condemning the futures of poor children in our society and, by scapegoating teachers and underfunding schools we're destroying public education. If that legacy of public education is lost, "that precious dream of Thomas Jefferson at his very best," says Kozol, "it will imperil our democracy."
2. Kalamazoo, Mich., the City That Pays for College
I read this article in the NY Times magazine a couple of weeks ago. In November 2005, some unnamed donors decided to pay tuition for Michigan's public colleges, universities and community colleges for students who graduated from the Kalamazoo, Michigan high schools. The program, called the "Kalamazoo Promise", gives Kalamazoo teenagers hope for higher education. One in three Kalamazoo students lives below the national poverty line, and one in twelve are homeless. The Kalamazoo Promise is blind to family incomes, student grades and disciplinary and criminal records. The program requires families to reside in a Kalamazoo school district and graduate from a Kalamazoo high school. The hope is that families will live and work in Kalamazoo for longer, thereby boosting the local economy.
3. BoostUp
BoostUp is an organization dedicated to helping teens who are at-risk for dropping out of school the support they so desperately need to graduate. I've watched many of the videos on the site about student stories. As I watch these videos, I am reminded that these are just a handful of the adolescents in this country who are struggling to make ends meet. The site also provides statistics about dropout rates and ways for the average person to give these students a boost, whether it be by tutoring students after school, giving students resume and interview help, or donating to schools in need.
4. The Opportunity Gap, by David Brooks
I read this article back in July. Harvard political scientist Robert Putnam recently did a study on the socioeconomic gap in America by looking at opportunity inequality among children, the future of our nation. College-educated parents spend one hour more a day with their children. Upper-income parents have increased the amount of money they spend on their children's enrichment programs by $5,300 a year in the past forty years. Children from upper-income families are about twice as likely to play after-school sports and more than twice as likely to be captain of their teams. They are much more likely to participate in other extracurriculars.
"Equal opportunity, once core to the nation’s identity, is now a tertiary concern. If America really wants to change that, if the country wants to take advantage of all its human capital rather than just the most privileged two-thirds of it, then people are going to have to make some pretty uncomfortable decisions."
5. Income Inequality and Educational Opportunity, by Laura D'Andrea Tyson
This September 2012 article includes some sobering statistics about the education gap in this country.
"The United States is caught in a vicious cycle largely of its own making. Rising income inequality is breeding more inequality in educational opportunity, which results in greater inequality in educational attainment. That, in turn, undermines the intergenerational mobility upon which Americans have always prided themselves and perpetuates income inequality from generation to generation.
This dynamic all but guarantees a permanent underclass. Indeed, the process is already under way: An American child’s future income is already more dependent on his or her parents’ income than a child born in most other developed countries."
Knowing the facts is the first step towards making a difference.
The 2012 census reports:
"Of the 20.4 million people with income below one-half of their poverty threshold, 7.3 million were children under age 18, 12.2 million were aged 18 to 64, and 940,000 were aged 65 years and older. The percentage of people aged 65 and older with income below 50 percent of their poverty threshold was 2.3 percent, less than one-half the percentage of the total population at this poverty level (6.6 percent)."
Here are some interesting graphs from the census report:
7. Education Gap Grows Between Rich and Poor, Studies Show
Yet another article with startling statistics about the state of education inequality in America.
"One reason for the growing gap in achievement, researchers say, could be that wealthy parents invest more time and money than ever before in their children (in weekend sports, ballet, music lessons, math tutors, and in overall involvement in their children’s schools), while lower-income families, which are now more likely than ever to be headed by a single parent, are increasingly stretched for time and resources. This has been particularly true as more parents try to position their children for college, which has become ever more essential for success in today’s economy.
A study by Sabino Kornrich, a researcher at the Center for Advanced Studies at the Juan March Institute in Madrid, and Frank F. Furstenberg, scheduled to appear in the journal Demography this year, found that in 1972, Americans at the upper end of the income spectrum were spending five times as much per child as low-income families. By 2007 that gap had grown to nine to one; spending by upper-income families more than doubled, while spending by low-income families grew by 20 percent."
Here are some great graphs with statistics about inequality in the United States.
One important fact I learned:
"Only college graduates have experienced growth in median weekly earnings since 1979 (in real terms). High school dropouts have, by contrast, seen their real median weekly earnings decline by about 22 percent"
This article focuses on education inequality in New York City.
"The real outrage, then, is not our vivid language but how education in New York City is more likely to reinforce existing patterns of inequality than to serve as a pathway to opportunity. It is as if New York is testing black, Latino and poor students on their swimming abilities after knowingly relegating them to pools where the water has been drained. These students are then stigmatized as failures, their parents labeled as less than fully engaged, and their teachers called ineffective. Ultimately, their community’s schools are closed rather than being supplied with the necessary resources and supports to flourish. One cannot ignore the impact of such policies and practices on the public image of blacks and Latinos males and the profiling that exists in our society."
10. Some informative and heart-wrenching videos about general socioeconomic inequality and education inequality:
Richard Wilkinson: How Economic Inequality Harms Societies
Inequality in the Public Education System
Disparity in Public Education Funding in America
Jonathan Kozol: Education in America (1 of 6) (Follow the related videos for parts 2-6)
This is America- Jonathan Kozol (Part 1 of 2)
Hans Rosling: New Insights on Poverty
Friday, October 12, 2012
Bursting Bubbles
As I look back on my Frisch career, I think about all of the times when I inadvertently made schoolwork harder for myself. I made a big deal about small assignments, left things to the last minute, and so on. Yet here I am, on the last leg of my journey through Frisch, purposefully making school more difficult. Why, you ask? I advise you to buckle your seatbelt, because this will blow you out of the water...
I want to actually learn something during my senior year.
I know, I'm crazy. Feel free to mock.
Instead of combining my Tikvah paper with the Frisch LEADS project, I am leaning towards working on two totally different topics. Yes, I'll have more work, but I'm optimistic about how much I will learn in the process.
And now (drum roll please), presenting what I hope will be my final topic: education inequality.
Over the past year, I have developed an interest in and a passion for education reform. One specific area in which I am interested is education inequality, particularly in urban school systems. I have been privileged to attend well funded private yeshiva day schools all my life. I have spent my days in beautiful facilities with high-tech classrooms and benefited from a plethora of enrichment programs and extracurricular activities. I have taken for granted things like adequate lighting, intact textbooks and exposure to the arts. The more I read about education, the more shocked I become. The gaps between private and public schools, and well funded public schools and under-funded public schools are extraordinarily wide! During my excursions into the large network of educators on twitter, Facebook and blogging sites, I have learned that this problem has existed for decades. For years and years, urban youth have been getting the short end of the stick. Education is of primary importance for youth living in urban areas, where there tends to be more violence, substance abuse and the like. Yet we've substantially reduced the chances that these young people will one day move up the socioeconomic ladder. We are prolonging-- possibly worsening-- the general socioeconomic rift in our country.
For my project, I want to thoroughly examine the state of American public education with an eye toward urban schools. I would like to look at issues that arise in these schools due to the socioeconomic standing of the students, as well as the amount of funding that the respective schools receive from the government. For part two of project, I want to find creative, implementable solutions to the problems I have explored. In terms of finding sources, I am planning to a read a book or two by Jonathan Kozol, an educator who has dedicated his life to acting and writing on behalf of inner-city students. Hopefully, his writings will give me an overview of the current situation, and perhaps some specifics. There are many other books, essays, articles and blog posts on this topic, so I don't think I will have a problem finding sources of information. In addition, I would love to visit an under-funded school in New York City and talk to students, teachers and administrators about their experiences with education inequality. As a final project, I'm thinking about starting Ramp It Up, a non-profit organization that Mrs. Wiener, Eddie Maza, and I have been planning to create. The organization would provide study help for AP students who do not have the resources that most private school students are fortunate enough to have- multiple review books, flashcards, lists and summaries given out by teachers, practice tests, etc. Hopefully, my understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of public education will inform how we structure the organization.
People within the Jewish community often talk about the yeshiva day school "bubble". I consider myself to be a fairly open minded individual, generally knowledgable about issues that do not effect the Jewish community. Yet, I cannot deny the fact that growing up in the comfort of the Jewish day school system has made me virtually ignorant to the unique challenges of public education. Hopefully, this project can help me burst that bubble once and for all.
I want to actually learn something during my senior year.
I know, I'm crazy. Feel free to mock.
Instead of combining my Tikvah paper with the Frisch LEADS project, I am leaning towards working on two totally different topics. Yes, I'll have more work, but I'm optimistic about how much I will learn in the process.
And now (drum roll please), presenting what I hope will be my final topic: education inequality.
Over the past year, I have developed an interest in and a passion for education reform. One specific area in which I am interested is education inequality, particularly in urban school systems. I have been privileged to attend well funded private yeshiva day schools all my life. I have spent my days in beautiful facilities with high-tech classrooms and benefited from a plethora of enrichment programs and extracurricular activities. I have taken for granted things like adequate lighting, intact textbooks and exposure to the arts. The more I read about education, the more shocked I become. The gaps between private and public schools, and well funded public schools and under-funded public schools are extraordinarily wide! During my excursions into the large network of educators on twitter, Facebook and blogging sites, I have learned that this problem has existed for decades. For years and years, urban youth have been getting the short end of the stick. Education is of primary importance for youth living in urban areas, where there tends to be more violence, substance abuse and the like. Yet we've substantially reduced the chances that these young people will one day move up the socioeconomic ladder. We are prolonging-- possibly worsening-- the general socioeconomic rift in our country.
For my project, I want to thoroughly examine the state of American public education with an eye toward urban schools. I would like to look at issues that arise in these schools due to the socioeconomic standing of the students, as well as the amount of funding that the respective schools receive from the government. For part two of project, I want to find creative, implementable solutions to the problems I have explored. In terms of finding sources, I am planning to a read a book or two by Jonathan Kozol, an educator who has dedicated his life to acting and writing on behalf of inner-city students. Hopefully, his writings will give me an overview of the current situation, and perhaps some specifics. There are many other books, essays, articles and blog posts on this topic, so I don't think I will have a problem finding sources of information. In addition, I would love to visit an under-funded school in New York City and talk to students, teachers and administrators about their experiences with education inequality. As a final project, I'm thinking about starting Ramp It Up, a non-profit organization that Mrs. Wiener, Eddie Maza, and I have been planning to create. The organization would provide study help for AP students who do not have the resources that most private school students are fortunate enough to have- multiple review books, flashcards, lists and summaries given out by teachers, practice tests, etc. Hopefully, my understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of public education will inform how we structure the organization.
People within the Jewish community often talk about the yeshiva day school "bubble". I consider myself to be a fairly open minded individual, generally knowledgable about issues that do not effect the Jewish community. Yet, I cannot deny the fact that growing up in the comfort of the Jewish day school system has made me virtually ignorant to the unique challenges of public education. Hopefully, this project can help me burst that bubble once and for all.
Thursday, September 27, 2012
First Thoughts
A couple of days ago, Mrs. Wiener announced the Frisch LEADS project to our English class. You can probably guess how most students reacted. Even if they didn't vocalize their thoughts, it was clear that my fellow students were experiencing a sinking sensation in their stomachs at the thought of actually doing work during senior year...on top of a regular AP English Literature curriculum no less!
Now, I don't mean to say that I always enjoy school work, but I didn't get that sinking sensation in my stomach. Gasp! She what?? Let me explain myself...
I am a big fan of this kind of project-based, student-directed work because we, the students, are given the freedom to be creative and inventive while simultaneously developing our research and communication skills. I find that my peers often complain about school not because they don't want to learn, but because most of what we learn in school is conveyed in a dry, mundane manner. Who wants to sit at a desk and furiously copy down what the teacher says for ten periods a day? These kinds of projects have the potential to break down the barriers that prevent so many students from actually- can I say it?- enjoying high school. Now, I am pretty sure that my fellow classmates and I will still complain about the blogging requirements (not to mention the final assignment) but my guess is that deep down, each of us will gain from this project something that cannot be acquired via frontal classroom learning.
I have gone through a few topic ideas and I think I've settled on one that ties in to the paper I am writing from the Tikvah class. My Tikvah topic is the individual versus the collective in Judaism and American democracy, and how the distinction between a faith based on covenant and a political structure based on social contract may shed some light on this issue. These questions will hopefully be addressed in my paper: How are we to reconcile the Jewish tradition's insistence on mutual responsibility with the American value of individual freedom and responsibility? How are we, as American Jews, to look at the conflict between individual and community? What are our responsibilities to our respective communities and to the world?
I really like this topic, but I don't want to do the exact same thing for Frisch LEADS. I'm toying with the idea of using individual vs. mutual responsibility as a springboard to explore the American-Jewish approach to the pressing social issues of our time. How do American Jews view homelessness, education inequality and the like? What's more, how should we view these issues given what our faith has to say about social responsibility? As a final project, I might create the organization that Mrs. Wiener, a fellow classmate and I have been discussing for the past few months.
On the other hand, I'm interesting in so many other areas that would make great projects! I'd love to do my project on education, whether it be general education or specifically jewish education. I'm also interested in social action/entrepreneurship, marketing/advertising, psychology...the list goes on! I may regret limiting myself to philosophy...or not.
I'll be brainstorming a lot in the coming days. More on my progress next time...
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