STEM & the Outside World - Making the Environmental Connection (Happy Earth Day!)

Guest Blog: Connecting environmental education and STEM

Submitted by Christina on Fri, 2013-04-19 14:57

What are the learning goals of environmental education? How are they best accomplished? How do they support the broader goals of improving students’ STEM skills?

Students have an innate curiosity – even wonder – about the natural world around them. Environmental education (EE) taps into their enthusiasm and provides them the knowledge and skills to solve 21^st-century challenges. Early connection with the environment also equips students to make everyday decisions that improve the quality of their lives and the health of our planet.
The goals of EE can be accomplished well through project-based learning and hands-on exploration of the outdoors. Local, place-based environmental projects provide relevant learning experiences for students and an opportunity to make a meaningful difference in their communities.

Through EE, students learn not only STEM content, but also develop the critical thinking, problem-solving and decision-making skills that are critical for success in STEM careers where substantial growth is expected. Further, studies indicate that young people who experience the natural world and have more opportunities to play and learn within it are more likely to choose science or related fields as careers.

What are the opportunities and obstacles to introducing students to environmental education?

While field trips and opportunities to explore nature centers and other nonformal education settings are valuable to sparking interest and deeper knowledge about the environment, lack of time and resources can make it challenging for teachers to provide those opportunities. Increasingly, schools are investing in enriching the more accessible laboratories for learning that exist right outside the classroom door, in a nearby park, the schoolyard, school garden -- even the school building itself. Recognizing the national priority on successfully engaging more students in STEM, significantly more environmental science content is being integrated across multiple disciplines. There are expanded opportunities within the new Next Generation Science Standards to emphasize science learning through an environmental context, through content on human impacts on the natural world.

What do policymakers and decision makers need to know when thinking about STEM learning and environmental education?

Research and survey findings indicate young people have a strong interest in the environment. Total employment in STEM jobs is expected to increase by twice as much as all other jobs by 2018 and environmental science jobs are expected to grow by 25% by 2016 – the fastest among the sciences. Sources and additional statistics can be found in the new Tech & Our Planet infographic.
In 2011 the U.S. Department of Education developed the Green Ribbon Schools recognition award, which honors schools that are exemplary in reducing environmental impact and costs; improving the health and wellness of students and staff; and providing effective environmental and sustainability education, which incorporates STEM, civic skills and green career pathways. This year, as part ofNational Environmental Education Week, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan did a PSA that speaks to the important connection between EE and STEM.

Submitted by Jennifer Tabola, senior director of education, National Environmental Education Foundation

On Connected, Community/Interest Based Learning

Wednesday Interview - Breaking the Cycle of Students' Disengagement by Having Them Leave, to Learn

Join me Wednesday, April 17th, for a live and interactive FutureofEducation.com conversation with Elliot Washor and Charles Mojkowski on their new book, Leaving to Learn: How Out-of-School Learning Increases Student Engagement and Reduces Dropout Rates.

The first step to addressing the nation's dropout rate, Elliot and Charlie argue, is letting students "leave, to learn."  (From the book's description:) "It's an alarming fact: in the U.S., one student drops out of school every 12 seconds. Elliot Washor and Charles Mojkowski, both of Big Picture Learning, have a proven, innovative solution for stemming the flow of drop-outs and breaking the cycle of disengagement that leads up to it. It's called leaving to learn. Leaving to Learn helps us deeply understand the real reasons kids drop out and the essential conditions for productive learning that today's adolescents require. The authors then make a compelling argument: in order to retain students through to graduation, schools must offer experiences where students do some of their learning outside of school. With common sense 'rules of the road,' the authors offer nuts and bolts guidelines for implementing a high-quality Leaving to Learn program, including:examples of the many forms of out-of-school learning: internships, travel, community service, independent projects, and more seamlessly integrating students' outside learning with in-school curriculum assigning academic credit for out-of-school accomplishments."

Date: Wednesday, April 17th, 2013
Time: 5pm Pacific / 8pm Eastern (international times here)
Duration: 1 hour
Location: In Blackboard Collaborate (formerly Elluminate). Log in at http://www.futureofed.info. The Blackboard Collaborate room will be open up to 30 minutes before the event if you want to come in early. To make sure that your computer is configured for Blackboard Collaborate, please visit the support and configuration page.
Recording:  A full Blackboard Collaborate recording is athttps://sas.elluminate.com/p.jnlp?psid=2013-04-17.0748.M.9E9FE58134BE68C3B413F24B3586CF.vcr&sid=2008350 and an audio mp3 recording is athttp://audio.edtechlive.com/foe/leavingtolearn.mp3 and at http://www.futureofeducation.com.
Mightybell:  A Mightybell space with interview resources and to continue the conversation is at https://mightybell.com/spaces/44050.

Elliot Washor, Ed.D. is the co-founder and co-director of Big Picture Learning. He is also the co-founder of The Met Center in Providence, RI.

Elliot has been involved in school reform for more than 30 years as a teacher, principal, administrator, video producer, and writer. He has taught and is interested in all levels of school from kindergarten through college, in urban and rural settings, across all disciplines. His work has spanned across school design, pedagogy, learning environments, and education reform and is supporting others doing similar work throughout the world. Elliot’s interests lie in the field of how schools can connect with communities to understand tacit and disciplinary learning both in and outside of school. Elliot is deeply committed to imagining Big Picture Learning as a ‘do-think-do’ organization, and persistently pushes the boundaries of its design in order to continually innovate practice and influence in the world of education.

At Thayer High School in Winchester, N.H., Elliot’s professional development programs won an “Innovations in State and Local Government Award” from the Ford Foundation and the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. He has been selected as an educator to watch in Rhode Island and has recently been selected as one of the Daring Dozen – the Twelve Most Daring Educators in the World by the George Lucas Educational Foundation. His dissertation on Innovative Pedagogy and New Facilities won the merit award from DesignShare, the international forum for innovative schools.

Elliot lives in sunny San Diego with his wife and five dogs.

Charlie Mojkowski worked with Elliot Washor and Dennis Littky in creating Big Picture Learning and The Met School in Providence. He currently works with Elliot on developing new initiatives that refine and extend the Big Picture Learning design. Charlie has served as an independent consultant to education and business since 1976. He works primarily in the areas of school and curriculum improvement, leadership and organizational development, program evaluation, and applications of technology that support that work. Charlie designed, administered, and taught in a doctoral program in educational leadership; directed the Rhode Island Educational Leadership Academy; and served as Executive Director of the Rhode Island Association of School Principals.

Secretary of Education Arne Duncan speaking @ UT - April 3 - 1PM

Secretary of Education to speak at Baker Center

• By Georgiana Vines
• Posted February 17, 2013 at 4 a.m.

Arne Duncan

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan will speak at the University of Tennessee at 1 p.m. April 3 in the Student Center auditorium as part of a distinguished lecture series honoring former U.S. Sen. Howard H. Baker Jr.

Matt Murray, director of the Baker Center for Public Policy at UT, said Duncan was suggested by Baker's wife, Nancy Kassebaum Baker, a former U.S. senator from Kansas.

Duncan has been education secretary since 2009 at the beginning of President Barack Obama's first term. He has been responsible for working with Congress on educational reform, including funding on "Race to the Top" funds, for which Tennessee qualified three years ago.

"With Tennessee becoming one of first 'Race to the Top' states, I think it's a pretty attractive place for him to consider visiting," Murray said.

At present, Duncan will come to Knoxville just for his talk although Murray said a reception might be arranged while he is here.

Duncan is a former chief executive officer of Chicago Public Schools. He also ran the nonprofit education foundation Ariel Education Initiative, which helped fund a college education for a class of inner-city children under the I Have A Dream program.

His visit is sponsored by SunTrust Bank, although he will not be paid an honorarium because he is a federal government employee, Murray said.

SunTrust also sponsored the inaugural Baker lecture series in November when former U.S. Sen. George Mitchell of Maine spoke.

The Baker Center also is hosting two programs at the Center, 1640 Cumberland Ave., on Thursday:

George Crabtree, senior scientist, Distinguished Fellow and associate division director in the Materials Science Division, Argonne National Laboratory in Chicago, will speak on the next 50 years in energy and the environment, 3:30-5 p.m.

Three Tennessee governors will discuss civility and free expression at 5:30 p.m. (This was originally announced for 7 p.m.) Those expected to participate are Gov. Bill Haslam and former Govs. Phil Bredesen and Don Sundquist. The panel will be moderated by Memphis attorney Bill Haltom. The Tennessee Bar Association has partnered with the ABA Division for Public Education as part of Civility and Free Expression in a Constitutional Democracy — A National Dialogue. This program is made possible through the National Endowment for the Humanities Bridging Cultures initiative. Also sponsored by the First Amendment Center and UT College of Law.

Out of School Time/Learning - recognized! (Badges, Digital Learning & Competency-Based Models - gaining traction)

Published in Print: February 6, 2013, as R.I. Students Gaining 'Badges' and Credits Outside of School

R.I. Students Gaining 'Badges,' Credits Outside School

Juan Batista, 16, a student at William B. Cooley Sr. High School, practices using a steadying device to shoot video on the streets of Providence, R.I. He is participating in the city school district's expanded-learning program.

—Gretchen Ertl for Education Week

By Nora Fleming

Many schools encourage students to get real-world experience outside school walls. But very few offer course credit and digital "badges"—virtual records of skills and achievements—for those experiences.

Now, the Providence, R.I., school district is in the middle of an initiative that appears to be breaking new ground in giving academic credit and recognizing skills and achievements out of school.

A collaborative project between a nonprofit organization, theProvidence After School Alliance, or PASA, and the 23,500-student Providence district is allowing students to engage in for-credit, badge-earning learning experiences outside school. Examples range from developing and pitching business plans to local venture capital firms to learning how to make Android phone applications at Brown University.

While Providence's approach—to encourage connections between in- and out-of-school learning and get students more engaged in school—is gaining steam both at the state and district levels throughout the country. The district stands out as one of the first to bridge the two goals by having students receive badges and academic credit for out-of-school experiences.

"Districts are challenged in balancing the need to meet fiscal realities and policy regulations, while addressing the academic needs of students and making certain they have access to the types of courses they need to be prepared for college and a career," said Paula Shannon, the district's chief academic officer.

"But good learning is learning that is relevant and rigorous that takes place in and outside of school," she said. "Expanded learning opportunities provide real potential to move the needle forward in education by blending the line between the two worlds."

TESTING THE MODEL

Last school year, 30 students from one Providence high school, Juanita Sanchez High School, participated in a pilot project to test the model. Independent evaluations found promising results, and student and teacher responses were favorable, encouraging the district to expand the program.

Providence Programs

A Providence, R.I., school district initiative offers students the opportunity to gain credits and digital badges for activities outside school in the following programs:

ART AND DESIGN LAB
Students create, collaborate, present, and study works of art at the Rhode Island Museum of Art.

CVS BIOTECHNOLOGY CERTIFICATION PROGRAM
Students participate in science internships in the community to enrich the study of biotechnology, supported by CVS Pharmacy.

ECO YOUTH-GREEN DRIVE
Students learn about environmental issues, challenges, and policies with the Environmental Justice League of Rhode Island.

ENGLISH-LANGUAGE LEARNERS
Students improve English skills participating in hands-on language-skill exercises with a local organization, Inspiring Minds.

JSEC DEBATE TEAM
Students work on public speaking and debate skills in a debate league, assisted by college mentors from Brown University.

JUSTICE TALKS
Students participate in a discussion group on civic engagement and service with Serve Rhode Island, a community-service organization.

MULTIMEDIA
Students create articles, photos, and videos about their community and schools, while working with Inspiring Minds.

PHOTOGRAPHY, VISUALS, PERFORMANCE, COMMUNICATIONS 
Students learn video-editing, photography, and Google-sketch skills in an arts education program called AS220.

PRINCIPALS’ LEADERSHIP PROGRAM 
Students receive training from Young Voices, a youth-advocacy organization, on leadership and communication skills.

PROGRAMMING FOR ANDROID PHONES
Students learn how to create Android phone applications in a computer science program at Brown University.

ProviDance
Students participate in a dance-technique class with a local dance company, Fusionworks, including potential rehearsals with local dance companies.

ROCK & REEL 
Students learn video production and editing skills at the Rhode Island Film Collaborative.

YOUNG SOCIAL INNOVATORS
Students work with Social Venture Partners of Rhode Island to develop business plans and pitch ideas to investors for seed funding.

WING IT: EVERYTHING CAN FLY ONCE
Students learn engineering skills while designing projects related to flight, at Brown University.

SOURCE: Providence After School Alliance

Fifty-five students enrolled this past fall, and about 55 more are expected this spring, now from two high schools.

Next school year, the program will expand to four high schools and serve 150 students. The goal is to eventually expand the program to all eight high schools in the district, said Ms. Shannon, though the district will need to find additional community partners and work out a number of technical and logistical details.

PASA, an organization that also supports after-school programming for middle school students, among other expanded-learning work, collaborated with community partners to create out-of-school courses for students. The organization worked with district teachers to ensure the classes had academic relevance and were aligned with the Common Core State Standards.

While the courses have differing schedules, students attend their out-of-school courses a minimum of once a week for two hours, over a span of 10 weeks, and all student learning is assessed through collaboration by the community partners, PASA staff members, and district teachers.

Students are also required to participate in an online forum, located at www.hubprov.com, where they discuss what they are learning, bolstered through blogging and multimedia projects, such as the production of online photos or videos.

The new use of digital badges, recognized both in and out of school, really sets Providence apart from other efforts undertaken by schools and organizations to recognize out-of-school learning, said Damian Ewens, the director of high school initiatives at PASA.

To launch the badging project, PASA won $75,000 in funding through a digital-badging grant competition sponsored by the Mozilla Foundation, a nonprofit based in Mountain View, Calif., that supports open-source Web content and the Firefox Web browser, and the Chicago-based John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, which has spent more than $80 million so far to support innovative digital-learning initiatives.

COMPETENCY VS. 'SEAT TIME'

In addition to having their badges displayed on the PASA website and recognized by the school system, students are able to post them on social-media sites such as Facebook, and use them wherever else they see fit, such as with college applications.

Rhode Island College, in Providence, has agreed to accept badges on college applications as a testament to the value of learning experiences and skill acquisition.

"Digital badges are designed to recognize learning that happens anytime, anywhere," said Mr. Ewens, adding that badges can have a powerful impact on students themselves, helping them take greater "ownership" of their learning.

"Academic credits sit on a transcript with an abbreviated title and a letter grade," he said. "Whoever sees a digital badge can also learn [through a full description] what a student did to get that badge; it supplies a tremendous amount of information that adds more value to the student."

The district hopes eventually to use the badges to help students gain credit within classes for relevant work outside the classroom that reflects mastery of academic content.

For example, a student could take part in a robotics club on weekends and gain a badge that he or she could use to show mastery of an algebra concept that would fulfill the requirements for a traditional assignment or test on a unit, according to Ms. Shannon.

The Providence district's work on the digital-badge program would not have been possible without changes in state education policies, which have made it easier for districts to recognize out-of-school learning and link it to classroom instruction.

Rhode Island, like some other states, has high school students gain credits for showing proficiency in academic courses needed for graduation, rather than by the amount of time they take to complete a course, known as "seat time." Increasing numbers of states are moving to such "competency-based education" models, in which schools want students to demonstrate knowledge of subject material in new ways to show they have mastered it to move forward, according to Jennifer Dounay Zinth, a senior policy analyst at the Denver-based Education Commission of the States.

RELATED BLOG

Visit this blog.

About 40 states now have policies that allow high school students to gain academic credit through competency-based assessment systems that run the gamut state to state. Some of the most progressive credit-gaining opportunities are found in states such as New Hampshire and New Jersey.

The motivation behind the efforts comes from the acknowledgment that today's students learn in many new and different ways that aren't connected to how much time they spend in a classroom, said Betsy Brand, the director of the American Youth Policy Forum, a Washington-based advocacy organization that supports college and career readiness and expanded learning.

"The competency-based education model can be for anyone that feels hampered by the time- and seat-based system we have," Ms. Brand said.

"But everything you learn outside of high school is not going to get you credit," she said. "Schools have to determine what is rigorous enough and what meets the requirements they deem important."

Coverage of leadership, expanded learning time, and arts learning is supported in part by a grant from The Wallace Foundation, at www.wallacefoundation.org.

Community/Business Partnerships - Youth Community Design 101

Build After-School Partnerships

By Anthony Jackson on January 30, 2013 4:27 AM

Last week we looked at how to build partnerships with business. Today I want to focus on creating stronger partnerships for after-school programs. In order to achieve global competence, young people need access to a variety of global learning experiences. No single school or after-school program can do it alone. Partnerships between after-school programs, schools, and communities are essential to preparing youth for future success.

Mapping the Community
Within every community, no matter its size or location, there are connections to other parts of the world. These connections can create starting points for exploring the world, as well as resources that can support global learning after school.

One way to get started is to create a mapping project for youth to survey their community. Support your students as they identify key cultural and international assets in your community that can help them relate to the wider world. Help them see connections between local and global realities, and learn about the many nuances of identity and culture. Youth can organize the information they collect by mapping these assets geographically and listing the specific resources that are available.

Engaging Youth in Developing Partnerships
Young people can play a critical role in interacting with partners around global learning. Involving youth in conversations with current and potential partners can make relationships with stakeholders more successful. It builds young people's sense of ownership in their program while helping them develop global competence by building their skills in communication and collaboration, among others.

Once the relationship is established, there are many ways for youth to take the lead in learning from—and with—your partners. In Milledgeville, Georgia, the High Achievers Program has incorporated a global learning focus by creating a unique structure for partnerships, programming, and staffing that engages youth as global learners and global educators year round. During the afterschool program, high-school aged youth learn about different countries and cultures linked to current events in the U.S. and their community. Through a partnership with the Peace Corps, these students participate in the Peace Corps World Wise Schools curriculum and Skype with Peace Corps volunteers living abroad. Students compare what they are learning about global issues with issues that affect them in their community. Then, the high school youth are hired to serve as camp counselors for younger students, ages 6-12, who attend globally themed camps held over spring break and during the summer. During the Global Spring Break Camp, high school youth help their younger peers explore a different country each day, while during the Global Summer Camps, students explore a different country each week.

The High Achievers program relies on strong community partnerships for its success. In addition to the partnership with the national Peace Corps, the program works closely with the Georgia College and State University at Milledgeville. College interns gain required experiential learning hours by working with the high school students throughout the year to identify global topics, issues, and examples that the students then research and convert into activities for the spring break and summer camps for younger children. International faculty and students from the college visit the program throughout the year to talk about their native cultures as well.

Building Stronger Business Ties
Rethink existing business partnerships for opportunities to support global learning. For example, you may work with a local business that provides a small amount in funding to your program each year. While a financial contribution is welcome, the relationship could provide an opportunity to involve businesspeople from the company. They could act as guest speakers who lead workshops about their experiences visiting and/or working in other countries, or mentors who can help youth understand how their local business is connected to the global economy.

In addition to providing opportunities for your business partner to become more closely connected to youth in your program and the community, their involvement helps educate a future local workforce familiar with the company and the countries where the company works.

What is good for youth is also good for their community. Community partnerships that help students become globally competent can also help them become highly skilled workers, active citizens, and well-informed participants in your community—and in today's globalized world.

Connected Learning, Out-of-School - Experiences & Networks (MacArthur Foundation)

Research: Education Could Use More 'Connected Learning'

• By Dian Schaffhauser
• 01/17/13

The possibilities inherent in digital learning won't in and of themselves flatten the global playing field for students, according to new research, unless we first give attention to the idea of creating "connected learning environments." These are learning environments in which everyone can participate, learning happens by doing, cultivation of interests is paramount, and everything is interconnected. What gets in the way is a down economy with a struggling labor market, a growing gap in access to educational opportunities based on how much a family is able to spend on its children for "out-of-school enrichment activities," and the impact that a rapidly evolving and highly commercialized media separated from academic purpose is having on young people.

A group of American and British researchers have put together a reportthat advocates for a design for learning that is "peer supported," "interest-powered," and "academically oriented." The point is to help young people link personal interests, often pursued online, to academic and career endeavors and civic engagement with the help of friends and "caring" adults.

"Connected Learning: An Agenda for Research and Design," published by the Connected Learning Research Network, is designed to give educators, policy makers, parents, and others a framework for rethinking how education might be molded to connect individual interests with academic and work achievement in order to help young people overcome adversity and attain the kind of recognition that can make a difference in their lives.

Among the recommendations offered by the report's authors: "Close the gap between the no-frills learning that too often happens in-school and the interactive, hands-on learning that usually takes place out of school. Take advantage of the Internet's ability to help youth develop knowledge, expertise, skills and important new literacies. [And] use digital technology to combat the increasing reality of the haves and have-nots in education."

The stakes are high, suggested Mimi Ito, chair of the Research Network and a professor in residence at the University of California, Irvine. "Without a proactive educational reform agenda that begins with questions of equity, leverages both in-school and out-of-school learning, and embraces the opportunities new media offers for learning, we risk a growth in educational alienation among our most vulnerable populations."

Research: Education Could Use More 'Connected Learning'

• 01/17/13

Although new media offers "tremendous potential" for advancing learning, she added, "Right now, it's only the most activated and well-supported learners who are using connected learning to boost their learning and opportunity."

What does connected learning look like? As an example, the report offers the story of "Clarissa," a 17-year-old who grew up in a "working class" suburb of San Francisco. Along with a couple of friends, she was heavily involved in an online role playing Web site, Faraway Lands, where she spent a lot of time developing lengthy written descriptions of characters, including their history and location. "It's something I can do in my spare time, be creative and write and not have to be graded," because, "you know how in school you're creative, but you're doing it for a grade so it doesn't really count?" Clarissa told her researcher. Encouraged by peers on the site, the teenager converted some of the results of her writing into a screenplay for a school assignment and then used samples from her work as part of college applications. She ended up being accepted to two private colleges, one in Boston and the other in Orange, CA.

Other examples profile:

• A self-employed Web comics artist who found his passion online and taught himself how to create his own comics through a variety of online tutorials, reporting that he learned "few of his current skills in the formal educational context";
• A Manhattan public school that dedicates two weeks at the end of each trimester to putting student teams in charge of learning activities, which may include building Rube Goldberg machines, writing and performing short plays, putting on outdoor games, and building sculptures from recycled materials; and
• A sixth grade fan of online video game Minecraft, who was encouraged by teachers to help set up a school Minecraft club and do creative writing in class about it.

In most of the profiles, the young people have cobbled together a learning environment that combines their online interests with peer feedback and academic activities.

The report's authors state that the design of connected learning environments follows three principles: They're production-centered with access to digital tools for producing and creating content in a myriad of ways; they have a "shared purpose," that brings together people of all ages and cultures around "common goals and interests"; and they're "openly networked," using online platforms and digital tools to make learning resources available to everybody.

"Connected learning is about progress and it's about something everyone in education agrees is urgent and important--the unprecedented opportunity we're seeing to rethink an approach to education where all young people can realize their learning potential and their right to thrive," said Connie Yowell, director of education at the MacArthur Foundation, which supports the Research Network. "In today's networked world that is so rich in social connection, we have been handed the ability to suddenly be able to make hands-on, real-world, inquiry-based learning far more accessible. It's not a question of how we can achieve this--we have that in our sights now--it's a question of will."

Partnership with Community Design Center - Involving Students in Community Design - Field Trip!

http://www.communitydc.org/

Linking Community Organizations to Schools (Ready by 21)

Gallup Poll Takes Schools Beyond Academics

Northern Kentucky – Like a lot of school superintendents, Kathy Burkhardt knows that despite her district’s efforts to help struggling students, “We have been treating the symptoms, such as test scores and grade point averages, but not the causes – such as feeling hopeless about the future, not feeling engaged or not having a strong support system in place to help them reach their goals.”

INFORMATION UPDATE

January 10, 2013

 

Today, the Erlanger-Elsmere Independent School District treats causes by using data to better understand the challenges and opportunities among its students. That data includes findings from a special version of the Gallup Student Poll, provided to 83 schools across Northern Kentucky as part of Ready by 21.

The Ready by 21 National Partnership and Gallup selected Northern Kentucky as the pilot site for an enhanced Gallup Student Poll, which asks students about their hope, engagement and well-being. While the standard student poll provides school districts with aggregated data reports by school and grade, this enhanced poll connects a composite “Ready for the Future” index to individual student identifiers.  

“The Gallup Student Poll data allows us to know more than just the academic pieces in a student’s life,” Burkhardt says.

Over the past two years, 83 Northern Kentucky schools have administered the poll to more than 25,000 students in grades five through 12. Schools combined the Ready for the Future scores with academic and other data to identify the need for individual student interventions and school-wide initiatives. The Northern Kentucky Education Council served as the lead agency for coordination and administration of the two-year pilot, with support from the United Way of Greater Cincinnati and Vision 2015.

Student interventions include goal-setting, mentoring, counseling and service-learning opportunities. At the school level, administrators are using the Gallup data to align school and community-based programs such as tutoring, mentoring, truancy diversion, service-learning and afterschool programs to address the needs of their students.

For example: The Erlanger-Elsmere district saw that it needed to nurture and engage middle schoolers after school. “The time they spend outside of school is just as important to their development as the time spent during school," Burkhardt says.

The district worked with the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Cincinnati to launch an afterschool program that offers health and fitness activities, art, service-learning projects, games, computer classes and academic help. It also worked with the nonprofit Brighton Center to set up an After-School Youth Leadership Development program, which provides structured opportunities for youth to build-decision making skills, life skills and leadership skills.

“You really have to know your students to know the obstacles they are facing,” Burkhardt says. “We have to give them the support and strength they need to climb over these obstacles. It takes more time, but it’s worth it.”

---

Enhanced data from the Gallup Student Poll is now part of the Forum’s Ready Youth catalyst package, which provides tools and technical assistance to collect and analyze data about youth. Leaders use the findings to carry out community conversations that drive solutions. Find out more here.

"Standing Together for Strong Community Schools" - Newly formed Parent Group in TN (Diane Ravitch)

New Tennessee Parent Group Stands Up for Public Schools

by dianerav

A group of parents in Tennessee has formed to support public education and local control. Most of them are public school moms. Their group is “Standing Together for Strong Community Schools.” They oppose vouchers, and they oppose the governor’s plan to create a commission to impose charters on local communities, whether the locals want them or not.

Their inspiration is Amy Frogge, a Nashville parent who was elected to the Metro Nashville school board despite being outspent 5-1. Amy Frogge is a member of our honor roll because she has started a parent movement to defend public education against privatization and profiteers. Amy took a strong stand against the Great Hearts Academy of Arizona, which wants to open a charter school in a mostly white and affluent neighborhood of Nashville. Remember how charters were supposed to “save minority children from failing schools” and “close the achievement gap.” That is not Great Hearts’ plan, and the Metro Nashville board voted to deny the charter. It voted not once, but four times to deny the charter. To punish the school board, State Commissioner of Education Kevin Huffman withheld $3.4 million in state funding that the state owed to the children of Nashville.

And here is the odd part of the Nashville story. Commissioner Huffman told the Metro Nashville school board that the $3.4 million was to be withheld only from public schools, not from charter schools. Remember a few days ago, we discussed here the question of whether charter schools are public schools? Well, apparently, Commissioner Huffman thinks that charter schools are NOT public schools. Only the children who attend public schools in Nashville will be penalized by his decision, not those in charter schools.

So that question is settled. In the eyes of Commissioner Huffman (who previously served as public relations director of Teach for America), charter schools are not public schools. Only the children in public schools are to be affected–punished—by his decision.

And now you know why the parents in Tennessee have created a parent group to fight for public education. Because Commissioner Huffman and Governor Haslam and the far-right members of the Legislature want to privatize public education in Tennessee. The parents want to support their community schools. They want one Nashville.

Groups like “Strong Community Schools” in Tennessee are springing up in states, cities and school districts across the nation. In Texas, there is a moms’ group known as “Moms Against Drunk Testing,” but its real name is Texans Advocating for Meaningful Student Assessment. In Ohio, there is a new group called “Strong Schools, Strong Communities.” A civic group in Indiana called Northeast Indiana Friends of Public Educationgot started last year and was key in the campaign to beat corporate reform state superintendent Tony Bennett.
None of these groups is funded by the big foundations or the big corporations that support ALEC or the Wall Street hedge fund managers that support Democrats for Education Reform or Stand for Children.

They are grassroots citizens who care about their public schools. There will be many more such groups as the public awakens to the privatization juggernaut that is aimed at our public schools.

Connected Learning (MacArthur Initiative) & Connected Educator Month (Recordings from Learning 2.0 Conference)

We are pleased to announce the Learning 2.0 Conference, a worldwide virtual event, August 20 - 24, 2012 (until the 25th in some parts of Asia and the Pacific). This free conference is being held online, in multiple time zones, over the course of five days. It is being held in conjunction with Connected Educator Month, and will include an all-day virtual unconference on Monday (SocialEdCon online!) as well as a special educational start-up "pitchfire" event Wednesday evening (US Time).

To be kept informed of the latest conference news and updates, please 
join the Classroom 2.0 network. You do not need to join this network to attend, but doing so will also allow you to correspond with the presenters and other members, and to comment on sessions and discussions. The Twitter hashtag is#learning20.

There is still time to submit to present!  See below.

KEYNOTES SPEAKERS (SEE HERE FOR BIOS AND RECORDINGS):

Gina Bianchini, Julie Evans, Lucy Gray, Heidi Hayes Jacobs, Lee Rainie, Angela Maiers, Sugata Mitra,
Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach, Michelle Pacansky-Brock, Marc Prensky, David Warlick, Audrey Watters, Esther Wojcicki, & Yong Zhao.

Keynote Panel on Technology and Librarians: Gwyneth Jones, David Loertscher, Michelle Luhtala, Shannon Miller, and Joyce Valenza.

Special Conference Interviews:  Rob Fried and Gordon Dryden

Pre- and Post-Conference Special Interviews: David Deubelbeiss, Lee Rainie, Alfie Kohn, Gary Stager, Stephen Downes, Howard Gardner, Rudy Crew, Roger Schank, Paulo Blikstein, Tony Wagner, and Michael Strong.

ATTENDING:
The conference is free to attend. The conference sessions are being held in Blackboard Collaborate (formerly Elluminate), and can be accessed live from any personal computer. (All sessions will also be recorded and posted quickly after the conference.)

THE ACTUAL HOUR-BY-HOUR SCHEDULE FOR EACH TIME ZONE, LINKS TO ATTEND EACH SESSION, IS HERE.

NOTICE: IF YOU ARE GETTING AN ERROR WHEN YOU CLICK ON THE LINKS FOR SESSIONS,
PLEASE TRY AND USE THIS NEW PAGE HERE TO GET YOUR LINKS.

To check that your computer is ready to use Blackboard Collaborate, please click HERE. "Step 1" will indicate if you have a version of Java that is compatible, and then "Step 2" lets you actually go into a test session. We encourage you to do this in advance of the conference. If you have any difficulties, you can ask for help in the WeCollaborate.com user community.


RECORDINGS:

As conference sessions conclude, the session recordings will become available HERE. Keynote and special event recordings are posted on HERE.


PRESENTING:
The Learning 2.0 Conference is a unique chance to participate in a global conversation on rethinking teaching and learning in the age of the Internet. Subject strands include changes in the classroom (social media, 1:1 computing, "flipped classrooms," digital literacy, maker spaces, gaming, open educational resources, digital textbooks), in student learning (individualized learning, student-directed learning, "hacking" education, personal success plans, ePortfolios, and building a digital presence), in teacher personal and professional growth (lead learning, personal learning networks, peer / open / self-directed PD), in schools (virtual and online schooling, mobile learning, blended learning, MOOCs, immersive environments, learning spaces, entrepreneurship, school leadership, big data, assessment models), and in pedagogy (from teaching to learning, social learning, social / educational networking, passion-based learning, learning how to learn, brain-based learning). A full strand list is available 
HERE.