Out of School Learning (Forms a new "Alliance") - Webinar, Wednesday, May 22

The Alliance for Excellent Education Is Proud to Announce the “Alliance Book Club” (#All4edBook) Webinar Series

Hear from and interact with Charles Mojkowski and Elliot Washor, coauthors of Leaving to Learn: How Out-of-School Learning Increases Student Engagement and Reduces Dropout Rates.

Wednesday, May 22, 2013
3:00 p.m. – 4:15 p.m. (ET)

Panelists:
Charles Mojkowski, Educational Consultant (@ChazMojkowski)
Elliot Washor, Cofounder and Codirector, Big Picture Learning(@Elliot_Washor)
Bob Wise, President, Alliance for Excellent Education (@BobWise48)

As the weather heats up and the summer months draw near, people everywhere are on the hunt for summer reading material. To help in this search—while also engaging individuals in a robust discussion on education policy—the Alliance for Excellent Education is proud to announce its summer Alliance Book Club webinar series (#All4edBook).

The debut book club selection is Leaving to Learn: How Out-of-School Learning Increases Student Engagement and Reduces Dropout Rates, written by Elliot Washor and Charles Mojokowski. In Leaving to Learn, Washor and Majokowski argue that efforts to stem the dropout crisis and engage all young people in deep and productive learning will continue to fall short unless educators address the problem of student disengagement.

During the webinar, Washor and Mojokowski explore alternative approaches that provide many experiences in which all students do some of their learning outside of school as a formal part of their program of study. Alliance President Bob Wise will moderate the discussion and the authors will also address questions and comments submitted by webinar viewers from around the country.

Register and submit questions for the webinar at 
http://media.all4ed.org/registration-may-22-2013.

Change the Equation - Growing Out-of-School STEM Chorus (Submitted by Jim Ross)

Change the Equation (Update STEM: February 2013 Newsletter)

{Change the Equation} Now Newsletter - February 2013

• From the CEO
• Point of View
• STEMtistic℠
• What’s Happening at CTEq
• In the News

* * *
From the CEO
Those of us who are information junkies are mindful that a few data points do not a trend make. However, the chorus of voices coming together in unison around shared and specific goals, in pursuit of value-added efforts to improve STEM learning, indicates to me that something significant is afoot.
Consider what happened in February alone:

• In a full-page letter published in the New York Times, 42 Change the Equation companies voiced unified support for the new, ambitious Common Core State Standards. The corporate community spoke loudly in providing very public backing for the work under way in states, districts and classrooms nationwide to improve college and career readiness for all students. Given the challenges ahead—such as the real potential for an initial decline in test scores and public backlash—this stake in the ground amounts to a courageous stand.

• America’s largest youth development organizations announced that they are joining forces to define ways to strengthen their individual STEM programs and collective effectiveness. This message is music to our ears.
  
  Here’s the beef: The National 4-H Council and the Noyce Foundation this month convened CEOs, senior leaders and youth representatives from Boys & Girls Clubs of America, Big Brothers Big Sisters, Girls Inc., Girl Scouts and YMCA. This executive roundtable focused on out-of-school STEM learning. Corporate and research partners of these organizations were on hand to share information, learn from one another and explore ways to work together to develop impactful STEM learning.
  
  Bravo—and we can’t wait to see the impact of this strong new partnership. We’re betting that STEM philanthropists will be glad to see this remarkable coordination of effort as well.
  
  (On a related note, CTEq hosted a STEM Salon in January on out-of-school STEM learning. If you missed it, you can watch it here.)

• Finally, CTEq is part of a conversation among groups that advocate for girls and women in STEM fields. These groups are coming together and seeking mutual sweet spots, as the out-of-school organizations are doing. This effort could create more and better STEM pathways for girls at critical junctures in their lives.

 My takeaway from this month’s encouraging news is that we’re seeing a more significant, deliberately coordinated movement to improve STEM learning in many forums. Like-minded individuals and organizations, in both the public and private sectors, are synchronizing their advocacy. They’re looking for complementary ways to work together toward a common purpose—and planning strategically to stretch their dollars and amplify the impact.

Are we seeing a trend? What do you think? We’d love to hear your thoughts.

Linda P. Rosen
CEO
Change the Equation
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 * * *
Point of View
Jim Marshall
CEO
Promethean
I’m fortunate to work with educators on a daily basis who remind me that STEM education is far more than the individual study of mathematics and science; it is the interdisciplinary study of science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

As we debate how to increase the number of students seeking careers in STEM related fields, perhaps we ought to consider how students get hooked on studying these subjects in the first place.  We must start early and support all students in acquiring the basic concepts that are the building blocks for success.

At its core, STEM education promotes integrated learning, investigation and questioning, with an emphasis on design and problem solving. STEM-literate students will be experienced in the integrated study of all four subject areas, rather than achieving literacy in any one individual strand. Furthermore, the benefits of this experiential learning style are applicable and can be applied across the curriculum so that any student who graduates from school is prepared to compete in a knowledge-based global economy and can demonstrate each of these attributes.

Our mission at Promethean is to unleash human potential by revolutionizing the way the world learns and collaborates making all of us more engaged, empowered and successful. Through our daily work and by joining organizations like Change the Equation, we work toward those goals by innovating the teaching and learning process so educators have the information, tools and resources necessary to deliver lessons that motivate, inspire and challenge students.

We strive to help teachers be more effective with their time and to give them tools to improve overall learning productivity – again, not just for STEM but for all courses. What is changing is the design of the learning day to involve real-world problem solving, critical thinking, collaboration and communications skills, as well as the curriculum used to help students build their skills and knowledge.

As we seek to understand our students’ progress, we must move to more dynamic and fully integrated tools to impact learning. We need to explore new ways to link learning, teaching, participation, diagnostics and assessment if we are committed to offering a personalized learning journey. And, by keeping a learner-centric approach to how teaching and learning is delivered, with support for all learners to acquire fundamental basic concepts, our students will be prepared for STEM careers and the workforce in general.

We recognize the need to focus on STEM and how necessary it is to update how we teach these more challenging curricula. One approach we believe is to ensure teachers have the access and the ability to use modern technology and digital resources to build dynamic and complete lessons that will keep students interested, engaged and excited.

We cannot fail in our mission to keep students motivated in their learning, when we know the outcome of student achievement directly influences the economic success of a country, and its ability to compete on a very competitive world stage.

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* * *
STEMtistic℠
Engineering Pays Off
The median annual earnings of an engineer with a bachelor’s degree are $75,000. Eight of the 10 majors associated with the highest median earnings are in engineering.
more
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 * * *
What’s Happening at CTEq
This month, we’re pleased to launch a comprehensive new tool that will help states strengthen their efforts to improve STEM learning. We’re also participating in the release of a groundbreaking NCES report on the state of math education nationwide, working to build on our STEMworks Database and hosted a STEM Salon on engineering in K–12 education. And we’re continuing to get great response to our iON Future. 

State Self-Assessment Tool Released! Is your state on track to deepen STEM learning for all students? This month, Change the Equation released an online tool, State Self-Assessment of Capacity for Advancing STEM Initiatives, which will help state leaders and STEM stakeholders work together to answer that question. The tool offers a comprehensive approach to taking stock of every aspect of STEM education, including:

• Structural conditions for accelerating STEM talent development
• Standards and expectations
• STEM learning opportunities
• Teacher preparation, supply, distribution and support
• Postsecondary education and research issues
• Resource allocation and alignment

The tool is designed to help jumpstart state efforts to develop and refine coherent plans that include carefully chosen strategies and tactics attuned to the needs of the state, its regions, school districts, institutions of higher education and employers—while engaging these partners in planning and implementation.

Groundbreaking Math Report Coming in March. CTEq CEO Linda Rosen will join a distinguished panel of experts for the release of a National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) report, Algebra I and Geometry Curricula: Results from the 2005 High School Transcript Mathematics Curriculum Study.

Conducted in conjunction with the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) High School Transcript Study, this new report explores the relationship between course taking and achievement by examining the content and challenge of algebra I and geometry courses taught in the nation’s public high schools. The report is particularly timely now as schools work to implement the Common Core math standards and prepare all students for college and careers.

The release is set for March 12 at 11 a.m. at the National Press Club in Washington, DC. You can register to attend the live event or attend virtually via webcast to hear the results and panelists’ reactions at http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/math_curr_registration.asp.

Are Teachers Ready for the Common Core? Check out the Change the Equation blog on the new MetLife Teacher Survey of the American Teacher, which suggests that there may be bumps ahead for teaching to the Common Core.

Building the STEMworks Database. To date, 36 exemplary programs have met the high bar for inclusion in our STEMworks Database. Now, we’re working with WestEd, an independent, nonprofit R&D and service organization, to identify a handful of the most scalable programs—those that are “shovel-ready” and have the capacity to maximize returns on investment. Stay tuned!

The Place of Engineering in K–12 STEM Learning. At this month’s STEM Salon, CTEq explored the challenges of engaging students in engineering—a fantastic career, but a subject that doesn’t yet fit easily in the curriculum or the school day. If you missed it, you can find out how our expert panel thinks this challenge should be addressed on our website.

iON Future Game Continues to Engage Students and Educators. Change the Equation’s suite of free online learning games for middle school to early high school students continues to be a hit. Launched in November, iON Future had attracted 13,260 visits, including 7,678 unique visitors, by mid-February—and the amount of time users spend on the site is well above the industry standard. In addition, of those who create profiles, 57 percent are female.

Visit the site to check out the introductory video, download a learning guide for teachers, facilitators, program directors and families—and get the kids in your life playing the winning STEM game!

Back to Top
* * *
In the News
National Engineers Week falls in February, and these CTEq member companies are honoring engineers year-round by inspiring teaching and learning in this and other STEM disciplines:

Inspiring the Next Generation of STEM Talent. Bechtel continues its long tradition of sharing the wonders of engineering and supporting young people with several new contributions. The company donated $250,000 to fund the new Delta High School, a public school focused on STEM in the Tri-Cities area of Washington state. The gift was made to the Washington State STEM Education Foundation, which is leading the effort to build the new school through a public–private partnership.

In December, the company opened the Bechtel National Planetarium at Columbia Basin College in Pasco, WA. Equipped with the latest technology, the facility is designed to increase interest in math and science education through astronomy for children and adults of all ages, from around the region. The planetarium, funded in part by a $100,000 donation from Bechtel, illustrates the power of communities and businesses partnering to encourage the next generation of scientists.

Bechtel also celebrated Engineers Week and Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day with “Engineer for a Day” workshops, activities and “teach-ins” from professional engineers for Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, Webelos and in K–12 schools around the country.

Supporting Strategic STEM Pipeline Programs. The North Carolina GlaxoSmithKline Foundationawarded a $1.76 million grant to improve STEM education in the state, according to the Triangle Business Journal. The grant will be used to create a STEM Center of Excellence for Active Learning at North Carolina A&T State University.

The grant will support two strategic pipeline programs for high school students and incoming college freshmen planning to major in STEM disciplines. A summer enrichment program will immerse high school juniors in critical applications of science, computational science and math, and prepare them for SATs and college. A bridge program for incoming freshmen will offer chemistry and calculus pre-courses and strengthen skills in oral and written communication, critical thinking, time management, leadership and business etiquette, and financial management.

Raytheon Engineers a Teacher Scholarship Program. More than 20 full scholarships will be awarded to elementary teachers (grades 1 through 5) to attend a two-day, hands-on workshop at the Museum of Science in Boston. Up to 20 scholarships of $3,000 will be awarded for teachers interested in learning how to implement Raytheon’s Engineering is Elementary® program in theclassroom.

Rejuvenating STEM Instruction. Engineering News-Record named Dean C. Allen, CEO of Seattle-based mechanical contractor McKinstry, one its top 25 newsmakers of 2012. Allen was instrumental in launching the advocacy group Washington STEM, which has pledged $100 million over the next decade to rejuvenate STEM instruction at all levels of education, in and out of the classroom. Allen serves as board chair of the group. Executives from CTEq companies Boeing, Intel and Microsoft also serve on the Washington STEM board.  
* * *
 Quote
 "We need to have more girls interested in math, science and engineering. We have half the population way underrepresented in those fields. That means we have all that talent downstream that is not being encouraged. We say math and science is part of your overall educational experience. We don’t want you intimidated by it. We want you to continue to pursue it so your options remain open as you get older."
— President Obama, Google+ "Fireside Hangout" chat

Afterschool Alliance - STEM and Meaningful Partnership/Funding Opportunities - (Submitted by Jim Ross to Boy Scouts of America/D-BAR-A initiative)

Empowering Youth Civic Engagement in 21st Century (Webinar 7PM Thursday (previously wrong day, sorry!): MacArthur Digital Media & Learning Initiative

This Week on ConnectedLearning.tv

How To Participate 1. Join the Hangout with Nicole & Charlene 2. Watch, submit questions, and connect with others on Livestream 3. Watch live on ConnectedLearning.tv 4. Watch live on Google Plus 5. #connectedlearning on Twitter Watch and Share the Previous Session Kris Gutierrez & Bill Penuel - Assessing Connected Learning Outcomes Connected Learning Report Comprehensive report full of useful case studies on connected learning. [PDF] Join the Google Plus 'Community' Connect with others, share examples of connected learning experiences, and collaborate on a new "Connected Learning FAQ". Next Webinar: Thursday, Feb 21, 4-5pm PT Nicole Mirra & Charlene Ortuno - Empowering Youth Civic Engagement in the 21st Century How can parents, teachers, and mentors support innovative youth civic endeavors, both in- and out-of-school? NOTE: This webinar starts at 4:00pm PT (7:00pm ET) Nicole Mirra is a high school English teacher at Animo Watts College Preparatory Academy in Los Angeles, CA, and the coordinator of the UCLA Council of Youth Research. She is also Chair of the "Envisioning 21st Century Education" track at DML2013. Charlene Ortuno is an English teacher at iPrep Academy, a magnet high school in Miami-Dade County Public Schools. She also serves as a curriculum consultant for "Teen Thoughts on Democracy," a project at Florida International University's museum, library, and research center called "The Wolfsonian."

STEM deficient U.S. Educational system - (On need to Build Bridges to Outside World, where STEM projects are) (submitted by Jim Ross)

Guest commentary

STEM-deficient education holds back U.S. economy

By William J. Bennett

   America’s K-12 and post-secondary education systems are failing in their mission to prepare our nation’s children and young adults in science, technology, engineering and math — the STEM fields. And it is a national disaster in the making.

   During my tenure as U.S. Secretary of Education, I had significant concerns about the academic rigor and relevance being delivered to America’s students in these fields. Today, American students score 23rd in math and 31st in science when compared with 65 other top industrial countries.

   And yet a recent study by the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology found: “Economic forecasts point to a need for producing, over the next decade, approximately 1 million more college graduates in STEM fields than expected under current assumptions.”

   We are nowhere near meeting that goal.

   Our middling performance today stunts our nation’s economic growth and drastically undermines the ability of the next generation to support itself and its country with well-paying, growth-producing and satisfying jobs.

   Stanford University economist Eric Hanushek has estimated conservatively that the U.S. could add about $1 trillion a year to gross domestic product if we could just raise our 15-year-olds’ mathematics achievement to the level of Canada’s.

   As we continue to think through and debate our GDP, budget deficits and national debt problems, we should be discussing how to improve our students’ academic achievement, and in STEM education no less than anything else. To help solve our nation’s fiscal crisis, we must once and for all take seriously the idea that we need to solve our nation’s education crisis.

   As educator William Arrowsmith put it: “If you want to restore a Druid priesthood, you cannot do it by offering prizes for Druid-of-the-year. If you want Druids, you must grow forests.”

   Our schools must become forests of and for science and math education.

   The good news is that there are some very successful organizations and programs rolling up their sleeves and directly addressing our STEM deficiency problems — growing forests at both the instructional and student ground levels. Every leader in education, from governors to CEOs, from school superintendents to the U.S. secretary of Education, needs to get behind what works and support these efforts in our schools.

   One organization I’ve been proud to be affiliated with as a senior advisor is Project Lead the Way (PLTW), a nonprofit that has been providing high-quality, rigorous STEM education to middle schools and high schools since 1997.

   Today, PLTW serves more than 4,700 schools, including 110 in Michigan. PLTW’s core mission is to prepare students for the global economy while closing the gap between the skills that employers need and the jobs that PLTW students are prepared to fill. And, according to a recent study at the University of Virginia, the evidence is compelling that PLTW contributes to raising student achievement and motivation in science and engineering while showing strong positive impact on mathematics and science achievement.

   As a nation, we simply must get this message to schools, businesses, corporations, state departments of education, governors and beyond. This is an urgent need for our nation. We cannot continue to graduate students ill-prepared for our nation’s economic necessities — or their own.

   • WILLIAM J. BENNETT SERVED AS U.S. SECRETARY OF EDUCATION UNDER PRESIDENT RONALD REAGAN FROM 1985 TO1988.

William Bennett

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.

Youth Civic Engagement for 21st Century - (MacArthur, Digital Media & Learning - Google + talk - February 19th, 1:00 PM)

LIVE

FEB

19

1:00 PM EST

Nicole Mirra & Charlene Ortuno: Empowering Youth Civic Engagement in the 21st Century

How can parents, teachers, and mentors support innovative youth civic endeavors, both in- and out-of-school?

About This Speaker

Nicole Mirra is a high school English teacher at Animo Watts College Preparatory Academy in Los Angeles, CA, and the coordinator of the UCLA Council of Youth Research: a university-school partnership program that engages students and teachers from five Los Angeles public schools in research aimed at challenging educational inequalities and fostering transformative civic engagement. She is also Chair of the "Envisioning 21st Century Education" track at DML2013.

Charlene Ortuno is an English teacher at iPrep Academy, a magnet high school school in Miami-Dade County Public Schools. She also serves as a curriculum consultant for "Teen Thoughts on Democracy," a project at Florida International University's museum, library, and research center called "The Wolfsonian."

Resources

How to Participate

• Join the Google+ Hangout with Charlene and Nicole
• Watch, submit questions, and connect with others live on Livestream
• Watch live on the ConnectedLearning.tv home page
• Watch live on the Connected Learning Google+ Page
• Contribute to the #connectedlearning Twitter hashtag chat

Add to my calendar

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.”

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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.