5 disturbing ways america fails educators

5 Disturbing Ways America Fails Educators

The Ambush of Education:

Startling information about the trends that are crippling our educators and strategies they can use to take charge

© Copyright - 2010 2

Researched and

produced by EMPIRE

RESEARCH GROUP

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Why did we commission a study?

• We understand the overwhelming challenges facing educators today

• We engaged an independent research firm to investigate critical impact trends and identify solutions steps that can help educators rise to the challenge


Areas Covered

• The education landscape

• The 5 Disturbing ways America fails educators

• Practical strategies and actions that educators can use to cut through the complexity and reach their goals

The Current Landscape


How does education in the U.S. compare

• U.S. students are the “C” students of the world, neither leading nor trailing in reading, math, or science

• Consistent “A” students in international assessments include Finland, Korea and Singapore

• Are these comparisons accurate indicators?Source: National Center for Education Statistics, PISA Results


The U.S. spends more per child

• The U.S. spent $8,750 vs. $7,500 in Finland, for example—but the figures can be misleading

• Finland's government provides equal per-pupil funding, unlike disparities between Beverly Hills public schools, for example, and schools in poorer districts

• How far a dollar actually goes is another issue. Average 2 bedroom apartment:

• Helsinki: $800• Washington D.C.: $3,298• New York/SoHo: $6,983• New York/Harlem: $2,331

Source: What Makes Finnish Kids so Smart? Wall Street Journal, February 29, 2008; REIS; Rental Report 2010, Real Estate Group NY, March 2010


U.S. compared to Finland

• Finland is largely homogeneous, and has a strong national culture

• In U.S. schools 9.7 million children speak another language at home

• Finland gives teachers and school administrators complete control and does not mandate standardized testing, unlike NCLB woes in the U.S. Source: Finland: What’s the Secret to Its Success? PBS, September, 2008


U.S. compared to Finland

• "In most countries, education feels like a car factory. In Finland, the teachers are the entrepreneurs,”—Schleicher, OECD

• Teachers in Finland must hold a masters degree, but since college is free, this is not a barrier

• Unlike the U.S., the profession is among the most respected, parents are highly supportive and discipline problems are rare

Source: What Makes Finnish Kids so Smart? Wall Street Journal, February 29, 2008


Violence is not the same

• 75 percent of public schools recorded violent incidents of crime at school in the U.S.

• In 2007, rates of violent crime victimization at school were higher than away from school

• Finland and other leading countries in international assessments do not track serious crime at school because the incidence is so low

Source: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, The Condition of Education 2009; Center for Disease Control, Understanding School Violence, 2008


Bullying comparison

• Comparisons of moderate to frequent bullying underscore the difference:

• Finland: 11%• Korea: 17%• U.S. bullying: 59%

• In the U.S., 160,000 students go home early on any given day because they are afraid of

being bulliedSource: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, The nature and Extent of bullying at school, Drake, Journal of School Health, 2003


Comparisons within the U.S.—easier?

• One study created a fictional school that researchers called “Mayberry”

• Based on test scores, achievement gaps and yearly progress, they found that “Mayberry’s” status would be very different from state to state:

• In some states, “Mayberry” would be high performing school held up as a role model

• In other states, "Mayberry” would be a crisis school in danger of being closed!

Source: Achievement Gaps and the Proficiency Trap, Michael Dahlin and John Cronin, Kingsbury Center at NWEA


“Mayberry”—superstar & miserable failure

STA

R!

FAILURE!

Source: Achievement Gaps and the Proficiency Trap, Michael Dahlin and John Cronin, Kingsbury Center at NWEA

• The conclusion: “Simply put, NCLB makes it impossible to determine whether schools are actually making any progress”


The 5 Ways America Fails Educators

1. Shrinking budgets, expanding expectations

2. The 3R’s: Ridiculous Role Reversal

3. Lack of support

4. Political ambush

5. The only thing in abundance: Criticism

Failure #1:

Shrinking budgets…—expanding expectations


American Recovery & Reinvestment Act

Source: U.S. Department of Education, American Recovery and Reinvestment Act Impacts; One Year Later: How the Economic Downturn Continues to Impact School Districts, AASA, October 27, 2009

• The ARRA increased federal funding to schools by 235%

• Cumulative funding shortfall is still estimated at $85.6 billion

• 91% of the average district’s funding is state and local

• 87% of superintendents receiving ARRA funds noted that federal dollars were offset by state and local cuts


The funding equation is more complex

• 93% of districts report budget cuts at state or local levels

• Unemployment is at its highest level since 1948, creating stress and poverty among families

• Homelessness among families rose by 42% in 2009

• It costs 50% more to educate a child in poverty than a child of middle-income

Source: Homelessness Up in Suburban U.S., NewsMax, Feb. 18, 2010; Economic Snapshot for February 2010, Center for American Progress, February 24, 2010; Poverty in America, United States Government Office of Accountability, January, 2007


NCLB increases expectations

• The NCLB mandates have increased expectations to levels that many experts label ‘impossible’

• Impossible tasks prompt desperate action: Mass firing of hundreds of teachers and principals in efforts to avoid sanctions and preserve federal funds

• The mass-firing tactic is used to ‘turn around’ 20-30 schools annually

Source: An Impossible Job? The View from the Urban Superintendent’s Chair; Wallace Foundation, July 2003


Can we retain “highly qualified teachers”?

• Two thirds of schools eliminated teachers for the 2009/10 year

• 83% expected further jobs to be eliminated in 2010/11

• Teacher attrition is up by 50% over the last decade

• 1/3 of new teachers leave the field after 3 years• 46% are gone within 5

yearsSource: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, How the Economic Downturn Continues to Impact School Districts, AASA, October 2009

Failure #2:

3R’s—Ridiculous Role Reversal


Remember when educators…educated?

• “Accountability has promoted a profoundly anti-intellectual definition of education” –Diane Ravitch

• Increased ‘accountability’ and pressure to “run more like a business” thrusts new roles onto educators:

• Marketing, Customer Service, Fundraising and even Chief of Security:

• 55% of schools have security cameras

• 85% record crimes at school• 87% have violence prevention

practices

Source: 'The Death and Life of the Great American School System' by Diane Ravitch


Mandate: Run like a failing business?

• 50% of businesses fail within their 1st year and lack of capital is a leading reason

• 76% of districts describe themselves as ‘inadequately funded’

• 21% face short-term borrowing to meet payroll and accounts payable in 2010

Source: Why Small Businesses Fail, U.S. Small Business Administration


What does ‘the customer’ think?

• 45% of districts reported that even with federal monies, they were unable to save art, music and physical education programs

• When asked how important it is that students get exposure to arts, drama and athletics, 72% of parents considered it very important

• What kind of business could possibly cut ‘services’ that 72% of its customers consider ‘very important’?

Source: State House News Poll, Parent Attitudes, September 2007

Failure #3:

Lack of Support


The gap in parent involvement

• Parent involvement is linked to better grades, test scores, attendance, behavior and graduation rates

• Only 20% of schools have PTA units

• From 12.1 million active parents in 1962, PTA membership plummeted to 5.8 million in 2008

• Gaps in parent involvement mirror achievement gaps with up to a 50% difference in participation rates across ethnic and socio-economic groupsSource: PTO Today, February 2008; U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 2009

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

1965 2009

PTA Membership in Millions

-

48%


What do teachers say?

• 78% say that lack of parental support is an ever-present concern

• 52% do not believe they can count on parents to support discipline efforts

• 77% would be “substantially more effective” if they didn’t have to spend so much time on disruptive behavior

• 1 in 3 have considered quitting the profession because student discipline and behavior have become intolerable

Source: Teaching Interrupted: Do Discipline Policies in Today’s Public Schools Foster the Common Good?, Public Agenda, 2004

HELP


Outreach efforts don’t get an “A”

• A national study of schools in 35 states found:

Only 3% described results of their parent outreach efforts as “excellent”

Less than 15% described them as “very good”

40% reported “inadequate” or “no funds” for outreach or partnership development

Source: Special Report, 2009 School Update, Johns Hopkins University

Failure #4:

Political Ambush


Education lobby information

• Political influence spending on education has risen alarmingly over the last decade

• Lobby spending increased over 500% between 1998 and 2008 (federal only)

• There were 1,471 education lobbyists to the federal government in 2009

• State lobbying efforts are even more fierce, but not as transparent because many states do not require disclosure

Source: Education: Long-Term Lobby and Contribution Trends, Open Secrets, April, 2010; Center for Responsive Politics


Business influence on education policy

• Big business is influencing policy through their foundations, but not always responsibly:

• "With so much money and power aligned against the neighborhood school, public education itself is at risk”—Diane Ratvitch

• Example: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation:

— Spent $2 billion on a program to break up large schools into small ones

— Changed their minds, concluding small schools couldn’t provide enough resources and opportunities

— Abandoned the project, leaving the schools in complete disarray

Source: 'The Death and Life of the Great American School System' by Diane Ravitch, Professor of education at New York University with more than 35 years of research in education


Has the take-over of education helped?

Source: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics


Why isn’t anyone listening to the experts?

Source: How Principals and Superintendents See Schools Today, Education Insights, 2006

Failure #5:

The only thing in abundance: Criticism


The only thing in abundance: Criticism

— “Education leaders are under attack. We are the marks when society has failed our young people and the news media needs a target. We are easy scapegoats”—The School Administrator Editorial

— "The job is impossible, the expectations are inappropriate, the training is inadequate, and the pipeline is inverted”—Paul Houston, AASA

Source: Leadership’s Time is Now, The School Administrator, November 2005 Number 10, Vol. 62


Blamed for a system that cripples them

• A multi-year study found that the majority of superintendents agree—they believe the job to be “undoable”

• The study concluded:

— “What we hear in the voices of these superintendents is their frustration that their commitment to teaching is over whelmed by political demands. They are set up to fail and then condemned depending on the community’s mood”

Source: An Impossible Job? The View from the Urban Superintendent’s Chair; Wallace Foundation, July 2003


To summarize, America fails educators by:

— Reducing budgets while constantly expanding expectations and roles

— Putting the weight of society’s problems on their shoulders while undercutting their support

— Allowing politicians control instead of education experts

— Blaming educators for a system they didn’t design that cripples their ability to educate

However, there are steps that educators can take to cut through the complexity and take charge


5 Steps to Success

1. Strategic thinking

2. Maximize fundraising

3. Improving test scores—foundation over technique

4. Effective parent engagement

5. Catalyze alliances

Step #1:Strategic thinking


Strategic thinking: not an event

• ‘Strategic planning’ is an event—strategic thinking is a daily mindset

• When problems are legion and time is at a premium, strategic thinking is critical to success

• Strategic thinkers seek multiple impacts from each tactical action

• The first step is to change focus from ‘action’ to ‘impact’


Impact, not just action

• For example, the ‘action’ of holding a fundraising event can be strategically designed to create ‘impact’ on: • Student skills and behavior, • Parent engagement • Community support• Raising money

• Every simple, routine action can be modified for impact on larger goals

• Rethinking routine actions/interactions to maximize impact opportunity has a powerful cumulative effect


Simple actions, cumulative impact

• For example, sending out the lunch menu may be informative to parents and students. Can it also be made to:

• Improve health and attendance by highlighting foods that improve skin, hair, muscles

• Advertise events and goals to raise awareness/participation

• Contain a link to a “How you can help us reach our goals” section of your website

Step #2: Maximize Fundraising


Maximum impact, minimum time

• Time expenditures to organize lower-return fundraisers can be the same or more than options that produce higher return and higher impact

• Fundraising events designed to be novel and fun generate wider participation, as well as favorable publicity


What types of events bring people out?

• Studies show that Arts events have the largest turnout outside of sporting events

• They also offer the widest opportunity for expanded impact:

• More than 65 distinct relationships between arts and desired outcomes (both academic & social) have been documented

• Surprising links have been found in increasing student motivation, persistence and ability to accept constructive criticism

05

1015202530354045

Music Fair orFestival

Play Dance

Music Fair or Festival Play DanceSource: Building Participation, The Urban Institute, July 2004; Deasy, Don’t Axe the Arts!, National Association of Elementary School Principals, Volume 82, Number 3 , January/February 2003; Critical Evidence: How the ARTS Benefit Student Achievement, NASAA, 2006


Why do they come?

• You know why you want them to come—but understanding their motivation is critical

• Interestingly, although ‘support the community’ scored high for all groups, it scored highest for low income and minority groups

48% higher

• Your messaging about events should correspond with the motivations of the target audience for maximum impact

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Socialize SupportCommunity

Socialize Emotional ExperienceSupport Community Low Cost

Source: Building Participation, The Urban Institute, July 2004,


Make it strategic, ‘special’ and personal

• Research indicates that the most promising strategies involved:

Programming in which children had fun and were helped in making academic and social progress

Scheduling ‘special’ events that promoted high attendance

Providing food

Offering performances and exhibits of youth’s work

Source: Special Report, 2009 School Update, National Network of Partnership Schools, Johns Hopkins University

Step #3: Effective Engagement


First: Access before engagement

• “Parent involvement encompasses a multitude of complex phenomena—family structure, culture, ethnic background, social class, age and gender represent only a few of the factors” –Boethel

• There is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ engagement playbook—but, all strategies must start with access. The key question is:

• How can we create access to positive interactions with parents?

• Experts say that novel and non-traditional avenues can increase your access

Source: Scribner and Scribner (2001); 2003 synthesis, Diversity: Family and Community Connections with Schools, Boethel


Second: They MUST feel welcome

• Non-traditional interactions can create a key success component—the feeling of “welcome”:

• Invite families in to eat lunch with children

• Host special events and activities that include the whole family

• Meet on ‘their turf’ by hosting events or meetings in community forums like churches, youth organizations and libraries

• Add multi-cultural components

Source: High-performing schools serving Mexican American students: What they can teach us, ERIC Digest, A Strategy Brief of the National Center for Family and Community Connections with Schools, Southwest Educational Development Laboratory, September 2005


Third: Follow-up—it’s not a one-time-event

• Initial Access: A fun event gets many attendees

• Handouts/parent literature disseminated• Upcoming desired interactions advertised• Teachers/principals use informal setting to

begin relationships with targeted people

• Follow up to create ongoing engagement• Homework assignments that require

parent/child interaction tied to event• Photos, prize winners, ‘shout-outs’ posted on

school website (next to ‘reminders’ or key info)

• New relationships followed by personal note or email to further the bond

Source: High-performing schools serving Mexican American students: What they can teach us, ERIC Digest, Scribner & Scribner, 2001; Diversity: Family and Community Connections with Schools, Boethel, 2003; A Strategy Brief of the National Center for Family and Community Connections with Schools, Southwest Educational Development Laboratory, September 2005


Understand belief systems to expand impact

• 86% of parents agree that arts education improves a child’s attitude toward school

• 54% rate the importance of the arts a “10” on a 1-10 scale

• 79% of parent believe that it’s important enough for them to get personally involved in increasing the amount and quality of arts education

Source: Critical Evidence: How the ARTS Benefit Student Achievement, NASAA, 2006; Critical Links: Learning in the Arts and Student Academic and Social Development, AEP 2002

Step #4: Improving Test Scores


Beyond the ‘techniques’: connect motivators

• Regardless of ‘programs’, ‘techniques’ or ‘instructional plans’ one fundamental truth applies:

• Test scores cannot be raised without motivated students and teachers

• Increasing the foundational building block of motivation is critical to success


Research shows key student motivators:

Teacher enthusiasm

Perceived relevance and importance of material

Self-motivation and perception of control• Emphasizing personal responsibility

and collaboration over teacher power • Changing "you must," to "I think you

will find. .." or "I will be interested in your conclusions about…”

Belief: "Students who believe that they can do well are much more likely to be motivated in terms of effort, persistence, and behavior than students who do not expect to succeed" Source: Pintrich, P.R. (2003), A motivational science perspective on the role of student motivation in learning and teaching

contexts, Journal of Educational Psychology, 95 (4), 667-686; What Motivates Students, Maryellen Weimer, Ph.D. , July 2009; Lowman, 1990


Teacher motivation: connecting the dots

• When asked: “Given a choice between two schools in otherwise identical districts, which would you prefer”

81%76%

19%23%

0 50 100

Administratorbacking &support

Paidsignificantly

higherSecondaryElementary

Source: Lessons Learned: The Special Challenges of Teachers; The National Comprehensive Center for Teacher Quality, 2007


Teacher motivation: Respect and Support

83%

15%

0 20 40 60 80 100

Studentbehavior/parent

support

Paid significantlyhigher

Elementary Secondary

More than anything else, teachers want respect and support from administration, parents and studentsSource: Lessons Learned: The Special Challenges of Teachers; The National Comprehensive Center for Teacher Quality,

2007

Step #5: Form Success Alliances


Critical alliances: families and community

• “Partnerships among schools, families, and community groups are not a luxury—they are a necessity” –Henderson, Mapp and Davis

• The value of strong, reliable, productive relationships in the local community are clear but how are they developed?

• One factor is often overlooked and underutilized

Source: School-Family -Community Connection: Looking at the Larger Picture, A Review of Current Literature, National Center for Family and Community Connections with Schools at SEDL


Long term alliances through catalysts

• Catalyst relationships can help access or solidify parent and community relationships

• Short-term, one-time or intermittent relationships that provide access to other relationships or networks

• Consider the size of the network being accessed or the amount of people you can gain access to and influence with to determine priority


Catalyst relationships, what to look for

Reliable, sterling reputation Help you innovate Able to draw many people that you

can then create or solidify relationships with

Multi-dimensional impact areas, such as:

Fundraising Parent engagement Learning and academic goals Building work ethic, self-esteem

and social skills in kids


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5 disturbing ways america fails educators

Documents

education statistics

condition of education

education landscape

department of education

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