Business+&+21st+Century+Schools


 * ==**21'st Century Learning**==

Marlene, Lisa, Tammy & David
=Topics:=
 * 1) **NCLB - what do our books say about this?**
 * 2) **21st century learning - What do our books say this looks like?**
 * 3) **Business in schools- How do our books feel about the relationship between business and school?**

Individual Pages:
DavidZ LisaD MarleneB TammyB

= Activity: = (each group will be given a question to consider, analyze and share)
 * NCLB-what is the focus of it? what were the unintended consequences
 * What is 21st century teaching a new process? What do you think it looks like?
 * What do you feel the relationship should be between businesses and schools?

= Introduction: = Described below are four seemingly very different books written by four different authors. Each of us read parts of only one book and then we came together as a group and shared what we had read. The rather convoluted conversation that followed led us to a number of shared topics between our books. We have decided to share with you how three topics pertinent to our class are intertwined between all four books much like education intertwines the child and the curriculum.

In City Schools and the American Dream, Noguera describes the central problems facing urban schools. Noguera attempts to provide answers to the following questions: why is it that many students don’t learn very much or very well in many of the urban schools? What is there about the schools we have created and invested billions of dollars in, that have led some students to reject school entirely and turned so many of them off to learning? Why are so many urban schools utterly inept at carrying out this basic task, a task nearly as old as human civilization itself? He also discusses how external conditions affect the ability of schools to serve the needs of children, but he also delineates two potential solutions and explains what it would take to respond adequately to these needs. The two strategies for improvement that he discusses are the following: developing social capital of parents and developing civic capacity of communities. If implemented correctly, may bring several significant changes and may be the most important steps taken to further educational reform in urban school districts and they can produce lasting changes in urban school districts. He believes that educating all children, even those who are poor and non-white, is possible.

Why School, by Mike Rose. Mr. Rose is a professor in the UCLA Graduate School of Education and has been teaching since the age of 24 with experience from kindergarten to adult literacy programs. I hope to read the entire book, but I will focus on: Chapters 3 No Child Left Behind and the spirit of Democratic Education, Chapter 4 Business Goes to School, and Chapter 5 Politics and Knowledge. As a teacher I have seen many changes from 1975 to present. I have also seen changes recycled. But In my humble opinion, present policies starting with No Child Left Behind has single handily destroyed urban public education, and has created a cottage industry of testing companies, educational consultants, and test prep materials that are counter intuitive to the goal of public education being societies great equalizer. I hope after reading these chapters and following them up with some background research, it will help me understand how to constructively help change policy to allow our schools to accomplish the mission of providing opportunity and the creation of a culture that will excite the participants. During my presentation I hope I can refer to my experience as a classroom teacher to explain to the class the value of a comprehensive school. No Child Left Behind has narrowed, not expanded educational opportunities. While literacy in the core subjects is vital to further one’s education, a school is populated with highly competent college educated professionals, given to their own devices most schools can serve their cliental. Even in an urban setting the student population in each school may be different, teachers, and administrators must work together to make their school work. This may mean different approaches while offering similar opportunities while offering many of the activities that can complete the experience such as music, art, theater, sports, special interest clubs, field trips, ECT. Many of these activities which can foster literacy have become victims of current educational policy. In Providence it is believed that virtual education is the future, while stating that a classroom teacher is the single most important factor in a child’s education how this makes any sense is beyond my pay grade. Education and Democracy in the 21st Century by: Nel Noddings Nel Noddings uses John Deweys foundational work to view educations aims and curriculum for the 21st century. She raises questions about the current interest for standardization, and the search for one-best-way solutions. There seems to be a tension between the need for high standards and the need for students to "live" democracy in their schools. Noddings argues that we must find ways to preserve our commitment to democratic values while adapting to the societal changes that have occurred since Dewey wrote Democracy and Education almost a century ago. She emphasizes the development of the whole person as important for both individuals and their society. This can be done inside and outside of schools. It’s possible to include social, emotional, and ethical learning in all curricular and extracurricular activities. This can be done through a cooperative and imaginative exploration of the future with an emphasis on a caring relationship which will make educating the whole person possible (Noddings, 2013)

The Child and the Curriculum was written in 1902. In this essay Dewey speaks to learning and education as a social process. He stresses that children need to interact with the curriculum. He also explains that a student should be able to link new information with their own experiences in order to make their own meanings. In The Child and the Curriculum, he states that "just as two points define a straight line, so the present standpoint of the child and the facts and truths of studies define instruction." (pg. 8) This sounds like the problem based learning we are expected to use in our classrooms today because PBL incorporates Dewey's emphasis on hands-on learning and student-centered instruction.

= Topics: = =__ 1. NCLB - what do our books say about this? __=

The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, signed into law by President Bush on Jan. 8, 2002, was a reauthorization of the [|Elementary and Secondary Education Act] of 1965.(Samuel & Suh, 2012) At the heart of this federal law is an emphasis on testing and assessment. It calls for the use of high-stakes standardized testing in math and reading with a school wide goal of adequate yearly progress and a statewide goal of all students proficient by 2014. The law also demanded annual report cards on all schools and all districts and that all teachers be highly qualified. The goal was to improve school performance across the United States by increasing accountability. This law also altered the Title 1 funding formula in order to protect our neediest students. Title 1 monies could now be directed at closing achievement gaps and placing highly qualified teachers in all classrooms. Thankfully, Dewey did not live to see NCLB.

Dewey would want to know “where is the child” and “where is the curriculum”. NCLB mentions neither the importance of a strong core curriculum or the need to focus on the whole child. NCLB makes no mention of experience, active learning and organic connections. By focusing on only reading and math, NCLB is forcing schools to downplay other subjects and as a result not providing a well-rounded education or an education that prepares the child for life in our democratic society. NCLB does not make mention of higher-order thinking skills, what Dewey referred to as questioning, reasoning, analyzing and problem solving. He had recognized these as important life skills for the 20th century so imagine how important they are for the 21st. Dewey would have no issue with assessment but he would have issue with the same assessment for each student. In The Child and the Curriculum Dewey made it clear that in considering the whole child we also had to assess the whole child. If he were alive today I believe he would be in complete agreement with Diane Kern and her article against high-stakes testing.(“2013-07-12 providencejournal.com,” n.d.)

One of the lessons this writer will take away from Education 503 is that many times throughout history reforms have had unintended consequences. The author speaks to these in chapter 3. Historically, the author states that education has been a state affair. NCLB requires that each state develop their own testing program in math and English language arts and by 2014 all students will develop grade level proficiency. Furthermore, the law requires that states have to report at the school level, along with a number of student criteria.

The author notes the value in casting a light on the underserved student population with the assumption that if schools expect more of their students they will achieve. And the fact that in order for this achievement to take place, there must be equity with high performing schools.The author agrees that these aspects of the law are democratic.

The problems arise in the developing, administering, scoring, and interpreting of these tests. The question many experts in the field is what can finally be ducted from these scores.

The second related issue is the author from his experience as a teacher knows that knowledge can be expressed in multiple ways, so if only one type of test dominates, it will change the curriculum which has been the case with NCLB across the country. Examples are given to illustrate how this law does not address the population it was intended to improve. It is noted that there are a number of poor children that achieve mightily, but their stories are never simple. One cannot dismiss the devastating effects of poverty on a child’s life in school.

While NCLB raises important questions about equity and expectations, but as the author states : that unless a testing program is part of a larger effort that includes other student compensatory and professional development efforts and social programs aimed at vulnerable populations, we get a focus on scores.

Noddings (2013) argues that NCLB has an impossible goal, yet our government treats it as a genuine goal and institutes penalties for those schools that fail to make adequate progress towards it. She believes there is time, money, and effort wasted in trying to achieve the impossible, and there inevitably is corruption induced by the fear of penalties for failing to do so. The goals are impossible and it harms our system of education. Noddings believes goals should be attainable, and they should be established cooperatively in the light of aims to which we are committed. Aims that are stated at a general and ideal level—“ thorough and efficient education” for all students are not helpful. Noddings believes that goals should depend on a careful analysis of the subject to be taught, the interests and talents of students, available resources, and the social and economic needs of the larger community. Goals being the same for all students is harmful. Noddings (2013) argues; why should a budding mathematician, and machinist have the same math courses in HS? Accommodation of individual differences should characterize our educational efforts from the start, but serious planning for differences should start at about the middle school. Noddings believes policymakers should consider the following questions: How can we provide for the variety of interests and talents of our children? When and how should their school experience be universal in order to establish a foundation for further learning? When should their educational programs diverge and in what ways? How each of the existing subjects can be guided by the aims and whether we can introduce new programs—such as vocational education—that make use of the current subjects? (Noddings, 2013)

Years after the federal educational reform - No Child Left Behind (NCLB) - was legislated, school failure rates are still high; reading, math and science achievement level for low income and minority students remain low compare to their peers that live in more privileged communities. The academic gap has remained nearly unchanged. The author of City Schools and the American Dream, Pedro Noguera, argues that NCLB and other school reforms are “quick-fix-reforms” that promise “miracles” but fail to improve schools and close the academic gap. He continues by stating that this is especially true in urban areas because education reformers and policy makers fail to recognize that schools are influenced by social and economic conditions of their local community. “The Leave No Child Behind Act... is unlikely to provide the help that is needed. The measure does nothing to address the horrid conditions present in many failing schools, and it does not even begin to attempt to ameliorate the social inequities that affect schooling.” (Noguera, 2003, p.102) Noguera also asserts that it is possible to close achievement gap by “abandoning failed strategies”, learning from models of successful schools that have similar challenges and hardships and investing in the communities in which low income students live; school administrators, and local government must find effective strategies for distributing resources in order to help poor students and their families.

__ 2. 21st century learning - What do our books say this looks like? __

Dewey’s essay, The Child and the Curriculum, was written in 1902 and speaks to his vision of 20th century learning. Dewey describes a focused core curriculum that helps relate the child to the world around him entwined with teaching practices that focus on the child’s prior knowledge and experiences, his interests and his abilities. Dewey also discusses his views on how a child learns and what that too means to an educator. Dewey speaks of "Three Evils of External Presentation": lack of organic connection, lack of motivation and loss of thought provoking character. (p. 25) "Somehow somewhere motive must be appealed to, connection must be established between the mind and it's materials. If the subject-matter of the lesson be such as to have an appropriate place within the expanding consciousness of the child, if it grows out of his own past doings, thinkings, and sufferings and grows into application in further achievements and receptivities, than no devise or trick of methods has to be resorted to in order to enlist "interest"."(pg 27) In other words, our students are not empty vessels to be filled with facts and figures that they can memorize and regurgitate. Children need to see the connection to their own lives and they need to be motivated and challenged to make new connections and new meanings. To be successful, to become a successful member of the democratic society says Dewey, the child must learn to reason, question, and generalize and form opinions. What Dewey has presented here is his vision for 20th century learning. His vision however, is surprisingly similar to what educators today are calling 21st century education.

Nodding’s (2013) believes that collaboration, dialogue, interdependence and creativity is a need for 21st century thinking. Teachers are responsible for the emotional and physical safety, of their students and for their moral, and social growth, as well as their intellectual development. Their responsibility for student learning cannot be described in terms of test scores. Choice is fundamental in a democracy. But Nodding's argues that the public school, the local school that accepts all of the community’s children, "acts as a cradle of democracy" (Noddings, 2013).

21st century thinking points Nodding argues is: Collaboration (cooperation), critical thinking (communication), and creativity. Noddings believes cooperation should be more important than competition. She emphasizes that collaboration creates communication in the form of dialogue, and dialogue requires both listening and speaking. Learning to engage in dialogue is essential in developing the capacity to think critically. Critical thinking is important if we want students to think critically about social issues. Teachers should provide them with some practical experience. Lastly, creativity is important because it allows for growth and development.

Noddings (2013) argues that children are not equal in their capacity for academic learning, and a universal, academic curriculum may increase academic differences. She believes a richer, more varied curriculum might help students find out what they are suited to do and also to respect the differences in talent that they should be encouraged to see in their classmates. She argues that a high school diploma should mean what it has always meant- that a graduate has satisfied the schools requirements in courses and grades. There should be no exit test. She states that forcing all students into a common curriculum at a high school level might put our democracy at risk. This is because it makes it easy to rank kids top to bottom and ignore the special talents and interests. In the 21st century the most important goal is to recognize and appreciate interdependence. "The schools primary task is intellectual development, and a full range of excellence" (Noddings, 2013). Nodding believes schools need to promote the spirit of cooperation, and they can work conscientiously to develop appreciation for social/economic realm- in the personal, occupational, and civic domains (Noddings, 2013).

Noddings (2013) argues that teachers need to model care and engage in dialogue to strengthen caring relations, and provide students with opportunities to practice caring. Teachers objective in moral education should be to establish a climate in which natural caring flourishes. Natural caring is a decent, respectful way of meeting and treating one another that is maintained by inclination, not by rules. It will allow students to treat one another with care because they want to do so – because they value a climate of care and trust within which to do work (Noddings, 2013).

__ 3. How do our books feel about the relationship between business and school? __

American business has always been a major player in contemporary school reform, the motivation is as the author states, straightforward: to urge the preparation of a skilled workforce. Schools need money and resources and they can be provided by these relationships. Skepticism abounds, some business may have direct financial interest in educational matters such as textbooks, supplier of goods and services, test development, and classroom advertisements. Because these donations are tax deductible, it may also divert money from the public funds.

Mike Rose, in Why School?, notes that business look at teaching and learning as a management problem, and by adopting the notion that a school should be run as a business and that will change the problems with education, due to the complexities of running a school., especially in high poverty areas, this approach has not been successful, and in many cases detrimental

On the top of page 61,.the opening sentences: The hope of a better life has traditionally driven achievement in American schools. When children are raised in communities where economic opportunity has dramatically narrowed, where he future is bleak, their perception of and engagement with school will be negatively affected. If business is going to help inner-city schools and depressed rural schools, understanding school failure in a socioeconomic context is paramount. The author speaks about business have little broad based economic support and growth in these areas and has been replaced with selective philanthropy. In the opinion of this writer the chapter focused on the real issues regarding the relationship between the public schools and the business community. The issue of economic development as well as integrity are missing in our poorest areas which have a far reaching effect on the success of our public schools in these areas.

School reforms have a pattern of failure in urban school districts. Reform advocates, such as Pedro Noguera, author of the book entitled City Schools and the American Dream, are convinced that other alternatives strategies to improve the quality of public education must be considered. He argues that educational reforms “must be based on a willingness to engage in a process of change that aims at transforming relationships between those who have power and those who do not. Unless this transformation occurs, it is unlikely that even ambitious reforms will lead to lasting change.” (Noguera, 2003, p.149) One of the strategies he recommends and insists that if implemented correctly, may bring several significant and lasting changes in urban school districts, is for schools to create partnerships with corporations in order to provide social services and to deal with urban challenges. Based on the model of successful schools he observed, Noguera indicates that school-corporation partnership has a direct impact. He states that organizations and institutions that do not have any direct relationship to education should stop blaming schools for their failures and instead should join them and play an active role in supporting schools in their goal of educating students by bringing resources to provide services to poor students.

He delineates four different ways by which corporations may get involve:

First, they can provide volunteers in roles as tutors and mentors for students. For example, in San Francisco, a private nonprofit corporation coordinates the recruiting and training of volunteers who provide a variety of services in schools. Americorp Program gets university students to provide college counseling, tutoring and other services to students. These strategies help schools reduce the adult-to-student ratio and help them address the needs of students who have fallen behind academically.

Second, they can provide work-related internships and support in the development of career academies. Research also indicates that career academics for high school students are the most successful means for increasing student engagement in school. (Noguera, 2003; Conchas, 2001) In order to obtain maximum benefit from these programs, the internships need to produce genuine career opportunities for students. For example, Bayer Corporation at Berkeley High school is an excellent model of what a genuine career opportunity can accomplish. Students in the program receive advanced training in science and math, and also have the opportunity to pursue biotechnology through their partnership with local community colleges and universities. Noguera claims that “When done successfully, school-community partnerships can provide students with meaningful learning opportunities outside of school, enhance the relevance of what they learn in school, and in the process change education from one that is strictly school-based to one that is embraced by the entire community.” (Noguera, 2003, p. 99)

Third, school-community partnerships can also provide professional development services to school personnel. Schools may partner with local universities as a way to provide support to teachers in pedagogy. However, he states that those who provide the training have to have a genuine knowledge of the work performed by educators.

Fourth, the area where school-community partnership is needed most urgently is in providing health and welfare services to students and their families. The best programs are based on partnership between schools and community agencies. For example, the Children’s Aid Society in New York City operates eight community schools that offer health, dental, recreational and employment training services to students and their families. (Noguera, 2003; Dryfoos, 2001) “Throughout the United States, there are several effective models for providing a range of services to students at schools, …the number of students they serve is miniscule (because they provide their services) at individual schools sites and not a single one operates throughout an entire school district.” (Noguera, 2003, p.100)

Noguera indicates that communities with high level of poverty required a “comprehensive, city-wide strategy for providing social services at school sites.” These efforts need to be cost effective; therefore they require cooperation between school district; city and county government. City and county government provide funds for recreational, youth service, health and social services respectively. Private organizations such as YMCA, Girls and Boys Clubs, churches and non-profits are key players because they can provide additional support to students, but large corporations will have to be the front-runner of this effort since they control the bulk of resources for social services. He also points out that all three public agencies need to improve their coordination effort in delivering their services. “However, interagency cooperation is difficult to accomplish on a large scale because the individuals staffing these organizations generally have no prior history of cooperating, and bureaucratic narrow-mindedness is not a small hurdle to overcome. For this reason, leadership and support from the mayor, superintendent, school board, and county board of supervisors will be needed so that those who carry out coordination activities have the backing to overcome the obstacles they inevitably will encounter. “(Noguera, 2003, p. 101)

= References = Dewey, J. (1902). The Child and the Curriculum. Chicago,IL: The University of Chicago Press. Kern, D., & Derbyshire, L. (2013, July). Test scores should inform, not punish students. Evernote. Retrieved July 21, 2013, from [] Noddings, N. (2013). Education and Democracy in the 21st Century. Teachers College Press. Noguera, P. (2003). City Schools and the American Dream; New York, NY.: Tcpress.com. Rose, M (2009) Why School?; The New Press New York, New York Samuel, F., & Suh, B. (2012). Teacher Candidates Reconcile The Child and the Curriculum With No Child Left Behind. The Education Forum, 76(3), 372–382. doi:10.1080/00131725.2012.682201 || ||   || 
 * [[image:https://www.wikispaces.com/_/9x256kq1/i/bBL.gif width="8" height="8"]] |||| [[image:https://www.wikispaces.com/_/4k0z606x/i/c.gif width="1" height="1"]] || [[image:https://www.wikispaces.com/_/60jk45v8/i/bBR.gif width="8" height="8"]] ||