Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Monday, July 14, 2008
"Meet and Greet" the New Interim Superintendent and School Board Turstees
Pontiac schools' interim leader to meet with public
By DIANA DILLABER MURRAY Of The Oakland Press
PONTIAC -- Residents will have the chance to meet new Interim Superintendent Linda Paramore and learn more about school plans for fall at two events next week.
A "Meet and Greet" is planned for 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. Monday where the public can meet Paramore and school board trustees. The event will be held at the Odell Nails Administration Building on Auburn Road, off northbound Woodward, with Paramore and the board of trustees.
On Tuesday, Paramore is holding a public forum from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. in the auditorium of Pontiac Central High School at 300 W. Huron to talk about what students and parents can expect in the fall with the new initiatives the board approved June 30.
The topics include the reconfiguration of elementary schools to include kindergarten through sixth grade in each of the 10 schools. Until now, only Rogers Elementary had a sixth grade and all other sixth-graders attended the middle schools.
This year, the three middle schools will be downsized to include only seventh- and eighth-graders.
The new preschool academy to open at Frost, with full- and part-time preparation for kindergarten as well as full- and part-time day care, will be another topic at the forum.
In addition, the advantages of the district's new centralized enrollment office will be described.
The one-stop shop for records will be installed at Whitmer Human Resource Center.
Applications for enrollment in any of Pontiac's schools will be on hand at the forum.
"We want to make sure all of the stakeholders are well informed and everyone is ready for the school year and ready to embrace these new initiatives," said Lisa Williams, former principal of Crofoot Elementary and newly appointed executive manager for instructional improvement.
"We think it is important that people have the information well in advance," said Williams, who noted Paramore has initiated the theme of "Pontiac Schools, Look Up!" for the coming school year.
In order to reach as may people as possible, the district has mailed fliers, initiated an automated phone system to notify parents, students, school personnel and community members, and publicized it on the Phoenix Center marquee.
Paramore plans to introduce the school board as well as new administrators on her team, including Williams; Felix Chow, the new interim deputy superintendent of business and auxiliary services; Anne Parker, interim manager for human resources; and Darryl Cosby, chief of security. Cosby plans to bring a public safety corps to high schools and middle schools beginning in the fall. The corps will have police authority to maintain a safe environment for learning.
In addition, a representative of the district's special education program will be there to answer questions about how changes will affect children with special needs.
"I just hope the community will come out and meet the superintendent and the board. We are looking forward to embracing a new year," Williams said.
Contact staff writer Diana Dillaber Murray at (248) 745-4638 or diana.dillaber@oakpress.com.
Pontiac Schools NEW Interim Superintendent and Interim CFO
New interim superintendent for Pontiac schools chosen at meeting
By JACQUELYN GUTC Of The Oakland Press
At a special meeting held Tuesday afternoon, the Pontiac Schools Board of Trustees named Linda Paramore as the district's new interim superintendent.
Paramore served as interim chief academic officer through Oakland Schools for the past year and has presented a new curriculum that will be implemented in the schools.
Paramore is a retired curriculum administrator from the Southfield school district.
"I'm just happy to serve," she said. "I'm pleased. It's a good place. I've been here for almost a year, it's easy to fall in love with Pontiac."
She said the district will begin a search for her replacement of her position as interim chief academic officer.
The board also announced that Calvin Cupidore, who has held the post of interim superintendent for the past year, has been reassigned to work on projects the board said were critical and urgent. His term as interim superintendent expired Monday.
Board Vice President Gill Garrett said the decision to change Cupidore's position came in regard to the district choosing to move in a different direction.
"He served well as the interim superintendent in that capacity," Garrett said. "With the new assignment that was given to him, those were some things that needed to move up. Those were some items that needed to have a total focus to them."
Cupidore's main focus will be the sale of surplus properties Garrett said.
"That was one of the things that was etched on last year's budget that didn't get accomplished and now it's etched in his budget to get accomplished," Garrett said.
In a written statement, the board said: "It is hoped that with full attention to this matter, the disposition of these properties will be completed in a short time."
Garrett said the district has six vacant properties it would like to sell.
Before taking over the interim superintendent job a year ago, Cupidore had been the chief financial officer of the district for almost two years.
At Tuesday's meeting, the board announced its decision to bring Felix Chow on board as interim superintendent of business and auxiliary support services, or chief financial officer.
Chow has worked as a consultant to Oakland Schools since ending his time as superintendent of Hamtramck Public Schools in December.
"I know there's a lot of work that needs to be done," Chow said. "It's challenging, but I'm ready for the challenges."
He said he hopes to help the district set realistic expectations for what it wants to accomplish.
"I'm looking forward to working with Dr. Chow. He's very knowledgeable," Paramore said. "And there are good people in this district who really want to see the district improve. As we build leadership in the district and build leadership capacity, then when we leave we'll be able to have people move right into the positions."
Both Chow and Paramore are set to stay for the entire 2008-2009 school year, if necessary.
In the board's statement, it said it chose to work with Oakland Schools to fill the temporary positions so when the district hires a permanent superintendent, that person can hire a team of their own.
The board planned to hire a new superintendent by Tuesday, but when one of two finalists dropped out in May, trustees started the search again.
Contact staff writer Jacquelyn Gutc at (248) 745-4687 or jacquelyn.gutc@oakpress.com.
Saturday, July 12, 2008
DRIVING US to Inevitable Digital Solutions
High Cost of Driving Ignites Online Classes Boom
NEWTOWN, Pa. — First, Ryan Gibbons bought a Hyundai so he would not have to drive his gas-guzzling Chevy Blazer to college classes here. When fuel prices kept rising, he cut expenses again, eliminating two campus visits a week by enrolling in an online version of one of his courses.
Like Mr. Gibbons, thousands of students nationwide, including many who were previously reluctant to study online, have suddenly decided to take one or more college classes over the Internet.
“Gas prices have pushed people over the edge,” said Georglyn Davidson, director of online learning at Bucks County Community College, where Mr. Gibbons studies, and where online enrollments are up 35 percent this summer over last year.
The vast majority of the nation’s 15 million college students — at least 79 percent — live off campus, and with gas prices above $4 a gallon, many are seeking to cut commuting costs by studying online. Colleges from Massachusetts and Florida to Texas to Oregon have reported significant online enrollment increases for summer sessions, with student numbers in some cases 50 percent or 100 percent higher than last year. Although some four-year institutions with large online programs — like the University of Massachusetts and Villanova — have experienced these increases, the greatest surges have been registered at two-year community colleges, where most students are commuters, many support families and few can absorb large new expenditures for fuel.
At Bristol Community College in Fall River, Mass., for instance, online enrollments were up 114 percent this summer over last, and half the students queried cited gas costs or some other transportation obstacle as a reason for signing up to study over the Internet, said April Bellafiore, an assistant dean there.
“Online classes filled up immediately,” Ms. Bellafiore said. “It blew my mind.”
Enrollments in online classes expanded rapidly early in this decade, but growth slowed in 2006 to less than 10 percent, according to statistics compiled last year by researchers at Babson College in Massachusetts. Some recent increases reported by college officials in interviews were much larger, which they attributed to the rising cost of gasoline. Pricing policies for online courses vary by campus, but most classes cost as much as, or more than, traditional ones.
At Brevard Community College in Cocoa, Fla., online enrollment rose to 2,726 this summer from 2,190 last year, a 24.5 percent increase. “That is a dramatic increase we can only attribute to gas prices,” said Jim Drake, Brevard’s president.
Dr. Drake and officials at several other colleges expressed concern that mounting fuel costs could force some students to drop out of college altogether, especially since only a fraction of courses at most colleges are offered online. Dr. Drake has put Brevard on a four-day week to help employees and students save gas.
David Gray, chief executive of UMass Online, the distance education program at the University of Massachusetts, said that at an educators’ conference this week in San Francisco, officials from scores of universities discussed how the energy crisis could affect higher education. “There was broad agreement that gas price increases will be a source of continued growth in online enrollments,” Mr. Gray said.
Once an incidental expense, fuel for commuting to campus now costs some students half of what they pay for tuition, in some cases more. Sergey Sosnovsky, who is pursuing pre-engineering studies at Bucks County Community College, paid $240 a month for gas during the spring semester, while his full-time tuition cost about $500 a month, he said. Other students here and in half a dozen other states told similar stories.
Ozarks Technical Community College in Springfield, Mo., which enrolls residents on both sides of the Arkansas-Missouri border, had 52 percent more students sign up for Internet-based courses this summer than last, said Witt Salley, the college’s director of online teaching and learning.
One student taking online coursework for the first time is Kameron Miller, a 30-year-old working mother who lives in Buffalo, Mo., 40 miles north of Springfield. Her commute to classes in her 1998 Chevy Venture during the spring semester cost her at least $200 a month for gas, Ms. Miller said. This summer, she is taking courses in health, humanities and world music — all online.
“I don’t feel I get as much out of an online class as a campus course,” Ms. Miller said. “But I couldn’t afford any other decision.”
Among the four-year institutions reporting increased online enrollment, UMass Online, which enrolls students at its five Massachusetts campuses and worldwide, experienced 46 percent growth this summer over last among students at the university’s Dartmouth, Mass., campus. At Villanova University in Pennsylvania, enrollment in online, graduate, engineering, nursing and business courses has increased more than 40 percent this summer, said Robert Stokes, an assistant vice president there.
Waiting lists for Web-based courses have lengthened at some institutions. At the University of Colorado, Denver, for instance, 361 students are on the waiting list for online courses for the fall term, compared to 233 last year on the same date, said Bob Tolsma, an assistant vice chancellor.
In Tennessee, the six universities, 13 two-year colleges and 26 technology centers overseen by the Tennessee Board of Regents enrolled 9,000 students for online courses this summer, compared with about 7,000 last summer, a 29 percent increase, said Robbie K. Melton, an associate vice chancellor.
“We had to train more faculty and provide more online courses because students just couldn’t afford to drive to our campuses,” Dr. Melton said.
Sandra Jobe, a 46-year-old bookkeeper who is studying for a master’s degree in education at Tennessee State University, said she reduced the number of trips she had to make each week to the university’s Nashville campus to two from four by enrolling in an online course.
“The campus experience is good; I wouldn’t diminish that,” Ms. Jobe said. “But when you’re penny-pinching, online is a good alternative.”
South Texas College, which has five campuses in Hidalgo and Starr Counties in the Rio Grande Valley, saw a 35 percent increase in online enrollments this summer over last, said William Serrata, a vice president. Other years have seen summer increases of 10 percent to 15 percent, he said. “This really speaks to students’ not wanting to travel due to the gas prices,” Mr. Serrata said.
Elvira Ozuna, who is 37 and studying for an associate’s degree in occupational therapy, was driving four times a week, 50 miles round trip from her home to South Texas College’s campus in McAllen. But this summer she enrolled in two online courses, eliminating that commute.
Ms. Ozuna said she found online work more difficult than classroom study. “But I saved on the gasoline,” she said.
Distance education is no silver bullet that can alone solve the challenges posed for higher education by rising gasoline prices, officials warned.
For one thing, many students, especially in rural areas, lack the high-speed Internet connections on which online courses depend.
“The infrastructure doesn’t exist to give all rural students clear online access,” said Stephen G. Katsinas, a professor at the University of Alabama. “Rural America is where the digital divide is most dramatic.”
Furthermore, most colleges still offer only a fraction of their courses over the Internet. Bucks County Community College, for instance, will offer 414 credit courses during the fall term. Only 103 of those will be offered online, and another 48 as hybrid courses, that is, partly online but with some campus visits required. So most students will still need to come to campus.
Mr. Gibbons, who is 20, works days and aspires to be a writer. He said his online course, “Introduction to the Novel,” had been a good experience, especially the Web-based discussions of Jane Austen’s novels. (He likes posting comments by e-mail better than speaking in class.) He said he still preferred on-campus study, “but with the price of gas jumping up, I’ll probably be taking more courses online now.”
Friday, July 11, 2008
Sunday, July 06, 2008
Informs our 21st Century Understanding
Nets for students 2007
| 1. | Creativity and Innovation | ||||||||
| Students demonstrate creative thinking, construct knowledge, and develop innovative products and processes using technology. Students: | |||||||||
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| 2. | Communication and Collaboration | ||||||||
| Students use digital media and environments to communicate and work collaboratively, including at a distance, to support individual learning and contribute to the learning of others. Students: | |||||||||
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| 3. | Research and Information Fluency | ||||||||
| Students apply digital tools to gather, evaluate, and use information. Students: | |||||||||
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| 4. | Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, and Decision Making | ||||||||
| Students use critical thinking skills to plan and conduct research, manage projects, solve problems, and make informed decisions using appropriate digital tools and resources. Students: | |||||||||
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| 5. | Digital Citizenship | ||||||||
| Students understand human, cultural, and societal issues related to technology and practice legal and ethical behavior. Students: | |||||||||
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| 6. | Technology Operations and Concepts | ||||||||
| Students demonstrate a sound understanding of technology concepts, systems, and operations. Students: | |||||||||
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© 2007 International Society for Technology in Education. ISTE® is a registered trademark of the International Society for Technology in Education.
World rights reserved. No part of this may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system—without prior written permission from the publisher. Contact Permissions Editor, ISTE, 180 W. 8th Avenue, Suite 300
Eugene, OR 97401-2916 USA; fax: 1.541.302.3780; e-mail: permissions@iste.org or visit www.iste.org/permissions/.
Saturday, July 05, 2008
NSF GRANT: By Design / BEGIN with the END in MIND!
Creating the 21st-Century Classroom
Preparing today’s youth to succeed in the digital economy requires a new kind of teaching and learning. Skills such as global literacy, computer literacy, problem solving, critical thinking, creativity, and innovation have become critical in today’s increasingly interconnected workforce and society--and technology is the catalyst for bringing these changes into the classroom.
In a 21st-century learning environment, all students are able to learn. Project-based learning allows students to acquire 21st-century skills in the context of real-world scenarios, and the integration of video and other media to support instruction links students with outside resources and enables teachers to address many learning styles at once. In fact, the 21st-century learning environment doesn’t just wait for teachable moments; it literally creates them at will.
At eSchool News, we’ve seen schools transforming through the use of technology to meet the needs of a new, tech-savvy generation of learners. Now, with the generous support of AVPartners, we’ve combed our archives to assemble our best content related to the creation of 21st-century classrooms. We hope you’ll take a few minutes to peruse these resources and learn how other educators are defining 21st-century learning as you strive to implement this vision of education in your own schools.
. --The Editors
eSchool News Articles
- eSN Special Report: Visual Learning
Wed, Jan 02, 2008 Primary Topic Channel: Video technologies
These are special times for visual learning. Spurred by dramatic advances in digital technology, the use of video as an instructional tool is finally coming into its own as a mainstream feature of American education. [ Read More ] - Voters urge teaching of 21st-century skills
Mon, Oct 15, 2007 Primary Topic Channel: Research
Results of a new poll commissioned by the Partnership for 21st Century Skills shows the vast majority of U.S. voters believe students are ill-equipped to compete in the global learning environment, and that schools must incorporate 21st-century skills such as critical thinking and problem solving, communication and self-direction, and computer and technology skills into the curriculum. But the upcoming presidential election, researchers say, presents a perfect opportunity to charter a new path to success for America's students. [ Read More ] - Public wants more tech in classrooms
Wed, Aug 01, 2007 Primary Topic Channel: 21st Century skills
Americans recognize the importance of technology in reforming the nation's schools and making them relevant for the 21st century, a new survey suggests--but they disagree on how schools should impart key 21st-century skills to their students. [ Read More ] - 21st-century school represents 'the will to change'
Tue, May 01, 2007 Primary Topic Channel: Multimedia
At the Academy of Information Technology and Engineering in Stamford, Connecticut, educators have turned a 40-year-old school building into a modern model for teaching and learning. And if it can be done here, school leaders say, it can be done anywhere. [ Read More ] -
Creating a '21st-century school' for learning and working together
Sun, Oct 01, 2006 Primary Topic Channel: 21st Century skills
Like many school systems, Maryland's Charles County Public Schools had different tracks for high school students who were going on to college and those pursuing vocational training. This outdated model ultimately reduced the status of voc ed to a lower level than academic programs. James Richmond, our district superintendent, championed the idea of a 21st- century school that would bring vocational and academic students together in one facility. [ Read More ] - W.Va. focuses on 21st-century learning
Thu, Apr 06, 2006 Primary Topic Channel: 21st Century skills
As educators nationwide consider ways to address the need for 21st-century learning, West Virginia appears to be ahead of the curve and could serve as a model for other states to follow. [ Read More ] - 'Interactive teaching' engages learners
Wed, May 11, 2005 Primary Topic Channel: Handheld technologies
A wireless handheld technology similar to the remote control you use to control your television set is transforming large, impersonal college lecture courses into dynamic, interactive learning labs. Although initiated mostly in colleges, this style of instruction--dubbed "interactive teaching" by its proponents--has potential far beyond the lecture hall. [ Read More ] - Audio-visual technology a bright spot on college campuses
Tue, Dec 06, 2005 Primary Topic Channel: Research,Multimedia
At least half of the nation's higher-education classrooms will be equipped with digital projectors, control systems, audio or video conferencing equipment, or other audio-visual (AV) technology within the next five years, a new study projects. [ Read More ] - NC Gov. announces 21st Century Center
Fri, Apr 22, 2005 Primary Topic Channel: School Administration ,21st Century skills
Faced with the challenge of preparing today's students for success in anincreasingly global economy, North Carolina Gov. Mike Easley, April 21,announced the development of a first-of-its-kind Center for 21st CenturySkills. [ Read More ]
Wednesday, July 02, 2008
YAPO CLC Board of Director's Meeting Agenda 7-3-2008
YAPO COMPUTER LEARNING CENTER
an authorized Neighborhood Network Center
Meeting Agenda
July 3, 2008
26 Leanne Lane
Pontiac, MI 48340
(248) 338-7346/(248) 338-4771 (fax)
- Call to Order
- Roll Call
- Adoption of Agenda
- Approval of Yapo CLC Board of Directors’ Minutes – June 4, 2008
- Executive Director’s Report
- Old Business
- Approval of Yapo CLC Board of Directors’ Minutes - February 14, 2008
- Website
- NSF ITEST Grant
- Treasurer’s Report
- Corporate Book
- Budget
- Fundraisers
- Silent Auction
- Community Activities - Carnival
- New Business
- Announcements
- Adjourn
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Friday, June 13, 2008
Disrupting Class! (Finally Publishes)
Interview: http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/books/mp3files/christensen.mp3
A crash course in the business of learning-from the bestselling author of The Innovator's Dilemma and The Innovator's Solution…
“A brilliant teacher, Christensen brings clarity to a muddled and chaotic world of education.”
-Jim Collins, bestselling author of Good to Great
According to recent studies in neuroscience, the way we learn doesn't always match up with the way we are taught. If we hope to stay competitive-academically, economically, and technologically-we need to rethink our understanding of intelligence, reevaluate our educational system, and reinvigorate our commitment to learning. In other words, we need “disruptive innovation.”
Now, in his long-awaited new book, Clayton M. Christensen and coauthors Michael B. Horn and Curtis W. Johnson take one of the most important issues of our time-education-and apply Christensen's now-famous theories of “disruptive” change using a wide range of real-life examples. Whether you're a school administrator, government official, business leader, parent, teacher, or entrepreneur, you'll discover surprising new ideas, outside-the-box strategies, and straight-A success stories.
You'll learn how
Customized learning will help many more students succeed in school
Student-centric classrooms will increase the demand for new technology
Computers must be disruptively deployed to every student
Disruptive innovation can circumvent roadblocks that have prevented other attempts at school reform
We can compete in the global classroom-and get ahead in the global market
Filled with fascinating case studies, scientific findings, and unprecedented insights on how innovation must be managed, Disrupting Class will open your eyes to new possibilities, unlock hidden potential, and get you to think differently. Professor Christensen and his coauthors provide a bold new lesson in innovation that will help you make the grade for years to come.
The future is now. Class is in session.
Biographical note
Clayton M. Christensen is the Robert and Jane Cizik Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School. He is author or coauthor of five books including the New York Times bestsellers The Innovator's Dilemma and The Innovator's Solution.
Michael B. Hornis a cofounder and Executive Director of Innosight Institute. He holds an AB from Yale and an MBA from Harvard.
Curtis W. Johnson is a writer and consultant who has served as a college president, head of a public policy research organization, and chief of staff to governor Arne Carlson of Minnesota. Johnson and his colleagues were among the early proponents of what has become the chartered school movement.
Back cover copy
WARNING: THIS BOOK WILL CHALLENGE
EVERYTHING YOU EVER LEARNED-ABOUT LEARNING
“After a barrage of business books that purport to 'fix' American education, at last a book that speaks thoughtfully and imaginatively about what genuinely individualized education canbe like and how to bring it about.”-Howard Gardner, author of Five Minds for the Future
“A decade ago, Clayton Christensen wrote a masterpiece, The Innovator's Dilemma, that transformed the way business looks at innovation. Now, he and two collaborators, Michael B. Horn and Curtis W. Johnson, have come up with another, focusing his groundbreaking theories of disruptive innovation on education."-David Gergen, US Presidential Advisor
“Clayton Christensen's insights just might shake many of us in education out of our complacency and into a long needed disruptive discourse about really fixing our schools. This will be a welcome change after decades in which powerful calls to action have resulted in only marginal improvements for our nation's school children.”-Vicki Phillips, director of Education, Gates Foundation
“Full of strategies that are both bold and doable, this brilliant and seminal book shows how we can utilize technology to customize learning. I recommend it most enthusiastically.”-Adam Urbanski, president of the Rochester (NY) Teachers Association, and vice president of the American Federation of Teachers
"Finally we have a book from the business community that gets it. Disrupting Class from Clayton Christensen and colleagues points out that motivation is central to learning and that if schools and learning are to be transformed as they must be, motivation must be at the center of the work. They also point out how technology should be used to personalize learning and what the future might look like for schools. A must read for anyone thinking and worrying about where education should be headed."-Paul Houston, Executive Director, American Association of School Administrators
“Powerful, proven strategies for moving education from stagnation to evolution.”-Christopher Dede, Timothy E. Wirth Professor in Learning Technologies, Harvard Graduate School of Education
“Clayton Christensen and colleagues describe how disruptive technologies will personalize and, as a result, revolutionize learning. Every education leader should read this book, set aside their next staff meeting to discuss it, and figure out how they can be part of the improvement wave to come.”-Tom Vander Ark, President, X PRIZE Foundation
“In Disrupting Class, Christensen, Horn and Johnson argue that the next round of innovation in school reform will involve learning software. While schools have resisted integrating technology for instruction, today's students are embracing technology in their everyday lives. This book offers promise to education reformers.”-Kathleen McCartney, Dean, Harvard Graduate School of Education
Wednesday, June 04, 2008
YAPO CLC Board Meeting Agenda 6-4-2008
"an authorized Neighborhood Network Center"
Meeting Agenda
June 4, 2008
26 Leanne Lane
Pontiac, MI 48340
(248) 338-7346/(248) 338-4771 (fax)
Roll Call
Adoption of Agenda
Approval of Yapo CLC Board of Directors’ Minutes – May 7, 2008
Executive Director’s Report
Minutes from February 14, 2008
- Strong personalities
- Walton Park Board / YAPO CLC (Strained relationship)
- Numbers of Youth participants (Program participation)
- Student Scores on the Whole (Up!)
- Policies Job-Link Employees
- Procedures (draft), Co-ordinators (Exisiting carry-over issues)
Review: Technology Symposium (Virtual World: Second-Life / Teen-Grid)
Varied open-disscussions
Adjourn!
*Corporate Book
*Budget Status
*Fundraisers
Junior Board Dance-Rescheduled to June 27, 2008
Carnival/Carwash
Ideas for BIG fundraiser
Monday, June 02, 2008
21st Century Small High Schools and Renewable Energy Initiatives
Gov Asks For Small High Schools, Renewable Power Standard
Gov. Jennifer Granholm offered business a share of the savings in a plan to reduce the number of state prison inmates in her speech Friday at the Detroit Regional Chamber's Mackinac Policy Conference.
And she proposed a "21st Century School Fund" to create 100 small, academically challenging high schools across the state.
Granholm began by reviewing Michigan's economic challenge -- the loss of 330,000 manufacturing jobs since 2000 as part of a national flight of manufacturing jobs overseas, and Big Three market share falling from 70 percent in 1990 to 45 percent today.
But she also pointed to dozens of big investments in the state in recent years by companies in her targeted areas of alternative energy, the life sciences, advanced manufacturing and homeland security. And she touted her continuing overseas investment missions, especially alternative energy efforts in Sweden.
Granholm said she was asking the Legislature and the crowd at Mackinac to back three initiatives -- the 21sts Century School Fund, a mandate that 10 percent of the state's power must come from renewable sources by 2015, and the prison reform plan.
Granholm said the small high school plan is part of an overall effort to "attack, declare war, on the dropout problem." She said Michigan "must replace those large, impersonal high schools that fail with small, challenging high schools that work." She also backed more "middle colleges," five-year high schools that graduate their students with an associate's degree or other usable career credential. She said the 21st Century Schools Fund would require no new taxes, only a redirection of existing revenue.
More broadly, Granholm said of education, the state needs to flip education on its head to meet the needs of employers. "We don't want people to get degrees in French or political science," she said. "Those are my degrees, so I can say that. We want people to get degrees in areas we need," such as health care.
Granholm also asked -- as she did last year -- for the renewable energy standard, which has been tied up in the Legislature over complaints that it remonopolizes the state's electric market, and doesn't go far enough to mandate renewable energy.
However, Granholm said the lack of the standard means Michigan is losing out on massive investments that are occurring elsewhere in renewable energy.
Granholm also touted her record as a cost-cutter, pointing out that she's cut more out of state budgets than any Michigan governor in history, that Michigan is now 46th in state employees per capita, and that the state is leading the nation in putting state business online.
But she said one area of state government is skyrocketing in staff and costs: corrections. She said Michigan's corrections staff has grown from 5 percent of state employment to more than 20 percent, and that Michigan incarcerates its citizens at a rate far higher than its neighbors -- with no appreciable effect on crime rates.
Granholm, a former prosecutor, said that "I will not allow violent criminals to be released into society, period." But she said there are ways to trim the prison population by selectively releasing low-risk inmates. And she proposed sharing any savings on a one-third basis between law enforcement, higher education and a reduction in the Michigan Business Tax surcharge.
In opening her speech, Granholm joked about her recent surgery for bowel obstruction, saying she pleaded with the doctor not to use the word "bowel" in public comments, and that state Republicans were in no way responsible for the "obstruction." And, she said, the last thing she remembered before the anesthesia took her under was her surgeon saying, "You know, I'm a Republican..."
© MMVIII WWJ Radio, All Rights Reserved.
Saturday, May 31, 2008
Sunday, May 18, 2008
Friday, May 16, 2008
THE DIGITAL DANCE of CHANGE! (CHEAPER, BETTER, FASTER!)
Airialink Wins Fiber Optic Deal In Eaton County
Lansing-based Arialink Thursday announced a contract to bring its fiber optic network and Internet services to the Eaton Intermediate School District. The value of the deal was not immediately disclosed.
The Eaton Intermediate School District (EISD) Wide Area Network will link county K-12 school districts and the Eaton ISD to provide unprecedented, collaborative opportunities for sharing software, curriculum, classes, data, and technology expertise.
Once constructed, the network will provide a significant increase in bandwidth and high speed Internet access to meet the growing needs of students and educators in the following school districts: Charlotte Public Schools, Eaton Rapids Public Schools, Grand Ledge Public Schools, Maple Valley Public Schools and Potterville Public Schools.
The EISD Wide Area Network will give students access to classes unavailable in their district, such as advanced math and foreign language courses. These classes could be offered with a “live” instructor, who would interact with students in another classroom, or another school, or in a college setting. The network would allow enhanced access to on-demand videos to supplement instruction. Reliable, high-speed data transmission will allow sharing of software and resources not previously available.
As a result of this investment in technology, educators, administrators and students in the EISD will see an increase in opportunities for all schools of their districts to access the technological and academic tools necessary for success in the 21st Century.
By using Arialink’s Statewide Education Peering Network, the EISD will have the opportunity to partner with other regional customers like the Ingham Intermediate School District, Allegan Area Education Services Agency, Muskegon Area ISD, Lansing Community College, and Michigan Virtual University. These partnerships can leverage shared technologies to enhance the lifelong learning goals of all users.
Additionally, by virtue of bringing Arialink’s fiber-optic network to Eaton County, there will be significant positive economic and residential impact to the community. Businesses, health care facilities and libraries will be able to take advantage of Arialink’s network, allowing these institutions to become competitive in today’s technology-driven marketplace.
The presence of Arialink’s network will help facilitate future plans of offering high speed Internet and phone services to the underserved residents of Eaton County.
More at www.arialink.com or www.eaton.k12.mi.us.
© MMVIII WWJ Radio, All Rights Reserved.
Monday, May 12, 2008
Friday, May 09, 2008
A Decade of Digital Disruption!
Published Online: May 5, 2008
Published in Print: May 7, 2008
Online Education Cast as ‘Disruptive Innovation’
By Andrew Trotter
Technology-based forces of “disruptive innovation” are gathering around public education and will overhaul the way K-12 students learn—with potentially dramatic consequences for established public schools, according to an upcoming book that draws parallels to disruptions in other industries.
Disrupting Class: How Disruptive Innovation Will Change the Way the World Learns predicts that the growth in computer-based delivery of education will accelerate swiftly until, by 2019, half of all high school classes will be taught over the Internet.
Clayton M. Christensen, the book’s lead author and a business professor at Harvard University, is well respected in the business world for his best-sellers The Innovator’s Dilemma, published in 1997, and The Innovator’s Solution, published in 2003.
Those books analyze why leading companies in various industries—computers, electronics, retail, and others—were knocked off by upstarts that were better able to take advantage of innovations based on new technology and changing conditions.
School organizations are similarly vulnerable, Mr. Christensen contends.
“The schools as they are now structured cannot do it,” he said in an interview, referring to adapting successfully to coming computer-based innovations. “Even the best managers in the world, if they were heads of departments in schools and the administrators of schools, could not do it.”
Under Mr. Christensen’s analytical model, the tables typically turn in an industry even when the dominant companies are well aware of a disruptive innovation and try to use it to transform themselves.
But established organizations are trapped in the industry’s architecture, through webs of “interdependencies,” such as the compensation system for sales forces and the expectations of existing customers, who do not want to bear the cost of adopting innovations that initially are inferior to what they were used to getting, he said.
With the advent of new technologies, companies usually resort to “cramming down” the innovations onto their existing systems, an approach that generates only incremental improvement, he says.
Upstart organizations—though they cannot at first compete head to head with the leaders—find markets for innovative products and services among “nonconsuming” groups who are are priced out of the main market or are seen as peripheral by the leaders. The nonconsuming groups embrace the innovations, which gradually improve until they are better than the top products—and sweep to dominance, according to the book.
Cramming Down
In the new book, Mr. Christensen and his co-authors apply a similar analysis to K-12 education. Mr. Christensen wrote the book with Michael B. Horn, the executive director for education at the Innosight Institute, a think tank that promotes Mr. Christensen’s ideas, and Curtis W. Johnson, a writer and former college president and political aide.
Like the leaders in other industries, the education establishment has crammed down technology onto its existing architecture, which is dominated by the “monolithic” processes of textbook creation and adoption, teaching practices and training, and standardized assessment—which, despite some efforts at individualization, by and large treat students the same, the book says.
But new providers are stepping forward to serve students that mainline education does not serve, or serve well, the authors write. Those students, which the book describes as K-12 education’s version of “nonconsumers,” include those lacking access to Advanced Placement courses, needing alternatives to standard classroom instruction, homebound or home-schooled students, those needing to make up course credits to graduate—and even prekindergarten children.
By addressing those groups, providers such as charter schools, companies catering to home schoolers, private tutoring companies, and online-curriculum companies have developed their methods and tapped networks of students, parents, and teachers for ideas.
Those providers will gradually improve their tools to offer instruction that is more student-centered, in part by breaking courses into modules that can be recombined specifically for each student, the authors predict.
Such providers’ approaches, the authors argue, will also become more affordable, and they will start attracting more and more students from regular schools.
E-Volution
A new book predicts that the share of high school instruction that takes place over the Internet will start rising sharply in about four years, until online courses constitute more than 50 percent of all high school course enrollments by around 2019.
Mr. Christensen and his co-authors apply an S-shaped curve, accepted in the business-research literature as a mathematical model of disruptive change in industry, to data from 2000 to 2007 to predict that by 2019, online learning will account for 50 percent of high school course enrollments.
The prediction is based on current projections of the supply of qualified teachers and of the costs of traditional and computer-based learning. “As long as that ratio stays the same, we’ll see that happen,” Mr. Christensen said. “Who knows if it is 2019, 2017, or 2020, but sometime around there, it should hit 50 percent.”
The book does hold out hope that established school organizations can adapt to disruptive innovation.
In other industries, the few established companies that have done so have spun off separate units that adopt the innovations independently—and eventually take over from their parent organizations, according to the book. One example it cites is Dayton Hudson Corp., the venerable department-store chain, which survived the onset of large discount retailers by creating a separate unit, Target Stores Inc. Target has become a major force in discount retailing.
Paul D. Houston, the executive director of the American Association of School Administrators, based in Arlington, Va., is familiar with Mr. Christensen’s theories and research, though he has not read the book, which McGraw-Hill is due to publish next month. “I’m so pleased he is looking at the education space,” Mr. Houston said. “It’s going to be very provocative and probably a little controversial, in that it will force people to get out of the box to look at solutions.”
Mr. Houston cited the example of Target as one route school districts may follow to find the “flexibility, which we all know doesn’t exist” in public schools, to embrace student-centered innovation. “We’ve promoted, for some time, the idea of school superintendents creating their own charter schools, instead of resisting this stuff,” he said.
Some teachers’ union leaders are paying attention, too.
Favorable Reaction
The book is “brilliant,” said Adam Urbanski, the president of the Rochester, N.Y., affiliate of the American Federation of Teachers and an AFT vice president. “Most people pose the question of how we can improve the current system,” he said. “[Mr. Christensen] poses the different question of how we can have a different system than what we already have.”
Mr. Christensen and his co-authors plan to talk to educators about their ideas in the coming year, including at national conferences of administrators and teachers. They also will lay out their ideas in the summer issue of the journal Education Next.
Online Opinion
A national survey of 3,200 adults found more support for advanced, college-level courses for high school students and online courses for rural students with limited coursetaking options than for courses targeting dropouts or home-schoolers.
Another vehicle is the Innosight Institute, the nonprofit think tank in Watertown, Mass., that Mr. Horn and Mr. Christensen co-founded in 2007. The institute will help grantmakers target “innovations that will have an impact on the structure and the performance of schools,” Mr. Christensen said.
He underscored that the book does not aim to frighten school leaders, but to urge them to treat the approaching changes as an opportunity rather than a threat.
“If they will set up heavyweight teams and create the new architecture for the curriculum in a new space—so they have a school within a school, or a different school underneath the umbrella of the district—at that level the school can truly transform itself,” he said.
Mr. Christensen suggested that the changes he foresees could have even broader implications.
“Whenever an industry gets disrupted, people always consume more, because it’s more affordable, it’s simpler, easier to access, to customize to what they need,” he said. “What a wonderful thing, that we would consume more education.”
Saturday, May 03, 2008
NSF ITEST Grant / Work at Hand
Summit: Save STEM or watch America fail
At current rates of investment in STEM research and education, America is losing its competitive edge, panelists warn
By Meris Stansbury, Assistant Editor, eSchool News
Panelists say awareness is not enough and that the U.S. needs to take action.
Two years after a report called "Rising Above the Gathering Storm" warned that the United States is falling behind in math and science education, endangering America's competitiveness in the global economy, education leaders, lawmakers, and cabinet members met for a national summit in Washington, D.C., to discuss what progress--if any--has been made in closing the gap. Their verdict: The U.S. needs to make a greater investment in critical math, science, and research programs for these efforts to succeed.
In the two years since the National Academies issued its "Gathering Storm" report, Congress passed a bill called the America COMPETES Act, which outlined measures to improve math and science research and education. The legislation called for expanding science research by doubling the basic research budgets for the National Science Foundation, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the Department of Energy's Office of Science, and the Department of Defense. It also created programs to hire and train more highly qualified math and science teachers and increase the number of Advanced Placement (AP) classes in underprivileged schools.
But the bill was only an authorization, not an appropriation, and lawmakers failed to fund many of these programs in the 2008 federal budget. (See "Final 2008 budget a mixed bag for schools.")
Though Congress passed many of the measures recommended by the "Gathering Storm" report, "we're [just] now in the process of passing appropriations to support those actions," acknowledged Rep. Bart Gordon, D-Tenn., chairman of the House Committee on Science and Technology.
"Authorizations are not enough," agreed Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va. "We won't get anywhere without funding."
Private-sector funding from Exxon Mobil, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation has supported the creation of a project called the National Math and Science Initiative (NMSI). In its first year, NMSI rolled out grants to launch AP Training and Incentive programs in seven states, as well as replicate a math and science teacher-training program called UTeach at 13 universities. (See "Schools aim to solve huge math problem.") But summit panelists said the federal government needs to step up its support for these kinds of initiatives, too.
Panelists cited many examples of success, such as the largest initial public offering in history and the launch of a new research university with a day-one endowment of $10 billion (equal to what it took MIT 142 years to accumulate).
Trouble is, these accomplishments are happening in China and Saudi Arabia, respectively--not in the United States. In fact, in spite of bipartisan agreement on the need to improve student achievement in STEM [science, technology, engineering, and math] disciplines, little has been done in the U.S.
In a recent op-ed piece published in advance of the summit, Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, had this to say: "We are starting to see the consequences of our neglect in STEM. China has surpassed the U.S. as the world's largest exporter of information-technology products--and the U.S. has become a net importer of those products. We must redouble our efforts to ensure that America is the world's technological leader in the 21st century."
Even so, federal funding has not increased, according to reports from Tapping America's Potential and the Task Force on the Future of American Innovation. Basic research funding at federal agencies has not increased, and some programs have been cut. The research and development tax credit has not been made permanent and has been allowed to expire.
In addition, policy makers have not been able to agree on visa and permanent resident green-card reform for highly educated professionals.
G. Wayne Clough, president of the Georgia Institute of Technology, said nothing has really happened in the last two years to advance the goals of the "Gathering Storm" report. Declared Clough: "Our momentum has not only slowed--it's reversed."
Craig Barrett, chairman of the board at Intel Corp., condemned the shortsightedness of politicians and elected officials. "Unless you're a short-term program during an election [season], you won't get funding," he said. "We're not investing in the future; we're not looking forward, because we have this sense of entitlement."
"Churchill said that you can always count on the Americans to do the right thing after they have tried everything else," said Norman Augustine, CEO emeritus of Lockheed Martin. "Our nation's leaders need to follow through on their bipartisan effort in the America COMPETES Act and fund improvements to math and science education. Otherwise, our nation's greatest export is likely to be our jobs and our standard of living."
Sally Ride, chief executive officer of Sally Ride Science and the nation's first female astronaut, said it takes a long time to build a new foundation. "It reminds me of that Road Runner cartoon where the coyote keeps chasing after the road runner, and he keeps running and running until he realizes he's off the cliff and loses his footing. That's us right now," she explained.
Ride said she believes not enough people, especially parents and students, understand how important it is to take an interest in science. She cited a report from Public Agenda, titled "Important, But Not for Me: Parents and Students in Kansas and Missouri Talk About Math, Science, and Technology Education," which found that even though parents and students say they understand the importance of STEM education, they don't see how it applies to them personally.
Charles Vest, president of the National Academy of Engineering and former president of MIT, believes Americans are simply too comfortable and are riding out the momentum gained by the rise of STEM education in the 1950s and 60s.
"The enemy I fear most is complacency," said Vest. "The science and engineering talent, tools, and research required to prosper and be a world leader in this century do not grow on trees. We urgently need to invest in people and knowledge and create well-paying jobs. We must again be the ‘can do' nation--building a strong, competitive economy and meeting the challenges of energy, security, healthcare, and global change."
Rep. Rush Holt, D-N.J., said he believes the U.S. is falling behind in STEM education because Americans "value the fruits of science, but they don't know where they come from. That's why we're currently under-investing in R&D in every sector. It's a result of the 1950s, where we had a bimodal population. We basically told people: ‘If you're not going to be a scientist, then don't bother studying science.'"
Wolf attributed the lack of appropriations to the state of the country's fiscal health. Because of the nation's $54 trillion debt, and with the dollar decreasing in value every day, America simply doesn't have the funds needed to support STEM programs or provide more for the National Science Foundation and NASA, he said.
"Every science program is under discretionary spending," said Wolf. "This needs to change; but how? Should the U.S. declare bankruptcy?"
For many panelists, boosting the federal investment in STEM-related research and education begins with creating a greater sense of urgency.
"The initial [Gathering Storm] report helped to start and maintain public focus," said Vest, "but now we must establish a sense of urgency, not just awareness."
Tom Luce, CEO of the National Math and Science Initiative, said the summit's goal is to help move the report from the playing field to the goal line.
"We're here to help implement strategies, not just talk about what the report says. It's more than just a report--it's an action plan that needs to be developed," said Luce.
According to Clough, Congress and the general population need to understand the link between this report and the economy. He said Americans need to care about the COMPETES Act and many other calls to action delivered by the report, because without STEM education, America won't be able to compete globally--causing a stagnation of median income and a lower standard of living.
"People at the state level get what's going on. We're just lacking the will at the national level," he said.
Concluded Vest: "Tell your representatives and senators--as well as your favorite presidential candidate--that funding math and science education, investing in basic research and development, and welcoming the best and brightest from around the world is the only way to guarantee that their children and grandchildren will enjoy the continuously rising standard of living that Americans have come to expect.
"America can't afford to wait while the rest of the world surges forward. The Cold War is over. Globalization and modernization are racing ahead, there are billions of new competitors in the economic race with the United States--and we are falling behind."
National Academies http://www.nationalacademies.org
Department of Education http://www.ed.gov/index.jhtml
National Math and Science Initiative http://www.nationalmathandscience.org
UTeach http://uteach.utexas.edu
Tapping America's Potential http://tap2015.org
Task Force on the Future of American Innovation http://www.futureofinnovation.org
Sally Ride on TechWatch http://www.eschoolnews.com/video-center/esn-techwatch/?i=53391;_hbguid=0f29fd65-c137-45d2-8967-f0ad7e1ee463
Friday, May 02, 2008
Cognitive Educational Competitiveness Differentiator
Op-Ed Columnist
The Cognitive Age
By DAVID BROOKS
If you go into a good library, you will find thousands of books on globalization. Some will laud it. Some will warn about its dangers. But they’ll agree that globalization is the chief process driving our age. Our lives are being transformed by the increasing movement of goods, people and capital across borders.
The globalization paradigm has led, in the political arena, to a certain historical narrative: There were once nation-states like the U.S. and the European powers, whose economies could be secured within borders. But now capital flows freely. Technology has leveled the playing field. Competition is global and fierce.
New dynamos like India and China threaten American dominance thanks to their cheap labor and manipulated currencies. Now, everything is made abroad. American manufacturing is in decline. The rest of the economy is threatened.
Hillary Clinton summarized the narrative this week: “They came for the steel companies and nobody said anything. They came for the auto companies and nobody said anything. They came for the office companies, people who did white-collar service jobs, and no one said anything. And they came for the professional jobs that could be outsourced, and nobody said anything.”
The globalization paradigm has turned out to be very convenient for politicians. It allows them to blame foreigners for economic woes. It allows them to pretend that by rewriting trade deals, they can assuage economic anxiety. It allows them to treat economic and social change as a great mercantilist competition, with various teams competing for global supremacy, and with politicians starring as the commanding generals.
But there’s a problem with the way the globalization paradigm has evolved. It doesn’t really explain most of what is happening in the world.
Globalization is real and important. It’s just not the central force driving economic change. Some Americans have seen their jobs shipped overseas, but global competition has accounted for a small share of job creation and destruction over the past few decades. Capital does indeed flow around the world. But as Pankaj Ghemawat of the Harvard Business School has observed, 90 percent of fixed investment around the world is domestic. Companies open plants overseas, but that’s mainly so their production facilities can be close to local markets.
Nor is the globalization paradigm even accurate when applied to manufacturing. Instead of fleeing to Asia, U.S. manufacturing output is up over recent decades. As Thomas Duesterberg of Manufacturers Alliance/MAPI, a research firm, has pointed out, the U.S.’s share of global manufacturing output has actually increased slightly since 1980.
The chief force reshaping manufacturing is technological change (hastened by competition with other companies in Canada, Germany or down the street). Thanks to innovation, manufacturing productivity has doubled over two decades. Employers now require fewer but more highly skilled workers. Technological change affects China just as it does the America. William Overholt of the RAND Corporation has noted that between 1994 and 2004 the Chinese shed 25 million manufacturing jobs, 10 times more than the U.S.
The central process driving this is not globalization. It’s the skills revolution. We’re moving into a more demanding cognitive age. In order to thrive, people are compelled to become better at absorbing, processing and combining information. This is happening in localized and globalized sectors, and it would be happening even if you tore up every free trade deal ever inked.
The globalization paradigm emphasizes the fact that information can now travel 15,000 miles in an instant. But the most important part of information’s journey is the last few inches — the space between a person’s eyes or ears and the various regions of the brain. Does the individual have the capacity to understand the information? Does he or she have the training to exploit it? Are there cultural assumptions that distort the way it is perceived?
The globalization paradigm leads people to see economic development as a form of foreign policy, as a grand competition between nations and civilizations. These abstractions, called “the Chinese” or “the Indians,” are doing this or that. But the cognitive age paradigm emphasizes psychology, culture and pedagogy — the specific processes that foster learning. It emphasizes that different societies are being stressed in similar ways by increased demands on human capital. If you understand that you are living at the beginning of a cognitive age, you’re focusing on the real source of prosperity and understand that your anxiety is not being caused by a foreigner.
It’s not that globalization and the skills revolution are contradictory processes. But which paradigm you embrace determines which facts and remedies you emphasize. Politicians, especially Democratic ones, have fallen in love with the globalization paradigm. It’s time to move beyond it.