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School & Society

Rethinking Schools How Our Education System Promotes Inequality And an Introduction to the Ideas of Democratic Schooling. School & Society. IDEA: Make Your Voice Heard. Academics. Literacy in the U.S. Since 1870, raised from 80% to 99% (Snyder)

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School & Society

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  1. Rethinking Schools How Our Education System Promotes Inequality And an Introduction to the Ideas of Democratic Schooling School & Society

  2. IDEA: Make Your Voice Heard

  3. Academics

  4. Literacy in the U.S. • Since 1870, raised from 80% to 99% (Snyder) • National Assessment of Adult Literacy (Kutner, et al. 4)

  5. Digest of Education Statistics: 2009(for 1971-2008)

  6. Program for International Assessment (PISA) • 2006 (Baldi, et al. 6-12) • U.S. ranks 29th in Science • U.S. ranks 35th in Math • Both at least 20 points below average score • 2009 (OECD 2010) • U.S. increases to average range in Science • Still below average in Math

  7. Employment

  8. Are They Prepared? • College – 2004 Survey (Peter D. Hart Research Associates/Public Opinion Strategies 8) • 65% of the college instructors surveyed thought public high schools did not adequately prepare students for college • 70% said they had to spend class time reviewing materials and skills that high schools should have taught • Work – 2006 Survey (Casner-Lotto, et al. 41) • Employers believed recently hired high school graduates were deficient in the ten skills thought to be most important for their success, including:

  9. Employment & Earnings • Unemployment 14.86% for people who did not complete High School – More than 5% higher than national average (Cook 10) • WagesHigh School diploma raises average wage by more than 25% (Aud, et al. 61) • Poverty Rates Those with out degree average 25.7% – More than double that of high school graduates (Aud, et al. 61) • Note: Data are 2010 annual averages for persons age 25 and over. Earnings are for full-time wage and salary workers.

  10. Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) Highlights: An Overview of U.S. Occupational Employment and Wages in 2010

  11. Top 50 Careers

  12. Opportunity (But Not Equally)

  13. Dropout Rates by Income Quartile Bottom quartile: $35,080 or less. Second quartile: $36,080 to $65,310. Third quartile: $65,310 to $108,294. Top quartile: Above $108,294.

  14. College Graduation Rates By Age 24 (Mortenson) *Original data were collected by Census Bureau and National Center for Education Statistics

  15. DesigningInequality What can you Afford? • Jonathan Kozol • 1991 Savage Inequalities • 2005 Shame of a Nation • Jeannie Oakes • Keeping Track: How Schools Structure Inequality • Michael W. Apple • Culture & Ideology

  16. Pedagogy of the Oppressed • Paulo Freire – 1968 • Critical Pedagogy – teaching for critical thought • Banking Theory of Education – teaching to oppress • "an act of depositing, in which the students are the depositories and the teacher is the depositor.” (58) • the teacher lectures, and the students "receive, memorize, and repeat” (58) – teachers responsible for creating knowledge • curriculum provides all definitions; glasses through which we learn to view the world • keeps people from learning to think for themselves, instead teaching obedience to authority; must accept what you are told • Milgram's Shock Experiments

  17. Learner Centered Teacher-Student RelationshipsJeffry Cornelius-White • Meta-analysis of 119 studies from 1948 to 2004, including 355,325 students Teacher Variables with the most positive effect Student Outcomes resulting from person-centered teacher-student relationships Participation (.55) Critical and Creative Thinking (.45) Satisfaction (.44) Math Achievement (.36) Drop-Out Prevention (.35) Self-Esteem (.35) Verbal Achievement (.34) Positive Motivation (.32) Social Connection (.32) IQ (.27) Grades (.25) Reduction in Disruptive Behavior (.25) Attendance (.25) • Non-directive (.35) • Empathy (.32) • Warmth (.32) • Encourage Thinking (.29) • Encourage Learning (.23) • Correlation greater than r = .20 “well worth pursuing”; greater than r = .30 “should be of much interest”. (Fraser, et al.)

  18. Dumbing Us Down John Taylor Gatto • New York State Teacher of the Year 1991 • Wall Street Journal, July 25, 1991. “I May Be a Teacher, But I’m Not an Educator” • Education reform not possible; Our education system designed to discourage learning • The Effects of Rewards and Surveillance (Leper and Greene; Fabes, McCullers and Hom)

  19. Changing Education Paradigms

  20. A New Design

  21. Is it possible to design an education system for the world we want, that will still prepare us for the world we have?

  22. What Do We Really Need? • Society • Economic Growth/Stability • Innovation • Active Participation • Equality

  23. What Do We Really Need? • Society • Economic Growth/Stability • Innovation • Active Participation • Equality • Individuals • Support Ourselves • Personal Satisfaction/Fulfillment • Healthy Interactions • Emotional Well Being • Analyze Information • Children • FUN • Active Participants • Talk • Have a Voice • Be Heard • Independence • Stability • Relevant

  24. Skills & Characteristics • Critical Thinking/Problem Solving • Divergent Thinking (Creativity) • Communicate Effectively • Collaborate with Others • Compromise • Cooperate • Flexible; Comfortable with Change • See Learning as Life-Long Process • Self-Motivated & Self-Directed • Self-Assessment • Take Personal Responsibility • Believe We Make an Impact

  25. Self-Directed Learning Unschooling Whole-Child Education Social Learning Community Learning Democratic Education Critical Education Free Schooling Learner-Centered Education Informal Learning Radical Schooling Natural Learning Progressive Education

  26. What is democratic education? Children are naturally curious and driven to learn The International Democratic Education Network (IDEN): ~ Teachers and students have an equal vote in the decisions about their learning and their social lives. Institute for Democratic Education (IDEA): ~ Democratic Education is learning that equips every human being to participate fully in a healthy democracy. Wikipedia: ~ Democratic education is a theory of learning and school governance in which students and staff participate freely and equally in a school democracy. In a democratic school, there is typically shared decision-making among students and staff on matters concerning living, working, and learning together.

  27. What does a democratic school look like? • Sudbury Valley School Framingham, MA (sudval.org) • Founded in 1968, approximately 200 students • No classes, No Grades, No Tests, No Separation by Age • Never had a student who didn’t learn to read • School Meetings, Judicial Committees • Graduation Proposal • Jefferson County Open School Jefferson County, CO (Posner 5-60) • Public School, founded in 1971; Merged Elementary, Middle and High School in 1989 • No Grades, Minimal Required Curriculum, Student and Community led classes • Adopted standardized testing to remain public after introduction of No Child Left Behind • Mentorships; Out of school learning • Graduation Consesus • VFS

  28. The Power of Intrinsic Motivation • Hole-in-the-Wall Project (Hole-in-the-Wall Education Ltd. ) • Conducted over 4 years in India • Children with little to no education given access to outdoor computers, but no instruction on how to use them • Research clearly showed that these children were reading and comprehending information and when tested showed substantially higher scores in English, math, science, and social science • Silent Films (Ackoff and Greenberg) • An Inner-City School that chronically produced functionally illiterate kids, began showing silent films with sub-titles that students may attend at will. Within very little time there was a huge desire for literacy and children in the school began to learn. • Benefits of Being a Self-Directed Learner (Abdullah)

  29. The Pursuit of Happiness: the Lives of Sudbury Valley Alumni (Greenberg, Sodofsky, and Lempka) • Most recent follow-up in 2005; Includes 119 Alumni • 82% chose to pursue college, with a 100% acceptance rate • Careers at every point in the spectrum. Occupations include: Lawyer, landscaper, community leader, counselor, educator, doctor, activist, farmer, carpenter, musician, manager, business analyst, librarian, engineer, … • Compared to national average, Alumni had: • Higher percentages in Management; Business and Financial; Computer and Mathematical; Education; Training and Library; Arts and Design; and Entertainment and Media • Lower percentages (or none) in Office and Administrative Support; Production; Transportation and Material Moving • One of the most unifying characteristics of SVS alumni is their sense of happiness and well-being, frequently because they feel responsible for their own place in the world

  30. The Jefferson County Open School Alumni Project (Posner) Interviews and surveys of 431 alumni, conducted between 2002-2006 • 91% went to college • 85% have completed degree programs • 25% have graduate degrees, with an average 3.44 GPA • 89% say they are happy with their jobs • 97% say that the continual joy of learning is important to their lives as adults • 89% report that the school had a positive effect on their ability to create the world that ought to be • 85% say they volunteer an average of 6 hours a month for a local community and/or global organizations • 95% report the school had a positive influence on their lives

  31. Change is Possible:A New Perspective on Education • Choice; No one right way to learn • School and Community Involvement • Collaboration/Collective decision making; All voices heard • Self-directed learning • Everyone teaches and learns • Mentorships • Internships • Higher Education? • New methods of assessment • The Uncollege

  32. Learn more at: The St. Louis Initiative for Real Education www.stlouisinitiative.com email: stlouisinitative@gmail.com

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