Continued "Works in Progress" on ONE-D Drop-Out Prevention Strategic Initiative

With the August 4th & 5th fast approaching, I am sending you this reminder to RSVP for the Conversations with Intermediaries at www.oned.org

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Greetings Jim,

As one of more than 300 school, union, and community leaders at the One D Dropout Prevention Summit this past April, you are invited to attend "Conversations with Intermediaries" at Lawrence Technological University on Monday, August 4 or Tuesday, August 5, 2008.

This workshop will provide an opportunity for you to meet with proven "Turnaround Partners" in smaller sessions designed to help school and community leaders improve conditions in their schools to reduce the dropout rate. You can meet representatives from EdWorks, First Things First, and the Institute for Student Achievement, all of whom have achieved amazing results in partnering with high schools in other cities around the nation.

Please see the attached schedule to select the sessions you should attend and register at www.oned.org by Friday, August 1. I look forward to seeing you as we work together to improve graduation rates in our region. If you have any questions, please call Annette Grays at (313) 226-9419 or email her at annette.grays@uwsem.org.

Thank you.

Mike

Michael F. Tenbusch
Vice President, Educational Preparedness
United Way for Southeastern Michigan
1212 Griswold Street
Detroit, Michigan 48226
w (313) 226-9437
f (313) 226-9324

U of M-Dearborn DATA: Informs our Understanding

Posted: Tuesday, 29 July 2008 11:14AM Tech leaders report challenging environment

Some industry leaders say Michigan is not the best place to start or operate a technology firm. That's according to survey results released this week by University of Michigan-Dearborn. “Sixty-nine percent of the people we surveyed say the business environment for technology firms in Michigan is worse than in other states,” said Timothy Davis, project director at the UM-Dearborn School of Management. “Few of them think the situation has improved in the past six months, but 28 percent think conditions will improve in 2008." The researchers contacted 296 technology leaders and 77 of them participated in the 22-question online survey. Industries represented include software and information technology, engineering services, business services, environmental engineering and energy, communications, and advanced manufacturing services and research and development. More than three-quarters of the respondents identified their title as president, chief executive officer, chief operating officer or vice president. The survey was conducted by the UM-Dearborn School of Management’s iLabs, or Center for Innovation Research, in collaboration with the Detroit Regional Chamber. The purpose of the project was to get opinions from the region’s technology executives about the Michigan business climate for technology firms, Davis said. “These are metro Detroit-based companies, with 94 percent located in Wayne, Oakland, Washtenaw, or Macomb counties." Among other findings, the responses show opportunities for the state to make improvements to encourage technology firms, Davis said. The executives do not express confidence in the state’s ability to promote economic growth and entrepreneurial development. Only 12 percent said they believe that Michigan’s tax policy promotes entrepreneurship, and only 22 percent said the state effectively promotes economic development. On the other hand, 61 percent of them said that a regional transit system in the metropolitan area would have a positive effect on the state’s overall economy. The technology executives who responded to the survey also said that while skilled technology workers are a strength of Michigan’s workforce, less than half the executives said the state’s labor force meets their firm’s needs, according to the report. An overwhelming majority of the executives surveyed, 85 percent, “feel that shifting from a manufacturing-based technology to a knowledge-based economy is essential to Michigan’s success,” Davis said. And somewhat paradoxically, while 82 percent think reducing the dependence on the automotive industry will help the state’s economy, “64 percent of the respondents feel that this industry is vital to Michigan’s long-term economic future,” according to the study.

© MMVIII WWJ Radio, All Rights Reserved.

STILL!

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July 29, 2008

Op-Ed Columnist

The Biggest Issue

By DAVID BROOKS

Why did the United States become the leading economic power of the 20th century? The best short answer is that a ferocious belief that people have the power to transform their own lives gave Americans an unparalleled commitment to education, hard work and economic freedom.

Between 1870 and 1950, the average American’s level of education rose by 0.8 years per decade. In 1890, the average adult had completed about 8 years of schooling. By 1900, the average American had 8.8 years. By 1910, it was 9.6 years, and by 1960, it was nearly 14 years.

As Claudia Goldin and Lawrence Katz describe in their book, “The Race Between Education and Technology,” America’s educational progress was amazingly steady over those decades, and the U.S. opened up a gigantic global lead. Educational levels were rising across the industrialized world, but the U.S. had at least a 35-year advantage on most of Europe. In 1950, no European country enrolled 30 percent of its older teens in full-time secondary school. In the U.S., 70 percent of older teens were in school.

America’s edge boosted productivity and growth. But the happy era ended around 1970 when America’s educational progress slowed to a crawl. Between 1975 and 1990, educational attainments stagnated completely. Since then, progress has been modest. America’s lead over its economic rivals has been entirely forfeited, with many nations surging ahead in school attainment.

This threatens the country’s long-term prospects. It also widens the gap between rich and poor. Goldin and Katz describe a race between technology and education. The pace of technological change has been surprisingly steady. In periods when educational progress outpaces this change, inequality narrows. The market is flooded with skilled workers, so their wages rise modestly. In periods, like the current one, when educational progress lags behind technological change, inequality widens. The relatively few skilled workers command higher prices, while the many unskilled ones have little bargaining power.

The meticulous research of Goldin and Katz is complemented by a report from James Heckman of the University of Chicago. Using his own research, Heckman also concludes that high school graduation rates peaked in the U.S. in the late 1960s, at about 80 percent. Since then they have declined.

In “Schools, Skills and Synapses,” Heckman probes the sources of that decline. It’s not falling school quality, he argues. Nor is it primarily a shortage of funding or rising college tuition costs. Instead, Heckman directs attention at family environments, which have deteriorated over the past 40 years.

Heckman points out that big gaps in educational attainment are present at age 5. Some children are bathed in an atmosphere that promotes human capital development and, increasingly, more are not. By 5, it is possible to predict, with depressing accuracy, who will complete high school and college and who won’t.

I.Q. matters, but Heckman points to equally important traits that start and then build from those early years: motivation levels, emotional stability, self-control and sociability. He uses common sense to intuit what these traits are, but on this subject economists have a lot to learn from developmental psychologists.

I point to these two research projects because the skills slowdown is the biggest issue facing the country. Rising gas prices are bound to dominate the election because voters are slapped in the face with them every time they visit the pump. But this slow-moving problem, more than any other, will shape the destiny of the nation.

Second, there is a big debate under way over the sources of middle-class economic anxiety. Some populists emphasize the destructive forces of globalization, outsourcing and predatory capitalism. These people say we need radical labor market reforms to give the working class a chance. But the populists are going to have to grapple with the Goldin, Katz and Heckman research, which powerfully buttresses the arguments of those who emphasize human capital policies. It’s not globalization or immigration or computers per se that widen inequality. It’s the skills gap. Boosting educational attainment at the bottom is more promising than trying to reorganize the global economy.

Third, it’s worth noting that both sides of this debate exist within the Democratic Party. The G.O.P. is largely irrelevant. If you look at Barack Obama’s education proposals — especially his emphasis on early childhood — you see that they flow naturally and persuasively from this research. (It probably helps that Obama and Heckman are nearly neighbors in Chicago). McCain’s policies seem largely oblivious to these findings. There’s some vague talk about school choice, but Republicans are inept when talking about human capital policies.

America rose because it got more out of its own people than other nations. That stopped in 1970. Now, other issues grab headlines and campaign attention. But this tectonic plate is still relentlessly and menacingly shifting beneath our feet.

An Example of a "Communities of Designers" Execution & Methodology

Class is out to change way educators teach math Ann Arbor

U-M addresses poor testing performance

BY LORI HIGGINS • FREE PRESS EDUCATION WRITER • July 28, 2008

The math teacher walked back and forth in the middle of the U-shaped group of tables, often leaning down to talk to students who needed help or sending students to the front of the room to demonstrate their work for others.

"Fractions are one of the most important parts of math that can help you do well in middle school and high school," Deborah Loewenberg Ball told the two dozen students seated before her as they embarked on a lesson about fractions.

This is no typical summer math class. And Ball is no ordinary teacher.
Cameras are recording every move the class makes. And in the back of the room, a group of adults -- some teachers, some teacher educators, some researchers -- are paying rapt attention.

As is another group of adults watching on large screens in a room next door.

The two-week class, called the Elementary Mathematics Laboratory, is one of the ways the University of Michigan School of Education is working to improve math education.

Ball, the dean of the school and a math educator, said all kids can learn math and succeed; they just need to be taught well. And a large part of this class is about showing teachers -- and students training to become one -- effective methods for teaching math.

It's a crucial goal because there is growing concern across the country about the poor math performance of U.S. students.

In Michigan, that concern was increased this past school year as many ninth-graders struggled with tough new graduation requirements mandating far more math than before.

The new rules, Ball said, are "on the one hand, the right thing to do." But she worries that if schools don't adapt and provide support for students, "we're just going to fail more kids.

"We need to invest more on younger kids," she said.

And that's what they're doing in the math lab.

Not only are a group of fifth-graders getting a boost in math, but teachers are getting a boost, too.

The educators are learning about different teaching methods by watching a demonstration daily for two weeks.

They then participate in briefings before class, where Ball presents the lesson of the day. There, the participants can raise concerns about the lesson, make suggestions, or ask questions. After Ball is done teaching, the group gets together again for a debriefing.

While that's happening, the fifth-graders participate in an enrichment activity. And later in the day, they work one-on-one with U-M students who tutor in math and are training to become teachers.

Katherine Fye, a second-grade teacher at Chapelle Community School in Ypsilanti, is a former student of Ball.

Fye said she signed up for the class to learn how to incorporate some of Ball's instructional methods, such as how to layer many concepts in one lesson; get kids to understand the reasoning behind why an answer is right or wrong, and how to give students time to think.

Midway through the third day, Fye was gushing about the impact of being part of the program. She said she's never been part of such a diverse group of people all working toward improving math education.

"This is the most unique thing ever," she said.

Bria Goffney, who'll be a fifth-grader at Childs Elementary School in Ypsilanti, said she was nervous at first when she heard cameras would be filming.

But she's gotten used to it. Besides, she said, they're not watching her; they're watching how she's being taught.

"If they're not learning from a good teacher, then they're not learning from the right people, and they're not going to be a good teacher," Bria said.

Contact LORI HIGGINS at 248-351-3694 or lhiggins@freepress.com.

Macomb Math, Science and Technology Center / GOES LIVE GREEN!

2 DPS AIM Program Students Return! CONGRATULATIONS!

Friday, July 25, 2008 53 Detroit Students Learn First Hand About Digital Forensics, Cyber Security

YPSILANTI – Fifty three Detroit high school students, a majority female and most minorities, spent this week at Eastern Michigan University leaning about the burgeoning world of digital forensics and network security. Students will serve a summer internship next year with a Detroit city department or contractor to work on a real project to put their new skills to work. The week-long workshop gave students entry-level training in geographic information systems and information assurance, Computer Forensics and Network Security. The program, hosted by the EMU Information Assurance Center, and the Detroit Public Schools, also exposed these teenagers to geographic information systems and information assurance. "What was most eye opening for me, is none of them ever heard of GIS or Network Security," said Skip Lawver, Professor of Information Assurance at EMU and co-project director for the Detroit iTest Youth Project. "We got them into cyber defense. They didn't know file deleted on a computer was still there. These kids are so excited, it's hard to keep a lid on them. Three of them want to pursue bachelor's degrees in GIS, Cyber security or Networking. We even got one parent enrolling in our Information Assurance Master's degree program." The program is funded by a $889,000 grant from the National Science Founcation. For more information, click on EMICH.Edu/Cerns

Author: Mike Brennan Source: MITechNews.Com

AIM Program (A SHINING EXEMPLAR of 21st Century Digital Learning)

This Little Light of Mine

Written By: Unknown, Copyright: Unknown

This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine

This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine

This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine

Let it shine,

Let it shine,

Let it shine.

Hide it under a bushel? No! I'm gonna let it shine

Hide it under a bushel? No! I'm gonna let it shine

Hide it under a bushel? No! I'm gonna let it shine

Let it shine,

Let it shine,

Let it shine.

This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine

This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine

This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine

Let it shine,

Let it shine,

Let it shine.

Don't let Satan blow it out, I'm gonna let it shine

Don't let Satan blow it out, I'm gonna let it shine

Don't let Satan blow it out, I'm gonna let it shine

Let it shine,

Let it shine,

Let it shine.

This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine

This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine

This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine

Let it shine,

Let it shine,

Let it shine.

Shine all over Detroit, I'm gonna let it shine

Shine all over Detroit, I'm gonna let it shine

Shine all over Detroit, I'm gonna let it shine

Let it shine,

Let it shine,

Let it shine.

This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine

This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine

This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine

Let it shine,

Let it shine,

Let it shine.

Let it shine til Jesus comes, I'm gonna let it shine

Let it shine til Jesus comes, I'm gonna let it shine

Let it shine til Jesus comes, I'm gonna let it shine

Let it shine,

Let it shine,

Let it shine.

This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine

This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine

This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine

Let it shine,

Let it shine,

Let it shine.

Model the Practice!

Signature Models for 21st Century Learning

http://lsl.nie.edu.sg/models.htm

The URGENCY Emergency! (WHAT WORKS Informs our Understanding)

LEONARD PITTS JR. WHAT WORKS

Stand up, get involved to save children

BY LEONARD PITTS JR. • McCLATCHY NEWSPAPERS • July 22, 2008


This will be the last "What Works" column.

I reserve the right to report occasionally on any program I run across that shows results in saving the lives and futures of African-American kids. But this is the last in the series I started 19 months ago to spotlight such programs.

Let me begin by thanking you for your overwhelming response to my request for nominations, and to thank everyone from every program who allowed me to peek behind the scenes. From the Harlem Children's Zone in New York to SEI (Self-Enhancement Inc.) in Portland, Ore., I have been privileged and uplifted to see dedicated people doing amazing work.

I am often asked whether I've found common denominators in all these successful programs, anything we can use in helping kids at risk. The short answer is, yes. You want to know what works?

Longer school days and longer school years work. Giving principals the power to hire good teachers and fire bad ones works. High expectations work. Giving a teacher freedom to hug a child who needs hugging works. Parental involvement works. Counseling for troubled students and families works. Consistency of effort works. Incentives work. Field trips that expose kids to possibilities you can't see from their broken neighborhoods work.

Indeed, the most important thing I've learned is that none of this is rocket science. We already know what works. What we lack is the will to do it. Instead, we have a hit-and-miss patchwork of programs achieving stellar results out on the fringes of the larger, failing, system. Why are they the exception and not the rule?

If we know what works, why don't we simply do it?

Nineteen months ago when I started, I asked Geoffrey Canada of the Harlem Children's Zone why anyone should pay to help him help poor kids in crumbling neighborhoods. He told me, "Someone's yelling at me because I'm spending $3,500 a year on 'Alfred.' Alfred is 8. OK, Alfred turns 18. No one thinks anything about locking him up for 10 years at $60,000 a year."
Amen.

Forget the notion of a moral obligation to uplift failing children. Consider the math instead. If that investment of $3,500 per annum creates a functioning adult who pays taxes and otherwise contributes to the system, why would we pass that up in favor of creating, 10 years later, an adult who drains the system to the tune of $60,000 a year for his incarceration alone, to say nothing of the other costs he foists upon society?

How does that make sense? Nineteen months later, I have yet to find a good answer.

Instead, I find passivity. "Save the Children," Marvin Gaye exhorted 27 years ago. But we are losing the children in obscene numbers. Losing them to jails, losing them to graves, losing them to illiteracy, teen parenthood, and other dead-ends and cul-de-sacs of life. But I have yet to hear America -- or even African America -- scream about it. Does no one else see a crisis here?

"I don't think that in America, especially in black America, we can arrest this problem unless we understand the urgency of it," says Tony Hopson Sr., founder of SEI. "When I say urgency, I'm talking 9/11 urgency, I'm talking Hurricane Katrina urgency, things that stop a nation. I don't think in black America this is urgent enough.

"Kids are dying every single day. I don't see where the NAACP, the Urban League, the Black Caucus, have decided that the fact that black boys are being locked up at alarming rates means we need to stop the nation and have a discussion about how we're going to eradicate that as a problem. It has not become urgent enough. If black America doesn't see it as urgent enough, how dare us think white America is going to think it's urgent enough?"

In other words, stand up. Get angry. Stop accepting what is clearly unacceptable. I'll bet you that works, too.

LEONARD PITTS JR. is a columnist for the Miami Herald, 1 Herald Plaza, Miami, Fla. 33132. Write to him at lpitts@miamiherald.com.

OUR 21st Century NSF Grant Strategic "BIGGER PICTURE" continues to UNFOLD!

Sunday, July 20, 2008

Editorial

Senate school budget creates room for more competition

Detroit will remain Michigan's only first-class school district under a budget deal hammered out by the state Senate. But parents who see the irony in describing the miserable Detroit Public Schools as "first class" will have more options for getting their children a decent education.

That's the best outcome that could be hoped for, and the compromise package should be approved when it goes to the state House this week.

Detroit has enjoyed first-class status as the state's only district with more than 100,000 students. That has entitled it to additional funds from the state, up to $15 million more in some years.

But the district is expected to fall under 100,000 when classes resume in September, setting off a scramble in the Legislature to redefine the size of a first-class district. Senate Republicans wisely tied a lowering of the first-class threshold to 60,000 students to a preservation of a law that opens Detroit for more charter schools once enrollment falls below 100,000.

So Detroit keeps its special funding, which we hope it will use to rapidly address a dropout rate that may be as high as 75 percent. And parents who are tired of waiting for the Detroit Public Schools turnaround will have more options.

Some GOP senators wanted more in exchange for preserving the first-class status, including a much-needed state audit of the district's finances.

With the district facing a $400 million deficit -- roughly one-third of its total budget -- a careful accounting of how it is using its money would seem to be in order.

"That's a fairly significant gift for the district of Detroit for which we get nothing in return," Sen. Wayne Kuipers, R-Holland, Senate Education Committee chairman, said after he voted no on the plan. "We get no deficit reduction plan, no power to audit the district."

But in truth, the introduction of more high-quality charters is the best education reform Detroit parents could ask for from the Legislature. It will force Detroit school district to either fix itself or wither away.

Parents who have an alternative will not keep their children in failing schools. This is, in effect, a last chance for Detroit to get it right.

And some opportunities for reform remain. The Senate allotted $15 million to Gov. Jennifer Granholm's small school initiative -- about half of what she requested. The money will be used to spur and reward the creation of smaller high schools with site-based management, giving principals the power to hire and fire teachers.

By demanding such practices from schools, which will compete for up to $3 million per grant, Granholm's venture fund may serve as a catalyst for improving teacher quality in areas with high dropout rates.

And the governor promises to spend as much as one-third of the money on the best charter schools -- spurring all schools to compete harder and innovate to better serve their students.

The Senate deal maintains an opportunity for Detroit Public Schools to turn itself around. And it also frees parents and children from the long wait for better schools.

PROBLEM STATEMENT: The Institutional Coordination Obstacle vs. Enabled Cooperative Infrastructure (Communities of Designers)

Shades of Things to Come (By DESIGN)

TAKE from this WHAT you will!

LEGISLATURE

School aid plan gets Senate approval

Funding increase not enough, some say

BY CHRIS CHRISTOFF and LORI HIGGINS • FREE PRESS STAFF WRITERS • July 18, 2008

LANSING -- The state Senate approved a school budget compromise Thursday that would give school districts an additional $56 to $122 per pupil and set aside $15 million for districts to create new, smaller high schools aimed at reducing dropout rates.

The House is expected to take action on the school budget when it returns to session Wednesday. The $13.4-billion school aid plan would be the last large piece of the 2008-09 budget to be enacted. Lawmakers finished most of the rest of the budget before they broke for summer recess two weeks ago.

But some school officials say that although they're pleased to see an increase, it won't come close to covering their rising costs.

"Our fuel costs went up 42%, our health care costs are increasing about 10% and our retirement costs continue to go up. Those are double-digit increases," said Betsy Erikson, spokeswoman for Bloomfield Hills Schools, which would see an increase in state funding of less than 1%.

Richard Repicky, superintendent at Fraser Public Schools, said this will be the seventh year in a row the district will have received a state increase of about 1%.

"If it was one year at 1%, we'd be fine. But seven years in a row at 1% is killing school districts."

The $15 million for smaller high schools is less than half of the $32 million Gov. Jennifer Granholm had requested. The fund would give out $3 million in direct start-up grants to some districts with high dropout rates, rather than pay off bonds to build the revamped high schools.

Senate Republicans, who hold a majority, held fast against selling more state bonds for the school plan, which Granholm had proposed.

The basic grant to all schools would increase depending on how much each district now receives; lower-spending districts would receive larger increases. The increases are about half of what Granholm originally proposed because state revenues have come in less than expected since January.

The conference committee agreement also would add $10 million to early childhood education programs.

Sen. Ron Jelinek, R-Three Oaks, chairman of the House-Senate conference, predicted most of the increase will pay for school districts' increased costs for heating and gasoline for buses.

Robert LeFevre, lobbyist for the Macomb Intermediate School District, said he doubts the state will have the money to pay for the proposed increases by the end of the year because of a still-faltering economy.

"We've told our districts to budget as low as possible," LeFevre said. "It's very uncertain what the numbers will be."

The budget deal also calls for a change in the definition of what constitutes a first-class school district, although the impact of the change was not immediately clear.

Currently, only a district with 100,000 pupils or more qualifies as a first-class district. Only Detroit meets that threshold, which gives it some financial protections and also prevents community colleges from sponsoring charter schools in its boundaries.

The funding bill eliminates a long-standing provision that prohibits other school districts from establishing their own schools or programs within the City of Detroit without the Detroit school board's permission. That would not apply to charter schools, however, which are governed by a separate law. But the district is expected to fall below 100,000 students this fall, and the state school aid bill would drop the minimum enrollment to 60,000 for a first-class district.

However, the definition of a first-class school district also is in the school code, and that may need to be amended to make the change effective, according to district spokesman Steve Wasko.

"We certainly feel it was an appropriate move from the Senate," Wasko said.

Contact CHRIS CHRISTOFF at 517-372-8660 or cchristoff@freepress.com.

FI3T Project PIs Meeting 7-18-08

FI3T Project PIs Meeting

July 18, 2008
9:30am – 12:30pm
SOE Conference Room 251
Fairlane Center South (FCS)
University of Michigan-Dearborn


AGENDA


1.0 Welcome

2.0 Summer Course
2.1 Attendance
2.2 Grading
2.3 Hardware and software update
2.4 Teacher selection for STEM design teams
2.5 End-of-Course Evaluation Questionnaire

3.0 Prep for Fall Semester
3.1 Research/evaluation tools for students
3.2 Student selection
3.3 Parental involvement
3.4 Kickoff – September
3.5 Fall workshops - scheduling

4.0 Scheduling, questions and comments
4.1 August meeting with STEM teachers

5.0 Others

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Western Michigan University Spearheads Conference for STEM education

By News Report

June 18, 2008

More than 60,000 H-1B visas are granted anually to allow foreign skilled workers with a specialty occupation to live in the United States for at least three years. Although universities are issuing more degrees every year, the number of STEM degrees -- science, technology, engineering and mathematics -- degrees are declining, forcing businesses to seek foreign workers to fill these positions.

There is a push to stimulate the advancement of STEM education, and this year two Western Michigan University professors are spearheading the conference "Facilitating Change in Undergraduate STEM: An Invitational Symposium Integrating Multiple Perspectives."

The conference, which is paid for by two grants from the National Science Foundation, will host 42 individuals who are working to change education trends. Participants will demontrate how changes can be made in the teaching and learning of undergraduate STEM subjects.

Dr. Charles Henerson, conference co-organizer and WMU professor of physics and science education, said national growth and economic competition depend on STEM education.

"Researchers know a lot about effective teaching practices for STEM subjects," he said. "What we need to do now is find ways to expand the use of these practices so that all undergraduate students can experience them."

A few of the speakers include Dr. Carl Wieman, co-winner of the 2001 Nobel Prize in physics; Carol Colbeck, dean of the graduate school of education at the University of Massachusetts Boston; and Judith A. Ramaley, president and professor of biology at Winona State University.

Each of the invitees is asked to bring a poster that describes the approach they've taken to facilitate change in undergraduate STEM.

Adjourn

Team Building & Collaboration (Communities of Designers / Model the Practice)

Edutopia

http://www.edutopia.org/team-building-and-collaboration

Time to Redouble our Efforts?

Science news in brief: Science grads short of goal

July 17, 2008

EDUCATION: Science grads fall short of new goal
An effort begun three years ago to double the number of students graduating from U.S. colleges with science-related degrees by 2015 has made little progress, said a coalition of business groups pushing the initiative.

The number of undergraduate degrees awarded in math, science, engineering and technology increased by only 24,000 a year from 2001 to 2006, according to a report issued Tuesday by Tapping America's Potential. That's short of what's needed to reach the goal of 400,000 math and science graduates a year by 2015, said Susan Traiman, public policy director of the Business Roundtable, a group of chief executives.

A shortage of graduates trained in disciplines such as mathematics, computer science and physics is hurting U.S. companies, Traiman said. Although President George W. Bush signed the America Competes Act last year to improve U.S. performance in math and science, the measure didn't lead to increased federal spending, she said.

About 225,700 college students graduated with science-related degrees in 2006, the group's report said. The number of computer science graduates dropped following the widespread failure of Internet companies at the beginning of this decade and hasn't rebounded, Traiman said.

U.S. high school students score 21st or lower on indexes comparing math and science aptitude among students of different countries, the report found.

SURRENDER to the AUTHENTICITY of the DIGITAL COMMONS (Informs OUR Understanding)

THE NEXT RENAISSANCE

To me, "Personal Democracy" is an oxymoron. Democracy may be a lot of things, but the last thing it should be is "personal." I understand "personal responsibility," such as a family having a recycling bin in which they put their glass and metal every week. But even then, a single recycling bin for a whole building or block would be more efficient and appropriate.

Democracy is not personal, because if it's about anything, it's not about the individual. Democracy is about others. It's about transcending the self and acting collectively. Democracy is people, participating together to make the world a better place.

One of the essays in this conference's proceedings—the book "Rebooting Democracy"— remarks snarkily, "It's the network, stupid." That may go over well with all of us digital folks, but it's not true. It's not the network at all; it's the people. The network is the tool—the new medium that might help us get over the bias of our broadcasting technologies. All those technologies that keep us focused on ourselves as individuals, and away from our reality as a collective.

This focus on the individual, and its false equation with democracy, began back in the Renaissance. The Renaissance brought us wonderful innovations, such as perspective painting, scientific observation, and the printing press. But each of these innovations defined and celebrated individuality. Perspective painting celebrates the perspective of an individual on a scene. Scientific method showed how the real observations of an individual promote rational thought. The printing press gave individuals the opportunity to read, alone, and cogitate. Individuals formed perspectives, made observations, and formed opinions.

The individual we think of today was actually born in the Renaissance. The Vesuvian Man, Da Vinci's great drawing of a man in a perfect square and circle—independent and self-sufficient. This is the Renaissance ideal.

It was the birth of this thinking, individuated person that led to the ethos underlying the Enlightenment. Once we understood ourselves as individuals, we understood ourselves as having rights. The Rights of Man. A right to property. The right to personal freedom.

The Enlightenment—for all its greatness—was still oh, so personal in its conception. The reader alone in his study, contemplating how his vote matters. One man, one vote. We fight revolutions for our individual rights as we understood them. There were mass actions, but these were masses of individuals, fighting for their personal freedoms.

Ironically, with each leap towards individuality there was a corresponding increase in the power of central authorities. Remember, the Renaissance also brought us centralized currencies, chartered corporations, and nation states. As individuals become concerned with their personal plights, their former power as a collective moves to central authorities. Local currencies, investments, and civic institutions dissolve as self-interest increases. The authority associated with them moves to the center and away from all those voting people.

The media of the Renaissance—the printing press—is likewise terrific at myth-making. At branding. Its stories are told to individuals, either through books, or through broadcast media directed at each and every one of us. Its appeals are to self and self-interest.

Consider any commercial for blue jeans. Its target audience is not a confident person who already has a girlfriend. The commercial communicates, "wear these jeans, and you'll get to have sex." Who is the target for that message? An isolated, alienated person who does not have sex. The messaging targets the individual. If it's a mass medium, it targets many many individuals.

Movements, like myths and brands, depend on this quality of top-down, Renaissance-style media. They are not genuinely collective at all, in that there's no promotion of interaction between the people in them. Instead, all the individuals relate to the hero, ideal, or mythology at the top. Movements are abstract—they have to be. They hover above the group, directing all attention towards themselves.

As I listen to people talk here—well-meaning progressives, no doubt—I can't help but hear the romantic, almost desperate desire to become part of a movement. To become part of something famous, like the Obama campaign. Maybe even get a good K-street job out of the connections we make here. It's a fantasy perpetrated by the TV show West Wing. A myth that we want to be part of. But like any myth, it is a fantasy—and one almost entirely prefigured by Renaissance individualism.

The next renaissance (if there is one)—the phenomenon we're talking about or at least around here is not about the individual at all, but about the networked group. The possibility for collective action. The technologies we're using—the biases of these media—cede central authority to decentralized groups. Instead of moving power to the center, they tend to move power to the edges. Instead of creating value from the center—like a centrally issued currency—the network creates value from the periphery.

This means the way to participate is not simply to subscribe to an abstract, already-written myth, but to do real things. To take small actions in real ways. The glory is not in the belief system or the movement, but in the doing. It's not about getting someone elected, it's about removing the obstacles to real people doing what they need to to get the job done. That's the opportunity of the networked, open source era: to drop out of the myths and actually do.

Sadly, we tend to miss the great opportunities offered us by major shifts in media.

The first great renaissance in media, the invention of the alphabet, offered a tremendous leap for participatory democracy. Only priests could read and write hieroglyphs. The invention of the alphabet opened the possibility for people to read or even possibly write, themselves. In Torah myth, Moses goes off with his father-in-law to write the laws by which an enslaved people could now live. Instead of simply accepting legislation and government as a pre-existing condition—the God Pharaoh—people would develop and write down the law as they wanted it. Even the Torah is written in the form of a contract, and God creates the world with a word.

Access to language was to change a world of blind, enslaved rule followers into a civilization of literate people. (This is what is meant when God tells Abraham "you will be a nation of priests." It means they are to be a nation of people who transcend heiro-glyphs or "priestly-writing" to become literate.)

But this isn't what happened. People didn't read Torah—they listened as their leaders read it to them. Hearing was a step up from simply following, but the promise of the new medium had not been seized.

Likewise, the invention of the printing press did not lead to a civilization of writers—it developed a culture of readers. Gentlemen sat reading books, while the printing presses were accessed by those with the money or power to use them. The people remained one step behind the technology. Broadcast radio and television are really just an extension of the printing press: expensive, one-to-many media that promote the mass distribution of the stories and ideas of a small elite.

Computers and networks finally offer us the ability to write. And we do write with them. Everyone is a blogger, now. Citizen bloggers and YouTubers who believe we have now embraced a new "personal" democracy. Personal, because we can sit safely at home with our laptops and type our way to freedom.

But writing is not the capability being offered us by these tools at all. The capability is programming—which almost none of us really know how to do. We simply use the programs that have been made for us, and enter our blog text in the appropriate box on the screen. Nothing against the strides made by citizen bloggers and journalists, but big deal. Let them eat blog.

At the very least on a metaphorical level, the opportunity here is not to write about politics or—more likely—comment on what someone else has said about politics. The opportunity, however, is to rewrite the very rules by which democracy is implemented. The opportunity of a renaissance in programming is to reconfigure the process through which democracy occurs.

If Obama is indeed elected—the first truly Internet-enabled candidate—we should take him at his word. He does not offer himself as the agent of change, but as an advocate of the change that could be enacted by people. It is not for government to create solar power, for example, but to get out of the way of all those people who are ready to implement solar power, themselves. Responding to the willingness of people to act, he can remove regulations developed on behalf of the oil industry to restrict its proliferation.

In an era when people have the ability to reprogram their reality, the job of leaders is to help facilitate this activity by tweaking legislation, or by supporting their efforts through better incentives or access to the necessary tools and capital. Change does not come from the top—but from the periphery. Not from a leader or a myth inspiring individuals to consent to it, but from people working to manifest it together.

Open Source Democracy—which I wrote about a decade ago—is not simply a way to get candidates elected to office. It is a collective reprogramming of the social software, a disengagement from the myths through which we abdicate responsibility, and a reclamation of our role as citizens who participate in the creation of the society in which we want to live.

This is not personal democracy at all, but a collective and participatory democracy where we finally accept our roles as the fully literate and engaged adults who can make this happen.

[Postscript: At the conference's closing ceremony Personal Democracy Forum founder Andrew Rasiej announced he would be changing the name of the conference to the Participatory Democracy Forum.]

Pontiac Schools THOUGHT-LEADERS "Meet and Greet"

"Working Futures"

Oakland Press

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 ormailto:diana.dillaber@oakpress.com.

Oakland Press

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.

A Study in Contrasts: One of Noble Intentions and One of Delusion!

U-M helps to reshape Mich. economy

BY KATHERINE YUNG • FREE PRESS BUSINESS WRITER • July 14, 2008

As job losses, foreclosures and other woes continue to batter Michigan, an unlikely savior has emerged from the halls of academia.

For the first time, the University of Michigan, one of the nation's top research institutions, is rolling out the welcome mat for local businesses, eager to help them utilize the school's enormous resources. These include such things as faculty consulting, laboratory equipment, research projects and professional development classes.

Not wanting to stay in its ivory tower while the rest of the state sinks, U-M sees itself playing a key role as Michigan moves from a manufacturing-oriented economy toward a knowledge-based one.

"U-M is probably the best positioned in the state of Michigan to make rapid changes to that position," said Stephen Forrest, the university's vice president for research.

The school consistently ranks among the top public universities for research dollars, garnering a record $823 million in fiscal 2007.

From ivory tower to entrepreneur

U-M's desire to help local businesses represents a huge cultural shift at the university. For decades, many perceived the school as oblivious to the ups and downs of the state's economy, with its academic success seeming to insulate it from concerns about Michigan's future. But that's changing under President Mary Sue Coleman.

"The university was pretty arrogant," said Daryl Weinert, executive director of U-M's new Business Engagement Center. "Now, with Michigan's economy in crisis, we have to be part of the solution."

So far, the Business Engagement Center is the most visible sign of this commitment. Located at the southeast end of U-M's central campus in Ann Arbor, the second-floor office on University Avenue opened in late April in space previously occupied by the School of Public Health.

It provides businesses of all kinds a place to contact or visit for anything having to do with the university.

It helps companies with things such as finding faculty members with certain kinds of expertise, setting up joint research projects and hiring new graduates. Its eight-member staff also arranges campus visits.

"It's a one-stop portal for industry to find their way into this massive, many-hydra-headed institution," Forrest said.

In March, the center organized a daylong entrepreneurial-opportunities event that featured, among other things, a small-company career fair and faculty roundtables on medical devices, alternative energy and other topics. It proved so successful that plans are already under way to repeat it next year.

The center said it expects to be most useful to small and medium-size companies because many Fortune 500 corporations already regularly recruit U-M students for jobs, Weinert said.

"It's going to help Michigan companies be more successful," he added.

Other top schools in the state also are paying more attention to local companies. Michigan State University's Product Center for Agriculture and Natural Resources helps existing businesses and entrepreneurs expand or create new ventures. The university also is actively involved in assisting start-up companies and creating customized executive-development programs for Michigan firms.

At Wayne State University, administrators and faculty members have been working to develop the TechOne business incubator at the northern edge of the school's downtown Detroit campus.

Only three other universities in the country operate a Business Engagement Center or something similar, Weinert's research found. They are the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Wisconsin and the University of Minnesota.

Research through innovation

In the past, companies wanting to form relationships with U-M had to navigate an overwhelming number of departments and graduate schools to find the right person. If they weren't able to reach someone helpful, they often gave up in frustration.

"It was extremely difficult," recalled Dwight Carlson, a veteran entrepreneur and chairman and chief executive of Coherix Corp., an Ann Arbor-based supplier of measurement and inspection products for the automotive and semiconductor industries.

He remembers some U-M faculty members telling him they worked on federal government research, not projects for private industry.

But that kind of attitude is quickly disappearing.

Coherix is now funding two research proposals it received from U-M faculty members, thanks to an innovation program the university is testing. The effort began last year when Coherix identified five research topics important to the small company and asked the school's professors to submit project ideas.

Carlson, who founded Plymouth-based Perceptron Inc., a supplier of measurement and inspection systems that went public in 1993, said he believes there should be hundreds of small companies around U-M because of its research prowess. But the state's reliance on the auto industry never made establishing this kind of entrepreneurial hotbed a priority.

A win-win situation

The school's efforts already are starting to pay off for the state. Last year, Grupo Aernnova of Spain chose to locate its new U.S. aerospace engineering center in Ann Arbor rather than Atlanta or Austin, Texas, primarily because of the university.

So far, it has hired 22 engineers. Half of them are recent college graduates, with the majority from U-M.

It plans to add more engineers, and two top Aernnova executives now sit on U-M engineering advisory committees.

The relationship got its start when a consultant hired by Aernnova called U-M and spoke to Weinert. The university introduced the company to Ann Arbor SPARK, a local economic development organization. U-M President Coleman also sent a letter to Aernnova's chief executive in Spain.

"They really made this extra effort," said Juan Carlos Ortiz, president of Aernnova's U.S. operations.

Contact KATHERINE YUNG at 313-222-8763 or kyung@freepress


(Uh, I believe this is the DELUSIONAL ONE!)

Detroit school board reps eye Legislature

Some in Detroit say they can do more in Lansing

BY CHASTITY PRATT DAWSEY • FREE PRESS EDUCATION WRITER • July 14, 2008

Detroit school board members who are running for the Legislature said they have had enough of the turmoil and politics in their current positions and think they can have more impact in Lansing.

Board members Annie Carter, Terry Catchings and Jimmy Womack are looking toward higher office as the district is facing $522 million in budget cuts, a nationally embarrassing graduation rate and a possible spike in competition from more charter schools soon.

Perhaps their biggest fight on the campaign trail will be battling the perception that the board is part of the problem with DPS. Carter faces 11 opponents in District 11, Catchings faces eight in District 5, and Womack faces 16 in District 7.

Catchings, who ran unsuccessfully for the House in 2006, entered the race four months after being sworn in for the school board. Catchings did not return calls for comment.

Carter, a former assistant attendance agent for DPS, was re-elected in November after a 2-year term. Carter said she feels discouraged by the infighting on the school board, tensions with the superintendent and cronyism. Her attempts to pass policies on issues -- such as a uniform attendance policy, requiring teachers to post their credentials in classes and a teacher dress code -- have been "pushed aside," she said.

"If we had six votes on this board," a simple majority, "who are fighting for the children, I would not feel the need to go," she said. Carter said her platform includes making changes to regulations on utilities, insurance redlining and roadside memorials.

Womack said the district could be facing reconfiguration once DPS enrollment falls under 100,000, unless state law is changed to prevent more charter schools in the city.

"The district is falling apart," he said. "Where will it find relief? The state."

Womack, a minister and licensed physician, is running on a platform based on improving education, health care reform and protecting voters against high taxes and foreclosures.

Womack said regardless of what happens in the state race, he will not run for school board in 2009.

The biggest campaign challenge, he said, will be convincing voters that the problems of DPS are not the fault of any one board member.

"Decisions are made by six people on the board, not one," he said

Chris White, a DPS parent and political consultant, said voters will wonder why they should send DPS board members to Lansing.

"When you look at all of DPS' challenges with closed schools, the deficit ... and they're asking voters to allow them to take on the issues in the state? Voters will question their motives.

"If they were really concerned about resolving the problems that exist they would have to stick it out until these problems are resolved."

Craig Ruff, a political analyst with Lansing-based Public Sector Consultants, estimated that about 10% of state House members have held school board positions. Often, school board members run for county commissioner or city council before making a run at Lansing, he said.

But Detroit is an exception.

"In Detroit, it's a highly visible position," he said. "That gives you a leg up if you've had some election experience and the public has information about you," Ruff said.

Contact CHASTITY PRATT DAWSEY at 313-223-4537 or cpratt@freepress.com.

Prepare to Expand our Vision, Message and Voice (VMV Communities of Designers / Model the Practice)

Posted: Sunday, 13 July 2008 12:50PM

Inside Michigan Education Now Featured On iTunes U

The weekly podcast "Inside Michigan Education," has now been featured in the MI Learning section of Apple's iTunes U.

Inside Michigan Education is produced in Grand Rapids and features in-depth interviews with regional experts who share their knowledge and opinions about the present condition and future needs of Michigan’s K-12 education system.

Apple’s iTunes U makes educational content available on demand, similar to the way music is delivered via the popular iTunes service. Apple recently extended the scope of iTunes U content from higher education to K-12 education.

Produced through the cooperative efforts of Apple and the state of Michigan, MI Learning is among the first of the K-12 channels. According to Bruce Umpstead, director of educational technology and data coordination for the Michigan Department of Education, "We are one of eight states that announced our pilot sites yesterday. Our site is called MI Learning and you can find that when you log onto iTunes U."

Umpstead acknowledges the use of iTunes for educational purposes is not without its detractors.

“ITunes is blocked by most school districts," he said. "Some of the content on iTunes can be questionable at times. Also, the videos and the music can clog a school district's Internet connection with non-relevant content. So the question is why are you going to engage?”

The vision, according to Umpstead. is founded in the desire to engage students in learning with rich media.

“There are learning resources available in a rich and wide variety, trying to engage them in learning outside of the norm,” Umpstead said. “ITunes U, with the buzz it has in the entertainment industry, could really be used in education.”

Inside Michigan Education is the creation of local Internet entrepreneur Rob Huisingh, with support from Foxbright, a Grand Rapids-based Web site development and technology firm located in the Waters Building. Underwriting for the show is provided by the DeVos Place convention center.

About the show’s recent success, Huisingh said, “We started with the intent to provide a convenient opportunity for Michigan residents to get in-depth information about the condition of our State’s K-12 Education system. It’s exciting to see the show gain popularity and listenership.”

More at www.insidemieducation.com.

"JUST AIM for the FACTS Mame, NOTHING but the FACTS!"

Sunday, July 13, 2008

Editorial

State should publish honest high school graduation rates

Three years ago, Gov. Jennifer Granholm promised to adopt a new strategy to ensure Michigan would get a better grasp of one of its most pressing challenges: high school dropout rates. Now, the state appears to be breaking that promise, adopting instead a measuring system that is likely to mask the full extent of the problem.

Granholm signed a compact with the National Governors Association, promising Michigan would adopt its method of calculating graduation rates. It's the most reliable, nationally recognized method for computing such statistics.

But state leaders are backtracking on implementing this measurement.

The Granholm administration promised that it would release state and local graduation rates based on the NGA method next month.

But instead of the governors association's approved method, the state's new numbers will be based on a tweaked measure that is likely to significantly overestimate Michigan graduation rates and undercount its tragic dropout problem.

Under the NGA-approved method, states count the number of students who begin ninth grade together. Those who graduate in four years are considered graduates. Only students who die, are incarcerated or transfer to another school are not counted.

Michigan will stray from that method in important ways, according to interviews and documents obtained by The Detroit News.

First, it will only count first-timeninth-graders in its statistics. Repeat ninth graders will not be counted in the new graduation rate or the dropout rate, said Leslee Fritz, spokesperson for the state Center for Educational Performance and Information.

Second, if Michigan teenagers are in high school for six or seven years or indefinitely, Michigan will never consider them a dropout, as long as they take an occasional class or appear connected somehow to the school district, based on district records. They'll be called "off-track continuing" students.

"We decided to do it this way because the National Governors Association recommended this as the most accurate way to track . . . graduates," Fritz said.

But the National Governors Association says that's not true. Bridget Curran, program director for education at the NGA's Center for Best Practices, said Michigan's new system as described by the state does not follow the NGA method.

"It's just much cleaner if you count the number of students who start together, period," Curran said. "Dropout counts are notoriously bad.

"To better address the problem, you need to know what the problem actually is. That's why (our method) appealed to governors."

The consequences of Michigan's off-track method are many. Repeat ninth-graders are more at risk for dropping out, and by not including them in a four-year graduation count, Michigan will likely falsely raise its reported graduation rate.

And Fritz said state officials do not plan to publicly release the number of "off-track continuing students" -- so taxpayers won't know how many children are truly off track.

The Detroit Public Schools' graduation rate, for example, is expected to be overestimated by as much as 18 to 20 percent under the Michigan formula, said Sharif Shakrani, co-director of Michigan State University's Education Policy Center.

The Granholm administration should reconsider its decision and honor the commitment it made in 2005.
It would be more accurate, more honest and more responsible for the state to report five- and six-year graduation rates to reflect students who need more time to finish high school.

Instead, state officials are essentially pretending such students don't exist -- making the dropout crisis look less severe than it really is and excusing policymakers from the hard work of fixing it.

Teaching STEM Using Gadgets and Gizmos

News for Tuesday, July 8, 2008 Maker Faire Inspires Learning and Creativity This event on do-it-yourself projects offers ample fodder for classroom STEM activities. Forward Edutopia News to a friend Should states require all parents to immunize their children?

Video: Teens Come Together to Put Robots Together Participation on their high school robotics team provides Colorado students with valuable lessons in applied mathematics and engineering. Putting Project-Based Learning on the Fast Track At this charter school in Hawaii, students build electric cars from start to finish and, in the process, learn how to practically apply what they learn to everyday life. Readings, Viewings, and Listenings Free registration may be required and news-sensitive links may expire over the next week. Engineering the Future: Teachers Learn Principles to Pass On to In-Demand Students The Project Lead the Way courses emphasize hands-on activities, teamwork, listening to other's needs, communicating, and understanding there's no "right" answer. Students gain math proficiency as they perform the projects -- using trigonometry, for example -- to calculate arcs for their table-tennis- ball launchers. -- Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Related Edutopia video: STEM Projects Encourage Students to Excel Lock-Step Learning Is Not What Students Need At the Hudson County Schools of Technology, our students learn math and apply it by calculating appropriate roof angles, designing product models, and building robots. -- Record (Bergen County, New Jersey) Related Edutopia article: Why Teach with Project Learning? Ford's Advanced Curriculum Gets Students Motivated For one of her assignments, Cathedral High School teacher Veronica Moreno-Nicholas used the Ford curriculum and asked students to redesign a product. One group took the idea, ran with it, and planned to raise money to patent the slogan of their new, redesigned Banamp3, a modification of an MP3 player that's shaped like a banana. -- Desert Sun (Palm Springs, California) Related Edutopia article: Real-World Issues Motivate Students This Is a Class the Kids Really Dig Kate Smithers, who will be a second grader this fall at the Western Hills Magnet Center, is one of a handful of students participating in the Outdoor Classroom, a sort of school garden club. -- Omaha World-Herald Related Edutopia video: Seed-to-Table Learning Students Like New Buddy System As part of a buddy program that Lassiter Middle School teacher Rachel Davis started . . . sixth graders became pen pals last school year with high school students at Berwick Academy, in South Berwick, Maine. -- Courier-Journal (Louisville, Kentucky) Related Edutopia article: Collaborative Distance Learning Opportunities and Resources The George Lucas Educational Foundation Grant Information List National Weather Association Sol Hirsch Education Fund Grants (deadline August 1; $500 for teacher enrollment in accredited course in atmospheric sciences or for scientific materials or classroom equipment) Partnership for Reform in Science and Mathematics Conference: Accepting the STEM Challenge (September 11-13; Atlanta; K-16 educators and policy makers can showcase how they've addressed STEM in their classrooms and communities) Siemens Math and Science Competition (deadline October 1; $1,000-$100,000 for innovative and outstanding individual or team STEM projects)

The George Lucas Educational Foundation
1 Letterman Drive, San Francisco, CA 94129

DRIVING US to Inevitable Digital Solutions

---

July 11, 2008

High Cost of Driving Ignites Online Classes Boom

By SAM DILLON

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.”