Students Controlling Their Own Education?

In this video at a TED convention in Australia, Peter Hutton (2014) describes perceived problems with high school curriculum and instruction. In his opinion, only about a third of high school students experience achievement that enables them to find a career they enjoy and grow into educated and content adults. Another third perform average work in school, but often do not find a suitable career with which they are happy. The bottom third may not like school and fail to meet learning objectives. Some may even drop out of school. Hutton (2014) adds that there are several reasons this may occur. First, teachers often come from the first third and do not understand why children are not motivated to succeed in school. Second, the curriculum and instruction are designed to meet the needs of the top third.
In describing student control in education, he uses the analogy of a bus where students are only allowed off at certain stops. At his Australian charter type school, students have a tremendous amount of choice. The school allows students to take advanced classes based on test scores, so an 8^th grader can choose to take an 11^th grade physics course. Once a student accomplishes basic reading and math competencies, they are allowed to choose from over 120 classes. The student, with their parent, can determine their schedule and workload. For example, as early as 7^th grade, a student can choose between animal care, video game coding, and “Geek Class” (science and computer focused learning). 
In addition to classroom instruction, the students must put in at least 10 hours of "home learning" a week doing independent research, creating art, learning an instrument, etc. Students also mentor or tutor other students who may be struggling to learn a concept, which is far more cost effective than hiring a tutor. The students even have a voice on curriculum committees helping to make decisions regarding classes and textbooks. His final thought is that we should resolve that this is our children's education, not ours, and we need to involve them in the process. What do you think of his approach?

Reference:

What if students controlled their own learning? | Peter Hutton | TEDxMelbourne. (2014, November 20). Retrieved April 24, 2017, from https://youtu.be/nMxqEkg3wQ0

Study of Best Countries for Education

US News reports on a survey conducted to collect data on 80 countries and rank them based on the attributes of public education quality and whether one would consider attending college there. The survey used a sample of over 21,000 people from 4 regions. An interesting finding was that some of the top ranked countries have centralized and federally controlled education systems. Some of the countries even have school 7 days a week instead of the more common 5 days a week. Overall, Canada was ranked #1, and the United States was ranked #7. While a definitive cause for the higher success of some countries is not easily determined, one leading indicator was the amount of money spent on education. The amount of money spent per child did not directly correlate to being the best country in education, but those spending more money did finish relatively high. Some might find it concerning that the United States dropped 4 spots from the previous year.

Read the Article:

https://www.usnews.com/news/best-countries/best-education

Reference:

McPhillips, D. (2017, March 07). Best countries for education. Retrieved April 24, 2017, from https://www.usnews.com/news/best-countries/best-education

Teacher Satisfaction

Gallup organization completed a survey of 9,467 teachers to see how they feel about their positions. Those indicating that they were happy and comfortable in their current role and enjoy what they do was 68.8%. That is second to only physicians who scored at 74.9%. The main reason cited for this result is that they experience joy in teaching. Teachers score even higher than physicians when asked if they smile or laugh on a daily basis with 88% giving a positive response. One area of concern identified by the respondents was their relationship with their supervisors. Teachers scored the lowest of 14 occupations when they were asked if they felt they had a trusting, open relationship with their school administration. The biggest complaint cited was that they do not feel involved in decision making. This is surprising to me with the current trends for Professional Learning Communities and teachers as leaders.

Read the Article:

http://www.gallup.com/poll/161516/teachers-love-lives-struggle-workplace.aspx

Reference:

Lopez, S. & Sidhu, P. (2013, March 28). U.S. Teachers Love Their Lives, but Struggle in the Workplace. Retrieved April 24, 2017, from http://www.gallup.com/poll/161516/teachers-love-lives-struggle-workplace.aspx

Jobs in Curriculum Development

Curriculum writers and developers will be a growing career trend through at least the year 2024 with a 7% growth increase in jobs expected. The current median salary is $62,270 for curriculum writers who are commonly employed by public and private schools, colleges, professional schools, and the government. It is important to note that there will continue to be a need for curriculum writers for Christian textbooks and educational materials as well.

Curriculum writers are responsible for creating education curriculum and coordinating materials as well as developing training for the new materials. They are often licensed teachers or administrators.

Read the article:

http://education.cu-portland.edu/blog/teaching-careers/curriculum-writer/

Reference:

How to become a curriculum writer. (n.d.). Retrieved April 24, 2017, from http://education.cu-portland.edu/blog/teaching-careers/curriculum-writer/

Ten Common Core Promoters Laughing All The Way To The Bank

We can often determine the motives and whose in charge by researching who is financially backing an idea, program, or initiative. Common Core has been a controversial issue, and there has been little recognition concerning the key players involved in developing these standards. In this article, the author goes through several of the top authors of the plan. Pullman (2015)  also explains that many of them have benefited financially by speaking on Common Core, training teachers how to use Common Core, and using their influence to receive financially advantageous jobs in government as well as education resource companies. Any time new educational initiatives are promoted we need to make sure that we diligently investigate who stands to profit from them and whether the motivation for the program is really increasing student achievement.

Read the article:

http://thefederalist.com/2015/01/05/ten-common-core-promoters-laughing-all-the-way-to-the-bank/

References:

Pullman, J. (2015, January 08). Ten common core promoters laughing all the way to the bank. Retrieved April 24, 2017, from http://thefederalist.com/2015/01/05/ten-common-core-promoters-laughing-all-the-way-to-the-bank/

Adjusting the High School Curriculum

This brief video highlights suggested changes to high school curriculum and classes offered. He points out that current and typical class offerings are 50 years old and out of date and says they should be replaced with more modern and relevant classes and skills. The video is from a secular viewpoint, so it does not include any Bible classes. The creator of this video refers to the book “Stop Stealing Dreams, What is school for?” written by Seth Godin as the basis for his research.

Reference:

Adjusting the high school curriculum. (2012, March 05). Retrieved April 23, 2017, from https://youtu.be/Q7iVCaL0Sk0

Paragraph and Essay Punch

Many students struggle with developing and writing paragraphs and essays. In addition, teachers often do not have the time to sit individually with students in class to go through the steps needed to write well. Paragraph Punch and Essay Punch are websites that allow teachers to assign students a topic to write about and have them walked through the writing process by the software. I believe that it would be very beneficial to the students for the teachers to use this software.

Find out more at these websites:
http://www.paragraphpunch.com/index.php
http://www.essaypunch.com/