Source: USA TODAY
PHILADELPHIA — The day has barely begun here at Feltonville School of Arts and Sciences, a middle school in the city's northeast corner, and Adam Jackson already is using his cellphone, hoping to get a parent on the other end.
The north Philadelphia native, 22, is an unlikely truant officer in an experiment to get more city kids to graduate from high school.
Moments earlier, as he wandered through the sixth-grade homeroom he's assigned to, Jackson noted that two students were absent. As the group made its way to the first class of the day, he slipped into a quiet courtyard, popped his cellphone from a belt case and traced his finger down a list of phone numbers.
"A lot of kids, they see their older brothers and sisters not in school, and it influences them to run around as well," he says.
For years, educators have tried — often in vain — to get more students to graduate from high school on time and boost college-going rates. But few approaches have had much success: Dropout rates in many cities approach 50%, and a few cities — including Baltimore, Dallas, Detroit, Houston and Philadelphia — graduate fewer than 45% of students. On a school-by-school basis, recent research suggests that about one in eight high schools in the USA — many of them in the nation's biggest cities — are virtual "dropout factories" where fewer than 60% of freshmen graduate within four years.
"Historically, we have never really tried to turn around chronically underperforming schools in this country," U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan told a group of charter school advocates last month. "Instead, we have allowed the status quo to languish in underserved communities, sometimes not just for years, but literally for decades."
But a few educators are now taking a hard look at what happens to kids years before they get to high school, where, as it turns out, red flags appear with alarming regularity.
Here at Feltonville, in a run-down city neighborhood, an unusual bid to stem the tide is turning heads in just its second year. It's one of several that focuses on at-risk kids well before they get to high school. Dubbed Diplomas Now, it takes a microscope to students as early as the sixth grade in the belief that by the time they're in high school, it's too late to intervene.
SEEKING SOLUTIONS: Hope in treating juvenile offenders in D.C.
Results of the program, piloted here last year, were so impressive that the program has spread to four more cities: Chicago, Los Angeles, New Orleans and San Antonio. The expansion is being funded with a three-year, $5 million grant from the PepsiCo Foundation.
Jackson punches in the home number of one absent student and stands silently while he waits for someone to pick up.
Finally he introduces himself and, in a soft, deferential voice, says, "I was wondering if Isaiah's going to be in today, or if everything's OK? 'Cause I didn't see him."
Not exactly the typical scolding call from a truant officer. But day after day, calls like that have helped to boost Feltonville's average daily attendance past 92%, a dazzling rate for an inner-city middle school.
Moments later — and armed with a list of 11 chronically absent students — a pair of in-house social workers will climb into a weathered silver Honda Accord and begin driving around the neighborhood, knocking on doors.
"Kids have a lot of resilience — they don't give up right away," says Johns Hopkins education researcher Robert Balfanz, one of the program's creators. "But if you struggle all through middle school, by the time you get to high school you've been struggling for three years. So your frustration level is very (high). You don't have a lot of faith in the system or your ability."
Using data that schools already collect (attendance, behavior and grades in two subjects — English and math), Diplomas Now creates what amounts to an "early warning" spreadsheet to figure out who's most at risk of dropping out. Poor attendance and bad behavior obviously telegraph that a kid is in trouble, but Balfanz says failing math or English in the sixth grade is just as big of a red flag, because the two subjects are key to everything that follows.
Before kids fail everything
"Kids who fail math or English in sixth grade go on to start failing everything in ninth grade," he says.
Once it establishes who is at risk, Feltonville brings in "a second shift of adults" to help teachers, including a small cadre of volunteers such as Jackson — some as young as 18 — to tutor and mentor students, tempt them into after-school classes and refer the most troubled kids and their families to social workers for mental health services, counseling and medical care.
The volunteers check on homework and pester kids and their families about attendance. When kids return to school, the volunteers have assembled the work the kids have missed.
In Philadelphia and the other trial cities, Hopkins is working with City Year, an AmeriCorps program that taps recent high school and college graduates, and Communities In Schools, a national dropout-prevention group.
At Feltonville, the school day begins with a gathering in the courtyard, where City Year corps members try to coax kids into dancing, playing games and burning up a bit of energy. The big idea is that giving kids even a small reason to show up will pay off in better attendance, performance and attitude.
One recent chilly morning, a volunteer has set up a laptop computer with tiny speakers blaring Cupid Shuffle ("Down, down, do your dance/do your dance ..."). Rachelle Jean-Baptiste, the program manager, tries to rustle up a group to dance — but no takers.
Soon, two other corps members bring out a length of rope for a limbo game. A smattering of students, most of them boys weighed down with book bags, join in, bending beneath the rope without ever taking their hands out of their pockets.
So far, results at Feltonville are promising: From 2008 to 2009, the percentage of students with poor attendance fell 52%; those with poor behavior fell 45%; and those earning F's in English fell 80%, and in math 83%.
Though not a cure-all for urban schools, it offers what seems a simple way for educators to focus scant resources on the neediest kids and save time and money on remediation in high school, where many would-be dropouts routinely fail core classes.
The initial research for Diplomas Now comes from a nine-year longitudinal study of 13,000 students, conducted by Balfanz and the non-profit Philadelphia Education Fund. It uncovered the four risk factors.
"Half the kids who drop out are waving their hands in the sixth grade," he says. "They're ... saying, 'Help! If you don't intervene, a bad thing's going to happen. I'm disengaged and I'm on the path of dropping out already. I'm 12 years old.' "
As they drive around northeast Philadelphia, social workers Staci Hardy and Todd Milhollen seem an unlikely pair.
Hardy, 30, African-American and in the driver's seat, exudes a powerful, quiet calm. She says little and rarely raises her voice. Milhollen, 39 and white, talks animatedly and at length about how their system works — with kids and parents.
"We're not like truant officers," he says. "We're just trying to help them see the bigger picture."
But if parents don't cooperate, they can be hauled into the city's truancy court, where they face fines. In the worst cases, a judge can remove kids and send them to a boarding school in central Pennsylvania. Milhollen says he prefers to avoid that, as the process can take a year.
It soon becomes clear that splintered, scattered families account for much of the absentee problem at Feltonville. At the home of one eighth-grader who has missed 28 days, his mother calls the boy's father, who says he sent the boy off to school — maybe he just took the long way getting there. Milhollen makes a note to follow up.
At another house, a mother says, through the crack of the doorway, that her son has had to get medical tests and has only been able to get appointments during school hours.
Before he knocks on the door at a third house, Milhollen bums a few dollars off Hardy to give a kid money for a bus ticket.
At another house, there's no answer, so Hardy opens the mailbox and pops in a pink flyer that urges parents to get their kids to school. This summer, they'll visit churches and community groups "to get them on board more so," Milhollen says.
A 'conveyor belt' of support
The pair began their morning visits in March, and they've developed a reputation for their tenacity. That afternoon, an administrator jokes that families are moving so that Hardy and Milhollen can't find them.
Balfanz made news — and a few enemies — in 2007, after coining the term "dropout factories." He was talking about the 1,700 high schools in which no more than 60% of freshmen make it to senior year.
It's a vivid image and, for an educator who believes in the power of social services, a provocative one. It recognizes the toll that poverty takes in kids' lives, but also puts much of the burden onto schools, not the larger society.
President Obama has championed programs such as New York City's Harlem Children's Zone, which surrounds poor families with services in what its creator calls a "conveyor belt" of support.
Balfanz says there's no doubt that such programs have great promise. "That's ultimately how you beat back poverty — but in the meantime, I'm moving some of those supports into the school, because that's the one functioning institution in many of these communities."
At up to $500,000 a school, Diplomas Now is expensive, but Balfanz says it focuses on just the kids who will end up at the nation's neediest high schools.
The program can be paid for with federal Title I money for low-income students, who are most at risk of dropping out. And, he says, it's flexible enough to be adopted by educational, charitable and social services agencies in most any city.
The 'intensity you need'
"This is the kind of intensity you need to turn around the toughest schools," he says.
One thing at Feltonville is unmistakable: There are a lot of adults in the building. In one sixth-grade English class on a recent morning, there's teacher Kim Somahkawahho, her City Year corps member Ashley Moffett, a special-education aide and another volunteer.
Though she's only 23, with no teaching experience, Moffett acts as a second pair of eyes and ears, with an ability to connect to kids much as an older sister might.
"They tell her things they won't tell me," says Somahkawahho, 46. Because Moffett follows the students through much of the day, she can intervene in disputes, as she did recently when a sixth-grade boy was accused of threatening a female classmate.
The boy eventually admitted the threat and apologized, she says. "It did not turn into a fight with a bunch of people getting involved."
Zabrina Aponte, a mother of six whose 13-year-old son, Odalis, is in Somahkawahho's class, says Moffett has figured out how to get the students to respect her. "I've seen these kids," says Aponte. "Even the worst of them, they're like, 'Yes, Miss.' "
Moffett earned Odalis' trust last November after she worked patiently with the boy and helped him score 95% on a math test — after years of poor grades.
Math has always been his toughest subject, Aponte says, and this year Moffett has quietly, persistently urged Odalis on, even when he was sick of math.
"When she sees him falling off, she'll come over and tap him on the shoulder and say, 'Come on.' As a working mother, I appreciate that there's another person rooting for my child, pulling for my child."
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Teachers Facing Weakest Market in Years
PELHAM, N.Y. — In the month since Pelham Memorial High School in Westchester County advertised seven teaching jobs, it has been flooded with 3,010 applications from candidates as far away as California. The Port Washington District on Long Island is sorting through 3,620 applications for eight positions — the largest pool the superintendent has seen in his 41-year career.
Even hard-to-fill specialties are no longer so hard to fill. Jericho, N.Y., has 963 people to choose from for five spots in special education, more than twice as many as in past years. In Connecticut, chemistry and physics jobs in Hartford that normally attract no more than 5 candidates have 110 and 51, respectively.
The recession seems to have penetrated a profession long seen as recession-proof. Superintendents, education professors and people seeking work say teachers are facing the worst job market since the Great Depression. Amid state and local budget cuts, cash-poor urban districts like New York City and Los Angeles, which once hired thousands of young people every spring, have taken down the help-wanted signs.
Even upscale suburban districts are preparing for huge levels of layoffs. School officials and union leaders estimate that more than 150,000 teachers nationwide could lose their jobs next year, far more than any other time, including the last major financial crisis of the 1970s.
Juliana Pankow, who just graduated from Teachers College at Columbia University, has sent out 40 résumés since January. A few Saturdays ago, she went to a school in Harlem because she heard the principal would be there (she was invited back to teach a demonstration lesson, but it may be for naught since the city has a hiring freeze). Now, Ms. Pankow said she might have to move back in with her parents in Scarsdale, N.Y., and perhaps take up SAT tutoring.
“I can’t think of anything else I’d rather do,” said Ms. Pankow, 23, as she waited outside the principal’s office at Pelham Memorial last week, among 619 people applying for one English position. “Which is a problem, because I might have to do something else.”
At Teachers College, so many students like Ms. Pankow are looking for work that two recent job fairs attracted a record 650 students and alumni, up from 450 last year. Last month, the college added a job fair focusing on schools in Harlem.
But job postings are down by half this year, to one dozen to two dozen a week, mostly in charter schools, said Marianne Tramelli, the college’s director of career services.
Charter schools, which are publicly financed but independently run, are practically the only ones hiring in New York and elsewhere because of growing enrollments amid expanding political and economic support for school choice. Even so, they do not have nearly enough jobs to go around.
In New York, where the Success Charter Network is hiring 135 teachers for its seven schools in Harlem and the Bronx, some of the 8,453 applicants have called the office three times a day to check on their status. Veteran teachers have also offered to work as assistant teachers.
“It’s heartbreaking — there’s much more desperation out there,” said Eva S. Moskowitz, a former councilwoman who is the network’s founder and chief executive.
KIPP, another charter school network with 82 schools nationwide, has received 745 applications since January at its seven schools in the San Francisco Bay Area, compared with 385 last year.
At the University of Pennsylvania, most of the 90 aspiring teachers who graduated last weekend are jobless. Many had counted on offers from the Philadelphia public schools but had their interviews canceled this month after the district announced a hiring freeze.
“We’re trying to encourage everyone to hold on,” said Kathy Schultz, an education professor at Penn. “But that’s very difficult because students have taken out loans and want to be assured of a job.”
Michigan State University has pushed its 500 teaching graduates to look out of state. As local jobs have dried up, it started an internship program in Chicago, a four-hour drive from campus. Professors now go with students to the annual campus job fair to make sure they do not hover around the Michigan tables, but walk over to, say, North Carolina, Texas or Virginia.
“We have a culture of people wanting to stay here and teach where they went to school, but we also want them to get jobs,” said Suzanne Wilson, the chairwoman of the department of teacher education.
Along with five other former teachers, Jade Stier, 27, finally gave up and enrolled in a nursing program last fall, after three years of looking for an elementary school job. She sent out hundreds of résumés, only to land one interview a year. She settled for working as a substitute teacher, earning $85 a day with no benefits.
“Spending $50,000 for an education you can’t use is really frustrating,” Ms. Stier said. “I definitely miss teaching, but I felt like I had no other choice.”
If there is an upside to the shortage of teaching jobs, it is that schools now have their pick of candidates.
Teach for America, which places graduates from some of the nation’s top colleges in poor schools, has seen applications increase by nearly a third this year to 46,000 — for 4,500 slots. From Ivy League colleges alone, there are 1,688 would-be teachers.
Here in Pelham, a well-regarded district where teaching salaries range from $50,000 to $134,000, high school administrators and teachers have spent recent weeks winnowing applicants’ résumés. Candidates with grade point averages below 3.0 were eliminated (3.3 in some departments), as were those who missed the April 30 application deadline. Almost 200 were invited for interviews.
“It’s very difficult,” said Jeannine Clark, the high school principal in Pelham. “More so than in years past because there are so many very qualified candidates.”
While Ms. Clark and the English supervisor were meeting with prospective teachers last week, candidates for the social studies job were down the hallway typing a 40-minute timed essay on the French Revolution. Upstairs, interviews for physics and biology teachers were being conducted.
“People will come in here begging for anything,” said Dennis R. Lauro Jr., the superintendent, who started closing his office door this year because out-of-work teachers would drop in unannounced to hand him résumés. “We’ve never seen these kinds of numbers before.”
Top candidates will be asked to return several more times to meet with Dr. Lauro, parents and students and to teach a demonstration class.
Ms. Pankow is hoping she will be among them.
“It would be unbelievable,” she said. “I would love it here, but I’m not necessarily putting all my eggs in this basket.”
Source Articles: nytimes.com
Even hard-to-fill specialties are no longer so hard to fill. Jericho, N.Y., has 963 people to choose from for five spots in special education, more than twice as many as in past years. In Connecticut, chemistry and physics jobs in Hartford that normally attract no more than 5 candidates have 110 and 51, respectively.
The recession seems to have penetrated a profession long seen as recession-proof. Superintendents, education professors and people seeking work say teachers are facing the worst job market since the Great Depression. Amid state and local budget cuts, cash-poor urban districts like New York City and Los Angeles, which once hired thousands of young people every spring, have taken down the help-wanted signs.
Even upscale suburban districts are preparing for huge levels of layoffs. School officials and union leaders estimate that more than 150,000 teachers nationwide could lose their jobs next year, far more than any other time, including the last major financial crisis of the 1970s.
Juliana Pankow, who just graduated from Teachers College at Columbia University, has sent out 40 résumés since January. A few Saturdays ago, she went to a school in Harlem because she heard the principal would be there (she was invited back to teach a demonstration lesson, but it may be for naught since the city has a hiring freeze). Now, Ms. Pankow said she might have to move back in with her parents in Scarsdale, N.Y., and perhaps take up SAT tutoring.
“I can’t think of anything else I’d rather do,” said Ms. Pankow, 23, as she waited outside the principal’s office at Pelham Memorial last week, among 619 people applying for one English position. “Which is a problem, because I might have to do something else.”
At Teachers College, so many students like Ms. Pankow are looking for work that two recent job fairs attracted a record 650 students and alumni, up from 450 last year. Last month, the college added a job fair focusing on schools in Harlem.
But job postings are down by half this year, to one dozen to two dozen a week, mostly in charter schools, said Marianne Tramelli, the college’s director of career services.
Charter schools, which are publicly financed but independently run, are practically the only ones hiring in New York and elsewhere because of growing enrollments amid expanding political and economic support for school choice. Even so, they do not have nearly enough jobs to go around.
In New York, where the Success Charter Network is hiring 135 teachers for its seven schools in Harlem and the Bronx, some of the 8,453 applicants have called the office three times a day to check on their status. Veteran teachers have also offered to work as assistant teachers.
“It’s heartbreaking — there’s much more desperation out there,” said Eva S. Moskowitz, a former councilwoman who is the network’s founder and chief executive.
KIPP, another charter school network with 82 schools nationwide, has received 745 applications since January at its seven schools in the San Francisco Bay Area, compared with 385 last year.
At the University of Pennsylvania, most of the 90 aspiring teachers who graduated last weekend are jobless. Many had counted on offers from the Philadelphia public schools but had their interviews canceled this month after the district announced a hiring freeze.
“We’re trying to encourage everyone to hold on,” said Kathy Schultz, an education professor at Penn. “But that’s very difficult because students have taken out loans and want to be assured of a job.”
Michigan State University has pushed its 500 teaching graduates to look out of state. As local jobs have dried up, it started an internship program in Chicago, a four-hour drive from campus. Professors now go with students to the annual campus job fair to make sure they do not hover around the Michigan tables, but walk over to, say, North Carolina, Texas or Virginia.
“We have a culture of people wanting to stay here and teach where they went to school, but we also want them to get jobs,” said Suzanne Wilson, the chairwoman of the department of teacher education.
Along with five other former teachers, Jade Stier, 27, finally gave up and enrolled in a nursing program last fall, after three years of looking for an elementary school job. She sent out hundreds of résumés, only to land one interview a year. She settled for working as a substitute teacher, earning $85 a day with no benefits.
“Spending $50,000 for an education you can’t use is really frustrating,” Ms. Stier said. “I definitely miss teaching, but I felt like I had no other choice.”
If there is an upside to the shortage of teaching jobs, it is that schools now have their pick of candidates.
Teach for America, which places graduates from some of the nation’s top colleges in poor schools, has seen applications increase by nearly a third this year to 46,000 — for 4,500 slots. From Ivy League colleges alone, there are 1,688 would-be teachers.
Here in Pelham, a well-regarded district where teaching salaries range from $50,000 to $134,000, high school administrators and teachers have spent recent weeks winnowing applicants’ résumés. Candidates with grade point averages below 3.0 were eliminated (3.3 in some departments), as were those who missed the April 30 application deadline. Almost 200 were invited for interviews.
“It’s very difficult,” said Jeannine Clark, the high school principal in Pelham. “More so than in years past because there are so many very qualified candidates.”
While Ms. Clark and the English supervisor were meeting with prospective teachers last week, candidates for the social studies job were down the hallway typing a 40-minute timed essay on the French Revolution. Upstairs, interviews for physics and biology teachers were being conducted.
“People will come in here begging for anything,” said Dennis R. Lauro Jr., the superintendent, who started closing his office door this year because out-of-work teachers would drop in unannounced to hand him résumés. “We’ve never seen these kinds of numbers before.”
Top candidates will be asked to return several more times to meet with Dr. Lauro, parents and students and to teach a demonstration class.
Ms. Pankow is hoping she will be among them.
“It would be unbelievable,” she said. “I would love it here, but I’m not necessarily putting all my eggs in this basket.”
Source Articles: nytimes.com
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
223,190 Kids Legally Beaten in US Schools
For the first time in over 18 years, Congress has held hearings on the use of Corporal Punishment in U.S. Schools. In the coming weeks, Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (NY) will introduce a bill to institute a federal ban of corporal punishment in all US Schools. [source: US Congressional Hearing]
Every 20 seconds of the school day, a child is beaten by an educator. Every 4 minutes, an educator beats a child so severely that she seeks medical attention. According to conservative reporting to the U.S. Department of Education 223,190 students were the victims of institutionalized violence at least once in the 2006-2007 school year, of which over 20,000 sought medical attention. [source: Office for Civil Rights at the US Dept. of Education; Congressional Testimony]
Pre-school age through high school, students are being beaten with boards, belts, paddles, and whips... in public schools... in the United States... and while corporal punishment has been repeatedly shown to be ineffective and has deleterious effects on students, the practice continues and is legal in 20 states.
The iron age practice of "corporal punishment" is still legal in 20 states and there are no federal laws prohibiting it. The National Association of School Nurses defines corporal punishment as "the intentional infliction of physical pain as a method of changing behavior. It may include methods such as hitting, slapping, punching, kicking, pinching, shaking, use of various objects (paddles, belts, sticks, or others), or painful body postures."
From infractions as dangerous as forgetting a pencil to prom dress code violations, students are being beaten across the country. All of this, of course is without any due process, court hearing, and often the parents have no say in the matter. Did I mention that corporal punishment is outlawed in the US legal system, and even felons convicted of rape or murder can sleep soundly knowing they will never be subject to the same kinds of beatings we routinely doll out to our children in public schools. Not to mention that 97 out of the 100 largest US School districts have banned corporal punishment. [source: Center for Effective Discipline]
The United States stands alone in the developed world -- Canada, Europe, the UK, Australia and 102 other countries have long since outlawed the practice. [source:] The United Nations, Parent Teacher Association, American Civil Liberties Union, American Association of Pediatrics and countless other organizations have strong positions against the use of corporal punishment. [source:Center for Effective Discipline]
The American Psychological Association opposes the use of corporal punishment in schools and asserts that corporal punishment is violent and unnecessary, may lower self-esteem, is liable to instil hostility and rage without reducing the undesired behavior and is likely to train children to use physical violence.
In fact, the majority of research suggests that corporal punishment has little to no positive long term effects, actually decreases the effectiveness of other forms of punishment, and introduces a whole mess of other complications including increased drop out rates. Why then do some schools insist on using an ineffective, outdated practice? Since 30 states currently outlaw corporal punishment, what is so different in the lagging 20? Are the students somehow worse behaved? Are the teachers less capable of non-violent classroom management?
The United States must join the rest of the developed world and implement a federal ban on corporal punishment. Dodging the issue and leaving it up to the states is irresponsible and neglectful to the hundreds of thousands of kids physically abused by the education system every year. The "States Rights Gambit" didn't work for slavery or segregation, and it won't work for this either.
As a nation we may be in violation of international law by our non-compliance with the United Nations International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights - which we signed and ratified in 1992. The UN's Committee on the Rights of the Child found that "[c]orporal punishment and other cruel or degrading forms of punishment are forms of violence and States must take all appropriate legislative, administrative, social and educatioal measures to eliminate them" [source: A Violent Education: Corporal Punishment of Children in U.S. Public Schools]
You can help spread awareness around this issue by sharing this article with friends, blogging about it yourself, and joining the Facebook Group
Additionally, contact your state representatives office, and let them know you support a Federal Ban on Corporal Punishment - this is a real chance to leave a human rights legacy you can be proud of.
This article is the first article in a series on Corporal Punishment in the United States by Anthony David Adams, Founder of DetentionSlip.org
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Obama Scholarships for Moms: For Working Mothers Who Want to Improve Their Future
There are some bright spots that should encourage you to look to the future even though the US economy is going through some tough time right now. The government hopes to encourage women to go to college through Obama scholarships for moms. Mothers of all types have the chance to get a quality education that will no doubt benefit their families and future employers. Federal aid called Pell Grants make Obama scholarships possible. The Obama administration made some changes to Pell Grants to put emphasis on getting moms to go back to school. Pell Grants worth more than $5,000 can now be awarded. That's an increase of more than $1,000 over the previous maximum for Pell Grants. Because these grants are meant to help low-income students, that means many single mothers are eligible. The government is encouraging moms to go back to school to deal with this. Both working mothers and stay-at-home moms can benefit from having money to help them go to college. For even more incentive, there are other benefits to encourage moms to go to college. A lot of students choose to study at large colleges and universities. For a single mom who didn't have this option, it may have prevented her from going to college. However, the Pell Grants will take this into account. Whether a working mom wants to attend college part-time or a stay-at-home mom wants to take online courses, these specially targeted grants make it possible. You can study what you want, anything from nursing to education to business. The important thing is not the major but rather that single moms have more opportunity. For single mothers, an Obama scholarship may be just the break to start on a new path. Applying for a scholarship involves a few simple steps. Remember that you need to go online to fill out the application for federal student aid called the FAFSA. The application is free and there is a lot of information available to help you learn what is out there for you. The American Opportunity Tax Credit program states that the first $4,000 of your education is free, so keep that in mind. It's important to think about this and the possibility of getting a grant when you're weighing your options. Single, working moms and stay-at-home moms have a tremendous opportunity. They can now advance their education by attending college. Government grants and free opportunities do two things. They help moms better care for their families, and they increase the money that moms can make as key members of the workforce. The Obama scholarships help women have the chance to improve their family's future as well as their own.
Monday, May 3, 2010
Major achievements in IT education in India
The norms of IT education in India have been quite improved. Today, India can boast as one of the preferred study centers for IT education to the rest of the world. With a big leap in the economic sector, Indian IT education has also observed a radical change. There have been various major achievements in IT education in India. Indian IT institutes at present have evolved out and revamped the over all trend of IT education in the entire country. Some major achievements in IT education sector in India are discussed here under-
First and foremost, most of the IT institutes provide provision for enterprise training in India. Enterprise training in India is significant for both IT and non IT students. This particular facility helps IT students to launch their career on the right track with the right study program.
Secondly, industrial training in India is one striking facility provided in the reputed IT institutes in the country. IT institutes which provide industrial training in India ensure the quality and standard of IT study to the trainees. Besides industrial training, provision for corporate training in India is also provided to IT students. Facility for corporate training in India can groom the professional skill of the students while undergoing their technical study program.
Another major achievement in IT education in India is the facility for Cisco Certification. Cisco Certification ensures trainees that they have undergone a standard IT training program from a reputed IT institute. Cisco Certification is mostly provided during course certification. Course Certification is the final assurance to the students that they have successfully completed a particular IT training program and have cleared all the related exams and formalities.
Post-training or course certification, there is no dearth for jobs in the market for IT passed outs. It depends upon the study program of a particular individual to choose his own discipline adhering to his skills. So, as an IT passed out (and as per the related study program,) one can become a software engineer or a system administration or a network engineer. System administration comes under hardware program and the discipline revolves around the knowledge of the underlying hardware platform and also requires significant knowledge of the particular operating system used by that server.
With the growing need for skill development in India, IT education has undeniably achieved various milestones over the years. Students have an open choice to choose the desired field of IT study i.e. program for software, hardware or networking study. With an outbreak in the study for enhanced skill development in India, IT education has in fact scrutinized a radical growth.
First and foremost, most of the IT institutes provide provision for enterprise training in India. Enterprise training in India is significant for both IT and non IT students. This particular facility helps IT students to launch their career on the right track with the right study program.
Secondly, industrial training in India is one striking facility provided in the reputed IT institutes in the country. IT institutes which provide industrial training in India ensure the quality and standard of IT study to the trainees. Besides industrial training, provision for corporate training in India is also provided to IT students. Facility for corporate training in India can groom the professional skill of the students while undergoing their technical study program.
Another major achievement in IT education in India is the facility for Cisco Certification. Cisco Certification ensures trainees that they have undergone a standard IT training program from a reputed IT institute. Cisco Certification is mostly provided during course certification. Course Certification is the final assurance to the students that they have successfully completed a particular IT training program and have cleared all the related exams and formalities.
Post-training or course certification, there is no dearth for jobs in the market for IT passed outs. It depends upon the study program of a particular individual to choose his own discipline adhering to his skills. So, as an IT passed out (and as per the related study program,) one can become a software engineer or a system administration or a network engineer. System administration comes under hardware program and the discipline revolves around the knowledge of the underlying hardware platform and also requires significant knowledge of the particular operating system used by that server.
With the growing need for skill development in India, IT education has undeniably achieved various milestones over the years. Students have an open choice to choose the desired field of IT study i.e. program for software, hardware or networking study. With an outbreak in the study for enhanced skill development in India, IT education has in fact scrutinized a radical growth.
Introduction of Distance Learning
This introduction of distance learning must have been a monumental moment for all those who had lost all hopes of going to regular colleges and were given a breath of fresh air to take up something through correspondence that would make life much easier and would help them take their academic profile forward. In today's Information Age, learning is no longer confined within the four walls of a classroom. The instructor, armed with a textbook, is no longer the sole source of educational experience. Information resources are everywhere, often separated from the learner by time and space. Distance learning defines the process of connecting learners with these remote resources.
Learning is a lifelong pursuit where training and retraining become strategies for both individual and corporate success. Distance learning uses communications technologies to harness the vast array of resources available and stimulate the development of lifelong learning skills. A variety of technologies are used for distance learning, including video, audio, computer, audio graphics, and print. There are a variety of distance learning solutions for every educational need. Distance learning applications should begin with a clear understanding of the learner, as well as the educational needs and objectives of the organization.
Technology options can then be considered that best address those understandings. A comprehensive distance learning solution will often be a combination of technology options, creating a set of learning tools that meet the needs of both the instructor and the learner. As an introduction to the technology, let's explore some needs and objectives of several segments of our society that are including distance learning solutions in their strategies for today and the future. If there is one constant in today's business environment it is the constant of change. Distance learning gives everyone a chance to study and go forward and also have himself acknowledged as a very well read and widely knowledgeable person.
Companies are recruiting candidates who have the skill to deliver and in case distance education is able to do that, then it has to be considered at par with all those regular degrees. At the same time, companies are becoming more global and more diversified. If business and industry are to compete, survive, and prosper in today's highly competitive global environment, continuous training and retraining is critical. The concepts of lifelong learning and just-in-time knowledge are important business strategies. One key to success is the application of cost effective and continuous means of distributing that training.
With all these permutations and combinations in place, distance learning has always been a big favorite amongst students of all strata and has always ensured that those students who cannot continue with regular studies have the option of sitting at home and taking care of the academic part of their profile. Trust distance education to provide the candidate with the best of everything and also render him the advantage of being at par with the best. The degree will make the student highly competent and will also take his academic credentials to a whole new level altogether.
Learning is a lifelong pursuit where training and retraining become strategies for both individual and corporate success. Distance learning uses communications technologies to harness the vast array of resources available and stimulate the development of lifelong learning skills. A variety of technologies are used for distance learning, including video, audio, computer, audio graphics, and print. There are a variety of distance learning solutions for every educational need. Distance learning applications should begin with a clear understanding of the learner, as well as the educational needs and objectives of the organization.
Technology options can then be considered that best address those understandings. A comprehensive distance learning solution will often be a combination of technology options, creating a set of learning tools that meet the needs of both the instructor and the learner. As an introduction to the technology, let's explore some needs and objectives of several segments of our society that are including distance learning solutions in their strategies for today and the future. If there is one constant in today's business environment it is the constant of change. Distance learning gives everyone a chance to study and go forward and also have himself acknowledged as a very well read and widely knowledgeable person.
Companies are recruiting candidates who have the skill to deliver and in case distance education is able to do that, then it has to be considered at par with all those regular degrees. At the same time, companies are becoming more global and more diversified. If business and industry are to compete, survive, and prosper in today's highly competitive global environment, continuous training and retraining is critical. The concepts of lifelong learning and just-in-time knowledge are important business strategies. One key to success is the application of cost effective and continuous means of distributing that training.
With all these permutations and combinations in place, distance learning has always been a big favorite amongst students of all strata and has always ensured that those students who cannot continue with regular studies have the option of sitting at home and taking care of the academic part of their profile. Trust distance education to provide the candidate with the best of everything and also render him the advantage of being at par with the best. The degree will make the student highly competent and will also take his academic credentials to a whole new level altogether.
Obama Grants - Brought In To Encourage Moms to Earn a Degree
While the government under the Obama administration is putting emphasis on helping working mothers return to college, many people may not know exactly what Obama grants are. There are many existing government benefits that are being given attention that in truth are just reworked federal programs such as ones which help to assist working mothers to attend college. The Pell grants a huge asset is making many potential student moms pay attention like never before. The Federal Pell grants has existed over many years making it one of the many familiar types of government financial aid for the furtherance of college. One has to agree that a huge benefit of the Pell grant is the lack of repayment normally required for student loans making it an attractive benefit. Pell grants are generally awarded to students seeking an undergraduate degree who have not already earned a bachelor's or professional degree. These two characteristics are ideal for single, working mothers, which is the cause of all the excitement over the Scholarships for Moms program. Although there is no specific program by that name, President Obama and his administration encourage moms to attend college using the money available to them through Pell grants. In addition to being a monetary gift rather than a loan, Pell grants don' t place restrictions on other sources of financial aid that you can receive. Both federal programs and private non-federal organizations can be applied to in order to cover further educational costs. The Pell grant provides the highest amount of $5,350.00 during the award year which begins on the 1st of July 2009 to the 30th June 2010. Although it is unlikely to cover all your college needs you can as mentioned supplement through other resources. Furthermore, if you are awarded money, its use is not limited to paying for tuition. Other expenses which are acceptable in connection to your education are such things as books, laptops, travel and housing. The Pell grant program and its benefits have been showcased since attention to education has been highlighted through the Obama administration making the ¦scholarships for moms' a must. If you are a single mother who is working and wishes to become a student and earn a degree such a federal program fulfills all those specifics. College no longer has to be just a dream because of family or financial needs. The Obama grant obtained through the Pell grant program has created an opportunity for many to take advantage of further college education. This is especially true for working mothers. Single mothers working full-time are specifically being encouraged by the current administration to take advantage and earn a degree. The current administration is heartily cheering for single, full-time working mothers to apply for college and earn a degree. Your future could be much brighter than you realize.
Teen convicted of Mass. school stabbing gets life
The lawyer for a teenager convicted of first-degree murder for stabbing another student to death at their suburban Boston high school asked a judge Friday to strike down the state law that requires a life sentence without parole for his client, who was 16 at the time of the killing.The motion came as John Odgren, now 19, was formally sentenced in Middlesex Superior Court. The sentencing came one day after a jury rejected a defense argument that he was legally insane when he stabbed James Alenson, 15, to death in a bathroom at Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School on Jan. 19, 2007.
Members of the Alenson family filed victim impact statements with Judge Jane Haggerty, but the statements were not read in court.
Though a juvenile at the time, prosecutors tried Odgren as an adult under the state's youthful offender law. His conviction of first-degree murder carried an automatic life sentence without the possibility of parole, meaning he must spend the rest of his life in prison barring a successful appeal or commutation by a future governor.
"It's crazy that Massachusetts is one of the few places on the globe where someone who commits a crime as a child is sentenced to life in prison without parole," Odgren's attorney, Jonathan Shapiro, said following the sentencing.
Shapiro asked Haggerty to declare that the automatic life sentence violated the constitutional prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment.
The judge said she would consider the motion later.
Middlesex District Attorney Gerry Leone would not comment directly on Shapiro's motion, but he said the trial was fair.
Prosecutors portrayed Odgren as a calculating killer who brought a carving knife to school, picked his victim at random and stabbed Alenson multiple times, the fatal wound puncturing the boy's heart.
The defense said Odgren suffered from Asperger's syndrome, a form of autism, and mental illnesses. They cited his fascination with Stephen King's series of books, "The Dark Tower," and said he had lost touch with reality.
Odgren's father testified that his son, who had a genius-level IQ, was anxious and would not socialize with other children. He was teased and harassed at various schools he attended and talked of suicide at age 9, his father said.
Shapiro said his client would cling to a stuffed bunny during recesses at the trial.
"When he was first arrested, the only thing he wanted when he was put in his cell was his teddy bear or his rabbit," Shapiro said. "Three years later, those are things that comfort him. Unfortunately, they are not allowed in prison."
Odgren buried his head in a coat and did not look up during the brief sentencing hearing.
Shapiro said he feared for the teen's well-being in prison and would push for him to receive mental health treatment. He said if Odgren had trouble coping at school, he would almost certainly have trouble coping in prison.
Odgren will begin his sentence at the state's maximum-security prison in Walpole.
Diane Wiffin, a spokeswoman for the state Correction Department, said Odgren would be evaluated before it was determined at what facility he should serve his sentence. He will also undergo a full medical and mental health assessment, she said.
Alenson's parents declined to comment after sentencing. They have filed a lawsuit against the consultant for the special needs program at Lincoln-Sudbury, saying the program should not have allowed Odgren to go into an open school setting because he had a history of violent behavior against other students.
Leone said the case should lead to discussions about school safety. Following the conviction Thursday, he said there were "red flags" and warning signs that were either missed or unheeded, but he would not specifically say whom he blames.
Sunday, May 2, 2010
Making Higher Education Work for Africa’s Competitiveness
Higher education should play a critical catalytic role in Africa’s economic growth, according to African policy makers and experts from the public and private sectors gathered today at a crowded seminar held under the umbrella of the World Bank-IMF Spring Meetings.
“We have made a lot of progress on primary education, but we can’t stop there,” said Obiageli Ezekwesili, World Bank Vice President for Africa. “Africa’s population is seeing a ‘youth bulge’, and so we simply cannot avoid tertiary education—it has to be the bedrock of Africa’s development.”
Ezekwesili, herself a former education minister from Nigeria, highlighted some of the challenges in expanding higher education in Africa. These include the need to strike a balance between democratization of access to higher education and the quality of education provided; and to ensure that higher education turns out graduates with the right skills for the job market.
“We cannot continue business as usual—education must meet the needs of the economy,” she said.
Africa urgently needs doctors, nurses, agriculturists, engineers, administrators, lawyers, and business leaders, according to Christopher Thomas, who manages World Bank education projects and analysis in Africa. Yet higher education faces financing constraints, and graduates often remain unemployed.
“There are no easy answers to the question of how Africa’s higher education institutions can grow and thrive,” said Thomas. “But we do know that good policies, strong political will, resources, leadership, and public-private partnerships are necessary.”
Ministers of education from Burkina Faso, the Gambia, Senegal, Mali and Mauritania, who remained at work late into the evening in their countries to join the seminar remotely, all agreed that the basic issue was that all countries needed a base of human resources, although needs varied in each country.
“In the Gambia, we went for thirty years after independence without a university,” said Mamadou Tangara, Gambia’s Minister of Education. “We are facing a huge resource gap, and we cannot emphasize enough the role of higher education in development. Higher education policies of today will determine our society of tomorrow.”
Ezekwesili noted that the private sector had a major role in expanding access to higher education in Africa. In Ghana, public universities were at one time so stretched that they had to admit as many as 1,500 students in a single class with no teaching assistants. But with the rise of the private sector, about 50,000 more students were enrolled in universities in Ghana in 2007.
Peter Okebukola, a Nigerian regulator, suggested three other steps to boost enrollment. “We should also think about setting up open and long distance universities, expanding degree programs beyond universities to polytechnics and other non-degree institutions, and encouraging multi-campus universities,” he said.
Speaking about quality and relevance, Prof. Teuw Niane, the Rector of Gaston Berger University in Senegal, stressed the importance of professors being adequately qualified to teach students, and of connecting regularly with private companies to make sure that young graduates have more access to employment.
Many participants agreed that students who can afford to pay for higher education should be asked to do so. “Parents and youth must be willing to make some sacrifices,” said Joseph Duffey, of Laureate, a private company that seeks to make higher education affordable and accessible through a global network of partnerships.
“It is clear that sharing costs is fundamental,” said Ezekwesili, “Those who can pay should pay, but there should be a mechanism to help promising students who cannot afford to pay.”
The other side of the coin, according to many participants, is that both public and private institutions need to be more accountable and transparent, offering measurable results to parents and students. For example, information such as the number of their graduates that find jobs within a year of graduating should be available to the public.
Participants also discussed the need for quality assurance and regulation. “Accreditation should measure output but reward innovation,” noted Patrick Awuah, President of Ghana’s Ashesi University. “Accreditation can easily stifle innovation,” he said. “For instance, universities should not be evaluated only on the basis of the paper libraries, but also their electronic libraries.”Boukary Savadogo, Division Chief, Science and Technology Education, at the African Development Bank, emphasized that education must be approached in a holistic way, recognizing the connections between all levels from primary to tertiary.
“Tertiary education is a sine qua non for Africa’s development,” concluded Ezekwesili, “We all recognize the importance of a resurgence of tertiary education in Africa.”
“We have made a lot of progress on primary education, but we can’t stop there,” said Obiageli Ezekwesili, World Bank Vice President for Africa. “Africa’s population is seeing a ‘youth bulge’, and so we simply cannot avoid tertiary education—it has to be the bedrock of Africa’s development.”
Ezekwesili, herself a former education minister from Nigeria, highlighted some of the challenges in expanding higher education in Africa. These include the need to strike a balance between democratization of access to higher education and the quality of education provided; and to ensure that higher education turns out graduates with the right skills for the job market.
“We cannot continue business as usual—education must meet the needs of the economy,” she said.
Africa urgently needs doctors, nurses, agriculturists, engineers, administrators, lawyers, and business leaders, according to Christopher Thomas, who manages World Bank education projects and analysis in Africa. Yet higher education faces financing constraints, and graduates often remain unemployed.
“There are no easy answers to the question of how Africa’s higher education institutions can grow and thrive,” said Thomas. “But we do know that good policies, strong political will, resources, leadership, and public-private partnerships are necessary.”
Ministers of education from Burkina Faso, the Gambia, Senegal, Mali and Mauritania, who remained at work late into the evening in their countries to join the seminar remotely, all agreed that the basic issue was that all countries needed a base of human resources, although needs varied in each country.
“In the Gambia, we went for thirty years after independence without a university,” said Mamadou Tangara, Gambia’s Minister of Education. “We are facing a huge resource gap, and we cannot emphasize enough the role of higher education in development. Higher education policies of today will determine our society of tomorrow.”
Ezekwesili noted that the private sector had a major role in expanding access to higher education in Africa. In Ghana, public universities were at one time so stretched that they had to admit as many as 1,500 students in a single class with no teaching assistants. But with the rise of the private sector, about 50,000 more students were enrolled in universities in Ghana in 2007.
Peter Okebukola, a Nigerian regulator, suggested three other steps to boost enrollment. “We should also think about setting up open and long distance universities, expanding degree programs beyond universities to polytechnics and other non-degree institutions, and encouraging multi-campus universities,” he said.
Speaking about quality and relevance, Prof. Teuw Niane, the Rector of Gaston Berger University in Senegal, stressed the importance of professors being adequately qualified to teach students, and of connecting regularly with private companies to make sure that young graduates have more access to employment.
Many participants agreed that students who can afford to pay for higher education should be asked to do so. “Parents and youth must be willing to make some sacrifices,” said Joseph Duffey, of Laureate, a private company that seeks to make higher education affordable and accessible through a global network of partnerships.
“It is clear that sharing costs is fundamental,” said Ezekwesili, “Those who can pay should pay, but there should be a mechanism to help promising students who cannot afford to pay.”
The other side of the coin, according to many participants, is that both public and private institutions need to be more accountable and transparent, offering measurable results to parents and students. For example, information such as the number of their graduates that find jobs within a year of graduating should be available to the public.
Participants also discussed the need for quality assurance and regulation. “Accreditation should measure output but reward innovation,” noted Patrick Awuah, President of Ghana’s Ashesi University. “Accreditation can easily stifle innovation,” he said. “For instance, universities should not be evaluated only on the basis of the paper libraries, but also their electronic libraries.”Boukary Savadogo, Division Chief, Science and Technology Education, at the African Development Bank, emphasized that education must be approached in a holistic way, recognizing the connections between all levels from primary to tertiary.
“Tertiary education is a sine qua non for Africa’s development,” concluded Ezekwesili, “We all recognize the importance of a resurgence of tertiary education in Africa.”
The World Bank and Tertiary Education in Sub Saharan Africa from World Bank on Vimeo.
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