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The Slow and Fast Assault on Public Education

Henry Giroux

By: HENRY A. GIROUX

Since Donald Trump’s election in November 2016, there have been few occasions to feel hopeful about politics. But now we are witnessing a proliferation of causes for hope, as brave students from Parkland, Florida, and equally courageous teachers throughout the United States lead movements of mass demonstrations, walkouts, and strikes.

The United States is in the midst of a crisis of values, ethics, and politics. It has been decades in the making, produced largely by a neoliberal system that has subordinated all aspects of social life to the dictates of the market while stripping assets from public goods and producing untenable levels of inequality. What we are now living through is the emergence of a new political formation in which neoliberalism has put on the mantle of fascism.

The assault on public education, the slow violence of teacher disenfranchisement, and the fast violence of guns can only be understood as part of a larger war on liberal democracy.

Amidst this cataclysm, public schools have been identified as a major threat to the conservative ruling elite because public education has long been integral to U.S. democracy’s dependence on an informed, engaged citizenry. Democracy is predicated on faith in the capacity of all humans for intelligent judgment, deliberation, and action, but this innate capacity must be nurtured. The recognition of this need explains why the United States has, since its earliest days, emphasized the value of public education at least as an ideal. An education that teaches one to think critically and mediate charged appeals to one’s emotions is key to making power accountable and embracing a mature sense of the social contract.

Now, as our public schools are stretched to their breaking, their students and teachers are leading the call for a moral awakening. Both argue that the crisis of public schooling and the war on youth are related, and that the assaults on public schooling can only be understood as part of a larger war on liberal democracy.

No one movement or group can defeat the powerful and connected forces of neoliberal fascism, but energized young people and teachers are helping to open a space in which change looks more possible than at any time in the recent past. The Parkland students have embraced a grassroots approach and teachers are following their lead. Both are primed for action and are ready to challenge those eager to dismantle the public education system. They recognize that education is a winning issue because most Americans still view it as a path through which their children can gain access to decent jobs and a good life. The usual neoliberal bromides advocating privatization, charter schools, vouchers, and teaching for the test have lost all legitimacy at a moment when the ruling elite act with blatant disregard for the democratizing ethos that has long been a keystone of our society.

All of the states in which teachers have engaged in wildcat strikes, demonstrations, and protests have been subject to the toxic austerity measures that have come to characterize the neoliberal economy. In these states, teachers have faced low and stagnant wages, crumbling and overfilled classrooms, lengthening work days, and slashed budgets that have left them without classroom essentials such as books and even toilet paper—necessities that, in many cases, teachers have purchased themselves with their paltry salaries. It is significant that teachers have refused to confine their protests to the immediate needs of their profession or the understandable demand for higher wages. Rather, they have couched these demands within a broader critique of the war on public goods, calling repeatedly for more funding for schools in order to provide students with decent conditions for learning.

Likewise, students protesting gun violence have contextualized their demands for gun control by addressing the roots of gun violence in state violence and political and economic disenfranchisement. Refusing to be silenced by politicians bought and sold by the NRA, these students have called for a vision of social justice rooted in the belief that they can not only challenge systemic oppression, but can change the fundamental nature of an oppressive social order. They recognize that they have not only been treated as disposable populations written out of the script of democracy, they also are capable of using the new tools of social media to surmount the deadening political horizons preached by conventional media outlets and established politicians.

The attack on public education is one side of the neoliberal ledger. The other side is the explosion of the punishing state with its accelerated apparatuses of incarceration and militarization.

What is so promising about the student-led movement is that not only is it exposing the politicians and gun lobbies that argue against gun control and reframe the gun debate while endangering the lives of young people, they have also energized millions of youth by encouraging a sense of individual and collective agency. They are asking their peers to mobilize against gun violence, vote in the midterm November elections, and be prepared for a long struggle against the underlying ideologies, structures, and institutions that promote death-dealing violence in the United States. As Charlotte Alter pointed out in TIME:

They envision a youth political movement that will address many of the other issues affecting the youngest Americans. [Parkland student leader David] Hogg says he would like to have a youth demonstration every year on March 24, harnessing the power of teenage anger to demand action on everything from campaign-finance reform to net neutrality to climate change.

This statement makes clear that these young people recognize that the threat they face goes far beyond the gun debate and that what they need to address is a wider culture of cruelty, silence, and indifference. Violence comes in many forms, some hidden, many more spectacularized, cultivated, valued, eroticized, and normalized. Some are fast, and others are slow, and thus harder to perceive. The key is to address the underlying structures and relations of power that give rise to this landscape of both spectacular gun violence and the everyday violence experienced by the poor, people of color, the undocumented, and other “disposable” people. The attack on public education and the rights and working conditions of teachers is one side of the neoliberal ledger. The other side is the explosion of the punishing state with its accelerated apparatuses of containment, militarized police, borders, walls, mass incarceration, the school-to-prison pipeline, and the creation of an armed society. These issues need to be connected as part of a wider refusal to equate rapacious, neoliberal capitalism with democracy.

The Parkland student movement and the teacher walkouts have already advanced the possibilities of mass resistance by connecting the dots between the crises that each group is experiencing. The “slow violence” (to borrow Rob Nixon’s term) of teacher disenfranchisement needs to be understood in relation to the fast violence that has afflicted students, both of which arise from a state that has imported the language of perpetual war into its relationship with its citizens. As Judith Levine points out, every public sphere has been transformed into a virtual war zone, “a zone of permanent vigilance, enforcement, and violence.”

In the face of this, the need is for disruptive social movements that call for nothing less than the restructuring of U.S. society. In the spirit of Martin Luther King, Jr., this means a revolution in values, a shift in public consciousness, and a change in power relations and public policies. The Parkland students and the teachers protesting across the nation are not only challenging the current attacks on public education, they also share an effort in constructing a new narrative about the United States—one that reengages the public’s ethical imagination toward developing an equitable, just, and inclusive democracy. Their protests point to the possibility of a new public imagination that moves beyond the narrow realm of specific interest to a more comprehensive understanding of politics that is rooted in a practice of open defiance to corporate tyranny. This is a politics that refuses “leftist” centrism, the extremism of the right, and a deeply unequal society modeled on the iniquitous precarity and toxic structures of savage capitalism. This new political horizon foreshadows the need to organize new political formations, massive social movements, and a third political party that can make itself present in a variety of institutional, educational, social, and cultural spheres.

The teacher and student protests have made clear that real change can be made through mass collective movements inspired by hope in the service of a radical democracy.

What the teacher and student protests have made clear is that change and coalition-building are possible, and that real change can be made through mass collective movements inspired by hope in the service of a radical democracy. This is a movement that must make education central to its politics and be willing to develop educational spheres which listen to and speak to the concrete problems that educators, students, minorities of color and class, and others face in a world moving into the abyss of tyranny.

The long-term success of the movements begun by the teachers and students will likely hinge on whether they connect with wider struggles for minority rights, economic justice, and social equality. If they open to a vision of shared struggle, they may find their way to a radical democratic recuperation that benefits all people whose needs are being sacrificed on the altar of neoliberal fascism. What we have learned from the student and teacher demonstrations is that politics depends “on the possibility of making the public exist in the first place” and that what we share in common is more important than what separates us. At a time when tyranny is on the rise and the world seems deprived of radical imagination, such courageous acts of mass resistance are a welcome relief and hopeful indicator of an energetic struggle to secure a democratic future.

Source:

https://bostonreview.net/education-opportunity/henry-giroux-slow-and-fast-assault-public-education

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Educación sexual, pero con enfoque moralista

Mariana Otero

Por Mariana Otero

LO MÁS IMPORTANTE
  • La ley nacional que obliga a incluir el tema en las escuelas sugiere abordarlo con una visión integral.
  • En Córdoba, hay limitaciones.
  • Los prejuicios y el temor a la reacción de las familias obstaculizan la implementación.
  • Pero, a la vez, se involucran más docentes.

Cada vez más escuelas incluyen la educación sexual en las aulas, pero el enfoque sigue siendo más “moralista” que integral y persisten dificultades para su implementación, vinculadas a los prejuicios y al temor a la reacción de las familias.

Los datos surgen del relevamiento 2016/2017, publicados en el documento Estado de la implementación de la educación sexual integral (ESI) en instituciones educativas de Córdoba, realizado por el Ministerio de Educación de la Provincia.

Del trabajo participaron 2.600 escuelas, públicas y privadas, de nivel inicial, primario, secundario y superior. Es decir, el 56 por ciento del total de centros educativos de la provincia.

La información revela que, a 12 años de sancionada la ley 26.150 de Educación Sexual Integral (2006), el 85 por ciento de las instituciones de todos los niveles realiza acciones y actividades relacionadas con la temática. Más de la mitad de las escuelas lo hace de manera sistemática y el resto, esporádica. Pero todavía hay obstáculos para su plena implementación.

Esta radiografía de la aplicación de la ESI, más el debate que desató la legalización del aborto (que incluyó los déficits de información en diversos sectores de la sociedad), obligó a la Provincia a impulsar una especie de refundación de la educación sexual y a preguntarse por qué el tema aún no está instalado por completo en las escuelas.

El secundario es el que presenta más dificultades; en especial, con el compromiso de los docentes. Sin embargo, hay deudas en todo el sistema educativo ya que persiste un enfoque moralista, por encima del integral, con diferencias notorias entre escuelas de gestión estatal y privadas.

En el secundario

Según el informe oficial, el 85% de las escuelas secundarias aborda la ESI, mientras que sólo el 30% lo hacía antes de sancionarse la ley. En la actualidad, el 59% trabaja el tema de manera planificada y sostenida, frente al ocho por ciento que lo hacía antes de 2006.

En contraposición a lo que ocurre en el nivel inicial y primario, en la secundaria es alto el porcentaje de profesores que no participan en acciones vinculadas a educación sexual. Sólo dos de cada 10 (21%) escuelas tiene a su plantel docente completo involucrado en la temática. Estos casos ocurren en escuelas en las que la gestión directiva se compromete de manera particular con su implementación e, incluso, figura en el proyecto institucional.

El bajo porcentaje de profesores involucrados estaría vinculado a características propias del nivel: muchos docentes, escasa articulación, falta de espacio y tiempo para trabajar en conjunto y fragmentación del conocimiento en asignaturas diversas.

Aquellos que se interesan de manera activa indican que lo hacen por demanda de la institución y de los propios alumnos. También, y en este orden, por iniciativa personal, por la capacitación recibida, por solicitud de los supervisores y por la demanda de las familias.

Los enfoques relacionados con valores religiosos o espirituales predominan en colegios privados (63%) y caen en los estatales (37%). La abstinencia y fidelidad también son tópicos que se abordan con más fuerza en las instituciones aranceladas, la mayoría de ellas confesionales.

El 42% de las escuelas, en general, utilizan un enfoque moralista (religioso-espiritual), mientras que el 40%, uno integral –recomendado por la ley nacional–, que incluye aspectos vinculados con el cuidado de la salud y el cuerpo, la diversidad sexual, la perspectiva de género, derechos y afectividad. El 15%, en tanto, sigue reduciendo el tema a aspectos biológicos.

En las escuelas estatales, un 30% utiliza un enfoque basado en la biología (16% en las privadas), mientras que el 58% de las privadas sostiene un enfoque moralista (21% en las estatales).

El relevamiento muestra, además, que el principal obstáculo para la implementación son los prejuicios en relación al tema (58%) y el temor a la reacción de las familias (37%).

En relación con las trabas institucionales, la mayoría de los consultados acuerda que la principal es la falta de tiempo para la planificación colectiva (78%).

En el nivel inicial

El 87% de los jardines de infantes realiza acciones de educación sexual integral y casi todos los docentes están involucrados por interés personal (21%), solicitud institucional (70%), porque recibió capacitación (69%), por necesidad de los alumnos (49%), por pedido de supervisión (41%) o por necesidad de las familias (38%).

Se abordan temas relacionados al cuidado del cuerpo y la salud, a la expresión de emociones, a los vínculos saludables, a la violencia de género, al maltrato y abuso sexual, a la sexualidad y amor y a valores espirituales y religiosos.

Los enfoques integral (43%) y moralista (42%) son los predominantes, aunque varían de manera notable según se trate de escuelas de gestión estatal o privada. En las estatales, el 34% lo aborda desde un punto de vista moralista mientras que en las privadas ocho de cada 10 (78%) utilizan una visión basada en espiritual y religioso.

En las estatales, el 49% utiliza un enfoque integral y el 10%, basado en lo biológico. En las privadas, en tanto, sólo 18% integral y tres por ciento, con foco en la biología.

De qué se habla en las escuelas sobre el tema

La investigación revela cómo se enseña educación sexual.

42% Esta proporción de las escuelas utiliza un enfoque moralista (religioso-espiritual), contra un 40% que enseña de una manera integral, que es el recomendado por la ley aprobada en 2006.

63% Los enfoques relacionados con valores religiosos o espirituales predominan en colegios privados (63%) y caen en los estatales (37%). La abstinencia y fidelidad, eje en los confesionales.

79% La violencia de género se aborda en el 79% de las escuelas estatales (y el 61% de la privadas). La diversidad sexual, 69% estatales y 50% privadas. Prevención de embarazos: 53% estatales y 31% privados.

Fuente del artículo: http://www.lavoz.com.ar/ciudadanos/educacion-sexual-pero-con-enfoque-moralista
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What may be missing in our education system

The Royal Gazette

By The Royal Gazette

A great deal has changed in recent decades, in educating our young people to meet various challenges along the path of life. Most would agree that there have been major strides in technology and teaching techniques, designed to better equip students for a changing world with emphasis on knowledge needed for success. Nothing wrong with that, except in the process, it would appear that some traditional values have faded.

In the modern world today, where much of life rumbles along at a maddening pace, even commenting on this aspect of our educational system could be frowned upon as being out of step with education in today’s world. Education officials are confronted with a wide range of complex issues these days, and obviously officials strive to provide the best for students. However, no educational system is perfect, and there are always problems that require input from parents and community leaders, in trying to uphold values such as discipline and respect.

In Bermuda today, just as it is in many countries, the impact of illegal drugs and the consumption of alcohol by some young people, has been a problem that threatens the vulnerable, in addition to creating additional problems for parents and teachers, and eventually the community.

It is a situation that has challenged every government.

It should be noted that our teaching professionals are to be commended for their daily contribution in classrooms throughout the island, a task too often taken for granted.

With numerous changes in teaching from the way it was decades ago, it is also worth noting that it is still crucial for students to learn the true meaning of why discipline, respect, and a commitment to being a good citizen, are values that never change.

Our schools are generally thought of as learning centres for all there is to know about how to be successful. But these days in many countries, values such as discipline and respect have diminished with an increase in negative behaviour patterns.

Many of Bermuda’s heroes will never have their names flashed across the television screens, or in banner newspaper headlines. Yet these were the people who diligently toiled against enormous hardships and social injustices, to help steer Bermuda towards a society where decency, respect, and truth formed the pillars of society.

Yes, they knew the importance of economic success, but they also knew without values, success would be shallow.

Bermuda needs to take a deep look at itself in the area of values, because without them, our future will be up for question. While the Government cannot solve all community problems, they must be seen and heard to do everything possible to avoid a gradual slide to an “anything goes” society, where respect for others is shoved under the bus. This is a growing concern throughout our communities.

If our young people are influenced by the notion that what is popular gains more attention than what is right, the next generation will face even bigger challenges. Education involves far more than academics.

We often hear of things being different today, but when essential values are bypassed, as being outdated, or no longer relevant, seeds are being planted for a weakened society with the door open for potential civil chaos.

Discipline and respect were very much a part of our education system years ago, and with Bermuda being a religious community, it was normal for most schools to have a brief moment of devotion, prior to starting the school day.

Much has changed. Today, families seldom sit together at meal times to discuss matters of interest. The home should be the setting where education begins.

Instead, swallowed up in a world of cyberspace activity, there is little time for one-on-one family conversation. Some might say this is just a part of modern society.

We hear often that more financial investment should be made to enhance our educational system, and while that is positive, a real concern should be about what values have faded from the system, when it comes to discipline and respect for strong values.

Students of today are expected to be leaders of tomorrow, but they will only be successful if armed with solid values and a commitment to making Bermuda a safe and peaceful island. Bermuda must make use of all of its resources to protect values for future generations.

It is a challenge bigger than politics, and success will depend on how well we all work together for the good of the community.

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Academia Cisco en Cuba: hacia una educación tecnológica

Lisbeth Rodríguez Candelaria

Por Lisbet Rodríguez Candelaria

La educación y la tecnología constituyen pilares fundamentales para que los países prosperen en un mundo cada vez más interconectado, propósito al que responde la Academia Cisco: un modelo en línea avanzado para el desarrollo de habilidades tecnológicas.

 

Desde su fundación en 1997, este programa ha crecido hasta alcanzar unas 11 mil instituciones en más de 150 países, a lo que Cuba se sumó con la más reciente inauguración en la Universidad de Ciencias Informáticas (UCI) de su primera Academia Cisco.

Por medio de una plataforma de aprendizaje exclusivo y con el acompañamiento de instructores calificados, este programa de formación profesional es resultado de una alianza de éxito entre docentes, gobiernos, organizaciones internacionales, y el Sistema Cisco, líder mundial en soluciones de red e infraestructuras para internet.

Esta empresa global estadounidense tiene su sede en San José, California, y su nombre proviene de la ciudad de San Francisco, lugar donde se fundó el establecimiento, dedicado a la fabricación, mantenimiento y consultoría de equipos de telecomunicaciones.

La Academia Cisco utiliza entonces un esquema de aprendizaje que integra la enseñanza personalizada con un currículo basado en la web para la preparación de jóvenes especialistas en el diseño, configuración y administración de redes informáticas, temáticas demandadas hoy día.

Los cursos netamente prácticos están orientados a laboratorios y realizan evaluaciones por medio de internet, lo que implica un reto para los estudiantes.

Impartido en nueve idiomas, este programa reconocido a nivel mundial cuenta con más de 20 mil instructores en todo el planeta.

De acuerdo con Laura Quintana, vicepresidenta de Asuntos Corporativos de Cisco, más de ocho millones de personas en todo el mundo han adquirido experiencias durante 20 años, por lo que la asociación con la UCI tendrá un impacto positivo que favorecerá el avance digital de Cuba.

La UCI se consolida con la Academia Cisco

La primera Academia Cisco en el país caribeño se añade a los programas de pregrado y postgrado de la UCI para la formación de profesionales en administración de redes, aseguró Raydel Montesino, vicerrector primero de la universidad.

Esta academia es resultado de una de las misiones encomendadas a la UCI hace poco más de 15 años: formar profesionales altamente calificados en la rama de informática, y constituye un primer espacio nacional que abre los programas internacionales de Cisco en tecnologías de información y redes, añadió Montesino.

De esta manera la UCI se consolida como una casa de altos estudios que cuenta en estos momentos con diversas especializaciones, como la ingeniería en ciencias informáticas, en bioinformática, y también el programa de educación superior de ciclo corto en administración de redes y seguridad informática.

La maestría en gestión de proyectos, en calidad de software, en informática avanzada, la especialidad de postgrado en seguridad informática, y el doctorado en la misma rama, figuran también entre las áreas de estudio, a las que se suma ahora la Academia Cisco.

Esta última consta de cuatro módulos que abarcan los temas de introducción a las redes, principios básicos de enrutamiento y conmutación, así como escalamiento y conexión de las mismas, por lo que va más allá de las habilidades necesarias para configurar y administrar la tecnología Cisco; también comprende conocimientos imprescindibles para cualquier profesional relacionado con estas temáticas.

La academia forma parte del concepto de Universidad Innovadora, donde se combina la investigación científica, la innovación tecnológica, la información de alto nivel y el desarrollo de productos y servicios de valor agregado en el área de las nuevas tecnologías, afirmó Montesino.

Ya fueron formados los primeros 19 instructores Cisco de Cuba, quienes a decir de la vicepresidenta de esta empresa global, obtuvieron los promedios de calificaciones más altos de América Latina.

De ellos 14 son profesores de la UCI y los cinco restantes pertenecen a la Universidad de Pinar del Río, el Instituto Superior Politécnico José Antonio Echeverría, la Universidad Central de Las Villas, la de Oriente y el Ministerio de Educación Superior.

Cada año se desarrollarán varias ediciones que permitirán formar más de 100 profesionales en los perfiles de configuración y administración de redes, declaró el representante de la universidad cubana.

En la actual edición están matriculados además de profesores y especialistas de la UCI, otros de la Empresa de Telecomunicaciones de Cuba, Segurmática, la Oficina de Seguridad para las Redes Informáticas, el Centro Nacional de Sanidad Agropecuaria, la Empresa de Aplicaciones Informáticas y la Universidad Agraria de La Habana.

Con ellos se logra un impacto del programa de formación en instituciones, empresas y universidades del país, manifestó Montesino.

Primeros pasos de la Academia Cisco en Cuba

Las primeras ideas de creación de la Academia Cisco en la isla se gestaron en el año 2015, momento a partir del cual comenzó la concepción del programa, el donativo, instalación y configuración del equipamiento, así como la utilización de simuladores, la formación de instructores, la selección de un centro de soporte, y finalmente la fundación en el Sistema Cisco de esta academia cubana.

En la materialización del proyecto estuvieron involucrados el Instituto Tecnológico de las Américas de República Dominicana en la formación de instructores, así como los ministerios de Educación Superior, de Comunicaciones y de Relaciones Exteriores de Cuba.

De acuerdo con el vicerrector primero de la UCI, esta acción está alineada con la política integral para el perfeccionamiento de la informatización de la sociedad cubana, que plantea entre sus principios básicos la necesidad de incentivar la capacitación, preparación, especialización y certificación de los roles profesionales.

Ello constituye un paso más en el proceso de lograr un país con mayor informatización, a través de un modelo de aprendizaje en línea que pretende formar mejores especialistas.

Como expresó la vicepresidenta de Asuntos Corporativos de Cisco, su aporte como industria es contribuir al desarrollo de las habilidades técnicas y profesionales que permitan a los educadores y empresas competir en un mundo cada día más dependiente de las nuevas tecnologías.

Fuente del artículo: http://www.prensa-latina.cu/index.php?o=rn&id=193357&SEO=academia-cisco-en-cuba-hacia-una-educacion-tecnologica
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Reimagining the School Day

Meg Benner

By Meg Benner

Introduction

The minutes and hours of the school day are critical to build knowledge, foster student motivation, and drive student outcomes. To make the most of precious instructional time, teachers must first develop engaging lessons that meet the various needs of students. This requires teachers to collaborate, plan, and reflect outside of instructional time. Effective school schedules maximize the time teachers spend with their students but also recognize teachers’ additional responsibilities beyond instructional time. Unfortunately, not enough schools successfully balance these priorities.

Teachers in the United States spend far more time engaged in active instruction than teachers in other high-performing countries.1 Based on self-reported data, teachers in the United States spend 27 hours teaching out of 45 hours of work per week.2 Compare this with teachers in Singapore, who teach for only 17 hours per week, or teachers in Finland, who teach for a total of 21 hours per week.3 Schools in these countries prioritize time for planning and collaboration, recognizing that developing and executing lessons take time and preparation.4 According to a recent analysis of more than 140 school districts, the average length of a U.S. teacher’s workday is 7.5 hours.5 In another analysis of more than 120 school districts, the most common length of time allotted for planning was 45 minutes per day.6 In this short time, teachers must grade student work, plan for future lessons, engage with families, and complete necessary paperwork. As a result, teachers have little time to plan or collaborate with peers.7

The squeeze for time to plan lessons and complete other administrative tasks shapes a school’s professional environment and, ultimately, affects the quality of instruction. In a recent survey from the American Federation of Teachers, one of teachers’ two most cited “everyday stressors” was time pressure.8 As teachers are largely separate from other educators during instruction, lack of time for collaboration can be very isolating. More than half of lower secondary school teachers in the United States report that they do not teach jointly or observe other teachers.9 Such practices can improve teaching quality by granting teachers opportunities to receive feedback on their lesson execution and infuse new best practices into their repertoire.

In addition, providing teachers with more time to plan and attend to other responsibilities throughout the school day creates systematic opportunities to support new teachers and stretch more seasoned teachers—increasing the likelihood of teacher retention. During this structured planning time, new teachers should receive the coaching and personalized training they need to maximize their effectiveness and meet their professional goals. Meanwhile, experienced teachers can pursue leadership roles or coach new teachers.

Fortunately, schools can look to several promising models to change their typical schedules. The Center for American Progress compiled five of these innovative school schedules. Some of these schedules have already been implemented in schools across the country to improve instruction and ensure that teachers have ample time to teach, prepare, and develop their craft. CAP has also included teachers’ ideas for alternatives to the traditional school day model.

While each example schedule varies, there were similarities in how school leaders and teachers at each school reimagined the use of time. These innovative schedules all included:

  • Additional time for planning and collaboration
  • Flexible instructional blocks to differentiate content to student need
  • Opportunities for small group instruction or student-directed learning

Innovative school schedules: Example schedules from schools across the country

Guilmette Elementary School, Lawrence, Massachusetts

What’s different about this schedule?

Guilmette Elementary School in Lawrence, Massachusetts, added more than 260 hours of instructional time to the school year and built in common planning time by extending the school day and strategically aligning grade team schedules. The schedule also allows for targeted intervention and enrichment opportunities for all students. (see Table 1) Students follow a similar schedule on Mondays through Thursdays. On Fridays, students participate in high-quality enrichment programming from noon to 2:30 p.m., which is led by community partners. These enrichment activities include art, music, yoga, and cooking. Teachers participate in professional development and planning at that time.10

Operations and cost

The extra instructional hours are a significant cost. The district’s teacher contract provides teachers with a stipend of $2,500 per year for added hours that is distributed evenly across their paychecks. Moreover, the quality of the enrichment programs offered on Friday is dependent on the community partners that teach the programs. Guilmette has worked to find high-quality, affordable partners.11

Outcomes

In the four years since Guilmette has implemented the new schedule, its English language arts and math proficiency scores have steadily improved; since 2013, Guilmette outperformed other elementary schools in the district. More information is available on the school’s report card.12

Objectives

  • Add 260 or more instructional hours each school year
  • Provide collaborative planning time for teachers
  • Create added opportunities for enrichment and targeted intervention that focuses on acceleration

Achievement First Greenfield middle school schedule, New Haven, Connecticut

What’s different about this schedule?

Greenfield schools, which are a part of the Achievement First network, designed a schedule that leverages four modalities of learning: self-directed learning; small group learning; large group instruction, and immersive expeditions.13 Students engage in daily self-directed learning to build responsibility and differentiate the pace of their learning. During this time, students use independent work or technology to review new concepts and move through mastery of content at their own pace. Students also participate in small group learning in sections of 14 to 16 students to dig into specific topics and receive individual feedback. Larger group instruction is reserved for seminars, debates, and experiments.

Every eight weeks, students engage in immersive expeditions for one to two weeks that explore a specific issue and apply skills to the real world. Expeditions such as creating a play, television show, or movie allow them to use writing, improvisation, and teamwork skills to bring stories to life. For example, in the expedition “Make your story come to life,” students write and produce scenes or short plays to be performed by other actors. They engage with a professional theater company for storytelling workshops and go on behind-the-scenes tours.14

Interactive digital learning is a key element of the Greenfield model. A cloud-based Personalized Learning Platform, or PLP, takes the place of traditional textbooks. Students use a laptop to access their online self-directed content, track progress toward their goals, and take assessments to demonstrate mastery of concepts. This system minimizes teachers’ work and increases transparency of student progress. Teachers or students do not need to input results to track progress; the platform does it automatically. Teachers, students, and families can log in to access student progress anywhere with an internet connection. It also helps the school communicate with parents and families.15

Every teacher is responsible for leading one instructional area—either humanities, math, science, writing, or social studies. This specialization allows teachers to focus on achieving ambitious results in their content area. A yearly pacing calendar identifies where students must perform at every point in the year in order to be on track with these ambitious outcomes. Teachers use pacing reports each day to determine where students are performing relative to the bar and to adjust their instruction in ways that will maximize the number of students who are on and ahead of pace.16

In addition, Greenfield differentiates teachers’ roles and schedules to allow for specialization, planning, and life balance.17 This includes collaborative planning time for all teachers, differentiated coaching, and professional development, as well as growth opportunities based on teachers’ skills and experience. Greenfield also offers a staggered teaching schedule for more experienced teachers.

Within each grade, students are organized into goal teams of 10 to 12 students and assigned a goal coach. These teams meet daily in order to set and reflect on academic, life habit, or enrichment goals; deepen relationships with the goal coach and other goal team members; and build habits of success. Within goal teams, students are paired off with another student, called a running partner. These pairs provide mutual support and accountability to one another as they strive for ambitious short- and long-term goals. Goal teams are led by a goal coach who is a staff member in the school. The goal coach works closely with one goal team to build community and to be a primary support for each student and running partner pair.18

Operations and cost

The ongoing operation of this schedule is not more costly than other schedules that Achievement First operates in its network. Core to Achievement First’s mission is to operate with the same public dollars as traditional district schools in the geographies where it operates.19

Outcomes

The Greenfield schools piloted the model in kindergarten and middle school grades, all of which saw proficiency exceed or equal the scores of other Achievement First schools in Connecticut after just one year. Kindergartners exceeded 90 percent proficient rates in reading, and 60 percent of students demonstrated at least 75 percentile growth in math. For middle school grades, average scores on English language arts weekly quizzes ranked first or second in the overall Achievement First Connecticut network. Fifth grade math scores exceeded the network average, but sixth grade scores were below the average.20For more information on socioemotional growth, review the Achievement First’s Greenfield Schools Year 1 Pilot.21

Objectives

  • Allow for accelerated, differentiated academics through four modalities of learning: self-directed learning time; small group learning; large group learning; and immersive expeditions
  • Build in time for enrichment
  • Foster habits of success in all kids, including curiosity, personal growth, empathy, gratitude, drive, and teamwork
  • Emphasize the importance of student, family, and staff motivation
  • Differentiate teacher roles based on experience and create more time for planning for all instructional staff
  • Reduce turnover by finding ways to accommodate senior teachers who need more flexible schedules

Generation Schools secondary schedule, Brooklyn, New York

What’s different about this schedule?

Generation Schools Network’s secondary school model creates up to 30 percent more learning time than traditional public schools in New York City and provides opportunities for differentiated instruction. It also reduces student-to-teacher ratios and overall teacher workloads to facilitate the development of supportive teacher-student relationships.22

Furthermore, teachers have more time for collaboration and professional development. All teachers, as part of their approximately 180-day work year, participate in a one- to two-week Summer Institute dedicated to collaborative planning in preparation for the school year.23 In addition, grade teams have two weeks of professional collaborative time staggered throughout the year when their students are in intensives. This is in addition to the collaborative time that teachers have every day.24

To reduce teacher workload and increase instructional time, the Generation Schools Network differentiates instructional roles—foundation, studio, and intensive teachers. This allows the school to build on a wider range of teachers’ strengths and to design roles and responsibilities that help teachers be effective and reduce turnover. In addition, it reduces teachers’ student load. Teachers have 75 or fewer students daily compared with their peers in New York City traditional public high schools, who often teach 150 students daily.25 The model organizes teachers into grade level teams and a college and career intensives team. The college and career intensives team rotates from grade to grade over the course of the year, spending a month with students exploring college and career pathways. Teachers on that designated grade team are not responsible for students that month and can use that time for collaboration and breaks. By staggering teacher breaks, Generation Schools Network expands the instructional year for students without increasing the number of working days for teachers.26

Every student also has a differentiated schedule that fits their needs. Students participate in extended foundation courses—including interdisciplinary courses on humanities or science, technology, engineering, and math, or STEM—which teach required subjects for all students as well as have various studio courses based on their interests. Studio courses include art history, physical education, art, foreign languages, or advanced sciences.27

Operations and cost

Generation Schools’ model reconfigures the same number of staff members who are employed in a conventional school model so that each school can offer much more planning time to teachers and instructional time to students without increasing staff costs, which are a majority of a school’s budget. Depending on how districts budget, this type of schedule may require additional costs for maintenance or transportation.28

Outcomes

Generation Schools Network has improved student achievement and graduation rates. Brooklyn Generation School, or BGS, has improved attendance, course completion, and graduation rates. At 69 percent, the four-year graduation rate at BGS has matched that for the city overall—70 percent—and outperformed schools with a similar demographic of students. These achievements are especially remarkable, as 85 percent of BGS’ students enter high school behind or significantly behind. In addition, 100 percent of the 2016 graduating class was accepted into college—many receiving multiple admissions and significant financial aid to make the opportunity real.29

Objectives

  • Increase instructional time for all students and opportunities to differentiate instruction
  • Reduce student-to-teacher ratios and overall teacher workloads to facilitate the development of supportive teacher-student relationships
  • Integrate collaborative planning time for teacher teams

Model school schedules designed by teachers

Model elementary school schedule

Created by Lexie Woo, fourth and fifth grade teacher in Queens, New York

What’s different about this schedule?

This schedule allows educators the opportunity to improve their instruction through strategic collaboration with colleagues, additional planning time, and ongoing feedback from administrators.

The timing of instructional blocks rotates to diffuse the negative impact of time-sensitive factors, such as tardiness, early dismissals, fatigue, medication use, and attention span. In addition, each subject has a double instructional block once per week, providing time for innovative educational practices, including multidisciplinary learning; project-based learning; and science, technology, engineering, art and design, and math, or STEAM, and STEM. This allows students to engage in a more self-directed and autonomous educational experience, growing as independent thinkers and doers.

With this dynamic schedule, teachers can select preferred preparation times, allowing teachers to shape their day to fit their working style. In other words, teachers can deliver instruction at the height of their energy.30

Objectives

  • Create more teacher planning time and develop more opportunities for teachers to receive feedback on their instruction
  • Allow teachers to self-select preparation periods to ensure that the timing works for their teaching and working styles
  • Offer double instructional blocks for each subject throughout the week
  • Rotate the timing of instructional blocks

Model high school schedule

Created by Crischelle Navalta, high school teacher in Donna, Texas; Jillian Harkins, high school teacher in New Haven, Connecticut; Mary Kreuz, high school teacher in Toledo, Ohio; Megan Williams, eighth grade teacher in Washington, D.C.; and Amanda Zullo, high school teacher in Saranac Lake, New York

What’s different about this schedule?

This schedule strategically minimizes teachers’ workloads to ensure that they have time to build their content expertise. In addition, teachers have additional time apart from active instruction to collaborate with their content team, plan independently, or assume a leadership position.31

Objectives

  • Reduce instructional load by ensuring that teachers teach no more than two different course subjects, and limit teaching time to only 60 percent of a teacher’s day
  • Build in approximately 40 percent of the day for conference time, leadership roles beyond the classroom, common planning time with content or grade team, and professional development

Conclusion

Tasked to deliver differentiated, high-quality instruction that prepares students for the social and academic challenges in college and beyond, schools must push their thinking on how they allocate time throughout the school day. Innovative school schedules should meet diverse student needs and ensure that all teachers are primed to deliver engaging, rigorous content. As this issue brief demonstrates, various models already exist to accomplish these goals. As schools across the country reimagine their school day schedules, they will be most successful if they customize the use of time to meet content needs rather than adapting content to fit a fixed schedule.

Meg Benner is a Senior Consultant at the Center for American Progress. Lisette Partelow is the Director of K-12 Strategic Initiatives at the Center.

Endnotes

  1. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, “Education at a Glance 2014: OECD Indicators” (2014), Table D4.1, available at http://www.oecd.org/edu/Education-at-a-Glance-2014.pdf. ↩
  2. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, “TALIS 2013 Results: An International Perspective on Teaching and Learning” (2014), Table 6.12, available at http://www.istruzione.it/allegati/2014/OCSE_TALIS_Rapporto_Internazionale_EN.pdf.↩
  3. Ibid.; Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, “Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA): Results from PISA 2012” (2012), available at http://www.oecd.org/pisa/keyfindings/PISA-2012-results-US.pdf. ↩
  4. Ibid. ↩
  5. National Council on Teacher Quality, “The NCTQ Teacher Trendline: A snapshot of district-level teacher policies from NCTQ’s Teacher Contract Database” (2016), available at http://us1.campaign-archive2.com/?u=c9b11da2ceffae94e1dc196f6&id=0c8870e3fa&e=a225322446. ↩
  6. National Council on Teacher Quality, “The NCTQ Teacher Trendline: A snapshot of district-level teacher policies from NCTQ’s Teacher Contract Database” (2015), available at http://www.nctq.org/commentary/article.do?id=186. ↩
  7. Linda Darling-Hammond, Ruth Chung Wei, and Alethea Andree, “How High-Achieving Countries Develop Great Teachers” (Stanford, CA: Stanford Center for Opportunity Policy in Education, 2010), available at https://edpolicy.stanford.edu/sites/default/files/publications/how-high-achieving-countries-develop-great-teachers.pdf. ↩
  8. American Federation of Teachers, “Quality of Worklife Survey” (2015), available at http://www.aft.org/sites/default/files/worklifesurveyresults2015.pdf. ↩
  9. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, “Country Note: Results From TALIS 2013: United States of America” (2013), available at http://www.oecd.org/unitedstates/TALIS-2013-country-note-US.pdf. ↩
  10. Personal communication from Lori Butterfield, principal, Guilmette Elementary School, September 2016 to January 2017. ↩
  11. Ibid. ↩
  12. Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, “2015 Massachusetts School Report Card Overview: Gerard A. Guilmette,” available at http://profiles.doe.mass.edu/reportcard/SchoolReportCardOverview.aspx?linkid=105&orgcode=01490022&fycode=2015&orgtypecode=6 (last accessed January 2017). ↩
  13. Achievement First Greenfield, available at http://www.afgreenfieldschools.org/ (last accessed January 2017). ↩
  14. Personal communication from Jennifer Lindsay, project director, Achievement First Greenfield, October 2016 to January 2017. ↩
  15. Personal communication from Lindsay; Deborah Sawch, “A Case Study of Achievement First’s Greenfield Schools Year 1 Pilot” (Achievement First Greenfield and Transcend Education, 2016), available at https://static1.squarespace.com/static/55ca46dee4b0fc536f717de8/t/57b7688aff7c50e4a7e9cc60/1471637645702/AF+Greenfield+Year+1+Pilot+Case+Study+2016.pdf. ↩
  16. Ibid. ↩
  17. Ibid. ↩
  18. Ibid.; Sawch, “A Case Study of Achievement First’s Greenfield Schools Year 1 Pilot.” ↩
  19. Personal communication from Lindsay. ↩
  20. Sawch, “A Case Study of Achievement First’s Greenfield Schools Year 1 Pilot.” ↩
  21. Ibid. ↩
  22. Personal communication from Jonathan Spear, co-founder and former chief learning officer, and Wendy Loloff Piersee, chief executive officer, Generation Schools Network, July to August 2016. ↩
  23. Wendy Loloff Piersee, “Staying Focused: Using the Data to Support West Generation Academy Students,” Generation Schools Network, August 20, 2014, available at http://generationschools.org/education-non-profit-blog-generation-schools/2014/08/20/staying-focused:-using-the-data-to-support-west-generation-academy-students/. ↩
  24. Personal communication from Spear and Piersee. ↩
  25. Ibid. ↩
  26. Ibid. ↩
  27. Ibid. ↩
  28. Ibid. ↩
  29. Ibid. ↩
  30. Personal communication from Lexie Woo, fourth and fifth grade teacher, Queens, New York, July 2016. ↩
  31. Personal communication from Crischelle Navalta, high school teacher, Donna, Texas; Jillian Harkins, high school teacher, New Haven, Connecticut; Mary Kreuz, high school teacher, Toledo, Ohio; Megan Williams, eighth grade teacher, Washington, D.C.; and Amanda Zullo, high school teacher, Saranac Lake, New York, July 2016. ↩

Source of the article: https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/education-k-12/reports/2017/02/23/426723/reimagining-the-school-day/

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Mejorar la calidad educativa para combatir la desigualdad social

Fernanda Vilarós

Por Fernanda Viláros

La educación en México ha sido un punto clave analizado por el gobierno actual a partir de la reforma educativa, cuyo objetivo consiste en mejorar la calidad de la enseñanza a partir de políticas educativas integrales que transformen la relación entre autoridades, docentes, alumnos y sociedad.

Las políticas implementadas se enfocan en eliminar los vicios del sistema, con maestros seleccionados con base en sus capacidades, fortalecer la autonomía de las escuelas, exigir la profesionalización de maestros con evaluaciones anuales, actualizar los programas de estudio y promover la inclusión, reduciendo así la desigualdad en el acceso a la educación y ofreciendo financiamientos y becas que permitan a los jóvenes continuar con sus estudios.

En la educación superior, una de las disyuntivas es mejorar la calidad y la expansión del sistema de las universidades públicas, pero para hacerlo tangible es crucial fomentar políticas de transparencia y eficiencia de los recursos. Un análisis de la administración de los recursos para el sistema educativo revela que gran parte de los fondos para la educación son destinados a la nómina de los docentes, disminuyendo la inversión para capacitación, certificaciones, infraestructura y equipo especializado.

Bajo esa premisa, se puede confirmar la relevancia política que tiene el tema educativo en la coyuntura electoral. La reforma educativa que entró en vigor entre 2012-2013 se convirtió en un punto crítico para la población, ya que inició una reestructura del sistema educativo permitiendo que más estudiantes tengan acceso a educación de calidad. El proyecto de esta reforma conlleva un proceso a largo plazo. La complejidad de esta problemática es tan extensa que los resultados serán visibles paulatinamente y no puede esperarse que se modifique por completo en tres años.

Por esto, es crucial que el próximo gobierno retome el proyecto en pro de la educación y no elimine las políticas que han logrado implementarse, ya que la única consecuencia que tendría es un retroceso en el sector educativo. La competitividad y la educación son desafíos que enfrenta el capital humano; una preparación académica integral da como resultado trabajadores profesionalizados con facultades para desempeñarse y competir de manera equitativa a nivel internacional y la única forma de conseguirlo es construyendo un sistema educativo sólido.

Los docentes son parte indispensable en la formación de los jóvenes y la implementación de evaluaciones anuales permitiría una constante capacitación del personal promoviendo la calidad en la enseñanza. Sí, es cierto que los maestros deben formar parte del rediseño de la reforma del sistema educativo, pero ¿por qué los sabios considerados así en la antigüedad se negarían a presentar exámenes que sólo confirmarían sus conocimientos? No es humillar, es enaltecer a los docentes y capacitarlos para promover su sabiduría.

En un mundo globalizado, en el que la competitividad entre profesionistas ha incrementado considerablemente, los docentes tienen la gran tarea de instruir a los estudiantes y darles las herramientas necesarias para competir en un ámbito laboral internacional. Ejemplo de esto es el Tratado de Libre Comercio de América del Norte, ¿cómo afecta en la educación este acuerdo trilateral?

La apertura comercial entre México, Canadá y EU es la clave del reto en la educación y la competitividad, sus disposiciones no sólo se enfocan en eliminar aranceles, sino en el papel que tienen los gobiernos en relación con la propiedad intelectual y los servicios.

Marcela de la Sota, directora de la Licenciatura en Economía, comentó que “el TLCAN representa un reto importante en la concepción, financiamiento y desarrollo de las instituciones de educación superior; la apertura comercial y la mayor competencia exigen la modernización de la educación superior, replanteando la forma en que la profesión se ejerce en el mercado laboral”.

Como consecuencia, descubrimos que la internacionalización de la educación superior, a través de intercambios académicos o docentes, permite mejorar la calidad de enseñanza e investigación a partir de la globalización y modernización en la formación del capital humano. En México, las oportunidades de hacer posgrados ha crecido y se han logrado alianzas estratégicas con universidades extranjeras para propiciar estos encuentros; las facilidades en el marco migratorio en años anteriores representó una parte crucial de la relación cooperativa entre estos países. Un ejemplo es el intercambio docente, en el que maestros especializados son contratados por universidades extranjeras y solicitan las visas otorgadas a través del marco TLCAN.

Es importante tomar en cuenta que desde 1985 el comercio de servicios ha crecido de forma exuberante, específicamente en educación a distancia. El marco migratorio para los estudiantes no se vería directamente afectado con las visas de estudiante; sin embargo, si algún corporativo extranjero busca contratar estudiantes foráneos, no podría solicitar las visas otorgadas a través del TLCAN y tendría que recurrir a un proceso migratorio complejo, que implicaría una mayor inversión económica y de tiempo.

En relación con el sector económico, si el TLCAN no se renegocia equitativamente tendríamos como consecuencia una depreciación de la moneda nacional, disminuyendo considerablemente el número de jóvenes que tendrían el poder adquisitivo para sostener una educación fuera del país. Retomando el concepto, el capital humano es el principal generador de riqueza y por eso la inversión en la educación podría combatir la desigualdad social.

Debido a la incertidumbre de las campañas electorales y de la renegociación del TLCAN, la elección de nuestro gobernante definirá el curso que tomará no sólo la educación sino las relaciones internaciones de México con el mundo. Es crucial ser un país independiente y soberano, pero sin cerrar los ojos y caer en la soberbia de creer que no necesitamos de nadie para mejorar. Vivimos en un mundo globalizado; por ello, debemos ser críticos y trabajar en conjunto para buscar soluciones y alianzas estratégicas que beneficien y promuevan el reconocimiento y crecimiento económico del país, a partir no sólo de la apertura comercial sino de la integración y restructuración del sector educativo.

*La autora es egresada de la Universidad Anáhuac, Campus Norte. El artículo se realizó con la asesoría de la Dra. Marcela de la Sota, directora de la Facultad de Economía y de la estudiante Almudena Wolff; egresada de la licenciatura en Relaciones Internacionales de la Universidad Anáhuac México, Campus Norte.

Fuente del artículo: https://www.eleconomista.com.mx/politica/Mejorar-la-calidad-educativa-para-combatir-la-desigualdad-social-20180707-0018.html

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