What Obamacare Means for Public Education

There are a number of people who dislike the Affordable Health Care Act, which has been dubbed “Obamacare.” However through the lens of an educator, Obamacare may be  beneficial to public education.  

              Obamacare has the potential to address many of the social ills that affect academic attainment and school climate.  If everyone is mandated to have healthcare, the potential to have healthier children in school would greatly impact the classroom.  

Imagine, if schools did not have to focus on uncovering vision, hearing, and behavioral health deficits because children came to school with glasses, hearing aids and under the supervision of a physician or psychiatrist?  A true partnership could be built where school, parents and physicians work together to support children. 

Imagine attendance in schools improving because fewer children are out sick. Imagine instructional time be used more effectively when children come to school fed with enough sleep and energy to be engaged?  Without these distractions, children would be able to focus on academics.  The ability to focus on academics should translate to increase tests scores and increase content knowledge.    

Finally, Obamacare could be beneficial to schools in addressing teenage pregnancy, sexually transmitted disease and AIDS.  Imagine young adults being able to learn the various forms of prevention from a physician who can inform them of symptoms and provide medication.  Being under the care of a physician for a pregnancy, STD or AIDS could alleviate the pressure and anxiety and allow the young adult to focus on their education. 

If Obamacare can address just some of the social ills that affect academic and school climate, schools and children will be the biggest beneficiaries of a controversial law.      

Growing Up Without a Filter

A child educated only at school

is an uneducated child

            A friend of mine posted this statement on Facebook.  The efforts to improve public education have primarily focused on students meeting content standards.  However, absent in the focus is the role parents should play in supporting their children’s education.  It is the absence of parent involvement that undermines the education of children.

There is a disturbing trend that is not being addressed and it has a tremendous impact on public education.  The trend is children who are growing up without a filter.  There are children who are witnessing, hearing and learning things that are not appropriate for their age.  Since there is no one to model appropriate behavior, these children come to school and emulate the inappropriate behaviors they witness, hear and learn. 

When their learned inappropriate behavior conflicts with expected school behavior, these children struggle and they become labeled.  These students are called disruptive, violent, emotionally disturbed.  These are children that will likely be placed in special education programs because they are unable to transition their inappropriate behavior to the expected school behavior.

While these children have now been labeled and placed in a special education program, the parents of these children continue to allow their children to be exposed to inappropriate behaviors.  When a child’s first instinct to conflict resolution is to fight, that child has witnessed, heard and learned the way to respond to conflict is to fight.  When a child is frustrated and they do not have the coping skills to calm themselves because they have witnessed, heard and learned to curse, yell, scream and threaten, that is what he/she will do.  Lastly, when children use inappropriate language discuss inappropriate content in their daily interactions with peers in public settings, it is because they have witnessed, hear and learned this in non school settings.  The question becomes, how can schools neutralize the lack of a filter some children have?

There is no easy solution to this problem.  A teacher and administrator can only do so much work with children who are growing up with no filter.  The difficulty is convincing parents to partner with the school to develop a filter for their child.  Unfortunately, there are some parents who do not believe in having a filter because they grew up without a filter. 

If we want all children to learn, not become labeled and not improperly placed in special education programs, schools will have to find a way to neutralize the lack of a filter in order for children to learn. This is where partnership with parents is crucial to the success of the child.

The Purpose of Public Education

            What is the purpose of public education?  Is the purpose of public education for students to understand, retain and recall content?  Is the purpose of public education for students to learn a skill? Or is the purpose of public education something else?

            If you believe the purpose of public education is for students to understand, retain and recall content, then there has to be a more effective way for students to be instructed that would rely less on rote memorization and recitation and more on open discussion.  Having open discussions would provide students the opportunity to develop theories and opinions and have those opinions challenged by peers and by the teacher in an informal debate process.  Instruction in this manner engages students to become a partner in the learning process, develops critical thinking skills and should allow them to understand, retain and recall content because of their partnership in the learning process.

            Additionally, if the purpose of public education is for students to understand and recall content, then why are schools using standardized testing as the sole means of evaluation understanding and recalling of content?  Why not give students oral and written exams to determine their understanding and recall of content?  Would this not be a more valid measure of evaluation?

            If you believe the purpose of public education is for students to learn a skill, how would this occur in a system where there are few opportunities for students to “learn by doing?”  With the exception of a hand full of schools that provide skills for a specific trade, a majority of students are not learning the skills that will help them compete in the global workforce. 

            There is great concern from higher education, corporations and parents about a “skills gap” in public education.  The claims about a skills gap in public education has gained more attention due to the perception a skills gap is one of the reasons for the poor economy.  Blaming the over emphasis of standardized testing in public education and the consequences tied to poor outcomes, instruction shifted to ensuring that enough students pass the standardized test.  Lost in the emphasis on testing was the instruction of skills.

            It is rare in public education today that students learn content in a project based learning model.  There was a time when public education utilized the “applied” method to instruction.  The applied method connected content to real world applications.  Subjects such as Applied Math, Applied Science, etc provided instruction that was hands on and provided a connection to the world of work.  It was this type of instruction where students learned skills as well as content.  However, the applied method was not considered “academically rigorous.”

            Finally, if you believe the purpose of public education is something else such as developing productive citizens, sending students to college, or to be critical thinkers, then you will begin to understand the perception of public education as a struggling entity.

            The purpose of public education is different from state to state, district to district, parent to parent and teacher to teacher.  If the adults cannot come up with a common purpose for public education, why do we believe students will?

Year Up

            Have you ever heard of “Year Up?”  Hopefully in the next couple of years, Year Up will be widely known like City Year and Teach for America.  Like City Year and Teach for America, Year Up is a program dedicated to filling in the gaps young adults fall through and helping young adults acquire skills to improve their lives.

            Year Up provides recent high school graduates and graduates with their GED who live in economically distressed communities an opportunity to participate in a year long jobs training boot camp.  What is unique about Year Up is that upon successful completion of the program, a majority of the participants secure full time employment as IT and Financial support with Fortune 500 companies such as J.P Morgan, American Express and Facebook[i].

            Year up participants spend six months working on technical projects such as building and maintaining computers to basic accounting and balance sheets.  Participants also work on soft skills and social skills, the skills needed to build the foundation to a career.  The remaining six months, participants work as interns in Fortune 500 companies as IT support or Financial support. 

            The founder of Year Up is Gerald Chertavian.  Gerald worked in Corporate America and in 1988volunteered as a Big Brother.  Being a mentor with a young man from an economically distressed community, Chertavian came to learn his mentee had “all the potential, but didn’t have the access and the opportunity…having seeing that for three years close up, I realized this was wrong[ii].”

            Using his own money, Chertavian started Year Up with 22 students with the purpose of creating a job boot camp that provides a pathway to good careers for young people who would otherwise never get the chance.  Since the inception of Year Up, the program has grown into 12 sites across the country training 2000 young adults for financial operations and IT jobs.  What is even more impressive is that after the completion of Year Up, 85% of the participants go on to attend college or are hired full time with an average salary of up to $50,000[iii].

            The success of Year Up has garnered the attention of President Obama who is looking to have Year Up replicated.  If Chertavian and President Obama are able to convince more CEO’s to get agree to embrace the Year Up model, young adults in economically distressed communities will have the opportunity to break the generational cycle of poverty. 

            Year Up is one of the most promising programs in decades. The program seeks to provide skills, opportunity and empowerment while challenging the systemic racial and economic bias in corporate America.

I believe Year Up could do for young adults living in economically distressed communities what the War on Poverty could not accomplish; break the cycle of generational poverty.

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[i] www.cbsnews.com/news/jobs-aids-fortune-500-underprivileged-youth

[ii] ibid

[iii] ibid

The Costs of Student Discipline Recommendations

            This past weekend while waiting in the line at the grocery store, I overheard two older women talking about “they heard Obama told the schools to stop calling the police on the kids for stupid stuff.”  One of the woman stated “it’s about time, but how much is it going to cost?”

            Cost?  Why did the two women believe that monetary costs would be attached to the Obama Administrations recommendations to schools on student discipline?  Did the two older women understand what the recommendations were trying to accomplish?

            When you consider the “cost” of the recommendations to schools by the Obama Administration, the question becomes, can you put a monetary amount on equity and fairness in student discipline? 

            The recommendations to schools called for changes in policy and the culture of criminalizing behaviors.   When reading the article on the recommendation to schools, I viewed the “cost” not in a monetary sense, but a cost of change in systemic, cultural and personal processes.  Schools are being told to remove bias, stereotypes and intolerance when it comes to student discipline and students of color.  Teachers and administrators are challenged to be student centered and work on alternatives to suspension, expulsion and involvement of law enforcement.  Lastly, school police are asked to become more involved with students on a personal level while they are in the building. 

If more students are able to graduate and not have their futures ruined by a student discipline process that involved law enforcement, then the changes schools are asked to do by the Obama Administration will give students of color opportunities to become productive citizens, which in turn benefits the economy.  Therefore, the costs of the recommendation to schools would be neutral in monetary sense; the cost of systemic change in schools is time.

If cost of instilling equity, fairness and student centeredness in student discipline is time, I think that is a cost everyone can live with.

Revising Student Discipline

                Last week the Obama Administration issued recommendations on school discipline.  The purpose of the recommendations was to end the racial disparities in punishment for violations of school policy[i].

                Pointing to “zero tolerance” policies as the primary reason for the racial disparity in punishment, Attorney General, Eric Holder argues that too often zero tolerance policies infused the criminal justice system as part of the punishment.  Attorney General went on to further argue that:

                                “Ordinary troublemaking can sometimes provoke responses

                                that are overly severe, including out of school suspensions,

                                expulsions and even referral to law enforcement…then you

                                end up with kids that end up in police precincts instead of the

                                principal’s office[ii].”

                The statements made by Attorney General Holder reflect the data collected by the Office of Civil Rights which found that African-American students were more than three times as likely as whites to be expelled or suspended.  Additionally, more than half of students involved in school related arrests or referred to law enforcement were African-American or Latino.

                To change the approach schools handle discipline, Obama Administration recommended:  1) ensure school personnel understand they are responsible for administering routine students discipline instead of security or police officers; 2) Draw clear distinctions about the responsibility of school security personnel; 3) Provide opportunities for school security officers to develop relationships with students and parents; 4) Establish procedures on how to distinguish between disciplinary infractions appropriately handled by school officials compared with major threats to school safety [iii].

                The recommendations by the Obama Administration clearly placed schools on notice that the racial disparity in student discipline has become so bad the Administration felt compelled call for change.  The recommendations also informed schools not to criminalize behaviors that should be handled at the school level.  Finally, the recommendations call for schools to adhere to the principles of fairness and equity in student discipline or they will face strong action if they don’t[iv].

The recommendations by the Obama Administration have asked schools to get back into the business of equal and fair student discipline by retaking control of the process and to help students get back on track without involving law enforcement.  By doing this, there should be an end to racial disparity and criminalization in the student discipline process.  If not, schools will have to face strong sanctions from the Federal government.

Thank you President Obama for taking on this important and overlooked problem.  The futures of too many students of color have been side-tracked or lost because of the criminalization of the school discipline process.  By putting the onus back on schools to discipline with equity and fairness, less students will leave school without a criminal record and hopefully go on to become productive citizens.

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[i] http://news.msn.com/us/government-offers-new-approach-to-classroom-discipline#tscptme

[ii] ibid

[iii] ibid

[iv] ibid

New Year's Resolution

                We have just entered into a New Year.  Many people see the New Year as an opportunity to change, to grow, to take risks.  The New Year also provides the opportunity for a fresh start.  One of the many things people do is to make resolutions for the New Year.  Usually it is the adults that make resolutions while young adults just view the New Year as another day.

The idea of change, growth, risk and a fresh start got me to think about how we should use these motivational ideas with young adults in school.  What would happen if parents and teachers talked to young adults about using the New Year as an opportunity to change, to grow, to take risks and to have a fresh start in school?

                What if young adults were asked by their parents and teachers to use the New Year to make resolutions on improving their grades, improving their behavior or becoming involved in school clubs?  What if young adults were told they could have a fresh start in school if they made resolutions and committed to keeping those resolutions?  What if the young adults knew they could be supported by their parents and teachers in their attempt to achieve their New Year resolutions in school?

                On the first day back to school, how would young adults feel if their teachers welcomed them back and told them “today is a new year and in this New Year we are all off to a fresh start?”  If teachers set the tone for young adults by letting them know they will encourage and support their efforts to change, grow and to take risks, young adults may re-engage, work harder or expand their mastery of the academic content.  

If young adults had the support of their parents and teachers to encourage them to sustain and achieve their New Year resolutions for school, how transforming would that be for young adults and for education?