CB Education Blog

The success of online education has grown significantly and receiving a degree via the Internet has becoming increasingly more acceptable. Once an idea that was regarded as highly unusual has come to the forefront of education. Most major colleges have an established online program in place that is easily accessible and carries a variety of accredited degrees. According to last year’s Sloan Survey of Online Learning there was a 22.9% overall increase in the number of students taking one or more online courses, growing from 1.60 to 1.98 million students. The overall percent of schools identifying online education as a critical long-term strategy grew from 49% in 2003 to 56% in 2005.

This shift from teacher-centered learning to student-centered learning has provided a world of educational opportunities. Adult students can now enroll in a learning center that once was too far or whose schedules did not allow for on-site schooling. The current online technology can provide an effective, personalized education for non-traditional students around the world. Online courses offer the opportunity to customize the learning experience to best meet personal and educational needs in the most flexible way possible. A person can change their life with the benefits of online learning.

Although the rewards are easily recognizable there are some aspects that should be explored. The online student in many cases is coach, teacher and pupil at the same time. The student must be self-motivated, disciplined and able to multi-task every day life, family and work responsibilities with coursework, homework and exams.

Common sense must be applied before joining any online degree program. The Council of Higher Education Accreditation warns about diploma- and accreditation mills that offer certificates and degrees that are considered completely bogus. Contact the organization to find out what is really legitimate and confirm the quality of the online training courses. Those institutions who went through the process and are approved will always have their program’s accreditation status visibly posted on their Web site and online course catalogs.

So many youth believe that they are already prepared to live independently, and don’t need anymore training or education before embarking on life on their own. Here are some very creative ways to show youth that education will be essential to their future. All these interventions focus on common adult transportation problems. If your youngsters don’t readily have the answers to these adult situations, perhaps they also don’t “know it all” about other key adult independent living issues too.

** Off the Road Again

Explain what happens when you hydroplane, and when you hit black ice; how do you try to still stay on the road?

Answer: When you hydroplane, your car floats on a sheet of water caused by rain on the road. Black ice is ice on the road that you may not be able to see. Black ice can be present before any evidence of icy or dangerous driving conditions is obvious and can send you flying. Slow down and avoid turning your wheels abruptly. Perhaps people think about all those science classes that they skipped as they hydroplane off the road or fly through the air on black ice…

** Say Good Bye to a Good Buy You’re buying a car.

The dealer says that they will add the option you want to your car on Thursday. What is an option, and what do you say?

Answer: An option is a feature that can be added to a car, such as a cassette player. You say “I must see the option on the car before I pay.” Once you have paid for the car, the dealer has no incentive to follow though, and you lack any clout to gain compliance once you pay.

** Do You Know the Way to San Jose– Today?

Name a good site on the internet to get free directions to anywhere in the US then show how to use it by finding the way from where you are right now to San Jose.

Answer: Some great, free map sites include mapquest.com, mapblast.com, travelocity.com, anywho.com and charlotte.com.

** Filling Up Can Drain You

You fill up your gas tank at a gas station. Later, you write a check for another purchase; the check bounces. You know you had over $100 in your account. What happened?

Answer: You used your debit card to buy gas and gave your card prior to the gas being pumped. The gas station put a “hold” on $100 of your checking account funds. Next time, don’t use a debit card, or wait to use the card until the amount of gas purchased is known. Then you’ll only be debited for the amount you bought, not the amount you might have bought.

** Insure It You total your car.

You and the insurance company finalize the amount that you’ll be paid for your car. Their check arrives but it’s missing $250. What happened?

Answer: The $250 was your deductible.

** It’s Classified You need to buy a car.

Ads refer to “OAC,” “AC,” “4D” and “4WD.” Translate.

Answer: OAC means “on approved credit,” that if you are deemed worthy of credit, they will loan you money to buy a car. AC is air conditioning. 4D means four doors, but 4WD means four wheel drive; got all that?!

** Did You Know That Cars Can Swim?

You’re about to get a good deal on a used car. How can you tell if the car has been for a swim?

Answer: Sometimes that good deal means that the car has a soggy past. For example, after a flood, cars can be restored to look and smell okay, but may have hidden problems from time underwater. Use the internet to search a car’s past and discover past collisions and even undersea adventures.

Want more strategies like these? These strategies are taken from our Maximum-Strength Motivation-Makers book. We have many more lively, compelling strategies just like the ones here. (.youthchg.com/guide.html).

In today’s industrious territory, it is enigmatical recompense people to on the epoch to date back to renege on uphold to school. Adults who are already working or who must families may not be experiencing the continuously to fit to established schools with strict rank schedules. A distance lore measure program can solve this issuing, giving adults the compliance to earn a higher lore in their own time.

A haughtiness information point program is available at a bevy of schools fully the country. Receipt with schools in your locality to see if they offer such a program. Alternately, you may do an Internet search on rigidity learning extent programs which require development in a number of options in return you to prefer from.

A stretch learning inchmeal program provides a consistent education as a more traditional station program. On the other hand, it allows the stretch of using non stock means to learn, enabling those who can not attend class to go in c fit a degree. These methods embrace online courses, televised courses, self-sufficient information and assignments and testing. Each method enables the disciple to learn exigent facts toward college credits resulting in a bachelor’s, big fish’s or even doctorate degree.

Diverse adults who procure already been in the workforce as a replacement for a number of years be experiencing already literate many of the principal skills needed someone is concerned a degree. Significant urge a exercise be familiar with plays a large participation in numberless distance lore degree programs. Sooner than forcing an grown up who already has fussy knowledge on a question to get together have help of a descent, testing is available How to write an essay. A himself who can successfully explain they comprise the intelligence can earn credits unambiguously by the testing procedures. This method is more motivational to adults who obtain been in the workforce after a handful years and who may stroke sitting in every way hours of classes in subjects they are familiar with is a waste of time.

This order of alternate wisdom has been almost after a sprinkling years in European countries but is a more readily current maturity in the United States. Colleges and universities are becoming aware of a segment of the population who hot pants an advanced caste but no longer have on the agenda c trick the term to throw away in a traditional classroom setting. Remoteness scholarship degree programs are not on the other hand supportive to the follower but to the schools and after all is said society.

Students good from a footage culture to a considerable extent program alongside obtaining a higher indoctrination using a hour arrange that is opportune for them. This purpose benefit their trade and expand their earning potential. Colleges and universities bag additional students and funding from preparation without having to immolate year space or residency, keeping the scholar to teacher proportion high, eventually inert educating effectively. The more discerning people we have, the more improvements we will force as a society. There are multiple benefits to ensuring a higher excellence of way of life for the treatment of people.

Distance erudition station programs, even if relatively trendy, are an increasingly popular chance for a large part of the Amalgamated States population. Working adults can persevere in their career without pause while also obtaining an advanced education. Adults who arrange families and stretch constraints can further their training at familiar with without sacrificing their progenitors responsibilities. It is a titanic conduct to net a status while maintaining all the responsibilities and commitments that are already at hand.

Heading Toward a Long-term, Systemic Solution

A Boston Globe editorial stated that for “40 years, study after study on grade retention has reached the same conclusion: Failing a student, particularly in the critical ninth grade year, is the single largest predictor of whether he or she drops out” (Edley, 2002). The editorial goes on to state that “widespread retention further exacerbates the achievement gap: In Massachusetts, for example, across all grades, African-American and Hispanics are retained at over three times the rate of whites” (Edley, 2002).

According to research (Anderson, Jimerson and Whipple, 2002; NASP, 2003; Jimerson, Anderson and Whipple, 2002; Stenovich, 1994), some of the devastating effects of retention are:

- Most children do not “catch up” when held back.

- Although some retained students do better at first, these children often fall behind again in later grades.

- Retention is one of the most powerful predictors of high school dropout; holding a child back twice makes dropping out of school 90% certain.

- In 2001, 6th grade students ranked grade retention as the most stressful life event, followed by losing a parent and going blind.

- Students who are held back tend to get into trouble, dislike school, and feel badly about themselves more often than children who go on to the next grade.

- The weakened self-esteem that usually accompanies retention plays a role in how well the child may cope in the future.

Far too many students simply give up on school, largely because they feel that their schools have already given up on them. Even our special education services are failure-based. “The current system uses an antiquated model that waits for a child to fail, instead of a model based on prevention and intervention ” (U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services, 2002).

IT DOESN’T HAVE TO BE THIS WAY.

So What Can We Do?

Many advocate for early identification of student needs in order to apply appropriate instructional strategies (Anderson, Whipple and Jimerson, 2002; U. S. Department of Education, 2002; Lyon and Fletcher, 2001; Lyon, 2002). That is clearly a step in the right direction.

But not all teachers are effective at identifying student needs and applying instructional strategies that are the most appropriate for student needs. A study conducted by Sanders and Rivers (1996) examined the cumulative and residual effects of teachers on student achievement and found a wide chasm between the impact on student achievement by effective teachers and ineffective teachers. Equally performing second graders were separated by as many as 50 percentile points on standardized tests by the time they reached fifth grade solely as a result of being taught by teachers whose effectiveness varied greatly.

The study was based on Tennessee’s “value-added” testing system that maintained year-to-year test records on every student in the public school system and matched students to their teachers. Teachers were divided into three groups &ndash low, average, and high &ndash based on their students’ performance. The results showed the dramatic effect of good teaching on student achievement in two urban districts. There was a sharp difference in performance between students who had three teachers rated “low” and three teachers who were rated “high” during a three-year period. Although students in one of the urban systems performed at a higher level than the other, the pattern of “teacher-added value” was evident in both systems. The study also found that African American students were about twice as likely to be assigned ineffective teachers.

What We Now Know

What action can we take to ensure that all teachers are functioning at a level that optimizes the highest levels of student learning?

Scientific research from multiple fields is allowing us to understand how learning takes place, what it looks like when it isn’t, and which interventions or instructional strategies will result in the greatest impact on student learning. Evidence-based research, for example, has found new ways to help young children become proficient readers. Over the last ten years, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has conducted extensive scientific reading research studies. To date, 42,062 children have been included in these studies at 44 sites across the United States. The reading research sites are classrooms in public schools, including inner city, high poverty, high-risk schools. In even the most difficult inner city, high-risk schools in cities such as Washington D.C., Houston, Los Angeles and Seattle, at the end of five years of intensive teacher training on how to deliver scientific evidence-based reading instruction, 94 to 96% of all third graders were reading on grade level. Prior to this intervention, approximately 70% of the third graders the Washington D.C. schools were reading below grade level. The research studies include a strong emphasis on teacher coursework, observation, consultation, and collaboration. (Thomas, 2002)

Yet this new knowledge is not being utilized by every district, every school, and every teacher in every classroom. Thus, it is critical to promote these new methods throughout the education system.

Transferring and translating the knowledge gained in studies into scientifically based classroom practices is a complex undertaking. Effective teaching that leaves no child behind requires teachers to have a skill set that is tremendously intricate, sophisticated and based upon converging scientific evidence. Highly effective teachers continually monitor pupil progress and then design (and re-design) lessons that meet the specific, individualized needs of each student (Lyon and Thomas, 2003; Bennett and Rolheiser, 2001). Teachers, therefore, must be provided with state-of-the-art ongoing, continuous professional development delivered by experts. Teacher learning at the school level must be carefully supported by a consistent and systematic flow of correct information and instruction from experts, especially in low performing schools, in order to prevent the dissemination of misinformation in these groups.

If we know that teacher quality makes a decided difference in the quality of student learning, it seems both logical and ethical to focus investments in improving teacher quality across the board. State-, district- and school-wide intense professional development for current teachers and ongoing comprehensive redesign of university teacher preparation for aspiring teachers should become our strategic priorities.

The National Staff Development Council (NSDC) has developed and revised a set of standards for staff development that is directly linked to increased student achievement (NSDC, 2001). The standards provide a framework for ensuring that staff development is responsive to the needs of educators and their students. NSDC groups the standards around context, process and content.

The NSDC standards move away from workshop “sit and get” staff development models and into serious learning. The reason is straightforward: workshops by themselves do not get the results we desire (Joyce and Showers, 2002). To reach maximum effectiveness, a staff development model must include both presentation and follow-up support in order to ensure improvement. Follow-up must be planned and adequately funded. According to NSDC, some experts believe that 50% of the resources set aside for staff development initiatives should be directed to follow-up.

Options for follow-up support include coaching, modeling and demonstration lessons, peer visits, collegial support groups, mentoring study groups, and audio taping or video taping learners. Follow up strategies enable teachers to focus on the new skills and their impact on students, and move from skill attainment on an imitative or re-synthesizing level to extendible, manipulable, and innovative levels that allow them to problem-solve real time, real world, unpredictable problems that occur in classrooms filled with diverse learners (Joyce and Showers, 2002.)

The differences in the three levels of impact in the chart below, as they apply to a training model, are thus: Level I - Understanding Concepts; Level II - Skill Attainment (can follow a recipe); and Level III &ndash Application of Innovative Problem Solving (able to change the recipe like a master chef to fit the needs of diverse students).

Paul Pastorek, former president of the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, sums it up: “Research says the most important link to student success is having highly knowledgeable and skilled teachers in the classroom. We have not provided our teachers with enough information on how children learn and what it takes to learn to read. Equipping teachers with that new knowledge will allow them to reap the rewards they want for the children they teach.” (Thomas, 2002).

Dennis Sparks, NSDC’s executive director, issued a challenge in 2002: Within five years, all teachers will have access to high quality professional development. If it is to be met, the challenge will require active commitment and support from educators, policy makers, parents, and community members alike.

But we cannot stop there. In order to be successful, and in order to sustain and institutionalize our efforts, leadership that understands and provides the context and infrastructure necessary for teacher and student success must be developed at the university, district, school and classroom levels. If leaders are to cultivate a deep understanding of the complex conditions that must be in place to develop such a model, they must also be involved in learning the complexities of what teachers must master.

Michael Fullan argues that this will require that school principals reach beyond instructional leadership. “Some school districts have embraced the development and support of the school principal as instructional leader (Fink & Resnick, 2001), but despite these good beginnings, the principal as instructional leader is too narrow a concept to carry the weight of the reforms that we need for the future. We need, instead, leaders who can create a fundamental transformation in the learning cultures of schools and the teaching profession itself” (Fullan, 2002a).

Fullan (2002b) also cautions that school leadership must become change leaders, and clarifies that being a change leader is very different from being a content expert: “There is a difference between being an expert in the content of an innovation vs. being an expert in the change process. In other words, it is possible to be a leading expert in literacy for example, while being a disaster as a change agent in getting it implemented. In our training we teach people about the process of change &ndash how to understand and work with ‘the implementation dip’, the importance of developing relationships with others not so committed to the idea, how not to get frustrated by overload and the pace of change, etc. Understanding the vicissitudes of the change process is a key to working on large scale change.”

It seems, then, that in order to dramatically reduce grade retention, remedial services, referrals to special education and school dropout rates, we must build the both the teacher and leadership capacity that is necessary for widespread implementation of scientific, research-based instruction that we know works in the classroom. Thus, the objectives:

- Identify and put into place all critical contextual conditions necessary to implement research-based instruction that we know works in the classroom.

- Develop, implement, test and refine models that will guide both preservice education and training for teachers as well as continuing education for teachers currently serving students in the classroom.

- Develop, implement, test and refine models for building educational leaders at the university/college level, the district level, the school level and the classroom level.

Time is ticking. With children’s lives at stake, and especially our most vulnerable children, we cannot afford to keep doing business as usual. We know too much to leave even one child behind.

Teachers and school leaders need, want and deserve to have the support and tools they need to produce optimum success in their classrooms. With serious focus and resolve, we must pick up the gauntlet and accept Dennis Sparks’ challenge to ensure that all educators in all schools will experience high quality professional development by 2007. Highly effective, highly equipped teachers in every classroom can fundamentally wipe away the need for even a discussion on grade retention and special education services based on failure.

References are available at .cdl.org/resource-library/articles/retention_solution.php?type=subject&id=17.

Teachers, it’s the ultimate challenge in classroom management, isn’t it? If you find it challenging to teach and counsel students suffering from “hormone poisoning,” here are some great interventions to help your teens use their heads instead of their hormones. All of these delightfully different methods are taken from Youth Change’s Solution Center; there are hundreds more there if you need them:

On-the-Job Kissy-Face

When kids debate your site’s standards regulating romantic contact, inform them that the standards derive from the work world, not your personal preferences. Advise your youngsters that as soon as business work places commonly permit hugging, kissing, etc., you will too. So, in our part of the world, we tell kids that the very instant that our large employers like Nike, the State of Oregon, and Intel, start offering Coffee and Kiss breaks, we’ll do it too.

Work a Little, Kiss a Little

Ask students to name all the jobs they can successfully do and gaze longingly into someone’s eyes while working; there may be none. Ask your youngsters to guess what happens to people who work a little, kiss a little.

That Other Fire Will Have to Wait

Have your students name the jobs or businesses they may one day wish to do. Ask them to identify the results of kissing, hugging, etc. while working these jobs. For example, what could result from a fire fighter, surgeon or air traffic controller being distracted by romantic activity at work? Have students answer that question humorously by determining what the distracted worker might say when asked to concentrate on work. Elicit silly answers, such as the fire fighter responds with “That other fire will have to wait.”

Would You Ski in Class?

Ask students if they would ever cook breakfast during your class or activity, or practice the clarinet, or ski? When they say “no,” ask why. When they tell you that those activities don’t belong in class, you can respond that neither do kissing, hugging, etc. Note that you are not commenting on whether the romantic activity is good or bad, but that class or group is the wrong time and place, just like it’s the wrong time and place for skiing or making toast.

Elbows to Fingertips

A quick and easy-to-remember guideline for interpersonal contact at your site: Touch only from the elbows to fingertips, and then, only after asking and receiving permission.

Someone’s Sister

This intervention is designed for boys who view girls as mere toys. Ask the young man to describe how he’d react if someone took advantage of his sister (or mother or daughter.) Elicit answers that show that he wouldn’t tolerate such behavior. Remind the young man that every girl is/will be someone’s sister, someone’s daughter, someone’s mother.

In Case of Hormone Overdose

Years ago, families reliably taught their offspring what they needed to know about interpersonal behavior. Those skills are not always reliably taught at home these days. You may want to make it your job to teach what the family should have taught. Remember that telling youngsters “what not to do”, may not be enough to change the problem behaviors. Be sure to teach them “what to do” instead. Be sure to cover these: Hand Control, Mouth Control, Distance Control and Clothes Control.

So many youth believe that they are already prepared to live independently, and don’t need anymore training or education before embarking on life on their own. Here are some very creative ways to show youth that education will be essential to their future. All these interventions focus on common adult transportation problems. If your youngsters don’t readily have the answers to these adult situations, perhaps they also don’t “know it all” about other key adult independent living issues too.

** Off the Road Again

Explain what happens when you hydroplane, and when you hit black ice; how do you try to still stay on the road?

Answer: When you hydroplane, your car floats on a sheet of water caused by rain on the road. Black ice is ice on the road that you may not be able to see. Black ice can be present before any evidence of icy or dangerous driving conditions is obvious and can send you flying. Slow down and avoid turning your wheels abruptly. Perhaps people think about all those science classes that they skipped as they hydroplane off the road or fly through the air on black ice…

** Say Good Bye to a Good Buy You’re buying a car.

The dealer says that they will add the option you want to your car on Thursday. What is an option, and what do you say?

Answer: An option is a feature that can be added to a car, such as a cassette player. You say “I must see the option on the car before I pay.” Once you have paid for the car, the dealer has no incentive to follow though, and you lack any clout to gain compliance once you pay.

** Do You Know the Way to San Jose– Today?

Name a good site on the internet to get free directions to anywhere in the US then show how to use it by finding the way from where you are right now to San Jose.

Answer: Some great, free map sites include mapquest.com, mapblast.com, travelocity.com, anywho.com and charlotte.com.

** Filling Up Can Drain You

You fill up your gas tank at a gas station. Later, you write a check for another purchase; the check bounces. You know you had over $100 in your account. What happened?

Answer: You used your debit card to buy gas and gave your card prior to the gas being pumped. The gas station put a “hold” on $100 of your checking account funds. Next time, don’t use a debit card, or wait to use the card until the amount of gas purchased is known. Then you’ll only be debited for the amount you bought, not the amount you might have bought.

** Insure It You total your car.

You and the insurance company finalize the amount that you’ll be paid for your car. Their check arrives but it’s missing $250. What happened?

Answer: The $250 was your deductible.

** It’s Classified You need to buy a car.

Ads refer to “OAC,” “AC,” “4D” and “4WD.” Translate.

Answer: OAC means “on approved credit,” that if you are deemed worthy of credit, they will loan you money to buy a car. AC is air conditioning. 4D means four doors, but 4WD means four wheel drive; got all that?!

** Did You Know That Cars Can Swim?

You’re about to get a good deal on a used car. How can you tell if the car has been for a swim?

Answer: Sometimes that good deal means that the car has a soggy past. For example, after a flood, cars can be restored to look and smell okay, but may have hidden problems from time underwater. Use the internet to search a car’s past and discover past collisions and even undersea adventures.

Want more strategies like these? These strategies are taken from our Maximum-Strength Motivation-Makers book. We have many more lively, compelling strategies just like the ones here. (.youthchg.com/guide.html).

Heading Toward a Long-term, Systemic Solution

A Boston Globe editorial stated that for “40 years, study after study on grade retention has reached the same conclusion: Failing a student, particularly in the critical ninth grade year, is the single largest predictor of whether he or she drops out” (Edley, 2002). The editorial goes on to state that “widespread retention further exacerbates the achievement gap: In Massachusetts, for example, across all grades, African-American and Hispanics are retained at over three times the rate of whites” (Edley, 2002).

According to research (Anderson, Jimerson and Whipple, 2002; NASP, 2003; Jimerson, Anderson and Whipple, 2002; Stenovich, 1994), some of the devastating effects of retention are:

- Most children do not “catch up” when held back.

- Although some retained students do better at first, these children often fall behind again in later grades.

- Retention is one of the most powerful predictors of high school dropout; holding a child back twice makes dropping out of school 90% certain.

- In 2001, 6th grade students ranked grade retention as the most stressful life event, followed by losing a parent and going blind.

- Students who are held back tend to get into trouble, dislike school, and feel badly about themselves more often than children who go on to the next grade.

- The weakened self-esteem that usually accompanies retention plays a role in how well the child may cope in the future.

Far too many students simply give up on school, largely because they feel that their schools have already given up on them. Even our special education services are failure-based. “The current system uses an antiquated model that waits for a child to fail, instead of a model based on prevention and intervention ” (U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services, 2002).

IT DOESN’T HAVE TO BE THIS WAY.

So What Can We Do?

Many advocate for early identification of student needs in order to apply appropriate instructional strategies (Anderson, Whipple and Jimerson, 2002; U. S. Department of Education, 2002; Lyon and Fletcher, 2001; Lyon, 2002). That is clearly a step in the right direction.

But not all teachers are effective at identifying student needs and applying instructional strategies that are the most appropriate for student needs. A study conducted by Sanders and Rivers (1996) examined the cumulative and residual effects of teachers on student achievement and found a wide chasm between the impact on student achievement by effective teachers and ineffective teachers. Equally performing second graders were separated by as many as 50 percentile points on standardized tests by the time they reached fifth grade solely as a result of being taught by teachers whose effectiveness varied greatly.

The study was based on Tennessee’s “value-added” testing system that maintained year-to-year test records on every student in the public school system and matched students to their teachers. Teachers were divided into three groups &ndash low, average, and high &ndash based on their students’ performance. The results showed the dramatic effect of good teaching on student achievement in two urban districts. There was a sharp difference in performance between students who had three teachers rated “low” and three teachers who were rated “high” during a three-year period. Although students in one of the urban systems performed at a higher level than the other, the pattern of “teacher-added value” was evident in both systems. The study also found that African American students were about twice as likely to be assigned ineffective teachers.

What We Now Know

What action can we take to ensure that all teachers are functioning at a level that optimizes the highest levels of student learning?

Scientific research from multiple fields is allowing us to understand how learning takes place, what it looks like when it isn’t, and which interventions or instructional strategies will result in the greatest impact on student learning. Evidence-based research, for example, has found new ways to help young children become proficient readers. Over the last ten years, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has conducted extensive scientific reading research studies. To date, 42,062 children have been included in these studies at 44 sites across the United States. The reading research sites are classrooms in public schools, including inner city, high poverty, high-risk schools. In even the most difficult inner city, high-risk schools in cities such as Washington D.C., Houston, Los Angeles and Seattle, at the end of five years of intensive teacher training on how to deliver scientific evidence-based reading instruction, 94 to 96% of all third graders were reading on grade level. Prior to this intervention, approximately 70% of the third graders the Washington D.C. schools were reading below grade level. The research studies include a strong emphasis on teacher coursework, observation, consultation, and collaboration. (Thomas, 2002)

Yet this new knowledge is not being utilized by every district, every school, and every teacher in every classroom. Thus, it is critical to promote these new methods throughout the education system.

Transferring and translating the knowledge gained in studies into scientifically based classroom practices is a complex undertaking. Effective teaching that leaves no child behind requires teachers to have a skill set that is tremendously intricate, sophisticated and based upon converging scientific evidence. Highly effective teachers continually monitor pupil progress and then design (and re-design) lessons that meet the specific, individualized needs of each student (Lyon and Thomas, 2003; Bennett and Rolheiser, 2001). Teachers, therefore, must be provided with state-of-the-art ongoing, continuous professional development delivered by experts. Teacher learning at the school level must be carefully supported by a consistent and systematic flow of correct information and instruction from experts, especially in low performing schools, in order to prevent the dissemination of misinformation in these groups.

If we know that teacher quality makes a decided difference in the quality of student learning, it seems both logical and ethical to focus investments in improving teacher quality across the board. State-, district- and school-wide intense professional development for current teachers and ongoing comprehensive redesign of university teacher preparation for aspiring teachers should become our strategic priorities.

The National Staff Development Council (NSDC) has developed and revised a set of standards for staff development that is directly linked to increased student achievement (NSDC, 2001). The standards provide a framework for ensuring that staff development is responsive to the needs of educators and their students. NSDC groups the standards around context, process and content.

The NSDC standards move away from workshop “sit and get” staff development models and into serious learning. The reason is straightforward: workshops by themselves do not get the results we desire (Joyce and Showers, 2002). To reach maximum effectiveness, a staff development model must include both presentation and follow-up support in order to ensure improvement. Follow-up must be planned and adequately funded. According to NSDC, some experts believe that 50% of the resources set aside for staff development initiatives should be directed to follow-up.

Options for follow-up support include coaching, modeling and demonstration lessons, peer visits, collegial support groups, mentoring study groups, and audio taping or video taping learners. Follow up strategies enable teachers to focus on the new skills and their impact on students, and move from skill attainment on an imitative or re-synthesizing level to extendible, manipulable, and innovative levels that allow them to problem-solve real time, real world, unpredictable problems that occur in classrooms filled with diverse learners (Joyce and Showers, 2002.)

The differences in the three levels of impact in the chart below, as they apply to a training model, are thus: Level I - Understanding Concepts; Level II - Skill Attainment (can follow a recipe); and Level III &ndash Application of Innovative Problem Solving (able to change the recipe like a master chef to fit the needs of diverse students).

Paul Pastorek, former president of the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, sums it up: “Research says the most important link to student success is having highly knowledgeable and skilled teachers in the classroom. We have not provided our teachers with enough information on how children learn and what it takes to learn to read. Equipping teachers with that new knowledge will allow them to reap the rewards they want for the children they teach.” (Thomas, 2002).

Dennis Sparks, NSDC’s executive director, issued a challenge in 2002: Within five years, all teachers will have access to high quality professional development. If it is to be met, the challenge will require active commitment and support from educators, policy makers, parents, and community members alike.

But we cannot stop there. In order to be successful, and in order to sustain and institutionalize our efforts, leadership that understands and provides the context and infrastructure necessary for teacher and student success must be developed at the university, district, school and classroom levels. If leaders are to cultivate a deep understanding of the complex conditions that must be in place to develop such a model, they must also be involved in learning the complexities of what teachers must master.

Michael Fullan argues that this will require that school principals reach beyond instructional leadership. “Some school districts have embraced the development and support of the school principal as instructional leader (Fink & Resnick, 2001), but despite these good beginnings, the principal as instructional leader is too narrow a concept to carry the weight of the reforms that we need for the future. We need, instead, leaders who can create a fundamental transformation in the learning cultures of schools and the teaching profession itself” (Fullan, 2002a).

Fullan (2002b) also cautions that school leadership must become change leaders, and clarifies that being a change leader is very different from being a content expert: “There is a difference between being an expert in the content of an innovation vs. being an expert in the change process. In other words, it is possible to be a leading expert in literacy for example, while being a disaster as a change agent in getting it implemented. In our training we teach people about the process of change &ndash how to understand and work with ‘the implementation dip’, the importance of developing relationships with others not so committed to the idea, how not to get frustrated by overload and the pace of change, etc. Understanding the vicissitudes of the change process is a key to working on large scale change.”

It seems, then, that in order to dramatically reduce grade retention, remedial services, referrals to special education and school dropout rates, we must build the both the teacher and leadership capacity that is necessary for widespread implementation of scientific, research-based instruction that we know works in the classroom. Thus, the objectives:

- Identify and put into place all critical contextual conditions necessary to implement research-based instruction that we know works in the classroom.

- Develop, implement, test and refine models that will guide both preservice education and training for teachers as well as continuing education for teachers currently serving students in the classroom.

- Develop, implement, test and refine models for building educational leaders at the university/college level, the district level, the school level and the classroom level.

Time is ticking. With children’s lives at stake, and especially our most vulnerable children, we cannot afford to keep doing business as usual. We know too much to leave even one child behind.

Teachers and school leaders need, want and deserve to have the support and tools they need to produce optimum success in their classrooms. With serious focus and resolve, we must pick up the gauntlet and accept Dennis Sparks’ challenge to ensure that all educators in all schools will experience high quality professional development by 2007. Highly effective, highly equipped teachers in every classroom can fundamentally wipe away the need for even a discussion on grade retention and special education services based on failure.

References are available at .cdl.org/resource-library/articles/retention_solution.php?type=subject&id=17.

Teachers, it’s the ultimate challenge in classroom management, isn’t it? If you find it challenging to teach and counsel students suffering from “hormone poisoning,” here are some great interventions to help your teens use their heads instead of their hormones. All of these delightfully different methods are taken from Youth Change’s Solution Center; there are hundreds more there if you need them:

On-the-Job Kissy-Face

When kids debate your site’s standards regulating romantic contact, inform them that the standards derive from the work world, not your personal preferences. Advise your youngsters that as soon as business work places commonly permit hugging, kissing, etc., you will too. So, in our part of the world, we tell kids that the very instant that our large employers like Nike, the State of Oregon, and Intel, start offering Coffee and Kiss breaks, we’ll do it too.

Work a Little, Kiss a Little

Ask students to name all the jobs they can successfully do and gaze longingly into someone’s eyes while working; there may be none. Ask your youngsters to guess what happens to people who work a little, kiss a little.

That Other Fire Will Have to Wait

Have your students name the jobs or businesses they may one day wish to do. Ask them to identify the results of kissing, hugging, etc. while working these jobs. For example, what could result from a fire fighter, surgeon or air traffic controller being distracted by romantic activity at work? Have students answer that question humorously by determining what the distracted worker might say when asked to concentrate on work. Elicit silly answers, such as the fire fighter responds with “That other fire will have to wait.”

Would You Ski in Class?

Ask students if they would ever cook breakfast during your class or activity, or practice the clarinet, or ski? When they say “no,” ask why. When they tell you that those activities don’t belong in class, you can respond that neither do kissing, hugging, etc. Note that you are not commenting on whether the romantic activity is good or bad, but that class or group is the wrong time and place, just like it’s the wrong time and place for skiing or making toast.

Elbows to Fingertips

A quick and easy-to-remember guideline for interpersonal contact at your site: Touch only from the elbows to fingertips, and then, only after asking and receiving permission.

Someone’s Sister

This intervention is designed for boys who view girls as mere toys. Ask the young man to describe how he’d react if someone took advantage of his sister (or mother or daughter.) Elicit answers that show that he wouldn’t tolerate such behavior. Remind the young man that every girl is/will be someone’s sister, someone’s daughter, someone’s mother.

In Case of Hormone Overdose

Years ago, families reliably taught their offspring what they needed to know about interpersonal behavior. Those skills are not always reliably taught at home these days. You may want to make it your job to teach what the family should have taught. Remember that telling youngsters “what not to do”, may not be enough to change the problem behaviors. Be sure to teach them “what to do” instead. Be sure to cover these: Hand Control, Mouth Control, Distance Control and Clothes Control.

Unless you work with easy, mellow students, you will love our “Top 10 Best Classroom Management Interventions to Turnaround Problem Student Behavior.” These interventions are taken from Youth Change Workshop’s Solution Center (.youthchg.com). There are hundreds of strategies on the site, ready to be used by teachers, counselors and youth workers. If classroom or group management is an on-going nightmare, it will take more than these ten new techniques to transform your class or group into a dream, so be sure to check out the web site for methods that are especially designed to rein in even the most uncontrollable students.

1. Teacher Telegram (or Counselor, Therapist… Telegram)

A veteran, “world-class” special ed teacher was working with a student when the child suddenly flipped over his desk and fled the room. You won’t believe what this teacher had done! She had written on the student’s math paper! That child interpreted that help to mean that the teacher thought he was too stupid to do the work himself, and bolted from the room in anger. Of course, had this teacher known that the child would react in that manner, she would have been happy to let the child do the writing, or she could have written on scratch paper instead.

This incident is a classic, common situation that could have easily been avoided if only the teacher had known the child’s views. The Teacher Telegram surveys your youngsters to gather the information you need to avoid problems that can perhaps be averted or minimized. Make your telegram have about five finish-the-sentence statements, and include queries like: “Some of the things I like about your class are…,” “The one thing I wish you would do differently is…,” “The one thing that helps me is…,” “The one thing that does not help me is…,” and “My other comments are…” You may be pleasantly surprised at how much this little device, done periodically, can reduce or end problems.

2. Studies have indicated that when girls are involved in sports, they are far less likely to become pregnant, drop out or engage in serious misbehavior. To encourage your female students to consider sports, ask your girls to craft collages or posters entitled “Silly Boys, Sports Are for Girls.”

3. A Taste of the Real World

It can be very hard to convince youth that they will desperately need education. For children who have very poor reading skills, here’s an interesting and compelling activity. Create a menu in a foreign language and ask the students to order. To get you started, here are some Dutch dinner items, but you can also go to a page like and enter English menu terms and have the words translated into German, French or other language. You may wish to actually serve some of the items your students order. Select items that are very likely to be viewed as distasteful, so you might consider offering treats like sardines, stewed prunes and liver, foods that might be thoroughly disliked, but are easy to purchase.

Choose Your Dinner Gebakken garnalen (Pan-Roasted Shrimp) Gegrilde lamskoteletten (Grilled Lamb Chops) Vegeratische pastachotel (Vegetarian Pasta) Rijstpudding met frambozencoulis (Rice Pudding) When your students protest that they can’t figure out what to do, let them know that could be their on-going adult experience in the world if they don’t learn to read.

4. Education– You Can’t Live Life Without It

Ask your students to list out the most difficult things that they may face during their lives. Elicit answers like manage a serious illness or find a job. After reviewing the list, ask the students to identify if education would help or hurt in each situation. Assist students to note that education almost always helps, and never hurts. Assist students to realize: Education– You Can’t Live Life Without It.

5. There’s Always Welfare Hurry up.

Welfare is going the way of the buggy and 8 track tape deck. The number of welfare recipients has dropped a phenomenal 50% in the past six years. Plus, in most cases, you can be on welfare for five years and then you are out for life,– yes, life. The amount of money given out is down by as much as 90% in some places. The average person may live nearly 80 years so welfare may be available only 6% of the time. To convey how tiny 6% is to your youngsters, give 6% of your class a small treat, like a mint. Or, give each student $300 in play money and then take all but 6% away, leaving each youngster with just $18.

6. Three Little Lies

To convincingly teach students how hard it is to tell and keep a lie, ask each youngster to tell three lies about things that are occurring that day. So, a typical lie might be: “I have pink hair,” said by a brunette. Ask students to repeat each lie at least three times an hour all day. The next day, discuss how much energy, concentration and focus it took to maintain those lies, and relate the discussion to actual lies students have told in the past. Include in the discussion: “Who does lying really fool?” Assist students to realize that in many ways, the liar really most fools himself or herself.

7. Pay Attention

Adults often expect young people to magically know how to pay attention, but no one may have actually taught the child how to do so. To teach the skills needed to pay attention, teach each of these five skills one at a time: Get your area ready, get yourself ready, watch the action, listen to the action, control your body. You should use pictures, rag dolls or other attention-grabbing devices to teach and drill the skills into habits. But, until you teach the skills, you shouldn’t expect them.

8. Can You Compute?

Internet and/or computer skills are becoming required for almost any job. You may have to scan a badge to clock in at your job, or log onto a network to get your assignments. Have your students strut their stuff by performing internet or computer tasks. Here’s one to start: Find where to get bakeapples, and locate a shipper to transport. Answer: Bakeapples are a Newfoundland, Canada food; UPS could provide shipping. Discuss with students where they can hone key internet and computer skills.

9. Computers Rule

For good or bad, computers are becoming absolutely key to everyday work and living. More and more mail is being sent over the internet, but at the same time, spam is becoming a bigger and bigger hassle. Here at Youth Change, we receive about 300 spams each day. It has gotten harder and harder to spot the real e-mail from the junk e-mail. In fact, an invitation to present our workshop in Europe was at first deleted as our spam deletion program thought it was junk mail. So, save up your real mail and junk e-mail (eliminating offensive or personal items) then ask students to sort through a very large amount of e-mail. Alternatively, create simulated e-mails to use instead. Note how many times important items like bills, renewal notices, and password information, are deleted. Be sure to include bogus virus alerts, e-mails containing “viruses”, and deceptive offers in the e-mails you give students to process. When students mishandle items, note that education and computer training can help.

10. Misbehaved Employees Wanted

To show students that present classroom management problems, that misbehavior won’t be tolerated in the adult world, ask them to search the employment classified ads for employers who seek employees with behavior problems.

WANT MORE ANSWERS TO YOUR WORST “KID PROBLEMS?”

A quick Top 10 list is no replacement for having all the skills and information you need to work with youth and children. Based on the recent questions to the Live Expert Help Area of our web site, many professionals struggle with major gaps in their training. Many of you have said that you’re uncertain how to rein in rowdy youth, or you wish you had a broader mental health base, or better understood what to do about fragile kids. We’re here to help youth professionals help troubled youth. Consider getting our free Problem Student Problem-Solver magazine at our site, link below, or downloading some of our lightening fast, problem-stopping ebooks.

The United Kingdom is one of the most popular study destinations for foreign students. Every year the number of international students coming to the country to study is rapidly and constantly increasing, and that is not very surprising. Through the years, many UK-based universities have been successfully increasing their reputation so that they would be more recognized throughout the globe.

With numerous foreign students enrolling in major UK universities, there are many exposed problems and setbacks. Since the UK is a modern and western country, foreign students especially from Asia and Africa are finding it hard to initially cope and adjust to the prevailing culture and many foreign students do not last the stay of their studying course in the UK due to culture shock. However, those students should have striven to do better, as the UK will not (and shouldn’t really) adjust to accommodate them. They should assert themselves to cope up with the British environment and norms.

Here are several simple tips that will help many foreign students survive studying in the UK:

- Foreign students are assigned mentors who are faculty members. Make sure you regularly consult with your mentor and ask for guidance and help about specific academic challenges.

- Always seek help and assistance from your university’s student advice/support centre. Such centres have been established to answer your every query, whether it is about academia, socialising or visa extension. You can also ask about comfortable lodgings as well as referrals for part-time jobs if you need one.

- Try to interact with other foreign students of the same nationality as yours. You will be more comfortable interacting with them and asking them advice and recommendations about many things related to your stay at the university.

Overall, British universities are cordial to foreign students, just be observant and equally friendly, and you will survive.