Against that backdrop of unrelenting public criticism, media scrutiny and economic jeopardy, an essay contest might not seem like much of a counter-force. But for an educator who is feeling overworked, underappreciated and out of sorts, kind words of admiration and approval might be just what is needed.

On January 18^th, the grassroots education reform nonprofit StudentsFirst launched its “Six Word Essay Contest” on what it means to be a great teacher. The idea behind the contest was to present an opportunity to celebrate those teachers who had a significant impact on our lives, and “to remind our country of the value of a great teacher.” (And the winner will receive an iPad 2 and a $500 gift certificate to buy school supplies for the classroom of their choice.)

What’s especially fun and inspiring about these essays is that they are all only six words long. They’re quick to read and easy to share: a little lift of heartfelt, positive energy that many teachers and tutors would probably enjoy, as the end of another semester draws closer. Certainly they do an amazing job capturing the value and essence of great teaching, and the impact teachers can have on students.

StudentsFirst received over 28,000 of the six-word essays from over 25,000 of its members. After what must’ve been some frantic judging, on February 2 they announced the 30 finalists. Everyone is welcome to vote for his or her favorites. You can even check out what famous athletes, authors and entertainers say about the great teachers in their lives.

Here are a few of my favorites from among the 30 finalists:

Planting the seed of I can. — Sinora W., Illinois

Handing out keys to the world. – Ann Marie O., Michigan

She said I can be anything. – Yuji N., New Jersey

Watch them soar, then demand more. – Pancho S., Oregon

Point out the stars. Provide rockets. – Adam L., Illinois

Teaching is a vitally important profession that powers the core of our society. In fact, a recently published long-term study by economists at Harvard and Columbia shows the staggering economic and social impact of competent teachers. Looking at the lives of 2.5 million students over 20 years, the study found that students who had highly effective elementary and middle school teachers went on to have much better “outcomes in life” – higher earnings, nicer houses, fewer teen pregnancies, and so on – than students who had lower-performing teachers.

Obviously teachers and tutors need to be supported via public policy, not just honored with words. These little essays rise above the polarized policy debate to shine some light on what really matters: the value of our teachers and tutors.

Why do middle school students have a special need for high-quality summer learning? According to NSLA’s website, “Middle school is a time of great risk for children, especially those who are low-income. Summer learning loss contributes to dismal middle-school indicators, causing low-income students to lag as much as 2.5 years behind their higher-income peers by the end of fifth grade. Without summer learning experiences, the achievement gap in literacy between the youth who eventually drop out of high school and those who enter a four-year college widens to almost seven years by ninth grade, creating an unswimmable gulf.”

Smarter Summers is being delivered by four providers. All provide between 150 and 240 program hours (typically 6-hour days for five weeks), free meals for participants, and opportunities for physical activity as well as academics. The average daily attendance rate among participants ranged from 81.5% to an incredible 99.6%, with staff-to-participant ratios of 1:10 to 1:15. The areas served include Los Angeles, Sand Diego and Sacramento counties in California, Detroit, Boston, New York, Baltimore, Chicago, Indianapolis and Washington, DC.

Among the highlights of the results so far:

• Students in Building Educated Leaders for Life programs gained an average of 7.5 months of grade-level equivalency in literacy skills and 7.2 months in math skills.

• 65% of Higher Achievement Program’s participants increased their math grades or maintained an A or B average, while 59% did so for reading.

• Summer Advantage USA students gained an average of 2.1 months of grade-level equivalency in literacy and math skills.

• 87.5% of THINK Together sites demonstrated student growth in math vocabulary – a 25% increase for seventh graders across all sites.

Parents also responded very positively to the Smarter Summer experience. Based on over 2,000 responses, two out of three parents stated that Smarter Summers was the only affordable summer learning option for their children. 93% of parents would recommend the program to other parents. 82% felt the program helped them focus on their job, job search and/or school work.

76% of survey respondents also felt more involved in their child’s education. Across the programs administered by Summer Advantage USA, for example, 61% of parents participated in two or more program events, and 91% had one or more contacts with a teacher to discuss their child’s performance.

The report summarizes Smarter Summers’ first-year results as follows: “Instead of falling off track during the critical transitions to middle school and high school, these young people are gaining academic ground and invaluable exposure to colleges, careers, and a network of supportive adults.”

At a time when school districts and communities face financial resource constraints, Smarter Summers is providing an excellent option to reduce summer learning loss and guide vulnerable children towards greater academic success.

Do you have experience with summer program and their benefits for middle school kids? Please comment and share what you’ve experienced.

Our family is fortunate: my partner’s teenage daughter (she’s a freshman) goes to one of the top public high schools in our state, in terms of both academics and services. She’ll get solid support on college admissions from a well-trained counselor who has perhaps 150 -200 students to deal with.

But many students struggle with the college application and admissions process, and may turn to their teachers and tutors for advice. This is no surprise given the statistics on college admissions counseling the NACAC has recently released:

1. On average, the counselor to student ratio in US public schools (including K-12 schools) is 460 to 1. For secondary schools taken alone, the ratio including part-time staff is 272 to 1. That’s a huge caseload! Many guidance counselors simply don’t have time to advise each college-bound student on his or her applications, given their many other duties. Most also don’t have much, if any, training in the college admissions or financial aid processes.
2. Only 26% of US public schools have a counselor (full- or part-time) who works exclusively on college counseling. In contrast, 73% of private schools have a dedicated college counselor.
3. The average public high school counselor spends 23% of his or her time on college counseling – versus 55% for the average private school counselor. According to a 2005 study by the NACAC, the average public high school student got 38 minutes of college advising per year from his or her guidance counselor.
4. In a recent survey from Public Agenda, funded by the Gates Foundation, 67% of students surveyed gave their high school counselor a fair or poor rating for help in deciding which college to attend. 54% rated their counselors poor on help with the application process.
5. The percentage of high school graduates going directly to college varies widely by state – but it continues to rise even as the total number of high school graduates has peaked and is leveling off. In 2010, 68.1% of high school graduates enrolled directly in a college or university. In 2008 (love this graph), 77.4% of Mississippi grads went to college, versus 45.7% in Alaska. The national average that year was 63.3%.
6. The number of applications being submitted to colleges is insane! One out of four college-bound grads submitted seven or more college applications. Perhaps this is an indication of how difficult it has become to navigate the college admissions landscape.

In response to the great and growing need for admissions counseling, a number of independent college counselors offer a wide range of services via the Internet. These include “boutique” admissions consulting practices, like Bolger Strategic, for those targeting highly prestigious programs. College Admissions Partners has a “less aggressive” approach to helping students “improve their chances of admission to their first choice college.” Independent college admissions counselors work not only with US teens and their families, but also with clients from all over the world.

What’s the bottom line for tutors on this topic? Be aware that many kids aren’t getting much counseling. If possible, develop connections that enable you to make referrals to private/independent counselors if requested. Remember that kids are stressed by the applications process and be supportive. Here’s a helpful post that advises students on how to get the most out the admissions support they get from their high school guidance counselor.

Do you find yourself talking about college admissions with your students? How do you handle it? Please comment and share your impressions.

Featured image courtesy of Tawheed Manzoor.

For the toughest college admission season ever, the NACAC report highlights the following trends:

1) Increased number of applications

While the number of high school graduates is currently declining from its peak in 2009, the number of college applicants continues to increase.

2) Growing importance of wait lists

In line with the growing number of applications, colleges are increasingly relying on wait lists. 48% of colleges now use wait lists – up from 39% since 2009. And for many schools has become larger, due to factors like accepting more non-resident students and lower percentage of accepted students matriculating. But the number of students admitted from wait lists is actually dropping: the average is 28%, with lower figures for more selective schools.

3) Grades still count most
Great grades in honors level classes is still the most important single factor in college admissions. College entrance test scores, overall GPA and “the essay” are other key factors.

4) Demonstrating interest in a school is becoming a bigger factor
A fast-growing number of schools consider the demonstration of interest in a school to be a relevant admission decision criteria. This is especially true among smaller, private schools. (Here’s a great post on how to “demonstrate interest” to get on a college’s radar.) This trend may be building due to longer wait lists and lower acceptance rates.

A wide range of interesting analysis has likewise appeared around the blogosphere in the wake of the report. Here are some additional trends cited:

5) More applications submitted online

85% of students’ applications were submitted online in 2010, with more and more schools making their application process “online only.” More and more schools are likewise looking to boost application numbers by offering “snap apps” –  streamlined applications that may not require a fee or an essay.

6) International student applications are soaring

An increase in the number of international student applications is another reason the process has become so competitive. For example, among the 31,000 applicants to Brown University in 2011, the largest since source of applicants was overseas (many from China), followed by California. One reason cited for this trend is that overseas students often can pay full price, and colleges need the cash.

7) More out-of-state applicants

With budget cuts sweeping many state schools – especially California — more students are applying to out-of-state schools.

8] Students are applying to more schools

Nationwide, almost 18% of college-bound students applied to eight or more colleges – up from about 8% ten years ago. Online applications, common applications and perhaps more aggressive recruiting could be fueling this trend. As a result, admission yields are down somewhat (currently hovering close to 40%).

How do you feel about these trends — and how do you see them impacting your tutoring practice? Please comment and share your thoughts.

Featured image courtesy of AVID @ Rogers.

Congress is in the midst of revamping NCLB, but progress has been slow despite universal agreement that it should be updated. Education Secretary Arne Duncan announced in September 2011 that states could apply for waivers on third-party tutoring, provided they agree to various reforms advocated by the Obama administration.

Already thirty-seven states plus the District of Columbia have said that they intend to apply for a waiver between now and mid-February 2012. If granted, the waivers would free districts in these states from setting aside hundreds of millions of dollars each year for after-school tutoring targeting the lowest-performing students. This sweeping change would effectively end SES, which has already been eliminated from the Senate’s version of the updated NCLB legislation.

With a waiver, schools could funds previously earmarked for SES to support other programs designed to increase academic achievement among low-income children. This could free up more funding for other kinds of afterschool programs besides tutoring, and create new opportunities within the private education sector.

The nonprofit Afterschool Alliance is one source of guidance on how districts can effectively redistribute SES funding. Other industry associations, such as the Education Industry Association (the trade organization for private tutoring companies) and Tutor Our Children, continue to lobby to preserve SES.

What do its detractors say is wrong with SES? According to recent analysis by CBS News,  many point to low participation rates. Financially strapped districts may set aside 20% or more of their federal education money, which then goes unspent if few students sign up for tutoring – even as other budget items are slashed and teachers laid off. In districts where participation is high, there’s often not enough SES money to provide sufficient tutoring, limiting its effectiveness.

Another major issue is that there seems to be no clear, measurable indication of effectiveness commensurate with the money spent. At the same time, there is little linkage between provider effectiveness and payment because no federal money is available to monitor the tutoring companies.

Meanwhile, those defending the program assert that it gives underprivileged children access to vital educational resources that “level the playing field” with wealthier students. Many also feel that giving parents the ability to choose a tutor provides an important option for supporting their child’s education.

States that applied for waivers by the first-round deadline of November 14, 2011 could halt their participation in the SES program beginning with the 2012-2013 school year. What might these districts use their federal funds for besides after-school tutoring? In-school tutoring and summer school programs are often cited as alternatives that could be in better alignment with districts’ curriculum.

What might these potential changes to SES mean for the tutoring industry? SES providers are likely to be negatively impacted. However, overall demand for tutoring should remain very strong in line with competitive college admissions and other factors.

Does your tutoring company have a stake in the changing SES landscape? Please comment on how you feel SES waivers might impact the quality of education for low-income students.

Featured image courtesy of the US Department of Education.

Why is World Teacher’s Day important? As education becomes increasingly important to economic advancement and success in both developed and developing countries around the world, the importance of teachers in all our lives is growing. Teachers are shaping our global future not only by facilitating subject matter learning, but also by instilling vital cultural and social values such as gender equality and religious tolerance.

But despite their critical role, in many areas of the world they are poorly paid, lack basic teaching resources and are even targets of intimidation and attack. And all too often, communities expect teachers to provide a high quality education with little support. Teachers need to be empowered by systems that enable them to achieve excellence, such as proper training, a safe classroom environment and sufficient educational resources.

Is awareness enough to initiate change? According to Education International, (the global union federation that represents education professionals worldwide): yes. They believe that World Teachers’ Day should be recognized and celebrated around the world. Education International also believes that the principles of the 1966 and 1997 Recommendations should be considered for implementation in all nations. Ongoing public awareness campaigns highlight the contributions of the teaching profession.

The theme of World Teacher’s Day 2011 is “Teachers for gender equality.” Many teachers are women, but inequality with their male counterparts remains an issue globally. This is just one example of the many challenges teachers face. This Harvard University EdCast by UNESCO assistant director-general for education Qian Tang, discusses the importance of World Teacher’s Day around the world.

To commemorate World Teachers’ Day 2011, UNICEF’s podcast moderator Femi Oke spoke with Jamila Marofi, a high school teacher from Afghanistan, Gorma Minnie, a school administrator from Liberia and Professor Fernando Reimers from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Here’s a link to the podcast.

Dr. Reimers concluded the podcast by inviting everyone to celebrate the World Teachers’ Day by publicly recognizing their favorite teacher: “Shed light on the people who are doing good work and make it your task to let other people know the work of teachers.” That’s just what the US nonprofit Students First chose to do. It’s also a big part of what the StoryCorps National Teachers Initiative is all about. And here’s a website where you can send an e-card to a teacher you want to thank.

But awareness at some point needs to translate into policy decisions. This article by an educator from the Phillipines makes several references to an article by US Education Secretary Arne Duncan in The American Educator. Duncan also encourages us to remember our favorite teachers, even decades later, because “they light a lifelong curiosity, teaching students to solve problems like a scientist, write like a novelist, listen like a poet, see like an artist, observe like a journalist.”

This article like so many others also points out that teachers are still not treated on a par with other highly skilled professions. The author again quotes Duncan, who says: “Students cannot afford to wait another decade, while adults tinker with issues of teacher quality. It is time to stop tweaking the system. It’s time, once and for all, to make teaching the revered profession it should be.”

Treating teachers with reverence, according them higher social status and compensation, and supporting them to be all they can be in the classroom – that sounds like a good way to thank them, as well as a good way to drive educational reform.

How do you – educators, parents, students – feel about this issue and how to address it? Please comment and let us know.

Featured image courtesy of 5oct.org.

Today iPhones and iPads are ushering in dynamic, collaborative educational techniques, and even replacing books and saving money in classrooms. Indeed, the iPad may be Jobs’ biggest legacy of all. In the third quarter of 2011, educational sales of iPads were greater than all of Apple’s educational Mac desktop and laptop sales combined. Teachers and tutors love its portability and long battery life. And it’s intuitively easy for even young children and kids with learning disabilities to use.

Apple also offers iTunes U, an innovative, iPhone accessible distribution channel for educational content “from lectures to language lessons, films to labs, audiobooks to tours…” More than 800 universities – as well as institutions like the New York Public Library, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and numerous PBS stations — have active ITunes U sites, and many organizations distribute their content publically on the iTunes store. Besides offering countless podcasts, iTunes U supports both the PDF and ePub file formats. The latter can be read on iPads, iPhones and the iPod Touch, as well as any compatible e-reader.

According to an interview with Daniel Morrow, executive director of the ComputerWorld Smithsonian Awards Program, Jobs pointed out that teachers and tutors are key to fueling curiosity and make learning possible. Jobs said, “You need a person. Especially with computers the way they are now. Computers are very reactive but they’re not proactive; they are not agents, if you will. They are very reactive. What children need is something more proactive. They need a guide. They don’t need an assistant.”

Undoubtedly Jobs was an inspiration to countless students from grade school through grad school. He was also an ardent supporter of the innovative use of technology in schools. I resonated with the observations of the StateImpact Florida blog, which pointed out that “the corporate cultural differences between computing giants Microsoft and Apple have also served as a proxy in the debate about changing the US higher education system.”

The blog astutely points out that Microsoft founder and massive education donor Bill Gates wants US higher education institutions to focus more on subjects that correlate directly to jobs. Whereas Steve Jobs said at the unveiling of the iPad 2 in March, “It’s in Apple’s DNA that technology alone is not enough — it’s technology married with liberal arts, married with the humanities, that yields us the result that makes our heart sing and nowhere is that more true than in these post-PC devices.”

I also greatly appreciated the frank insights offered in the Edudemic blog on how Jobs “legacy of fearlessness and innovation” can serve as guidance for educational reform. Among many good points made in this blog post, the author (recent college grad Jesse L) reminds us that NeXT Computer, while a financial dud, was the inspiration for the first web server and laid the foundation for the web browser. The writer’s point is that we often focus too hard on outcomes, and thus miss the bigger picture that frames innovation.

Long live the educational legacy of Steve Jobs.

SAT vs ACT: Choosing the Right Test [NEW EBOOK]

Enter the badge, “… a validated indicator of accomplishment, skill, quality or interest…” that can be earned in almost any learning environment. Badges can motivate and support ongoing learning, validate skills and education, help build reputation and confirm knowledge acquisition. What badges to issue and what they will signify will be up to the issuer. Learners and users will decide what badges to accept and share.

The goal of Mozilla’s Open Badges project is to work towards a solution to that problem, by “making it easy to issue, earn and display badges across the web” to help today’s learners expand their career and educational opportunities. Using the Open Badges infrastructure, any organization or community can issue badges backed by their own “seal of approval.”

Learners can then acquire and display badges via the web: on their resume, website, Facebook profile, and so on. Besides making accomplishments visible to employers, teachers and peers, acquiring a sequence of badges can be a challenging motivator towards gaining new competencies, encouraging perseverance and offering reward.

To stimulate creation of “a robust badge ecosystem,” the Digital Media and Learning Competition recently kicked off its Digital Media Learning Competition 4: Badges for Lifelong Learning. Featuring awards from $10,000 to $200,000 with support from the MacArthur Foundation, the Competition is actually two related competitions: a design competition on Badges for Lifelong Learning, and a research competition on Badges, Trophies and Achievements.

The design competition will encourage organizations, learning and assessment specialists, designers and technologists to “create and test working badge systems in the wild.” Collaborators include organizations from NASA to Intel to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, all of which are exploring the potential of badges in their own environments. Badge designers and technologists have an opportunity to work collaboratively with these innovative organizations, or to focus on their own projects. Winners will be announced in January 2012.

The research competition calls for proposals by November 28, 2011 on the topic “Badges, Trophies, and Achievements: Recognition and Accreditation for Informal and Interest-Driven Learning.” More and more learning is taking place in informal and non-institutional contexts like networked knowledge communities, online tutorials and other digital resources. What are the emerging systems, techniques and practices for managing reputation and recognizing learning in these milieus? How do “displays of achievement” in the digital realm look and feel? Both grants and prizes are available.

The Badges for Lifelong Learning blog has a terrific explanation of what badges can represent and how they might function. Blogger Sheryl Grant likes badges to degrees, diplomas, grades, or currency, as well as signaling less quantifiable things like membership, identity and identification, or even love and virtue.

Meanwhile, the blog Planet OpenBadges reports that CBS Moneywatch just called digital badges for learning “a thrilling and much-needed development that could shake up the monopolistic higher-ed world.” If socially recognized as valid, digital badges could undercut colleges by signifying skills and knowledge to employers and others, regardless of whether the holder possesses a college degree.

Whether you’re all for badges or concerned about some of the ramifications, now is the time to join the conversation – if not the competition. Comment and share your impressions, pro and con. Meanwhile, stay tuned for more on badges and their evolving role in education, tutoring and testing. This idea clearly has legs and potential.

Featured image courtesy of Bitcoin.

Entitled “One Year Out: Findings from a National Survey Among Members of the High School Graduating Class of 2010,” the findings explore how recent high school graduates view their high school experience and its role in preparing them for college, work, or whatever “their next step in life” was. Over 1,500 respondents from the Class of 2010 were interviewed, either by phone or online.

An overwhelming 90% of respondents agree with the statement “In today’s world, high school is not enough, and nearly everybody needs to complete some kind of education or training after high school.” Almost three-quarters of respondents had sought further education beyond high school: 45% of respondents had enrolled in a four-year college after high school, 25% had enrolled in a two-year college, and 6% had enrolled in a trade or training school program.

Among the students surveyed who had just completed their freshman year of college, nearly 25% had been required to take non-credit remedial courses during their freshman year. And 54% reported that their university coursework was “more difficult than expected in terms of what students needed to know and what was required to get good grades.”

According to Liz Dwyer’s analysis of the study in Good Education, these results may reflect too-low expectations for high school graduation. Most high school students only need to take four years of English and two years each of math and science to graduate. Dwyer points out that kids can graduate high school having taken math only in 9^th and 10^th grades, or having taken no English classes that emphasized writing.

Reflecting the validity of this issue, 44% of students surveyed wished they’d taken “more math, science and writing-intensive courses” to prepare them for life beyond high school. Respondents who went on to college, especially those who felt they were struggling or who needed remedial classes, voiced these regrets most often.

Dwyer questions why states don’t require more math, writing and science – as well as more social studies and foreign language classes. “Why isn’t there a class dedicated to teaching the fundamentals of writing?” she rightly asks. Fully 69% of survey respondents (including those who didn’t go to college) felt high school graduation requirements were “very” or “pretty” easy, with 37% saying it should be more challenging to earn a high school diploma.

Of course, not all high school students go to college, and public high schools need to meet the needs of a wide range of learners besides those that are college-bound. Perhaps part of the problem is simply a mismatch between reality and expectations. Close to half the students surveyed also report that, given what they now know, they wish they’d been more motivated in high school. Many who went on to college no doubt believed it would be easier than it turned out to be.

Surely teachers and tutors can help students prepare mentally for the higher level of effort that college requires. Likewise, educators can guide college-focused high school students toward a higher academic standard than what it takes to graduate, including advanced placement classes. Some kids may even have the opportunity to take community college or college courses while still in high school, perhaps with the support of a tutor.

You can read a synopsis of the survey and/or download a PDF of the complete survey here.

Please comment and share how you feel about these results. Are they surprising to you? And how relevant do you feel they are to the raging debate on high school curriculum?

Featured photo courtesy of Jessica.Tam.

SES targets low-income students who attend schools that fail to make “adequate yearly progress” for three years running. Nationwide, the program serves half a million students and costs taxpayers about $6 billion – much of which is paid out to tutoring companies. Parents can choose the most appropriate support provider for their children from a list of state-approved organizations. But in many states, far more students are eligible for SES than available funding can support.

President Obama has proposed that “School Turnaround Grants” and similar options should supplant SES and other NCLB initiatives. Proponents of SES argue that the proposed changes would simply redirect funding back to policies and programs that have failed in the past. A central issue of the debate is how well SES works, and whether it is cost-effective on that basis.

One challenge in evaluating SES programs is that states and school districts have had varying degrees of success in measuring SES outcomes. Some rely only on data self-reported by service providers, or from voluntarily completed surveys of parents. Others have managed to find resources to support more rigorous approaches to evaluation.

Even across the most advanced and valid evaluation efforts, findings have been mixed. Many studies report relatively weak program effects, or no effects at all. Others report statistically significant gains, at least for certain groups of students.

For example, a report submitted to the Colorado Department of Education in June 2010 is now receiving attention as debate builds around the reauthorization of NCLB. Third-party evaluators concluded: “Across all analyses, few significant differences were found” between students who received SES tutoring and comparable groups of students who received no tutoring.

Moreover, the students who benefitted most from SES tutoring where those who faced fewer challenges in the first place, such as native English speakers and those not in special education/needs programs. The average cost per participating student was over $1,100 in federal Title 1 funds.

Tutor Our Children, a coalition of supporters (including leading SES providers), seeks to ensure that “…Congress empowers parents to select the student supports that are most appropriate for their high need children.” The organization wants to preserve federally funded free tutoring programs, while also improving service quality and ease of access. According to surveys conducted by Tutor Our Children, a strong majority of “likely voters” support the current law.

Tutor Our Children further cites a recent study by the US Department of Education showing that African-American and Hispanic kids participated at the highest rates in SES programs. This study also shows that SES tutoring programs increase student achievement in reading and math, versus eligible students who didn’t participate in SES programs. Students who received tutoring for multiple years realized the largest gains.

For financial and other reasons, the parents of many American children are not able to provide their children with the support they require to succeed academically. Government funded programs like SES may be the only source of empowerment for many of these parents.

Do you feel that SES and similar programs should receive funding in this time of shrinking budgets? Is free tutoring a valid approach to bolstering America’s faltering public education system? Please comment and share your thoughts.

Featured photo courtesy of Tulane Public Relations.

SAT vs ACT: Choosing the Right Test [NEW EBOOK]

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