The Dropout Factories

A analysis of US Dept of Education data by researchers Johns Hopkins for the Associated Press, has caught attention by labeling schools with very high dropout rates as "dropout factories". Media hype aside (one wonders if the study had not been done FOR Associated Press if the pejorative term would have used) the web posting on te local NBC affiliates site had this telling quote -

"Education researchers said specialized programs such as the ninth-grade academies at Hartford's high schools have shown promise in reversing dropout rates.

Other initiatives getting good marks include strong mentoring programs, after-school community programs and alternative schools that focus on special topics or practical skills that interest students and make them want to stay enrolled. Several schools also are bolstering their elementary-school reading programs, saying that students who fall behind as preteens may become so frustrated by their freshman year that they give up in disgust and leave.

"One of the indicators we ask schools to look at is the reading level of every third-grader, and to look at that statistic hard and fast," said Jay Smink, executive director of the National Dropout Prevention Center at Clemson University.

"For every kid that's not at grade level, you'd better initiate an intervention immediately or you'll be writing a dropout ticket for them, come ninth grade," he said.

Here is the link - http://www.nbc30.com/news/14452864/detail.html?dl=headlineclick

Cross posted in Life in the Fast Lane

The Times They Are a Changing

Today after school I ran errands, one of which was to stop and get a hair cut. One of the gals in the shop I frequent had a baby that day (a little earlier than was expected), and the buzz was all about the baby. Of course it took me back to that exciting, happy time in my life when my first was born. One of the things I was proud of was that I made sure I knew where the closest one hour photo place was. I had the camera primed and by the time both Grandma's left I had shot a roll of film with each, dashed out to the drug store and both left with a set of glossy pictures of their grandchild suitable for showing. Tonight my cutter remarked about the Dad (who was a cousin), "Yeah I waited until 5 to text him and he should be emailing pictures to my phone any time now.....


Come mothers and fathers
Throughout the land
And don't criticize
What you can't understand
Your sons and your daughters
Are beyond your command
Your old road is
Rapidly agin'.
Please get out of the new one
If you can't lend your hand
For the times they are a-changin'.

A disappointing CECA/CEMA Conference in Hartford

Caution, rant ahead

My brethren and sisteran of CECA/CEMA, I cannot tell you how angry I am after attending your conference at the Hartford Convention Center today. I have to vent it all here tonight. Now let me begin by stating that I get it. It is an all volunteer effort. It is in a new venue and it was a marriage of money between the techies and the librarians to get the new Connecticut Convention Center. I did my time on the CECA Board way back, I did my time when CECA did two conferences (Fall in the western half of the state, Spring in the east). This year was a hard one. And yet, when on earth will you get it!

I am sorry. The conference was filled with lots of talk (but very little actual classroom practice) on Web 2.0. Where were the Web 2.0 tools for this conference? Where was the wiki set up? Where were the google docs? What was the common tagging format for the conference? Where were the Flickr photos being uploaded? Your keynote last year was David Warlick for God’s sake! He showed us how to use these tools in his presentation 12 months ago. Did it all fall on deaf ears? Here you have a couple of thousand people in a perfect place to collaborate on line - it was the POINT of your keynote in 2006!

What would have happened if there was a preset open wiki with each presentation having a page? Could we not have all edited and combined our notes into one big wiki that would have been there for everyone? Did anybody put the conference on Warlick’s Hitchhikr? Did the K12 Online conference running these two weeks ever get a mention (except by the one presenter who said it was over)? Nothing on the revised NETS adopted in June 2007? Did anybody Twitter? We are ostensibly the educational technology leaders for the state of Connecticut and you are the leaders of those leaders.

You chose as your keynote, Dr. Henry Lee (more about Henry later) and you put Kathy Schrock in a room that held 30 which crammed into 60, and others walked away because there was no room. You put Will Richardson on for closing remarks in the Ballroom at 4PM. Will Richardson, the godfather of educational blogging and the person everyone on a national level points to as a seminal voice in the educational Web 2.0 movement. Will Richardson delivered his thunder at 4PM before a couple of hundred people slowly dwindling as the hour went by as folks moved out to beat the 5PM traffic jams in Hartford. Henry Lee made snide remarks about tragic deaths in front of 3000.

I am sorry. Dr. Henry is a famous CT celebrity and has a national reputation in forensics. He does nothing that informs my practice, or gives me insight. He speaks with a thick accent that I find very hard to understand. He did attempt to be humorous in speaking about he cases he has been involved with. However, if I were the family of Vincent Foster or Shondra Levy I would have been disgusted to know that my relative’s tragic death was being used in a cavalier way in front of a audience of thousands. I tell you truly, I walked out. I know that there were many others who left upset with the graphic photos of the murder scenes. Henry Lee was the wrong choice.

Thank you Kathy for your grace in moving from the theory to practice and the sheer breadth of your knowledge. No matter when I hear you I cannot get over the font of resources you are. I hope to join you in Second Life on Thursday (Estaban Zenovka)
Thank you, Will for your impassioned clarity. You said in your blog a few weeks ago that you were wondering if it was all worth it. Please do not stop with your thunderous message. Judging from what I saw today, there are too many still living with their heads in the sand.

We must change. The world is changing around us. The kids are there, they are not waiting. The tools exist, they are free for the taking. When will CECA and the librarians in CEMA stop talking the talk and start walking the walk?

The clueless question of the day, after sitting through 35 minutes of a 45 minute presentation - “So, I am not sure I know where to find this Web 2.0. I don’t know how to connect to it. When I find it, will all these things you have talked about be listed on one page?”

Heaven help us…….

One Thing You Can Do...

I am posting this late on Sunday night because I have a n early and long day tomorrow. I have just a short message. Get involved in something that can make a difference. I am a tree hugger of the first rank and have been for a long time. From the very first Earthday through Silent Spring, through Nuclear Freeze, the Bottle Bills and Global Warming, I grew up with the environmental era. I decided long ago that I could march, I could protest, I could give money, I could support candidates and I could write letters. I was not sure that all of that was making more than a marginal difference. It seemed to me that it made the most sense to go where the power is. For me that was politics and land use issues, at the local level. What will eat up the pretty green valley where I live is farm land and forest land moving through subdivision and into suburbs and industrial parks. Sitting on local planning, zoning , and inland wetland commissions is not sexy work. It is long term, it requires a view that can deal with individual actions in the context of a larger town wide and regional picture. It is a minutiae driven work requiring an understanding of regulations, law and its applications. To do it well takes time, takes effort, and takes patience to bring an environmental perspective to and economic venue. And yet, that is where the power is, and made it all worth it. The preservation of habitat or at least the smartest destruction of habitat is one of the things that you can have a role in.

Act locally with a global commitment, you will make a difference.

Blog Action Day is Monday October 15 - The Topic is the Environment