This weekend I dropped my daughter off to begin her sophomore at James Madison University. I am a member of USAA and on their site, they recommend clearly establishing what the parent will pay for and what the college student will pay for. We have done this and I am paying for tuition, room/board and books.
I kind of threw in books, just being a generous parent. I sincerely wish I had not done so. The ridiculousness that is college text books is totally out of hand. We were able to buy used books for half of her requirement for this semester and it still cost over $550 for five classes.
I have no qualms about paying $550 if she were going to use the books, glean massive amounts of applicable knowledge, and see the value of this investment - but that is totally not the reality. Half the time the professors never even use the books.
From the Washington Post: “Estimates of how much students spend on textbooks range from $700 to $1,100 annually, and the market for new books is estimated at $3.6 billion this year. Between 1986 and 2004, the price of textbooks nearly tripled, rising an average of 6 percent a year while inflation rose 3 percent, according to a 2005 report by the Government Accountability Office. In California, the state auditor reported last week that prices have skyrocketed 30 percent in four years.”
Congress and states are trying to legislate a solution which will never work. This problem needs to be solved at the university level. If the professor assigns readings that are online, there is no cost and the quality is probably the same and text book price gouging will end.
But it will all be too late for me. My daughters will have graduated long before a solution is found. Maybe with file sharing like Textbook Torrents, the text book industry will go the way of the record store and future parents wont have to deal with text book insanity.
Monday, August 25, 2008
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Free markets in higher education
Free markets continue to infiltrate higher education. I am not talking about the proliferation of for-profit institutions, I am talking about ratemyprofessors.com. If you don’t have a kid in college, you may not be aware of the power this is bringing to college students everywhere.
My daughter is transferring to James Madison University for her second year. As a transfer student you don’t get first choice in scheduling. But for every class she schedules, she first checks ratemyprofessors.com to see if the professor is good or bad.
I have watched her become a very savvy consumer of higher education. She does not just believe the overall ratings but is now matching the professor’s characteristics to her own. She is the type that attends every class so she selects professors that give credit for that. She likes more work but does not do as well on big finals - so she will select professors who have graded work during the semester decreasing the impact the final exam will have on the overall grade. If she has a choice of two courses and doesn’t feel strongly about the content, she will take the better rated professor.
When I was going to school we just had rumors and horror stories to go by – not great information like this. Ratemyprofessors boasts over 7 million ratings in their database and we rarely find a professor that has not been rated by students.
This leads to some interesting questions such as – what happens to a tenured professor when no one takes their class because of the low ratings? Will good courses be dropped because of a perceived lack of interest when in reality it is just the professor? Will there be a Darwinian result for those ill-informed/lazy/tech adverse students who don’t bother to check the website before signing up for classes?
It is fascinating to watch. As a parent who is paying the bills, it is also comforting to know that my daughter will not be stuck in a class with a horrible professor who will wreak havoc on her GPA with unfair tests that don’t actually cover the material. And, hopefully she will take this finely honed consumer sense with her throughout her life.
My daughter is transferring to James Madison University for her second year. As a transfer student you don’t get first choice in scheduling. But for every class she schedules, she first checks ratemyprofessors.com to see if the professor is good or bad.
I have watched her become a very savvy consumer of higher education. She does not just believe the overall ratings but is now matching the professor’s characteristics to her own. She is the type that attends every class so she selects professors that give credit for that. She likes more work but does not do as well on big finals - so she will select professors who have graded work during the semester decreasing the impact the final exam will have on the overall grade. If she has a choice of two courses and doesn’t feel strongly about the content, she will take the better rated professor.
When I was going to school we just had rumors and horror stories to go by – not great information like this. Ratemyprofessors boasts over 7 million ratings in their database and we rarely find a professor that has not been rated by students.
This leads to some interesting questions such as – what happens to a tenured professor when no one takes their class because of the low ratings? Will good courses be dropped because of a perceived lack of interest when in reality it is just the professor? Will there be a Darwinian result for those ill-informed/lazy/tech adverse students who don’t bother to check the website before signing up for classes?
It is fascinating to watch. As a parent who is paying the bills, it is also comforting to know that my daughter will not be stuck in a class with a horrible professor who will wreak havoc on her GPA with unfair tests that don’t actually cover the material. And, hopefully she will take this finely honed consumer sense with her throughout her life.
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Time on Task
Apologies to the 10’s of loyal readers – summer hiatus to take care of family issues, get daughter 1 ready to transfer to James Madison University and relax.
But, there is no rest for education reformers – so a little recap of the ABCTE summer. We have been extremely busy looking at the data from Mathematica on our program and pretty pleased with the results so far – student achievement data will come in December. We have been taking a ton of enrollments from Missouri (325)– a lot of pent up demand for an affordable program to get into teaching in that state and we have been meeting with decision makers to look at the next set of states for ABCTE.
As for me, I have taken on the role of Board Chair for a small charter school here in DC. The Academia Bilingüe de la Comunidad Public Charter School (ABC), which opened in the Fall of 2005, is a Bilingual English and Spanish total-immersion Public Charter School in Washington DC, serving grades 6-8. We have not made AYP yet and our test scores are pretty dismal.
When asking for advice from other education leaders, I hear one thing pretty clearly – it is time on task. There is no silver bullet special program or teaching technique that will get AYP – it is how much time you spend on math and reading that will get scores up. And when you look at the KIPP model, there is a ton of time on task and they get results. Now they also have great facilities, dedicated parents, energetic teachers willing to put in the time. But if they tried to get the same results in the normal school day/year, I doubt they would.
So I embark on a journey for AYP. It started with getting a great principal who was hired in June. Then the simple task of really cleaning the school to show the great facility and I can assure you that a man never walked so tall as when he stooped to clean a middle school bathroom. We are heavily recruiting students and working on teacher training. I will keep you posted on the results as we try to work on greater time on task.
But, there is no rest for education reformers – so a little recap of the ABCTE summer. We have been extremely busy looking at the data from Mathematica on our program and pretty pleased with the results so far – student achievement data will come in December. We have been taking a ton of enrollments from Missouri (325)– a lot of pent up demand for an affordable program to get into teaching in that state and we have been meeting with decision makers to look at the next set of states for ABCTE.
As for me, I have taken on the role of Board Chair for a small charter school here in DC. The Academia Bilingüe de la Comunidad Public Charter School (ABC), which opened in the Fall of 2005, is a Bilingual English and Spanish total-immersion Public Charter School in Washington DC, serving grades 6-8. We have not made AYP yet and our test scores are pretty dismal.
When asking for advice from other education leaders, I hear one thing pretty clearly – it is time on task. There is no silver bullet special program or teaching technique that will get AYP – it is how much time you spend on math and reading that will get scores up. And when you look at the KIPP model, there is a ton of time on task and they get results. Now they also have great facilities, dedicated parents, energetic teachers willing to put in the time. But if they tried to get the same results in the normal school day/year, I doubt they would.
So I embark on a journey for AYP. It started with getting a great principal who was hired in June. Then the simple task of really cleaning the school to show the great facility and I can assure you that a man never walked so tall as when he stooped to clean a middle school bathroom. We are heavily recruiting students and working on teacher training. I will keep you posted on the results as we try to work on greater time on task.
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
McCain Backs ABCTE
Washington, DC (July 16, 2008) —
If elected president, Arizona Senator John McCain would focus effort and energy toward recruiting talented career changers into the teaching profession. According to a speech today, McCain’s education platform will focus significantly on teacher recruitment, in light of the fact that America’s schools are suffering from a critical teacher shortage.
Under a proposal outlined by Senator McCain, additional funding would be set aside to help recruit career changers into the teaching profession.
In remarks at the 99th annual NAACP convention in Cincinnati today, McCain outlined a bold education reform agenda which includes an expansion of school choice and additional funding for alternative teacher recruitment programs. “Many thousands of highly qualified men and women have great knowledge, wisdom, and experience to offer public school students. But a monopoly on teacher certification prevents them from getting that chance.”
“If I am elected president, school choice for all who want it, an expansion of Opportunity Scholarships, and alternative certification for teachers will all be part of a serious agenda of education reform,” McCain said. “I will target funding to recruit teachers who graduate in the top 25 percent of their class, or who participate in an alternative teacher recruitment program such as Teach for America, the American Board for [Certification of] Teacher Excellence, and the New Teacher Project.”
ABCTE hailed McCain’s focus on innovative teacher recruitment and called on Senator Barack Obama, McCain’s opponent, to echo the same message.
Dave Saba, President of the American Board for Certification of Teacher Excellence(ABCTE) stated: “We applaud and thank Senator McCain for highlighting the needs of America’s students in his speech before the NAACP today. Education is the civil rights issue of our time. We can only ensure a quality education when every child has a great teacher. Alternative teacher certification programs like the American Board for Certification of Teacher Excellence are bringing critical expertise into the classroom.”
ABCTE’s goal is to recruit talented professionals to change jobs and become teachers. Eight U.S. states currently use ABCTE to recruit and certify teachers, and the organization has recruited more than 6,000 talented career changers to enter the teaching profession.
ABCTE has made great strides this year in improving education. In May, Governor Matt Blunt of Missouri signed legislation creating an alternate route to teaching using the ABCTE program. In June Traci Brown, a scholarship recipient, earned the 1,000th certification issued by ABCTE. Most recently, Mathematica Policy Research released a survey showing that 85 percent of ABCTE teachers were still teaching three years after they were certified.
“It is great to see the candidates talking about this issue and recognizing programs like ABCTE that are having a positive impact on education,” said Saba. “ABCTE is not a partisan program; it is a way forward for all of America’s public, private and public charter schools suffering the effects of a critical teacher shortage. All candidates should embrace this effective alternative.”
About ABCTEThe American Board for Certification of Teacher Excellence is a non-profit organization, dedicated to recruiting, preparing, certifying and supporting dedicated professionals to improve student achievement through quality teaching. ABCTE is an innovative teacher preparation and certification program for highly knowledgeable individuals who want to change careers and become teachers. For more information about ABCTE, please visit www.abcte.org.
If elected president, Arizona Senator John McCain would focus effort and energy toward recruiting talented career changers into the teaching profession. According to a speech today, McCain’s education platform will focus significantly on teacher recruitment, in light of the fact that America’s schools are suffering from a critical teacher shortage.
Under a proposal outlined by Senator McCain, additional funding would be set aside to help recruit career changers into the teaching profession.
In remarks at the 99th annual NAACP convention in Cincinnati today, McCain outlined a bold education reform agenda which includes an expansion of school choice and additional funding for alternative teacher recruitment programs. “Many thousands of highly qualified men and women have great knowledge, wisdom, and experience to offer public school students. But a monopoly on teacher certification prevents them from getting that chance.”
“If I am elected president, school choice for all who want it, an expansion of Opportunity Scholarships, and alternative certification for teachers will all be part of a serious agenda of education reform,” McCain said. “I will target funding to recruit teachers who graduate in the top 25 percent of their class, or who participate in an alternative teacher recruitment program such as Teach for America, the American Board for [Certification of] Teacher Excellence, and the New Teacher Project.”
ABCTE hailed McCain’s focus on innovative teacher recruitment and called on Senator Barack Obama, McCain’s opponent, to echo the same message.
Dave Saba, President of the American Board for Certification of Teacher Excellence(ABCTE) stated: “We applaud and thank Senator McCain for highlighting the needs of America’s students in his speech before the NAACP today. Education is the civil rights issue of our time. We can only ensure a quality education when every child has a great teacher. Alternative teacher certification programs like the American Board for Certification of Teacher Excellence are bringing critical expertise into the classroom.”
ABCTE’s goal is to recruit talented professionals to change jobs and become teachers. Eight U.S. states currently use ABCTE to recruit and certify teachers, and the organization has recruited more than 6,000 talented career changers to enter the teaching profession.
ABCTE has made great strides this year in improving education. In May, Governor Matt Blunt of Missouri signed legislation creating an alternate route to teaching using the ABCTE program. In June Traci Brown, a scholarship recipient, earned the 1,000th certification issued by ABCTE. Most recently, Mathematica Policy Research released a survey showing that 85 percent of ABCTE teachers were still teaching three years after they were certified.
“It is great to see the candidates talking about this issue and recognizing programs like ABCTE that are having a positive impact on education,” said Saba. “ABCTE is not a partisan program; it is a way forward for all of America’s public, private and public charter schools suffering the effects of a critical teacher shortage. All candidates should embrace this effective alternative.”
About ABCTEThe American Board for Certification of Teacher Excellence is a non-profit organization, dedicated to recruiting, preparing, certifying and supporting dedicated professionals to improve student achievement through quality teaching. ABCTE is an innovative teacher preparation and certification program for highly knowledgeable individuals who want to change careers and become teachers. For more information about ABCTE, please visit www.abcte.org.
Monday, July 7, 2008
Technology in the Classroom
I am rapidly becoming a tweenteacher reader based on excellent blogs like this one on technology in the classroom (the graphic is worth the look). It still seems pathetic that education is the one area that has not benefited from technology. In any other industry, when there is shortage of a critical resource (ie great teachers) technology creates efficiencies that allow us to fully leverage that resource.
It is sad that we do not use technology to its fullest. Computers can provide the absolute best differentiated instruction, help with language acquisition skills, provide tutoring, and fully leverage great science teachers to thousands of students.
Yet we sit in our antiquated system. Insanity is truly doing the same thing and hoping for a different result. We need to do something different.
It is sad that we do not use technology to its fullest. Computers can provide the absolute best differentiated instruction, help with language acquisition skills, provide tutoring, and fully leverage great science teachers to thousands of students.
Yet we sit in our antiquated system. Insanity is truly doing the same thing and hoping for a different result. We need to do something different.
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Math and Science Problems
Great article about the shortage of math and science teachers affecting even suburban schools now. These are schools that normally have a waiting list for jobs and now they cant find math and science teachers. Why is that?
Salary is definitely a factor. But the article points out that just 1% of the degrees in this country were in math and science. Our K-12 schools are turning out less students with a passion and expertise in math and science and that is affecting the number of people who go into the field. And they won’t get the passion unless they have great math and science teachers to inspire them.
There is hope. I always say that it is not one thing, it is everything that eventually solves a problem. First, we need serious cross training of great teachers through summer institutes in math and science. After the completion of this training, these teachers should get a significant bump in pay to teach science. The training would be ongoing to ensure that they continue to enhance their skills. Many areas have a surplus of elementary teachers – find those with desire and help them help us.
Second, we need more professionals in the field to transition into teaching. There are many out there who cannot wait to teach but will not go through the traditional hours of course work. We continue to get large numbers of career changers into the classroom through the ABCTE program but we could do more if states and districts work with us.
Third, we cannot ignore the basic economics of supply and demand. When there is a shortage of a resource, the price goes up. We need differentiated pay to attract more math and science experts into our schools.
Fourth, we need new math and science models for teaching. Part time teaching from the semi-retired, sharing physics teachers among 3-4 high schools and using an online science master teaching hundreds of students while in class teaching aides work with groups of students all need to be used to stretch limited resources.
This current math/science teaching shortage is going to get a lot worse before it gets better. We need action now.
Salary is definitely a factor. But the article points out that just 1% of the degrees in this country were in math and science. Our K-12 schools are turning out less students with a passion and expertise in math and science and that is affecting the number of people who go into the field. And they won’t get the passion unless they have great math and science teachers to inspire them.
There is hope. I always say that it is not one thing, it is everything that eventually solves a problem. First, we need serious cross training of great teachers through summer institutes in math and science. After the completion of this training, these teachers should get a significant bump in pay to teach science. The training would be ongoing to ensure that they continue to enhance their skills. Many areas have a surplus of elementary teachers – find those with desire and help them help us.
Second, we need more professionals in the field to transition into teaching. There are many out there who cannot wait to teach but will not go through the traditional hours of course work. We continue to get large numbers of career changers into the classroom through the ABCTE program but we could do more if states and districts work with us.
Third, we cannot ignore the basic economics of supply and demand. When there is a shortage of a resource, the price goes up. We need differentiated pay to attract more math and science experts into our schools.
Fourth, we need new math and science models for teaching. Part time teaching from the semi-retired, sharing physics teachers among 3-4 high schools and using an online science master teaching hundreds of students while in class teaching aides work with groups of students all need to be used to stretch limited resources.
This current math/science teaching shortage is going to get a lot worse before it gets better. We need action now.
Friday, June 13, 2008
Education Research Shows Nothing but High Price Tags
Two articles this week on education research with no real winner or loser in either. Shocking. The first study is the result of an exhaustive study of the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. Ed Week says that the results show that “National Board Teachers found to be Effective”. Wow – not exactly a resounding victory.
Next up was a study of supplemental education services (SES). In this case the results were mixed with a Rand study showing some improvement but other studies showing no real improvement. Not exactly a resounding defeat.
Notice a trend. It costs a lot of money to conduct a study to determine student achievement yet we cannot really see any truly significant results. In the case of the National Board, the effect size was .04 – this means that only 4% of the gains made by students can be attributable to the fact that the child had a National Board teacher. Even if the results are better, the samples sizes are small due to the cost and the detractors of a program will call it out based on sample size even if it is statistically significant.
There is no slam dunk in studies of student achievement. It is sad but true that the costs are too high and the variation seems to be too great to really get a feel for the success of one program or another. Maybe we need a new measure?
Next up was a study of supplemental education services (SES). In this case the results were mixed with a Rand study showing some improvement but other studies showing no real improvement. Not exactly a resounding defeat.
Notice a trend. It costs a lot of money to conduct a study to determine student achievement yet we cannot really see any truly significant results. In the case of the National Board, the effect size was .04 – this means that only 4% of the gains made by students can be attributable to the fact that the child had a National Board teacher. Even if the results are better, the samples sizes are small due to the cost and the detractors of a program will call it out based on sample size even if it is statistically significant.
There is no slam dunk in studies of student achievement. It is sad but true that the costs are too high and the variation seems to be too great to really get a feel for the success of one program or another. Maybe we need a new measure?
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