On Saturday, interest rates for student loans are going to rise approximately 2%. Why does this matter for our discussion of K-12 education? Because, as the economists say, it's all about incentives.

Currently, a huge number of students drop out of high school every year. The staggering statistics on this have made headlines for months. If you are lucky enough to be one of the ones who makes it all the way through public school and through the crazy gauntlet of the college admissions process, you then have to deal with how to pay the astronomical costs of a college education.

Many students are able to afford college because of loans. Unfortunately, on Saturday, interest rates on those loans are going to rise. 2% does not sound like much, but it amounts to thousands of dollars and therefore years more time spent in debt for graduated college students.

Here's where the incentives come in. One of high school students' biggest worries about college is funding. If college is suddenly becoming thousands more dollars more expensive for them, this takes away more of the incentive for going to college. It will take many more years to pay off debt and cause more stress and more work for the same benefit. Finally, if students realize that college is even more financially unattainable for them while in high school, they will have more incentive to drop out.

The bottom line here is that the education system is fundamentally connected even if it does not seem obvious. What happens to preschoolers in America matters to students all the way up the line. What happens to college students matters to high school students, middle school students, and elementary school students.

Instead of subsidizing things like mega-corporations, war, and agro-business, why doesn't the federal government spend more on subsidizing education and the future of our great nation?

Posted by Stacy Tolos at 08:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Despite our temptations to make it otherwise, our mission statement for the summer has nothing to do with the beach (sad for Ethan), baseball games (sad for me), or this (sad for everyone - j/k j/k lol).

No, Our Education's goal this summer is something much, much more unique. In fact, to my knowledge, it's yet another thing that's never been done before. And whether or not we succed will depend on YOU.

So what is the goal for the summer? To meet, recruit, and prepare a leadership circle of no fewer than two hundred high school and college aged youth who will lead "Our Education Petition Drives" when school starts back up in the fall. Many of these leaders will run their petition drives through existing school clubs & groups (like NHS, student government, key club, etc.) and some will even start up their own "Our Education Clubs" to spread the word and learn more about key education issues and youth involvement. When the dust settles after these leaders get the word out in their schools, we'll work together to get the word out in their counties and states and beyond. And after that, once hundreds of thousands -- even millions -- of students are standing up to demand an American right to high quality education... this leadership circle will work to define what high quality education ought to mean, and lead the charge in pushing our elected officials to act and make education at long last a national priority.

So how do YOU fit in? In short, we're asking you to join our leadership circle of students who will be building, shaping, and then taking the lead in strategizing and executing this emerging youth movement. Already, we've had conversations with more than twenty student leaders about what they can do to get the ball rolling this fall. So, Tanya, Sasha, Tony, Jarvis, Drew, Paul, Jon, Shay, DeMarcus, Lishaun, Alicia, Robin, Nicole, Lynn, Justan, Ebony, Simone, Robert, Spencer, Mary, Seung-Yen, and Justin ... you are not alone. By the end of August, you will be joined by a number of students just like you who believe that all American children ought to have the right to high quality public education - and who believe that students themselves must play a leading role in the fight to bring this day about.

Are you interested in joining our mission for the summer? Do you want to play a leading role in shaping the future of our education system? We'd be thrilled to fight together alongside you. Email us at aaron@oured.org or ethan@oured.org, or IM us at SN: OurEducation2006 (me) or OurEducation2007 (ethan) for more info!

Posted by Aaron Tang at 10:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I'm confused.

Every politician includes "Education" or "Educating Our Children" or "Improving Education" as one of his/her top three most important platform pieces. Why, then, isn't education a) dramatically improving due to better legislation and policies or b) in the news all the time being debated, discussed, and ultimately improved.

Unfortunately, it seems that politicians use education as one of their many tools for getting elected (who can argue against a pro-education platform?) and then fail to follow through once they are in office.

Throughout the past three weeks, the U.S. Senate has discussed the following: 1) An amendment to the Constitution to ban same-sex marriages throughout the nation; 2) A bill to cancel the Estate Tax which favors half of a percent of Americans, the very wealthiest of all and cuts programs for average Americans; and 3) An amendment to the Constitution to ban flag burning.

None of this has to do with education in the least, and in fact, is an insult to the millions of American students. Our Senators have decided for us that issues like flag burning are more important than our education and therefore the future of our national economy and labor force.

It is time for politicians to follow through on their promises, bring education improvement policies to the forefront of the national debate, and stop ignoring this incredibly important issue.

Stacy Tolos is a Junior at Vanderbilt University. She is a fellow with Young People For, a project of People for the American Way, and has worked with Idealist.org, Ashoka, and other leading non-profits.

Posted by Guest at 12:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Kudos to Schoo Me! for being the first edublog on this developing story out of Massachusetts on a ridiculous moronic amusing battle over everyone's favorite lunchtime treat: the Fluffernutter. For the uninitiated, a "Fluffernutter" is a sandwich comprised of peanut butter and Marshmallow Fluff (a marshmallow spread) on (usually) white bread. Well a Massachusetts State Senator Jarrett T. Barrios has introduced an amendment to a junk food bill that would limit the number of times lunch rooms could offer the Fluffernutter (this is after backing off of an initial amendment that would have banned the sandwiches outright).

What did the Fluffernutter do to incur the wrath of Sen. Barrios, you ask.

Well one was served to his son at school and when his son asked for such a sandwich at home he saw the four horsemen of the apocalypse   all hell-broke loose the Senator decided to act.

Now I don't mean to make light of a serious issue--childhood obesity--but this is a most ridiculous incarnation of the classic case of attempting to cure the symptom instead of the illness. There have certainly been some positive strides taken in this area recently, but this amendment doesn't seem like it qualifies. The great irony in this crusade-- and the thing that most compounds the questionable decision to single out a specific product--is that the company that makes Marshmallow Fluff is located in the Sen. Barrios' district! You don't have to be Karl Rove to figure out that this might not be a good idea. On the positive side of things, at least you can't accuse Barrios of being a "do-nothinger" like some elected representatives out there.

Posted by Ethan at 12:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Thanks to our friend the poor-starving-college-student for passing along >this article. While it is certainly great to read that an event like this is taking place, I wish we could reach a point where a story like this isn't newsworthy because it happens more than once a year or more than once every election cycle.

Still I am glad that students got an opportunity to "grill" the mayor on what is being done to improve the quality of education received by students in Richmond and that the mayor left the event reportedly "impressed. His comment, though, to the Times-Dispatch about the event struck me as bizarre. Speaking of the students who attended the event, he told the paper, "They are so far ahead of typical kids. The questions they asked are the same ones asked by the adults."

Um, two things (1) why was he so surprised that students would ask the same questions adults do? He didn't think students could diagnose what's going on (and not going on) in their own schools even though they spend eight hours a day there? What he thought they were going to ask for a longer lunch break and Coke in the drinking fountains?! Mayor Wilder is not giving these students nearly enough credit with that back-handed compliment (2) building on the last point: I think he's giving way too much credit to this particular group of students. I know his limited interaction with students in that type of environment might lead him to such a conclusion but this group really isn't "so far ahead" of the average student (not that they shouldn't be applauded for showing up to this event and expressing their thoughts). Believe it or not, the average student is capable of thinking critically about their own school and, when given the (once annual(!?)) opportunity to interact with policy makers, capable of asking meaningful and trenchant questions.

Now for a quick policy suggestion:
Since Mayor Wilder was so impressed by this group of students, I think he should follow the Virginia State Board of Education's lead and bring a proposal to the Richmond city council to create a student advisory panel to the local board of education. Or, why not create an actual position on the local school board for a student to serve in an advisory position. Better yet, why not do BOTH! Think about it.....

Posted by Ethan at 08:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

What happens when over a million students stand up to demand that their government address resource shortages, policy problems, and widespread inequalities in their public education system?

In Chile, the result was $200 million dollars to repair dilapidated schools, permanent youth representation in the form of twelve student seats on a national education reform panel, and other benefits like improved school lunch programs and free entrance exams to get into college. Student leaders in Chile mobilized rapidly in response to growing concern about the lip-service being paid to youth issues, and the result—a million students walking out of their run-down schools for three weeks until the newly elected President agreed to take action as demanded by the students—was an unprecedented victory for young people & the future of Chile.

In the United States, the problems plaguing our education system remain every bit as pressing: nearly 20,000 school buildings have facilities in “inadequate” condition; two-thirds of our students cannot read at grade level proficiency; more than a million students drop out of high school each year; and pernicious inequality persists along geographic, racial, and financial lines. But until now, students have done precious little in response to these systemic failures and failures on the part of elected officials to improve things.

Thankfully, students in America—young people just like you—are beginning to take the future into their own hands. Through Our Education, a national youth movement is building to demand high quality public education be guaranteed to every American child. You can learn more and sign their petition here.

But just like in Chile, if this effort is to succeed and we are to win real improvements in our schools, students like YOU will have to become LEADERS and not just ordinary members of the movement. We’ll need students like you to spread the word about the petition and get it signed by your student body. Then we’ll need students like you to take the lead in debating and passing a first-ever “Students Bill of Rights” in 2007. And we’ll need students like you to continue to put pressure on our leaders to make our education a national priority.

Interested in being one of these student leaders? E-mail info@oured.org for more information on leading an Our Education petition drive at your school in the fall. With just a few hours of your time, you can play a critical role in getting the word out about this campaign. If you need service hours for graduation or anything else at your school, this would be a great way to get them!

If someone had asked you what we could learn from Chile’s students four months ago, you probably wouldn’t have had much to say (Spanish maybe?). But if you were asked that question today, the answer would be everything: how to rise up and demand what is best for young people and what is best for our nation; how to build a massive movement among our peers, encouraging friends and strangers alike to stand together so that all of us can have better opportunities; in short, how to make a difference in the world around us. Together, we can show that we’ve learned this lesson – and the result will be a first-rate education system that all of us can be proud of.

Posted by Aaron Tang at 12:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

As you may have gathered from some of our previous blogs, we continue to do talks with students whenever we can. At these talks, we try to learn what young people think should be changed in our schools and ask if they would like to become leaders in this emerging national youth movement for quality public education.

We had a talk yesterday with 46 students from the National Young Leaders Conference here in DC, and we were just floored by their understanding of the issues at play, their passion for making a difference, and their excitement for taking Our Education's national student petition campaign back to their high schools in the fall.

A few of the most interesting debates they had:

- The students raised and then explored a big question that contemporary school reformers are struggling with today: it's easy to say that we should have high quality schools held to a high standard, but what do you do with the schools that fail to meet those standards over and over again? One of the misconceptions about youth views on schools is that the students want their schools to get the "get out of jail free card" over and over again, that their schools shouldn't be punished if they fail to meet state goals. These students saw clearly that our standards must mean something - and that means having real consequences for schools that fail... though we didn't have enough time to decide what those consequences might be (don't worry... that's what this is for).

- The students had a deep discussion about school finance issues. There was consensus in the room that 1.) there is a resource problem in our schools, and that 2.) it's not just about having more money, it's about spending that money in a more effective and equitable way and having the political committment to sustain these kinds of necessary resources.

- There was also a lot of talk about the hyper-focus on standardized tests in some schools and districts. However, several students made a great point that it isn't the policy of standardized testing itself that is the problem - it's the way that some schools and districts make the tests the be-all and end-all of classroom instruction as opposed to letting teachers focus on creative, proven ways of teaching content & critical thinking skills.

Needless to say, I can't wait until we have days - and not minutes - for students to dig deep into these issues and produce a definitive document on student priorities in our schools. And I'm convinced that this day will come soon... because these 45 students - and the thousands of others that we are connecting with - showed a contagious excitement for getting the word out in their schools and communities.

As we said good-bye to the NYLC students after our hour together, one of the students, a smart (tall) fellow from Texas, asked us if he could take a picture with us (mind you, the students were dressed WAY more sharply than we were - a couple were wearing suits and I was wearing jeans. Thank God I didn't wear these). When I asked him why he wanted a picture, he said, "I can see you two on TV someday, famous when this thing gets big." To which I responded, "If this petition and youth movement gets big, it will be YOU on the TV talking, not us. Our leaders want to hear from you, today's students, and not us!"

So let that be a standing offer. As our petition gets out there next fall, we'll be looking for students who want to be at the forefront of the movement, who will run petition drives themselves, get the word out to their friends to run drives at their school and tell their friends... and who will speak in front of the nation when we deliver our petition to our leaders with the following demand: make our education a national priority.

Posted by Aaron Tang at 12:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

When 700,000 high school students walk out of their schools demanding better, people listen.

Or so goes the lesson we are learning at this very moment in Chile, as an unprecedented and organized movement of youth from across the country have acted together to demand that their leaders place education at the forefront of their national priorities.

As the New York Times and a number of other news sources have reported, the students in Chile are making a number of very reasonable demands: more teachers, school construction, a free school bussing system, and the elimination of college entrance examination fees that are hardest on low-income students.

I think the most important thing, though, is how supportive the rest of the Chilean public has been. At it's heart, this movement has been about a combination of quality and equity demands by the students -- and not one or the other. But where certain sections of the Chilean public (read: the wealthiest individuals without children or who already send their kids to nice private schools) might object to the youth demands because of their potentially hefty price tag and lack of individual-benefit, the student movement has seemingly enjoyed widespread support.

Part of this popularity, of course, has stemmed from the misuse of force against some of the student protesters (as young as 12-years-old), which included spraying with tear gas and water, and the beating of some student marchers. Nothing screams "WRONG" like uniformed police officers clubbing young kids who are standing up to call for a better chance to learn and succeed in his world.

Will these kinds of events ever unfold in the United States where, one might plausibly argue, similar inequality exists and where buildings unsuitable for learning & teachers unfit to be teaching can also be found without a powerful searchlight? Only time will tell. But this much is for sure: America's youth -- as well as our adults -- have a great deal to learn from our Chilean friends.

What do you think about what's going on Chile? What can Our Education learn from their experiences? What are the similarities & differences we need to be aware of? Sound off here - we'd love to hear your thougths.

Posted by Aaron Tang at 01:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

There's been a lot of talk about the high school dropout "crisis" in America of late, with some scary statistics being thrown around: every 30 seconds a student drops out of school; more than a million do so each year. It's no secret that life outcomes are affected by the decision to drop-out - one study shows that college graduates will make a million dollars more over their lifetime than HS graduates, with non-HS completers earning even less.

Lost in this whole hulaboo (is that a word?) is an important reality: the students who drop out from high school are not just statistics. They are often times bright and hard working young Americans who want to succeed in life but just do not see how their school is set up to help them do that. I met one such student the other day, and here is the transcript of a e-mail back and forth I had with her a week ago. It's out responsibility to make sure that we do our best to meet the needs of students like Ashton from the earliest age -- because how we do so says everything about us all.

----------------- Original Message -----------------
From: Our Photograph Will fade just like Our Summer Love
Date: May 25, 2006 10:37 AM

Hey i think its cool what your doing, and i would def. sign the petition. I am also just recently dropped out of High School my self.

Ashton

----------------- Original Message -----------------
From: Our Education
Date: May 25, 2006 9:51 AM

Hi Ashton! Thanks for your message. I'm glad to hear that you support the cause, and would be thilled if you sign the petition.

I'd be curious to learn a little more about you and your own background as I think your story might be an interesting one to feature on our website about why some students choose to drop out, what they wish schools would have provided them with instead, etc. If you're interested in chatting more just let me know - of course we understand if not!

best,
Aaron

----------------- Original Message -----------------
From: Our Photograph Will fade just like Our Summer Love
Date: May 30, 2006 9:54 PM

What would you like to know about me dropping out of school? I would be more then happy to tell you my story, just tell me what you would like to know and i would tell you it.

Ashton

----------------- Original Message -----------------
From: Our Education
Date: May 30, 2006 8:21 PM

Great! I'm so glad you're open to sharing your story and experiences. I guess the questions that we'd be most curious to hear about are:

1.) How old / what grade were you in when you dropped out?
2.) Why did you choose to drop out?
3.) What are you doing now instead of school?
4.) Are you glad that you made the decision you did?
5.) What would have had to be different about your school in order to make you want to stay? In other words, what would you change about schools in general to keep more students in school (or do you think it's a good thing that students are dropping out)?

thanks!
Aaron

***********************************
Ashton's responses:

1) I was 17/ and was in 11th grade
2)I choose to drop out because i would not have enough credits to graduate.
3)getting ready to get my GED, Then after that Terra Community College has classes to get a High School Diploma
4)Most days i am happy that i made it, but it just saddens me that i cant graduate with my peers.
5)Understand that all kids have problems understanding things, and that the teachers need to work with them, Another thing would be to have the teachers understand that some students dont have any exta money to go out and buy things for projects, and understand that alot of kids dont do good in school because they may have a bad home life, or something termendous is happening in there famliy.

Also, i think its very shitty of schools to drop after school activitys such as Art club, S.A.D., and Poetry Club, if the levie doesnt pass, but there going to keep Football, i think its riddiculous of them taking things that show your creativity away, and that will help you learn about things, just to keep football, that is a shame.

Posted by Aaron Tang at 10:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Here's my report on the Southern Education Foundation's Leadership Initiative event, which I attended on Friday morning:

After five hours of sleep (I stayed up until 2 am going through my notes on "major innovations in education," which I ended up not using during the panel anyhow), a morning wake-up call (I still don't know why we respect the hotel wake up call more than our home alarm clocks), a quick shower (20 minutes), and a blueberry scone (needs no explanation), I was delighted to meet and talk with the fifteen participants of SEF's "Education Summer".

The students -- many of them college seniors and the rest just entering grad school -- were smart, fun, and passionate about improving educational opportunity for America's youth. To me, the best moment of our two hour conversation about different policy proposals and current trends in education reform was when a student at Spelman college, Lishaun Francis, made a critical point about the group of us gathered in the room: "We are not the only ones who woke up one morning and decided it might be good to do something about education in this country. There are plenty of others just like us, and we have to work together with them if we want to make a difference."

How true that is. One of the hardest lessons--but most important ones--that I've learned this past year is that we at Our Education are far from being "alone" at this business. There are thousands of other students, parents, educators, reformers, and activists who have fought for--and in case, won--major improvements for young people and their schools.

And that makes the work that all of us are doing together even that much more important. Because if we can create a big enough splash and show elected officials that young people are willing to stand up and mobilize, repeatedly if necessary, to get the kinds of schools we need, then that will help all the others who are in the field be that much more effective in their own pursuits. Think about it this way: the student voice is like a critical piece of fence that is needed to close in this education problem. Without it, the fence will never be completed... but even with it, we need the other key pieces of the fence as well!

Posted by Aaron Tang at 07:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

When Our Education's petition receives enough signatures and generates a significant amount of public pressure to get the attention of the government, it will open the door for growth of some incredible new policies to develop to improve public education systems throughout the country!

That being said, what are some of those policies that we would like to see? What are our ideas as young people, as students, as innovators?

From what I have learned, it seems like the following policies are promising: charter schools, extended school days, year-round schooling, increased teacher pay, teacher performance pay, after-school programming, schools that provide social services, and updated curriculums.

So far, there has been really promising research showing that certain charter schools (look up the Knowledge is Power Program or K.I.P.P.) are extremely successful at improving student academic achievement when those students come from traditionally very underperforming schools.

Extended school days have been tried in regular public schools and charter schools with widespread success. When students are engaged in academic learning for longer periods of time, or even just constructive, non-academic activities, they are more likely to be connected to their schools and to succeed in school. Year-round schooling is the same idea.

A change in teachers' pay structures is well overdue. We all know that teachers have one of the most important professions in existence yet are paid a miniscule amount! If we increase the pay, we will increase the quality, productivity and retention of teachers. Furthermore, paying for performance would give teachers an incentive to achieve a certain level of success with their students rather than simply passing them no matter what. That way, fewer kids fall through the cracks.

There are some schools that are providing more extensive social services within the school in order to serve more of the students' needs within the school building. For example, the counselors are trained in dealing with the types of issues that youth from tough environments need help with, they have the ability and information to refer kids to community or goverment programs that might assist them, they have doctors or dentists on the campus so that students are assured those services (I might have made that up but that could be helpful!). These schools are showing mixed results but some very promising case studies.

Finally, students clearly need a new curriculum. All students should be learning computer proficiency in school including basic web design, coding, and general software use. This is essential for today's marketplace. Math and science need to be emphasized a lot more if U.S. citizens want to compete with other countries for jobs. Many students today are graduating without the ability to write a basic letter or essay - this is unacceptable for participating in daily life!

These are some promising policies that have popped up on my radar. What concrete ideas do you have for improving public education?

Stacy Tolos is a Junior at Vanderbilt University. She is a fellow with Young People For, a project of People for the American Way, and has worked with Idealist.org, Ashoka, and other leading non-profits.

Posted by Guest at 12:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

So I'm in the South for the first time in my life, in Atlanta - courtesy of the Southern Education Foundation and their wonderful Southern Educational Leadership initiative, which brings a group of current college students together to learn more about pressing issues in American K-12 education and then sets them up with meaningful summer internships with a variety of educational groups in the southern states.

I'll spare you the observations about the South from a mid-western grown boy who's been desensitized to the world by too much time on the East coast, but I will tell you a little bit about the Southern Educational Leadership initiative, why I think it's so important, and what I'm here to try and help with.

It probably won't come as a surprise to you to learn that of all the problems that we have as a country with K-12 education, those problems are most pronounced in the deep South. A major reason for that is because the southern states have among the lowest tax base of all states--with the poorest communities of all concentrated in low-income rural areas. And in America, if you don't have a tax-base that you can count on to raise revenues for schools, you can tax yourself until your blue in the face but your schools more often than not still won't have the kinds of resources, teachers, and facilities necessary to provide excellent education. Incredible educators, dedicated communities, and hard-working students can beat the odds and still succeed in these conditions, but the deck is severely stacked against them. And without any sort of an equitable system of school finance--statewide or federally--if you're a child born in a poor South Carolina town you're pretty much destined to fight against the odds your entire educational career.

One of the things that is necessary to beat the odds--or restack the deck so that the odds are fair--is leadership. And the Southern Education Foundation knows that great leadership and talent in K-12 education will only come about if we work for it, which is why they recruit highly motivated and capable college student leaders to join this program. My job tomorrow morning will be to try and encapsulate what I perceive to be the "major trends and innovations" in education and education policy today, and then to foster an open discussion with the students about what these trends mean for young people and what we can do to push the needle in the right direction.

I can't wait for this opportunity to talk with these students tomorrow because what they think and what they have to say will mean everything for thousands and perhaps millions of children in the future. I'll be back tomorrow to let you know how it goes.

Posted by Aaron Tang at 08:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)