Closing the P-16 Achievement Gap Possible Implications for our College of Education.

Closing the P-16 Achievement GapPossible Implications for our College of Education

Mangled Moments of Western Civilization from Term Papers & Blue Book Exams

Non Campus Mentis: World History According to College Students, Anders Henricksson

Published by Workman Publishing Group of New York

• “History, a record of things left behind by past generations, started in 1815. Thus we should try to view historical times as the behind of the present. This gives us insight into the annals of the past.”

• “Civilization woozed out of the Nile about 300,000 years ago. The Nile was a river that had some water in it. Every year it would flood and irritate the land. This tended to make people nervous.”

• “Judyism was the first monolithic religion. It had one big God named ‘Yahoo.’ Old Testament profits included Moses, Amy, and Confusius, who believed in Fidel Piety. (One of the only reasons Confusius was born was because of a Chinese tradition.)”

• Moses was told by Jesus Christ to lead the people out of Egypt into the Sahaira Desert. The Book of Exodus describes the trip and the amazing things that happened on it, including the Ten Commandments, various special effects, and the building of the Suez Canal.”

• “Forty centuries later they arrived in Canada. This was the promised land of milk and chocolate. Noah’s ark came to its end near Mt. Arafat.”

• “Plato invented reality. He was a teacher to Harris Tottle, author of The Republicans.”

• “Socrates was accursed of sophmorism and sentenced to die of hemroyds.”

• “Cesar inspired his men by stating, ‘I came, I saw, I went’. Cesar was assisnated on the Yikes of March.When he was assinated, he is reported to have said, ‘Me too, Brutus!”

• “Without the discovery of the flying buttock it would have been an impossible job to build the Gothic cathedral.”

• Regarding the Black Plague: “Death rates exceeded 100% in some towns.”

• “This was a time of stunned growth. The plague also helped the emergence of English as the national language of England, France, and Italy.”

• “The Allies advanced up Italy’s toe and gradually advanced up her leg, where they hoped to find Musalini.”

• “Stalin, Roosevelt, Churchill, and Truman were known as the ‘big three.’”

• “It is now the age of now. This concept grinds our critical, seething minds to a halt.”

Closing the P-16 Achievement GapPossible Implications for our College of Education

• This is a national, state, and local issue, and it is unlikely to go away.

– No Child Left Behind Act

– State policies, e.g., SB168

– Local focus

• It is an issue to which our accreditation groups are paying increasing attention.

Closing the P-16 Achievement GapPossible Implications for our College of Education

• It is a complex problem.

– Which group’s achievement gap is the target?

– What is the goal?

– What is the strategy?

– How do we measure progress?

• Not just a K-12 problem.

Some things we need to look at today.Four groups will discuss various aspects of this challenge.Note: Each group will be given the notes below.

Group 1

Students: The Quality and Diversity of Our Student Body

• How can we recruit more effectively for the best students and for a diverse student body?

– Premise: We have to address quality and diversity together as complementary strategies. It will improve our attractiveness to students and to funders.

– What are some strategies we can use to improve our recruitment?

Some things we need to look at today.Four groups will discuss various aspects of this challenge.

Group 1, cont.• How can we do a better job of retaining students who

enter our program and move them toward successful completion?

Questions we may want to address: – Do we have good data on completion/graduation

rates in our various programs? – Do we monitor the progress of our students as

they move through our programs with an eye to intervening when they are experiencing problems?

Some things we need to look at today.Four groups will discuss various aspects of this challenge.

Group 2

Programs: Our Curriculum and Instruction

Questions we may want to address:• Does our curriculum cover issues pertaining to working

with diverse student learners and other target populations?

• Do we provide students with opportunities to interact with diverse populations in field settings?

• Do we deal with the achievement gap explicitly in our programs and cover in depth strategies for addressing it?

Some things we need to look at today.Four groups will discuss various aspects of this challenge.

Group 2, cont.

• Could we pilot action research projects where our most able students could work on the achievement gap issue collaboratively with other students and personnel in a school? (Could this be an alternative to student teaching for those students?)

Some things we need to look at today.Four groups will discuss various aspects of this challenge.

Group 3

Our Research

This problem provides research funding opportunities for our faculty. Also opportunities for doctoral and masters degree research and for undergraduates to be exposed to research.

Questions we may want to address:• What are some of the most important research

issues/questions that emerge from attention to the achievement gap problem?

Some things we need to look at today.Four groups will discuss various aspects of this challenge.

Group 3, cont.

• As individuals how can we build this into our existing research programs?

• What opportunities are there to work collaboratively with other faculty?

• What features/services of a new research institute/center in the COE would help meet this need?

Some things we need to look at today.Four groups will discuss various aspects of this challenge.

Group 3, cont.

Planning for a New Research Institute/Center in the College of Education

Possible Benefits of a new entity:• Focus on academic research (basic and applied),

not advocacy. National and state advisory board and possible peer review panel.

Some things we need to look at today.Four groups will discuss various aspects of this challenge.

Group 3, cont.• National visibility around key areas where there is a

core of faculty interested in working on a topic, e.g., assessment; needs of adolescents; policy and evaluation; or other areas the faculty identifies. These might be centers within the institute.

• Opportunities for professional development (colloquia, lectures, conferences) and collaboration with colleagues.

• Support for grant management.• Strategy for strengthening doctoral programs.• Planning period Fall, 2003. Lars Björk will develop a

planning document for presentation and discussion.

Some things we need to look at today.Four groups will discuss various aspects of this challenge.

Group 4

COE’s Service Role and Public Engagement

• What should the College of Education do as a unit to demonstrate its commitment to closing/narrowing the achievement gap?

• Questions we may want to address:• Should we try to increase our professional development

activities working with schools? If so, in what areas? What kind of delivery structure in the COE would we need? (Requirements: flexibility, a revenue stream, faculty involvement, other expertise, etc.)

Some things we need to look at today.Four groups will discuss various aspects of this challenge.

Group 4, cont.

• Should we sponsor lecture(s)?• What is our reaction to a proposal circulating in the

community that the COE (perhaps also UK) “adopt” a Fayette County school? (The Academy at Lexington has been mentioned.)

Your group has been indicated on the agenda. Feel free to participate in a different group of you feel you have been misplaced.