Higher Education\u27s Greatest Current Opportunity and Responsibility

Preparing the next generation of teachers at all levels from kindergarten through college is higher education’s greatest current opportunity. Getting it right may be our greatest challenge. The face of science and technology is by definition changing constantly. Today, many feel that the most important work in science is going on increasingly at and across the interfaces of the traditional discipline. To serve our society well, education in the sciences, mathematics, engineering, and technology must change accordingly. In my view, curricula at all levels (K-16) too often continue to reflect only the narrow traditional disciplinary approaches that science has taken in the past, in part due to the existing political structures within academe. Teachers should both appreciate and have understanding of the interdisciplinarity of scientific thought and technological application. I propose that the preparation of all future elementary school teachers contain an interdisciplinary emphasis encompassing all the sciences including mathematics; and that middle and high school science and mathematics teachers’ training be largely interdisciplinary in nature as well

Approaches to the use of sensor data to improve classroom experience

quipping classrooms with inexpensive sensors can enable students and teachers with the opportunity to interact with the classroom in a smart way. In this paper an approach to acquiring contextual data from a classroom environment, using inexpensive sensors, is presented. We present our approach to formalising the usage data. Further we demonstrate how the data was used to model specific room usage situation as cases in a Case-based reasoning (CBR) system. The room usage data was than integrated in a room recommendations system, reasoning on the formalised usage data. We also detail on our on-going work to integrating the systems presented in this paper into our Smart University vision

Learning designs: A pre-service teacher perspective

Novice teachers are often looking for good learning designs on which to model their own teaching and learning environments. Additionally, they need the opportunity to discuss and reflect on their original designs and the designs of others to gain confidence and skills in teaching (Cameron, 2006; Kearney, 2007). However, as the research this paper describes found, our pre-service teachers are not been given this opportunity in their practicum schools. Encouraging these pre-service teachers to share and discuss their learning designs will facilitate these inexperienced teachers’ evaluation of the efficiencies, value and limitations of the individual learning designs and their experience in using them. If given this opportunity, these teachers would then take these insights with them into their professional lives

Fulbright Magic: The Alchemy of an Intentional Experience Abroad

The Fulbright program is designed to facilitate cultural exchange and understanding, and Fulbright’s Group Projects Abroad allow small, focused cohorts of American teachers and scholars to travel and to learn together. In June 2017, a number of Gettysburg College faculty and K-12 teachers from South Central PA traveled to China to study points of similarity and disparity between the American and Chinese educational systems. Our program was crafted in a way to help us to understand Chinese culture and the realities of Chinese life; we were given the opportunity to view our experiences from the perspectives of our hosts and resident experts, not simply as tourists. (excerpt

Systematic education in Dolma Ling leading to gender equality

The primary aim in establishing Dolma Ling Institute is to raise the education standard and improve the opportunity for nuns to study advanced Buddhist philosophy and doctrine. During the Tibetan Women's Association fourth working committee meeting in Dharamsala in October, 1992, His Holiness the Dalai Lama said, " In our society , we have as a legacy from the past the notion that nuns engage in ritual only and do not study Buddhist texts. This should be changed." His Holiness has in this way been urging the nuns to study higher Buddhist philosophy, in order to gain a deeper knowledge of Buddhism. Whenever His Holiness visits the Tibetan nunneries, he takes the opportunity to ecourage them to study. Dolma Ling Institute is specifically non sectarian and intented to provide nuns from all lineages with the opportunity to study to develop their full academic and spiritual potential. The crucial purpose of the overall project is to allow scholastically gifted nuns to attain the highest level of religious studies, that is the Geshe degree. This much respected degree has up until now only been attained by monks. Enabling women to participate in the study course leading to this goal will give them the confidence to take on roles as teachers and leaders within the communities. ..

Service-Learning, the Arts, and Incarceration

This paper describes three different service-learning approaches the authors utilized in graduate art education students and incarcerated residents at a municipal jail facility. By situating our experiences within feminist theory, we analyze and unpack the strengths and weaknesses of each approach. Through an analysis of teacher and student journal entries we came to see that our level of responsiveness to residents needed to increase as compared to our considerations of the university students. We came to see the significant knowledge that the residents hold about excellence in teaching and created an opportunity for the university students and ourselves to learn from the residents. We also identified three areas, breaking stereotypes, awareness of privilege, and showing empathy, that created change in the university students. We believe that service-learning in pre-service teacher preparation programs allows university students to learn from and with residents, thus helping to create more empathetic future teachers

Principal and Mathematics Coaches\u27 Journey to Improve Mathematics Learning

My educational career path began as an elementary school teacher, then as an assistant principal, and now as a principal. With the educational experiences that I had at each level of my career, I was certain I would be able to handle an increase in the mathematical rigor presented to our students through the new Mathematics Standards of Learning for Virginia Public Schools (SOL) [1]. I found that, yes, I was able to understand the rigor. However, I found the challenge was providing the needed assistance to bring about results that would ultimately help our teachers and students be successful. I knew that something was needed, but what that something was I was not sure. Fortunately, Richneck Elementary was provided a wonderful opportunity of being assigned a mathematics coach for three years by way of a grant that the Newport News Public School division was awarded to support military-connected students. In addition, the grant supported teachers to work toward their Mathematics Specialist degree. As a result, Karen Joos, Mathematics Coach, received her master\u27s in education with an endorsement as a Mathematics Specialist. David Hundley, Mathematics Coach Facilitator, provided support for coaches under this grant. This article will provide a road map for the journey: working with the mathematics coaches and understanding their processes, promoting my leadership philosophy in relation to the new rigor of the state standards, improving communication through lessons learned, and identifying the collaboration process to achieve the best results for the school and community

Did Teachers’ Race and Verbal Ability Matter in the 1960’s? Coleman Revisited

Our paper reanalyzes data from the classic 1966 study Equality of Educational Opportunity, or Coleman Report. It addresses whether teacher characteristics, including race and verbal ability, influenced synthetic gain scores of students (mean test scores of upper grade students in a school minus mean test scores of lower grade students in a school), in the context of an econometric model that allows for the possibility that teacher characteristics in a school are endogenously determined. We find that verbal aptitude scores of teachers influenced synthetic gain scores for both black and white students. Verbal aptitude mattered as much for black teachers as it did for white teachers. Finally, holding teacher characteristics other than race constant, black teachers were associated with higher gain scores for black high school students, but lower gain scores for white elementary and secondary students. Because these findings are for American schools in the mid-1960\u27s, they do not directly apply to our contemporary experience. However, they do raise issues that should be addressed in discussions of hiring policies in American education

Essential Voices, Part II: Engaging Students and Parents in the Implementation of a New Teacher Evaluation System

In June 2013, the New York State Education Department (NYSED) announced a new teacher evaluation system for New York City, which is being enacted citywide in the 2013-14 school year. The implementation of a new system for evaluating the 75,000 teachers who work in New York City's public schools is a massive undertaking -- one that will change how principals use their time, how teachers direct their efforts in the classroom, and, ultimately, how students experience school. State Education Commissioner John King has said, "These evaluation plans will help principals and teachers improve their practice, and that in turn will help students graduate from high school ready for college and careers. That's our goal in everything we do."As the intended beneficiaries of this major reform effort, students and their families have an enormous stake in its success. This paper makes the case that the New York City Department of Education (DOE) must include them in the policy implementation process.Students and parents should have the opportunity to actively contribute to the policy changes that affect their lives; reforms are more likely to be successful, sustainable, and responsive to local needs when students and families are engaged as partners and supportive of such efforts. As theNational Parent Teacher Association (PTA) notes, "Because parents, teachers, students, and the general public are affected by school policy, it is appropriate that they participate in its determination. We believe that such sharing of responsibility will result in greater responsiveness to student and societal needs and therefore improve the quality of educational opportunity."The voices of actual New York City public school parents and students echo this desire for participation with respect to teacher evaluation policy. One New York City high school student told us, "Since the students are the ones subjected to changes in the system (as well as the teachers) they should be allowed to have a say in what they think will benefit/hurt them. They should be able to say what they think makes their teachers effective/ineffective, and what can be done to fix any problems with the new policy."Similarly, Diana M., the parent of an eleventh grader in Queens, affirmed, "We have a voice, we have many concerns and as parents should be included in these new policies that are taking place....Students as well parents have ideas and we can change the school system for the better [for] students, the DOE and the parents alike....The change starts with all three parties, parent, student and educator!"With this paper, we are calling on the DOE to include students and parents when putting the new evaluation system into practice by establishing a stakeholder advisory group to provide feedback throughout the implementation process and ensure open discussion and sharing of responsibility take place. We begin by setting forth the arguments for including parents and students in the implementation of the new policies and conclude by providing examples of structures established for this purpose in other cities and states

On the Path to Inclusion

It is an honor for me to be invited to address you at this Annual Luncheon. You have worked hard to bring opportunities to members of the minority community. You have made possible the realization of many aspirations while continuing the struggle toward equal opportunity for all people.* Thirty-nine years ago, Martin Luther King, Jr., spoke to the soul of the nation, sharing his vision of an America that would one day...rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed-\u27We hold these truths to be self evident, that all [persons] are created equal. His idea and the opportunity it offers is sometimes referred to as the American Dream. Broadly defined, it is-in the words of novelist Thomas Wolfe a chance [which is given to every person] regardless of... birth, [a] shining golden opportunity-[which allows individuals] the right to live, to work, to be [themselves], and to become whatever [their] vision can ...make [them]. This promise has been embraced by individuals in every sector of our society, from statesmen and philosophers to writers, teachers, lawyers, and firefighters. Implicit is the idea that no one will be denied a chance to compete to the best of his or her ability because of race, ethnicity, heritage, gender, or for any other reason not bearing on that person\u27s qualifications. Or to put it in other words, we all are to be treated equally, and with the respect that we deserve as human beings. The concept of the American Dream is not found in any official document. Its hopeful philosophy has been expressed-in one form or the other-throughout 2,500 years of history. As a concept, it is embodied in our Constitution, as amended, in writings of historical importance, and in the actions of people on a daily basis. Its roots can be traced to ancient Greece, which established the world\u27s first democracy. Nowhere, however, has the Dream been so well-realized, and by so many people, as it is in our nation in the present day. And yet, as we all know, the Dream is only partially complete. Indeed, it does not reach every corner of the land and touch every person equally. It does not reach to every corner of the legal profession. There is still much more to do before the Dream can become a reality for all