SYNERGY-NET on http://www.wiredbrain.net/ EDUCATION ADDING UP THE UNDER-SKILLED A survey finds nearly half of U.S. adults lack the literacy to cope with modern life By PAUL GRAY For years U.S. employers have been grousing that more and more aspiring workers lack the know-how to get the most basic jobs done. Last week such complaints received alarming confirmation. Adult Literacy in America, a 150-page survey conducted by the Princeton-based Educational Testing Service and released by the Department of Education, reported that roughly 90 million Americans over age 16 -- almost half that category's total population -- are, as far as most workplaces are concerned, basically unfit for employment. Who is included in that definition? Those who can sign a credit-card receipt but are incapable of writing a letter when they think their bill is wrong; those who can pay the correct change at the supermarket but have difficulty calculating the difference between regular and sale prices; those who can scan a newspaper story but cannot paraphrase its contents. ETS based its findings on the performance of 26,000 people chosen to represent a cross section of adults. Over a period of four years, all subjects were interviewed and given between 35 and 40 tests, drawn from a bank of 185 prepared for the survey. The tasks simulated real-life situations, calling upon basic reading and math competence and the ability to interpret charts, graphs and timetables, and were assigned degrees of difficulty on a scale of 0 to 500. Thus totaling the sums on a bank-deposit slip rated a 191; calculating the costs, including handling and shipping, of a catalog order garnered a 382. After tabulating the test scores, ETS designated five different grades and projected that 42 million American adults fall within the lowest category; 52 million fill the next rank, which is still below the level required to perform a moderately demanding job. Perhaps the worst news from the survey was the hubris expressed by those who were tested: when asked if they read well or very well, 71% of those in the bottom grade said yes. If the ETS survey is accurate, the U.S. is not only significantly populated by people unprepared for current and advancing technologies, but most of them do not know that they do not know. -- Reported by Janice C. Simpson/New York Copyright 1993 Time Inc. All rights reserved. Transmitted: 93-09-19 09:25:24 EDT gip@hamp.hampshire.edu, webmaster@hampshire.edu, ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ SYNERGY-NET on HTTP://mall.turnpike.net/~pflaump is where YOU can collaborate with the future using Interactive Education and Training on your own Web pages. Join, Beta Testers free. ** Peter E. Pflaum Ph.D., Headmaster GLOBAL_VILLAGE_SCHOOLHOUSE 225 Robinson Road, New Smyrna Beach, FL 32169-2176 (904) 428-9609 pflaump@cfl.rr.com **************************************************************** I am interested in an remote adjunct professor's job teaching a class using the remote system. I have been learning the technology as well as preparing the class and marketing it. I now have my web site up and running, for over a week, on a computer in San Diego, Ca. (TURNPIKE Volant Corp.) The idea is to teach from here to students from everywhere. I am building a class and am looking for a credit home ? Any interest within your institution in remote classes ? The class Applied Human Relations is listed with GNA (Global Network Academy - MIT) for Jan. You could pay me the regular adjunct professor fee per 20 students in a class. I can help recruit students on the INTERNET. They would pay the fees to you, credit or non-credit for Intro. to Social Sciences or Sociology, or other titles that may fit. I have a textbook-workbook titled "Applied Social Relations" I wrote for these classes. (American Heritage, Custom Publishing Group: Electronic Bookshelf, ISBN 0-8281-0647-9) The quality of the class can be seen by everyone because the students' work is on the web. It could be graded or evaluated by outside experts. Since it will be open to public on the Web and new students will see what is involved. The first class is a Beta (test) of the content and the web methods. RE: Applied Social Relations Sociology/ Social Science on WWW: Bill Gates in his new book "The Road Ahead" talks about the reduction the "middle man/woman". Travel services, bookstores (Media Play), all kinds of retail trade from Banking to Printing will have competition from the NET. We are mostly middle people. Now we can go into being a direct provider. In education the establishment and bureaucracy are the place holders. What can happen if the providers (teachers) do direct services (to student) at 50% of the cost. It should be an alternative. SYNERGY net asks the question: "Can a old mind learn new technology, and become a direct provider of educational services?" The factory (anywhere) can do direct sales without a distributor or stores, cutting out 50% of the cost of goods. Buy your toys, electronics, computers, from the electronic mall and save 25% to 50% ? Delivered next day via express service as Netscape just did for me. Auto's, houses, resorts, airlines, publishers, movies, other media such as newspapers and magazines, (with click-able advertisements that deliver the product) goods and services provided directly from the provider to the consumer. Gates book can be updated and a new version on line, with the links that come with the CD. Netscape's power index services now provides update services to a current list of resources on a real living World Wide WEB. ? What about the credit hour, accreditation, degrees et al. When I went to the University of Chicago they had challenged this system and had since the 1930's. Other countries do not have credit hours but EXTERNAL performance standards. We have a national certification system (FINALS) like CLEP where people can learn and demonstrate their skills, attitudes, abilities (authentic assessment, using finals, journals and portfolios) rather than collect credits. THE HISTORY OF THIS ADVENTURE Last year we tried remote classes using a BBS and E-mail. It didn't do much different from traditional in correspondence type classes. This fall the HOMEPAGE systems (gold.doi.com) were mostly up and running on Dynasty, a local server. Kelvin Belna was the Web Master working out of his home in DeLand. Having a domain on a home PC is difficult being up and available 24 hours, seven days a week. Then Dynasty disappeared after being up and down a lot. The format was be influenced by how students used it. There was more demand for INTERNET 101 rather than a social science class. We have had students from around the world as beta testers. We tried the peer-to-peer NT connection but it was too hard and required too much equipment. There are many special needs students who could benefit from at home classes. Chat (IRC) is difficult because of time zones and different systems. The use of networks will (or is) be common in the business world. I would like a HOMEPAGE (NETSCAPE) classroom that looks and feels like a real network. People share work, edit and add pictures, data and charts or hyper links, sound et al. It should feel like MS-Office or Novell's Perfect Office on line to registered (password) students and teachers. I wrote on July 12th 1994 about E-mail and BBS systems ( one and a half years ago) and how the world has changed in this one year. Now we are on the WWW web browsers and a HOMEPAGE hypertext systems with our own PPP node. The INTERNET universality is an order of magnitude bigger (10:1) than last year and will double in the next four months. If you are not in touch you are out of touch with the most important educational event since moving type and printing. Sure, people said that about radio, movies, T.V., (which may have become more important than formal education), but institutions were unable to make the structural and emotional changes to use these new technologies and they didn't have to share a market with those who did. This time the new technology is a powerful consumer product not controlled by the state monopolies. Its a multi-billion dollar business and education will be a by-product of the main entertainment, communication, information business. Are public schools and colleges ready to take on MICROSOFT, Intel, At&T, Bells, Cable companies, other community colleges as well as 3000 public and state institutions in this country and equal numbers from South Africa to Singapore. These new economic forces will get political support for grants, vouchers and charter schools. The state institutions will have to share the subsidy and the student will have more freedom of choice. Issue involve in-state and out-of-state fees, certification, and transfer of state supports and student aid. Place bound systems will soon feel the heat of open competitive pressure of global un-bound enterprises. The market is the (English speaking) world but if we don't others will, there is real competition, state institutions know little about open markets. The utilities, telephone and cable will be offering NETSCAPE services within the year and within four years the greatness revolution in communications and information systems will be in place. The train has left the station, the plane is off the ground, you can stand and wave goodby or you can clamber aboard. The only way to learn is by doing, not studies, not plans, not committees, not consultants, but hands on doing and now, because other are not waiting. This is what I said, loud and clear, last year. It's going to happen what ever you or I think of it. Candle makers didn't think much of Edison, or blacksmiths of Henry Ford or did the Pony Express understand about the telegraph. Educational institutions using 18th century technology, based their geographic franchise, are no longer free of international competition. Now that has to be a big change. The best teachers can work for anyone anywhere. A new cottage industry. After all it's the students and teachers that count - the administrative system is there to support education, students, learning and keeping up to date. This absolutely is a world in rapid change. Our students will have to live in a new world. Are we preparing them for the real world and the future or are we turning our backs on the most important change of our time? Often people know its not working but don't feel they have a choice - well now they do. Are the schools and colleges going to be "surprised" like the American motor industry, or the pony express- was by a superior product. New careers are in telecommunications, hypertext, video and network interfaces, the virtual communities and the psychology of distant interactions. Everyone is teaching health care which will be a declining industry. The class can be offered by anyone anywhere: to anyone anywhere, the quality of the product will matter as it never has in history of classroom teaching. Everyone is paid the same, interchangeable factory parts doing the same classes as everyone else. That world is over. The HOMEPAGE services on Dynasty cost about $100 a month for the Domain. Now turnpike is a lot more reasonable and is up all the time. The first class setup includes hardware, software, hook-up fees and editorial work on several home pages that set up the classroom. The second class cost will be $300 (15 weeks classes), all the rest at $150. The teacher should get at least $1200 a class plus something for getting workbook materials on a FTP files. I hope students and other help with the technology. I have to be my own web-master and learn by doing. I need help. My style is working with groups that look up instructions for the activities. They have up to 15 hands-on active learning experiences. It's like lab reports. I use a point system, (so many points for the grade) a portfolios and journals for presentations ( few if any tests - of course multi-choice test are easy but not very useful). Another plan would be to split all income 60/40 (The instructor gets 60% but I cover all the communications cost) No classroom, no utilities, no parking, just sign in (on a home page we provide for registration ) pay your fee and get your grades and transcripts (which we E-mail). What is different about the class is the active participation learning style that suits the INTERNET. Student will need AOL or other service (Netcom, prodigy, NETSCAPE PPP, CompuServe, etc) There are now thousands of on ramps and web browsers. I got an AOL message from Dr. Stephen Eskow, EUNsteve Proposal "On-line Classes in Social Sciences" SYNERGY-NET on http://mall.turnpike.net/~pflaump is where YOU can collaborate with the future using Interactive Education and Training on your own Web pages. Join, Beta Testers free. ** Peter E. Pflaum Ph.D., Headmaster GLOBAL_VILLAGE_SCHOOLHOUSE 225 Robinson Road, New Smyrna Beach, FL 32169-2176 (904) 428-9609 pflaump@cfl.rr.com pflaump@netctrl.com ***************************************************************** Discussion Total Quality In 1950 W. Edwards Deming, an industrial engineer, introduced to Japan a method of statistical quality control. Over the last several decades Deming's approach has become well-known as quality control circles. An analysis of Deming shows there is a basic misunderstanding of evaluation in manufacturing. Similar confusion is shown by belief that objective testing is likely to improve educational quality. A central point in this discussion is the difference between standards and quality. Multiage grouping in schools can achieve quality when people of various ages work together to achieve results of distinction. "The Total Quality Classroom" (Bonstingl, 1992) applies to education Deming's 14 principles for Total Quality Management (TQM). John Jay Bonstingl sees relevant similarities of business organizations and schools. Alan M. Blankstein (1992) explains how five of Deming's principles translate into school terms. Principals and superintendents are management or leadership; teachers are employees, leaders, and managers; students are employees; student knowledge is the product; parents and society are customers; legislators are the board of directors. Lewis A. Rhodes explores TQM concepts concerning values. He points to importance of the totality of educational organizations. Work processes encompass a unified system. Synergy "In a school, everything important touches everything else of importance," notes Theodore Sizer recognizing "the synergistic character of a school" (Sizer, 1991, p. 32). "No Pain, No Gain" suggests restructuring often involves painful break with tradition. Effective change demands attention to all parts of a school. "The Quality School" (Glasser, 1990) is an adaptation of the book by the same name where psychiatrist William Glasser, M.D., examines educational application of TQM. In analysis of control theory, motivation theory, and non- coercive management employed by "lead-managers," Glasser recognizes naturally resulting high- quality educational outcomes. Our system must encourage lead-management in teachers and principals. It must discourage "boss- management," a scientific management approach employing fear, coercion, and intimidation. Because of district office bureaucratic power struggles, Glasser feels lead- management usually must be initiated at the building level. He sees teachers and principals as leaders who can make a real difference in producing high quality American schools. Quality Versus Standards Can quality be defined, or is it more accurate to view quality as a recognizable characteristic? Quality isn't something you lay on top of subjects and objects like tinsel on a Christmas tree. Real Quality must be the source of the subjects and objects, the cone from which the tree must start. To arrive at this Quality requires a somewhat different procedure from . . . . "Step 1, Step 2, Step 3" instructions . . . (Pirsig, 1974, p. 262). "Quality can be defined only in terms of the agent. Who is the judge of quality?" (Deming, 1986, p. 168). Deming sees determination of quality as involving three agents, including workers and managers as well as customers. Deming's philosophy represents a conceptual shift in how we view organizations. Quality does not result from inspection. Inspection and standards reduce rather than promote excellence. Quotas, inspections, and slogans exhorting persons to work harder and faster do not motivate. They merely defeat the purpose. We must pay attention to process, but effective process cannot be prescribed. It is developed through attention to guiding principles. Process in any organization is unique. Harmonious relations should bloom spontaneously as flowers do. It is a poor workshop where operators and foremen are considered to be part of the machinery and required to do a job specified by set standards. What constitutes a human being is the ability to think. A workshop [and a school] should become . . . place[s] where people can think and use their wisdom (Ouchi, 1981, p. 228). Inspection of schooling through instruments such as standardized tests does not improve quality. Emphasis on teamwork rather than on individual competition enhances productivity. Grades and similar assessment measures do not promote excellence. They defeat it. Some leaders forget an important mathematical theorem that if 20 people are engaged on a job, 2 will fall at the bottom 10 per cent, no matter what . . . . The important problem is not the bottom 10 per cent, but who is statistically out of line and in need of help (Deming, 1986, p. 56). Asking teachers and schools to rework mistakes following years of system failure is not a feasible path to improved educational outcomes. Parents and communities must work with teachers and administrators in developing and adapting a process capable of yielding educated, skilled, value-driven youth. Adapting Deming to schools involves restructuring our educational organizations as dramatically as the Japanese restructured their business organizations. Dewey's presence can be seen in efforts to adapt Deming to education. Thinking and Doing Schools must, as Dewey advised, reconnect thinking and doing. Group and teamwork, projects, integrated curriculum, peer tutoring, and teacher as facilitator reflect views of both Dewey and Deming. Multiage nongraded grouping is a logical framework where such educational approaches can work. In education as in industry "defects are not free. Somebody makes them, and gets paid for making them" (Deming, 1986, p. 11). Rework of defective goods is not free; it is expensive. The product of schools is student knowledge. When student knowledge is defective, it must be reworked, compounding time and expense. Members of the educational community who define quality -- students, teachers, administrators, and society must have input into our system of education. As organizations mature and grow in size, they tend to become more structured and bureaucratic. Bureaucracy separates thinking from doing (teacher-proof curriculum, textbooks, etc.). Under scientific management the doer merely follows instructions. Doers are often placed in difficult and unmotivating circumstances. There may be fool-proof systems, but often the fools are too clever. This results in more inspections, more layers of management, more bureaucracy. Years after publication of A Nation at Risk (1983), American Federation of Teachers president Albert Shanker notes implementation of numerous and various school reforms throughout our country. Largely, these attempts have not positively affected student learning (Shanker, 1990). Often in education sound ideas are found "ineffective" following poor implementation. Sometimes implementors fail to follow guidelines closely enough. Consolidation of One-Room Schools