Make PORTALS
your home page and use "wiredbrain" password "synergy" for set-up start
pages.
MSN
now does the best search
Research methods for the Internet:
Many students and professionals now use the Internet as a primary research
tool.
There are some simple methods to take advantage of some of the new
technology which enable the research to create multi-search engine archives
and move fairly smoothly through the better sites. Since most browses limit
bookmarks and are prejudice in the use of search engines, commercial interest
now overwhelm academic or professional standards and interest.
First you need some basic tools
- the Internet connection, explorer and Netscape ( why not both ? )
Then look at
http://www.wiredbrain.net/portals.htm
for a list of search engines. One should try the same search of about 5
to 10 words common in the area of your interest, on several to get an idea
of their advantages and limitations.
Then find and down load:
http://www.copernic.com/netsonic/promo/
http://www.ferretsoft.com/netferret/index.html
The GO networks engine is too unstable
and has banners and ads that get in the way but some people may find it
useful and they may fix the problems.
http://express.infoseek.com/
After you have downloaded and saved
these files - open them and check the options to set them for the browser
you use, set the search for time and number limits.
All the multi-search work like
http://www.multicrawl.com/
but keep you files so you don’t have
to go back a fourth from the search page to the sites and back.
The Educational Reform Act of 2001:
The several states and territories
are hereby entitled to reimbursement for the same proportion of the salaries
and benefits of qualified classroom teachers for those professional engaged
in basic instruction, the federal government will contribute that same
share of these employment costs as the teachers’ students are eligible
for the free school lunch program.
The states and territories will
be reimbursed based on approved plans and estimates of the numbers and
costs with the U.S. Secretary of Education, who may approve definitions
of basic instruction, classroom teachers, teacher qualifications, salary
programs, and any incentive pay upon which the secretary may authorize
quarterly advances and adjustments.
The states may include teachers
from charter schools, schools being run by a contractor and non-public
schools within an improved plan only in so far as these serve the eligible
population.About $15,000 for a million teachers - some with a small amount
some at 100 % = 15 billion - not much more than title I and within range
- even if twice that - If the feds pay teachers resources are free for
other critical needs.
Then we can move toward a realistic
salary - working conditions - qualifications - promotion and specialization
system - professionals are the critical in education - then with this base
things can really be improved.
The American Public and both parties
say that education is their top priority but school reform has become so
complex that no one understands what is going on - or is the story reported.
Incremental is natural but has a PR problem when there is the complete
lack of focus.
The bills them-self are endless
- there needs to be a clear focus - something beyond testing because tests
do not create solutions only let us know what we already know - a lot of
children are not up to grade level.
The only meaningful answer is competition
- charter schools if not vouchers - the charter provisions in the current
bill are grants and information to state education agencies - or the fox
gets the grants for the chickens or http://www.wiredbrain.net/public-policy.htm
for a restructured with the feds taking a major responsibility for instruction.
( State and local build building, transportation, overhead and administration
) All this sound and fury will not do much - but then something is better
than nothing.
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c107:S.1.PCS
original bill to extend programs and activities under the
-
Elementary and Secondary Education
Act or S.1 H.R.1
-
No Child Left Behind Act of 2001S.303
-
Three R's Act Better Education for
Students and Teachers Act
-
Better Education for Students and Teachers
Act
-
Alaska Native Educational Equity, Support,
and Assistance Act
-
Native Hawaiian Education Act
-
Access to High Standards Act
-
Rural Education Achievement Program
-
Education Flexibility Partnership Act
of 2001
-
Pro-Children Act of 2001
-
Bilingual Education Act
-
Teacher Mobility Act
-
Dropout Prevention Act
-
21st Century Community Learning Centers
Act
-
Helping Children Succeed by Fully Funding
the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) (Introduced in the
Senate)[S.466.IS]
-
Public School Repair and Renovation
Act of 2001 (Introduced in the Senate)[S.471.IS]
-
Educational
-
Excellence for All Learners Act of
2001 (Introduced in the Senate)[S.7.IS]
Under a tentative agreement between
Democrats and the White House, the Senate bill would require mandatory
student testing, help children learn to read by the third grade and give
states more leeway in spending federal education funds -- signature issues
for Bush during the presidential campaign. http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20010426/pl/congress_education_dc_11.html
http://www.ssa.gov/OP_Home/ssact/title04/0423.htm
Using language similar to that for social services in the SS Act.. From
the sums appropriated ( or by entitlement as it used to be ) and the allotment
under this subpart, subject to the conditions set forth in this section,
the Secretary ( DOE ) shall from time to time pay to each State that has
a plan developed in accordance with regulations an amount equal to 75 per
centime of the total sum expended under the plan in meeting the costs of
State, district, county, or other local basic educational instructional
services.
The federal government will pay
75 % of teachers salaries and benefits ( involved in direct instruction
= about 2.5 million teachers @ $ 30,000 = 75 billion ) and left to the
states and local school boards, all the other costs - administration, football,
transportation, construction, utilities, then: We could become a modern
civilized society with a world class school system, social justice, economic
growth, and political democracy.
There could be substantial tax relief
on property taxes - standards set for teacher certification - much better
salaries for some low paid teachers and salary grades for high performing
teachers tied to the GS federal scales:http://www.seemyad.com/gov/salary.htm
The big problems in American Public
education are:
There is no career stream
for classroom teachers - pay is only based on seniority and there is not
much difference if you stay in instruction from start to finish.
Basic Education as a federal responsibility
:
The national interest and general
welfare require a large federal role in public compulsory education. This
was not as true in the last centuries but is clearly one of the most important
if not the most important federal function. "A 2000 PricewaterhouseCoopers
report found that intellectual assets now account for 78 percent of the
total value of American S&P 500 companies."
"According to a 2000 OECD [Organization
for Economic Cooperation and Development] report, since 1985, the expansion
of knowledge-based industries has outpaced gross domestic product (GDP)
growth in the developed countries. Knowledge-based industries now account
for more than half of OECD-wide GDP." Welcome, to the Knowledge Age.BUT
since we are a federal system and have a long history of local school boards
we can not just start from scratch.Each state with consultations with local
school system should come up with a plan to provide basic education - reading
( the nation reads ) writing ( the nation writes ) algebra and other math
( the nation reasons and calculates ) students knows geography, history,
government, humanities, the sciences and the scientific methods - all standards
and evaluations set by the states.
Then there is a calculation of what
the direct provision of these educational services cost.
Then the application for expected
expenditures for the next quarter of 75 % of the costs as a entitlement
- with adjustments for over and under payments from the last payment.
The states should report how much
would be used for property tax relief - how much for salaries ( and if
there would be a state wide pay scales with steps - grades like the GS
system ).
These costs should not include support,
administration, transportation, athletics, construction, maintenance, bureaucracy,
etc. Because these costs remain state and local responsibility and are
too much a can of worms.
The national estimated cost per
student for instruction could be fairly clear at about $ 2,500 for elementary
and $ 4,500 for secondary ( half the total cost ) x 50 million students
( 1 million x $ 1000 = 1 billion ) so 50 million x $ 3,500 = $ 175 Billion
x 75 % = $ 132 billion.
There has been a vast growth in
administrative overhead from 15 % in the 1960's to 50 % today so increases
in resources are absorbed by overhead. In the last decade there has been
a vast underhanded growth in ESE ( special education ) from 5 % of population
to 25 % and a jungle of paperwork without functional outcomes.
The labeling of students make standards
even harder - ESE students are not counted or counted differently - so
if someone doesn't learn they are learning disabled and labeled - given
more resources - and excluded from the testing of school outcomes.
There has been for decades weak
support for standards - support in general but backing off when the tire
hits the road and students actually FLUNK and are held back! Standards
means that teachers have to teach content - multiplication tables, spelling,
parts of speech, geography, algebra - not always fun and often hard - and
student have to do their homework.Teachers can be tied to the GS 4 to GS
12 depending on performance - and the DOD ( Military base schools ) teacher
pay scales as a base with districts able to do add ons.
TAKING NOTES:
On most pages ( not too Long ) you
can use "edit" select all, copy and paste to notebook or wordpad, then
to Word or wordperfect word processor. By using an unformatted plain text
insert you may avoid hard returns and other editing errors that will transfer
with the text. Otherwise you have to remove the line returns or hard returns
that break-up sentences and paragraphs. Otherwise you can highlight the
parts you want and copy and paste. Images can be saved By using the right
click in Netscape, view images, files save as, and in Explorer right click
"save picture as" BE sure to give credit where credit is due.
Details and special cases:
Real people, real schools:
We have 15,000 school boards and committees.
They oversee 60,000 schools for
55 million students. About a fourth of students are in different schools
or districts by the end of each year there has been a 25 % turnover. In
some places it’s much higher, some lower.
There is a general expectation of
what students should learn - what kids from the 5th grade should be able
to do - arithmetic multiplication tables, reading, and more vaguely geography,
science, history, spelling.
These standards have declined since
1947, so more than half do not know what they are expected to know or do.
They are passed on to the next grade
with the hope they can catch up.
The reality is that if a teacher
gives bad grades for poor performance there is trouble. If they give good
grades for little effort and poor performance there are no complaints or
external pressure to get the performance up to standard. Everyone passes.
By high schools more than half the students are behind, many below 6th
grade levels of math and reading. Since they can’t read history, literature
is rather a mute point. By the end of secondary education about 1/3 are
gone having learning almost nothing at the cost of $50,000, about 1/3 have
some skills, and about 1/3 are almost ready for post secondary education.
What it would take to made schools
work is no mystery.
The secret is that it would not
be popular. School boards, superintendents, principles, teachers MUST be
popular. As soon as anyone really try to enforce standards there are those
who will complain. Someone will FAIL - get bad grades, will be held back
!
There is no way that is popular.
The student maybe a minority, maybe
handicapped, failure is the teachers fault, it’s the systems fault, its
prejudice, NEVER the lack of effort on the part of the student and the
parents. Elected school boards can never enforce standards of dress, conduct,
performance, on the part of unionized teachers who make up a critical electoral
constituency, or parents which make up most of the rest of the voters.
Local standards will never pass the popularity contest.
State and national politicians are
less dependent on popularity of specific school teachers and parents. Voters
will support the abstract idea of good schools, and employer groups are
desperate with the poor quality of youth entering the labor market. So
some states have tried to impose external standards. NOW if you empress
external standards on a system with quality faults, you just drive everyone
crazy. Maybe some schools can pass the buck when John fails by talking
about external standards - but there will be a lot of bitching.
As everyone should know the only
answer is open enrollment. If you fail go someplace else which accepts
less. If you exceed standards you get rewards and more opportunities. Like
the real world ? If you don’t get a year, or 50 % of a years progress for
a year of school you are less effective than someone who can. Competition
gets your attention. It can bring pressure to hold to standards - of attendance,
dress, conduct, homework, behavior, learning - like the real world.
This topic is about TEACHING
and LEARNING
LINK to Global
Village School House
Link to Education
Resources
Electric
Ponies and the Net Express:
The Pony
with pictures
Students
are workers not the raw material in the educational
system.
The role of teacher
is leadership.
Active learning
requires a moral learning community
not the old factory model.
(Charles
Handy, (6))
Links to Global Village one and
two.
A thread running through much of
the literature concerns belief
that all children can
learn -- the varying factor is time. Some
students require a longer period
to master the same tasks.
The Three Principles are:
SMALL
STABLE
SMART
A Teacher can only teach what
a student will allow himself
to learn.
The techniques of learning
come first.
THOSE WHO STUDY THE TECHNIQUES
OF LEARNING ARE STUDENTS.
YOUR TEACHER CAN ADVISE A
STUDENT BY WORDS, THE EXAMPLE
OF DEEDS, OR BY BAKING BREAD.
The
Nurbakshi writing on teachership, Idries Shah: Thinkers of the East
Date: May 27, 1994 From: Peter E.
Pflaum, Social Sciences
PFLAUMP@america.com
To: FORM: Basic issues in Education
Research and Outcomes:
PROBLEM: 10% or less High School
graduates ready for college (N.A.E.P. 1). It is clear we have an educational
problem on our hands involving all students. As Jack Bowsher, the former
educational director at IBM said;
if 25% of production is broken during
manufacture and if 90% don't work 80% of the time (72% defect rate) the
company would have to rethink the entire production process.. (2)
This is the 30-40% "drop-outs" and
the disfunctional (less than 5th grade) reading and math skills of the
public high schools.
The way we see the problem is the
problem (See Stephen Covey in Seven Habits of Effective People). We have
created a group of young people 14 -18 without effective alternatives.
Many could benefit from apprenticeships, co-op education, or just drop
the leaving age to 14 as the traditional age of becoming a young adult.
Social creations such as the comprehensive high-school become social problems,
then new social creations such as Youth Services and Corrections are developed
to take care of the problem caused by the original institution.
The AWDA (Disabilities Act) has
vastly expanded the learning disables, ADD, etc because the children that
haven't learned then become the problem not the system that help create
them. (Association for Direct Instruction). It also pays.
In "Systems of Control and the Serious
Youth Offender" Jerome G. Miller in Reforming Corrections for Juvenile
Offenders, Alternatives and Strategies - Lexington Books by Bakal, Yitzhak
and Polsky, Howard W. (1979) and Shichor, David and Kelly Delos H. Critical
Issues in Juvenile Delinquency Lexington Books (1980) This story of social
and political reform applies to any institution which has become "closed".
The lack of a clear technology and
conflict in goals (reform and punish) apply especially well to the public
schools system. Jerome G. Miller's action in closing the State Training
Schools in Massachusetts reflect on the function of professions, bureaucrats,
politicos and reform groups.
Our students lack cognitive skills
and practical thinking abilities.
They have not been asked or put
in situations where they think in extended ways (3).
The educational process needs to
change as much as General Motors did in the creation of the SATURN plant.
The message is largely in the process
and methods. If we expect Z type students we must create a new system.
(William G. Ouchi,
Theory Z How American Business can
meet the Japanese Challenge) 1981.
Students are workers not the raw
material in the educational system.
The role of teacher is leadership.
Active learning requires a moral learning community not the old factory
model. (Charles Handy, (6))
The survival of the nation as a
competitive culture is seriously questioned. For example a recent want-ad
for a production worker at Motorola uses the following job description;
(Fortune, Dec 17, 1990)
