MSP News: Focusing on Disadvantaged Urban Youth
June 17, 2010
HIGHLIGHTS AT A GLANCENEW IN LIBRARY
A. McREL Reports for the Stupski Foundation's Learning System
The following eight reports come from a major initiative undertaken by the Stupski Foundation to support the development of a new learning system. The Foundation endeavors to improve the life options of all students, especially disadvantaged urban youth of color, by fundamentally redesigning the education system.
1- Assessment
2- College Readiness
3- Curriculum
4- Leadership
5- Our Kids
6- Pedagogy
7- Student Supports
8- Systems Diagnostics
All eight of these reports are available as free PDF's. Click the links above to access the full reports.
B. "Are We Beginning to See the Light?", Jean Johnson, Jon Rochkind and Amber Ott, Public Agenda, June 2010.
DETAILS BELOW
NEW IN LIBRARY
A.1- "Assessment," McREL Report for the Stupski Foundation's Learning System, 2009.
Findings presented in the report fall into three areas: 1) the relationship of formative assessment to student learning and motivation, 2) characteristics of effective formative assessment practice, and 3) professional development and support systems for improving and monitoring formative assessment practice.
MSPnet Location: LIBRARY>>Ed Change & Policy
http://hub.mspnet.org/index.cfm/20789
A.2- "College Readiness," McREL Report for the Stupski Foundation's Learning System, 2009.
McREL researchers, in collaboration with the Stupski Foundation, generated the following research question to guide this review:
What strategies, knowledge, behaviors, and skills are essential before students are judged to be college ready at graduation from high school?
MSPnet Location: LIBRARY>>Ed Change & Policy
http://hub.mspnet.org/index.cfm/20791
A.3- "Curriculum," McREL Report for the Stupski Foundation's Learning System, 2009.
Findings are presented in three areas: 1) what to include in college readiness curricula, 2)the extent to which current expectations and curricula for high school graduates align with expectations for college and the workplace, and 3) a "bonus" set of findings -- alternative curricular pathways.
MSPnet Location: LIBRARY>>Ed Change & Policy
http://hub.mspnet.org/index.cfm/20792
A.4- "Leadership," McREL Report for the Stupski Foundation's Learning System, 2009.
Findings presented in the report fall under five areas: 1) actions that contribute to increased learning for students, 2) leading from a social justice perspective, 3) recruitment and preparation programs, 4) mentoring programs for school-level leaders, and 5) performance-based evaluation systems for school-level leaders.
MSPnet Location: LIBRARY>>Ed Change & Policy
http://hub.mspnet.org/index.cfm/20793
A.5- "Our Kids (Learning Needs of Urban Youth of Color)," McREL Report for the Stupski Foundation's Learning System, 2009.
Findings presented in the report fall into four areas: 1) brain-based interventions which ameliorate environmental risks experienced by Our Kids, 2) the contribution of social and emotional skills to the school readiness of Our Kids, 3) characteristics of early childhood programs that relate to positive long- term outcomes, and 4) differences in parenting practices that predict corresponding variation in academic achievement.
MSPnet Location: LIBRARY>>Ed Change & Policy
http://hub.mspnet.org/index.cfm/20794
A.6- "Pedagogy," McREL Report for the Stupski Foundation's Learning System, 2009.
McREL researchers set out to answer the following questions in this review of key findings from existing literature about pedagogy.
1. How can teachers adapt the principles of effective pedagogy to differentiate instruction and meet the needs of all learners in order to help "Our Kids" (urban youth of color) be challenged, motivated, and successful?
2. how can teachers create structured, challenging, yet nurturing classroom environments to ensure that Our Kids are engaged ands successful learners?
MSPnet Location: LIBRARY>>Ed Change & Policy
http://hub.mspnet.org/index.cfm/20790
A.7- "Student Supports," McREL Report for the Stupski Foundation's Learning System, 2009.
McREL Researchers, in collaboration with Stupski Foundation staff members, generated the following research questions to guide this review: 1) What student supports currently exist to address the barriers to learning from the time Our Kids enter kindergarten to their early high school experiences? If there are current practices that show promise, what are the key issues or weaknesses that impede their implementation? 2) What types of support for learning were identified as essential to the health and well-being of Our Kids? 3) How best can supports be integrated to leverage resources and funding?
MSPnet Location: LIBRARY>>Ed Change & Policy
http://hub.mspnet.org/index.cfm/20795
A.8- "Systems Diagnostics," McREL Report for the Stupski Foundation's Learning System, 2009.
An assumption of this report is that diagnostics organized within the High Reliability Organizational (HRO) model provide a more effective means for ensuring the success of Our Kids than the current scattershot approach utilized by most schools systems. The necessary diagnostic pieces are in place within many schools systems; they are just not organized in a coherent and complementary manner.
MSPnet Location: LIBRARY>>Ed Change & Policy
http://hub.mspnet.org/index.cfm/20796
B. "Are We Beginning to See the Light?", Jean Johnson, Jon Rochkind and Amber Ott, Public Agenda, June 2010.
"Americans are convinced that math and science skills are crucial for the future, with strong majorities who say there will be more jobs and college opportunities for students with those skills, according to a new Public Agenda survey. But while there's broad support from parents and the general public for K-12 national standards, more than half of parents (52%) say the math and science their child is getting in school is "fine as it is."
These are just some of many surprising realities facing science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education in public schools, according to "Are We Beginning to See the Light?", a new Public Agenda survey exploring the views of more than 1,400 individuals nationwide, including 646 parents of children grades K-12. The national survey was underwritten by the GE Foundation."
MSPnet Location: LIBRARY>>Ed Change & Policy
http://hub.mspnet.org/index.cfm/20788