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April 21, 2006
Steve Midgely on Education, Ethnicity and Openness
Notes from the A2K conference session by Steve Midgely, Stupksi Foundation, on openness and education:
Literacy with an Attitude by Patrick Finn:3rd grade US classroom
1 state is Pakistani, no cultural context
African American student behind in reading, but good in mathBy eighth grade, Pakistani student is assimilated and proficient, eager
African American student is three grades below average reading level, disconnected educationallyFinn asks: Why?
There is nothing inherent about being one ethnicity or another.
Poor, minority students have access to learning, but are rejecting it - but don't blame the kids
Teachers resign themselves to students who don't want to learn, end up teaching around themPublic education is stuck in a cycle of negation; we try to teach using ineffective methods for many types of students; students' cultures see American culture as oppressive and unjust, making them more likely to be skeptical
Giving kids better access to knowledge isn't enough. So let's talk about open content.
Peer production of open content holds great promise, but availability or cost isn't the issue. Students are trapped in a rut where they don't feel the need to learn, and we don't engage them effectively.
Open content alone won't address the issues.
4th grade white students are competitive in math with the Netherlands. Minority students are competitive with Armenia.
Our education system is differentially broken; the achievement gap for minority students vs. white students is as high as 50 points in urban schools. They often work alone, with the door closed.
Even things as simple as electronic transfer of high school records to colleges aren't happening.
The primary barriers to organizational change are more about culture and systems than access and knowledge. It's about how they work as educators rather than the curriculum itself.
Antiquated data systems can make systemic cultural change next to impossible. It's easier to change systems than cultures, so I'm going after systems first.
Norfolk, VA and Sacramento, CA have had much success by creating better support systems for educators - and not necessarily using technology to do it. Old fashioned elbow grease. Now they're using technology to make this more efficient.
A teacher has to make as many as 400 choices a day in terms of how they deliver curriculum to all their students. Open content is only useful to them in an educational community that looks different from traditional school models.
I'm interested in how peer production and open content will change the markets within education.
Open communities of practice and support, for educators , administrators and students. Open support forums, better decisionmaking for selecting technology, vendors, curriculum, etc
Teachers aren't solely to blame for failures in achievement. They often work in isolation in a culture of failure and apathy. One almost has to be superhuman to succeed in these environments. They rely on their skills and dedication, despite the odds. These environments of learning and community don't exist in most schools, and we need these environments very badly. The dissonance between the changing culture and static systems within schools ends up holding everyone back.
Posted by acarvin at April 21, 2006 10:57 PM
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