Lifelong Learners

Today’s kids are floundering in many different aspects of their lives according to the Search Institute, an organization studying children’s developmental needs and support systems throughout the world.

After surveying more than three million children across 60+ countries, including a 2010 survey of 89,866 U.S. sixth-to-twelfth graders, the Search Institute reports that young people are not experiencing nearly enough of the 40 developmental assets they have identified as necessary for healthy development.

The Institute’s most recent report, A Fragile Foundation, contains the following:

“On the average, the 89,366 surveyed adolescents report experiencing only 20 of the 40 developmental assets. … More than one third (37 percent) report being involved in two or more of the ten dangerous patterns of high-risk behavior that we studied.”

The researchers further discovered that, regardless of gender, cultural background, town size, or geographical location, today’s young people typically:

• Receive too little support through sustained and positive intergenerational relationships;
• Lack opportunities for leadership and involvement;
• Disengage from youth-serving programs in the community;
• Experience inconsistent or unarticulated boundaries and expectations;
• Feel disconnected from and unvalued by their community, and
• Miss out on the formation of social competencies and positive values.

As long as these patterns continue, we will see too many young people who are susceptible to risky behaviors and negative pressure, drawn to undesirable sources of belonging (e.g., gangs), and ill-equipped to become the next generation of parents, workers, leaders, and citizens.

The great benefit of the Search Institute model is that it provides information on how the situations for children can be improved through specific kinds of support from families, peers, school, and community can foster developmental assets in children.

Following the line of reasoning outlined in the report, just a few of the many things that might help turn the tide include:

• Reducing children’s unstructured, unsupervised time home alone.
• Reducing TV overexposure (3+ hours per day).
• A caring school climate (experienced by only 35%).
• Positive family communications (experienced by only 32%).

The Search Institute does not directly measure poverty, although it acknowledges poverty as one of the most pervasive deficits in young people’s lives. There is extensive research to show that, statistically, poverty interferes with development, places children at greater risk of harmful behavior, and limits their options for the future.

Someone once said that the problem with today’s public schools is that they teach to the test instead of to the student. There’s plenty of truth in that. For our public schools, test scores are plummeting, and the stakes just keep getting higher. School funding depends on student test scores, and of course those funds trickle down into salaries. As a result, motivated administrators and teachers are focusing harder and harder on prepping their students for the annual standardized tests.

But test prep is not education. Learning to correctly answer multiple choice questions is a poor substitute for rich learning experiences that build curiosity and a passion for learning. If anything, our test-prep focused classrooms are stifling creativity, dumbing down curricula, and numbing both students and teachers alike.

Of course, there are a few schools, administrators, and teachers willing to buck these trends because they know that students need more – much more – than test prep. Call it child-led learning, differentiated instruction, or scaffolding; at the core, what these teachers are doing is re-engaging students. And that makes all the difference!

Of course, we all know that actual learning doesn’t cost money. Time: maybe. Energy: definitely. But the sad fact is that conventional learning paths often also cost so much money that many of us just won’t avail ourselves of the offerings. And this creates artificial barriers to learning that are bad for both society and individuals.

Colleges are out of reach for many people. In many cities, private schools offer children better alternatives to public schools, but they are most often incredibly expensive. Even books cost, and DVDs and CDs can be pricey.

But all of that is beginning to change. It’s becoming more and more possible to find great educational alternatives that won’t break the bank. For young ones, independent study public charter schools are one great, growing alternative. Homeschooling is another. And web-based education is a third. For the rest of us, all kinds of new lifelong learning opportunities are opening up through the Internet.

Below is a list of my favorite free learning resources for all ages. Enjoy! (And if you know of other great resources, please comment to add to the list too!)

Teens / Adults

Have you always wanted to attend a top-notch university? How about for free? And while you’re wishing, how about making it so easy that you can attend from the comfort of your couch, while you’re in the car, or while you go for a jog? The University of California at Berkeley makes many of their regular course offerings available for free over the Internet. Log on at http://webcast.berkeley.edu/courses.php.

You can attend Yale lectures from your armchair as well. That’s right – Yale! Check it out at http://oyc.yale.edu/.

Open Culture is a great web site for free high-quality cultural & educational media for the worldwide lifelong learning community. Not only do they offer online courses from 350 universities, they provide free movies, audio books, and other resources too.

The Free University of San Francisco aims to make the highest level of education available, completely free, to any individual who wants it, regardless of color, creed, age, gender, nationality, religion or immigration status—a university free of money, taught for free. The only requirement for membership is a desire to teach and/or a desire to learn. (Not web-based.)

TED Talks provide free educational experiences provided by the world’s most inspired thinkers — in the form of b18-minute talks. More than 700 TEDTalks are now available, with more added each week. All of the talks are subtitled, and can be freely shared and reposted.

WNYC Radiolab is a one-of-a-kind radio show, also archived as podcasts, that explores topics and issues that cross the lines between science, philosophy, and human experience. Topics titles are deceptively simple: Falling, Limits, Animal Minds, Cities, and more.

Academic Earth offers links to lectures from universities including Harvard, MIT, and Yale.

YouTube links to many different universities that offer educational videos. Find these at: http://www.youtube.com/education?b=400.

If you haven’t seen itunes U , check it out. You will first need to download itunes if you don’t already have it, but it’s well worth the extra step.

Backstory with the American History Guys provides a fun, quirky approach to history.

Grammar Girl makes an often-dry subject come to life. Webster’s Word of the Day [http://www.merriam-webster.com/word-of-the-day/] provides an interesting (really!) look at one word each day. You can have it delivered to your email inbox too.

The Stuff You Should Know podcasts, from howstuffworks.com, answers people’s real-life questions on a wide variety of topics – from Vikings to sharks.

Triple-Emmy awarding This American Life , NPR’s Fresh Air , and Story Corps provide entertaining, educational stories from and about real people.

Kids

Cosmos 4 Kids provides educational information on the universe, galaxies, stars, systems, solar system, and space exploration.

Biology 4 Kids provides detailed, interesting information on cells, microorganisms, plants, invertebrates, vertebrates, and animal systems

Grammar Slammer provides  instruction and examples for practically every aspect  of grammar.

Check out these free weekly newsletter and “old time radio” adaptations of great books and historic stories chosen especially for homeschooling families.

This comprehensive mathematics website comes from Cynthia Lanius of Rice University and spans pre-k through 11th grade.

This site provides several student-friendly recipes that are accompanied by videos of students cooking the actual recipes and  explaining the process, step by step. This site specializes in practical money skills with lessons appropriate for every grade level. And here’s a site that offers free printable math worksheets organized by grade level, activity type, and theme.

The Educational Podcast Network offers podcasts on a wide range of subjects, geared for elementary, middle school, and high school.

Child Hates School?
You Have More Choices than You May Realize

This time of year, as schools reopen their doors, many parents are hearing the same refrain: “I hate school!” While some families succeed by relocating their child to another classroom, hiring a tutor, coaching their child through the homework, or making other small adjustments, many children continue to struggle in our public school classrooms. And sadly, many parents do not realize that they have the power to opt out of the neighborhood school to find a situation that provides a better fit with their child’s needs.

In fact, the time has never been better for parents and children who discover that their local public schools are not working for them. The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 provided new ways open for a variety of educational options. Since the passage of the act, many of these new and expanded options have become a reality in most communities.

This federal law allows parents to take advantage of free tutoring if their child attends a Title 1 school (a school that has been identified as needing improvement) for an extended period of time. And it provides some protections for homeschooling parents as well.

Thanks to this law, it is even possible to take children out of the local public school while keeping them within the public school system. The No Child Left Behind Act allows parents the option of choosing another public school if the school their child attends is unsafe. It allows for the development of diverse magnet schools within school districts; these schools pull students from a wider geographic area in order to focus on a particular educational focus. It even supports the growth of independent charter schools.

Charter schools are public schools that operate with freedom from many of the local and state regulations that apply to traditional public schools. Charter schools allow parents, community leaders, educational entrepreneurs, and others the flexibility to innovate and provide students with increased educational options while remaining connected to the public school system. Charter schools are sponsored by local, state, or other organizations that monitor their quality. For more on charter schools, see this informative US Charter Schools website .

The forms that charter schools take vary widely. Some emphasize technology, foreign language, or specific trade preparation. Others spring from a particular educational philosophy, like Waldorf or Montessori. Still others, like Innovative Education Management schools in California, provide families with a way to stay within the public school system while gaining the advantage of independent study at home.

There are other options outside the public school system as well. There are private schools, including church-related schools. And there is homeschooling, which today takes many forms.

If you are interested in learning more about your choices, call your local school district office. They are required by law to provide you with information on your local options. You can get more in-depth information directly from the www2.ed.gov/nclb/choice/schools/choicefacts.html US Department of Education as well.

So, if you are hearing “I hate school,” take heart. Today many parents are finding great new paths to help their child thrive, learn, and excel – and you can too!

Parent Driven Schools has long advocated for parents’ choice in the education of their children. After all, who is most motivated to make our educational systems the best they can possibly be? It’s not the educators, the administrators, or the politicians. It’s the parents!

Parents vote with their feet. They move their families to cities and neighborhoods where the schools are known to be good. They seek out charter schools that are a better for their child than the neighborhood schools. They home-school, too, in ever-increasing numbers.

Here at Parent Driven Schools, we are strong supporters of parent choice in the education of their children. We recognize that there’s no one right answer for all children, and we know from experience that parents are in the best position to make educational decisions. That’s why we want every family to be informed and empowered to make the best possible decisions. Following are a few tools and web sites that can help:

• Greatschools.org publishes annual School Chooser guides and distributes them at no cost to thousands of parents so they can make more informed choices about where to send their children to school.
• The US Department of Education provides a webcast called New Tools for Parents: Getting Informed & Getting Involved.  This webcast highlights the benefits of The No Child Left Behind Act, which provides parents with access to a greater range of educational options, including free tutoring programs, charter schools, and scholarships for low-income students. Another US Department of Education webcast, Charter Schools and School Choice, provides a more in-depth look at charter schools. The US Department of Education publicly states that “charter schools, in particular, have become increasingly appealing to parents, and for good reason—as laboratories for new educational strategies, these flexible schools improve education for everyone in the system and offer innovative places for children to achieve at their highest possible levels.”
• The homeschooling movement, while strong, is somewhat more diverse. Some resources for parents considering homeschooling include the Homeschooling section of About.com, Homeschool.com, and Classical Christian Homeschooling.
• Independent study charter schools are yet another option, offering benefits of both charter schools and homeschooling. For examples, see Innovative Education Management (IEM) Charter Schools, Sky Mountain Charter School  and Ocean Grove Charter School . IEM has been successfully developing and operating California charter schools for many years.
• Call our free HelpLine anytime during business hours. Our support specialists provide free information, ideas and resources for parents making educational decisions or experiencing difficulty working with their child’s school. The HelpLine phone number is (800) 893-6199.

Creating Lifelong Learners, the new Parent Driven Schools documentary, has now won two awards, including a MarCom international award.

MarCom Awards is administered and judged by the Association of Marketing and Communication Professionals. Judges are industry professionals who look for companies and individuals whose talent exceeds a high standard of excellence and whose work serves as a benchmark for the industry.

Take a look at a clip from the documentary: http://www.parentdrivenschools.com/video.htm. To order your own copy, free for a limited time, call 800.893.6199 or email us at info@parentdrivenschools.com. Free viewing kits also available!

The once-bargain cost of the University of California rose by nearly a third this month. And that’s just the latest in a series of tuition hikes occurring across the US.

The truth is, college costs are rising everywhere. So, what’s a parent of a college-bound child to do?

We have some suggestions for you.

1. Treat this as you would any other major financial decision. Make sure you know what you want, and why.

2. Shop early. The more time you allocate to this decision, the better your chances are of finding the best deal.

3. Don’t assume that the best schools are out of reach. Financial aid packages and scholarship offers vary. A full ride to an Ivy League school may offer a more affordable option than paying full price at a small, local college.

4. Look carefully at all of your options, including local community colleges for the first two years.

4. For more ideas, see this US News and World Report article on ten “secrets” for raising college tuition money.

Wonder how your child will fare in the competition for scholarships? Take a look article with statistics on who gets how much in scholarship funding.

Parent Driven Schools promotes individualized instruction for all children. So we were pleased to see that the U.S. Department of Education is promoting activities to help specific students, including practices designed specifically to help girls increase academic self-esteem, interest, and achievement in math and science. According to the DoR, not only are the recommended practices expected to help girls succeed, they will help ensure a larger workforce in areas of increasing shortage. Download the full report.

Parent Driven Schools recently published a study to learn what today’s employers think about the strengths and shortcomings of recent graduates.

Eighty seven percent of participating employers told us that the most important skill they look for is solid personal values. Other skills that topped the list were communications skills, people skills, and general adaptivity, including problem solving and creative thinking skills.

Want to know more? Read the full report, including areas in which today’s employers say graduates are most lacking.