Summary: Resegregation: What's the Answer?
No Half Steps, No Equivocation
The resurgence of segregation in public schools has led some to believe solutions to this problem must be dealt with from higher levels (The White House). Incentives (more carrot dangling) should be introduced to entice schools to cope with the problem. Boston schools, were incentive programs have been used, have produced positive results. At least 90% of the students are graduating and heading to higher education. Minority parents do feel integrated classrooms are beneficial to their children building relationships across socioeconomic boundaries and seeing their children suceed in the classroom and beyond. Short term and long term strategies (A White House introduced system of Incentives, supposedly the money is available...) can be effective. The short term strategies can be implemented quite quickly, where the long term strategies (zoning laws, racial steering, etc...) may never be seen in our lifetime.
Insist on Excellence for All
For African-American children, attending white schools was a birth right to better education, not so much for white companionship. Resegregation is continuing to happen all around. Whites left the urban neighborhoods to the blacks. Housing is an issue for minorities, mostly centered around the urban schools. Just because a school has whites does not mean they should have the better educational environment. There are three key components to success in a school where there is a trinity of strong relationships between the parents, administrators, and parents: This is important, you can do it, and we will not give up on you (Tatum, 2010). The opportunities for minorities must extend beyond the classrooms of desegregating conformity.
Connect Students to Society
We cannot ignore the dangers of segregation even in urban school districts, where it not may be a priority of the attending administration. Advocation of equality from different advocacy groups nationwide, could be a huge help for assisting minority students in receiving equal education opportunities as whites. Opportunities more easily accessible to all students of any color will stregthen our educational system.
Address Housing Equity
The political climate and low-income housing has alienated and forced a concentration of low-achieving minority/ethnicity students to be none the less closer to closing the achievement gap. Leaders of a community need to create dual-immersion schools (middle school grades) in the inner cities. By doing so, the cultural gap will close naturally, helping to ignite the achievement gap to a close. To change the situation over the long run, we must (1) increase subsidized housing; (2) locate it in places that will give children access to strong integrated schools; and (3) reassign students to schools that will integrate them racially, socioeconomically, and linguistically (Gandara, 2010). I hope legislators have been lifting weights, for they have some mountains to move.
Reference
Eaton, S., Gandara, P., Kozol, J., & Tatum, B. D. 2010. Resegregation: What's the Answer?
No Half Steps, No Equivocation, Insist on Excellence for All, Connect Students to Society, & Address Housing Equity. Retrieved November 12, 2010 from the Educational Leadership website http://ascd.org/publications/educationalleadership/nov10/vol68/num03/Resegregation@-What's-the-Answer%C2%A2.aspx
Summary: Longitudinal Data Systems in Education
Executive Summary
The ultimate goal is to ensure that state education systems are preparing students for long-term success in college, postsecondary training and the workplace (Longitudinal Data Systems in Education, 2010). Some states may miss out on the opportunity to have their school information stored in one digital warehouse. With SAS, information gaps among key educational agencies need no longer exist, and decision makers can be armed with the accurate data they need to make proactive decisions and effective education policies (LDS in Edu., 2010).
Drivers of LDS
A robust LDS initiative includes linked student records, teacher records, test scores, course selection, finances, certifications, licensure, salary and more (LDS in Edu., 2010). The primary point is to optimize educational decisions and outcomes.
Barriers to LDS (Political & Technical)
Legislative
-Funding (The economy in general)
-Leadership (Political leaders and their views are progressive)
-Laws (Prohibit student information being displayed across large networks)
Security
The stakeholders need to know that the sensitive information will be secure from hackers and/or leaked to the wrong parties. My question...what if third parties, companies that market to teenagers, get hold of this information? It is analagous to insurance companies having our genetic codes!
Collecting and Implementing Data
This is a large scale challenge that takes crucial time. Integrating the data, would enable states to transform and combine disparate data, remove inaccuracies, standardize on common values, parse values and cleanse dirty data to create consistent, reliable information (LDS in Edu., 2010). Some agencies may block data from being released to all other agencies.
Scalability & Reporting Challenges
It is going to take crucial time to provide a structure that allows for this massive digital warehouse of educational information. All agencies must work together to achieve this structure to ensure it runs smoothly and cooperatively. Centralizing the data for usage can be useful to all using the information.
Successful Models (Industry & Government) & Accelerating LDS Initiatives
Getting agencies in education up to speed is the key. Businesses have been doing this for years, patience will be needed at all educational levels for success. The speed of the analytics is the key, can schools use the data efficiently? A smooth transition of information, over a period of time, as technologies are introduced and brought up to speed.
Critical Components
-Data Integration-
Enables organizations to integrate data from any source and in any format (LDS in Edu., 2010).
-Analytics-
Once state education departments bring their data together using SAS Data Integration,
they can apply analytics to answer questions, solve problems and make data-driven
decisions (LDS in Edu., 2010).
-Reporting
SAS solutions can make compliance reporting straightforward, complete with backup data in which users can have confidence. They also empower all users by giving them self-service access to reports on a need-to-know basis while respecting the need for IT control of the underlying data and access controls. At the same time, data can be shared across departments and districts from a centralized repository, eliminating the need to maintain data, security and metadata in several places and formats. This simplified data sharing can encourage and enable collaboration among policy analysts, administrative leadership and more (LDS in Edu., 2010).
-Most important...School Solutions...someone has to make the crucial decisions
-Leverage existing hardware, software, data and human resources (LDS in Edu., 2010).
-Take an iterative approach to implementation by starting with your most pressing
needs and build on your successes over time (LDS in Edu., 2010).
-Adapt readily to platform changes, database additions and changing school
system requirements, so there’s no worry about outgrowing the system over time (LDS in Edu., 2010).
References
Longitudinal Data Systems in Education 2010. Retrieved November 12, 2010 from the Educational Weekly website http://www.edweek.org/ew/index.html
Longitudinal Data Systems in Education 2010. Retrieved November 12, 2010 from the Educational Weekly website http://www.accelacomm.com/jaw/EWHP/53/51153520/
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