Assignment #1:
Group: Maren Maier, Ben Knight, Tiffany Feeney, Danielle Penn,
Maya Schindler
Statement of theme/topic:
To create a multi-faceted, holistic, and incentive based program that increases accessibility to education through a series of sustainable initiatives.
The vision:
To build an American population better poised to tackle and lead in new challenges of the 21st Century.
Background of topic (facts/reference):
•Explore the statistical trends for enrollment and completion of school, that exist between primary, secondary, and postsecondary school –
In 2005, the percentage distribution of the highest level of education attained by 189.4 million of twenty-five and older individuals was as follows:
14.8% = Less than high school
32.2%= High school diploma
16.8% = some college
8.6% = Associate’s
18.1%= Bachelor’s
6.8% = Graduate
1.5% = Professional
1.2% = Doctors
ENROLLMENT ELEMENTARY SECONDARY UNDERGRAD GRADUATE
(in thousands) Pre-K - 8 9 -12
YEAR
1980
Public 27,647 13,231
Private 3,992 13,339
1990
Public --- 11,338 9,710 ---
Private --- 1,150 2,250 ---
1995
Public --- --- 9,904 1,074
Private --- --- 2,328 659
1999
Public --- --- 10,110 1,077
Private --- --- 2,571 730
2003
Public --- --- 11,521 1,201
Private --- --- 2,952 896
Based on the above graph, in the time from Pre-School enrollment to pos-secondary enrollment between 1980 and 2003, less than have of enrollees from the Pre-K-Grade 8 went on to enroll in 9-12 grades. However, the enrollment percentage was consistent from high school to undergrad, but only about 10% of undergrads went on to graduate school.
All Data From http://tinyurl.com/yplbjp
•Disparity between what each state spends on students and whether that correlates to quality of education -
New York’s 7.1% was second only to Arizona’s 10.5% as the U.S. state with the highest drop out rate during the 2001-2002 school year. However, New York was also has the third highest graduation rate after California and Texas respectively.
In 2002, 11.8% of Males between the ages of 16 and 24 years dropped out as opposed to 9.2% of females. Twenty-five percent of the total dropout rate was of Hispanic origin, more than twice that of Blacks and more than four times as much as Whites. In addition, the majority of dropouts was from the middle-income quartile and occurred most frequently in 11th to 12th grade. It occurred second most frequent number of dropouts happened among this group with nine or less years of education.
“Expenditures of educational institutions rose to an estimated high of $827 billion in the 2003–04 school year (table 25 and figure 2). Elementary and secondary schools spent about 62 percent of this total, and colleges and universities accounted for the remaining 38 percent. In 2003–04, expenditures of educational institutions were an estimated 7.5 percent of the gross domestic product.”
•Rising costs associated with postsecondary enrollment and its effects and opportunities –
Many students find it increasingly difficult to pay for secondary
education. Tuition and room and board at private colleges in the United States hover around $30,000, an increase of 81 percent (more than double the inflation rate) within one decade (Glater, 2006). Students are faced with mounting debt from student loans, and a student loan industry dominated by privatized loan companies seeking to make a profit. When searching for loans, they navigate through a confusing, complex, and untrustworthy system, where
financial aid officers often receive kickbacks from lenders to ‘sell’ their aid packages (Pappano, 2007). As noted in a recent New York Times article, “What’s been lost (in student loan programs since the 1950s) is the idea that student loans are a service with benefits that transcend the financial” (Nocera, 2007). Today, the best customers are the students who take on more debt than they can handle to get through school, as “financial aid has become more about the shareholders than the students” (Nocera, 2007).
Glater, J. (December 1, 2006). Weighing the Costs in Public vs Private Colleges. The New York Sunday Times.
Pappano, L (July 29, 2007). Lessons from the Loan Scandal. The New York
Sunday Times.Nocera, J (July 29, 2007). The Profit and the Pauper. The New York Times, Education/ Life.
•College Sustainability Index – How to transition DM’s guiding principals to primary and secondary schools based on an existing set of criteria.
•Students lacking guidance to postsecondary education –
Most students in current track systems are not mentored, thus they lack the knowledge into the possibilities of their interests and strengths. This also entails being unaware of the sustainable resources. An awareness of the series of education steps of the program is made by DM mentors. The DM mentors guide the students through the process of sustainable growth in their given occupations, which give them strategic advantage in school.
•Charter v. District school systems –
Charter schools are public schools with increased autonomy and accountability. They gain certification by the city or state through a rigorous process that generally makes it difficult to gain certification. Charters have to prove they can offer something to increase student achievement and make student gains. Over half of all charters are currently failing. Successful charter schools tend to exist in low-income communities and often serve a special population. Higher accountability closes bad charter schools more quickly. Regular and rigorous tests are used to judge whether charter schools are meeting standards (student achievements, operational aspects).
The majority of funding for charter schools is public. They do not get public funding for facilities, the remaining part is up to them to produce. If charters have a certain percentage of students who meet low-income qualifications, they get added funding. This is called Title 1 funding.
Charter schools can budget for after school - they have autonomy to do so. Charters do their own hiring and can avoid union issues this way (can hire and fire = teacher accountability). District schools make up the vast majority of public schools. They are one-hundred percent publicly funded and often endure a lot of bureaucracy. There are a lot of resources in place to support district schools. The biggest challenge for district schools tends to be unions (teachers can't easily be fired and are therefore less accountable)
Statement of why/how it will impact DM:
•We are looking to demonstrate DM’s impact on education to offer strategic advantage to students.
•We are using education as a tool to introduce/communicate sustainable practices (at an early age) to students that will move with them through life by offering a financial incentive to further their educational opportunities.
Plan of how to further research:
•International education systems (i.e. Gymnasium)
•Current governmental and non-governmental educational entities
•Mentorship programs
•Innovative school systems (i.e. Milton Hershey School, charter schools)
•Investigate financing schemes (Yale funding program, endowments/grants)
•Integrative methods for private/public partnerships (strategic partnerships)
•The use of technology in program
Sources:
•Department of Education
•Forbes/Business Week/Newsweek/Time/NY Times/LA Times/Wall Street Journal
•National Association of College and University Business Officers
•Campus Sustainability Assessment Project
•Global Higher Education for Sustainability Partnership
•National Science Foundation
•UNESCO
•Sustainable Endowments Institute
•UN Millennium Development Goals (MDG)
•Presidential Candidate’s Education plans
•Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
•America’s Promise Alliance (Colon Powell)
•Green.Public schools
•Harlem Public School Project
•Yale
•Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education
•Project Lead the Way/The High School Program
•Thrive by Five
•Cloud Institute for Sustainability Education
•Gear Up program
•ED in ’08 – Strong American Schools
•SAGE – Student Achievement Guided by Experience
•Pay It Smart Program
•World Economic Forum
•UNICEF
•Clinton Foundation
•TreeHugger.com
•Ackerman Institute
•Education for All (EFA)
Monday, July 30, 2007
Assignment 3 - Directed Research
Assignment #3:
Group:
Maren Maier, Ben Knight, Tiffany Feeney, Danielle Penn, Maya Schindler
Statement of the broad research topic:
To create a multi-faceted, holistic, and incentive based program that increases accessibility to education thru a series of sustainable initiatives.
Troubling Trends:
•Discrepancy between cost per student for public education and quality of education
•Rising costs associated with post-secondary enrollment
•Students lacking guidance in post-secondary enrollment
•Inconsistencies between drop out, enrollment and completion at secondary and post-secondary education
•Students lack guidance in transition to post-secondary education
•The effectiveness of charter vs public school systems
•Problem of No Child Left Behind, Teach for America
•Lack of sustainability education and operations within the school systems
The program teaches students about sustainability, responsibility, and personal accountability. Addressing all age levels, K-12 and collegiate, the program will set appropriate curriculum and incentives to motivate not only students, but include participation within the educational sector and businesses. Preliminary model consists of contests, national ranking, sustainability certification for education, and student mentorship transcending the parent, teacher, and community boundaries.
The most significant incentive for students in this program is building an education fund to help offset college tuition costs. Incentives for schools would include reputation building, increased funding, and reduced operational costs. Incentives for corporations/government include building a stronger and more prepared work force for the new millennium, increasing corporate social responsibility and reputation.
Primary education - set reading list, simple concepts
Secondary education – set projects – more complicated concepts
College - sustainability courses
List of specific objectives:
The sustainability initiatives include:
1. sustainability program for K-12 designed through the help of mentorship programs and strategic partnerships
2. financial incentives to pay for post secondary education
3. incorporating sustainable practices in the schools as part of the program using sustainability index as a guide and financial incentives
4. creative financing through public/private partnerships
Design and Methodology or Research Plan:
EXPLORATORY RESEARCH PHASE:
*Talk to people in education, business (expert interviews – head of board of education in NYC, principal of charter school in Harlem, Dalton school staff)
*Interview parents, teachers, and kids (focus group)
*One-on-one interview
*Experience surveys
*Secondary research, online search engines, case studies
DESCRIPTIVE RESEARCH PHASE:
*surveys, diaries, panels, self-administered research, tracking studies, concept testing
Start with exploratory phase, then go into descriptive phase and at the end of that phase identify the quantitative and qualitative research methods.
QUANTITATIVE/QUALITATIVE RESEARCH PHASE:
-Focus panels
-Pilot test (usage test)
-Play sessions
-Idea generation
-Motivations/preferences/habits (qualitative)
-Measurement, progress tracking (quantitative)
(*needs to be done within first 6 months)
Sampling:
What groups will be included in your research, how many, who, and how you plan to obtain/contact them.
-UN
-Pratt administration (President Schutte)
-Education contacts (Board of Ed members, Charter School founders, Teach for America, Chancellor Klein)
-Political connections
-Milton Hershey School, Columbia University, Social Work, Jeffrey Sachs
-Business contacts (what groups would be most interested? Target, Carlson Company, Eco Lab, Goldman Sachs, Accounting Firm, MetLife, Wells Fargo, Piper Jaffrey, US News and World Report)
-Psychologist, child development specialist, Social worker
We plan to get access these groups through personal contacts.
Timeline-ish:
Aug 2 – Aug 24 break
Aug 25 – Oct 15
Oct 15 – Oct 26 break
Oct 27- Dec 9
Nov 15 – comprehensive project plan due (exploratory research must be done)
Dec 1 – commitment from a company, rough outline of the paper due
Dec 15 – thorough outline due
Dec 10 – Jan 11 break
Jan 12 – Feb 2
Feb 3 – Mar 14 break
Mar 15 – April 18
April 18 DUE
Beginning with exploratory phase to obtain relevant information, we will proceed to a descriptive phase, defining the various components necessary for execution, finally concluding with the outline of quantitative and qualitative research methods.
Exploratory – secondary research, interviews (40%) *data mining
Quantitative and qualitative (broad)
Descriptive –
Defining what our research means in the context of the project…narrowing down…coming to some conclusions - quantitative and qualitative (30%) *probe more
Quantitative and qualitative (specific)
Concluding/Summary (20%)
Revisions (10%)
Why is this best methodology?
It is important to do equal research with ALL stakeholders involved. We have a lot to define which is why exploratory is essential.
Because we have so many unknowns and components, we feel it is necessary to emphasize exploratory and descriptive phases.
Group:
Maren Maier, Ben Knight, Tiffany Feeney, Danielle Penn, Maya Schindler
Statement of the broad research topic:
To create a multi-faceted, holistic, and incentive based program that increases accessibility to education thru a series of sustainable initiatives.
Troubling Trends:
•Discrepancy between cost per student for public education and quality of education
•Rising costs associated with post-secondary enrollment
•Students lacking guidance in post-secondary enrollment
•Inconsistencies between drop out, enrollment and completion at secondary and post-secondary education
•Students lack guidance in transition to post-secondary education
•The effectiveness of charter vs public school systems
•Problem of No Child Left Behind, Teach for America
•Lack of sustainability education and operations within the school systems
The program teaches students about sustainability, responsibility, and personal accountability. Addressing all age levels, K-12 and collegiate, the program will set appropriate curriculum and incentives to motivate not only students, but include participation within the educational sector and businesses. Preliminary model consists of contests, national ranking, sustainability certification for education, and student mentorship transcending the parent, teacher, and community boundaries.
The most significant incentive for students in this program is building an education fund to help offset college tuition costs. Incentives for schools would include reputation building, increased funding, and reduced operational costs. Incentives for corporations/government include building a stronger and more prepared work force for the new millennium, increasing corporate social responsibility and reputation.
Primary education - set reading list, simple concepts
Secondary education – set projects – more complicated concepts
College - sustainability courses
List of specific objectives:
The sustainability initiatives include:
1. sustainability program for K-12 designed through the help of mentorship programs and strategic partnerships
2. financial incentives to pay for post secondary education
3. incorporating sustainable practices in the schools as part of the program using sustainability index as a guide and financial incentives
4. creative financing through public/private partnerships
Design and Methodology or Research Plan:
EXPLORATORY RESEARCH PHASE:
*Talk to people in education, business (expert interviews – head of board of education in NYC, principal of charter school in Harlem, Dalton school staff)
*Interview parents, teachers, and kids (focus group)
*One-on-one interview
*Experience surveys
*Secondary research, online search engines, case studies
DESCRIPTIVE RESEARCH PHASE:
*surveys, diaries, panels, self-administered research, tracking studies, concept testing
Start with exploratory phase, then go into descriptive phase and at the end of that phase identify the quantitative and qualitative research methods.
QUANTITATIVE/QUALITATIVE RESEARCH PHASE:
-Focus panels
-Pilot test (usage test)
-Play sessions
-Idea generation
-Motivations/preferences/habits (qualitative)
-Measurement, progress tracking (quantitative)
(*needs to be done within first 6 months)
Sampling:
What groups will be included in your research, how many, who, and how you plan to obtain/contact them.
-UN
-Pratt administration (President Schutte)
-Education contacts (Board of Ed members, Charter School founders, Teach for America, Chancellor Klein)
-Political connections
-Milton Hershey School, Columbia University, Social Work, Jeffrey Sachs
-Business contacts (what groups would be most interested? Target, Carlson Company, Eco Lab, Goldman Sachs, Accounting Firm, MetLife, Wells Fargo, Piper Jaffrey, US News and World Report)
-Psychologist, child development specialist, Social worker
We plan to get access these groups through personal contacts.
Timeline-ish:
Aug 2 – Aug 24 break
Aug 25 – Oct 15
Oct 15 – Oct 26 break
Oct 27- Dec 9
Nov 15 – comprehensive project plan due (exploratory research must be done)
Dec 1 – commitment from a company, rough outline of the paper due
Dec 15 – thorough outline due
Dec 10 – Jan 11 break
Jan 12 – Feb 2
Feb 3 – Mar 14 break
Mar 15 – April 18
April 18 DUE
Beginning with exploratory phase to obtain relevant information, we will proceed to a descriptive phase, defining the various components necessary for execution, finally concluding with the outline of quantitative and qualitative research methods.
Exploratory – secondary research, interviews (40%) *data mining
Quantitative and qualitative (broad)
Descriptive –
Defining what our research means in the context of the project…narrowing down…coming to some conclusions - quantitative and qualitative (30%) *probe more
Quantitative and qualitative (specific)
Concluding/Summary (20%)
Revisions (10%)
Why is this best methodology?
It is important to do equal research with ALL stakeholders involved. We have a lot to define which is why exploratory is essential.
Because we have so many unknowns and components, we feel it is necessary to emphasize exploratory and descriptive phases.
As a part of our preliminary research, accreditation (both k-12 and college) will provide insight into our current educational system. In the United States, accreditation is performed by private non profit membership associations, while in other countries education standards are conducted by government's ministry of education. The are 6 regional accreditors and52 national recognized accrediting bodies, differentiated by educational levels, religious, professional, and vocational.
Current criticisms are accrediting associations focus less on the quality of teaching and learning, and more on facilities, equipment and policies of the schools seeking accreditation (homeschooling). Also accreditors only support a 'traditional' education, for example religious institutions claiming accreditation interferes with their teaching mission and philosophy. The US department of education recognizes it is possible to provide a quality post-secondary education without accreditation while providing degrees. The educational risk the existence of 'diploma mills' granting degrees for a price without the related course work.
Current criticisms are accrediting associations focus less on the quality of teaching and learning, and more on facilities, equipment and policies of the schools seeking accreditation (homeschooling). Also accreditors only support a 'traditional' education, for example religious institutions claiming accreditation interferes with their teaching mission and philosophy. The US department of education recognizes it is possible to provide a quality post-secondary education without accreditation while providing degrees. The educational risk the existence of 'diploma mills' granting degrees for a price without the related course work.
Sunday, July 29, 2007
Current State of Education
- College Sustainability Report Card by the Sustainability Endowment Institute
- "Founded in 2005, the Institute is engaged in research and education on the sustainability of higher education endowments."
- The report measures "How do sustainability factors shape policies about the use of their resources? How can schools learn from each other’s experiences and adapt sustainability policies that work?"
- 4 out of 100 received A- all else lower.
Categories: CLIMATE CHANGE, FOOD & RECYCLING, GREEN BUILDING, ENDOWMENT TRANSPARENCY, INVESTMENT PRIORITIES, SHAREHOLDER ENGAGEMENT,
http://tinyurl.com/yplbjp
Important Statistic Report Links
http://tinyurl.com/38b6mk
http://tinyurl.com/2td9qn
http://tinyurl.com/yplbjp
- "Founded in 2005, the Institute is engaged in research and education on the sustainability of higher education endowments."
- The report measures "How do sustainability factors shape policies about the use of their resources? How can schools learn from each other’s experiences and adapt sustainability policies that work?"
- 4 out of 100 received A- all else lower.
Categories: CLIMATE CHANGE, FOOD & RECYCLING, GREEN BUILDING, ENDOWMENT TRANSPARENCY, INVESTMENT PRIORITIES, SHAREHOLDER ENGAGEMENT,
http://tinyurl.com/yplbjp
Important Statistic Report Links
http://tinyurl.com/38b6mk
http://tinyurl.com/2td9qn
http://tinyurl.com/yplbjp
Here is the starting point
http://publicdomainclip-art.blogspot.com
So here are topics that were discussed today at our 'launch meeting'
Before I get down to business, I am wondering if anyone wants a DVD copy burned for them of the film "Boys of Baraka" (http://tinyurl.com/3agvse). I believe Danielle wants one. Any other takers? Also sort of off topic but has anyone seen the 4th season of the TV show "The Wire"(http://tinyurl.com/33t48n) it deals VERY broadly of the major problems education in public schools in lower income America, specifically Baltimore.
Now on to today's discussion; please excuse me if you don't have something listed:
- Books for Benjamins
- Secondary Education - Creative Financing
- Alternative Track System
- Walk About of how DM could benefit the American school system
- Undergrad DM "Business of Design" seminar/program
- Sustainability Index
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