Washington
U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan urged universities on Thursday to get more involved in helping to improve underperforming schools, by forming partnerships with local school districts, establishing charter schools, and improving teacher education.
In a keynote address at an education forum presented here by the University of Chicago, Mr. Duncan pointed to that institution's charter schools as an example and praised the university for not being an "ivory tower in the middle of the city."
In talking points distributed before his remarks, Mr. Duncan, who was chief executive of the Chicago Public Schools before joining the Obama administration, encouraged other colleges and universities to establish their own charter schools, develop better research methods to track the results of efforts to improve schools' performance, and create "a new generation of teachers" by providing more hands-on training and better support.
After Mr. Duncan spoke, a three-member panel continued the discussion of the role that colleges and universities can play in education reform.
"Not every university in the country should own and operate a public school," said Timothy Knowles, director of the Urban Education Institute, which operates the University of Chicago's charter schools. But universities with programs in education or public policy should have environments where their students can "learn by doing," he said.
Charter schools and direct involvement with education-improvement efforts get at the central question of what a university should be, said Charles M. Payne, a professor in the University of Chicago's School of Social Service Administration.
Mr. Payne praised universities that do get involved with local schools for "taking ideas out of the classroom" despite the difficulties they might encounter. "Those universities who have tried to play a role in school reform have quickly found out they didn't know as much as they thought they knew," he said.
Both Mr. Knowles and Linda Darling-Hammond, founding director of the School Redesign Network at Stanford University, emphasized the importance of a long-term relationship between universities and school districts to create lasting improvements.
"If universities are to stay vital and not become obsolete … we have to learn by doing," Mr. Knowles said.
Comments
1. eelalien - September 11, 2009 at 08:50 am
Re: "Those universities who have tried to play a role in school reform have quickly found out they didn't know as much as they thought they knew" - right, our university has tried repeatedly over the years to partner with a seriously underperforming district, with grants, program initiatives, etc. Easier said than done, as I am sure many others in higher ed will attest to. While a very few partnerships have been successful short-term, all too often the school districts change administrations within a few years, leaving unfinished projects, distrust of what "academia" believes it can accomplish with schools, rancor over funding processes, etc. Pride may have a lot to do with it, but many district administrators view university faculty as, at best, well-intentioned-but-uninformed propeller-heads, and at worst, know-it-all interlopers. We are, unfortunately, a long way off from truly forming a school district/university community.
2. glennbrandonburke - September 11, 2009 at 11:24 am
Here's an article for Mr. Arne Duncan and Massie Ritsch on increasing student retention...
Why President Obama and Arne Duncan Need Glenn Brandon Burke, M.Ed.
By Alan Gray, NewsBlaze
I just finished reading Chicago Tribune columnist, Clarence Page's article entitled "Quiet crisis in our colleges."
The main message of the article is that higher education is sorely lacking in America. Student retention is low and so are graduation rates. President Obama's proposed American Graduation Initiative would put $12 billion into community colleges, with the aim of adding five-million new graduates by 2020.
U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said he needs to find a way to keep more students enrolled, because almost half the students drop out before they have the opportunity to graduate. That makes the goal of five million graduates a tall order.
I've listened to Arne Duncan and he is a smart guy, but I know something he doesn't. An old friend of mine, Glenn Brandon Burke, has the answer Duncan is looking for.
Burke is America's number one Motivational College Speaker on Student Retention, Student Access, Student Equity and Student Success, and knows exactly what it takes to increase retention and increase graduation rates. Not only that, but when Burke increases student retention, he also increases the school's revenue.
Glenn Brandon Burke started out on the wrong side of the success fence. He was a high school dropout, coming from a very disadvantaged life. At the age of 28, he finally realized that "Education is the Foundation for a Successful Life."
So he enrolled in a community college, worked hard and smart to complete both his undergraduate and graduate degrees, and taught four-years at a community college and a couple of university courses. Now, he is known as "America's #1 Motivational College Speaker on Student Retention and Student Success!"
Glenn Brandon Burke definitely has the answers Arne Duncan needs to achieve President Obama's goals. I think I'd like to be a fly on the wall in a meeting with both of them, plus Robert Shireman and Massie Ritsch.
Glenn Brandon Burke's web site has more detail, including contact information www.GlennBrandonBurke.com
Comment on this story, by email comment@newsblaze.com
http://newsblaze.com/story/20090809075011nnnn.nb/topstory.html
3. signaledu - September 11, 2009 at 12:49 pm
When he was Superintendent in Chicago, Duncan forged a partnership with DeVry to start students earning credits toward an Associate degree while there were still in high school -- a much more effective technique than typical high school vo-tech. Duncan is unburdened by status quo.