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I am screaming again. Another educational report has used the phrase ?Putting Students First" without meaning it. This time it is the title of the recent NY Education Reform Commission report. I?ve skimmed the report. There is nothing in the report on strengthening foreign language programs to prepared student to compete in a globalized economy. There is nothing in the report on expanding foreign language immersion programs (NY has them) or creating paid high school study abroad programs. So much for putting students first. And there is little on expanding online learning to cut costs and expand opportunities.

From the NY Times article ?Commission Recommends Core Changes in Education? by Al Baker (here):

Forcing teachers to pass a kind of bar exam, like the ones aspiring lawyers and doctors must sit for. Extending the number of hours and days students must spend in school, to break with academic calendars formed in an agrarian age. Consolidating school districts; making schools a hub for health care and social services; and giving 4-year-olds in the state?s poorest areas access to full-day prekindergarten.

Those were among a slate of recommendations that the New York Education Reform Commission outlined in an address to Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and cabinet members in the State Capitol on Wednesday.

As the commission?s chairman, Richard D. Parsons, the former chairman of Citigroup and Time Warner, put it in a 92-page ?action plan,? everyone agrees there is an ?urgency? in reforming a system with 2.7 million students that is first in the country in state education spending, but has abysmal graduation rates in some areas. The costs of such plans, however, are not insubstantial.

On the expanded use of online education, the report is quite conservative, saying (here, page 44):

New York?s public education system should lead the nation by !nding the best ways to take advantage of technology to increase student achievement.Innovation Zones grants should reward school districts that propose innovative ways to use technology to support teachers and students, including:

Providing access to instructional resources like digital curricula and e-textbooks, videos and other learning materials aligned with the Common Core State Standards;

Personalizing learning to reach both the students who are struggling and those who have already mastered the lesson ? all at the same time;

Ensuring that students can access the latest hardware and software ? from iPads to smart boards to educational apps ? that make it possible to reach students using the technology that they consider second-nature; and

Providing on-line or blended learning courses in rural and other under-served communities so that all students have access to advanced courses, foreign languages, dual enrollment, etc.

Note: From the Syracuse.com article ?New York school lead nation in spending per pupil, Census Bureau reports? by Paul Riede (here).

New York?s public schools spend far more per student than any other state, according to a report released today by the U.S. Census Bureau.

The bureau examined spending across the nation for fiscal year 2010. It found New York schools spent $18,618 per pupil, far above the national average of $10,615. The next highest states were New Jersey, at $16,841; Alaska at $15,783; Vermont at $15,274; and Wyoming at $15,169.

The District of Columbia was the only entity with spending higher than New York, at $18,677 per pupil....

Further note: At $18,618, NY could pay the fees of most high school study abroad programs offered by existing study abroad organization. I usually quote the study abroad fees offered by ASSE because they tend to be lowest costs. In this case, I can quote the study abroad fees of AFS, which are, for examples (here): China - $13,750; India ? $13,750; Brazil- $12,750; Russia - $13,250; France - $13,750; Spain - $13,750 and many other countries in the $12,250 to $13,750 range. Or, if NY really wants to save money and put student first, it could send some students just across it boarder to French Canada on ASSE program for $6,375 per student per year (here).

If New York really wants to put students first it will offer a paid high school year abroad to all appropriate students. Or they should just take that title off their report.

Source: http://daveporter.typepad.com/global_strategies/2013/01/at-18618-studentyear-new-york-still-fails-in-putting-students-first.html

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