Business leaders have reiterated concerns about the quality of UK graduates in a new survey.

Employers are concerned about the literacy, numeracy and employability of today’s students, according to the survey conducted by the Confederation of British Industry (CBI). It found that improving education standards tops the list in its annual survey of employers’ concerns, monitoring trends in employment and the workplace.

Almost a quarter of those questioned (23 per cent) said that graduates struggled with literacy, and 20 per cent complained about poor numeracy. A quarter said they were unhappy with graduates’ employability skills. Employers also perceive a growing demand for graduate-level skills - more than three quarters (78 per cent) said there would be increased demand for high-level leadership and management, and two thirds (66 per cent) said they needed graduates with technical skills.

A CBI task force is to look at ways to help graduates become more employable. “Business must play its part here by providing high-quality work experience,” the 2008 employment trends survey Pulling Through says. “(It) must be more relevant to help graduates develop their employability skills.”

“The labour market cannot thrive without an adequately skilled workforce,” said Richard Lambert, CBI director general. “The message from business is clear: ensuring that young people leave education with the functional skills to prosper is essential to everyone’s future prosperity.”

Philip Ternouth, associate director of research and development and knowledge transfer at the Council for Industry and Higher Education, said it should not be up to businesses to tell universities that basic skills should be possessed by graduates seeking employment.

“If we are allowing large numbers of people to graduate without basic skills there is something wrong with the messages we are communicating to schools about the expectation of the standards people should reach,” he said. “It should not be for universities to remedy this, but it is for universities to set standards.”

times higher education, UK
http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=403506&c=1

Make it easier for parents, taxpayers to gauge whether kids are prepared

The results are in for the Michigan Merit Exam, which includes the ACT — a national college entrance exam that’s considered a reliable predictor of college success. Rather than take a comprehensive look at the results, most high schools will spend the next month reassuring the public that they’re doing a splendid job.

Oftentimes it’s an illusion, inviting rebuttal and reinforcing the growing concern that schools are out of touch with reality.

Schools need support. But also they need to admit — to themselves and to parents — that there’s much to do.

This posturing does nothing to drive school improvement or help our children.

Consider the 299 schools that can boast that their average ACT composite score beats the state average of 18.9. Does that mean those schools are doing a good job of preparing students for college? Who knows? Beating the state average has little bearing — if any — on college admission or success.

Knowing how many students met the nationwide average ACT score for incoming college freshmen would be more meaningful. The average freshman score for many universities in Michigan is between 21 to 23 with the highly selective universities accepting freshmen with averages pushing 28 to 30.

Just 60 high schools in Michigan — out of 722 — saw their average student achieve a score of 21 or higher.

Another meaningful goal might focus on the ACT college readiness benchmarks. According to the College Board, they represent “the minimum ACT test scores required for students to have a high probability of success in … college courses,” such as math, science and English.” They are “empirically derived based on the actual performance of students in college.”

Mind you, a “high probability of success” means earning a “C” or better in an entry-level college class. Few schools find their average student meeting these benchmarks.

Unfortunately, the state doesn’t report the percentage of students meeting these benchmarks. Knowing that data — especially knowing how many students meet all four benchmarks in English composition, college algebra, biology and the social sciences — would help parents better evaluate their schools.

Consider that Rochester Community Schools ranks among the top in the state by many measures, and 95 percent of its graduates are college-bound. Yet less than half meet all four benchmarks.

That may mean remedial courses in some subjects — at the going college tuition rate — or disappointing outcomes for students who aren’t prepared for the rigor of college coursework even though they’re admitted.

Really, aside from being self-serving, there’s little value in trumpeting the fact that a school is “above the state average” or “top tier.”

The leadership needs to start with local school boards, which tend to set weak goals and have shallow communications. This is unlikely to change until parents and taxpayers demand candid assessments from these boards and hold them accountable for the results.

Mike Reno is a trustee on the board of the Rochester Community Schools. (…)

Source: DetNews.com, MI
http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080910/OPINION01/809100321

Children who are bilingual before the age of five are more likely to stutter than their non-bilingual counterparts, according to a British study published today.

They also find it harder to shed this impediment.

The research was conducted among 317 London children who were referred to a speech therapist when they were aged between eight and 10.

One in five of the stutterers were bilingual, speaking English at school and a second language at home.

Boys outnumbered girls by a ratio of four to one.

The study, headed by psychologist Peter Howell of University College London, appears in the journal Archives of Disease in Childhood, published by the British Medical Association (BMA).

It found that stuttering, bilingual children usually stutter in both languages, rather than just one.

Starting English somewhat later, and learning it at the same time as the minority language, does not affect educational success, according to tests on children at the age of seven and 11, it said.

Source: The Age, Australia
http://tinyurl.com/5u33vp

For teachers, parents, and most youngsters, it’s back to school time. But for 400,000 children, it’s an even more important occasion - starting school for the first time.

Most of them are ready for school, and, years later, most of them and their parents will look back fondly on their first few weeks.

Sadly, about one-third of the children who are starting school aren’t ready. Many of these youngsters will still be behind by the time they reach third grade.

Many may never be able to catch up with what their schools - and our society - expect them to learn and be able to do.

This is a problem - and there is a solution.

Taking the long view from early childhood to young adulthood, there is increasing interest in creating a more “seamless” system of learning that begins early and assures that students can successfully finish school and move on to higher education or job training and, eventually, into the work force.

In the New Economy, where Americans must compete with workers from throughout the world and keep adapting to changing technologies, “seamless learning” - and, indeed lifelong learning - is essential for everyone.

Looking at the early years of education - from age 3 through third grade - our preschools and elementary schools need to address four fundamental realities.

Reality 1: The early years before children start kindergarten are crucial for student achievement.

Neuroscience demonstrates that the brain’s development is nearly 90 percent complete by the time a child is 5 years old and that the years from birth to age 3 represent the most rapid brain development.

Economists tell us that investments made in the early years will bring large returns in the form of fewer drop outs and grade retentions, increased graduation rates and ultimately increased adult productivity.

Educational research shows us that children who have opportunities to participate in quality early care and education programs are well prepared for school and do better when they get there.

Reality 2: The transition from early learning into kindergarten is important and can impact later school success. What’s needed: Communication and cooperation among schools, communities and families.

When children feel safe and prepared for kindergarten and families understand and value what happens in school, then issues like persistent absence and lack of parental involvement are not problems.

When children come to school regularly and parents support learning at home, children succeed.

When kindergarten and early education teachers can exchange information or visit each other’s classrooms they are better able to coordinate children’s experiences across the two systems - and children do better.

Reality 3: The positive effects of high quality early care and education may dissipate for some children unless they are followed by consistent and high quality teaching in kindergarten through third grade.

These early elementary grades are critical for later school success because the foundation skills that children will need to have in place in order to meet school expectations going forward - must be established by grade 3. Without this foundation children will not be equipped to handle the higher level academic challenges they will encounter.

Reality 4: When children’s learning experiences before and after they start school are coordinated - or aligned - then the first component of a “seamless” learning system is in place. In other words, children will succeed when what they experience, how they are taught, and what they are expected to know is high quality and linked across the early years and the early grades.

Creating these links is not easy. It will require two groups of people who usually aren’t used to working together - early childhood educators and K-12 educators - to find ways to connect their two systems.

Because this is a vitally important but challenging task, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and the Education Commission of the States are teaming up with Governors in five states to convene meetings that bring together education leaders and policy makers to explore ways that states can create more coherent and connected systems of learning across early learning and the early grades.

The “Linking Ready Kids and Ready Schools” Governor’s state forums are helping to raise awareness of these issues and will jumpstart efforts to link early care and education and the early grades so all children will be ready to succeed by grade three.

By working together, leaders from pre-school education, elementary education, and public policymaking can make sure that, when back to school time rolls around again, more children will be well on their way to completing a successful educational journey.

Mimi Howard is early learning program director for the Education Commission of the States, a Denver-based non-partisan public policy institute.

Source: San Angelo Standard Times, tx
http://www.gosanangelo.com/news/2008/sep/07/curb-early-learning-problems/

Like many other foreign journalists, I made the obligatory pilgrimage to Finland to learn how this country has climbed to the top spots in key international rankings measuring economic, political and social success. The answer, I was told, is amazingly simple.

First, the facts. Finland ranks first among 179 countries in Transparency International’s index of the least corrupt nations in the world (the United States is No. 20); No. 1 in Freedom House’s ranking of the world’s most democratic countries (the U.S. ranks No. 15); No. 1 in the world in 15-year-old students’ standardized test scores in science (the U.S. ranks No. 29), and is among the 10 most competitive economies in the World Economic Forum’s annual competitiveness index (the U.S. topped the list this year).

A small country of 5.3 million, which only two decades ago was by most measures the poorest country in northern Europe, Finland also boasts the headquarters of the world’s biggest cellphone maker — Nokia — and cutting edge paper and pulp-technology firms.

The Finnish success story has triggered curiosity around the world, especially in Latin America, where most countries have yet to make the transition from exporters of raw materials to producers of high-tech goods that sell for much higher prices in world markets.

THE KEY

How did you do it, I asked Finnish President Tarja Halonen in an interview.

”I can sum it up in three words: education, education and education,” she said.

Finland invested more than most other countries in recent decades to create an excellent tuition-free education system. That has helped it make the jump from an agrarian, timber-based economy into a technological powerhouse, she said.

And what is the secret of your education system, I asked. Among other things, highly trained elementary-school teachers, she said.

”We have a long queue outside our ministry of education with all kinds of experts from different countries who would like to learn more from our system,” Halonen said. “But what they don’t normally believe is that the answer is as simple as having good teachers.”

WELL-PAID

Indeed, from what I saw during my five-day visit to Finland, teachers are relatively well-paid and enjoy great social respect. You need at least a master’s degree to teach in elementary school, and a college degree to teach in kindergarten. Only one of every 10 applicants is admitted to the Finnish universities’ teachers colleges.

”The profession of teacher is becoming increasingly popular, especially among women,” said Ossi Airaskorpi, principal of the Juvanpuisto School, nearly an hour’s drive from Helsinki. “In the 1980s and 1990s, everybody wanted to go into business. Now, they want to be teachers. They can do part of their work at home, get a relatively good salary and have a two-and-a-half-month vacation.”

Dropping into a first-grade classroom at the Juvanpuisto school, about an hour outside Helsinki, I saw a teacher tutoring her students, while an assistant sat at one of the tables with a group of children, whispering into their ears to help them understand something they had missed.

ONE-ON-ONE

Next door, there was a little room where a ‘’special teacher” was giving a one-on-one lesson to a girl who needed extra help.

One-on-one classes help narrow the gap between good students and those lagging behind, which helps explain why Finland does so well in standardized international tests that measure the learning skills of all students, not just the best ones.

In addition, Finnish schools use a special computer program where parents can log in every night to get the latest news about their kids — whether they missed school, were talking on cellphones during class or need to do extra homework.

My conclusion: Granted, Finland also rates high in other rankings in which it would rather not be, such as having one of the world’s highest suicide rates. Halonen was quick to add that Finland’s suicide rates have dropped in recent years and are similar to those of Japan and other countries.

But Finland could be an excellent example for Latin American commodity exporters who want to become high-technology producers. They could help themselves by remembering this country’s three little secrets: education, education and education.

Source: MiamiHerald.com, FL
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/columnists/andres-oppenheimer/story/671261.html

About 60 percent of students identified as problem learners have undetected vision problems

Mark Wechsler sat in the exam room, ready to undergo a familiar procedure. The 9-year-old Eltingville resident kept still as he was tested with all sorts of funny sounding instruments like occluder, autorefractor, phoropter and stereoscopic glasses. His eyes were then given a clean bill of health.

As parents finished crossing items off their back-to-school checklist in time for classes to start today, many may have skipped a comprehensive eye exam. This often-overlooked procedure is much needed, states the American Optometric Association (AOA), because about 80 percent of the learning a child does occurs through the eyes.

“Vision is the primary sense in learning and parents take it for granted,” said Dr. Andrea Thau, spokeswoman for the AOA, estimating that one in four children has a vision problem.

Around 60 percent of students identified as problem learners have undetected vision problems, the AOA states. Some common problems in children include nearsightedness (myopia), farsightedness (hyperopia) and imperfection of the eye’s curvature (astigmatism).

Children with vision trouble may rub their eyes, tilt their head to one side, bump into objects, avoid close work, hold reading material close to their face, get frequent headaches and constantly perform below their potential. They may also display behavioral problems, such as short attention span, and in some cases, be diagnosed as having Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).

Comprehensive exams are usually done by an optometrist or ophthalmologist and include tests for nearsightedness, farsightedness, astigmatism, eye coordination and eye muscle function, eye focusing abilities and overall health of the eye, which can involve dilation, according to the AOA.

They also check for problems that can cause lazy eye (amblyopia), which can lead to vision loss or require surgery if not treated early enough.

“It’s not unusual to see tremendous progress once the child gets what they need,” said Dr. Thau, who has a private optometry practice in Manhattan. “After getting glasses and vision therapy, they read at a much higher level.”

She recommends that a child’s first eye exam take place between six to 12 months of age. The next exam should come at age 3, and follow up every two years, unless there is a problem. The visual system develops over time, so early exams may not reveal problems.

SCHOOL SCREENINGS

In New York City public schools, about 300,000 vision screenings, which differ from exams, are done each year. Dr. Roger Platt, director of school health for the Departments of Education and Health and Mental Hygiene, explained that screenings are required in pre-kindergarten, kindergarten, first, third and fifth grades. The state also requires that all new entrants be screened no matter their grade level.

The screenings differ as a child gets older. In pre-k, students are tested for visual acuity in each eye for distance vision. In kindergarten and first grade, testing is done for color vision and distance, as well as for near vision. In third and fifth grades, testing is done again for distance vision.

Source: Staten Island Advance - SILive.com, NY
http://www.silive.com/healthfit/advance/index.ssf?/base/living/122035052698120.xml&coll=1

The stereotypical image of a school bully as tough and self-confident needs revising, according to research that found the vast majority of bullies are victims themselves.

A study conducted by researchers at the Institute of Education in London found that less than 1% of primary school children are “true bullies” – those who are not bullied by their peers.
Researchers found that bullies are more likely than their classmates to suffer from low self-esteem, depression, and behavioural problems from early childhood and through primary school. They are more likely to suffer from mental health problems later in life too.

The government-funded study, carried out by the Centre for Research on the Wider Benefits of Learning (WBL), looked at data from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children, a study of children born in the former Avon Health Authority between April 1 1991 and December 31 1992.

Focusing on information collected from 6,500 eight- to 11-year-olds, researchers found that 5% of children were bullies, but only 0.5% were “true” bullies, while 4.5% were bullied themselves.

The majority (74%) of bullies were found to be boys, who suffered the highest levels of depression, anger, paranoia, emotional disaffection and suicidal behaviour, and disliked school the most.

The researchers argued that this absence of “true” bullies could be down to the social environment of primary schools, where children have less tolerance for power imbalances. They suggest that more of these bullies could be found in secondary schools, not examined in the study, as social arrangements are more hierarchical and power balances less equal.

The study acknowledged the work of peer-mentoring schemes already in place in schools to counter bullying, but suggested more long-term strategies in schools were needed, as older children who are bully/victims may have had emotional or behavioural problems from an early age.

Dr Leslie Gutman, lead author of the study, said: “We are not suggesting that schools should adopt a soft approach to bullying but simply stating that, on the basis of the evidence, bullying is a more complex issue than some people believe it to be.”
She added: “Early interventions that teach children coping strategies for developmental difficulties such as hyperactivity may also alleviate the later possibility of being targeted as victims and/or engaging in bullying.”

The study also revealed that being an only child or the youngest sibling had virtually no affect on children’s bullying behaviour, although those from lower income families were more likely to be victimised, have few friends or regular fallouts, as, to a lesser extent, were those from ethnic minorities.

Source: guardian.co.uk, UK
http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2008/aug/29/bullying.schools

Parents who teach their children at home could have twice the impact on raising their child’s performance at school compared to a good nursery education, a new study suggests.

There have been rising concerns about the relatively low numbers of children taking up science and mathematics at the secondary level and evidence is published today that parents could have a much bigger impact on raising standards later on than preschool education, by a Government backed project following more than 3000 children.

Ten-year-olds who have attended “high quality” preschool tend to score higher on mathematics tests than those who haven’t, reports Prof Edward Melhuish of Birkbeck, University of London, and colleagues from the Effective provision of Preschool and Primary Education (EPPE) project.

He said they were surprised by the degree to which early experience both in the preschool and home were so influential later in the child’s life.

“For the average child who went to a particularly effective or high quality preschool their maths scores would be boosted by around 27 per cent,” says Prof Melhuish.

However, the project revealed that the education of the parents - particularly the mother- still has the greatest influence, having twice the effect and thus boosting maths scores even more.

What parents did at home mattered too. “The effects of the early home learning environment were very strong, much stronger than people had anticipated.”

“An ideal home learning environment would be rich in stimulation and very responsive to the child’s communications and activities,” says Prof Melhuish.

“Parents would talk to their children frequently, read to them, maybe visit library to increase range of books for child, provide opportunities to draw, paint, learn songs and rhymes, dance and physical activities, play with numbers and shapes.

The important thing is that the home provides lots of learning opportunities, The fact that learning is taking place is more important than the actual content of the learning. This provides the child with the mental structures needed to learn new things.”

The team calls in the journal Science for countries such as America to adopt universal preschool, which might cost up to £5000 per child, of the kind adopted in Britain since 2004.

Whereas much of the previous research on preschool’s long-term effects focused on disadvantaged children, the researchers followed children from throughout England, from ages three and four through to age 10, and is still studying them at secondary school.

“This detailed data allows us to examine the effects of various factors while allowing for the differences in the other factors and backgrounds of children,” says Prof Melhuish.

“Our study is the first to show that preschool shows advantages across the whole population, while being able to allow for other confounding factors.”

The home environment is the most important; five years of “effective” primary school is next most important but is closely followed by 18 months of preschool experience in terms of relative size of effects.

As for what parents should look for when chosing a preschool, he says: “A play-based curriculum that offers lots of learning opportunities that cover reading and play with numbers and shapes and some time in individual, one-to-one activities as well as small group work”.

Starting “between two and three can be very beneficial, particularly for children from disadvantaged homes.”

Source: Telegraph.co.uk, United Kingdom
http://tinyurl.com/5jevbu

If children in the South learn that cheating is wrong, they probably won’t learn it from their parents.

Web site Ask.com released results today of a nationwide survey of 778 parents with children under 18. The survey showed that more than 40 percent of parents admitted to doing their children’s homework. In the South, that percentage jumped to almost 90 percent.

“One of the reasons we assign homework is to build attitudes of responsibility,” Fox said. “A parent who does their child’s homework is not supporting their growth as an individual, as a human being.”

The survey is being used to promote the Web site’s new study help feature, Askkids.com.

The survey, conducted by Kelton Research, provided insight into differences in:

Gender. Dad is a softer touch than Mom. Mom handles English. Dad handles math. Both help with art projects.

Age. Parents 65 and older are more likely to help their children with history and social studies homework. Young parents favor English. Math is for the middle-aged.

Affluence. Rich parents help more with homework than poor parents.

Region. Parents in the South and West are more likely to help with math than those in other parts of the nation.

Donna Layer, coordinator for the Birdville school district’s guidance and counseling department, said she can’t estimate how many parents locally do their children’s homework. But Layer said that the concern comes up occasionally.

“That could cause a problem if the teacher chooses to test on information attached to a homework assignment,” Layer said.

Fox said a parent’s job is to make a place for a child to do homework that is comfortable, free from distractions and has basic supplies.

“If a child asks for help, explain the process,” she said. “Don’t do the work for them.”

Source: Fort Worth Star Telegram, TX
http://www.star-telegram.com/593/story/864455.html

Reporters can be a tad obnoxious at dinner parties. We’re experts on everything for about five minutes. But parenting good students? I won’t even begin to pretend. So I turn to those in the know: teachers.

Helena Van Rooyen recently retired from academe after 40 years, most spent at the Hacienda La Puente Unified School District. But she isn’t done helping students, as she is working on a project for the district, helping at-risk second- through fifth-graders improve their math skills.

Melinda Anaya is a well-loved kindergarten teacher at Holy Angels School in Arcadia, where she’s taught for eight years. My two nieces, ages 13 and 10, adore her and remember how fun her classroom was. My own 6-year-old cried on the last day of school because he said he’ll miss her. (Don’t show this to him when he’s 16, please.)

I posed this question to them: What should parents of young children be doing now in the run-up to school? And what we can do throughout the year to help our kids succeed?

Van Rooyen stated it simply: “Just be a parent.”

“That means, get involved in your child’s learning, teach (and live) consistency, respect for authority and for peers, the meaning of the word `no,’ fairness and that there are choices,” she said.

And not to put undue pressure on you, but what we’re doing with our kinders now will echo through the years.

“I do think that the primary grades are the most important,” Anaya said. “This is when they begin to develop their work habits and everything is a new learning experience.”

The good habits we help instill in our pre-K and kindergarteners are the foundation to that perfect SAT score later on. (OK, just a 2,300.)

So herewith, homework for us parents on how to grow good students:

Forget the preaching. Instill a love for learning by providing kids with a model. Don’t just tell kids to read when you never read or to be nice and not fight when all you do is scream.

Play learning games, even simple ones like name everything in the room that’s green, and provide kids with a variety of experiences beyond video games and TV.

Consider volunteering in your child’s classroom

Both teachers’ No. 1 activity is reading. Read to kids and later with them when they’re old enough to read to you. It can be hard with everything else we have to do, but it makes a difference.

“Talk up” school and all that can be learned there plus the new friends they’ll make.

Recognize learning and reward it.

Right about now, start waking the kids up early and getting back into the routine. Observe a wise bedtime. Have a daily schedule kids can count on.

Your Mama said it to you too: eat a healthy breakfast.

To help with first-day tears, it’s best for parents to say goodbye, kiss their child and leave. Two minutes after you leave, your kid is fine. We feel terrible all day.

After school, let them snack and indulge in a half-hour of active play (PlayStation doesn’t count, Anaya points out.) Then they can tackle homework.

Give students their own work space free of distraction. Give them all the materials they need.

Kids are apt to get sick when around other kids so keep them home when they are sick, and serve chicken soup (really.)

And lastly, both teachers remind us to love our kids, listen to them and spend time with them.

“Bottom line, learning requires attention and just plain old hard work,” Van Rooyen said.

Just like parenting.

Source: Whittier Daily News, CA
http://www.whittierdailynews.com/news/ci_10294073