CNN Black in America Program Highlights Educational Trends

Today CNN Student News posted an online news segment that examines how two specialized schools in New York are targeting the dropout rate of African-American students. CNN's Black in America project examines what it means to be black in America today, and education is a huge topic. I am definitely interested in this because of the charity work I do, which is featured in my website http://www.roccobasile.com/. There is a big disparity between black and white students.

The CNN news piece talks about one of the schools -- The Baldwin School -- a new public school with small classes, which has a 94 percent graduation rate. One student drops out every 26 seconds in America. Many of the New York students were failing before coming to Baldwin, and they are now doing better than most students in the New York public schools. age three blacks fall behind.

A Harvard study found that black students fall behind by the time they are three years old, and 3/4 of the one million New York students are a minority, with 70 percent impoverished. Schools like Baldwin are fighting to change this, proving that smaller schools and mentoring is what is doing the trick. They are beating the odds by focusing on a student's individual needs.

This is no surprise to me -- because the charity I work with, Children of the City, which has been proving this since 1981. We have been getting kids off the streets and into the classroom, helping to dramatically improve the students grades who live in the Sunset Park area of Brooklyn New York.

In other CNN news segments, the news is grim about dropouts. One students drop out every 26 seconds in America, and for African-Americans the number is in (Source: American Alliance) or one million dropouts a year.

That's why well known and recognized African Americans like David Tyree, started volunteering at Children of the City, winning the football hero the charity's Children’s Champion Award at the charity's annual fundraising Benefit.

For more information on how you can support, go to http://www.childrenofthecity.org/.

--Rocco Basile

Educational Plan Helps Students Go to Bat for the Future

Education is all about preparing students for a future as a healthy, successful adult. And part of that means that most people need to get a job and work for a living. I have been studying the importance of improving education for our youth through the charity work I do - which you can see at my own educational website http://www.roccobasile.org/. One of my interests is the Joe DiMaggio Committee that raises money to provide a good education for children who come from financially challenged families. This is one charity that I go to bat for...

The Joe DiMaggio Award Gala benefits Xaverian High School, my Alma mater. Its Ryken Program serves as the model for the New York State Regents for all such endeavors. Xaverian has a tradition of serving young men from disadvantaged backgrounds, boys with learning disabilities and students that are in financial need.

Which brings me to this issue -- for many students it is the lack of focus that is causing them problems. In my research, I found something called the Strategic Plan for Students, a tool that has been designed to help them determine their personal mission, goals, and objectives. Used by many business professionals this method can help students stay on track when it comes to meeting their academic goals.

A strategic road map for success is used by many companies, and because things change, this plan is often updated more than once a year. Students can can use the same sort of plan to achieve their goals too - starting in high school, and definitely in college. And long term planning can focus on a student's entire education - from high school preparatory to a Masters, all leading up to being out in the world working in a profession.

The plan usually has five basic points: A mission statement, goals, a strategy, objectives, and finally the evaluation and review, as follows:

1) Mission Statement – You first have to develop an overall mission for one to four years of education, so state what you’d like to accomplish, then write a paragraph to define this goal.

Keep in mind how you are special and how you can tap into your skills, talents and strengths to achieve your goals.

2) Select your Goals - These are general statements identifying a few benchmark goals you’ll need to accomplish in order to meet your mission. Don't forget to recognize any weaknesses and create a defensive strategy for these. For example - set aside two hours every night for homework. or get my favorite teachers to write recommendations.

3) Plan Strategies – You need to come up with specific tactics for reaching each goal, so for example, if one of your goals is spending two hours each night on homework, then a strategy for reaching that goal is to decide what activities you need to give up that could interfere.

4) Create Objectives - These should include measurable goals towards objects, tools, or numbers providing evidence of success. For example - the objective for doing two hours of homework is to improve your grades. The grade "A" when the last grade you got was a "C" is your objective, showing concrete improvement. This will help you stay on track.

5) Evaluate Your Progress – It's not really that easy to develop a good strategic plan, and your plan will most definitely change due to unforeseen circumstances, changes in the world, and in your own life. It will require re-thinking for new goals, objectives and evaluation.

New York's Reading Scores Rise Up

In an article that was published today in the New York Times, written by Jennifer Medina, we learn that reading and math scores for New York students in grades three through eight are showing sharp gains across the state of New York since last year. State reading and math test scores are up, which is fantastic news. The gains are in the five biggest cities in New York.

Across the sate of New York, 81 percent of students tested were at or above grade level in math, up from 73 percent last year, state education officials said. Reading scores, which has proved more difficult to improve, showed that about 69 percent of students met or exceeded state standards for their grade level, up from 63 percent last year. The passing rate is the percentage of students scoring in level 3 or 4.

New York state's education commissioner, Richard P. Mills believes these results are “encouraging and exciting.” He also said they were evidence that the state’s emphasis on giving more money to poorer school districts and focusing on high standards was successful.

This is really no surprise to me, because as you know I have been closely following educational trends and posting them in this blog and also on my website at http://www.roccobasile.com/ -- and we have seen tremendous results among the students at Children of the City who are in some of the the after school and summer programs where high priority is placed on each student’s academic success with intense tutoring and daily personal homework help. We have always seen dramatic increases in student’s reading and math levels, healthy study habits, communications, improved peer relationships, and more. Click here to learn more about this program.

As for the recent results in our state, for example, click here to see Brooklyn's results. These results have been climbing steadily over the last two years, and this year, about 57.6 percent of the students performed at or above grade level in reading, which is up from 50.7 percent in 2006, and 74.3 percent did so in math, up from 57 percent two years ago.

Still, four out of ten students in the city are still not reading at grade level, and although the students had improved substantially on New York’s exams, such gains were not mirrored in the national tests. Everyone agrees that the gap in achievement is between blacks and Latinos compared with whites had narrowed in the last several years.

The state education system is on its way to helping the overall situation, but programs like Children of the City will continue to bridge the gap and help those in need, by reaching out and providing solutions, where basic social services programs fail.

A Green'er Education for Kids

Now that summer is here, and kids are out of school, parents, school administrators and kids all need to think about our environment and keeping it a safe and beautiful place to enjoy summer after summer in the future.

According to a recent article in THE Journal by Chris Riedel entitled, "Green Schools : The Color of Money" school districts have finally discovered the abundant financial gains of going green.

"Something all schools are doing is consuming energy," says Arthur Stellar of the Massachusetts Taunton Public Schools. With energy costs on the rise, "we needed to find a way to better use our resources."

Energy efficiency isn't just about turning off lights and shutting down idle computers -- it is about rethinking the way things are done at every level of an organization. Schools need to take everything in to account, from natural gas and electricity use to HVAC (heating, ventilating, and air conditioning) systems, grounds maintenance, as well as construction procedures. Schools really need to develop long-term plans for maximizing savings. This is something most schools have no idea about. That's why the Taunton Public Schools contacted a group known as Energy Education, who is in the business of developing energy conservation programs for school districts around the U.S.

Energy Education's goal is to take dollars needlessly spent on energy and convert them to dollars spent on education. The group was retained to help Taunton find ways to decrease its energy consumption in order to increase its bottom line. "

Once example mentioned in the article, is that a typical school vending machine costs up to $450 a year to run, but by using a motion sensor that shuts down the machine's compressor when there is no activity, schools like those in the Taunton district can save up to two-thirds with each of the 40 to 50 vending machines. In fact, over the last two years, the Energy Education program alone helped Taunton save more than $660,000 in energy costs. That figure includes costs on electricity, natural gas, fuel oil, and water. Everything from disabling vending machine lights to managing irrigation has played a role in the savings.

Students everywhere in schools across the country are also beginning to get the message about taking responsibility on their own. Parents teachers, anyone who can help educate them, will make formidable changes in the future. It's why, in fact, that I have a website devoted to educational issues - http://www.roccobasile.com/. One of the most rewarding experiences is working with charities like Children of the City to try to make a difference.

Here's a list of environmentally inspired websites for kids to take a look at this summer:
Environmental Education for Kids - An online magazine for grades four to eight created by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, which has short articles and activities about animals, plants and environmental issues.
EPA Student Center - This Environmental Protection Agency site includes information on a wide range of environmental issues. Kids can click on "Fun Activities" to play environmental games.
The Green Squad - An NRDC website that's also available in Spanish shows you how to identify and solve environmental problems. You can can explore a colorful virtual school room by room, and use the mouse to locate potential hazards. Parents and teachers will find the site useful as it offers a wide range of resources on the environment.
The Greens - Izz and Dex are green animated characters that not only have green skin, but they have lots of great ideas about protecting the planet. Visit this site to watch short cartoons about environmental issues
Nature Challenge for Kids - This David Suzuki Foundation website place for all kinds of fun activities starting with ten simple ways you can protect nature, followed by four challenge activities that offer first-hand experience with the natural world.
Planet Slayer - "Greena, the Worrier Princess" is an animated Australian teenager who is going to save the earth. This website provides lots of fun facts and a greenhouse Q & A.
Tunza - This U.N. Environment Programme magazine is especially for young people and it focuses on a specific topic related to sustainable living. Read articles written by and for teens around the world.
Be, Live, Buy Different -- A project of the World Wildlife Fund and the Center for a New American Dream, the site was created to inform young people about how everything we buy and use affects biodiversity. Take the Buy-O-Diversity Quiz!

No Child left Behind Educational Growth Models

On June 10, U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings announced the approval of two high-quality growth models, which follow the bright-line principles of No Child Left Behind. It seems that once the states had developed the framework so they could measure student skills each year, as the law requires, all eligible states were then invited by Spellings to demonstrate progress over time and adapt a more sophisticated measurement system, also known as the growth model or value-added approach.

As I was reading the press release posted on the government's U.S. Department of Education website about the latest growth models on the No Child Left Behind program, and realized an interesting parallel to Children of the City. As you know I support them via my research website at http://www.toccobasile.org/, and via being on their Board. The reality is that it is all about accountability and results for individual students.

One example is Jonathan who before attending the Children of the City Create Success after school program only liked the subject of gym. Now he is up for the challenge of solving any math problem because with a little extra help from his Create Success tutor, he discovered that he loved to learn. “It’s fun here. We have discussions and they help me get all my homework done.”

When Jonathan's homework is finished you can find him searching the bookshelves in search of non-fiction, and he is also reading every book he can find about reptiles.

Spelling said that the states of Michigan and Missouri proposed program models that will support educational innovation while continuing to hold schools accountable for the goal of each student performing at or above grade level by 2014.

The Department will gather data to measure student improvement while holding the schools accountable for results. Following are the bright-line principles for these high-quality growth models:

Ensure that all students are proficient by 2014 and set annual state goals to ensure that the achievement gap is closing for all groups of students;
- Set expectations for annual achievement based upon meeting grade-level proficiency and not upon student background or school characteristics;
- Hold schools accountable for student achievement in reading/language arts and mathematics;
- Ensure that all students in tested grades are included in the assessment and accountability system, hold schools and districts accountable for the performance of each student subgroup and include all schools and districts;
- Include assessments, in each of grades 3 through 8 and high school, in both reading/language arts and mathematics that have been operational for more than one year and have received approval through the NCLB standards and assessment review process for the 2005-06 school year. The assessment system must also produce comparable results from grade to grade and year to year;
- Track student progress as part of the state data system; and
Include student participation rates and student achievement as separate academic indicators in the state accountability system.

The peer reviewers, who represent academia, private organizations and state and local education agencies, reviewed each state's proposal based on the Peer Review Guidance (http://www.ed.gov/policy/elsec/guid/growthmodelguidance.doc) issued by the U.S. Department of Education.

Why Kids Still Cannot Read

If you want our children to do better in school, then it is important to begin to understand the reasons why they are not. In researching the various trends and strategies in education, everyone, including educators and parents alike, can communicate more effectively about the issues.

One issue I read about is the fact that during the couple of decades new views of reading instruction emerged and morphed in school districts nationwide. The issue now isn't whether phonics or whole language methods are better for beginning readers, but how to blend these reading programs tailored each individual child.

It was known as "the reading wars," waged during the 1980s and '90s. It was around 1987 when apparently, personal journals became one of the latest classroom tactics for teaching kids to read. Defined as whole language, it was an instructional philosophy emphasizing that children focus on meaning, which contrasts with phonics based methods of teaching reading and writing - with an emphasis in instruction for reading and spelling.

At that time, many people believe that children were poor readers because the old skills-based approach that emphasized phonics. The fact that memorization ended up turning reading into a chore, thus alienating them from reading at all.

But ultimately whole language proved to be a disaster when applied to real kids and teachers. Eight years after whole language first appeared in California grade schools, by the mid-90s, fourth-grader reading scores had plummeted to near the bottom nationally, according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress(NAEP).

It was in 1997 when Congress formed the National Reading Panel to evaluate the research on teaching practices to determine what really works. Thereafter, the federal No Child Left Behind Act required that school districts use scientifically proven instructional methods as they strive to make all children proficient in math and reading by 2014.

Today there is a trend towards balanced or comprehensive literacy. Most educators agree that there is no one program that fits all children for learning to read.

This makes sense insofar as what I have experienced with our Children of the City programs such as Create Success, an after school and summer program with a high priority on individual students and their academic success with intense tutoring to improve each child's reading and math levels. I think that if more communities in the United States had programs like this, our kids would learn to read much faster.

One student that has been helped tremendously through this program, is a second grade boy named Weixum. His favorite topic is about dinosaurs, and he now reads books that are way above the standard reading level of a second grader, and he does fine interpreting the text. Why? He sounds out the harder Latin based words. You would never guess that Weixum does not speak English at home. His teacher initially referred him to Children of the City’s Create Success for help with his homework and reading.

To learn more about my involvement in this and other charities, please go to my charity website known as http://www.roccobasile.org/ where I continue to list facts, trends and success stories.

Redshirting in education and the Joe DiMaggio Awards Gala

According to a U.S. Department of Education report back in 2000 about 9 percent of first and second-graders started kindergarten one year late, and eight years later the experts are saying that this trend is continuing. There is usually an age gap within one class that is 16 months or more, posing challenges for teachers concerned that the older children may become bored.

Delaying a child’s entry to start kindergarten, or to repeat kindergarten, began with the ratcheting up of standards for third graders and above to improve the students’ performance on standardized tests. With greater emphasis on test performance, educators have noted a gradual escalation in academic demands has made its way down the grades – all the way to kindergarten. So that is why some parents opt to give their children a leg up by keeping them out of kindergarten a year beyond when they reach the entry age. It is called "redshirting" and many people and educators are wondering if it is a good idea.

Some people think that it is the students that are being held out that are the ones who need school the most. Another 2002 study by the National Institute for Early Education found that, on average, older children do not academically outperform their younger peers.

I see this often in my work for Xaverian High School, which offers amazing program for students with learning disabilities. The school has a tradition of serving young men from disadvantaged backgrounds, including students whose families are in financial need. In fact, if it were not for the generosity of alumni, parents and friends, many of these students would not be able to afford a quality, college-prep education.

We do a fund raiser every year, and I am on the Joe DiMaggio Committee that raises money at this premiere event known as the Joe DiMaggio Award Gala. He went to the school and supported it always ...

We also rasie funds through straight donations. If you are interested, you can make a gift in honor of the Joe DiMaggio Scholarship Fund, please print out this coupon and return it to: http://www.joedimaggioaward.com/donate/index_donate.htm

The Joe DiMaggio Scholarship Fund Xaverian High School
7100 Shore Road
Brooklyn, NY 11209

To find out more about the Joe DiMaggio Award Gala, please contact Dr. Salvatore Ferrera at 718-836-7100 ext. 112.
Make checks payable to: Xaverian HS / Joe DiMaggioScholarship Fund

High School Students Take Advanced Courses

The good news is that a report on the state of United States education indicates that high school students are taking more advanced coursework -- especially in mathematics, science, social studies, the arts, and foreign languages. This is according to The Condition of Education 2007 report released by the U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), a Congressionally mandated report that provides an annual statistical portrait of education in the U.S.

There are 48 indicators in this report covering all aspects of education, from student achievement to school environment and from early childhood through post secondary education.

Enrollment in U.S. public schools is becoming more and more diverse, and more individuals are enrolling in post secondary education. What's more, today there are more bachelor’s degrees being awarded than in the past.

As a Board member of the Joe DeMaggio Committee, which helps raise funds for my alma mater, Xaverian High School in New York City, it is my belief that lack of education is the root of most of the problems that we have in this country. This group raises money to help financially challenged families give their children a good education. My website RoccoBasile.org has an entire page on it.

The bad news is that many students in America cannot afford a quality education. And just as an example, approximately 10 percent of the Xaverian enrollment includes students that have learning difficulties. But the good news is, as an example, out of the Class of 2005, 25 percent ended up going to to Ivy League schools.

If you are interested in learning more about the state of education in our country, here is a place to start, showing indicators that were compiled from the 2003–2007 editions of The Condition of Education that I mentioned earlier. It lists things including: Student Attitudes and Aspirations; Student Effort; Elementary/Secondary Persistence and Progress; Transition to College, and much more. Go to http://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/list/index.asp

Eight and 12th Graders Show Improvements

In an article today (04/05/08) in the Wall Street Journal, Robert Tomsho did a piece about the fact that the recent news on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) results, which is a national achievement test showing that our country's eighth- and 12th-graders are making some gains in their writing skills. The bad news is that the proportion performing at the highest levels has barely budged. The NAEP tests are given periodically to a nationwide sampling of students in a variety of subjects and are overseen by the Department of Education.

This all started because educators and business leaders finally realized that that many recent year public-school graduates don't have the writing skills needed to succeed in college, let alone in jobs.

On a zero-to-300 point scale, 12th-graders had an average score of 153 points on the NAEP writing test, which is up from 148 points in 2002. The average score for eighth-graders rose to 156 points, up 153 points. The NAEP officials said both scores are significant.

Meanwhile, the proportion of 12th-graders with at least a basic grasp of writing increased to 82 percent from 74 percent; among eighth-graders, 88 percent had a score in the basic range or better, up from 85 percent.

The proportion of high-school seniors earning scores in the proficient range was 24 percent - high-school seniors earned scores that were in the proficient range, and that number was unchanged from 2002. About 33 percent of eighth-graders were deemed proficient, up just two percentage points from 2002. Now many school districts emphasize writing across their curriculums, with added focus to narrative skills in math and science classes and languages, since 2005 when a writing section was added to the SAT college-entrance test, and administered by the nonprofit College Board.

Females outscored males by 18 points or more. White students still outscored African-American and Hispanic students by an average of 20 points or more. This isn't all too surprising -- our Children of the City program in Sunset Park near Brooklyn, New York, is focusing on assisting Hispanic children.

One very successful case study is about a little girl named Liana.
Before her dad found Children of the City his daughter hated school and was doing poorly and falling behind her classmates because she was having trouble reading. At first she was reluctant to join, but within a few weeks Liana began to love learning. Her mid-year progress reports show a steady progression in her reading, phonics and math scores. Liana is no longer bringing home failing grades and now has an overall 80 average.

You can research more facts and statistics on trends in education on my Rocco Basile website provides many facts and statistics on this program.

New Educational Pilot Program for Under Performing Schools

Today U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings announced she is going to take steps to ensure that all states use the same formula to calculate how many students graduate from high school on time, and how many drop out. Apparently the data wills be made public so thatPublish Post people can compare how students of every race, background, and income level are performing nationwide.

In another recent educational trend in the news, a March press release talks about the new NCLB Differentiated Accountability Pilot program on the U.S. Department of Education website. This is a pilot program to help states differentiate between under performing schools that are in need of dramatic interventions, and part of fulfilling the "No Child Left Behind" goals.

The press release outlines a speech made by U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings who said, "Thanks to No Child Left Behind, we have collected a wealth of information about where schools are falling short, where students' needs are not being met, and where more rigor is needed. We've built an appetite for change, and we've done a good job of framing the problem. The next step is to use this knowledge to customize our efforts to improve."

There is also a background Fact Sheet that provides the basics on Spellings' Building On Results Blueprint -- a blueprint for strengthening the "No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB)" designed to provide additional resources and flexibility to our schools and educators to help achieve NCLB’s goal of every student reading and doing math at or above grade level by 2014. The Department called for differentiated accountability as part of this blueprint - to allow states to distinguish between those schools in improvement that are just missing the mark and those that need significant reform.

Once the states had developed the framework to capture the student skills each year, as required by law, they combined those stats to demonstrate progress over time. This method proved viable, and then all eligible states were invited to adopt the more sophisticated measurement system. Specifically states were helped in developing better ways to measure progress for students with disabilities and limited English skills

Damatic action is needed to help states improve underperforming schools, and Spellings believes this new "differentiated accountability" program will help -- then 10 states will be invited to create more nuanced ways of distinguishing between schools in need of dramatic intervention, and those that are closer to meeting goals. Spellings feels confident that this process will help educators nationwide learn more about helping the children acquire grade-level knowledge.

I am all for this kind of intervention. My website http://www.roccobasile.org/ talks about all my charities focusing on education and assisting kids in need, including Children of the City and Xaverian, where I went to school. Aside from working with my family at the Basile Builders Group, I spend time working on organizing The Joe DiMaggio Award Gala, a major fundraiser for Xaverian.

The funds raised at our last gala in January honoring Tiki Barber will go towards programs for Xaverian students with learning disabilities, and young men from disadvantaged backgrounds who are in financial need. If it were not for the generosity of alumni, parents and friends, many of these students would not be able to afford a quality, college-preparatory education.