Category Archives: Education

In West Memphis, it’s all connected

Junior Jeremy Paige is learning to become an aircraft mechanic, while senior Summer Abram plans to use the skills she learned in high school as a diesel mechanic to pay her way through school as she becomes a psychologist.

Junior Jeremy Paige is learning to become an aircraft mechanic, while senior Summer Abram plans to use the skills she learned in high school as a diesel mechanic to pay her way through school as she becomes a psychologist.

By Steve Brawner
© 2016 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

The late Lt. Governor Win Rockefeller used to say that the education system is like a string of water pipes laid end to end but not connected. In West Memphis, they’re connected.

The high school, known as the Academies at West Memphis, has a conversion charter, which is an arrangement with the Arkansas Department of Education where some of the usual rules don’t apply and the school can experiment and innovate.

Students there choose pathways that prepare them for a career and then can spend up to six of their eight high school periods a day at Arkansas State University Mid-South, the local community college 1.3 miles down the road. In fact, it’s possible for a 10th-grader, on the first day of school, to get on the bus and sit in a college class before ever sitting through a high school one.

High school students can take tuition-free, for-credit college classes at ASU Mid-South thanks to the Thomas Goldsby Scholarship, funded by a local oilman. If they’re dedicated enough, they can receive a college associate’s degree on the same stage where their receive their high school diploma. Then, because of ASU Mid-South’s connection with the ASU system and with various other four-year schools, they can further their education and receive a bachelor’s degree, even a master’s, on that same college campus.

In effect, West Memphis has become a college town without the state having to build a huge campus with dorms and a football stadium.

Most students who make the eight-minute bus ride from the high school to the community college aren’t seeking a college degree. Instead, they’re taking career-oriented classes in a variety of fields. For example, five high school students earned welding certifications last year and then after graduating went to work at TrinityRail Maintenance Services in Jonesboro earning about $18 an hour.

Perhaps the most interesting connection in West Memphis is the aircraft mechanics program shared by the high school, the college and FedEx, the Memphis-based package deliverer founded by Arkansas native Fred Smith. The company has invested $250,000 at ASU Mid-South to build a new FedEx Aviation Technology Center, which when completed this year will include aircraft hangar space and classrooms. It even donated a Boeing 727 plane whose shell is sitting on the college campus after being disassembled and transported by a Stuttgart company.

This means that, as part of his high school education, junior Jeremy Paige is learning to maintain a jet airplane. This time next year, he’ll be crawling around the plane as he earns his certification in airframe mechanics – the aircraft’s structure. After he graduates high school, he’ll further his education at ASU Mid-South and earn his certification in powerplant mechanics – the engine. With those two certifications, he can go to work for FedEx and make a six-figure income.

Meanwhile, senior Summer Abram is learning to be a FedEx diesel mechanic. She won’t make the same kind of money as Paige, but she has different long-term goals: Work while taking college courses and playing basketball at ASU Mid-South and studying to become a psychologist. If it all works out, she’ll be making a living at FedEx while in school instead of piling up student debt.

Is there a downside? Long term, perhaps there’s a danger that the pipeline will become too connected – that the system could just funnel students straight from school to their corporate sponsors’ workforce.

Of course, those sponsors are offering up to six-figure opportunities. Moreover, under this model, students have many choices other than a simple high school diploma, which is worth less than it used to be. As Dr. Glen Fenter, who was ASU Mid-South’s chancellor when all these deals were made, said, “The most powerful model for combatting the lingering vestiges of poverty in this country is to speed up the educational process, particularly for poor students.” Get them ready to earn a paycheck in a good job, he said, and then they can always travel different pathways from there.

How to do that? In West Memphis, they’re connecting high school to college and career opportunities, using a 1.3-mile pipeline and, for some, a jet airplane.

For more stories about how Arkansas schools are using innovative techniques to teach students, check out:

Goals, not grades, are the focus at Warren.

A marvelous day in a Marvell school.

No Child in Flippin left behind.

Arkansas heads to front of coding class

By Steve Brawner
© 2015 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

During the 2014 campaign, when Gov. Asa Hutchinson’s main talking point on education was teaching computer coding in schools, I thought he was playing it small.

He did have a great commercial with his granddaughter. But the big, controversial issues in education are school funding, the Common Core, testing, charter schools – not whether or not students should take a computer class.

Sometimes, small is big. As a result of legislation passed earlier this year, all public high schools in Arkansas are required to offer a computer coding class. This semester, almost 4,000 students are learning to “speak the language of the computer in order to tell the computer what to do,” as Hutchinson described to school board members Dec. 11. Arkansas students have been participating in more than 850 “Hour of Code” events, including one at the Governor’s Mansion last week, where they play around on a computer to get a feel for coding. Bentonville Superintendent Mike Poore told Hutchinson at that school board conference that one of his students, ranked 800th in a class of 1,000 academically, has learned eight computer languages this semester and will have a $50,000-a-year job waiting on him when he graduates – high school, not college.

Arkansas is the first state to require high schools to offer a coding class, and some have noticed. The influential “Wired” magazine ran an online story headlined, “So, Arkansas is leading the learn to code movement.” Hutchinson – who can’t personally code himself out of a paper bag – appeared on CNBC this summer to talk about the program.

The legislation applies only to high schools. On Dec. 4, Hutchinson announced that the Department of Education is developing computer education standards for grades K-8. Those standards would go into effect in the 2017-18 school year. Again, Arkansas would be the first state to do this.

The result of all this could be that Arkansas produces the next Bill Gates. Even if not, then at least a lot of students will be prepared for those well-paying jobs. Some no doubt will take advantage of opportunities offered elsewhere. But as Hutchinson explained Dec. 4, he noticed when visiting Silicon Valley in California, the nation’s tech industry home, the sky-high benefits companies were offering in order to attract talent. Companies will realize their costs will be lower here, leading Arkansas to become a “microhub” for the tech industry.

Even if students don’t go into coding, they’ll have a better understanding of an integral part of American life. Just as a law degree can be useful even if you don’t become a lawyer, coding skills can be useful elsewhere. If you own or manage a business, you may not code – but you’ll likely hire or contract with someone who does.

One more benefit to coding is what it does for the students while they are still in school. A generation of students raised to use computers – or often, just play with them and passively be entertained by them – is instead learning to actively program them. When you and I were in school, the end result of most learning was to answer a test question correctly. For a student in a coding class, the end result is taking charge of a computer and making it do something new. How cool is that?

Challenges? One is getting female students involved. Anthony Owen, Department of Education coordinator of computer science, said current enrollment in computer coding courses is about 74 percent male. The event at the Governor’s Mansion was targeted to girls.

The big challenge has been finding teachers, because few of them know how to code. In many high schools, students are learning the skill through the state’s online Arkansas Virtual Academy while an untrained teacher facilitator in the classroom offers whatever help they can. Kids can learn this way, but it would be better for a local classroom teacher to lead the class. The state has provided $5 million in grants for teachers to be trained in the skill. The faster that money is spent, the better.

Might some of those teachers use that training to leave the profession and become coders themselves? Probably, but every industry deals with that issue. As young thinker Max Farrell once told me, “The CEO says, ‘Why are we training all these people if they ultimately wind up leaving?’ And the vice president says to the CEO, ‘Well, what if we don’t train them and they stay?’”

Same applies to students, doesn’t it?

Goals, not grades focus at Warren

Jackson Denton and Breize Fellows advance at their own pace based on their mastery of particular skills – not days sitting in class.

Jackson Denton and Breize Fellows advance at their own pace based on their mastery of particular skills – not days sitting in class.

By Steve Brawner
© 2015 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

WARREN – Sutton Nelson is the type of high-achieving student who might be unchallenged in a traditional learning environment. The Warren School District is not traditional.

There, advancement is based on individual pathways and defined goals rather than the number of days spent sitting at a desk. Students advance through learning levels, not grades. Class time is often spent in small groups. All the students have a digital device, so they work side by side but often on different skills.

In that standards-based environment, students learn at their own pace. As a level 2 student – a first-grader – Nelson quickly advanced along her pathways, mastered the material, moved into level 3 and finished it. Now she’s a year ahead of schedule in level 7.

“It kind of like helped me,” she said. “‘Oh, I have more goals. I’m going to try to get this done and get good at this and know what I’m doing.’”

Schools traditionally measure student success based on averages, which means students can excel in some areas and struggle in others and still leave with a “A” or “B” – and with gaps in their knowledge. In Warren, students must demonstrate mastery of each skill before they advance to the next. While there are scheduled classroom tests, students often tell the teacher when they are ready to assess individually. Instead of receiving letter grades on that assessment, they receive scores of 1-4, with “3” indicating mastery and “4” representing exceptional understanding.

When they’ve reached a 3, they move to the next skill – but not before then. Or, they might move on and then return to that skill later. For example, a student stuck on fractions might proceed to decimals, which can help them better understand fractions.

The model enables students to advance as quickly as their skills and ambition will take them. When Nelson completes her pathways in high school, she can further her education by taking college or career-oriented classes while still in Warren. At age 18, she might walk across the stage with her friends and receive an associate’s degree.

Other students, meanwhile, can take the time they need to master each skill, rather than fall behind and never catch up because they never understood something important covered in week 3. If a student ends a year with pathways left to complete, they don’t flunk the entire year. Instead they can pick up that one skill after the school year ends or at the beginning of the next while remaining with their classmates.

As Regina Scroggins, principal at the elementary level Brunson New Vision Charter School, explained, “We no longer just look at test scores because you know, if you give a student an F, that’s it? Are they done forever? An F, they failed, they leave feeling stupid or like they’re never going to be successful. But this way with our personalized learning, they have another chance.”

Educators at Warren say this model gives students ownership of their education. Students are asking teachers if they can work on their goals during lunchtime, holidays and summer vacations.

It’s also helped parents become more involved. Report cards indicate mastery of individual skills rather than average scores by subject. So instead of seeing their child earned a “B” in math – probably good enough, right? – they know exactly what their children have and haven’t learned.

The transition has been “four years of rocky road,” said Carla Wardlaw, assistant superintendent. Among those rocks: The elementary-level East Side New Vision Charter School scored an “F” on the state’s recently created, test-based school report card, while Warren Middle School scored a “D.” (Warren’s two other schools scored a “B.”) East Side Principal Sara Weaver said Warren with its new teaching methods just doesn’t fit into the state’s box. Still, that “F” was a disappointment and perhaps an indication that the road may stay rocky a while longer.

The model undoubtedly is more work for the teachers. Level 3 teacher Elizabeth McKinney must plan the entire year from the beginning because her East Side students move at different speeds, and then she must instruct students individually rather than managing one big group. Still, she believes in the model.

“We started this because we felt like it was best for kids to learn at their own pace and in their own way, and so I’m all for it,” she said. “And I’ve told Miss Sara that if we ever went back to doing it the other way, I would revolt.”

Steve Brawner is an independent journalist in Arkansas. Email him at brawnersteve@mac.com. Follow him on Twitter at @stevebrawner.

Do needy students merit more scholarships?

By Steve Brawner
© 2015 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

Let’s jump straight into the facts. According to a new report, “Closing the Gap,” by the Arkansas Department of Higher Education, 94 percent of Arkansas’ state-funded college scholarships are based solely on merit – ACT scores, etc. – while 6 percent also are based on need. Only two states and the District of Columbia are weighted more toward merit. The national average, on the other hand, is 75 percent need-based.

The fact that Arkansas is doing things differently than the rest of the nation should matter, considering it has the second lowest percentage of residents with a college degree. (Thank goodness for West Virginia!) About 14 percent of us have a bachelor’s degree, while 7 percent of us also have a master’s degree or higher. Another 7 percent have an associate’s degree.

The 94-6 percent ratio is the result of the growth of Academic Challenge Scholarships awards, which are largely funded through the lottery and are entirely merit based. In the past, the scholarships went to students who scored a 19 on the ACT or earned a 2.5 grade point average in high school. A law passed this year by the Legislature makes the 19 on the ACT the only requirement, which may have been a mistake because grade point average supposedly is a better predictor of college success than standardized test scores.

The problem with basing scholarships on merit alone is that it makes them harder to attain for students who grew up in tougher circumstances with fewer advantages. Those are the very students who need the money more – as long as they can put it to good use.

Let’s also be blunt about what’s really happening. People of all income levels buy lottery tickets, of course, but a certain percentage of those ticket-buyers are poor people looking for a little hope. That’s their choice, but state resources are encouraging them to “invest” in this pipe dream. Then their money pays for scholarships for bankers’ kids. I’ve got a banker friend who’s outraged by this.

The report says 25 percent of Arkansas scholarships should have a need-based component. If that’s the case, then what should those scholarships pay for?

According to the report, more than half of Arkansans – 57 percent, actually – have a high school diploma or less.

Of course, that describes a lot of smart, successful people. But moving forward, most of the good jobs of the future will require something more, though not necessarily a bachelor’s degree or even an associate’s degree. The report says that, by 2020, Arkansas needs to produce an additional 99,000 people with career and technical certificates, which often can be earned fairly quickly and at low cost to fill existing workforce needs. Arkansas actually will need 786 fewer people with master’s degrees than it has now, the report estimates.

The Academic Challenge Scholarship goes to students attending college, not earning a technical certificate, which is the better choice for many people. And it’s really targeted toward 18-year-old high school graduates, rather than adults who need to retool their skills to be more employable.

So however the state rebalances its state-funded scholarships so that they’re based more on need, it should remember that what people really need is the ability to earn a good-paying job, and preferably in the near future.

***

If you have 30 minutes when you’re washing the dishes or something, listen to Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse’s maiden speech on the U.S. Senate floor.

Sasse waited a year after being elected to make his first speech, which once was a Senate tradition. When he finally spoke, it was a bold call to action. He said the Senate is failing to address the nation’s big issues, allowing the executive branch to take too much power. Senators from opposite parties are privately friendly, even affectionate. But when the cameras roll, they talk in shallow sound bytes using politi-speech that sounds nothing like the way real Americans talk. The Senate doesn’t need less debating, he said. It needs actual debating about important issues in a respectful manner. Senators are elected to six-year terms so they can think long-term in what once was called the world’s greatest deliberative body. If they’re not going to fulfill their role, he asked, does the United States even need a Senate at all?

Good stuff. Last I checked, it had 3,837 views on YouTube. Here it is.

Is college worth it?

By Steve Brawner
© 2015 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

Is college worth the cost, is the current model sustainable, and how can colleges and universities more effectively meet state and student needs?

Those are questions that policymakers, along with colleges and universities, must answer in a world that can change a lot in four years.

On Monday, Clint Vogus, an Arkansas State University business instructor, and Dr. Thomas Lindsay, director of the Texas Public Policy Foundation’s Center for Higher Education, told legislators that college doesn’t provide the same value it once did. Tuition costs have increased, and so has student debt, to $1.2 trillion nationally, making it the second largest source of consumer debt after home mortgages.

How big is the student debt problem? Americans, including the many who did not graduate, owe more in student debt than they do in credit card debt. Lindsay said giving students more scholarships won’t solve the problem. In fact, it will make it worse because the more government dollars that come into the system, the more colleges and universities raise the price.

The two were testifying before the Legislative Task Force to Study the Realignment of Higher Education, one of many groups appointed by Gov. Asa Hutchinson and legislators. Those groups exist to guide policy changes, to respond to changes that are already occurring, or just to ride the wave in education, health care, highways and prisons.

Vogus and Lindsay argued that despite the rising costs, a college education isn’t worth what it used to be for students or the state. Too many degree plans don’t lead to good jobs, and too many needs in the workforce aren’t being filled. Surveys indicate that students are studying less but earning a lot more A’s, and it’s not because they’ve become smarter. We’re told that, even if the world changes, college is supposed to make students more well-rounded and teach lifelong critical thinking and reasoning skills. But a 2011 report, “Academically Adrift,” found that’s often not the case. As measured by the Collegiate Learning Assessment, 36 percent of college grads didn’t show any improvement in those areas after four years of college.

Dr. Chuck Welch, president of the Arkansas State University System, defended the value of a college education as “still the greatest investment I’ve ever made in my entire life or ever will make in my entire life.” He pointed out that college graduates as a group make much higher incomes, are less likely to be incarcerated or be dependent on food stamps, and even live longer than those whose education stopped after high school.

In that respect, the numbers are clear, but the cause and effect relationship is not. Do college graduates earn more money because they have a degree? Or is it because they’re more likely to come from wealthier, educated families? In other words, did college put them on second base, or were they born there?

Progress will come slowly in this area, but it may actually come. A consensus has developed that college is too expensive and that it’s not meeting workforce needs. Vogus proposed a 90-hour degree that could be completed in three years. His employer, Arkansas State University, recently announced a three-year plan, though it relies on summer school and doesn’t reduce the required hours. Lindsay said that Texas A&M – Commerce responded to a challenge by former Gov. Rick Perry to offer a $10,000 degree by creating one that costs not much more, in part by offering most of the first two years of classes online.

If workforce needs don’t change colleges and universities, then economics might. State dollars are flat. Bain and Company, a management consulting firm, says that 43 percent of colleges and universities nationwide spend more than they can afford. The 14-17-year-old demographic that feeds colleges and universities isn’t growing. And the word is out that a college degree is not a guaranteed route to a better job.

Meanwhile, students have other choices. For $12,000, they can learn computer coding in 12 weeks of intensive training at The Iron Yard, a chain of private schools with a location in Little Rock.

In less than three months, they’ll be qualified for a very good job. They won’t have the college experiences that are meant to make them more well-rounded. But then, they can do that on their own time, independent of taxpayers, using the money they’re making.