Why is paying kids to learn so bad?

The number one trait 21^st century companies are looking for in their employees is innovation.

Innovation is a creative process where you don’t always succeed the first time. “Learn and earn” type incentive programs imply that learning and test scores are black and white. However, we know those who understand the gray are the real winners in society and in the workplace.

Monetary incentives are out of touch with one of the key factors needed to best promote achievement in children – an intrinsic desire or at least an appreciation for the endeavor of learning.

It takes building an academic culture in schools and homes to nurture this, not building a payment structure.

We must address these questions:

• Why don’t children get intrinsic satisfaction from learning in school?
• How can we fix this failing of education?

Let’s pay our children for those things that would cause them to take more pride in their schools, communities and service organizations. Things like:

• Tutoring younger children
• Cleaning up the school grounds
• Assisting with sports programs for younger students
• Researching healthier menus for our school cafeterias and create plans for implementing them

Back in the day, motivation and reward came intrinsically from a fear of failure. You studied and worked hard because failure simply wasn’t an option. Now we offer numerous choices for those who aren’t bothered by failure – GED programs, alternative schools and summer school to name just a few.

What do bribes teach children?

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The surest way to raise selfish, rude, contentious, unhelpful children is to have low expectations for what they can and should offer the family and community!

Early education is the key!  Teach them to become a responsible citizen who loves to learn and you will not need money or alternative programs for those who fail because they simply will not except failure.

Innovation in business and education

Did you see the show on CNBC about the business of innovation in companies today? As an educator who was on the frontlines of preparing “tomorrow’s innovators,” I was intrigued. I learned many things about business operations and employee motivation but most of all I learned that businesses are innovating when schools are not!

Inside of the classroom, you know you should be preparing the children for what their lives are like today and what they will be like tomorrow. However, when faced with outdated text books, bureaucratic red tape to “teach to the test” and a lack of technological tools for promoting innovation, what should one do?

Wikipedia defines innovation this way: The term innovation may refer to both radical and incremental changes in thinking, in things, in processes or in services (Mckeown, 2008). Invention that gets out in to the world is innovation. In many fields, something new must be substantially different to be innovative, not an insignificant change, e.g., in the arts, economics, business and government policy. In economics, the change must increase value, customer value, or producer value. The goal of innovation is positive change, to make someone or something better. Innovation leading to increased productivity is the fundamental source of increasing wealth in an economy.

So… let’s look at this part. “In many fields, something new must be substantially different to be innovative, not an insignificant change, e.g., goverment policy.” Could someone please tell me what plans for educational innovation either of the presidential campaigns is offering? Is government policy going to change? Are we going to continue sinking billions of public dollars into an ancient public education system where the drop out rate is higher than the graduation rate in many states?

OH… and about early childhood education, the only Americans benefitting from those millions at present are the disadvantaged (and they should) but are we innovating the practices for which we offer that money? Be reminded of the other part of the definition: The goal of innovation is positive change, to make someone or something better. We have been funding early education for the disadvantaged since the 1960’s. How’s it working for us?

Teach a man to fish and he will fish for a lifetime… fish for him and he will always wait for more during his lifetime!

How would you innovate education? I know what I’m doing…

Here we go again – more wasted money attributed to No Child Left Behind

The $1 billion-a-year Reading First program, authorized under the No Child Left Behind Act, has had no measurable effect on students’ reading comprehension. The long-awaited interim report from the Reading First Impact Study , released last week by the Institute of Education Sciences, says that students in schools receiving grants from the federal program have not fared any better than their counterparts in comparison schools in gaining meaning from print.

Its purpose was to help improve reading instruction in the nation’s struggling schools by focusing students on explicit and systematic instruction in phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension.

 

So what were the results?  Well… students’ understanding of reading material did not change significantly whether or not they were in Reading First schools. In fact, researchers determined that without the Reading First funding in 2004-2005 and 2005-2006, children in grades 1 – 3 would not have lost (in 3^rd grade) or gained (1^st and 2^nd) more than 3 percentage points.  (Source: Institute of Education Sciences)

 

Thankfully, congress cut the budget for the program by 60% in October (for the 2008 fiscal year).  These cuts were driven mostly by federal reports that suggested conflicts of interest had occurred among officials and contractors who helped implement the program. Some contractors were tied to commercial reading programs used in participating schools.

 

However, a bigger problem has plagued the program, the problem of a drastically narrowed focus on basic (low level) skills, at the expense of critical thinking and understanding literature and nonfiction.  Reading instruction is a comprehensive task.  You can’t focus all of the child’s time on basic phonemic awareness and decoding skills and expect to have a fluent reader and writer.  If you teach and expect mastery of only basic skills, you will get only basic results.

 

Background knowledge is crucial in building students’ reading skills and their ability to understand subject-area texts. The teaching of content and interesting content has obviously been neglected through this program.  How is the learning relative to the child’s life and interest?  Why would a child want to read if they are subjected to educational boredom through drill and practice style reading activities?

 

Specific skills are important, but you can’t just teach the low level skills and assume the other skills will emerge by themselves.  Too much time has already been wasted with this program’s basic fanfare, that’s time that’s being stolen from recess, math and science class, and the children are getting nothing in return.  We are in a global society.  We need to connect students learning to 21^st century skills.  We need to empower students to reach higher than a basic level of understanding and knowledge.

 

My opinion – shameful!  Early education is the key to future success.  We must teach our children from birth and we must motivate others around us to do the same.  Give your child the world – set expectations high for educational development before he even begins school!

 

Seeds for Success helps to start our revolution

At Wiggle Giggle Learn we are tickled pink to have been chosen as a potential finalist for the Seeds for Success: Empowering Women Entrepreneurs grant given by Yahoo and Carolyn Kepcher’s new firm - FWM. We learned so much about what we stand for as a company and where we will go in the future. It means a lot to have a billion dollar company and a million dollar mind (Carolyn K.) say your business has what it takes to be successful.

We look forward to spreading our mission and creating social reform in early education. Education matters to everyone - whether you have children or not - you either employ or are employed by others expecting 21st century skills in today’s workforce. You want to work with educated minds who think creatively, independently and responsibly. Join us today at www.wigglegigglelearn.com to make a difference in the education of our youngest minds!

Math and Science advancement: Our ticket to global greatness

In August, President Bush signed into a law the Competitiveness Bill to Aid Math and Science, which pushes for improved teacher recruitment and training to bolster math and science education through the use of federal grants.  Education experts, business leaders and government officials rallied behind the passage of this bill to initiate a significant impact on the future employability of American graduates in the high-tech industries of our new global society.

 

However according to a new study (“Important, But Not for Me: Parents and Students in Kansas and Missouri Talk About Math, Science and Technology Education.”) that heightened concern over math and science competency levels has not reached parents and students as the results show they are apparently satisfied with a less-rigorous level of instruction in those subjects.  “What we found when we looked at the views of parents and students was much, much less urgency,” said Jean Johnson, an executive vice president and the director of education insights at Public Agenda.

 

The survey of about 2,600 students and parents found that, overall, only 25 percent of parents think their children should be studying more math and science, and 70 percent think things “are fine as they are now.  Minority parents were less satisfied with the math and science education their children received but overall parents believed math and science education is rigorous because the lessons today are more challenging than 25 years ago.  Sixty-nine percent of parents said math is harder today, while 51 percent said science is harder than when they were in school.

 

The good news from the study… both parents and students do believe that basic math and science is critically important with over seventy percent saying algebra is essential.  Eighty-five percent of students surveyed said they believe they can learn math and science if they spend the time and see the relevance to life and work.

 

As an early childhood teacher I know we have a big challenge ahead to educate parents as to why increased instructional levels and abilities in math and science is an urgent need.  I also know that early education is the key!  Every student must have good roots in math and science exploration and learning from birth.  Children should be taught to love math and science, not to fear it!  Parents must guide their children, from early childhood to understand strong knowledge in the areas of science or math can lead them into high-tech companies in a wide variety of industries in the future.  We must begin supporting our new generation of companies with a qualified workforce that begins in the early years.