Workforce Education high priority for Strickland administration
The administration of Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland has convened an “Ohio Talent Tiger Team” to offer a roadmap for coordinating workforce investment and education with the economic development interests of the state. A primary framing document for the Team’s work is the recommendations submitted by the Ohio Workforce Education and Training Advisory Council (OWETAC) for aligning Ohio’s workforce education system.
KnowledgeWorks Foundation public policy officer Greg Harris was named to the team. “Ohio is at a critical juncture that could determine whether our higher education system will be able to meet the changing needs of our economy and our citizens,” Harris said. “In an era when postsecondary attainment is the ticket to employment and economic stability, Ohio must conform its higher education infrastructure to fit the needs of workers and employers in a technology-driven knowledge economy.” To read the article go here .
The Ohio High School Transformation Initiative: Champion of Change - Diane Smith, Southview's Pride School, Lorain
Eleven ninth-grade students in Lorain Southview’s Pride School may not realize it but one of their recent school projects is a perfect example of the benefits of a small schools environment. The students, along with the ninth-grade teacher team, wrote, designed and published an eight-page Black History Month special supplement to the Lorain Morning Journal, the city’s daily newspaper.
Veteran history/social studies teacher Diana Smith led the project. “This is our fifth year for this collaboration and every year I feel I’ve got to top myself,” she said. This year’s publication highlighted the struggles of the Little Rock Nine, a group of black students who against all odds registered to attend an all-white high school in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1956.
The cross-curricular flexibility of small schools made producing the supplement easier, Smith said. Science teacher Sue Pileski constructed a timeline while English teacher Laura Manning worked on the cover design. All, including math teacher Brian Hilko, allowed students to use team teaching time to work on the writing project in the library.
Smith said her biggest daily challenge – with this project and in general – is keeping students focused on academics without letting socioeconomic factors come into play. “As an educator I can’t change students’ circumstances but I can change their future,” she said.
To read the article go here
Empowering Communities to Improve Education
In the February 2007 E-Letter edition, KnowledgeWorks Foundation is asking the question "What will schools be like in 2016? Will technology change everything about how students learn? What subjects will be taught in typical classroom - and will there even be classrooms as we know them?"
To help educators think about questions like those, KnowledgeWorks Foundation has created a comprehensive and provocative new tool called the Education Map of the Decade, along with an interactive website to explore its implications. Developed in partnership with the Institute for the Future, the education map identifies external forces that are likely to shape the primary and secondary education system over the next 10 years.
"The map is designed to provoke thought leaders to think ab out the future of education in new ways," said Barbara Diamond, KnowledgeWorks vice president of education strategy. "It encourages people to anticipate what the near future might bring and consider what should be done to shape or respond to that future." You can read the report here.
