Compelling Case Slides
Created by Mike Mattos
Please use for only personal use-do not post on web.
Our Mission…
To assure high levels of learning
for all students!
Never in our nation’s history have the
demands on our educational system been
greater or the consequences of failure as
severe. Beyond the high-stakes school
accountability requirements mandated by
state and federal laws, the difference
between success and failure in school is,
quite literally, life and death for our
students.
Today, a child who graduates from school
with a mastery of essential skills and
knowledge is prepared to compete in the
global marketplace, with numerous paths
of opportunity available to lead a
successful life. Yet, for students who fail
in our educational system, the reality is
that there are virtually no paths of
opportunity.
The likely pathway for student who
struggle in school is an adult life of
poverty, incarceration, and/or
dependence on society’s welfare
systems.
Poverty…
-- Dropouts on average earn about $12,000 per year,
nearly 50 percent less than those who have a high
school diploma
-- 50 percent less likely to have a job that offers a
pension plan or health insurance
-- They are more likely to experience health problems
--Rouse/Muenning, 2005: www.centerforpubliceducation.org
Poverty…
According to a US government report,
The State of Literacy in America,
over 90 million US adults,
nearly one out of two,
are functionally illiterate or near illiterate,
without the minimum skills required
in a modern society.
Larry Roberts, Illiteracy on the Rise in America http://www.wsws.org
Poverty…
44 million cannot read a newspaper
or fill out a job application.
Another 50 million more cannot read or
comprehend above the eighth grade level.
Larry Roberts, Illiteracy on the Rise in America http://www.wsws.org
Poverty…
43 percent of people with the lowest
literacy skills live below the
government's official poverty line
Larry Roberts, Illiteracy on the Rise in America http://www.wsws.org
Incarceration
Russia and the U.S. are now the
world leaders in incarceration,
with imprisonment rates 6 to10 times that
of most industrialized nations.
http://www.proliteracy.org/downloads/ProLiteracyStateOfLiteracy%2010-25-04.pdf
Incarceration
Across the United States,
82% of prison inmates are dropouts
Ysseldyke, Algozzine, & Thurlow 1992
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2248/is_n126_v32/ai_19619426/pg_4
Incarceration
According to the report,
Literacy Behind Prison Walls,
70 percent of all prison inmates are
functionally illiterate or
read below a fourth-grade level.
http://www.proliteracy.org/downloads/ProLiteracyStateOfLiteracy%2010-25-04.pdf
Incarceration
85% of juvenile offenders have
reading problems.
http://www.literacybuffalo
Incarceration
Youth in Correctional Facilities
Average age: 15
Average Reading Level: 4th Grade
(30% below this level)
www.edjj.org
Incarceration and Special Education
The incidence of learning disabilities
among the general population based on
U.S. Dept. of Education and local service
providers is around 5%. This is in sharp
contrast with the number of LD students
in the criminal justice system, estimated
to be as high as 50%.
Bell, 1990: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2248/is_n126_v32/ai_19619426/pg_4
Incarceration and Special Education
Only 57% of youth with disabilities
graduated from high school in the
2001-02 school year, according to the U.S.
Department of Education (2002)
http://www.ncset.org/publications/viewdesc.asp?id=3135
Social Costs
75% of those claiming welfare
are functionally illiterate.
http://www.covinaliteracy.org/facts.htm
Social Costs
One study conducted by a
University of California, Berkeley economist
found that a 10 percent increase in the
graduation rate would likely reduce the murder
and assault arrest rates by about 20 percent
Moretti, 2005: www.centerforpubliceducation.org
Social Costs
The same study found that increasing the high
school completion rate by just
one percent for men ages 20-60
would save the United States up to
$1.4 billion per year in
reduced costs from crime.
Moretti, 2005: www.centerforpubliceducation.org
With such high stakes,
educators today are like
tightrope walkers without a safety net,
responsible for meeting the needs of every
child with little room for error.
Our Mission…
To assure high levels of learning
for all students!
What do we mean
by “high” levels
of learning?
Is a high school diploma
enough for our current
students to be competitive
in the global marketplace?
“The high school diploma has
become the ticket to nowhere.”
James Waller, Face to Face: The Changing State of Racism Across America
Education and Lifelong Earning:
High School Drop Out:
High School Graduate:
Some College:
Associate Degree:
Bachelors Degree:
Masters Degree:
Doctorate:
$608,000
$802,000
$922,890
$1,062,130
$1,420,850
$2,142,440
$3,012,300
James Waller, Face to Face: The Changing State of Racism Across America
2006 College Graduates
US: 1.3 Million
India: 3.1 Million
China: 3.3 Million
What do we mean
by “high” levels
of learning?
“High School + Plus”
If our mission is high levels of
learning for all students,
the question is:
Is it possible?
“There are simple, proven, affordable
structures that exist right now and could
have a dramatic, widespread impact on
schools and achievement—in virtually
any school. An astonishing level of
agreement has emerged on this point”
--Mike Schmoker, 2004
Schools Do Make a Difference
Effective Schools Research of Ron
Edmonds, Larry Lezotte, Wilbur
Brookover, Michael Rutter, and others
concluded that:
• All Children Can Learn
• Schools control the factors to assure
that students master the core of the
curriculum
Schools Do Make a Difference
An analysis of research conducted over
a thirty-five year period demonstrates
that schools that are highly effective
produce results that almost entirely
overcome the effects of student
backgrounds
Robert Marzano, What Works in Schools, 2003
Schools Do Make a Difference
90/90/90 Schools
--Doug Reeves
Then why aren’t most schools
getting these results?
We must stop doing what
we have done for
100 years…
Our Dilemma:
Our traditional US school system
was not designed to ensure
that all students learn
at high levels
Traditional US school system:
-- Professional isolation (1 room schoolhouse)
-- Failure is OK…
-- Few students went to college (10-15%)
-- Our job was to “sort” students (bell curve)
Agricultural Jobs in America
In 1870, half of the US population was
employed in agriculture.
As of 2006, less than 1% of the
population is directly employed in
agriculture.
Agricultural Jobs in America
As of 2004, the median hourly
income was $7.70 for farmworkers
planting, growing and
harvesting crops.
US Manufacturing Jobs:
Fifty years ago, a third of U.S. employees
worked in factories.
Today, a little more than one-tenth of the
nation's 131 million workers are employed
by manufacturing firms.
--USA Today
http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/2002-12-12-manufacture_x.htm
US Manufacturing Jobs:
1950: 34%
2002: 13%
--USA Today
http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/2002-12-12-manufacture_x.htm
Pension Benefits:
“Pensions are becoming a thing of
the past…”
Rene Syler
Pension Promises: The Death of the American Dream?
http://www.businessandmedia.org/news/2006/news20060118.asp
Health Benefits:
--Nearly 47 million Americans, or 16 percent of the
population, were without health insurance in 2005. The
number of uninsured rose 2.2 million
between 2005 and 2006.
--Over 8 in 10 uninsured people come from working
families - almost 70 percent from families with one or
more full-time workers
http://www.nchc.org/facts/coverage.shtml
"We embrace explicitly the proposition that
effective practice and popular practice
are very likely two different things."
- Dr. Douglas Reeves