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World-Class Schools

Dr. Ann Denlinger, President

League of Women VotersOf Wake County

March 26, 2010

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Education is the foundation of all societies and globally competitive

economies. It is the basis for reducing poverty, improving health, enabling the use of new technologies, and creating

and spreading knowledge

--from World Bank Millennium Development Goals

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World-Class Education InitiativeHistory

February 2008 – Education Forum

October 2008 – World-Class Education Initiative Kickoff Event

November 2008-March 2009 – Committee Meetings

May 2009 – Publication of Year One Work

June 2009 – Public presentations begin

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World-Class Education InitiativeOur Chairs:

Dr. Sam HoustonPresident and CEO, NC Science, Mathematics, and

Technology Education Center

Mr. Michael OlanderPresident, Apple Gold Group and Chair of the Wake

Education Partnership Programs Committee

Dr. Judith RizzoExecutive Director and CEO, James B. Hunt, Jr. Institute for

Educational Leadership and Policy

World View

Partners

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Did you know?

If you’re one in a million in China…there are 1,300 people just like you. In India, there are 1,100 people just like you.

The 25% of the population of China with the highest IQ’s…is greater than the total population of North America. In India, it’s the top 28%.

Translation for teachers: They have more honors kids than we have kids.

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Did you know?

America’s high school graduation rate ranks 19th in the world.

Forty years ago, we ranked first.

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Did you know?

U.S. economic preeminence in the 21st century is not a given.

“The best jobs are going where the best educated workforce is.”John Chambers, CEOCisco Systems

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Did you know?

About 1.6 million people are expected to travel overseas for medical care this year – and their insurance company will pay the costs.

Why?

In countries such as India and Costa Rica, quality health care can costs 80 percent less than the same service in the United States.

That’s why the four largest commercial insurers in the U.S. are now exploring ways to offer overseas health care to their customers.

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Did you know?

Since 2006, more than half of the doctoral degrees awarded in the natural sciences from U.S. universities are earned by foreign-born students.

In the field of engineering, the figure is 68 percent.

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The Educator’s Challenge

The amount of new technical information is doubling every 2 years.

That means for a student starting a four-year technical or college degree…half of what they learn in their first year of study will be outdated by their third year of study.

It’s predicted to double every 72 hours by 2010.

“The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read or write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.”

Alvin Toffler

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The Educator’s Challenge

Economists, business leaders, and journalists have noted, if we’re to maintain our dominant world position, it has to be through innovation. It has to come through the steady flow of new ideas that result in new goods and services.

Where do we find innovation in the curriculum and accountability models currently employed?

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The Educator’s Challenge

“In times of rapid change, the learners inherit the earth, while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists.”

Eric Hoffer

Our suggestions build on a system that is already very strong.

No school system has incorporated a full range of world-class traits.

Wake County is uniquely positioned to show how that goal can be achieved.

To understand what a world-class, globally competitive school system would look like in Wake County, it is best to put aside the system you think you know today.

It’s not possible to graft a world-class system onto the existing structure of any school system.

2021Today’s 1st graders graduate from high

school

2021India and Mexico – two countries whose economies are not even in the top 10 today – are expected to be among the five largest in the world. China will boast the world’s largest economy.

By 2050 – when today’s 1st grader is roughly midcareer – only one-tenth of the world’s population will live in Europe and North America. In 1950, that figure was one-third.

Urban growth will dramatically shift to Africa and Asia.

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Competencies

In a world-class school system, skills are built upon a foundation of basic competencies. Competent students should:

• Use all forms of information, especially current media and technology.• Be culturally aware.• Effectively communicate across cultures.• Be aware of world events and global dynamics.• Work together in multicultural teams.• Learn how to learn.

Curriculum Standards

• Develop Common Academic Standards Tied to International Tests

• Fewer topics in greater depth

- National Governors Association- The Council of the Great City Schools- National Association of Secondary School Principals- American Federation of Teachers- US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan

-Race to the Top Funds tied to state support

Curriculum Standards

• Common Core State Standards Initiative

-48 states pledged to support - Alaska and Texas have not

-Kentucky 1st to adopt these standards in place of their own math and English/language arts standards

-Core Knowledge Foundation, founded by E.D. Hirsch, will align its curriculum work to match the core curriculum

- watch for other textbook and curriculum companies to join them

Curriculum Standards

Global Perspectives

Curriculum StandardsSecond Language

Regardless of what language students study, a requirement of only two years in high school is inadequate.

Curriculum Standards

STEM Skills: Undergraduate Degrees

Curriculum Standards

STEM Skills: Undergraduate Degrees

Total

STEM degrees

219,175 72,810 484,704 351,299 1,127,988

Total Degrees

1,305,730 282,380 929,598 548,897 3,066,605

% of total STEM degrees

19.43% 6.45% 42.97% 31.14%

% of total degrees

42.58% 9.2% 30.31% 17.9%

Curriculum Standards

STEM Skills: Doctorate Degrees

In 2007, 52% (11,600 of 22,500) US natural sciences and engineering PhDs were earned by temporary and permanent visa holders.

These students are mostly from East Asia – China (31%) India (14%) South Korea (7%).

Curriculum Standards

STEM Skills: Doctorate Degrees

From 1999-2007, the share of US engineering PhDs earned by temporary and permanent visa holders has risen from 51% to 68%.

Nearly 75% of foreign national recipients of engineering PhDs were from East Asia or India.

Curriculum Standards

Stay Rates of Temporary Resident Doctorate Recipients in 2007

Stay Rate Increase over 2000-2005 avg.

One-Year (2006 grads) 73% 6%

Two-Year (2005 grads) 67% 1%

Five-Year (2002 grads) 62% 0%

Ten-Year (1997 grads) 60% 13%

5% - Average Increase

• Agricultural sciences, economics, and other social sciences have substantially lower stay rates than other STEM disciplines.

• China, India, Iran, Romania, Russia, Ukraine, and Yugoslavia have stay rates well above average.

• Negative events like an economic recession or terrorist attack affect stay rates.

Curriculum Standards

• Flexible Pathways

• Challenge top performing students to higher levels

• Higher standards for students going straight to work

Assessment

Assessment is an ongoing process between the teacher and student. It emphasizes the use of knowledge, not recitation.

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FRAZZ BY JEF MALLETT

Testing

A globally-competitive student understands how to reason and create knowledge from the facts provided.

Questions like those on international benchmarking exams could be embedded into mandated exams.

Time

What matters is the time spent engaged in learning…and engaged learning amounts to only a fraction of the day for most U.S. students.

Once that improves, we may need to change the school calendar.

Global companies we think of as “ours” also have offices in places where people think of the company as “theirs.”

A Call To Redesign School

More than 60 percent of Wake County’s public high school students go on to a university after graduation. It’s a notable accomplishment considering today’s public education system was designed to send about 20 percent of its students into higher education.

World-wide competition demands a different design.

Wake County’s Academic Goal

WCPSS students will demonstrate high academic growth; by 2014, all students will graduate on-time prepared to compete globally.

Conclusion

What does a globally-competitive, world-class public school system look like? What changes are needed in our current system?

These are not questions for our school system to answer alone. These are questions for our community to debate and discuss.