December 2006 Archives

December 28, 2006

The Education Payback

A story published the day after Christmas in the Chicago Tribune titled "Schoolwork Beats the Working World" recently caught my eye.

According to researchers at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, teenagers and their parents appear to be getting the message that a college education provides a bigger payoff, in the long run, than the quick cash of low-end jobs many teenagers take at the expense of their schoolwork, the article says.

The article points out that more and more parents are discouraging their children from taking such jobs when they are in high school. Rather, they want them to be rested for school and motivated to do well.

The Federal Reserve Bank researchers point out in the article that the wage payoff linked to a college education is nearly double what it was in the late 1970s. This is the kind of data that should be shared with every middle and high school student in the country, especially those who think that just 'getting by' in school will not come back to haunt them later in life when they wonder why they are not making more money.


Posted by Kevin Bushweller at 10:13 PM | | Leave a comment | Recommend

December 22, 2006

Learning That Flows

If you haven't read about the concept of "flow" in learning, you should take a look at a recent commentary in Education Week titled "Schools That 'Flow'."

For years, I have been fascinated by this concept, which was coined by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, a psychologist, to describe how skill, interest, and challenge intersect to optimize motivation and performance. I had looked at the concept mostly from the perspective of a writer and a youth sports coach. But the power of how this concept might be used for academic learning in K-12 schools is significant.

In their commentary, Brian Bruya and Russell Owens, faculty members in the department of history and philosophy at Eastern Michigan University, outline how the concept of flow might be used in schools to improve learning. They believe flow may be an important piece of the puzzle in determining the best approaches for improving schools.

This is an article that is worth reading. Please read it and let me know what you think about the concept of flow.

Posted by Kevin Bushweller at 3:52 PM | | 2 Comments | Recommend

December 15, 2006

A Study of Hope

If you believe that intrinsic motivation is a prerequisite for success in school, then you should check out a research effort spearheaded by Mark Van Ryzin, a teaching assistant at the University of Minnesota's College of Education and Human Development.

The effort is called the Hope Study and it aims to determine whether motivation to learn increases when schools give students more autonomy, a greater sense of belonging, and more opportunities to pursue individual goals.

The study is relatively small, with about 40 schools participating this school year. But that number was just three schools in 2004 when the study was started. The vast majority of the participants are secondary charter schools, not regular district schools.

In an email interview with Motivation Matters, Mark said regular district schools tend to shy away from the project for two reasons: the large amount of assessment in those schools tends to make them wary of taking on additional assessment; and the ideas represented in the Hope Study are not all that familiar to most teachers and administrators in regular district schools because motivational and developmental psychology are not a big part of traditional teacher or administrator preparation programs.

The Hope Study, Mark said, was informed by a theory from educational psychology research known as "stage-environment fit theory," which posits that student motivation and engagement will be higher when the learning environment matches students' developmental needs.

"We have found that schools that support student developmental needs (i.e. autonomy, belongingness) can promote growth in student hope from semester to semester and year over year," he said. "In other words, these schools can actually spur the development of something in students, over and above actual academic learning, that can benefit them throughout their lifepsan.

"When we have more control over our own lives, and stronger networks of support, we feel more empowered, take more interest in our work, and take more ownership of our results. [But] the standard large comprehensive high school can actually undermine student autonomy by adhering to a set curriculum that provides very little opportunity for student input."

Keep an eye on this study because it is getting some traction.

Starting next fall, Mark said the Hope Study will become an official part of the Coalition of Essential Schools online survey system, making it available to all of the coalition's schools.

In addition, Mark said he will be making a presentation about the Hope Study at an American Educational Research Association conference this spring in Chicago; and he has co-authored a paper about the study for Phi Delta Kappan that will be published in a 2007 issue of the academic journal.

Posted by Kevin Bushweller at 3:02 PM | | 1 Comment | Recommend

December 11, 2006

Competitive Lessons

To appreciate how passionate some kids are about student academic competitions, you need only watch the National Spelling Bee on ESPN. Those boys and girls in that competition are engaged 100 percent in what they are doing. Other academic events, such as the Siemens-sponsored science competition,, showcase some of the most motivated students in the nation.

A colleague recently passed along an article that asks an important question: How might such competitions better inform educators and policymakers about how classroom learning should be designed and education policy crafted to maximize student motivation?

The article--which was written for the Education/Evolving Initiative, which seeks to connect the needs of today's students with education policy leaders--says that the universe of academic competitions "begs the attention of anyone interested in how to motivate students."

Yet the article points out that there are few studies, if any, that examine how the lessons learned from academic competitions might be used to better understand how students learn, what motivates them (intrinsically and extrinsically), and what real world experiences would benefit them the most.

Some education researcher (if one hasn't already) needs to tackle this topic and then spread the word about his or her findings. More than anything, the findings could provide major lessons for how schools can raise student motivation, and, in turn, achievement.

Posted by Kevin Bushweller at 9:17 PM | | 1 Comment | Recommend

December 07, 2006

Grooming Future Einsteins

In my post from Nov. 27, Sad About Science, I wrote about the struggles of getting students motivated to study science.

This week's issue of Education Week has a story that addresses that concern, but also raises questions about fairness and elitism. The story, "Math, Science Academies Favored to Challenge Top-Tier Students," is about the growth of math and science academies, which offer high school students with talent and motivation in those subjects a demanding academic environment.

Many of these academies have difficult entrance requirements, prompting some critics to call them elitist and question the fairness of investing public money in such institutions. Those are legitimate concerns, especially if the goal is to raise achievement in math and science across the board, rather than just among top students.

Even so, the impact such academies can have on student motivation among some of our brightest students cannot be overestimated. Bright, highly motivated students often thrive when they are surrounded by peers who are equally motivated.

The Education Week story mentions one student who graduated from the Texas Academy of Mathematics and Science. The student said attending the academy motivated her to look beyond the opportunity ceiling she once saw ahead of her. She is now a student at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. If she hadn't attended the academy, she said, "I don't think I would have gotten interested in genetics, or gone to a research university." ( It's worth noting that she probably would not have been able to attend the academy without financial aid.)

In the quest to raise the science and math achievement of the masses, it's important not to overlook the needs of our brightest students. Maintaining that balance, of course, is not always as easy as some might suggest.

But no great achievement in life is ever easy, right? I'm sure Einstein would agree.

Posted by Kevin Bushweller at 9:06 PM | | Leave a comment | Recommend

December 04, 2006

Motivated by Choice?

As a reporter and editor, I have always experienced school choice in a rather abstract way, writing about it as an outsider with no stake in the outcome. To be sure, that helped me maintain my objectivity about a topic that can be very divisive and controversial.

But now, I am living it up close and personal, as my oldest son struggles to decide where he will attend high school.

In our community, public high school students can choose to attend public high schools other than their assigned one. The program--which offers specialty academic programs in fine arts, biotechnology, and other areas--aims to increase student motivation by tapping into teenagers' academic interests. Students who want to go somewhere other than their assigned school must apply for acceptance.

A few years ago, I wrote a piece about how this program works and the effect it has had on the teenagers and parents in my neighborhood. (See "Different Directions.") At the time, I was still years away from having to step into the role of helping my son decide what high school would fit his interests, and our family's logistical needs, best.

But now he is in eighth grade and the decision is upon him and us.

I have always believed in the power of options. They can be your ticket out of bad situations and provide you with opportunities to pursue your passions. Educational trends in this country appear to support such options. The share of enrollment for public schools of choice grew from 11 percent to 15 percent of all students in grades 1-12 from 1993 to 2003, according to "Trends in the Use of School Choice: 1993-2003," a report recently released by the National Center for Education Statistics. Those schools include public charter schools, magnet schools, and other types of options both within districts and in nearby districts.

But can you give a teenager too many options? Maybe.

My son has watched several of his neighborhood friends who are a year older choose to attend a school other than their assigned school, and the school they chose is a significant distance from our community. Some of his other 8th grade friends plan to attend their assigned school.

My son's interests, however, are leading him toward a third option, a high school that is nearby but is not his assigned high school.

At first thought, you'd think he'd be happy about all these choices. It sure seems like a cool idea to me, someone who never had such an array of choices.

Not so. Time and again, he has told me he wished the county simply made kids go to the school they were assigned to attend. That way, all his neighborhood friends would go there and he wouldn't have to decide, in eighth grade, whether he wants to pursue a fine arts specialty or a biotechnology specialty, whether he wants to follow his friends to the school that is far from our neighborhood, attend his assigned school, or chart an entirely different path.

For those of us who are particularly interested in student motivation issues, this public school choice program is a fascinating experiment to watch. Now, I'll get a chance to see, up close and personal, whether all this choice really leads to increased student motivation.

Posted by Kevin Bushweller at 3:58 PM | | 3 Comments | Recommend

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