How Do We Address the Needs of Kids Without Mobile Access?
April 4, 2011 | 3:00 PM | By Tina Barseghian
* DIGITAL DIVIDE
FILED UNDER: Tech Tools, achievement gap, digital-divide, mobile-learning
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Flickr:Shlala
The $64,000 question in education: Does access to mobile technology actually help close the achievement gap?
Bill Ferriter, a sixth-grade teacher in North Carolina, has been thinking about this issue, and writing about it on his blog, The Tempered Radical.
In this recent post, he addresses a question from one of his readers, who sites Ferriter's source, about how to address the needs of the minority of kids who don't have mobile access?
"75% of students are good to go, but do you just leave the other 25% to "fin for themselves", leave them out of the equation all together, or do you do something to supplement such as the school providing a temporary cell phone" the reader asks.
Here's his response.
One of the stumbling blocks to almost every reform initiative in schools is our stubborn refusal to move forward until the conditions are perfect for change.
The result: Change never happens.
Best hopes included:
* Improving student achievement
* Fostering collaboration
* common understanding of "effective" performance
* Providing meaningful and regular feedback to educators.
"Policies are principles or rules that are intended to shape decisions and actions. They provide the framework for the functioning of the organization. Procedures are the ways that organizations implement policies. Policies answer the "what" and "why" questions. Procedures answer the "how," "who," and "when" questions. Policies are expressed in broad terms; procedures in more specific behavioral or operational terms. Since procedures need to be more flexible to adapt to changing conditions in the organization, it is useful to differentiate policies from procedures so that procedural modifications can be made in a timely manner-often without board action. "
This is in the beginning stages but here is my offer to the staff of Kent (2nd version, thanks to Jeff Utecht):
* I will provide you with an extra prep per week ("A Fed Ex Prep") for 6 straight weeks. This would be prep-free for you as I would prep whichever subject the you would like. The time is also negotiable (ie. if you would rather have 2 periods a week for 3 weeks).
* This time will be self-directed to ANYTHING you want with the only goal that you must DELIVER your ideas.
* I also encourage you to use one of your professional days to provide further time (teachers in our district, under their contract are provided with a few extra pro-d days to use if they wish).
What this is NOT:
* time for marking, prepping current curricula, refining current projects/units/program
This will be presented to my staff Tuesday. I will let you know how teachers respond and what comes out of this. I encourage others to comment with any feedback on how we can improve on this "FedEx or Innovative Prep" initiative. If you are doing something similar in your school, I would loved to hear about it.
The Partnership for 21st Century Skills is a national organization that advocates for 21st century readiness for every student. As the United States continues to compete in a global economy that demands innovation, P21 and its members provide tools and resources to help the U.S. education system keep up by fusing the three Rs and four Cs (critical thinking and problem solving, communication, collaboration, and creativity and innovation). While leading districts and schools are already doing this, P21 advocates for local, state and federal policies that support this approach for every school.