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TED Talk: "How to Escape Education's Death Valley" by Sir Ken Robinson

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TED Talk: "How to Escape Education's Death Valley" by Sir Ken Robinson

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Sir Ken Robinson discusses the flaws in the current education system, including the detrimental effects of tracking on students' creativity and potential.

The education system should embrace diversity and celebrate multiple pathways to succeed

Robinson emphasizes the importance of fostering collaboration and creativity in schools. He argues that education should be about more than just acquiring knowledge; it should also be about developing critical thinking, problem-solving, and communication skills.

Robinson stresses the importance of empowering teachers to be creative and innovative in their teaching methods. He believes that teachers should have the freedom to design curriculum and assessments that cater to the needs to their students.

Robinson critiques the narrow definition of intelligence that focuses on linguistic and mathematical abilities, neglecting other forms of intelligence such as artistic, and musical.

Robinson suggests that escaping the "Death Valley" of education requires a cultural shift in how we perceive and prioritize education. He calls for a reimagining of education that values creativity, diversity, and individuality.

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Sir Ken Robinson: How to escape education's death valley

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Sir Ken Robinson outlines 3 principles crucial for the human mind to flourish -- and how current education culture works against them. In a funny, stirring talk he tells us how to get out of the educational "death valley" we now face, and how to nurture our youngest generations with a climate of possibility.

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Inequities in Education by Jonathan Kozol

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Inequities in Education by Jonathan Kozol

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Jonathan Kozol explores the lasting consequences of tracking on students' academic achievement and social mobility, drawing attention to the perpetuation of inequality in education.

Kozol discusses the psychological impact of tracking on students, noting how being labeled as "low-ability" can negatively affect self-esteem and aspirations, perpetuating a cycle of underachievement.

Kozol argues that tracking restricts opportunities for students places in lower tracks, limiting their access to rigorous coursework, advanced classes, and opportunities for academic and personal growth.

Kozol highlights how tracking often exacerbates existing racial and socioeconomic disparities in education. Students from disadvantaged backgrounds are disproportionately placed in lower tracks, while students from privileged backgrounds are more likely to be placed in higher tracks.

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Savage inequalities, written by Jonathan Kozol, is a book that examines inequality in education.

Key Terms

de facto segregation: When races are separated not by any law, but by everyday practices.

property tax: An (usually) ad valorem tax charged on the basis of the fair market value of property. The scope of taxable property varies by jurisdiction, and it may include personal property in addition to real estate.

Savage Inequalities, a 1991 book by Jonathan Kozol, examines the class- and race-based disparities in education. The book is based on Kozol's observations of classrooms in the public school systems of East St. Louis, Chicago, New York City, Camden, Cincinnati, and Washington, D.C. Kozol observed students in schools with the lowest and highest spending per student, ranging from just $3,000 per student in Camden, New Jersey, to up to $15,000 per student, per year in Great Neck, Long Island.

Jonathan Kozol at Pomona College: Savage Inequalities, a 1991 book by Jonathan Kozol, examines the class- and race-based disparities in education.

Kozol's observations illustrated the disparities between schools. In poor schools, students face overcrowding, unsanitary conditions, and understaffed buildings where even basic tools and textbooks might be missing. These schools tend to be located in areas with large proportions of minorities, high rates of poverty, and high taxation rates. But high taxation rates on low-value property do not generate much revenue, and these schools remain underfunded. Kozol argues that property taxes are an unjust funding basis for schools, one that fails to challenge the status quo of racial-based inequality. Even when state funding is used to partially equalize the funding between districts, inequalities aren't erased. In Kozol's words, "Equal funding for unequal needs is not equality. "

Kozol concludes that these disparities in school quality perpetuate inequality and constitute de facto segregation. He argues that racial segregation is still alive and well in the American educational system; this is due to the gross inequalities that result from unequal distribution of funds collected through both property taxes and funds distributed by the state in an attempt to "equalize" the expenditures of schools.

Savage Inequalities by Jonathan Kozol, East St. Louis: Savage Inequalities, a 1991 book by Jonathan Kozol, examines the class- and race-based disparities in education. The book is based on Kozol's observations of classrooms in the public school systems of East St. Louis, Chicago, New York City, Camden, Cincinnati, and Washington, D.C.

De Facto Segregation: Although segregation is officially illegal, unequal school funding can create de facto segregation.

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Savage inequalities, written by Jonathan Kozol, is a book that examines inequality in education. Key Terms de facto segregation: When races are separated not by any law, but by everyday practices. property tax: An (usually) ad valorem tax charged on the basis of the fair market value of property.

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Troung provides context by discussing the history of tracking in education, highlighting how it has often perpetuated inequities by segregating students based on perceived ability levels, race, and socioeconomics status.

This article explores research findings on the impact of detracting on students achievements. Troung discusses studies that have shown positive outcomes for both high- achieving and low- achieving students in detracted classrooms, including improved academic performance and reduced achievement gaps.

This articles explains the importance of parental involvement in discussions about detracking an educational reform.

Troung concludes by emphasizing environments in k-12 classrooms. She encourages parents to engage with educators and policymakers to support efforts to dismantle tracking systems and promote educational equity.

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For decades, educators and policymakers have debated the merits of tracking, the practice of enrolling students in classes - usually in middle or high school - based on their perceived ability or achievement levels.

Research has shown that tracking can be harmful to students in lower-track classes, who are disproportionately low-income and Black and Latino, and provides no significant benefits to higher-tracked students. Starting in the 1980s, some schools moved to detracked systems, where all students are exposed to high-level classwork.

But California's proposals have fueled heated debate, with opponents arguing that detracking is unfair to students who are more advanced learners.

So how do tracking and detracking show up in classrooms? And what do parents need to know as they consider what classes their children should be enrolled in?

The History of Tracking

Tracking in U.S. schools can be traced to the 1900s, after the arrival of poor immigrants from Italy and Ireland, according to Kevin Welner, a professor at the University of Colorado Boulder who studies education policy.

Children who immigrated from those countries, or the children of immigrants who did, were considered "less capable" by school administrators, Welner says. Those students were provided a less rigorous curriculum because they were expected to work in factories, rather than attend college.

Over the next several decades, Welner says, other student groups were similarly denied access to more challenging coursework, including Black students during desegregation followed by immigrants from Mexico and Central America.

"Each time this new wave of newcomers came into mainstream schools, they were denied the high-track curriculum, the rich opportunities to learn and were instead tracked into watered down, lower-track classes," says Welner, who also directs the National Education Policy Center, an organization that conducts education research.

Most schools have since moved away from the strict practice of funneling students into either "college-prep" or "vocational" tracks in high school, and have increased academic standards across the board, with the expectation that all students should graduate prepared for college.

But tracking in its modern form - where students who are advanced in a particular subject take honors or Advanced Placement classes, and those who need extra help take remedial courses - does not look all that different, Welner says.

"It's still very much, 'this student is college material, this student isn't college material, so we need to have them in different classes,'" he says.

Pros and Cons of Detracking

In most high schools, guidance counselors and teachers decide students' course placements based on tests and other academic measures.

Detracking means placing students with mixed abilities and academic achievement in the same classes, with the intention of exposing all students to high-quality curriculum.

Proponents of heterogeneous classrooms say tracking stigmatizes children and exacerbates racial and economic achievement gaps. Black, Latino and low-income students, as well as English-language learners, are disproportionately represented in low-track classes. Students in lower-track classes tend to receive less rigorous instruction focused on rote skills. And studies have shown that low-achieving students do better academically in detracked classrooms with a more challenging curriculum.

"Providing an excellent education for all students is not easy. But tracking is a cop out," Welner says. "To default to a tracked system pretty much ensures that you are denying a high quality of education to the students who are not in the high-track classes."

But Tom Loveless, a former senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, argues that having students with a wide range of abilities in the same class can make it difficult to teach. That can hold back students who are high achievers and are ready for more advanced work, Loveless says.

For a school that is detracking, "I would urge that school to provide a lot of opportunities for their high achievers to accelerate," says Loveless, who describes himself as neither pro or anti-tracking. "And they may in the end have to group them separately so that can be accomplished."

Schools cannot be expected to "take kids who are three, four years behind and have them perform far above grade level," he says.

Welner says detracking should also be coupled with extra classroom support for teachers, and for students who enter class with less preparation. Schools can also provide reading and math interventions to students in elementary school, so they do not fall behind in the first place.

What Detracking Looks Like

Twenty-five years ago, when Dale Leibforth started working at Evanston Township High School in Illinois, it felt as if there were "two high schools."

"You saw an honors-level track and a regular-level track," he says, adding that students enrolled in honors seemed to be more prepared for AP courses.

Racial differences were also apparent. White students were overwhelmingly enrolled in honors-level courses, while Black and Latino students were funneled into regular-level classes.

"It didn't seem right," recalls Leibforth, the math department chair and Advanced Placement success manager at Evanston.

So during the 2011-2012 year, the high school implemented a detracking system called "pathway to honors."

Under that system, ninth grade students are automatically enrolled in pathway to honors classes in several subjects. To receive honors credit for those classes, students must receive an 80 percent or higher on assessments that are generally administered three times each semester, Leibforth says.

"You'll have students who earn honors credit and students who will earn regular credit," he says. "But both groups will have been exposed to the honors-level work throughout."

While the school did not fully detrack its math classes - students are still tested for accelerated math classes beginning in fifth grade - it found a way to expose all students to higher-level coursework, and provide extra support.

In most districts a typical high school student takes algebra followed by geometry, algebra II and then either precalculus or no math class at all senior year. But advanced students may take algebra or geometry before starting high school, which allows them to take calculus or other higher-level math classes senior year.

In Evanston, students who start algebra in ninth grade are enrolled in small classes, where they are given more targeted instruction. The school then offers a summer geometry class, which allows those students to make up ground so they can eventually reach calculus.

During the academic year, the school also provides support classes in geometry and algebra II, where students who require extra help take a second class to reinforce math concepts.

Leibforth says the efforts have boosted enrollment in Calculus AB and Statistics, which are AP classes.

And through the pathway to honors program, more Black and Hispanic students are earning honors credit, while white students are performing "the same and oftentimes better" than they were previously.

Plus, there are other advantages, he says.

"If you walk into a class now, it matches the diversity of the school," he said. "There's a great benefit from having these multiple perspectives in the classroom."

What to Do if Your Child Is in a Low Track

Parents who believe their children have been placed in the wrong track in a particular subject should advocate with school administrators, Loveless says.

But he cautions that accelerating students who are not prepared for higher-level work could create challenges for schools and may not serve the students well.

Welner argues that lower-track classes are "harmful for every child," and suggests parents look for detracked schools or advocate for detracking efforts.

In his research at South Side High School in Rockville Centre, New York, which moved from a tracked system to an International Baccalaureate curriculum for all students, Welner says students who were previously considered high or low track both performed better academically under the new system.

"Generally if your child is in a tracked school, you do not want your child to be in a low-tracked class," Welner says. "Low-track classes tend to be warehousing students, not educating them."

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What parents need to know about how schools sort students into classes.

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Think Again: Is education funding in America still unequal?

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Think Again: Is education funding in America still unequal?

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In this article, Tyner provides background information on the history of education funding in America, highlighting past disparities and efforts to address them through federal and state policies.

Tyner discusses hoe education funding is often tied to local property taxes, resulting in disparities between affluent and impoverished communities. He highlights research showing that students in wealthier districts tend to receive more funding per pupil than those in poorer districts.

Federal funding in education impacts on reducing disparities. Tyner notes that federal programs provide additional funding to schools serving low- income students but acknowledge that federal funding alone may not be sufficient to address all funding inequities.

The importance of ongoing effors to address education funding disparities and promotes equity in education. he encourages educators to continue working towards ensuring that all students have access to high-quality educational opportunities regardless of their zip code, or economic status.

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Think Again: Is education funding in America still unequal?

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This brief challenges the notion that economically disadvantaged students receive less funding than other students, with implications for equalizing classroom resources and optimizing other social policies.