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Raising the Bar is a Team
Effort
San Gabriel Valley Tribune
By: Ken Manning
4/29/2002
Recently I appeared before my local Kiwanis
Club where I was ask to talk on the subject
of education. As I do in all of my presentations,
I talked about trends and detailed some of
the reforms being proposed and implemented
in both K-12 and Career-Technical education.
Reforms such as Small Learning Communities,
High School Exit Exams and increased accountability
through assessment are discussed. But, when
I made the statement that educators embraced
these proposed reforms, as always, I was confronted
with some degree of skepticism. In fact, most
of the questions I received challenge my statement.
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The truth is that these reforms are evident throughout
the San Gabriel Valley. For example, the implementation
of Senior Projects at Workman, Rowland, Sierra Vista
and Baldwin Park High Schools where every student
is expected to do a yearlong project that includes
in-depth research, term paper and oral presentations.
The creation of an Engineering Academy at Los Altos
High School with students building and racing a
solar powered vehicle. Usually against colleges
and universities. High School internships with hospitals,
banks and professional offices throughout the region
by East San Gabriel Valley ROP where students work
side-by-side with professionals, are just a few
that are having a real impact on our future citizens.
These efforts all have two things in common; they
connect schools to the community and they require
students to take responsibility for their education.
Rather than confining students to a classroom for
more drill and kill, these educators are looking
for innovative ways to link education to the community
around them. They recognize that it takes a community
to change education and that more of the same has
marginal results. Additionally, they are committed
to the notion that all students can achieve if we
raise expectations and monitor results.
As President Bush declared in his announcement of
support for the Small Schools Initiative, "schools
will have to ensure the visibility of kids and the
professional community of teachers". Work-based
learning, as a strategy, opens students' eyes to
a wide range of options and academic skills required
in today's workplace and allows them to discover
their strengths and expand their alternatives. It
gives them role models as mentors and exposes them
to the relevancy of academic instruction.
The bottom line is that there is a blurring of the
lines between academic and career-technical education.
The distinctions between "college bound" and "non-college
bound" are becoming obsolete. And, the skills required
to succeed in college and the world of work, are
becoming increasingly similar. To succeed we will
need to forge new partnerships and incorporate the
entire community into the educational process. This
isn't somebody else's problem - it's ours- and all
of us need to lift the bar.
Ken Manning is Deputy Superintendent for the
East San Gabriel Valley Regional Occupational Program
and served twenty years as a Board Member of the
Hacienda La Puente Unified School District (picture
on file). |
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