A major Carnegie Corporation report titled “Do school differently” was announced this week in eSchoolNews.
The left side portion of the illustration above is from a slide presentation that is part of the report’s The Opportunity Equation, described in an Executive Summary and attachments. The scope of the school realignment that is proposed is sketched in the excerpts at the end of this post.
On the right side of the above illustration is a little girl using her mobile to connect into the global online knowledge commons. She is learning from the Why Files, following her own curiosity. She is learning by using handschooling.
Like most of the goals set out in the Executive Summary this one is not doable before the little girl is past school age: For the United States, the “opportunity equation” means transforming American education so that our schools provide a high-quality mathematics and science education to every student.
Getting a mobile internet browser to every school age student is doable within a year or two. The global knowledge commons is online and begs for educators to engage it.
Focus people! Today’s student underclass is problem #1. How will all of our youngsters today actually be able to learn math and science? How can they have real and equal access to that math and science? The answer is in your hand. Click in your iPhone or Blackberry on whyfiles.org and learn a bunch of new things about science in the next few minutes. That’s how.
Nonetheless, expensive, long-term planning continues to explore goals and options:
Excerpts from the Executive Summary of The Opportunity Equation:
Our nation needs an educated young citizenry with the capacity to contribute to and gain from the country’s future productivity, understand policy choices, and participate in building a sustainable future. Knowledge and skills from science, technology, engineering, and mathematics—the so-called STEM fields—are crucial to virtually every endeavor of individual and community life. All young Americans should be educated to be “STEM-capable,” no matter where they live, what educational path they pursue, or in which field they choose to work.
For the United States, the “opportunity equation” means transforming American education so that our schools provide a high-quality mathematics and science education to every student. The Commission believes that change is necessary in classrooms, schools and school districts, and higher education. The world has shifted dramatically—and an equally dramatic shift is needed in educational expectations and the design of schooling. . . .
The Commission has crafted a comprehensive program of action—one that will require commitments from many quarters, including the federal government, states, schools and school districts, colleges and universities, unions, businesses, nonprofit organizations, and philanthropy. A detailed set of recommendations lays out a practical, coordinated plan, and describes what each constituency can do to raise mathematics and science achievement for all American students. [four priority areas are described]
