Bill Gates is at it once more! This time hes taking around the American public high colleges.

But Bill isnt alone. Educational Testing Services survey Ready For the True Globe?, eminent organization author Dan Pink (An entire New Thoughts and Free of charge Agent Nation), and lots of other people have criticized our higher college system as not being up to the job. Why am I interested? Easy! I have been involved with training for more than 50 years. I've always looked towards the long term and how we required to alter to meet new demands society locations on us. I really feel there's huge interest nationally for things to modify, but we are holding on to old models, looking to place new wine into old casks, and obtaining it just wont perform. If you want much more info about my background, go to our new internet site [http://www.eye2theworld] and study my biographical sketch. Really our high schools are up to the process for which they were intended. The only issue is the fact that were not residing while in the 1940s. Preparing students for the world of exploding telecommunications and globalization although dealing with college students as if they have been re-runs from Leave It to Beaver locations us around the path to disaster. As Susan Patrick, Director from the U. S. Department of Educations Office of Educational Technology, stated, what's necessary just isn't educational reform, its educational transformation. Just before we can count on key academic enhancement the system wants an overhaul, not just tweaking around the edges. This is not a call for far more testing, greater teachers, more attentive college students, or far more cash. Those issues could be examined later on. I'm calling for structural modify in the ground up, from how our buildings are organized, how teachers perform with students and with one another, how our curricula are formulated, and how we motivate individuals hyper-active M Generation college students. I need to propose six actions that should be the beginning point. Now Im not naive adequate to believe that youd take me at face value. I can hear the chants, Wheres the proof? Effectively, I do have a model; one particular that comes from what for a lot of years was the step-child of public education, namely vocational education, shop classes or trade schools as we utilised to contact them. These were college to which the much less academically able students have been shunted. Theirs was not a college bound curriculum! Elkhart, IN is blessed using a fantastic facility, the Elkhart Place Profession Center (EACC) that demonstrates how excellence can be produced year after year if the facilities, courses, staffs, and neighborhood are committed and perform collectively. About 1200 students from 12 with the regions school districts spend half-day sessions for two a long time in certainly one of 22 specialized programs. EACCs college students represent a cross section of student bodies. Several enter with straight As. About 55 percent go on to additional schooling after high college graduation. See the EACCs website http://www.elkhart.k12.in.us/eacc The following steps can give the foundation to build upon for academically oriented schools as well as technical higher schools. Isnt it ironic that the place of secondary college education which for decades was believed to become the dumping ground for failing students can now be an illustration for educational transformation? STEP One: Buildings developed for integrated issue centered programs. Ever walked down the hallway of a common large college? How are the classes organized? All of the Language Arts classes are collectively, typically around the same hall. Its equivalent for social research, foreign languages, science, math, organization and the arts. The Profession Center, on the other hand, organizes its space into six program cluster regions: Company Technologies, Graphics & Media, Manufacturing & Engineering, Service Industry, Transportation, and Construction. Why not organize substantial schools into academic cluster places, each and every cluster containing area for each academic specialty? Teams of language arts, science, math, and social research teachers would perform with each other to give guidance from their respective specialties as students tackle problems Visual and performing arts teachers could be available to give broader dimensions. The world doesnt divide tasks into special departments. Solving

problems takes integration of ideas from each and every discipline. Let the college students work on real world problems, not be placed in unreal world environments. STEP TWO: Criterion referenced curriculum development. Organize the curriculum all around sequenced mastery criteria. Each and every Profession Center system follows a series of criteria that college students complete in sequence. When the course is completed the list of mastered skills goes with the college students and becomes a part of their portfolios. Much in the time students operate in teams, some formal and some informal. In the event the regular substantial school academic applications have been organized about issue solving, each instructor could provide similar sets of criteria. fa cup draw. Student records would show what they have mastered in each discipline. At the end with the course the records would follow the college students to the next grade. At graduation the lists would determine every students level of mastery in every single place, such as Language Arts, Math, etc. These could be available as parts of college or employment applications. STEP THREE: Dual credit and certification opportunities. At the Profession Center college students have an opportunity within the majority of applications to receive both substantial college and college credit. In some cases a semester or much more for college may be gained... Special certification programs from Cisco, Microsoft, General Motors, Ford and other companies also are available in technical courses. College students need specific goals toward which to perform. These incentives go a long way. While in the Construction plan, for instance, students create a new house literally from the ground up. At the end of the year it is sold and the funds more support the Construction plan. Academic programs need comparable incentives. Some colleges place emphasis on Advanced Placement courses. However, these have been criticized because of their narrow focus. STEP FOUR: Internships. College students at the Profession Center not only function on real world projects in class, but several have intern possibilities during their second year. Why should such valuable special experiences be limited to special colleges? Cant internships be set up for students in academic programs also? Certainly one of the big mistakes we have made is to separate students into so-called college bound or profession bound offerings. Ought to college prep students must keep their noses buried in books. Theres no reason why college students in traditional programs really should not have opportunities to utilize what they have learned inside schools by making contributions outside their college environments. STEP FIVE: Community input. One among the greatest keys towards the Profession Centers success is its involving neighborhood personnel on advisory committees. Every from the 22 programs has its own advisory committee and theres an over all advisory committee as well. These people, representing the various technical fields, are valuable links to the larger neighborhood. Curricula receive direct input from individuals actively working in the neighborhood. Why cant there be equivalent committees in traditional colleges? Once more, such links would help students directly by demonstrating how what is learned in classes has worth in the larger community, and committee members may be supporters for your colleges for the rest in the neighborhood at the same time. STEP SIX: Multiple student incentives. In every system there must be opportunities for college students to participate in competitions leading to state and national recognition. The Career Center has been outstanding every year when several students achieve success at state and even national levels. Comparable programs should be available and highly recognized in every high school across the country. Here is the list from the 2004-05 college year: State Award for Overall Excellence: 1 state winner Skills USA State Medalists: 7 gold medals (students went to Kansas City for your national contest June 19-24, all expenses paid) 6 silver medals 6 bronze medals

ARTiculate: 2 state winners (2nd and 3rd place) Regional Scholastic Art Awards: 1 American vision Award (5 pc.Portfolio) 3 gold keys 1 silver key 9 honorable mention National Scholastic Art Awards 1 student (received at Carnegie Hall) Lincoln Art Welding: 6 awards Automotive Youth Educational Systems 10 senior interns 6 junior interns State Ford AAA Student Auto Skills 3rd place team Finally, through the generous gifts from Basil S. Turner, certainly one of the Profession Centers original benefactors, and others while in the community, there's an endowed scholarship foundation currently worth about $400,000. Every year it awards twelve scholarships to deserving students to additional their training in technical institutes or colleges and universities. The system is a chapter while in the Dollars for Scholars system (www.scholarshipamerica.org/ ). In summary, here is a description from the mission of the Profession Center and its relationship to traditional academic programs. There exists no separation between college bound and career bound students. Following all, the goal of any good educational system is to challenge the college students to perform at their highest level and to give the tools so that their goals are achievable. I suggest the Profession Centers statement here really should be replicated for every high school in America. "At the Elkhart Location Profession Center we have certified math and English instructors working with the career and technical educational instructors. We give all college students with the occupational, academic and higher-order thinking skills essential to function effectively in a technologically advanced society, a globally competitive marketplace and an information-based economy. "By integrating mathematics and English academics within career and technical training skills, we enhance student learning by providing a real-life, hands-on opportunity to practice the use of their academic and vocational skills. The basic academic and problem-solving skills are taught simultaneously so that they are mutually reinforced. College students learn how to recognize the academic strategies to solve real-life problems and also the skills get reinforced through handson applications. "The course outcomes are aligned with Indiana State educational standards. Integration of academic and career preparation standards make possible a career pathway connecting education for the globe of work." For much more info about exemplary educational programs for all ages and to be challenged by new ideas about learning, visit our web site www.eye2theworld.net.