July/August 2005 Edition of the Skills for Tomorrow Activities and Updates Listserv

As students prepare to return to school, it’s also time for the labor community to plan on joining them in the classroom to teach them about labor and the world of work. Reach out to teachers, PTA’s and students to get an invitation into the classroom.

We all have a rich knowledge base about the “real” world of work. Let’s share this with young people so that they can enter the working world prepared. Prepared for good jobs, decent wages and excellent benefits under the union umbrella! Lead them to companies who employ union workers, and like us, they will reap the rich rewards of being a union member.

To submit information on your organization, or career development curriculum, please email Sharlene Mentor at smentor@teamster.org

Thank you!
Education Department Staff
International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT)
http://www.ibtstw.org

On April 29, two representatives from Joint Council 28 in Seattle met with 60 students at Kent-Ridge High School in Kent, Washington. Scott Sullivan, Joint Council 28 Organizing and Political Director, and Doug Henderson, Research and Finance Director for the Joint Council, spoke with the senior classes at the request of teacher Chris Howard.

Sullivan and Henderson shared the meaning of a labor union, the history of labor in the United States with emphasis on Teamsters history, and the advantages of working in a unionized job versus working in a nonunionized job. They also discussed major labor and social legislation, including the Social Security Act, and compared the philosophical and economical differences between a strike and a lockout. In addition, they fielded questions on every aspect of trade unionism and workplace rights.

"The experience of giving those who have just entered, or will soon be entering, the workforce some idea of what unions do for the working class is an eye opener,” Henderson said. “Our Joint Council's leadership has made reaching out to the educational facilities a priority so that these individuals can have the much needed information to carry forth the union traditions."

Joint Council 28 is in the process of contacting the Superintendent of Public Instructions to see if a labor education curriculum can be developed and implemented on a statewide basis.

Since 1999, through the Skills For Tomorrow project, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters has reached more than 40,000 students in an effort to educate them about the labor movement, global economy, workplace rights and union industries.

On June 2, the TransTech Academy at the Francis L. Cardozo Senior High School held its Eleventh Senior Awards and Recognition Program in Washington, D.C. More than 150 students, alumni, teachers, parents, friends, partners and supporters of the Academy attended the special program. Teamsters Attorney James McCall and Education Coordinator James Beeharilal represented the Teamsters Union. The event was emceed by 1995 TransTech Class alumnus Edwin Rodriguez, who graduated from the University of Maryland with a triple major, and now works for the Federal Transit Administration.

Thirty-four students, of whom 10 graduated with honors, made up the Academy’s Class of 2005. A majority of the class received scholarships, ranging from approximately $1,000 to $100,000, to further their studies in institutions of higher learning in different parts of the country. Most, if not all, of the graduates are from lower income families.

TransTech Academy Teacher Emma L. Stephens presented the awards to the graduates, and Academy Coordinator Mrs. Shirley C. McCall presented certificates of appreciation and special awards to the Academy’s partners and supporters, including the Teamsters Union. Beeharilal accepted a plaque on behalf of the union. Mrs. McCall also read a letter from Teamsters General President James P. Hoffa congratulating the Class of 2005. Hoffa and the Teamsters Union have provided vital support to TransTech students over the years.

“Transportation is important and critical to the health of our nation’s economy as well as to the global economy,” Hoffa said in his letter to the graduates. “The Teamsters Union is proud to have the opportunity to work with you over the years as you prepare these incredible young men and women for careers in transportation and other fields. Because of the foundation you have provided, wherever the students go in life–and, hopefully, many of them consider careers within unionized sectors–they are sure to make a difference in their local communities and on the job.”

The TransTech Academy has been a valuable partner in the Teamsters Skills For Tomorrow project. Its students, including some from the graduating Class of 2005, have actively participated in various Teamster programs. Since 1999, the Skills For Tomorrow programs and presentations have reached more than 40,000 students.

~~~~> NYU Grad Student Union Preparing Fall Labor Actions to Defend Union - 08/09/05

Roughly a thousand New York University (NYU) graduate student workers are planning a fall labor action in defense of their collective bargaining rights. NYU has told UAW Local 2110 representing the workers that after five years NYU will no longer recognize the union, taking advantage of a Bush administration NLRB decision to try to smash the campus union. Jenny Shaw is with the bargaining committee of UAW Local 2110 at NYU.

"Our contract officially ends on August 31st of this year. And I think it's fair to say that NYU can expect that it will not be business as usual following that. There is going to be a lot of disruption on campus and we are going to have an action on that day, the details of which are being worked our right now."

Shaw says the union has lots of community support, strong solidarity among its membership and student support…

"Our membership is enraged by the actions that NYU has taken. We have demonstrated majority support for the union amongst our membership right across the length of the contract and people are determined that they're not going to sit back and take this. And we're not going to let NYU dictate what our working conditions should be. We should have a say in that. And we're going to make sure that our voices are heard."

The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) recently released a 382-page report on the condition of education in the United States. The report "summarizes important developments and trends in education using the latest available data."

Click on http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2005094 for the abstract, or to download the entire report, click on http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2005/2005094.pdf

The nation’s nine-year-olds have made considerable gains in reading and mathematics over the past five years, turning in the highest scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress long-term trend tests in those subjects since they were first given more than three decades ago.

Minority students and those scoring in the lowest percentile on the tests given during the 2003-04 school year showed the most dramatic progress among nine-year-olds, narrowing the achievement gap between black and Hispanic students and their white peers, and the highest and lowest performers, to the smallest margins ever. Average scores among 13-year-olds also showed improvement in math, but not in reading, while the performance of 17-year-olds on both tests was flat since the tests were last given in 1999.

But while U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings hailed the results as “proof that No Child Left Behind is working; it is helping to raise the achievement of young students of every race and from every type of family background,” other federal officials and experts cautioned that there is no evidence that the progress is linked to the 3-year-old law.

The types of standards and accountability measures guiding the federal law have likely led to progress in student achievement, according to Darvin M. Winick, the chairman of the National Assessment Governing Board, which sets policy for NAEP. But, as Mr. Winick pointed out, many states had already begun making such changes and focusing intensely on improving reading and math instruction after the 1999 national assessment and prior to the federal law’s implementation.

“There’s certainly been a greater emphasis on the elementary school years and getting kids started off on the right foot,” said Grover “Russ” Whitehurst, the acting commissioner of the National Center for Education Statistics, the arm of the U.S. Department of Education that administers the test. But that effort, he said, started with the states and was bolstered by the federal law.

The trend tests were first given in 1971 and are the nation’s best ongoing indicator of how student achievement in those subjects has changed over time. Trend tests in writing and science were discontinued in recent years because of technical problems with the reliability of the writing results and changes in the sciences that make the test of that overarching subject outdated. The trends tests are separate from the main NAEP, given periodically in a number of core subjects since 1990 to national and state samples of students. Results of the 2005 main NAEP in math and reading are due in the fall.

While the trend tests are given to nationally representative samples of public and private school students, too few private schools and students volunteered to take the tests to ensure the reliability of their results.

Since the early 1970s, younger students have tended to make relatively large gains on the trend math test, while scores among teenagers remained mostly stagnant. This time, however, the improvement among the youngest age group, 9-year-olds, was particularly dramatic, with average math scores jumping from 232 to 241 on a 500-point scale—the largest single gain since 1973, when the long-term NAEP was first administered in that subject.

“There’s no question, those are outstanding results,” declared Tom Loveless, the director of the Brown Center at the Washington-based think tank, the Brookings Institution. He has studied previous NAEP math scores in detail. “It’s been true for a while now. … We’ve been seeing the larger increases among younger students.”

Average math scores among 13-year-olds rose from 276 to 281—also the largest gain for that age group since the long-term NAEP’s inception. The performance among 17-year-olds, however, was less than stellar, with that age group turning in an average score of 307, one point lower than in 1999. The 2004 math score for that age group was barely higher than in 1973, when the average mark was 304.

In reading, nine-year-olds scored an average 219 on a 500-point scale, up from 212 in 2004 and 208 in 1971. The performance of older students has changed little in more than three decades. The average score for 13-year-olds, for example, was 259 in 2004, statistically the same since 1980 and just four points more than in 1971. The average score of 17-year-olds—285 points—was the same as in 1971, although their results had improved slightly from 1988 to 1992 before declining.

Mr. Winick noted that significant demographic changes in the student samples have taken place over the life of the tests. The proportion of Hispanic students taking the tests, for example, has tripled since 1971, but the effect of those changes on the results has not been fully studied.

Administration of the next long-term trend tests in math and reading is scheduled for 2008.

The U.S. Department of Education will publish a common graduation rate for every state in an attempt to provide a clearer picture of how successful the states are in assuring students complete high school, the department’s second-ranking official told state policymakers here July 13.

The department will calculate each state’s graduation rate based on the number of high school graduates in a given year divided by the average of the number of students who entered the 8th grade five years earlier, the 9th grade four years earlier, and the 10th grade three years earlier. The so-called “averaged freshman graduation rate” will be published alongside the graduation rates that states report under the federal No Child Left Behind Act, the department official said in a speech to state policymakers gathered here July 12-15 for the national conference of the Denver-based Education Commission of the States.

“[The new calculation] has been shown to track very closely with true on-time graduation rates,” Deputy Secretary of Education Raymond J. Simon told members of the ECS. “It makes it easier to understand, more accurate, and makes the system more transparent.”

Mr. Simon said the new state calculations will be reported on an interim basis and will provide a common measure of how well states are ensuring students are completing high school.

States have come under increasing criticism in recent years for publishing graduation rates that are misleading and not comparable across states. Some states, for example, calculate their graduation figures based on the percentage of seniors who earn their diplomas by the end of the school year—a measure that ignores students who drop out before reaching the 12th grade.

Mr. Simon said many states lack the data systems to provide more precise measures of their high school graduation rates. But the federal government will be able to calculate the “averaged freshman graduation rate” by using enrollment and other data already collected by the National Center for Education Statistics, a branch of the federal agency.

Meanwhile, the National Governors Association (NGA) on July 14 announced the first 10 states to receive grants of up to $2 million under a program aimed at improving graduation and college-readiness rates that was unveiled at the National Education Summit on High Schools in February.

Financed by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and several other philanthropies, the grants will be used for purposes that include improving state academic standards; aligning curricula and assessments to meet college-entrance requirements; promoting the need for high school reform to the public; expanding science, math, and technology education; and implementing systems for collecting and analyzing data, according to the NGA and the Seattle-based Gates Foundation.

The 10 states awarded grants are Arkansas, Delaware, Indiana, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Rhode Island and Virginia.

In a separate section of his speech, Mr. Simon said the Education Department has granted Washington state permission to take into account students who take more than four years to graduate for determining adequate yearly progress under the No Child Left Behind law. The state also will continue to publish a graduation rate measuring what percentage of students earn their diploma in four years, but can use the extended time period for accountability purposes.

“We want to see incentives created to encourage dropouts to return to school,” Mr. Simon said. “This change is a positive step forward.”

While other states have received permission to take into account in their graduation rates students with limited English or those with disabilities who take more than four years to graduate, Washington state’s provision could apply beyond those special populations.

It’s ironic that the only people who have been excluded from the school reform debate are those most affected by it: the students. Except for occasional tokenism and the efforts of a few enlightened educators and reformers, their voices have been remarkably absent from the national discussion about the objectives of schooling and how we should achieve them.

That’s worth thinking about. Do we not believe that the people closest to the action have anything useful to say? (If that’s the case, we’re at least partly responsible.) Or are we afraid to ask them because we won’t like their answers?

The reform rhetoric of the past 25 years has been about making sure that children acquire the knowledge and skills they need to become productive, responsible citizens and to help sustain America’s economic welfare and democratic institutions. Common sense suggests that we’re more likely to accomplish these goals if schools model democratic principles in the way they conduct their business and give students the opportunity to participate in decision making. If we want kids to become productive citizens, we should expose them to real-world issues, both in classrooms and in their communities. And if we want them to become responsible adults, we should expect them to take more responsibility for their education.

We tell students that they are the future, the leaders of tomorrow. But we do a poor job of preparing them for that role and behave as if we don’t have much confidence in them. Public schools are more about control and conformity than they are about unleashing the enormous untapped potential of their 50 million students.

There are some notable exceptions, and they offer a compelling lesson for teachers and administrators. One of them is Kennebunk High School in Maine. Students there have a pronounced voice, mainly because principal Nelson Beaudoin passionately believes they’ll use it constructively and creatively. “I would rather have a school of volunteers than a school of prisoners,” he said during a recent presentation. He later added: “We cannot expect students to accept responsibility unless we provide them with choices.”

Students participate in virtually every decision at Kennebunk High. They provide feedback to teachers on their courses and instruction. Instead of parent-teacher conferences, there are student-led conferences during which teenagers discuss their progress with parents and tell them who they are, where they’re going, and what they need to get there.

Kennebunk abandoned its elected student council (which was mainly a popularity contest) in favor of open membership. Any student can attend, and 40 to 50 show up at meetings instead of the handful of elected members who used to. The council is based on the legislative model: Students offer proposals, which are debated and ultimately voted on. And the decisions are not limited to such trivia as choosing a theme for the prom—the kids have a say in school rules and operating procedures.

Twice a month, council representatives meet for breakfast with Beaudoin to discuss school improvements. They have a representative on the school board who reports monthly to board members on behalf of the students. The school’s staff-leadership team consults regularly with students on important matters.

Kennebunk also has a significant service-learning program that’s linked to the curriculum and allows the teenagers to address real community issues. In his book, Stepping Outside Your Comfort Zone, Beaudoin notes that one of the biggest benefits of service learning for students is the “validation of their self-worth.”

Stepping Outside is full of inspiring stories about students who “deliver thoughtfully” when given responsibility. But empowering youth “is not a simple proposition,” Beaudoin writes. “The idea carries with it all sorts of anxiety and fear. ... It requires a tremendous amount of trust from adults, a tremendous amount of responsibility from students, and a framework that provides opportunities for student leadership.”

Get Connected: Web Site Links

~~~~> Federal Student Aid

Education beyond high school can offer you choices that may not otherwise be possible, open doors to better paying positions, and give you the opportunity to do the things you enjoy most. By advancing your education, you can expand your possibilities and increase your career choices.

For more information, please visit http://studentaid.ed.gov/PORTALSWebApp/students/english/index.jsp

~~~~> The University of Iowa Labor Center

Today, over 246 million children, many as young as five, are involved in child labor around the globe. Child labor is work that harms children or keeps them from attending school. It involves work by children under conditions that are hazardous, illegal, or exploitive.

For more information, please visit http://www.continuetolearn.uiowa.edu/laborctr/child_labor/index.html

~~~~> Lesson Planning

Boring August! No holidays! Why not ask your students to invent their own holidays for August?

Boring August! No holidays! January has Martin Luther King Day. February has Presidents Day. March has Saint Patrick's Day and the first day of spring. ... But what has August got? Boring August! No holidays!

Do you smell a learning activity that encourages kids to think critically and write persuasively?

For Example...

Readers of the Hartford Courant were asked to create a special holiday that might be celebrated annually in the state of Connecticut. The fifth-grade students at the Wells Road School in Granby, Connecticut, had some great ideas:

Children's Day, a day when kids "can do anything they want. And parents cannot tell you what to do."
Goof-Off Day, "so kids can have some fun in our life because parents make us do all the chores" and because "we might just have too much stress, and we might have to get it out."
Best Friends’ Day, a day when friends would do projects together.
Teachers' Day, because "they prepare us to take over for them."
Repeat Day, a day "to increase our vocabulary ... by having everybody learn a new word and try to say it [in sentences] as many times as they can."
Treat People Nice Day, when "we would clean the mess the cat makes and wash the windows, vacuum and do the dishes. Then we would go to bed early and go to church and not fuss."

For more information, visit http://www.education-world.com/a_lesson/lesson/lesson018.shtml

End of Issue

To learn more about the Teamsters, a vital part of every community in the U.S. and Canada and our School-to-Career network, please log onto http://edu.teamster.org/edu.asp or http://www.ibtstw.org

You are receiving this email because you subscribed to the Teamsters Skills For Tomorrow listserv network. If you wish to unsubscribe, please click on the following link. http://www.ibtstw.org/listunsubscribe.asp

~~~~> NYU Grad Student Union Preparing Fall Labor Actions to Defend Union - 08/09/05

Send your questions or comments to: info@ibtstw.org
©2005 The International Brotherhood of Teamsters / Minnesota Teamsters Service Bureau

~~~~> NYU Grad Student Union Preparing Fall Labor Actions to Defend Union - 08/09/05

Send your questions or comments to: info@ibtstw.org ©2005 The International Brotherhood of Teamsters / Minnesota Teamsters Service Bureau

Send your questions or comments to: info@ibtstw.org
©2005 The International Brotherhood of Teamsters / Minnesota Teamsters Service Bureau