Student Success needs Parental Involvement even in Private American Schools in Dubai

This week, KDSL coordinated and presented an Education Parent Forum in Dubai focused on American curriculum schools. Parents of students in American curriculum schools had the chance to connect, ask their questions to a panel of experts, and learn about best practices. Parents had compiled insightful questions about how the US and IB curricula compare, how special needs were being addressed in American schools in Dubai, the readiness of Dubai graduates for US elite colleges and universities and finally, the introduction of the Common Core Curriculum in schools in Dubai.

The parent group had carefully constructed their questions to voice their concerns and asked about what else they could do for their children to help them succeed and be competitive with other students back in the US? Parents articulated concern about two key issues, university acceptance and the new curriculum in the US.

 

1. Parents wondered about graduates from Dubai schools being admitted to good US colleges and universities.  Peter Davos explained that the American-curriculum students were not at an advantage to study in American universities for two major reasons. First, they have grown to have a false sense of entitlement, and second, they have a perception of global issues that is peppered with a privileged bias. The combination of these two attitudinal issues reflects a graduate who is simply not realistically ready for the competitive life of a top tier university in the US – and it shows in their applications!
2. Parents were confused about the quality assurance of the American curriculum and what is considered “American?” The development and the introduction of the Common Core Standards were explained by the panel with an emphasis that schools in Dubai have no real measures that can stop them from calling their curriculum American. But for those schools who have adopted the Common Core, there is notable pressure on school teachers to reform their practice; and teachers are calling out for professional support from their school leadership. The panel was clear – the Common Core is new and teachers are struggling with making sure that they (i) understand and appreciate the goals of the Common Core and (ii) have the professional support to be able to implement it appropriately in their classrooms. So parents need to put pressure on school leadership to ensure the teachers have the professional development to do their jobs and not just put pressure on the teachers!

The panel was very clear about the responsibility of parents to work with the school to prepare their child for graduating and being ready for a good post-secondary school. Surprisingly, these parents seemed unmindful that they were already ahead of the norm in Dubai. The forum was held at a school at 10am. They already prioritized becoming more informed about their children’s educational opportunities over anything else that day.

Do these parents realize that they are already doing something for their children’s attainment just by showing real interest?

The effect of positive parental engagement promoting the importance of education for their children is critical on student attainment. In fact, there are studies that show that parental involvement has a bigger effect than schools in shaping student  achievement. It seemed that in the minds of these parents, they were just being parents. But in Dubai, where there is a marked lack of parental involvement  because of a popular belief that “the education of their children is the sole responsibility of schools,” these parents were being superstars!

 

Building Applied Research Skills in Education for a Better Tomorrow in the GCC

Earlier this week EduEval was invited participate in the 2^nd HCT Research Symposium: Building Networks for Research and Publishing. Dr. Christina Gitsaki, former UNESCO Chair in Applied Research in Education organized the event that focused on the practicality of conducting relevant educational research in the region … and how to connect it globally.

The conversations revolved around what kind of applied research would be helpful in the GCC, the role of the academic community and the practical nitty-gritty of conducing successful applied research projects from start to finish. As the day progressed, there were many questions about the impact of various programs and interventions.

For example, there was a long discussion about the real effect of i-pads classroom use on teacher efficacy? on student motivation? on student learning? and on student achievement?

As faculty and researchers discussed ideas, they also reflected on the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) data for Dubai. Pulling from the TIMSS 2011 Science 8 results for the Cognitive Domains (Knowledge, Application, and Reasoning). Dubai was the only jurisdiction in the GCC (who participated in the international test) that – on average – reached the intermediate benchmark. As we questioned why this was the case, the KHDA report was helpful in shedding some light on these results.

The figure below taken from the KHDA report shows that when the data is redistributed by school curriculum type, only the IB, UK, and Indian and Philippine schools reach the intermediate level (on average). Sadly, the Pakistani schools are not even reaching the low benchmark.

As the day progressed, assumptions and perceived problems were turned into hypotheses and research questions. There was a focus on how to examine the issues identified by data and how to understand the effect of different solutions in different contexts.

The call for professional learning opportunities on how to conduct applied research in the region is getting louder among the education community. Last month, the Gulf Comparative Education Society  offered a full day of pre-conference workshops addressing research ethics, writing good research proposals, research design, educational program evaluations, and data analyses. The interest on training for educational research in the GCC spans beyond its geographical borders. Last year in the UK, the Gulf Research Meeting offered workshops on The Impact of Large-Scale Datasets on Evidence-Based Educational Policymaking and Reform in the Gulf States. And in 2011, the International Development Evaluation Association offered workshops on evaluation practices in Amman, Jordan.

Opportunities for professional learning in applied research are peppered in the GCC. There is a growing hunger among the academic and education community to develop their professional applied research skill set. This trend reflects the greater attention to results and concern for student learning and achievement in these times of major reforms.

The Promise of Technology in the Classroom Demonstrated in University Science Classes

As teachers, we know that if we can engage our students in the learning process, everyone wins. Engaging students in their learning necessarily means interactive teaching methods. These are the methods that have the students think and do during the lesson. Engaging the student in learning also means that we need to be able to follow their learning continuum and adapt our teaching approaches in response to this path (AKA: assessment for learning). Individualizing the learning for each student in a class of 30 is already a challenge. Individualizing the learning in a class of 300 is more than a challenge. But that is what we expect in undergraduate education. And in some schools – they are finding solutions.

Solution: Technology in classrooms

But like all educational tools, they are only as effective as their appropriate use.

There are  a number of studies and initiatives that demonstrate useful approaches and effect on student engagement and learning using technology in the classroom. Recently, a study from the University of British Columbia (UBC) was published in a top  journal . A study on 2 physics classes was conducted. Each class had over 250 students. The researcher compared the amount of learning students experienced when taught by traditional lecture and when taught using interactive activities. The interactive class had no formal lecture. Instead the instructor guided the +250 students through a series of activities including paired and small-group discussions and active learning tasks using remote-control “clickers” to provide feedback for in-class questions.

Not surprisingly, there was a difference. Some of the findings:

• Attendance improved by 20% in the interactive class
• Student engagement doubled in the interactive class
• Students in the interactive class scored almost twice as well on the physics test

Interactive teaching approaches make a difference. But how and when to incorporate interactive technology in teaching is not always self-evident to all teachers. Especially when a teacher has not received support on how to deliver interactive lessons.

The Carl Wieman Science Education is a 5-year ($12M) project that targets improving undergraduate science education. In addition to research on effective practices, the group has and continues to produce useful resources for science instructors including an Instructors Guide to the Effeffective Use of Personal Response Systems (Clickers) in Teaching and a series of video clips to support instructor learning.

Interestingly, but not surprisingly, the effect of these voting devices in the classroom is not about the use of technology. It is about how and why this technology is used that makes them effective. So once again – it relies on the teacher developing their lessons with the student at the center.