Gardening 101: Getting to the Root of the Problem

Dandelions: the perennial lawn maintenance nuisance. It doesn’t take a very savvy gardener to know that getting rid of a dandelion takes more than just popping the yellow top off. It requires attention to the root – digging the whole darned thing out from the ground – to remedy the problem.

There’s a reason that in talking about problems and solutions the term “root” is thrown around even when the topic isn’t gardening or dentistry. Throwing “solutions” at the top of a complex problem will never solve the problem. At best it will mask it or defer the problem for a time, but ultimately the concern will either manifest itself somewhere new or re-emerge again over time.

We know this in gardening, in business, in healthcare, in government. So why are we so slow to “know” it and, more importantly, to act on it when it comes to education? All the data tells us that access to early childhood education dramatically, positively impacts a child’s trajectory of success for K-12, post-secondary education and far into their professional lives. More successful professionals means stronger national and global economies and a more secure future for us all.

Let’s make 2016 the year that we acknowledge the achievement gap in the united States and demand our next president make early childhood education a priority. Save the Children Action Network (SCAN) is doing just that. Read more on their campaign to make early childhood education funding a top priority in the campaigns for all presidential hopefuls in the coming elections.

Student Centered Learning

Our intrepid Lumen8ers, discussing 21st Century Learning!

We talk a lot about student centered learning. Not just the education community at large, we specifically mean at the Lumen Touch office. This summer, we have a cohort of some amazing Lumen8 Educators spending the summer with us to bridge the gap between the community and the classroom!

We spoke a lot about letting students own the classroom, counting on them to present to the outside community, and have other be the final arbiters of grades.

Read on for more techniques, on the classroom, building, and district level!

Gates Ways

Some of America’s favorite innovators are college dropouts. And educators can feel more than a little daunted when defending their value in the face of multibillionaires’ successes sans formal education. In response to edu-skeptics (and in support of higher ed) Microsoft’s Bill Gates published a reflection on the importance of obtaining a college degree. A New York Times article bolsters Gates’ post with even more research.

Our favorite highlights:

‘“The problem isn’t that not enough people are going to college,” Mr. Gates writes. “The problem is that not enough people are finishing.”’

“Education, as David Autor, the M.I.T. economist, notes, is not a game of musical chairs. More educated societies generally become richer, healthier and better functioning over time.”