Educational Truths
An objective look at our nation's educational system leads one to conclude a number of things. You may find the following list thought provoking. We suggest you to take a minute to review these truths to see if you believe our model solves these problems.
The Current Educational Model Will Never Get It Done. America's now 36th in the world's academic race. We are doing even worse in low income communities, and in key subjects like math and science. We need a new model, one that goes far beyond the agricultural, industrial and even informational age models. For our children to thrive, for America to win, it is time for a completely new approach. But, given today's new economic realities, it is just as important that this new solution be affordable. Ours is!
Most Americans Don't Realize The Magnitude of The Problem. If you don't already know, 1/3 of all American students dropout, 60% of minority males. Of those that are left to graduate, only half will be ready for college. We are 25th internationally in math and science, the skills needed to design products and run the fundamental businesses that fuel an economy. Even our best students rank near the bottom (25th) when compared to the best of other countries. It is not going to change until we change the system. We cannot wait any longer, NewERA has a plan to get it done.
The Current System Is Only Designed For One-Half Sigma Results (33%). Public education is ultimately a big system. We tend to forget that. It, like any structured system, produces measurable results. In the case of public education, we have been flat-lined since people started measuring the system in the 1970's. In America, the system results in a 33% dropout rate and only 33% of it's students are ready for college when they graduate. And, is not that what our K12 schools are suppose to deliver?
That is a far cry from the kind of 6-Sigma systems expected in business today. Well, people are not products, and schools are not robotic machines, but it is not unreasonable to expect much, much better results. There are plenty of schools that consistently send almost every child to college in communities with far more challenging circumstances than our own. We know it is possible for schools in communities like ours to deliver roughly 2 Sigma results - getting 95% of students to college. NewERA is committed to doing just that, and is confident we know exactly what needs to be done.
By Middle School Our Children Need To Learn At Twice The Rate, Just To Catch Up, Much Less Win. The average low income 19 year old has the equivalent of an 8th grade education. If you do the math, that means that by the time a child reaches middle school they will need to work twice as hard just to catch up. Unfortunately, our public schools have not accepted this yet, and do not quite seem to want to take on that much responsibility. NewERA does!
The "Fixes" Have Not Worked. Why do people continue to believe in dogmatic tried and true "solutions"? Educators, politicians and the media have been advocating for more money, parental involvement, smaller classes, and certified teachers for decades.
But, what have we gotten? The same results. That is because these ideas sound good, but are really off target when examined under
deep scrutiny. That is not to say that they do not help, a little bit, just not any where near as much as other things.
Our schools work with limited resources. Getting the most educational bang for the public's buck has to become a real priority. Especially, if America intends to have the next generation succeed. We at NewERA, know exactly what those right priorities are; we have done our homework. We know the strategies used by great schools. Schools that actually get their students to and through college. We traveled the country, learned from the best, and developed a simple yet comprehensive plan to provide our students with a great education, right here, right now, in our own community.
Modern Families Need More Help. The days of "Leave It To Beaver" and "The Cosby Show" are long gone. Today, every parent works in 80% of our households. Those that are fortunate enough to have a job, work longer hours, commute longer distances, and in many cases extended families do not exist. Divorce and single family homes now touch 60% of our children. In low-income communities the ratio of kids to parents goes from 1:1 to 3:1, meaning it is simply a lot tougher today than when we grew up. NewERA Schools' model not only assures our students succeed academically, but it also easier on modern families demands.
We Funnel Kids Out of Positive, Productive Activities Just As They Hit The Most Trying Part of Their Life - Puberty. Do you ever wonder why we provide less activities for teens than we do for the younger children? Haven't you heard them - they keep telling us that
there is nothing for them to do. Is it any wonder they experiment with drugs and alcohol, that we have an obesity problem in this country, and that gangs are now epidemic?
Take sports as an example: in elementary school, everyone gets to play, in middle school we start "weeding kids out" of things they love to do (this sounds rather dumb to us), so that by the 12th grade only a few kids get to participate in any given activity. What sense does that make? Can we not design something smarter? We love competition as much as the next guy, but why is it either or?
NewERA Schools give teens something to do. First their homework, then an array of "fun stuff." We proactively address this issue by expanding our programs and (long term) our facilities to accommodate the needs of all our students (and the community at large). The question is how to pay for this expanded service. Read our vision, come to a community meeting and see if you can't figure out how. We look forward to meeting you.
An objective look at our nation's educational system leads one to conclude a number of things. You may find the following list thought provoking. We suggest you to take a minute to review these truths to see if you believe our model solves these problems.
The Current Educational Model Will Never Get It Done. America's now 36th in the world's academic race. We are doing even worse in low income communities, and in key subjects like math and science. We need a new model, one that goes far beyond the agricultural, industrial and even informational age models. For our children to thrive, for America to win, it is time for a completely new approach. But, given today's new economic realities, it is just as important that this new solution be affordable. Ours is!
Most Americans Don't Realize The Magnitude of The Problem. If you don't already know, 1/3 of all American students dropout, 60% of minority males. Of those that are left to graduate, only half will be ready for college. We are 25th internationally in math and science, the skills needed to design products and run the fundamental businesses that fuel an economy. Even our best students rank near the bottom (25th) when compared to the best of other countries. It is not going to change until we change the system. We cannot wait any longer, NewERA has a plan to get it done.
The Current System Is Only Designed For One-Half Sigma Results (33%). Public education is ultimately a big system. We tend to forget that. It, like any structured system, produces measurable results. In the case of public education, we have been flat-lined since people started measuring the system in the 1970's. In America, the system results in a 33% dropout rate and only 33% of it's students are ready for college when they graduate. And, is not that what our K12 schools are suppose to deliver?
That is a far cry from the kind of 6-Sigma systems expected in business today. Well, people are not products, and schools are not robotic machines, but it is not unreasonable to expect much, much better results. There are plenty of schools that consistently send almost every child to college in communities with far more challenging circumstances than our own. We know it is possible for schools in communities like ours to deliver roughly 2 Sigma results - getting 95% of students to college. NewERA is committed to doing just that, and is confident we know exactly what needs to be done.
By Middle School Our Children Need To Learn At Twice The Rate, Just To Catch Up, Much Less Win. The average low income 19 year old has the equivalent of an 8th grade education. If you do the math, that means that by the time a child reaches middle school they will need to work twice as hard just to catch up. Unfortunately, our public schools have not accepted this yet, and do not quite seem to want to take on that much responsibility. NewERA does!
The "Fixes" Have Not Worked. Why do people continue to believe in dogmatic tried and true "solutions"? Educators, politicians and the media have been advocating for more money, parental involvement, smaller classes, and certified teachers for decades.
But, what have we gotten? The same results. That is because these ideas sound good, but are really off target when examined under
deep scrutiny. That is not to say that they do not help, a little bit, just not any where near as much as other things.
Our schools work with limited resources. Getting the most educational bang for the public's buck has to become a real priority. Especially, if America intends to have the next generation succeed. We at NewERA, know exactly what those right priorities are; we have done our homework. We know the strategies used by great schools. Schools that actually get their students to and through college. We traveled the country, learned from the best, and developed a simple yet comprehensive plan to provide our students with a great education, right here, right now, in our own community.
Modern Families Need More Help. The days of "Leave It To Beaver" and "The Cosby Show" are long gone. Today, every parent works in 80% of our households. Those that are fortunate enough to have a job, work longer hours, commute longer distances, and in many cases extended families do not exist. Divorce and single family homes now touch 60% of our children. In low-income communities the ratio of kids to parents goes from 1:1 to 3:1, meaning it is simply a lot tougher today than when we grew up. NewERA Schools' model not only assures our students succeed academically, but it also easier on modern families demands.
We Funnel Kids Out of Positive, Productive Activities Just As They Hit The Most Trying Part of Their Life - Puberty. Do you ever wonder why we provide less activities for teens than we do for the younger children? Haven't you heard them - they keep telling us that
there is nothing for them to do. Is it any wonder they experiment with drugs and alcohol, that we have an obesity problem in this country, and that gangs are now epidemic?
Take sports as an example: in elementary school, everyone gets to play, in middle school we start "weeding kids out" of things they love to do (this sounds rather dumb to us), so that by the 12th grade only a few kids get to participate in any given activity. What sense does that make? Can we not design something smarter? We love competition as much as the next guy, but why is it either or?
NewERA Schools give teens something to do. First their homework, then an array of "fun stuff." We proactively address this issue by expanding our programs and (long term) our facilities to accommodate the needs of all our students (and the community at large). The question is how to pay for this expanded service. Read our vision, come to a community meeting and see if you can't figure out how. We look forward to meeting you.