Uno de cuatro alumnos de 15 años, en 64 países, se ubica en la categoría de estudiantes de bajo rendimiento, según la Organización para la Cooperación y el Desarrollo (OCDE). Con la motivación de analizar y poner fin a este problema, el organismo creó el informe Estudiantes de bajo rendimiento: por qué se atrasan y cómo ayudarlos a tener éxito.

Algunas de estas acciones son responsabilidad de los gobiernos, encargados de la creación e implementación de las políticas públicas educativas. Pero otras están directamente relacionadas con el trabajo del profesor.  A continuación te presentamos cuatro de estas propuestas concretas que pueden aplicarse en el aula.

-Interesarse por todos los alumnos y transmitir entusiasmo. Los estudiantes rezagados se benefician de profesores que se interesan por el aprendizaje de cada alumno; que trabajan con estos alumnos hasta que comprenden los contenidos. “Los profesores que trabajan con entusiasmo, se enorgullecen de su escuela y valoran los logros académicos tienen más probabilidades de hacer actividades y tareas más estimulantes para los alumnos”, señala el informe.

-Ofrecer apoyo suplementario lo antes posible. Se recomienda hacer evaluaciones diagnósticas a principios del año escolar para identificar de forma temprana a los alumnos con riesgo de fracasar. La evaluación pretende conocer, además, el origen de las dificultades de aprendizaje, con el objetivo de planear una pronta intervención de apoyo suplementario.

-Invitar a los padres a involucrarse. Según la OCDE, hay menos estudiantes con bajo rendimiento en las escuelas donde los padres ejercen presión para mantener altos estándares académicos. Los profesores deben animar a los padres a participar en la gestión del centro escolar y ofrecer unas directrices claras de cómo ayudar a sus hijos.

-Alentar a los alumnos a aprovechar las oportunidades educativas. No está en las manos del maestro cambiar las condiciones socio-económicas de los chicos desfavorecidos, que tienen más probabilidades de tener un rendimiento bajo. Pero sí puede motivarlos a tener una mejor disposición hacia el aprendizaje y aprovechar las oportunidades que brinda la escuela. Se recomienda desarrollar una mentalidad de crecimiento, que asume que la inteligencia, el carácter y la creatividad no son rasgos predeterminados, sino cualidades que se pueden aprender y practicar

Texto original: http://goo.gl/eD9N5F

It is fair to say that MOOCs have captured the world’s imagination as to what might be possible for education, both now and in the future.

MOOCs have also generated controversy, with some wondering about their implications for residential education and others asserting that their hype exceeds their grasp.I would like in this blog post to address a slightly different question, which is what sort of learning can occur through MOOCs and other online offerings? We know that online learning works for knowledge and skills. But can MOOCs change the way people behave?

That was one of the questions that motivated the launch of the Harvard Graduate School of Education’s first-ever HarvardX MOOC. Entitled GSE1x Unlocking the Immunity to Change: A New Approach to Personal Improvement, the course was developed by Bob Kegan and Lisa Lahey, two of my faculty colleagues from the Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE) who are developmental psychologists and experts in adult development.

In this blog, the first of two, I’ll describe the way in which their course demonstrated that you can indeed change behavior, at scale, through a MOOC. In part two, I’ll talk further about the implications of this success, and why this course demonstrates that the conventional wisdom about the relationship between business and education is incomplete.

The traditionally delivered Immunity to Change course has become a core part of the training for school leaders at HGSE. It’s based on the belief that successful leaders need to be learners, and they also need the tools that will enable them to change habits and practices that are obstacles to their own success and the success of their institutions.

The basic idea behind the course is straightforward. It is widely known that the most significant and lasting improvements (in work performance or personal life) come about not through a focus on behavior change alone, but through a focus on changing beliefs and assumptions. For example, most diets focus on behavior change. People do lose weight, but for most it is only temporarily. Immunity to Change moves beyond this dieting model.

Here’s how. To begin, participants are asked to fill out an Immunity to Change map. The first two steps are to name an improvement goal and identify current behaviors that are preventing them from reaching this goal. Following this, students are asked to think about these behaviors and then express the worries they have about behaving in a different way. By identifying these worries, they are then able to identify a number of “hidden commitments” they may be harboring without fully realizing it. Finally, based on the previous steps, participants describe their related big assumptions—underlying core beliefs which may or may not be true—that have kept them true to their hidden commitments.

Read more here.

James E. Ryan is Dean of the Harvard Graduate School of Education and Charles William Eliot Professor of Education.

La pobreza, desigualdad de género, la ausencia de educación preescolar y hablar una lengua diferente son algunos de los factores que determinan el bajo rendimiento de estudiantes en México, de acuerdo con la Organización para la Cooperación y el Desarrollo Económicos (OCDE).

En su estudio Estudiantes de bajo rendimiento: por qué se quedan atrás y cómo ayudarles a tener éxito, trabajo que se desprende de la prueba PISA 2012, el organismo muestra seis causas por las que muchos estudiantes tienen bajo aprovechamiento escolar.

1. Nivel socioeconómico desfavorecido
2. Ser mujer
3. Ser de origen inmigrante
4. Hablar otra lengua diferente de la que se habla en la escuela
5. Asistir a una escuela en zonas rurales
6. No haber recibido educación preescolar

En México, el gasto promedio al año por estudiante no rebasa el umbral de 3,600 dólares, inversión significativamente baja a la media de los países de la OCDE, que gastan en promedio 10,220 dólares por estudiante, según datos del estudioPanorama de la Educación 2015.

“Los chicos que tienen bajos rendimientos muestran un desapego en su proceso de aprendizaje, se desvinculan, se desmotivan y hay un nivel de deserción alto. No sería descabellado pensar que aquellos que dejan la escuela con una serie de conocimientos y habilidades muy básicas, con capacidades muy precarias, se vinculan al mercado laboral informal, donde no se invierte en las capacidades de sus trabajadores. Se condena a estos chicos a un futuro nada promisorio, y eso tiene un impacto en el crecimiento económico de los países”, comentó en conferencia de prensa Gabriela Ramos, consejera especial del secretario general, directora de gabinete y sherpa de la OCDE.

A nivel global, 15 millones de estudiantes de 15 años tienen un bajo desempeño en por lo menos una de las tres áreas (matemáticas, letras y ciencias) evaluadas por PISA.

En México, más de 805,000 estudiantes de 15 años tuvieron un bajo rendimiento en matemáticas y 456,475 en las tres asignaturas de la prueba PISA.

“Los sistemas educativos tienen que centrarse en romper ese vínculo que siempre existe entre nivel socioeconómico y desempeño escolar”, dijo Gabriela Ramos.

A mediados de 2015, gran parte de la fuerza laboral mexicana se empleaba en actividades de baja productivi­dad, que no aportaban al crecimiento económico. Al primer trimestre de 2015, los trabajadores informales en México sumaron 28.7 millones, el 57.6% de la pobla­ción ocupada, de acuerdo con datos del Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Geografía (Inegi).

El promedio de escolaridad en México es de secundaria, según datos históricos del instituto.

Ausentismo de maestros

Otro aspecto que influye en el bajo rendimiento de los estudiantes mexicanos es el ausentismo de los profesores.

“En México, los estudiantes de colegios en los que el ausentismo de los profesores perjudica con frecuencia el aprendizaje de los alumnos (según respuesta del director) tienen una probabilidad 26% mayor de tener un bajo rendimiento en matemáticas”, señala el estudio de la OCDE.

El ausentismo de los maestros en México es de 17%, mientras que la media de la OCDE es de 13%.

Para Fiorentina García Miramón, investigadora en educación del Centro de Investigación Económica y Presupuestaria (CIEP), la reforma educativa aún no ha logrado que el gasto en educación se ejerza con eficacia.

“Antes de la entrada de la reforma educativa se tenían diferentes programas que atendían a las poblaciones en situación vulnerable: mujeres, embarazadas, niños migrantes e indígenas. A partir de que entra la reforma, lo que se hace es juntar estos programas en uno solo (que atiende a muchas poblaciones), en grandes bolsas de gastos. El gasto es suficiente para atender las políticas educativas, pero a partir de la reforma con estas grandes bolsas, no han tenido los cambios en sus lineamientos para que puedan funcionar adecuadamente.”

Algunos avances

Pese a que persisten las causas que generan estudiantes de bajo rendimiento educativo, para Gabriela Ramos, sherpa de la OCDE, México es uno de los países que más ha crecido en esta materia.

“México es uno de los países que incrementó el buen desempeño en matemáticas y en lectura, e incluso aumentó alrededor de 10 puntos en estas materias.”

Agregó que el bajo rendimiento es un tema de la sociedad en general y que los padres entiendan que la educación de sus hijos es una inversión para el futuro. “Aunque parezca complicado, es lo que realmente les va a proporcionar mejores posibilidades de avanzar en la vida con mejores condiciones.”

Otro punto favorable, que se dio después de la reforma educativa, son las prioridades del gasto. “Las prioridades están cambiando, la infraestructura educativa está tomando un papel importante en las políticas y en las asignaciones del gasto”, platica Fiorentina García.

Un plan para el rezago educativo

El estudio de la OCDE Estudiantes de bajo rendimiento: por qué se quedan atrás y cómo ayudarles a tener éxito, comparte seis consejos para reducir el bajo aprovechamiento escolar.

1. Convertir el bajo rendimiento en un aspecto prioritario de la agenda de política educativa y que ello se traduzca igualmente en más recursos para apoyar a todos los estudiantes mexicanos desde los primeros años, de manera focalizada a aquellos que, por estar expuestos a distintos factores de riesgo, tienen una probabilidad mayor de bajo rendimiento.
2. Ofrecer oportunidades educativas tempranas, tales como una educación preescolar de calidad, para ayudar a todos los estudiantes mexicanos a alcanzar y superar el nivel básico de conocimientos y capacidades, ya que la diferencia en el rendimiento de los estudiantes mexicanos que tuvieron y aquellos que no tuvieron educación preescolar es significativa.
3. Ofrecer a las escuelas los medios necesarios para llevar a cabo evaluaciones diagnósticas e intervenciones especializadas desde el nivel primaria, para prevenir retrasos que en muchos casos se profundizan en cursos superiores. Por ejemplo, países como Singapur o Finlandia tienen profesores especialistas que van a las escuelas en primer y segundo año de primaria para identificar a los alumnos que se están quedando atrás y necesitan apoyos especiales.
4. Abordar la escasez de docentes calificados, y el ausentismo docente, ambos problemas más frecuentes en México que en otros países de la OCDE, y que perjudican de manera más acentuada a los estudiantes más vulnerables.
5. Proveer más oportunidades extracurriculares, tanto académicas como recreativas, entre estudiantes de bajo rendimiento.
6. Desarrollar programas de apoyo focalizados a grupos prioritarios, en particular estudiantes provenientes de familias de menores ingresos y que habitan en zonas rurales, pues es en los colegios a los que asisten estos estudiantes que se observan las más altas concentraciones de bajo rendimiento en México.

“Enfocándonos en esos segmentos mejora el desempeño de todo el sistema”, afirma Gabriela Ramos.

Texto original

Every teacher has that student. The student who spends the whole period with their head down. The student who never turns anything in. The student who tries to talk or text the whole time. You can be an expert in classroom management, but still struggle with engaging all of your students. When I worry about engaging everyone, my husband always tells me, “honey, you can’t reach every student.” I always reply, “I know. But I have to try.”

I’m often reminded of the modern day parable of the little boy who walks down the beach throwing starfish back into the ocean. Without this help, the starfish would die. Another man stops and asks the young boy why he is wasting his time. There are so many starfish in the world, that this boy’s actions wouldn’t amount to anything. He couldn’t possibly make a difference. The sage little boy promptly picks up another starfish, throws it into the ocean, and demurely replies, “it made a difference to that one!”

Even if I can’t reach every one of my students, I can always try. And when I do touch someone, it will have made a difference to them. So, how do you try? What are some strategies that you, as a teacher, can use to attempt to engage your reluctant students? I have composed a list of 5 strategies that have worked for me, in my experiences with teaching. Hopefully, they can work for you too!

1. Find Things They’re Interested In

In one of my classes, I had a group of friends who are not interested in learning English. They would have preferred to escape to the skate park for the duration of the class period; instead, they got to sit through Mrs. Sorensen’s amazing English class! Although they weren’t the best students at first, I treated them the same as everyone else. I was interested in learning about them, in finding out what they loved to do. It wasn’t hard for me to discover that they loved skateboarding. So then, I started to ask them about it. When it was time for group work, I would check to see how they were coming along, and then I would inquire about their skateboarding, and how they liked the X-Games, etc.

At the start of every lesson, I have a “hook” to get the students engaged. It could be a story, a Youtube video, or a game, among other things. One day, I decided to have my hook be a skateboarding video, that I tied to a downward slope and momentum once you start down a certain path. It’s hard to stop without crashing or burning. But, there is always an upward slope. You can always change your path. I tied this into the book that we were currently starting. The students started to see me as a teacher who not only was interested in their learning, but in them as a person. Because they knew that I genuinely cared about them, they were more willing to participate in class than before.

2. Move Them to the Heart of the Class

The heart of the class is usually at the center. The students who are the most engaged, and friendly towards one another tend to drift to the center of the room. If you have the center of the room engaged, the energy seems to flow outwards to the edge of your classes. You know the students who sit in the back corner, or who sit in the desks up against the walls or the windows. The stereotype is that they are just there to hopefully scrape by with a pass, while sleeping with their head against the wall. But that’s not always the case. Maybe they’re sitting back there because they don’t have any friends in the class, or because they are really shy and don’t want to be called in. They like to avert their eyes when you ask a question.

One of my students, was a very pretty, and seemingly outgoing girl. She would come to class every day, turn in her work, and then listen to her music (I let my students use electronics when they have free time, or are completely done with their work for the day). She would sit next to a group of kids that she was definitely not friends with. So one day, for some group work, I decided to make a seating chart to put her in with some other girls in the class. Slowly, she started to sit nearer, and nearer to them, and then she started talking to them. Once she started talking to them, she felt more comfortable speaking in class. We got her put into the heart and soul of the class, and pretty soon, she began to exude that same heart and spirit.

3. Ask Them to Help You With Something (Anything!)

A lot of the time, a reluctant student will just do the bare minimum. They go to class, listen, quietly do the work (or maybe not so quietly!), and then slip out without a word (after the bell rings, of course). Whether they are shy, not interested in the class, or a “Chatty Cathy” who doesn’t seem to understand the word “respect”, they just don’t seem to care. You can’t engage them in class discussions, and you don’t know what to do anymore. So, why don’t you try and incorporate them into the lesson for the day?

When I was reading The Crucible with my class, I decided to play a game for my “hook” one day. I had a couple of my reluctant students come with me into the hall, and I said “hey, could you guys please help me with part of the lesson today? It will be really fun.” I could tell that they immediately perked up at the idea of being singled out to help. It made them feel important. It made them feel trusted, and it let them have fun. After all, how much magic was felt in my reluctant students through a tricky game of “Black Magic”?

4. Pull Them Aside and Offer to Give a Second Chance

My students have it pretty easy in my classes. If they show up, and are on task the entire time, they don’t often have any homework. But, the key words here are “on task”. If they aren’t paying attention during our class discussion, they are going to miss important information. My tests and quizzes make up 30% of the grade, so they are important! If someone performs poorly on a test, and they are already a reluctant learner, they are going to want to give up! Sometimes all they need is a little encouragement.

I was giving a quiz on Act 1 of Hamlet, and it was worth 50 points. The questions were relatively simple, so I assumed that my students would all do really well. I had one young man who received a 26%, which brought his grade down from a “B” to an “F”. I pulled him aside after class, knowing that he was a reluctant student, and offered to let him retake the test. I said “John (name has been changed), I know that you are a good student. I get that feeling from you. You didn’t get the best score on your quiz, so if you would like, you can review over the weekend, and then come in and retake it. I know that you’ll ace it this next time.” John immediately brightened up and promised to study over the weekend. Since then, he has been more engaged in class, and gotten much better scores on all of his classwork.

5. Send a Positive Note to Their Parents

This last strategy is one that I feel very strongly about. When you are a parent, and you get an email or a phone call from a teacher, you know that it is going to be bad news. You wonder what your child did now to result in a teacher contact. So imagine your surprise when you get a positive contact. At least once a week, I try to send a positive email home to different parents about their students. Maybe a student who is a frequent problem does really well in class that day, so you decide to send a quick note telling their parents how great they were in class, and how much you enjoy having that student in your class. Guess what happens? The note gets put up on the fridge, and the student now has something to be proud of. I guarantee that those students will want to try harder. You will see a difference.

My personal anecdote for this strategy is one that I hold near and dear to my heart. One day, I noticed that a student had gone above and beyond in his summary of an article we had just read. Not only had they been very thorough, but he had even gone as far as MLA citing the article at the end of the summary. I decided to write a note home to his parents about his impressive work, and positive addition to my class. The next day, I got a note from his mother thanking me for that note. She said “it’s so nice to see that a teacher would take the time to send something like this. Alex (name has been changed) has been struggling in school because he is a new student, and this brightened our day to hear a positive remark. He has been trying so hard. Thank you so much!” Alex was a quiet student who was reluctant, but not in a bad way. He just didn’t know how to fit into the class, and how to engage.

All in all, there are a million strategies that a teacher could use to try and engage a reluctant student in their classroom. These are ones that have worked quite well for me, and I hope they can work for you as well. Even though, as educators, we try to reach every student, the reality is that we most likely won’t. Yet, we keep trying, because just like the little boy with the starfish, even if we just reach one student, it will have made a difference to them.

Original text: goo.gl