Michael, once known as the Director
of Student Services for the Arkansas State University- Newport Technical
Center in Marked Tree, AR, recently was recruited to move to the University
of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis, TN to serve as the new Director
for Student Affairs. He is originally from Jonesboro
where he attends the First Baptist Church. He received his Bachelor’s of
Fine Arts in Theater Performance from ASU-Jonesboro. Then he moved to New
York City and received his Master’s of Science in Elementary Education
from Mercy College. Michael is currently pursuing his doctorate at ASU-Jonesboro. Michael was a member of the New
York City Teaching Fellows and began his teaching career in the inner-city
Bronx! He taught in NY for two years, returned to Jonesboro where he taught
at the Raider Open Door Academy (a charter school) in the Nettleton School
District. He then went back to NY and taught in inner-city Manhattan and
for a private school on Long Island. Michael’s hobbies are running,
swimming, working out, playing golf, church league softball, watching the
Saint Louis Cardinals, theater, and playing the piano. Michael is married to his wife
Megan, and they are the proud owners of three wonderful dogs who act as
the couple’s children.
Remediation in higher education is a hot-button
topic. The current problem facing
remediation is the gross need of its existence.
It is the job of leadership in institutions of higher education to suggest
attributes of general education programs that are likely to be successful in
increasing student learning and enhancing the likelihood of transferring
knowledge from developmental classes to later programs of study. Utilizing the findings of the Committee on
Developments in the Science of Learning, the Committee on Learning Research and
Educational Practice, and the National Research Council’s 2000 publication,
How
People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School Expanded Edition, the following editorial purports a potential
diagnosis of the problem of remediation (the true source of the need for
remediation), and a potential solution as illustrated through the publication.
Under the regime of No Child Left Behind the relationship between K-12 education and politics has drastically changed. Retention issues and funding formulas continue to keep institutions of higher education in a state of flux as well. Teachers and faculty members feel the impact of the pervasive activity of these mandates as well as the overwhelming presence of politics. Politics is playing a vital role in the running and decision-making within the educational arena. Teachers and educational administrators are torn as to their role in education today. This position paper looks at defining the roles inside education in regards to education and politics in hopes of gleaning some definition by which teachers can better know the impact of their role(s) as well as the impact of politics on the institutional organizations and decision-making models.
