Google Releases Employee Demographics

Many of you know that Google is the impetus behind my ultimate goal to change public education (if you didn't know that, stay tuned, it'll all be revealed sooner or later). 

On Wednesday, Google released their employee demographics. Below is what the New York Times had to say. 

Of particular concern are the alarmingly low numbers of black and Hispanic employees. I personally don't think Google has underhired them on purpose. On the contrary, I don't think our public schools are preparing children for the demands of creative companies like Google. 

This is why I am doing what I'm doing. 

I've created a couple of nifty graphics, which I'll post later.

Google Releases Employee Data, Illustrating Tech’s Diversity Challenge

By CLAIRE CAIN MILLER

6:29 AM

Google on Wednesday released statistics on the makeup of its work force, providing numbers that offer a stark glance at how Silicon Valley remains a white man’s world. 

Thirty percent of Google’s 46,170 employees worldwide are women, the company said, and 17 percent of its technical employees are women. Comparatively, 47 percent of the total work force in the United States is women and 20 percent of software developers are women, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. 

Of its United States employees, 61 percent are white, 2 percent are black and 3 percent are Hispanic. About one-third are Asian — well above the national average — and 4 percent are of two or more races. Of Google’s technical staff, 60 percent are white, 1 percent are black, 2 percent are Hispanic, 34 percent are Asian and 3 percent are of two or more races. 

In the United States work force over all, 80 percent of employees are white, 12 percent are black and 5 percent are Asian, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. 

Google’s disclosures come amid an escalating debate over the lack of diversity in the tech industry. Although tech is a key driver of the economy and makes products that many Americans use ever yday, it does not come close to reflecting the demographics of the country — in terms of sex, age or race. The lopsided numbers persist among engineers, founders and boards of directors. 

The Rev. Jesse L. Jackson Sr., the civil rights activist, has been pressuring tech companies to release data on the makeup of their workforces. When he appeared at Google’s shareholders meeting this month, David Drummond, Google’s chief legal officer, surprised people when he said the company would release the data. Other tech companies at which Mr. Jackson has appeared, including Hewlett-Packard and Facebook, have not released diversity statistics about their companies. 

“Google is not where we want to be when it comes to diversity, and it’s hard to address these kinds of challenges if you’re not prepared to discuss them openly, and with the facts,” Laszlo Bock, Google’s senior vice president for people operations, wrote in a blog post. 

Though Google did not specifically say how it planned to change the numbers, it said that it hoped releasing them would start a dialogue. The company had made changes in the past to recruit and retain women, like lengthening maternity leaves and including women on the teams that interviewed prospective employees, but the numbers reveal it has a long way to go. 

Tech companies have often blamed the lack of diverse workforces on the pipeline — they can only hire the people who apply for jobs, and those tend to be white and Asian men, they say. 

That is partly true. For instance, only 18.5 percent of high school students who took the Advanced Placement exam in computer science last year were girls. In eight states, no Hispanic students took the test and in 12 states, no black students took it. The problems start as early as childhood, when girls are discouraged by parents and teachers from pursuing technical pursuits. 

Yet some of the blame also falls on tech companies. There can be a sexist culture that turns away women, as evidenced by the high attrition rate among technical women as compared to men. And women who try to start tech companies face exclusion by a venture capital network dominated by a chummy fraternity of men. 

This is all despite the fact that the data — which in Silicon Valley usually reigns supreme — shows that diversity on groups benefits research, development, innovation and profit.

Curious about dropout rates?

The U.S. Department of Education released a report in 2011, 

stating that "high school dropout rates declined...to 7%"

...but what does that mean in real numbers?

7% = 372,000

Over the course of three school years from 2009-2011, 

over 1.1 million kids dropped out of school. 

Of those who dropped out, over half a million were not just unemployed; they weren't even looking for a job.

We must find a way to engage our students. 

I have ideas. I'm working on a project that would infuse the 

arts into every single lesson, every single day. 

Large, overarching projects that integrate multiple subjects would take the place of departmentalized, content-centered instruction.

Over the summer of 2014, I'll be developing these plans, with the goal of implementing and studying test projects in the 2014-15 school year.

Follow my blog to stay informed on the latest developments!

Source: National Center for Education Statistics, Digest of Education Statistics, 2011. https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=16, https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d12/tables/dt12_445.asp

HUFFPOST: How to Save Our Schools: The Arts and Music are No Fairytale

http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/5354342

Change

"Continuing with the current test-centric, content-centric approach is contrary to what’s best for students, now and in their future. 

To do nothing is to resign our children to lives of limited potential."

What will you do today?

As we steamroll toward the close of yet another year,

will you choose to make a difference?

Their future is in OUR hands.

Vocabulary + Movement = ENGAGED Kids

Change is necessary...and it's ok!

OWLs, Boggarts, and Engagement: A Focus on Student-Centered Learning

Following is the paper I wrote in May 2014 for my Research in Music Education class.

OWLs, Boggarts and Engagement:

A Focus on Student-Centered Learning

Jadyn Harris

Research in Music Education 

Dr. Sarah Allen

May 10, 2014

The purpose of this article is to review existing literature on student engagement and student-centered learning in public high schools (specifically urban schools), and to provide suggestions for how to improve engagement through the use of a student-centered approach. In the process, I will explore the employee-centered approach that many successful and forward-thinking companies have embraced and that support the theory that when institutions put people first, positive gains can be seen.

Dropout Rates and Unemployment
According to the U.S. Department of Education, dropout rates declined from 12% in 1990 to 7% in 2011 (NCES Fast Facts: Dropout Rates, 2011). While this is good news, it’s important to note that 372,000 students dropped out of high school in 2011, and when we add that to the numbers from the two years prior, it amounts to over 1.1 million children (NCES Digest, 2011).

From Figure 1 we can observe that approximately half these students – over half a million – were not in the labor force at all; in other words, they were unemployed and not actively seeking unemployment (NCES Digest, 2011).

Figure 1. Number of high school dropouts, 2009-11, employed/seeking employment vs. unemployed.

 Source: National Center for Education Statistics, Digest of Education Statistics, 2011

In addition, many of the students who stay in school are bored. A High School Survey of Student Engagement (HSSSE) was conducted in 2009 to measure how engaged students feel in public schools (Yazzie-Mintz, 2009). 49% reported feeling bored in school every day, and 17% said they were bored in every class.

It is heartening that this survey has been developed, as it shows the education system is making efforts to find out what interests students, rather than attempting to predict it from an adult’s perspective. Instead of handing down curriculum and policy designed to educate students as “passive consumers of their education,” (Bautista et al., 2013), some educators and administrators are recognizing students’ role as “experts of their educational experiences.” 

Causes of Disengagement in School

J.K. Rowling, best-selling author of the Harry Potter series, has asserted her stance on education through creative portrayals of classes in the magical world she has constructed. In the above scene from the film Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, based on the novel of the same title, Rowling shows us a very bored, disengaged class. Attributes to note are the desks all neatly arranged and facing the professor, students passively looking through their textbooks, and a single chalkboard, on which is written “Ordinary Wizarding Levels” (OWLs), the magical standardized test that, the professor informs the class, is “Ministry of Magic approved.”

In the scene, the children get upset that they will not be using magic during any of their lessons (a class in a school for magic that doesn’t use magic?) The professor gets to the heart of the matter, the statement Rowling is obviously trying to make: “a theoretical knowledge will be more than sufficient to get you through your examinations, which, after all, is what school is all about.”

In real-life classrooms, millions of students receive a similar message, whether directly or indirectly, from the emphasis on standardized testing and a push for every child to perform uniformly. It’s so pervasive that it is appearing in fictional novels; one could say that art is imitating life. While a class like this appears orderly, structured, controlled, and could undoubtedly be easily measured, it is likely that many students will disengage (and in the book, they do). Even if only 7% of students (recall the nation’s dropout rate) hate the class, it seems that we could develop a better way to educate children, who are much more energetic by nature than this classroom will allow for.

Of those students who reported feeling bored on the HSSSE, 81% stated that the material wasn’t interesting. Material that wasn’t relevant was listed second. Figure 2 lists classroom activities in the order in which students found them engaging, from least to most. Teacher lecture was the lowest.

Figure 2. High School Survey of Student Engagement, Spring 2009 Aggregate (Yazzie-Mintz, 2012) 

Reengaging Kids: What are the variables related to Student Centered Learning that seem to impact student engagement the most?

The scene above shows a scene from a different film (and book) in the Harry Potter series, The Prisoner of Azkaban. In this scene, the professor teaches the students a magical charm to tackle a boggart, a creature that when facing a person, morphs into the thing that person fears the very most. Once he demonstrates how to attack the boggart (using a child model), he lets the children practice alone, while he puts on some music and steps to the side, remaining nearby in case they need his assistance.

In this lesson, the students are extremely engaged. While this is fiction, we can find many engaging variables: problem solving, relevance, active moving, real-world scenarios, practice time, and laughter. The lesson was completely centered on the students. 

Much research has been conducted on the concepts of engagement. A study by Fredricks, Blumenfeld, and Paris (2004) provides a three-pronged definition: engagement is behavioral, cognitive, and emotional. Many teachers stop analyzing for engagement at the behavioral level; is the student participating, contributing, following instructions, and putting out effort?

According to Fredricks et al., if students are not cognitively and emotionally engaged, they aren’t fully engaged. Cognitively engaged students are psychologically invested, actively plan and self-regulate their learning, and have a desire to learn. Emotionally engaged students have a sense of belonging to the group, a sense of connectedness to the content, and have a sense of their own ability, confidence, and efficacy. When people are fully engaged, the best learning can happen.

In the HSSSE study (Figure 2 above), students reported the four types of activities that most engaged them were discussion/debate, arts and drama, group projects, and role- playing. The second Harry Potter lesson included all four of those things. The novel was published in 1999, ten years before the HSSSE was conducted.

When we combine the findings of the U.S. Department of Education, studies on engagement, HSSSEs, and even modern works of fiction, it seems clear that there are many pieces that go into increasing engagement, and most of them involve student centricity rather than a teacher- or content-centered approach. 

Remove any piece, and any student could be at the risk of failing or becoming disengaged.

Student-Centered Learning

Several schools and researchers are putting student-centered learning into place, and while most are too recent for published results, they look promising. Three teachers at Needham High School in Massachusetts have combined forces to conduct a multidisciplinary project, titled the Greater Boston Project. Beginning in the 2013-14 school year, educators in English, Math, and Social Studies are co-teaching portions of the history of Boston through the lenses of government, economics, art and leisure, population, and education (Brooke, Hudder, & Odierna, 2013). The project began in the fall of 2013, and while there is no data available yet, teachers report an increase in engagement of students, and the kids are enjoying the group work that the Greater Boston Project provides. Some learning goals include self-direction, collaboration, oral and written communication, and research. The Needham Education Foundation has granted funds for a second school to begin a similar program in the fall of 2014.

Similarly, articles are being written putting forth suggestions on interdisciplinary approaches and lessons to help engage students and add relevance to curriculum (Normore et al., 2007; Trent & Riley, 2009; Smigel & McDonald, 2011; Bautista et al., 2013; Bundick et al., 2014). One such article provides lessons on integrating music, art, and poetry for children who have little to no experience in music and the arts (Smigel & McDonald, 2011).

The Council of Youth Research, which is made up of students and teachers from five public high schools in Los Angeles, graduate students, and college professors, was created to involve students and community members directly in effecting change in their education system (Bautista et al., 2013). Their focus is to lend a voice specifically to urban youth of color, using a Participatory Action Research (PAR) method. The Council challenges the notion of “objective” research practices in favor of a more subjective, experience-based approach. The study describes PAR as a collaborative process, stating that it is “a pedagogical practice, a form of resistance, a re-envisioning of whose knowledge is valuable, a tool of decolonization, and a radical research methodology.” It is interesting to point out that in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, the students revolted and began teaching each other in secret, solving their own education problem. Researchers in PAR value the experience and opinion of, in this case, students in Los Angeles public high schools. Unfortunately, the authors of this study have not yet published their findings; the study I found was a review of literature and a description of the methodology they used. It will be interesting to read about the outcomes of their project. Still, it is worth mentioning, as it is representative of the growing shift toward student-centered viewpoints. 

In another example of PAR, researchers in Miami have teamed up with students, teachers, civic leaders, and members of the community to drive education reform from the students’ perspective (Normore, Rodriguez, & Wynne, 2007). While they are seeing greater student involvement, they are finding challenges: not all schools are participating equally. It is clear that buy-in is necessary from all member groups (teachers, administrators, and others) in order for projects to achieve the greatest success.

Related to both interdisciplinary concepts and Participatory Action Research is an article published this year on the Student Engagement Core (SEC) model (Bundick et al., 2014). The SEC model focuses on the relationship between students, teachers, and the curriculum. In this article, many student-centered themes can be seen: value placed on students’ opinions and ideas pertaining to their education, interest in students’ lives outside of school, integrating curriculum, providing students with choices in their learning, and use of new technology are a few examples.

While these studies show us that student-centered focus is on the rise in the research world, few of them cite actual examples of the concepts being applied in real classrooms, and therefore little concrete evidence exists on the results of such approaches. More study within schools will be necessary, in order to learn the effects.

Employee-Centered Workplaces
The goal of any education program is arguably to produce people who are able to function independently in whatever capacity in which they’ve been trained. For the sake of argument, let us assume that the goal of a public school education is to produce functional, independent contributors to society who can go on to obtain gainful employment, be accepted to a university, or otherwise feel successful by their own definitions.

Despite a shortage of widespread application of student-centered practices at the school level, many highly successful companies are providing employee-centered environments, and the results speak for themselves. Google, SAS, The Boston Consulting Group (BCG), and Intuit, for example have all been at the top of the Fortune 100 List of Best Companies to work for, for several years running.

Google, specifically, has been studied for its unique work environment. Some employee-centered approaches the company employs are ample access to free food in all buildings (no Googler should be more than 100 feet from food at any time); recreational facilities such as gyms, personal swimming pools, gardening areas, and volleyball courts; access to musical equipment such as grand pianos and sound-proof practice rooms; and all Googlers are stockholders. More importantly, Googlers are encouraged to spend up to 20% of their time on projects they want to explore (Steiber & Alänge, 2013). Gmail was one such project, and it became one of Google’s most successful products. Google also donates $50 to charity for every five hours a Googler volunteers for a cause.

Google models its culture on that of Genentech, which is currently #6 on Fortune’s list. SAS provides on-site healthcare, including psychological and nutrition services, to all employees and their families. BCG regularly issues a “red zone report,” which documents when employees are working too many hours. In addition, new hires at BCG are offered the chance to delay their start date by six months – and are given $10,000 – to volunteer at a non-profit organization. Intuit allows some new hires an entire month to acclimate to the company environment, with no specific job duties, and they grant incentives to employees to spend on health-related activities such as gym memberships or fitness classes (Fortune/CNN Money, 2014).

Google’s impressive employee-centered practices amount to high costs: in 2008, payroll-related benefits accounted for “about 50% of revenue, which is very high compared to other firms in Google’s industry sector” (Kuntze & Matulich, 2010). However, their stock rose past $1,000 per share in 2013 (Fortune/CNN Money, 2014), and annual revenue grew 37.7% from 2011 to 2013 (Fortune 500, 2013). Intuit’s revenue is growing each year, and SAS’s revenue is skyrocketing. It seems that an emphasis on employee-centricity is not hurting these companies, regardless of expense.

Conclusion
Given the high number of disengaged students resulting in depressing numbers of high school dropouts, the push in the academic community toward student-centered practices, surveys and studies illustrating what students want from their education system, and the success of companies that put employee satisfaction at the top of their priority list, it would seem that a more student-centered model is warranted in our public schools.

To expand upon the goal of education stated earlier in this article, we in the education and adult communities must strive for the current generation and future generations to have a fighting chance to work for the best companies in our country: Google and the next iteration of innovative, inspiring places to work. The HSSSE report, and nearly every example of student-centered approaches I found, included some form of arts instruction. Google places particular emphasis on providing opportunities for artistic creative outlets on its campuses. Training our children to be good test takers, to follow rules and maintain order, and to fit inside the same mold as every other child will not prepare them for the creative thinking demands of these workplaces. Youth Participatory Action Research, the SEC model, and other student-centered approaches should be supported and drawn upon in our endeavors to move toward the future of education.

As mentioned earlier, half a million high school dropouts from 2009-2011 are not in the workplace. They are not even looking for work. Not only have they disengaged from school; they’ve even disengaged from trying to lead a productive life. Continuing with the current test-centric, content-centric approach is contrary to what’s best for students, now and in their future. To do nothing is to resign our children to lives of limited potential.

References
Bautista, M., Bertrand, M., Matthews, C., Morrell, E., & Scorza, D. (2013). Participatory Action Research and City Youth: Methodological Insights from the Council of Youth Research. Teachers College Record, Vol. 115 (100303).

Brooke, K., Hudder, D., & Odierna, J. (2013). Greater Boston Project. https://sites.google.com/a/needham.k12.ma.us/greater-boston-project/. Date Accessed: 4/26/2014 01:18 PM
EOY Community Action Project Presentation Goal Sheet: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1FrTbXN2yDjWIZs1OJ8O7vSLYaBgFTMwFD _mfX4dnwTQ/edit?pli=1

Bundick, M., Quaglia, R., Corso, M., & Haywood, D. (2014). Promoting Student Engagement in the Classroom. Teachers College Record, 116(4), p. – http://www.tcrecord.org/library ID Number: 17402, Date Accessed: 4/3/2014 12:54:44 PM

Fredricks, J., Blumenfeld, P., & Paris, A. (2004). School Engagement: Potential of the Concept, State of the Evidence. Review of Educational Research, Vol. 74(1), 59-109.

Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For (2014).
http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/best-companies/?iid=BC14_lp_header
Date Accessed: 4/27/2014 03:12 PM

Fortune 500 (2013).
http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune500/2013/full_list/index.html?i id=F500_sp_full, Date Accessed: 5/10/14.

Kuntze, R., & Matulich, E. (2010). Google: Searching for value. Journal of Case Research in Business and Economics, 2, 1-10. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/759568085?accountid=6667 Date Accessed: 4/6/2014 01:20 PM

National Center for Education Statistics, Digest of Education Statistics (2011). Fast Facts: Dropout Rates. https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=16. Date Accessed: 4/26/2014 12:43 PM

National Center for Education Statistics, Digest of Education Statistics (2011). Labor force status of high school dropouts, by sex and race/ethnicity: October, selected years, 1980 through 2011. https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d12/tables/dt12_445.asp. Date Accessed: 4/26/2014 12:43 PM

Normore, A., Rodriguez, L., & Wynne, J. (2007). Making all children winners: confronting social justice issues to redeem America’s soul. Journal of Educational Administration, 45(6), 653-671.

Rowling, J.K. (2003) Professor Umbridge, from Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (p. 239-243). New York: Scholastic Press. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMHqxkRYt64 Date Accessed: 4/26/2014 01:34 PM

Rowling, J.K. (1999) The Boggart in the Wardrobe, from Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (p. 133-139). New York: Arthur A. Levine Books. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doxxfXqpKYA Date Accessed: 4/26/2014 01:34 PM

Smigel, E. & McDonald, N. (2011). Piecing Together the 20th Century: An Interdisciplinary Unit on Principles of Collage in Modern Music, Art, and Poetry (Grades 4-8). General Music Today, 24(3), 10-16.

Steiber, A., & Alänge, S. (2013). A corporate system for continuous innovation: The case of google inc. European Journal of Innovation Management, 16(2), 243-264. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/14601061311324566 Date Accessed: 4/6/2014 01:24 PM

Trent, A. & Riley, J. (2009). Re-Placing the Arts in Elementary School Curricula: An Interdisciplinary, Collaborative Action Research Project. Perspectives on Urban Education, 612, 14-28.

Yazzie-Mintz, E. (2012) Finding the Humanity in the Data: Understanding, Measuring, and Strengthening Student Engagement. In Handbook of Research on Student Engagement (p. 743-761). Boston: Springer US. 

©2014 Jadyn Harris. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author.