Jack & Jill Went Up The Hill …

Looking for a Leader

The election is over; the new Congress began the duties of leading the country last week. The partisan gridlock of the 112th Congress is history (there is little doubt history will not be kind to the 112^th Congress).

Speaker Boehner was reaffirmed and the Senate Majority Leader remains Harry Reid. Finger pointing and political posturing may yield, for a while to allow something to actually get done! Is there a significant change in Congress where progress will prevail?

Did Jack and Jill go up the hill to practice partisan politics or to actually lead the country?

Jack and Jill went up the hill

Looking for congressional leaders

They found Boehner and Reid

Gave a Tug on the Sleeve

And The Action They Just Couldn’t Believe

There is a need for open and honest dialogue for the nation to move forward. The complexity of social, economic, and political issues cannot be resolved with gridlock and political ideology. There is no single political ideology fitting every situation, thus, a need to cooperate and compromise is essential to a country for progress. There are severe economic concerns for the United States, concerns tied to various facets of the government’s powers and global impact.

The tragedy in Newtown, CT renewed the opportunity for dialogue to find a balance of protection of rights for all. Job creation and

gcpower.net

health care are concerns of many in the United States. These and many other important issues require involvement of the people, not just the politicians and political action committees. One look at the We The People link on the White House Website (https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/how-why/introduction) reaffirms the concerns of Americans. The website provides an opportunity to exercise your rights to petition the government and a response is provided for petitions with over 25,000 signatures.

Of course any website attempting to provide transparency is subject to misuse; for example, a petition for state secession from the union. People from each state have submitted a petition to secede from the Union with Texas having the most signatures collected at 125,000 (nextgov.com). In perspective, there are 25.6 million residents in Texas (quickfacts.census.gov) and thus, an attempt to misuse a privilege—the privilege to vote.

Another apparent misuse is the call to deport Piers Morgan of CNN for his view on gun control.  Think about this: if someone does not have the same viewpoint as others, there is no free speech, no rights to one’s view, the response is to deport? There is a need to actually listen to dialogue, yet it appears listening is not practiced (nor patience or tolerance). The petitions may provide a view into congressional thinking – the 112^th Congress could not get anything done because of a lack of respect for others rights and views. The need to have open debates and establish a national priority for progress of the country cannot be accomplished if the view of others is not met with openness. If the people are acting with disregard and responding to opposing views with talk of secession, deportation, recall of elected officials without cause, then how can we expect anything from the officials elected to congress?

theweek.com

Speaker Boehner, Senate Majority Leader Reid and members of congress: are we in for more of the same partisan gridlock and political posturing? Remember, Jack and Jill went up the Hill with aspirations of finding and learning from leaders. Of course, Jack and Jill may tumble, but at least there is action. It is time to be accountable to the people – dialogue, discourse, decision, compromise, and compassion are needed for a progressive nation.

Hope Against Hopelessness

http://myfootpath.com

In higher education, December is a rush of end-of-the-semester activities: reading papers, proctoring and grading final exams, and helping students manage their overwhelming end-of-the-semester wishes and regrets. In the nonprofit sector, the months of November and December are frenzies of a different sort: Giving Trees, Adopt-a-Family programs, food baskets, toy collections, increased client crises, and helping staff manage their own holiday stressors.  Consequently, as a professor AND a nonprofit administrator, maintaining the “holiday spirit” is always struggle. Looking at the sea of disoriented expressions on the faces of those around me, I can see that I am not alone this year.

It’s no wonder. The past two months have had all the makings of a horror movie. An October storm ravaged the east coast, taking lives and devastating survivors. A December storm has pummeled the midwest and is unleashing destruction on the south. Senseless shootings in New York, Pennsylvania and Newton, Connecticut rocked our nation.  And we are standing on the edge of a cliff that threatens our economic survival.

A cursory glance at trending news articles might lead you to believe that the most important loss of the season is in retail growth. As an indicator of the mood of the nation, it is certainly significant. However, I am worried about a more enduring loss—the loss of hope.

When we are without hope, we feel powerless. We are loath to take action because we believe it won’t matter anyway. Not taking action contributes to the feeling of powerlessness, which exacerbates feelings of hopelessness. It becomes, in essence, a self-fulfilling prophecy because in our despair we forget that there is a salve for hopelessness right at our fingertips:

Do something.

Even in this time of great uncertainty and despondency the solution to hopelessness is action. Write or call your legislators so that your voice is heard. Make a budget for 2013—a Plan A and a Plan B. Commit a random act of kindness, or two. Or 27. Hug your kids more.  Let them hug you, too. Just do something.

I wish you peace, love, health, and happiness throughout this holiday season. May hope motivate all of us through despair and toward action.

A New Era of Education – Global Online Classrooms

Emma Collins, Guest Blogger

A number of recent ASPA National Weblog posts have focused on the state of technology startups in this country, and today’s article continues that important discussion. Emma Collins looks at ways in which new educational ventures are changing the way students learn, mostly for the better. Emma writes a lot about online education, and just completed a review of the top online MBA programs of 2012.

How Entrepreneurs Are Meeting the Global Education Need Head On

http://www.guangxiedu.ne

Within the last two decades, the field of online learning has evolved from a novelty into a major sector of public education. Education-based startups – led by tech-savvy “edupreneurs” – have been at the forefront of this movement, and their contributions have helped shape the way young people are taught in the digital age.

As early as the 1980s, many companies utilized computer-based programs to train their workers. However, these programs remained widely unused until the mid-1990s, when the World Wide Web was first introduced. In 1994, CALCampus became the first Internet-based educational resource; when the company proved successful with the web-using public, more institutions began to emerge. In the years that followed, chat functions, webcams and other technological advents were incorporated into the field of online education. Online programs for students of all ages – from kindergarten to college – have also become increasingly popular within the last decade. Between the 2004-05 and 2009-10 academic years, the National Center for Education Statistics estimates that enrollment in online-based K-12 programs rose 300 percent; meanwhile, US News & World Report notes that enrollment in web-based college courses has risen for nine consecutive years.

Despite the popularity of web-based learning institutions, many critics have expressed concern about the online education movement. Miami Teacher’s Union President Karen Aronowitz recently told The New York Times that online education is widely employed as a means of saving money – not because of any proven benefits for students. Criticism has also been leveled at college-level online learning due to perceived inferiority to traditional, brick-and-mortar academics, but many say the biggest worry concerns web-based, for-profit institutions like University of Phoenix (currently the largest university in the United States with more than 300,000 students enrolled). Though these institutions bill themselves as legitimate learning centers, Eric Kelderman of Houston Chronicle recently noted the “bad reputation” shared by many for-profit schools – namely, that they are scamming students out of thousands of dollars and awarding them with bogus degrees. The U.S. Department of Education recently issued tough new regulations to prevent online universities from taking advantage of students, while Congress has pressured accreditation agencies to strip some of the main offenders of their degree-granting capabilities.

technologyinschools.org

Unlike web-based K-12 and college programs, which represent an alternative (however controversial) to the traditional educational system, most educational startups provide tools or resources that assist school districts and/or supplement classroom studies. Those that award degrees to students use innovative new platforms to appeal to today’s students. As noted by Time contributor Anna Murphy Paul, most edupreneurs hope to “disrupt” the existing educational dynamic by changing the way people learn for the better, while disassociating themselves from the notoriously unscrupulous practices of for-profit colleges. “These entrepreneurs are often running a one-man operation out of a garage or spare bedroom,” she wrote. “They include former (and current) teachers, tutors, school administrators and parents — people whose interest in education goes much deeper than making a buck.”

In a June 2012 article titled “Online education startups: a field guide,” GigaOM writer Ki Mae Heussner noted some of today’s most significant edupreneurial projects. One is UniversityNow, a Bay Area-based venture that allows students to enroll in as many college-level courses as they wish for a flat rate of $199 per month. UniversityNow CEO and Co-founder Gene Wade told GigaOM that rapidly rising tuition rates have prevented many young people from earning a college degree, and his company seeks to provide them with a much-needed alternative. But affordability is merely one aspect of UniversityNow’s appeal; students who enroll in one or more of the company’s courses are able to defer their student loan payments incurred at other universities, and many also receive tax credits. Since its foundation, UniversityNow has raised $17.3 million in venture capital, in addition to a $300,000 grant awarded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

bls.gov

Other edupreneurial companies target niche areas of education. One example is Codecademy, a New York-based venture that offers computer language training programs to web users free of charge. Each course module teaches students how to write code in Javascript, Ruby, Python and other computational languages that are widely used in today’s technology sector. Codecademy has proven hugely popular with the public; the site recorded over 1 billion registered users just five months after launching, while investors have funneled more than $10 million into the company. “We’re doing something that involves real people building real skills,” Co-founder Zach Sims told CBS News. “The big priority for us, beyond raising capital, is to become the place for people to learn programming.”

The success of companies like UniversityNow and Codecademy with investors has ensured their long-term market viability, while user-friendly interfaces and relatively low costs have sealed their popularity with the general public. For these reasons, edupreneurs stand to greatly “disrupt” the traditional educational framework in the coming years.

 

 

—————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

Emma Collins works as a freelance writer and researcher in the South Pugest Sound area (Tacoma, specifically) and us an avid traveler. Recently graduated with her undergrad degree, she is currently considering a Masters Program in Business Analytics, but may get an MBA. When she is not writing, she loves to rock climb and read Sci-fi. 

Motivating our Public Servants

Here in Washington, DC almost every conversation has related, in some way, to the fiscal cliff. The country and the world are watching Congress and the President to see if our elected leaders can act like grown-ups and come to a compromise.

As we watch the back-and-forth of this diatribe, ASPA remains concerned about the impact on our public servants. Dedicated, hardworking employees at the federal and even the state level have become the targets of relentless attacks by our elected officials and others.  I guess it’s no surprise that a recent government wide employee survey found that employee satisfaction is falling in 66 of 77 categories.  The Federal Times who reported on the results of the survey noted:

“The results are especially emphatic because of a record-breaking 687,687 employees responded – for a response rate of 46 percent, more than double the number of any previous survey.”

And this news report is not the first to highlight the declining morale of public servants across the country. Recently, GovExecutive took a twist to this growing trend and reminded government employees and nonprofit workers WHY they chose their field. In a commentary written by Deputy Administrator at the Social Security Administration, Reginald Wells reminds:

“Without proper attention to our employees’ morale, we will be hard-pressed to weather the turbulence successfully. 

From my perspective, it all begins at the top. Leadership must set the tone by communicating service expectations and offering transparency about the nature of problems affecting the agency and its workforce.”

With a focus on leadership and their role in ensuring a highly motivated and productive workforce, ASPA has been diligent with our promotion of our Memos to National Leaders. This has been a groundbreaking effort by ASPA and the National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA) to highlight key challenges that face our country and to gather a group of experts to give recommendations.

Within the Memos, experts focused on ways that the President and Congress can tackle management issues. And a central theme of each memo is that our national leaders must involve the public servants whose every day job is to implement and administer policies.  It is the ‘street level’ bureaucrats who ensure that services are delivered, people are served and goods are received.  At every launch of a memo, we had an audience filled with public servants at the federal and state level who was interested in the intricacies of our recommendations. Why? Because they too want to know how they can do their job better.

As national organizations focused on good governance, employee professionalism and effective management, the Memos to National Leaders project is a rare moment when ASPA and NAPA have gone very public with their expertise. As Paul Posner, chair of the Memos Steering Committee noted at a an event this summer that revealed the first of the nine Memos, ASPA and NAPA have always been at the forefront of offering their expertise on management and administration. However, this has usually been done behind closed doors. This year, we wanted to go public because the challenges that confront the country deserve an open-door conversation.

We have garnered attention for the Memos and within the offices of those who can make a change, the conversations are taking place. But it will take time. We know this. But we want to keep the conversation going. And we will.

Read our memos and let us know what you think.  Email ASPA at memostoleaders@aspanet.org with your thoughts and comments.

Strengthening the Federal Budget Process

Rationalizing the Inter-governmental Process

Administrative Leadership

Strengthening the Federal Workforce

Reorganization of Government

Information Technology and Transparency

Managing Big Initiatives

Next Steps in Improving Performance

Managing Large Task Public-Private Partnerships

It’s Time to Move Forward

The People Have Spoken

Adamthinks.com

The Founding Fathers were hunters and gatherers in a new world, embracing a dream of living off the land, and destined to create communities mutually supporting the citizenry while maintaining a free society. Since the time the colonists were threatened by the British, the need to form mutually supported groups were needed to preserve liberty. The Magna Carta was inspiration during the American Revolution and foundation for the 5^th Amendment of the United States (US) Constitution. Mutually supported communities continued to be formed and the free market society was established. It took years for the US Constitution to be completed ratified, yet the lessons then apply in the world today. It’s time to move forward.

Formal education and years as a public administrator have provided an appreciation of the principles of the US Constitution. Application of the principles of administration is essential to ensure equality, liberty, and justice to those in the country. Public administrators and elected officials respond and work for the citizenry – those put in a position of responsibility can and are replaced at the time of election. Programs and services to the citizens of the country are to be mutually supported as a community.

Prior to the election results this message was posted on a website:

It is amazing the venom coming from those displaying support for the country and the electoral process, yet only if you agree with the same view. Disagreement, dialogue, and decisions made this country…with unity.

Pointing fingers at what did not happen is a focus on the past, not the future. Hopefully, regardless of the election result, there can be a return to the values and principal with unity. There were many responses about crying all night, upset at a state or the country for voting in a certain manner. There was a lack of response on the responsibility to vote and elect the representative to govern the country. There seems to currently be a lack of support for those elected and a lack of support of the U.S. Constitution.

The people have spoken!

The founding fathers were truly transitional – aware of the need for discourse, disagreement, and decision. The founding fathers found a way to move forward and let the people vote; those elected would represent their people, and mutually support the best interest of a majority of the citizens of the United States.

The basic principles of a collaborative orientation apply to the founding fathers and for the country to move forward today.

1. Purpose – The elected officials have a purpose; service to others and to represent their constituents. The constituents are whom an elected official is responsible.
2. Decision Making – Action is required to move the country forward. Decision making in a partisan party lines is inaction. Discourse, disagreement and compromise are needed for decision making.
3. Openness – The US is a representative republic – the power resides with those entitled to vote and those representatives responsible to the voters. Openness in information is needed across the board for effective decision making.

It is time to think of unity as a nation. Michael Wolfe on Oct 22, 2012 related in USA Today that the super PAC’s and candidates spent

wingeyes.wordpress.com

over 4 billion dollars on advertising. Arguably the advertising accomplished nothing except polarizing the nation. Polarization has resulted in anger and finger pointing with a focus on the past. Nothing can be done about the past or present, we can only look at the future. Unifying and applying the founding fathers initial principles to move the country forward may bring many people closer to appreciation of the constitutional principles and values of the republic.

Higher Park Fees Promote Private Clubs

By David Chapinski

Four billion dollars. That is the amount of money that the state of New Jersey has calculated its state parks and activities related to their use bring into the state’s economy.[i]  The push and pull over state parks however, has only just begun.

With more than 18 million[ii]visitors a year, New Jersey has some of the most heavily used state parks in the country.  Our state

coloradoguy.com

parks are the state’s soft spot for support. But proposed changes to park regulations by the Department of Environmental Protection could restrict public access by increasing more than 30 fees and adding close to a dozen new ones.

For many residents, the use of funding is not really all that clear. Many public organizations believe the funds will not go to our parks, but to the state to balance its budget and to privatize concessioners. Why? Because the regulations do not require that newly generated monies be used for operations, maintenance and capital improvements in the parks where the funds are generated.  Raising the fees may be part of Gov. Chris Christie’s plan to privatize our parks and shut out the public.  Moreover, raising park fees across the board becomes a hidden tax on the people of New Jersey.  At a time when parks and forestry staffing is the lowest in more than 40 years and the need for more facilities and maintenance is increasing, raising fees is wrong.

The need for sustainability in keeping prices from rising too high is obvious.  But the question remains, can we all understand the needs of the state causing a spike as people enjoy the water, the activities, and the demanding to-do lists just as they’ve done before for years? The teams of supervisors and staff working these parks have not increased which leads one to believe that the problem can only right itself if the restricting of the State Park System to reallocate resources to adjust for budget reductions and significant staff attrition occurs.

http://www.nj.gov/dep/sustainableparks/docs/funding-strategy-es

Since 2000, acreage, structure and attendance have risen, while staffing has fallen dramatically.

When Governor Chris Christie came out with his parks privatization plan, he promised NJ residents that it would not result in increased entrance fees.  Now the DEP is adding new fees and raising existing ones.  For example, the DEP has raised the fees in Liberty Park for renting rooms at the Jersey Central Terminal.  The DEP has taken public money that should be used for parks improvement and built picnic areas that users must rent.  Parks have been the one thing that government does right and that people have enjoyed for years as being above politics and commercialization.

ronsaari.com

The DEP proposal is able, willing and ready to charge visitors new fees at parks such as the Delaware and Raritan Canal and Parvin State Park and an entrance fee at Washington Crossing State Park.  Entrance fees for some of our most popular sites would be increased.  Barnegat Lighthouse would charge more even though it has been privatized.

These increases are likely to affect our quality of life, as people who cannot afford the increases would not be able to visit our parks.  Visitors from other states would have to pay twice as much, potentially driving people to other states,’ hurting NJ tourism.

When will we realize that parks are democratic by design and a place for people no matter what their background or economic condition?  By adding all these fees, we are moving away from the concept of public parks to publicly financed country clubs to be used by those who can pay.

The changes to park regulations do not address continuing problems.  Park staffing continues to drop, from 850 employees in the 1990s to about 400 now. Park maintenance and management are deteriorating, with proposals to clear-cut large sections of Bulls Island State Park and proposed legislation to allow logging in our parks.  We should be concerned that fee increases and staffing issues are being used as an excuse to privatize more facilities within our parks.

---

[i] http://www.capemaycountyherald.com/article/government/trenton/

[ii] http://www.nj.gov/dep/sustainableparks/docs/funding-strategy-es

Ignoring the Poor

“The politicians will remain stuck on the middle class, because poor people for the most part don’t vote in their mind. And second, both are tied to Wall Street, and Wall Street has a classic indifference when it comes to most poor people. We Americans should be ashamed when we look at the level of poverty among our fellow citizens … But poverty has always been high in America …. That means not that we’ve lost our soul that means we want to able to do something about it but our political system is so broken that the will of the people cannot filter through. It’s dominated by big money, big banks and big corporations who have their way…”–Cornel West.

With the 2012 presidential election now days away, candidates have only briefly touched on the number of Americans on food stamps and those out of work. The subject of poverty has yet to rear its head during the presidential debates or on the campaign trails.

According to a 2012 report by the US Census Bureau, the nation’s official poverty rate for 2011 was 15.0%, estimating that 46.2

ivarfjeld.wordpress.com

million Americans live in poverty, which has no statistical difference from 2010 following a three consecutive year increase. Furthermore, the percentage of families in poverty is 11.8%, an estimated 9.5 million families; 6.2% of married-couple families, 31.2% families with female householders and 16.1% of families with a male householder are living in poverty.

According to an eye-opening study by FAIR (Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting), with such an alarming poverty rate being reported by the US Census Bureau, the issue of poverty has been an invisible subject to the US media in their coverage of the 2012 election. Furthermore, the study found that poverty has barely registered as a campaign issue. Only 17 out of the 10,489 campaign stories considered the problem of poverty in any remotely substantial way.

This conscious decision by the US media and presidential candidates to ignore the problem of poverty has come at a critical moment when more and more Americans are moving towards the poverty threshold or already below it. It is unclear why politicians ignore or fail to discuss an issue that is affecting millions of Americans. However, if politicians were to discuss such an issue it would receive a great deal of attention and perhaps be bombarded with the accusation of class warfare.

Moreover, there is a great perception among politicians that the poor do not vote in large numbers. However, according to a recent Gallup poll 50% of people below the poverty threshold are registered as Independents, 32% Democrats and 15% Republicans. It is further perceived that the poor give little or no contribution to campaigns or the super PACs, leaving the voice of the poor as a mere murmur, while our politicians focus on more ‘important’ factors such as votes and media ratings or hits.

usdailyreview.com

The concern over poverty in this great nation seems to be a nonexistent political issue in this upcoming election. It is as if people with no resources or food security are overlooked by a country that seems to have other priorities.

Furthermore, neither candidate has attempted to make poverty even a minor issue on their campaign trail. Such stands by our leaders demote millions of struggling Americans to mere invisibility.

In this election where the economy and foreign policy are among the most important issues, despite concerning facts by the Brooking Institute who predicted approximately 10 million people and 6 million children being forced into poverty by 2014. Our leaders must show concern that the US has more people in poverty than any other developed nation.

What can be done you ask?

Nothing, unless our leaders decide to at least address an issue that concerns us all.

——————-

Other reports: Brookings Institute – Simulating the Effect of the ‘Great Recession’ on Poverty

Military Families Offer a Lesson to Civilian Counterparts

By Dr. Vivian Greentree

Director of BlueStar Families

Our military community has come to the forefront of public discussion of late.  The long-term effects of 10 years of sustained combat on service members, their families, and the communities where they live is something that can’t be relegated to the Department of Defense, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and other traditional military community players.  It will take a community centric approach to address wicked problems like reintegration, veteran employment and homelessness, mental health and the general wellness of our military families.

Thankfully our military community abounds with qualities like resilience, public service motivation, and social connectedness that lend themselves to maintaining a healthy, thriving society.

Many military families have the same life experiences common to many families, including balancing work and family, parenting issues such as care-giving and education concerns, and maintaining healthy relationships. They also have unique stressors relating to the requirements of the military lifestyle. We are more likely to move than our civilian peers; we have added stresses on our relationships and mental health and wellness related to repeated deployment cycles and the reintegration process when our service members come home.

Our service member’s job affects our family in a way that other employers don’t. Some have called it a “greedy institution” – meaning they can tell us where to live, when to move, how to dress, and we face uncertainties about the safety of our loved ones when they deploy.

However, there is a lot of strength that develops and flourishes in the military community.  In fact, I was so interested in that strength and some of the ties between military family resiliency and civic engagement, that Blue Star Families added a special section to our its 2012 Military Family Lifestyle Survey this year.

There is plenty of research out there that suggests the more connected you are to people and the more tied in you feel to others, the healthier you are.  Oour findings do indicate that military families engage in the types of social and civic behaviors that build healthy, vibrant communities.

We build strength in our connections to one another during deployments when we work together to support each other. These informal networks help us to thrive in our communities and stay engaged with each other’s past military service.

Each challenge that we face, for example during a deployment, is also an opportunity for personal growth in the ability to overcome a challenge and come out stronger on the other side. We are often more competent, more secure, and better able to face the next challenge or to support someone else facing the same situation.

So, though there are unique challenges, they are accompanied by some very valuable, if intangible benefits to being affiliated with the military lifestyle – pride in service, connection to a greater cause in life, satisfaction with the contribution to society, development of an indomitable sense of civic virtue, and this personal growth and development of inner reserves of strength; the intrinsic power that comes from overcoming challenges and growing from them.

Our survey results also point to the strong pro-social tendencies and civic assets that reside within the military community. Respondents in the survey volunteered at incredible rates; both informal and formal volunteering and voting behavior, and charitable and altruistic activities all had high levels of respondent participation.   For example, eighty-nine percent of respondents were registered to vote. And, in the last presidential election, eighty-two percent of respondents said they voted.   Eighty-one percent of respondents said they had volunteered in the past year.  And impressively, ten percent of respondents volunteer time that is the equivalent of a part-time job.  Perhaps most strikingly, even given some of the challenges already mentioned, a large majority would still recommend military service to their children, are satisfied with the military lifestyle, support the continued service of their service member, and think the all volunteer force has worked well. That is very powerful!  Even given the known sacrifices, even after the deployments, the separations, and the very real wear and tear on our service families, they would still encourage their own children to sign up for military service.  Think about that.

The concept of social capital would suggest that the complex, informal networks and relationships that are developed through the military family experience (e.g. building trust, reciprocity, informal volunteering, shared sacrifice, and cooperation between families) are the building blocks for a communitarian approach to democracy that values service and sees it as an important way to contribute to the public good. Really, as a vital source of strength for any community.  This is why emphasis on service and volunteerism is such an effective, vivid bridge between the military and civilian populations with regard to the experiences of modern day military families.  Military families know they must rely on one another in order to benefit the whole of their community and have learned that service to others can, in fact, be a healing gesture for themselves.

Trust, hope, a sense of integrity, accomplishment, versatility. Tolerance, compassion, and generosity.  Yes we have challenges, but when we overcome them, it is incredibly powerful. We derive strength from them and we grow from them. Ultimately, it is what makes for the amazing, strong, competent, thoughtful, resourceful, engaging people who make up our military community.  Maybe we are the lucky ones and maybe that is exactly why we would recommend this amazing lifestyle to our children.

So, if there is one thing I could pass on to my civilian friends, a strength from our community, which has been forged through 10 years of war, it would be to appreciate each other. Revel in your relationships and in your communities.  Ask how you can help others and realize that you are only as strong as your weakest link.  Talk unabashedly about what the words honor, courage, commitment, and the public interest mean.  We all need think of each other as battle buddies, in sickness and in health, because we are stronger when we work together and when we cherish our connections to each other.  That is the best way to honor service.  With service. With compassion. With being generous with yourself, of your talents, your resources, and your heart.

————————————————————————————————————————————————————-
Vivian Greentree, Ph.D., is Blue Star Families’ Director of Research and Policy and a co-founder of the organization.  A Navy veteran and military spouse, Vivian’s areas of public policy research include civic engagement, public service motivation, and military family community policy. She was recently named a Daily Point of Light by the Points of Light Institute for her volunteer work.  The Greentree’s are the proud parents of two future Naval aviators, ages 5 and 8.

Photo Credit: ksfamilylaw.com, bluestarfamilies, 2012serviceimpact.challenge.gov

80% of Success is Showing Up

This quote, attributed to Woody Allen, is often used as part of a pep talk, rallying a work team towards excellence and encouraging commitment. But is it true?

The topic of student attendance in college courses is an interesting debate. Among my esteemed colleagues there seems to be two schools of thought.

One philosophy subscribes to the belief that college students are adults, and therefore are entitled to all the rights, responsibilities and decisions that accompany this status.  The decision to attend or not attend class is up to them, and as educators we cannot and should not have more responsibility for student learning than the student.

The other viewpoint believes, with no less conviction, that educators who want students to succeed must institute strong policies that encourage attendance and punish absenteeism. In doing so, the argument continues, we teach students important life lessons. An oft-repeated sentiment sums up the position: “Will employers tolerate continual absence?  Not likely.”

Each perspective seems to be supported by research. In a study reported at the 25^th Annual Conference on the Teaching of Psychology (Motivational Correlates of Academic Success in an Educational Psychology Course, William E. Herman, Department of Psychology State University of NY College at Potsdam; March 2011) the relationship between attendance and course grade was found to be positive and statistically significant. Another recent study[1] found that the link between attendance and academic performance is weak. Additionally, the study concluded that a student’s ability to use substitute material (such as online lecture notes) is a more significant factor.

Both studies noted that today’s college student has competing interests that may interfere with attendance such as work (or lack thereof), housing crises and family issues. As a faculty advisor and instructor I’ve worked with many students who desperately wanted to be in every class but they just couldn’t make it work.  We also learn that students resent strict attendance policies. That, too, can interfere with learning.

My interest has always been in encouraging students to attend each class, recognizing that for some there are lessons to learn and for others, life gets in the way. Herman (2011) offers suggestions that I can attest to because I have practiced them. First, Herman proposes, be certain that attendance actually makes a difference in whether or not students succeed in your class. If it does not, what remains the rationale for a strong policy? You might want to take a new look at your position.

Attendance does make a difference in my classes, as the classroom discussion and the activities we engage in facilitate learning. Students who show up clearly do better than students who do not. I inform my new students of this on the very first day.

Herman further says that you should explicitly discuss attendance at the start of the semester. This should include not only a statement about your policy, but a conversation about the rational for it. As a teacher of business and management courses, I tell them that I run my classroom like a microcosm of the business environment.

Would you just “no show, no call” for work?

What happens if you do?

What happens if you are absent or tardy excessively?

This approach seems to resonate with students, as many of them understand they cannot put their jobs at risk. Students who have other life commitments grow to understand their education as an additional obligation and many are able to reexamine the choices they make. I also offer ample help in this regard, and can refer students to numerous community resources to help them manage their priorities better.

In my opinion, another strategy that seems to have an impact on absenteeism is simply a focus on the work. In my classrooms, some of the assignments are completed during class with my help. Students do not have my help in the same way if they miss class and need to make the work up. For many students, these “in-class graded assignments” have a substantial impact on their learning and their course grade. Consequently they come to class to take advantage of this opportunity.

The debate regarding attendance in higher education will certainly continue. With the research unable to offer a definitive answer, each educator’s experience, values and teaching style will ultimately determine the approached he or she uses in the classroom.

What is your policy? Does it work for your students? Does it work for you?

---

[1] Assessment outcome is weakly correlated with lecture attendance: influence of learning style and use of alternative materials.

Horton DM, Wiederman SD, Saint DA. Adv Physiol Educ. 2012 Jun;36(2):108-15.

Urban Renewal through Smart Technology

Could we see the end to taxis in this country?  Picking your destination as car sharing programs and other alternatives begin sweetening the pot of transportation. 

By David M Chapinski

Pedestrian safety is an emerging concept in our modern cities. Two years ago, Washington, D.C. attempted to include the pedestrian when city leaders created the Pedestrian Advisory Council. The Council meets regularly to discuss issues of walking and safety and testifies before the D.C. Council. It also engages the community on how to make the District a more walkable place.

As a city, D.C. has hundreds of pedestrian crashes a year that result in deaths. Leaders are still sorting out all the causes and solutions.

In some parts of D.C. about half of all households lack any personal automobiles and instead rely on alternative modes — first and foremost their own two feet.

People often emphasize the importance of “livable, walkable” cities and in recent years, technology has developed to help achieve this.

But how are cities adjusting to this change?

Individuals who don’t own a vehicle can skip the hassles of waiting for a cab or conventional car rental with advanced rent-by-the hour transport technology like car2go or ZipCars.  Pay a one-time membership fee and you are on your merry way with a vehicle for how long you need it.

Reserve a car ahead of time or simply pick one up automatically and spontaneously in your city (if the service is available).  When you are done, simply park the car at the location where you initiated the coverage and the service team takes care of the rest.  Parking, refueling, cleaning, and all other services are all included.

Car sharing programs and the technologies that allow it would have their challenges in a city like New York where taxis are somewhat of a ‘way of life’ and have been for over a century. Dismantling that infrastructure and mentality is an arduous task indeed.  Who would want the burden of that?

Not any mayor I can find.

However, the numbers do not lie.  By the end of the summer, it will cost more to take a taxi in New York than to rent a car from one of these car sharing programs.

If you are following New York’s recent policy conversations, cab rates are going up. The Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC) is considering a fare hike on cabs. It’s been 8 years since the last overall fare hike. Conversations are ongoing for a 20-25 percent increase that would raise a typical cab ride to $14 from $12. This request is fraught with concerns, but that’s for another blog.

What’s remarkable about most car-sharing programs is the flexibility and concept of urban mobility.

Car2Go is the only car sharing service I’ve encountered that charges by the minute. Their tiny 41-miles-a-gallon blue-and-white cars are intended for casual point-to-point trips within a designated operating area of the city.

The idea of convenience rings throughout their service. This year, the company will launch a new smartphone app, a vehicle finder on the website and an improved customer call center. There’s also always the classic method of just finding a car on the street.

The convenience matches a population and cities that have grown accustomed to using a smartphone for most daily activities.

As a cohesive city, D.C. has built a diverse transportation network and has been smart about putting jobs, shopping, and schools together in walkable neighborhoods.

While there is still work to do and mistakes to correct, especially in underserved neighborhoods, D.C.’s metropolis remains highly attractive to employers, businesses and new residents.

What makes me a believer in alternative driving methods in cities like D.C. is that pedestrian crashes have gone up in the past two years. Consider these numbers, provided by Metropolitan Police Department (MPD):

On average, around 650 people[i] are hit by a car each year.

In 2010, 753 people were hit by a vehicle.

2011 saw an astonishing 942 people in 2011.

This is too way high. We can do better with technology.

If a safer city is our goal, we have to get these numbers down.  For it to work, it would require prioritization and redirection of resources. There is a difference between pedestrian safety and a pedestrian society and those of us, like me, that are concerned citizens, need to improve upon rather than stretch.  Stretching pedestrian traffic does not benefit a city’s appeal.

The good infrastructure trends in D.C.’s core would need to spread aggressively to the outer neighborhoods.

• More capital spending would need to be leveraged to fully complete the city’s walking and biking networks.
• A robust “share the road” media campaign and consistent enforcement of traffic laws would be critical.
• Other agencies’ roles would need to be defined and the mayor’s office would have to manage the execution of the full plan, holding everyone accountable.

All this requires a visionary leader who will make something like zero traffic fatalities a city wide initiative.

I don’t see the right ingredients right now for D.C. to join the ranks of Chicago and NYC, unfortunately. If proven wrong, that leader is still going to find a lot of support from neighborhood leaders everywhere.  I believe in programs like car2go because they were not created with the intent and purpose to act solely as a cash source.

Car2go offers a practical and affordable alternative to the rising costs and hassles associated with vehicle ownership.

---

[i] National Safety Council
Photo Credit: notopramen.com, treehugger.com, santacruztrail.org