September/October 2007

Confronting the Autism Epidemic

New expectations for children with autism means a new role for public schools

by Kate McKenna

Thirty years ago, it was rare to find a student with autism in a public school. When children with severe, unexplained behavioral problems turned up, teachers had little guidance in how to work with them. Many experts assumed these children were retarded. Others even recommended physical punishment to curb disruptive or antisocial behaviors.

Today, about one in 150 American children has been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). No one fully understands why the incidence of autism has increased so dramatically. As its name implies, this complex neurobiological disorder is defined by a variety of symptoms, sometimes subtle, sometimes obvious. Children with ASD can be highly gifted but may have speech and learning difficulties. They may demonstrate repetitive or disruptive behaviors like banging or biting. They may have little interest in making friends or interacting with peers, teachers, or even family members.

There is no cure for autism, yet early intervention beginning as soon as the condition is diagnosed and continuing into elementary school can sometimes lead to remarkable success. “We used to hear, ‘There’s nothing we can do,’” says Ilene Schwartz, professor of education at the University of Washington in Seattle. “Now we hear things like, ‘Where’s this kid going to college?’ Because we now know that huge changes can be made.”

At the same time educators are discovering ways to help children with ASD reach their full potential, school districts are coping with unprecedented growth in the number of children with autism seeking services under IDEA—a number that rose more than 500 percent over the last 10 years. The intensive services required by many children with ASD and the need for early intervention place new logistical and financial demands on schools. Many districts are also searching for ways to educate children with autism in settings close to home and in the company of their nonautistic peers.

The rest of this article can be found in the current issue of the Harvard Education Letter. Buy this issue.

Internet Research 101

How to help middle school students avoid getting tangled up in the Web

by Colleen Gillard

Evanston, Ill., eighth-grade humanities teacher Claudia Garrison has seen it all: the paper citing “Michael” (as in Michael Jackson) as a source for infant mortality statistics; the paper whose different fonts unwittingly revealed where material had been cut and pasted from the Web; and the paper whose expert opinion came from a blog.

Fast and convenient, the World Wide Web has become an unparalleled informational resource. It surpasses the card catalogue as the main entry point for students embarking on papers and projects. However, it poses particular problems for beginning researchers. Students need to learn new skills to find the information they need, evaluate it appropriately, and distinguish between others’ work—properly credited—and their own.

The dramatic rise in plagiarism—whether intentional or unintentional—indicates the urgent need to train students in good Internet research skills. As many as one-third of college papers written today are marred by “significant plagiarism,” according to turnitin.com, an online plagiarism-checking service. But developing appropriate Internet skills goes far beyond preventing plagiarism—and needs to begin well before college.

Most experts say Internet research skills should be taught in middle school. Techno-savvy but naïve, nearly all middle school students today have been googling for years, according to Kathleen Schrock, a former librarian and technology administrator for Cape Cod’s Nauset Public Schools and creator of Kathy Schrock’s Guide for Educators, an award-winning online compilation of curriculum-enhancement websites.

The rest of this article is available in full-text. To purchase the current issue of the Harvard Education Letter. Buy this issue.

Is Coaching the Best Use of Resources?

For some schools, other investments should come first

by Elizabeth A. City

I arrived for my first day of coaching at a Boston school with energy, ideas, and a batch of homemade blueberry muffins. A teacher on the Instructional Leadership Team looked at me, looked at the muffins, and said, “I hate you already.” She said it with a smile, but she wasn’t kidding. Later I would come to appreciate her honesty, but at that moment all I could think was, “But you don’t even know me.”

She knew enough. She knew that she had been teaching longer than I had been alive, she knew that I was supposed to help the school “change” and “improve,” and she believed that she didn’t need any changing or improving. I knew that I had learned some things as a teacher and a principal. I knew that most students in the school weren’t performing at a proficient level on the state tests and I believed they were capable of doing better. And I knew my blueberry muffins were good. I offered her a muffin and plunged into the meeting.

In the six years since that experience, I’ve had the opportunity to observe and reflect on the use of coaching in schools as a researcher, consultant, and teacher of aspiring principals. During that time, coaching has continued to swell in popularity as a strategy for improving instruction and, consequently, learning. The strengths of coaching as a professional development strategy are well known, as are some of the challenges of doing it right (see School-Based Coaching, HEL July/August 2004). But even when schools are doing all the right things and coaches have the proper preparation and training, coaching can fall far short of its potential. Instead of trying to resolve all the challenges associated with coaching, schools may need to step back and ask themselves: Is this the best use of my school’s people, time, and money?

To purchase the current issue of the Harvard Education Letter. Buy this issue.

To subscribe to Harvard Education Letter, click here.