The campus of Harvard University. UK applications to the Ivy League college have increased from 370 to 500 this year. Photograph: Eamonn Mccabe for the Guardian The number of UK teenagers applying to Ivy League and top state-funded universities in the US has risen sharply in the past few years, figures show.

Data obtained from seven prestigious US institutions reveals that a major drive to recruit UK undergraduates is starting to pay off.

One leading headteacher told the Guardian that the growing interest came partly from a belief among parents and pupils that "UK universities were creaking at the limits".

Harvard has received 500 applications from UK students for undergraduate courses this autumn, a jump from 370 last year.

Meanwhile, the University of California, Berkeley, has had 166 applications from the UK, up from 130 last year. The university said applications from other European Union students had fallen from 343 last year to 281 this year.

Cornell University, which is part of the Ivy League and is based in New York, has seen applications from UK students rise this year to 197 from 176 last year.

Some of the universities count only the number of students who enrol on their courses rather than those who apply.

Enrolments from the UK to Yale, another Ivy League institution, have doubled in the last five years, with a large spike last year. In 2006, 15 UK students enrolled. This grew to 25 in 2009 and 36 the following year. Enrolments at Columbia, also in the Ivy League, rose from 164 in 2003 to 170 in 2006 and 178 in 2009.

At Indiana, one of the top-rated US public universities, there has been a modest rise in UK applications this year – from seven to nine. Other applications from the EU grew to 50 this year from 41 last year. At Princeton, another Ivy League institution in New Jersey, enrolments from the UK have more than doubled in the last five years, from 32 in 2005 to 77 in 2010. In 2009, there were 81 enrolments from the UK.

The cost of studying at an Ivy League university for a UK student can reach up to £37,000 ($60,000) a year. Most undergraduate courses last four years. Fees at state-funded universities are substantially lower, but it can be difficult to obtain a place without US citizenship.

Despite this, the headteacher of a leading public school, King's College school in Wimbledon, south-west London, said he had noticed that interest in studying at US universities was growing.

Andrew Halls said the near-trebling of tuition fees was one factor: from autumn 2012, universities in England and Wales will be allowed to charge up to £9,000 in tuition fees each year. But Halls also said there was "growing disillusionment" among pupils and parents with what most UK universities could offer. "There is a bit of a sense that UK universities are creaking at the limits," he said.

"Our 13- to 16-year-olds are talking about applying to US universities much more than they used to. There's a feeling that [if you go to a UK university that is not Oxbridge], you may not get as much teaching as you would like. US universities emphasise the 'whole man'. They love to hear about students playing the piano and other extra-curricular activities. They want a fulsomeness that Oxbridge and others seem distrustful of. Quite a lot of parents say that it is because of this that they are prepared to make a big financial sacrifice and pay for a US university."

A report on overseas students in the US by the Institute of International Education found that in 2004 there were 8,274 UK students studying in the US. In 2009 this had grown to 8,861.

Lauren Welch, head of the advisory service at the US-UK Fulbright Commission, which encourages educational exchanges between UK and US students, said many US universities and colleges saw this year as "an unprecedented opportunity to recruit British students".

"They know that tuition fees are increasing threefold in just one year and that places will be capped on places for UK students, and they want to take advantage of this chance to make students aware of the American alternative."

Welch added that the profile of students who went to study in the US was changing. "They were primarily from greater London and the south-west and attended an independent or international school," she said. "We are now seeing more and more students apply to the US from state and grammar schools and from a much wider spectrum of the British population."

King's College school is holding a conference – the American Dream – this September for headteachers and pupils to discuss applying to US universities.

On World Environment Day (5 June), the selection of the winner of the Volvo Adventure will begin in Goteborg, Sweden. UNESCO is on the jury and chairing the judging panel of this youth award for sustainable environmental projects. The winner will be announced at an Award Ceremony on the afternoon of June 8th. Run by the Volvo Group in partnership with the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), Volvo Adventure celebrates positive, practical and sustainable actions by teams of 13- to 16-year-olds to solve local environmental problems, from marine conservation to waste management. The first three prizes are $US 10,000; $US 6,000 and $US 4,000.

UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova launched a dynamic new partnership for girls’ and women’s education, at a high-level forum at UNESCO Headquarters on 26 May, in the presence of United States Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, and international leaders of the political and corporate world. “Better Life, Better Future” focuses on reaching illiterate or semi-literate adolescent girls and scaling up women’s literacy programmes through strong partnerships with corporate giants such as Nokia, Procter and Gamble, GEMS education, Microsoft, Apple and the Packard Foundation. Some of the projects have already started in Africa and Asia. 

UNESCO is also inaugurating a High-Level Panel on Women’s Empowerment and Gender Equality to step up global advocacy act as a ‘global conscience’ for gender equality, with a specific focus on education.  

It is widely recognized that investing in girls and women’s education has real potential for breaking the poverty cycle and achieving social justice. Nevertheless, around 39 million girls of lower secondary age are missing out on an education, while the majority - two thirds - of the world’s 796 million illiterate adults are women. The full potential of adolescent girls in particular has yet to be tapped. Some 600 million of them are invisible in the national policies of  developing countries.

Related links

UNESCO launches Global partnership for Girls and Women’s Education

Flyer: “Better Life, Better Future” (PDF)

Gender and Education

Message from Director-General on the occasion of 2011 Global Action Week on Women and Girl's education

UN Joint Statement on Accelerating Efforts to Advance the Rights of Adolescent Girls (PDF)

Our education system is built to measure and reward the wrong end of the student.

Rather than measure learning and move individual students along to new concepts as they master previous ones, it measures seat time and moves students along when they hit certain dates on a calendar. Time is fixed and the learning is variable, when what we need is a system that makes time variable so that the learning can be fixed.

In their recently released report titled “Clearing the Path: Creating Innovation Space for Serving Over-Age, Under-Credited Students in Competency-Based Pathways,” Chris Sturgis, Bob Rath, Ephraim Weisstein, and Susan Patrick continue the important work Sturgis and Patrick started with their recent report, “When Success is the Only Option: Designing Competency-Based Pathways for Next Generation Learning” to begin to guide states toward escaping today’s backward education system.

That we need to do this is of course not a new observation. Many have written about this over the years. As I myself have written elsewhere with others, “Schools teach using a monolithic batch system. When a class is ready to move on to a new concept, all students move on, regardless of how many have mastered the previous concept (even if it is a prerequisite for learning what is next). … Both the bored and the bewildered see their motivation for achievement shredded by the system.”

If we want to educate every child to her maximum potential, which is something no country does today, including those, like China, Singapore, and Finland, that have garnered so much attention recently with their high scores on the PISA exam, we won’t get there with a system like this.

But to this point, fixing it has been elusive, hence the importance of Sturgis’s and Patrick’s work that sets out definitions and begins to define the steps necessary to get there. As the authors observe, it’s not enough just to create waivers to escape seat-time requirements and assume that the system will take off. States need to create and support a system that is coherent—from the definition of the standards to the assessments in place to measure competency on an as-needed basis and from the ability to reorganize staffing to the integrated student information and learning management systems built around this approach.

In this latest work, the authors discuss the need for protected space to pilot these initiatives, and how targeting this effort at over-age, under-credited students is an ideal place to do so—especially because these students need a fresh approach that emphasizes their success, not their failure.

I would add that because today’s system is built in an intricately interdependent way to produce the exact results that it does, what we can also conclude is that the current system is not designed for this new value proposition of competency-based learning. Just as attempts to measure and pay for outcomes, not inputs, in hospitals dealing with complex conditions and in consulting firms like Bain have failed, so too will implementing approaches like this as a point solution in today’s system.

This is why carving out zones to implement this and rethink everything, as the authors suggest, is critical. It’s also why the disruptive innovation of online learning that is gaining traction is so exciting—because it gives us a chance to rethink this system in a coherent way around the right thing, student learning. But time is wasting as we continue to force online learning into today’s antiquated seat-time rules.

Lastly, something the authors have not yet given enough time to is how the funding must change to support this work. Rather than funding seat time, we need to move the funding based on the successful attainment of competencies to align this new system. And the authors here make an important contribution, which is (my words) that doing this would be dangerous if we only defined competencies narrowly as “academic” competencies around literacy and math and so forth. Instead, we also need to include what they call “efficacy” competencies, around so-called 21st-century skills like critical thinking, problem solving, communication, and collaboration.

For a child to be successful when she grows up, these will of course be important, too, and she just might not develop them from sitting at a desk in a row in a math classroom staring at an electronic white board with a teacher up front on a certain day and time.

Back-to-school season is the second most profitable time of year for retailers (after Christmas, of course).  Advertisements, "special deals," and in-store displays are designed to lure you off course, tempt you to spend more money and specifically prey on your desire to "finally get organized!"  

But, "back-to-school" organization is much more about systems than it is about stuff.  Don’t be tempted by the "loaded" new binder or "pretty" new notebooks.  There is usually a very high correlation among school and paper-management supplies: the more features something has, the more expensive AND ineffective it tends to be.  Below, you will find a list of supplies, broken down into three categories of systems: Time Management, Supply Management, and Paper Management.

Time Management

Time Management is an issue for students of all ages AND for their families.  It is very difficult for a student to manage his or her time well in a family that does not.  Ten minutes a week can resolve this issue.  Grab the family calendar and have an informal "Sunday Summit."  Coordinate schedules for the week: upcoming sports practices, after-school activities, scheduled appointments test and project due-dates.  Have your children make notes in their planners.

Managing an Effective Sunday Summit

The key to an effective Sunday Summit is to make it a conversation, not an interrogation.  This means you must share your schedule, too.  Do you have a big deadline at work?  Are you planning to finally get to the gym to do a workout?  Share you deadlines and your goals with your kids.  You may be surprised how receptive they will be!  At the very least, you will all start your week on the "same page."

Supplies Needed

* Family calendar (basic monthly calendar).
* One academic planner for each child (The best planners are slender–not bulky–spiral books with a monthly calendar and space for daily assignment entries. Planners are often supplied by the school).

Supply Management

Most households have a "silverware sorter."  This is a tray with slots that are designated for spoons, forks, knives and silverware.  In just about any home, you can quickly determine where to put the spoons based on the organization of the silverware tray. 

This common household item inspired what I have called the "Silverware Sorter Theory." This theory states that items will remain organized if there is a designated location to place them and they are easily accessible. 

How Does the Silverware Sorter Theory Apply to School Supplies?

Supplies should have a specific storage location in the book bag and a designated place at home.

In the book bag, students can use a front pocket of the bag or a supply case to store pens and pencils.  If students cannot carry a book bag during the school day, they can snap a 3-ring pencil case into their binder (see Paper Management).

At home, a designated bucket or basket for common household school supplies (pens, pencils, scissors, stapler, tape, markers, etc.) not only keeps items neat and organized; it also helps students manage time better.  With an established storage location students will no longer have to romp all around the house to find needed supplies. 

Psycho-education is an educational approach for managing emotionally troubled and acting-out students that is based on the principle that students can grow socio-emotionally and can learn how to self-control their behaviors. Psycho-educational interventions are skills-based, where socio-emotional skill building is the key intervention. Psycho-education is multidisciplinary, incorporating perspectives and techniques from disciplines such as psychology, sociology, and social work. Psycho-education challenges teachers to be versatile in current psychological and child guidance techniques. In schools, psycho-educational techniques can be adapted for use with practically any child, at any age or skill level.

In the psycho-educational classroom, we believe that when a single set of strategies becomes the only one that the teacher knows and applies to deal with students having difficulty with emotional and/or behavioral self-control (one size fits all), the stage is set for limited effectiveness and teacher’s discouragement. For example, a behavior management intervention structured exclusively around rewards and environmental control fails to explain and address each child’s unique socio-emotional needs, offering only a very narrow view of the problem and few available options or solutions. This does not mean that teachers should avoid behavior modification techniques in the classroom; it simply means that behavior modification is only one of the many options available to teachers.

Psycho-educational teachers believe that there are multiple options for every situation, and the more child guidance theories, methods, and interventions teachers know, the broader our understanding of the problem behavior and the more effective we are in applying skilled individualized techniques for each particular child.

Characteristics of Psycho-educational Teachers:

    1. Psycho-educational teachers go slowly to build success, thinking of making a slight change each day, not a big one. They always keep in mind that little changes together make a big change at the end.

    2. Psycho-educational teachers accept that change takes time and that each child is responsible for his or her behavioral change.

    3. Psycho-educational teachers choose to perceive children’s problem behaviors as challenges, not threats. The psycho-educational teacher’s motto is “I choose to be challenged by this child’s behavior.”

    4. Psycho-educational teachers are “cool reactors,” avoiding reacting emotionally to students’ disruptive behaviors.

    5. In each disruptive event, psycho-educational teachers look for opportunities to teach students how to handle their emotions and behavior.

    6. They do not personalize the disruptive behavior and stay calm throughout the disruptive event.

    7. They are flexible and capable of adjusting to each specific child.

    8. Psycho-educational teachers understand that, if we want the disruptive student to learn new behaviors, then we need to teach explicitly those behaviors.

    9. They show the child that they believe in him or her, and never give up on a child, no matter how challenging the behavior.

    10.  Psycho-educational teachers see problem behaviors as a reflection of children’s inability to cope with stress and conflict in an age-appropriate and productive way; in other words, disruptive children are deficient in social problem solving skills. Psycho-educational teachers analyze problem behavior using problem solving techniques and give options to students for solving social problems.

    11. Psycho-educational teachers teach social problem solving skills; that is, searching for information, generating alternative courses of actions, weighing the alternatives with respect to the outcome, and selecting and implementing an appropriate plan of action.

    12. Psycho-educational teachers use behavior specific language (description of the problem behavior), not evaluative remarks. In changing behavior, they coach, not criticize.

    13. Psycho-educational teachers coach children by presenting a set of instructions for appropriate behaviors and then having the child rehearse those behaviors while the teacher provides verbal feedback.

    14. They detach from the problem behavior, discussing the behavior without engaging, blaming, or accusing the student.

    15.  Psycho-educational teachers do not focus on causes, or where the child has been, but on goals, or where we want the child to go.

    16. They focus on the child’s competencies (strengths) instead of his deficits or weaknesses. In changing behavior, they consider and use the child’s strengths.

    17. Psycho-educational teachers empower the child by focusing the child on successes rather than failure.

    18. Psycho-educational teachers focus on the possible and changeable.

    19. They do not bring up old issues, focusing on the here and now.

    20. Psycho-educational teachers do not use language that implies that the child has no choice; for example, “You must…” or “You have to…” They train the child in using the language of choice, e.g., “I choose to do _____ because I want _____.” Psycho-educational teachers help students understand that they have the choice of behavioral change.

    21. Psycho-educational teachers give students ownership of the social problem they have created.

    22. Psycho-educational teachers rely primarily on preventive discipline; they are proactive, and plan ahead.

Writing speeches for graduation, class assignments, or other purposes consists of a lot more than finding a few inspirational quotes and possibly a funny story or two. The key to writing good speeches lies in using a theme. If you always refer back to this theme, the audience will respond positively and remember your words. This does not mean that inspirational quotes are not important. However, they should be integrated into your speech in a way that makes sense. Choosing a ThemeThe first task that a public speaker needs to focus on before they do any actual writing is the message they are trying to convey. My inspiration for this idea came from the speeches of John F. Kennedy. In his Inaugural Speech, he chose to focus on freedom. He addressed many different topics, but always came back to this idea of liberty. When asked to be the guest speaker at a National Honor Society induction recently, I decided to focus on how an individual's daily decisions add up to reveal that person's true character. We can not cheat in the small things and expect these blemishes to never surface. When the real tests in life occur, our character will not be able to withstand the pressure because we have not chosen the harder path all along. Why did I choose this as my theme? My audience consisted of Juniors and Seniors at the top of their respective classes. They had to meet stringent requirements in the areas of scholarship, community service, leadership, and character in order to be accepted into the organization. I wanted to leave them with one idea that might make them think twice. If you would like to see the actual speech, click here.

How does this relate to you? First, you must decide who will make up your audience. In a graduation speech, you are addressing your fellow classmates. However, parents, grandparents, teachers and administrators will also be present. While you will be focussing on people your age, what you say must be in line with the dignity of the ceremony itself. Remembering that, think of the ONE thought with which you want to leave your audience. Why only one idea? Mainly because if you reinforce a single point instead of focusing on entirely different ideas, your audience will have a greater tendency to remember it. A speech does not lend itself to having many themes. Stick with one really good theme, and use each point you make, your theme reinforcers, to bring that idea home.

If you would like some ideas for possible themes, look at the world around you. What are people concerned about? If you are speaking about the state of education, find one central idea like personal responsibility that you feel strongly about. Then return to that idea with each point you make. Write your individual points to reinforce your idea. To return to the graduation speech, check out these top ten themes to use when writing your speech.

Good Evening.

I am both honored and flattered to have been asked to speak for this wonderful occasion.

I congratulate each of you and your parents.

Your achievements in the realms of Scholarship, Leadership, Community Service, and Character are being honored here tonight by your induction into this prestigious society.

An honor such as this is a wonderful way for the school and community to recognize and celebrate the choices, and sometimes the sacrifices, you have made.

But I believe that what should make you and your parents the most proud is not the actual honor itself, but what you had to do to get it. As Ralph Waldo Emerson said, "The reward of a thing well done is to have done it." Any recognition is just the icing on the cake, not to be expected but definitely to be enjoyed.

However, I challenge you not to rest on your laurels but to continue to strive towards even loftier goals.

The four requirements for membership in which you have excelled: scholarship, leadership, community service, and character were not chosen at random. They are the core of a fulfilled and fulfilling life.

The most important thing to remember is that each of these characteristics are the sum of many individual decisions. They embody a positive attitude backed by purpose. The only way to achieve your purpose is to take small actions everyday. In the end, they all add up. My hope for you is that you will cultivate this attitude backed by purpose in your own life.

PAUSE

Scholarship is much more than just getting straight A's. It is a life-long love of learning. In the end it is a sum of small choices. Each time you decide you WANT to learn something, the experience will be so rewarding that the next time becomes easier.

Soon learning becomes a habit. At that point, your desire to learn makes getting A's easier while taking the focus off of grades. The knowledge can still be hard to gain, but knowing you've mastered a difficult subject is an awesome reward. Suddenly the world around you becomes richer, full of learning opportunities.

PAUSE

Leadership is not about being elected or appointed to an office. The office does not teach someone how to be a leader. Leadership is an attitude cultivated over time.

Are you one to stand up for what you believe in and 'face the music' even when that music happens to be unpleasant? Do you have a purpose and follow that purpose to get the ends you desire? Do you have a vision? These are all questions that true leaders answer in the affirmative.
But how do you become a leader?

Each small decision you make takes you one step closer. Remember the goal is not to get power, but to get your vision and your purpose across. Leaders without visions can be likened to driving in a strange town without a road map: you are going to wind up somewhere, it just might not be in the best part of town.

PAUSE

Many see community service as a means to an end. Some might see it as a way to get service points while socializing, while others may view it as an unfortunate (and often inconvenient) necessity of high school life. But is that true community service?

Once again true community service is an attitude. Are you doing it for the right reasons? I'm not saying there won't be Saturday mornings when you would rather sleep your heart out than paint your heart out.

What I'm talking about is that in the end, when it is all done, and you are once again well-rested, you can look back and realize that you did something worthwhile. That you helped your fellow man in some way. Remember as John Donne said, "No man is an island entire of himself."

PAUSE

Finally, character.

If there is any one thing that is evidenced by your daily choices it is your character.

I truly believe what Thomas Macaulay said, "The measure of a man's real character is what he would do if he knew he would never be found out."

What do you do when no one's around? The teacher steps out of the room for a moment while you are taking a test after school. You know exactly where in your notes the answer to question 23 is. Do you look? Minimal chance of being caught!

The answer to this question is the key to your true character.

For while being honest and honorable when others are watching is important, being true to yourself is tantamount.

And in the end, these private day-to-day decisions will eventually reveal your true character to the world.

PAUSE

All in all, are making the tough choices worth it?

Yes.

While it would be easier to slide through life without a purpose, without a code, it would not be fulfilling. Only by setting difficult goals and achieving them can we find true self-worth.

One final thing, each person's goals are different, and what comes easy to one may be difficult for another. Therefore, do not squash others' dreams. This is a surefire way to know that you aren't working towards fulfilling your own.

In conclusion, I congratulate you for this honor. You are truly the best of the best. Enjoy yourself, and remember as Mother Teresa said, "Life is a promise; fulfill it."