0n March 25th, Frank Edelblut, NH Commissioner of Education, addressed the Rotary Club of Nashua regarding, his role of education in the state and reports to the governor. He shared his vision of education for everyone. He worked previously as an accountant and did some entrepreneurial investment in developing businesses. He received a degree from URI and Holy Cross. He and his wife have 7 children and 2 grandchildren. They live in Wilton.
He is a strong believer in the volunteer spirit of Rotary which is also found often in NH residents.
Here is a brief State of the State related to education:
- Very strong rating - students are doing well, especially in the K-12 grades and their performance on standardized tests
- New Directions Educators always need to be willing to change and innovate. Changes are needed to help each student get to the best outcome. There is an equity gap currently with students from higher incomes and better support environments typically doing better. There are other students from lower socio-economic backgrounds that struggle. The phenomenon is known as the equity gap.
- Those in the know state the existence of the gap has persisted for at least 50 years. It is currently increasing. The lower end is declining further.
- We know that to be successful, kids need to be engaged in learning. The current system is not very flexible and adaptable to provide the individual modifications needed. Alternative pathways are needed.
- Recently introduced programs include different pathways for different learning issues. It is called Learn Everywhere. It stresses the learning opportunities done beyond the traditional school classroom and hours. One of its goals is to encourage life-long learning.
- He offered many stories that showed how unique learning opportunities can be valuable. Many involved the robotics programs that some schools offer. He also finds these successful non-school setting learning opportunities are often shared with others back at school.
- NH Career Academy is another unique program. Here, seniors take two classes in the morning and then take classes at local community college and get credits for classes taken. If they choose to stay another year, they will complete their Associates degree and often find a guaranteed employment position after.
Q & A
Assessment traditionally measures a narrow slice of education and performance by students. NH has recently modified the assessment process to better measure what is taught in NH. They also have a dynamic assessment schedule to better integrate the process.
Student debt is a function of tuition cost and minimal state funding of college education. This leads to high student indebtedness for graduates.