I should have written this back in May when the course ended, but there were a lot of things going on (those of you who know me know what). We are on hiatus until next February (2009), when we should have another class of BCPSS teachers with thoughts to share about their ideas for school reform.
There are a lot of posts here, so if you do stumble upon us during our "off-season", take them a bit at a time rather than trying to read through them all at once. And who knows, maybe I'll stop back to post my thoughts, should I be so moved.
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Safety in our Schools
While reflecting on recent events in Baltimore City Public Schools, I am forced to ask the question, are teachers safe in the classroom? After receiving national news coverage about the teacher beating at Reginal F. Lewis High School, a more recent event at Calverton Elementary/Middle has caused this teacher to wonder how safe his fellow colleagues are while they are on the job. A staff member at Calverton was working extra hours at the West Baltimore School last Sunday afternoon when two 13-year old boys broke into the building and one tried to rape her. This news caused alarm and discussion among my colleagues at my school. The question, came up, “are we safe in our school”? I began to reflect on my position about this topic. I feel as though I am safe in my school, but stories like this cause one to reflect on and rethink their opinion. Teachers and Staff are at schools to help educate and mold the minds of young individuals, and stories like this are tragic and bring a negative light to our education system. My condolences go out to both individuals involved in these events, and I wonder if something could have been done by the system to ensure teacher and staff safety to a greater degree. Is more school police and hall monitors the answer, after talking with several teachers in the system, some of the teachers have no way to get a hold of school police if something happens in their classroom. I feel as though any professional or worker should be safe in their work environment, steps needs to be taken to ensure teacher and staff safety at our school in Baltimore City. I do not have a solution to the problem, but feel as though administration, staff, teachers, and North Avenue have to come together to make sure nothing like this happens again.
Where do we go from here?
While reflecting on discussions and course topics, the idea of the silver bullet has stuck in my mind. The overall agreement that something needs to be changed, but which direction do we go in? With successful changes being made in school systems all across America, I’m not sure that Baltimore City can just take a blue print from one system and copy it to fix the problems in our system. Voucher systems, Charter Schools, small high schools, and k-8 models all seem to be in strategies that Baltimore City seems to be considering or starting to put in place. I feel that just changing something in the system to say we are trying is not good enough. Every few years a new “silver bullet” may come along, and do we as a system adopt that strategy or do we continue with the changes that have been put in place. I see similarities with how Baltimore City is currently paying the past few superintendents, we tried them, and they did not work, so now we are paying for our mistakes. The difference between paying a monetary sum of someone’s salary is much different than the cost of the education of our students. If we make changes, they have to be the correct ones or our students are the ones who lose. I do not have the answer, and I’m not sure anyone does, but this pattern of making systematic changes to the system every few years does not seem to be working. Baltimore City Public schools are continually near the bottom of the nation’s lowest performing schools; people want to blame it on economics, the system, teachers, parents or even the students. The blame game needs to stop, and a solution needs to be found. I want to be part of the solution, reflecting on a quote from the last class, I want to be someone who pulls the trigger of the loaded gun and not someone who is just searching for the silver bullet. There may be no silver bullet, but every change needs be thought out and put in place for more reasons then just saying “we tried”. The education of our students is the ultimate silver bullet, and how we come about that is up to every teacher in every classroom.
Saturday, May 10, 2008
HSA countdown: 5 days
In a district plagued by chronic absences, transient students, and tardiness it is essential that we take time to create comprehensive differentiated review for all of our students. The only problem is--you can’t review with students that aren’t there. As I look down the empty hallway, I am beginning to question whose responsibility it is to ensure high rates of student attendance. Should teachers be required to call and send letters each time a child misses class? Should school leadership be responsible for instituting school wide attendance incentives for students? Should school districts enforce grade related consequences (ahem, less than a 60) for students who miss more than ten days a quarter? If we recruit the most talented individuals to teach our students and they don’t show up- are our efforts for nothing?
With the pressures of NCLB mounting on schools and school districts to increase attendance, some schools have tried to boost numbers by providing students with prizes, trips, and in some cases even cars as a reward for attending school. This practice has garnered mixed reviews from critics who argue that these programs deter students from developing intrinsic motivation.
In a district like Baltimore City, does the boost mobile carrot need to be dangled before we can instill this kind of intrinsic motivation in our students? How many of us could get through the day without our “bag of tricks” full of stickers, stamps, and other extrinsic rewards for students?
Alfie Kohn, author of the book “Punished by Rewards: The Trouble with Gold Stars, Incentive Plans, A’s, Praise, and Other Bribes” has argued that these incentive programs don’t help students, they actually harm them. Kohn argues that these programs destroy the ability of our students to become deep thinkers who love learning. “Dangling the equivalent of a doggy biscuit in front of them for coming to school not only does it not achieve those goals, it actually makes it less likely that those things would happen.”
Kohn and I certainly agree on the definition of education-- the process of instilling a love of deep thinking and learning in our students. However, I am fairly sure he would be hard pressed to write a similar book after teaching two years at Walbrook high school. I would love for him to walk into our building right now and analyze the school based motivational systems in place.
Districts and schools with such abysmal attendance rates must be creative about consistently reinforcing the importance of attendance and behavior by developing a plethora of school based incentives narrowly tailored to their student population. Combining these programs with solid engaging instruction is the first step to invalidating the dominant idea that attendance is optional.
Article source:
http://www.aclu-md.org/aTop%20Issues/Education%20Reform/About_ERP.html
With the pressures of NCLB mounting on schools and school districts to increase attendance, some schools have tried to boost numbers by providing students with prizes, trips, and in some cases even cars as a reward for attending school. This practice has garnered mixed reviews from critics who argue that these programs deter students from developing intrinsic motivation.
In a district like Baltimore City, does the boost mobile carrot need to be dangled before we can instill this kind of intrinsic motivation in our students? How many of us could get through the day without our “bag of tricks” full of stickers, stamps, and other extrinsic rewards for students?
Alfie Kohn, author of the book “Punished by Rewards: The Trouble with Gold Stars, Incentive Plans, A’s, Praise, and Other Bribes” has argued that these incentive programs don’t help students, they actually harm them. Kohn argues that these programs destroy the ability of our students to become deep thinkers who love learning. “Dangling the equivalent of a doggy biscuit in front of them for coming to school not only does it not achieve those goals, it actually makes it less likely that those things would happen.”
Kohn and I certainly agree on the definition of education-- the process of instilling a love of deep thinking and learning in our students. However, I am fairly sure he would be hard pressed to write a similar book after teaching two years at Walbrook high school. I would love for him to walk into our building right now and analyze the school based motivational systems in place.
Districts and schools with such abysmal attendance rates must be creative about consistently reinforcing the importance of attendance and behavior by developing a plethora of school based incentives narrowly tailored to their student population. Combining these programs with solid engaging instruction is the first step to invalidating the dominant idea that attendance is optional.
Article source:
http://www.aclu-md.org/aTop%20Issues/Education%20Reform/About_ERP.html
Thursday, May 8, 2008
Cameras in the classroom
As promised, here is my follow up on whether or not cameras have ever been put inside of an actual classroom. According to CNN.com, “A school district in Mississippi (Biloxi) was one of the first districts in the nation to install cameras in every classroom. There are more than 500 cameras in district schools and they are being used to keep track of both the hallways and the classrooms.” According to the article I read, it seemed like both the teachers, students and the community were all in support of the installation of these cameras. The only problem that I saw was the fact that they didn’t have the ability to capture sound.
It seems like other school districts that have tried to do this have had it shot down due to two major reasons; issues of privacy or funding. I can understand and appreciate the issue of invading someone’s privacy by the installation of cameras, but this isn’t someone’s house. Numerous corporations have cameras in their buildings to watch what is going on. They are there to protect the people who are working there and to ensure that if something happens, someone knows about it. The way I look at it is nothing should go on in the classroom that a teacher shouldn’t be willing for someone to see anyway, so if the funding is there I think the cameras should be as well.
It seems like other school districts that have tried to do this have had it shot down due to two major reasons; issues of privacy or funding. I can understand and appreciate the issue of invading someone’s privacy by the installation of cameras, but this isn’t someone’s house. Numerous corporations have cameras in their buildings to watch what is going on. They are there to protect the people who are working there and to ensure that if something happens, someone knows about it. The way I look at it is nothing should go on in the classroom that a teacher shouldn’t be willing for someone to see anyway, so if the funding is there I think the cameras should be as well.
Great Kids, Great Schools? First Our Kids Need to be Healthy
Any parent or educator in Baltimore City knows that the school meals are in bad shape. Students continue to be served food that they describe as “gross, unhealthy, smelly, and rotten.” These students are not culinary experts, and they routinely travel off school grounds to pick up great alternatives, such as Burger King, McDonald’s, pizza, and Chinese food carryout. Our students are simply not eating healthy, inside school or out.
Can we really expect our students to be great kids if we are contributing to their obesity and future health risks by serving up fatty and preservative laced food? That doesn’t sound like a great school to me.
Jill Wrigley, a principal investigator with the Baltimore Efficiency and Economy Foundation reviewed BCPSS schools meals in a work entitled, School Meal Reform Opportunities for the Baltimore City Public School System. She advocates for reforming BCPSS school meals because childhood obesity disproportionately affects income and minority populations. Nearly one third of low-income Maryland children between the ages of two and five are at risk of becoming overweight and facing severe health problems. National research has also uncovered that 60 percent of overweight children between the ages of five and ten years have developed at lest one serious risk factor for heart disease and stroke.
Despite this research, BCPSS has failed to reform its school meals, sticking with the same old junk. School meal reform does not appear to be at the top of Dr. Alonso’s agenda, and this is a serious mistake that is profoundly affecting the health of Baltimore’s children. BCPSS almost hired the leading expert in the school meal reform movement back in 2006. However, after the appointment fell through, the school meal reform movement also fell through the cracks of North Ave.
For an example of a successful school meal program, check out the video below depicting a reform effort lead by Tony Geraci. His program successfully turned around the meal offerings in New Hampshire school districts.
Hurricane in the Harbor
In Lew Smith’s article “Can Schools Really Change?” he queries to an audience how substantial change is initiated. Can substantial change only occur as a result of a crisis? Reading Adam Nossiter’s New York Times article on the unexpected improvement in test scores of 4th and 8th graders in
The interesting thing is, is that many urban school areas are in crisis, they’re just not nearly as transparent. Is it an indicator of
Seoul vs Baltimore
A friend of mine teaches English in
We cannot go around comparing Korean schools to American schools or private to pubic with the goal of saying one is better than the other. This is just an apple and orange comparison – it does not make sense. At the same time we need to stop looking at schools as business and doing everything by the numbers. Schools are not business and number can be misleading.
Slate on NCLB
Here is a link to an interesting article I found on Slate,
http://www.slate.com/id/2187680
In this article the author, Jim Ryan, suggests a ten ways of fixing NCLB. Here are three that I really liked,
• NCLB creates perverse incentives.
• Standardize the standards.
• Administer fewer tests.
Ryan argues that NCLB creates perverse incentives because failing schools are forced to teach to the test. (If you are not in education then watch the Wire and you’ll get a pretty good idea as to how this works). Next, why can’t we agree on national standards? What a student has to learn in
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Would Waldorf Work?
Waldorf schools have a different approach to education. Teachers generally start with a 1st grade class and loop with them through the 8th grade. Classes have approximately 20 students and the class stays together for the duration of their Waldorf schooling. Many 8th graders graduate alongside their 1st grade classmates, with a teacher they’ve had for 8 years. It’s a small, tight-knit community. Students play violin, cello and flute; students take two languages and perform two major plays per year; classes fund-raise to pay for the two camping trips they take each year; art and Greek mythology are as important as math and science.
I support the standardized testing movement because I think it is putting pressure on teacher to produce results but on the other hand, there’s more to schools than just academic achievement. Building character and integrity into young people is equally important. Yet, typical schools all-but ignore the social-emotional development of their students. In professional development sessions we pay lip-service to social skills but few schools integrate these ideas into their educational philosophies and practices. We teach students what it “looks like” and “sounds like” to sit in a classroom. I think Waldorf offers a decent model for doing it right. I see three strengths of Waldorf schools: First, they provide incredible stability through the unstable years of early adolescence; second, the variety of content in the Waldorf class invests students (imagine the boredom of students who take nothing but the core subject areas for 12 years); and third, students build character and apply social skills in a variety of contexts. For example, students interact while producing a play, fundraising, and camping. These situations are much more transferable to students’ lives than the typical “sit and be quiet” classroom behavior.
These three strengths –stability, investment, and social skills– are what our students need the most and are prerequisites to meaningful learning. Rather than being singularly focused on test scores, we should build strong schools that support the students’ character development. Stability, investment and social skills will, in the long run, produce the test scores we so desperately want.
Harder for Converted Charters?
Charter schools seem to be popping up left and right in inner cities across the country, including
The U.S. Department of Education’s website provides recommendations on how to create an effective charter and further highlights eight outstanding charters. One component of charter school success followed the creation of a mission that students, parents, teachers and staff bought into and worked to make happen. In a start up charter, everyone has to buy in or else you don’t get hired. In a converted charter you can manage to pretend to agree with the mission and stay, just so you don’t get fired. Additionally, there needs to be high parent and community involvement. The site also notes that “parents choose to send their students” to charter schools. Yet, in the case of a converted charter a parent could continue sending their child to the school, totally unaware of the charter status, especially if it is a neighborhood school. I believe that converted charters have an extraordinary potential to be successful. However, unlike a start up charters that get the opportunity to hire new and start from the ground up, converted charters face the challenge of weeding out those who do not support and act in favor of the school’s mission.
Curriculum: The Missing Component
Though all our discussions of policy this semester, we haven't discussed one important part of schools that I think would make a huge difference in my classroom. I'm thinking of the importance of a uniform, high quality, curriculum. Last year, when teaching government, I wrote many of my lessons with Sarah Orao, because our pacing was different from the schedule that Baltimore City released its curriculum. We ended up pulling our lesson plans together and using a variety of different resources. While I am proud of the work that we did together, I am not a curriculum writer, and the time that I spent planning for my class could have been better spent on my struggles in management and differentiation.
This year, teaching World History, I have been in a situation with even less curricular support. Baltimore City has no real parameters for what should be included in the World History course. Students in World History at Carver learn from four different teachers who have wildly different interpretations of historical events (which is understandable, to a point) and who emphasize different events and themes in history.
On the other side of the issue, there are teachers whose curriculum is so scripted that they have no freedom whatsoever to linger with their classes on topics that the class might find fascinating.
Every class should have a basic curriculum that neither hampers the teacher's creativity nor leaves them stranded with no idea of how to make sense of the content. When I think of a dream curriculum, I think about documents that offer multiple ways to teach the same or similar content, content that is easily adaptable to various situations, varied instructional strategies, and curriculum that is challenging. I'd also be great if the curriculum had modifications for IEPs and enrichment built in, but at that point I might as well demand a robot to come into my class and teach it for me too.
We have plenty of intelligent people working for this system, and almost all teachers need summer work. A solution is simple. I'd rather be part of a curriculum writing team than work at a summer camp again. On a basic level, a school system needs to know what's being taught in its classrooms. I've been appalled by what some teachers are teaching in their classrooms and I think we have the resources to tackle this problem. It's a small step that I think will have a huge payoff in the quality of education that we're giving our children.
This year, teaching World History, I have been in a situation with even less curricular support. Baltimore City has no real parameters for what should be included in the World History course. Students in World History at Carver learn from four different teachers who have wildly different interpretations of historical events (which is understandable, to a point) and who emphasize different events and themes in history.
On the other side of the issue, there are teachers whose curriculum is so scripted that they have no freedom whatsoever to linger with their classes on topics that the class might find fascinating.
Every class should have a basic curriculum that neither hampers the teacher's creativity nor leaves them stranded with no idea of how to make sense of the content. When I think of a dream curriculum, I think about documents that offer multiple ways to teach the same or similar content, content that is easily adaptable to various situations, varied instructional strategies, and curriculum that is challenging. I'd also be great if the curriculum had modifications for IEPs and enrichment built in, but at that point I might as well demand a robot to come into my class and teach it for me too.
We have plenty of intelligent people working for this system, and almost all teachers need summer work. A solution is simple. I'd rather be part of a curriculum writing team than work at a summer camp again. On a basic level, a school system needs to know what's being taught in its classrooms. I've been appalled by what some teachers are teaching in their classrooms and I think we have the resources to tackle this problem. It's a small step that I think will have a huge payoff in the quality of education that we're giving our children.
The Next Time You Want to Take Flight...
What do airport security and the infamous No Child Left Behind act have in common? More than you might think, actually.
Both are intended to promote the welfare of all Americans, yet fail to do so. In theory, everyone agrees that people should have access to safe flights as well as a quality education. Unfortunately, in both scenarios, there will always be those who seek to circumvent the system at the cost of great harm to others. Terrorists wanting to take over an aircraft ultimately find a way. As they invent new and creative means of hijacking planes, law-abiding citizens everywhere find themselves forced to adhere to an ever-lengthening list of absurd and stringent guidelines, when all they want to do is take their kids to the beach. Nowadays, innocent travelers must stand in lines for hours only to shuffle through a metal detector barefoot while their dangerous 8-oz. bottle of shampoo is confiscated, yet, despite these inconveniences, terrorists still manage to bring weapons and explosives into airport terminals. In the same way, No Child Left Behind continues to create an oppressive, testing-centered educational culture that seems to prohibit teachers from deviating from the district-mandated curriculum. Yet, the very schools that most need the accountability NCLB is intended to provide still discover loopholes, manipulate data, and “leave behind” many of the children who were falling through the cracks initially.
When discussing airport security and educational equity, the proof remains in the pudding. We pontificate on the importance of safety and education in this country, yet who do we entrust with implementing these critical systems? As harsh as it may sound, your average TSA screener is perhaps a mere half-step above the person who serves you your fries at McDonald’s… and many teachers don’t fare much better by comparison. Most Americans wouldn’t dream of entrusting their life savings to an investment banker who lacked a meaningful degree from a competitive university, yet, in some areas, a high school diploma is the only credential required to shape the minds of our nation’s children!
So, take heart, teachers: the next time you look around your school and see the inefficiency, hypocrisy, and bureaucracy that appear to be unique to the Baltimore City Public School System, go ahead and take that much-needed vacation. You won’t have to go much farther than the airport to realize you're not alone afterall.
Both are intended to promote the welfare of all Americans, yet fail to do so. In theory, everyone agrees that people should have access to safe flights as well as a quality education. Unfortunately, in both scenarios, there will always be those who seek to circumvent the system at the cost of great harm to others. Terrorists wanting to take over an aircraft ultimately find a way. As they invent new and creative means of hijacking planes, law-abiding citizens everywhere find themselves forced to adhere to an ever-lengthening list of absurd and stringent guidelines, when all they want to do is take their kids to the beach. Nowadays, innocent travelers must stand in lines for hours only to shuffle through a metal detector barefoot while their dangerous 8-oz. bottle of shampoo is confiscated, yet, despite these inconveniences, terrorists still manage to bring weapons and explosives into airport terminals. In the same way, No Child Left Behind continues to create an oppressive, testing-centered educational culture that seems to prohibit teachers from deviating from the district-mandated curriculum. Yet, the very schools that most need the accountability NCLB is intended to provide still discover loopholes, manipulate data, and “leave behind” many of the children who were falling through the cracks initially.
When discussing airport security and educational equity, the proof remains in the pudding. We pontificate on the importance of safety and education in this country, yet who do we entrust with implementing these critical systems? As harsh as it may sound, your average TSA screener is perhaps a mere half-step above the person who serves you your fries at McDonald’s… and many teachers don’t fare much better by comparison. Most Americans wouldn’t dream of entrusting their life savings to an investment banker who lacked a meaningful degree from a competitive university, yet, in some areas, a high school diploma is the only credential required to shape the minds of our nation’s children!
So, take heart, teachers: the next time you look around your school and see the inefficiency, hypocrisy, and bureaucracy that appear to be unique to the Baltimore City Public School System, go ahead and take that much-needed vacation. You won’t have to go much farther than the airport to realize you're not alone afterall.
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Not even sure where to start...
I am far from being a parent, but I can't even fathom the frustration of having a child attend a failing school. Many schools in
So I got inspired when this concept was mentioned in class. Jeez, my school isn't meeting AYP so why haven't I heard of this before? I spent a solid two-plus hours tonight, feeling really stubborn, trying to figure out just how I would find and get supplemental educational services for my student who, for instance, attends my school and is severely behind. His deficit isn't for lack of trying - he wants success.
After spending some time figuring out that the jackpot term is supplemental educational services I finally got somewhere. I couldn't simply type in "tutoring" in MSDE or Baltimore City's website and get anywhere. I swear, I'm not trying to be dense.
Once I arrived at MSDE's page on SES, I found it interesting that one of their goals is to "Providing incentives to schools to improve schools in need of improvement." I see zero pressure for my school to improve because of SES threats. And if it's really a goal of MSDE to "provide options to parents to help them ensure their children receive a quality education" than why don't parents even know how to access SES opportunities? I have had many candid conversations with parents whose students are not on grade level, and they are at a loss. I had no idea that SES was even a policy until taking a closer look at urban reform. If this is such a quiet initiative, than how can it possibly be an honest effort?
So here is my hope. My hope is that parents will stumble upon this page and realize that they don't have to settle for their students learning from a few diamonds in the rough (props to the professionals who do everything in their power to empower children). No, they can pursue (as long as their schools are failing AYP) opportunities to make sure their students aren't missing essential opportunities. I plan to print this brochure and application and to give to all my students. Except wait, I teach high school. Why aren't there any high schools in this brochure? Do we not need to worry about them? Or is this a funding game with Title I? I know, at least I think I know, that high schools can receive Title I funds but it's rare. Then I find the official Title I list and see that no high schools in Baltimore qualify as Title I. Do they opt out to also opt out of stipulations that might be annoying BUT ensure academic equality, i.e. SES. I admit, I could be totally off-base here. I don't know how BCPSS decides who gets placed on the list, because I'm pretty sure they can opt out.
Back to "parent" mode: I still feel confused about how to get an equitable education for my child. I've been to MSDE's website and even looked at their SES parent overview. I happened to click on a federal link that brought me here, and I generated a dandy report that seems to say Half an attempt to provide an equitable education isn't good enough; and spending a few hours scouring the Internet doesn't make me an excerpt. But sure as hell makes me concerned about the way that policy and practicality and ethics are neglected at the expense of wonderful young people.
Note - I learned about this as I wrote it because, well, it's a blog! It's supposed to read in a conversational tone.
Not my post, but still awesome.
For Ms. Edwards:
My mother recently sent me a blog posting from the April 25th Opinion section of the NY Times that was written by a high school English teacher in inner-city
I chose to plow through the article anyway, however, and as I was reading I was struck by a deep sense of guilt. Mr. Okun, the high school teacher, struggles with the same obstacles that we all face, but in his blog posting he focuses on the reactions and frustrations of his “good” kids to the constant disruptions in the classroom. As he described the looks on several of his students’ faces as another fight breaks out in the room I could not help but think of some of my own students and the looks they give me when we find ourselves in similar situations.
Until I started teaching I thought that there was no worse feeling than knowing I had let me parents down. Now, however, after spending two years in the classroom I know that it is infinitely worse to have to face the five or six students in each of my classes who look at me with despair as I have to stop class yet again to deal with a behavior problem. I feel awful when I know that many of my most intelligent students are being inadvertently punished by the fact that because they are “good” it is easy for me to forget them.
In his posting, Mr. Okun comments on the intelligent students he has in his classes who generally care about school and their education. He quotes one as saying “It’s frustrating because we go so slow. Teachers are distracted by students who are not really trying to do anything. They get more attention than people who are trying to learn.” I have heard these sentiments echoed frequently in my own classroom and I feel ashamed as an educator because I know that these students are right.
Mr. Okun asks the question “How can dedicated students […] receive a proper education amid the havoc created by such a preponderance of ‘troublesome,’ uncaring students?” I have often asked myself this and come up with no better answer than my students simply need to get out of my school. It makes me sad when I tell my homeroom that they only have twenty more days of this school before they go to a real school, but at this point I really believe that the only viable option for many of my students is to get out of schools like mine (Northeast) and get into many of the better city-wide high schools or new charter schools that are opening up.
Although Mr. Okun teaches in
Let Freedom Dream
There is something fundamentally disconcerting about reading MLK’s “I Have a Dream” speech in the context of West Baltimore. In a school that is 99% African-American, it is overwhelmingly evident that we have not yet reached the day when “little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.” Given the scenario, an observer wouldn’t expect a room full of black students to launch into a discussion of how racist America was “back then”… but they do. They talk about how our country “used to be” segregated and “in those days” Rosa Parks went to jail for refusing to go to the back of the bus, yet they fail to mention that the average Baltimore City bus stop all but displays a “Coloreds Only” sign declaring the transportational ghetto it has become.
And we have the nerve to discuss “urban reform.”
If you search for “reform” on Wikipedia, you find the following definition:
“Reform is generally distinguished from revolution. The latter moves toward basic or radical change; whereas reform may be no more than fine tuning, or at most redressing serious wrongs without altering the fundamentals of the system. Reform seeks to improve the system as it stands, never to overthrow it wholesale.”
In other words, reform suggests that a given change will improve an already functional entity in terms of quality, efficiency, etc. Reform is a tame word – it is non-threatening and, in many cases, optional. But the children of Baltimore City need more than mere reform. They deserve nothing short of a revolution.
Unlike reform, revolution cannot be legislated – it must be instigated. Sociologist Theda Skcopol defines revolution as the “rapid, basic transformation of society's state and class structures...accompanied and in part carried through by class-based revolts from below.” Like a wildfire, revolution bursts onto the scene and ravages the current system, starting as a small spark and quickly gaining enough momentum to consume even our most deeply-rooted traditions and beliefs.
When I consider this comparison between reform and revolution, I find that we too often attempt to equate these immensely dissimilar words. If anything, Reform is Revolution Lite – similar packaging, similar flavor, but no substance. In the world of soft drinks, a “light” version of the original proves beneficial, but not so in the cesspool of public education. While zero calories in a cola may effectively narrow your waistline, zero impact in a broken system only serves to widen the already abhorrent achievement gap in this country.
This reform mentality in an age of revolution reminds me of what Dr. Martin Luther King referred to as the “tranquilizing drug of gradualism.” In the 60s and 70s, African-American communities were ablaze with the promise of the civil rights movement. They cried out for revolution and demanded equality, but the systemic racism which governed the country would not be toppled overnight. As the slow burn ensued, this drug of gradualism dulled their once-bright spark to a smoldering flame of frustration and apathy.
West Baltimore embodies this death of a dream. It is a place which propagates the semblance of equality rather than the actual practice of it. Instead of simply letting school children starve, we offer them virtually inedible lunches that only the hungriest of students will even attempt to eat. To prevent thousands of West Baltimoreans from congregating angry and homeless on the street, we provide roach-infested, lead-painted government housing projects that make living below the poverty level just barely tolerable. As a result, these baseline governmental programs act as numbing agents to the very communities they are intended to empower, thus perpetuating – and even excusing – oppression. By pretending to follow-through with our promise of public education as the “great equalizer” for our nation’s children, we lull thousands of low-income families into a false sense of well-being and opportunity, quelling their rage and deceiving them into inadvertently sustaining the very systems which have tyrannized them for generations.
So what are we to do as proponents of social justice in a system of oppression? Do we remove ourselves from the process altogether, allowing these repugnant conditions to grow ever worse, in hopes of exposing the widespread inequality in our country and fostering a spark of rage strong enough to revolutionize an entire nation? Or do we continue to fight the good fight of gradualism, hoping that one day, through persistence and idealism, we will accumulate enough small victories to win this vast and complicated war?
Although there is no simple solution to be found, there is one simple reality that must be faced: unless we find a way to revolutionize, rather than “reform,” our country’s infrastructure, MLK’s words will continue to serve as indictment of rather than a tribute to this great and broken nation of ours.
And we have the nerve to discuss “urban reform.”
If you search for “reform” on Wikipedia, you find the following definition:
“Reform is generally distinguished from revolution. The latter moves toward basic or radical change; whereas reform may be no more than fine tuning, or at most redressing serious wrongs without altering the fundamentals of the system. Reform seeks to improve the system as it stands, never to overthrow it wholesale.”
In other words, reform suggests that a given change will improve an already functional entity in terms of quality, efficiency, etc. Reform is a tame word – it is non-threatening and, in many cases, optional. But the children of Baltimore City need more than mere reform. They deserve nothing short of a revolution.
Unlike reform, revolution cannot be legislated – it must be instigated. Sociologist Theda Skcopol defines revolution as the “rapid, basic transformation of society's state and class structures...accompanied and in part carried through by class-based revolts from below.” Like a wildfire, revolution bursts onto the scene and ravages the current system, starting as a small spark and quickly gaining enough momentum to consume even our most deeply-rooted traditions and beliefs.
When I consider this comparison between reform and revolution, I find that we too often attempt to equate these immensely dissimilar words. If anything, Reform is Revolution Lite – similar packaging, similar flavor, but no substance. In the world of soft drinks, a “light” version of the original proves beneficial, but not so in the cesspool of public education. While zero calories in a cola may effectively narrow your waistline, zero impact in a broken system only serves to widen the already abhorrent achievement gap in this country.
This reform mentality in an age of revolution reminds me of what Dr. Martin Luther King referred to as the “tranquilizing drug of gradualism.” In the 60s and 70s, African-American communities were ablaze with the promise of the civil rights movement. They cried out for revolution and demanded equality, but the systemic racism which governed the country would not be toppled overnight. As the slow burn ensued, this drug of gradualism dulled their once-bright spark to a smoldering flame of frustration and apathy.
West Baltimore embodies this death of a dream. It is a place which propagates the semblance of equality rather than the actual practice of it. Instead of simply letting school children starve, we offer them virtually inedible lunches that only the hungriest of students will even attempt to eat. To prevent thousands of West Baltimoreans from congregating angry and homeless on the street, we provide roach-infested, lead-painted government housing projects that make living below the poverty level just barely tolerable. As a result, these baseline governmental programs act as numbing agents to the very communities they are intended to empower, thus perpetuating – and even excusing – oppression. By pretending to follow-through with our promise of public education as the “great equalizer” for our nation’s children, we lull thousands of low-income families into a false sense of well-being and opportunity, quelling their rage and deceiving them into inadvertently sustaining the very systems which have tyrannized them for generations.
So what are we to do as proponents of social justice in a system of oppression? Do we remove ourselves from the process altogether, allowing these repugnant conditions to grow ever worse, in hopes of exposing the widespread inequality in our country and fostering a spark of rage strong enough to revolutionize an entire nation? Or do we continue to fight the good fight of gradualism, hoping that one day, through persistence and idealism, we will accumulate enough small victories to win this vast and complicated war?
Although there is no simple solution to be found, there is one simple reality that must be faced: unless we find a way to revolutionize, rather than “reform,” our country’s infrastructure, MLK’s words will continue to serve as indictment of rather than a tribute to this great and broken nation of ours.
Do I really care? Yeah, I think I do.
As the school year draws to a close, I am already thinking about next year. Yes, the upcoming school year is on my mind already. Not because I'm dreading it. I am actually looking forward to next year because it will be my first year in one of Baltimore's Transformation schools and I'm thinking I just might like it. Although I'm uncertain about what it will hold for me, I know what it won't: daily fires, kids cursing you and "yo mama" in the hall, choking on the mace the police officers just sprayed to disperse the crowd gathered around yet another fight. And I can't forget last week's riot!!! Am I dreaming? *sigh*
Despite all of that, my leaving SLB will be bittersweet. I promised my juniors I would see them to the end, but this is an opportunity I can't turn down. Luckily, they understand. I realized this past week how much I really care about them and it's breaking my heart to leave them behind. We've cried and shared our memories and are really looking forward to the last two activities we'll have together this year. So why aren't I staying you ask? Because despite the love I feel for them, I have to move to a place where I can flourish. My spirit and my love for the profession I chose is dwindling daily and if I don't catch a spark soon, I'm afraid I'll lose my fire.
Believe it or not, they want me to go. They told me that I shouldn't let them or anyone else hold me back because that's what I always told them when I had them in ninth grade. (Ok, I'm crying again.)It's so hard to believe that I have actually accomplished something in my few years of teaching. These kids have shown me that. They actually remembered something I taught them and this life lesson is more meaningful to me than anything else we covered in English I: they became selfless. What more can I say? Not much, because you might not understand the blubbering. Pass me a Kleenex.
Despite all of that, my leaving SLB will be bittersweet. I promised my juniors I would see them to the end, but this is an opportunity I can't turn down. Luckily, they understand. I realized this past week how much I really care about them and it's breaking my heart to leave them behind. We've cried and shared our memories and are really looking forward to the last two activities we'll have together this year. So why aren't I staying you ask? Because despite the love I feel for them, I have to move to a place where I can flourish. My spirit and my love for the profession I chose is dwindling daily and if I don't catch a spark soon, I'm afraid I'll lose my fire.
Believe it or not, they want me to go. They told me that I shouldn't let them or anyone else hold me back because that's what I always told them when I had them in ninth grade. (Ok, I'm crying again.)It's so hard to believe that I have actually accomplished something in my few years of teaching. These kids have shown me that. They actually remembered something I taught them and this life lesson is more meaningful to me than anything else we covered in English I: they became selfless. What more can I say? Not much, because you might not understand the blubbering. Pass me a Kleenex.
Teacher Certification and Rethinking Ed Policy
Everyone agrees that we need better teachers and more of them. It is logical to assume that teacher certification requirements limit the number of teacher-applicants. It seems counterintuitive, however, that certification requirements diminish the overall quality of teachers. According to education policy expert Frederick Hess, they do. In his article “Tear Down These Walls: The Case for a Radical Overhaul of Teacher Certification,” Hess makes a compelling argument that teacher certification hurts the quality of the teacher pool by creating burdensome requirements that discourage otherwise excellent teachers for joining the profession. In essence, Hess argues for a deregulation of the teaching profession.
Hess’s article is significant in that it challenges many of our assumptions about teacher certification and handles the topic in a nuanced manner. He tackles the issue of teacher quality with a degree of scholarship that is generally lacking in the field of education. For some odd reason, education is plagued by anti-intellectualism, as highlighted by politicians who address education reform with platitudes and polemics rather than thoughtful, reasoned analysis.
“Tear down these walls” is a metaphor for eliminating the unjustifiable barriers to teaching. I also see it as a metaphor for debunking the common assumptions related to education policy and erecting a foundation of policies based on sound research and reasoned argument. This is, after all, the standard in every other respected discipline. Education policy should be no exception. Indeed the gravity of educational inequity demands we attend to it with serious scholarship and the utmost intellectual integrity.
Monday, May 5, 2008
Cyber Charters
I’m a big proponent of charter schools. Because they are free from the regulations and practical constraints of the public school system, they often manage to provide small class sizes, extended school days, and more supportive administrations to its teaching staff. But I recently read about Western Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School, a virtual charter school that students attend online (High School Is Virtual, but the Caps and Gowns Are Real, New York Times. June, 2003). And these schools are on the rise, with 67 schools and over 16,000 students as of 2003.
This trend forced me to ask myself why virtual schools should exist. In the article, several “virtual students” explained that normal school did not work for them, mainly because peers, or in some cases teachers or coaches, were unkind. There was also one student cited that had a medical problem that would have made conventional schooling an untenable option (this thought piece does not speak to the medically ineligible).
While my heart goes out to students that encounter social difficulty in school, I’m not sure that this trend – reflective of our increasingly virtual society – is encouraging. I would have expected myself to be more positive about a charter school that effectively provides individual attention and a conducive environment for a conventional education in the critical areas of math, science, and language. However, there is something beneficial about the Darwinian nature of “real,” brick-and-mortar school, where students must interact and engage, struggle and reconcile. Isn’t that part of education too? You cannot learn conflict resolution by being a recluse, and high school is a pivotal social learning experience. I feel that our society sometimes supplies options which foster weak and unprepared adults, rather than teach engagement and resilience.
While I witness conflict and social tension in the classroom, I also would opt for real classrooms over cyber ones any day. Students in Baltimore have the opportunity to make mistakes, confront their problems and hopefully learn ways to overcome them.
Something positive?
After reading so many posts, and hearing so much negativity today in my faculty meeting, I knew it was time for something positive. As I searched the internet for news articles about Baltimore City, I stumbled upon this article from the end of 2006. If you ever get to a point where you don't think things can change, or that what you do isn't going to make a lasting difference, please read this inspirational (albeit poorly formatted) article about the work our students are doing to demand a better education for themselves. This blog entry is not really about this one article, it is about a culture that I see developing even within our once optimistic crew.
We all got into this business knowing it was going to be hard, and we all took pride in the fact that we were going to being doing something that not only was going to change the world, but that was going to be really tough. And now, as the year (and years) comes to a close, I hear so many comments that make me sick to my core. We are here for the kids, period. I know it is not always easy--last week was possibly the hardest week I have had to date--but isn't that why we got into this? If it was easy, then there wouldn't be a gap to close. If it was easy, our kids wouldn't have to choose between taking care of their children and siblings or going to school. This job is hard, but it is also the best job in my mind out there. So to all the teachers who are leaving, either because you are going to do bigger and better things next year (and seriously good luck, we need people in the rest of the world to know about our amazing kids), or because your mind is already on summer break, remember our work here is not done. It will never be done, and it is our job to keep working and try our best to smile through it.
I know this is starting to sound a bit like a rant, but in my 2nd month teaching I heard a 2nd year teacher tell me that her best teaching practice was smiling. That she makes sure to start each class with a smile, no matter what else is going on. And though sometimes it isn't easy, I try to remember that everyday. And our students notice. One day as I stood at the door, I welcomed a student and he said, "What is the matter? You always have the biggest smile on your face. Do you not feel like teaching us today?" I had been off in my own troubles, and not focused there on him. I shook my head, and gave him the biggest smile I could muster. "Are you kidding? I always want to teach you!"
Chins up troops!
We all got into this business knowing it was going to be hard, and we all took pride in the fact that we were going to being doing something that not only was going to change the world, but that was going to be really tough. And now, as the year (and years) comes to a close, I hear so many comments that make me sick to my core. We are here for the kids, period. I know it is not always easy--last week was possibly the hardest week I have had to date--but isn't that why we got into this? If it was easy, then there wouldn't be a gap to close. If it was easy, our kids wouldn't have to choose between taking care of their children and siblings or going to school. This job is hard, but it is also the best job in my mind out there. So to all the teachers who are leaving, either because you are going to do bigger and better things next year (and seriously good luck, we need people in the rest of the world to know about our amazing kids), or because your mind is already on summer break, remember our work here is not done. It will never be done, and it is our job to keep working and try our best to smile through it.
I know this is starting to sound a bit like a rant, but in my 2nd month teaching I heard a 2nd year teacher tell me that her best teaching practice was smiling. That she makes sure to start each class with a smile, no matter what else is going on. And though sometimes it isn't easy, I try to remember that everyday. And our students notice. One day as I stood at the door, I welcomed a student and he said, "What is the matter? You always have the biggest smile on your face. Do you not feel like teaching us today?" I had been off in my own troubles, and not focused there on him. I shook my head, and gave him the biggest smile I could muster. "Are you kidding? I always want to teach you!"
Chins up troops!
Fair Student Funding
The topic of Fair Student Funding has been on the minds and lips of many of us as this year winds to a close and we prepare for next year. Fair Student Funding, transferring control over monetary spending from North Avenue to principals, is quite scary, especially when more power is going to people who are not prepared to handle it. Each student will receive about $9,100 on average, when all funds are calculated. This sum includes staff, services, and school supplies. Now, principals will have the control over how much money will go to each service. In a recent newsletter written by Dr. Alonso to BCPSS parents, “Great Kids: Great Schools,” parents read that, “Principals are the key decision-makers for students and schools, and are fully responsible for student achievement.” This statement strikes fear into my very core. Perhaps it is because this procedure is new. Perhaps it is because I do not trust all principals with such responsibility.
In New York City, Fair Student Funding has also recently been put into place. This new focus is based on three principals:
1. Those closest to the students should get to make the key decisions about what will best help their students succeed.
2. Empowered schools must be accountable for results.
3. NYC schools should be able to count on funding that is fair and transparent.
While there are advocates for NYC Fair Student Funding, there are also critics. New York Teacher says, “The mayor and the chancellor should be applauded for their desire to help the city’s neediest students, but the best way to do that is simply to identify their needs and meet them. The system they have proposed is just playing with abstract — and inadequate — numbers,” (“Equalizing Teachers,” New York Teacher, Mar 15, 2007).
From my teaching experience in Baltimore (and from my colleagues’ experiences) and from working with four principals in the past two years at my school, I do not believe that this decision will benefit my school. There are too many inconsistencies for it to benefit my students. The staff turn-over is too high, the administrators unprepared to manage this amount of money. Ultimately, I believe that this switch in power will make the strong schools stronger and the struggling schools worse. Already, there is a great divide between schools in this city; this move will extend this gap.
In New York City, Fair Student Funding has also recently been put into place. This new focus is based on three principals:
1. Those closest to the students should get to make the key decisions about what will best help their students succeed.
2. Empowered schools must be accountable for results.
3. NYC schools should be able to count on funding that is fair and transparent.
While there are advocates for NYC Fair Student Funding, there are also critics. New York Teacher says, “The mayor and the chancellor should be applauded for their desire to help the city’s neediest students, but the best way to do that is simply to identify their needs and meet them. The system they have proposed is just playing with abstract — and inadequate — numbers,” (“Equalizing Teachers,” New York Teacher, Mar 15, 2007).
From my teaching experience in Baltimore (and from my colleagues’ experiences) and from working with four principals in the past two years at my school, I do not believe that this decision will benefit my school. There are too many inconsistencies for it to benefit my students. The staff turn-over is too high, the administrators unprepared to manage this amount of money. Ultimately, I believe that this switch in power will make the strong schools stronger and the struggling schools worse. Already, there is a great divide between schools in this city; this move will extend this gap.
For Baltimore schools police chief, a little love can go a long Way
There is an article in today's Examiner that is an interview with the current chief of School Police. it is an interesting read as he provides insight into the difficult nature of school policing and he talks about how the profession has changed since he first entered the field in the `970's. He cites the onset and rise of gangs as the biggest problem the school police force is facing and the violence as a whole as a big issue. The most interesting insight gained from the article is the act that there are 120 officers for 193 schools which is rather ridiculous. This means that the school police force is stretched pretty thin and decreases their ability to respond to situations. The other interesting thing about the school police I have learned is that next year they will not be supervising hall monitors anymore. Hall monitors will fall under the jurisdiction of the schools and therefore the principals. That should make for an interesting situation because hall monitors by nature can only do so much and it really is a thankless job because you make very little money, takes tons of verbal abuse from children, and have to swallow a heap of blame from teachers and administrators. I have met the chief because his grandson attends our school and all in all he seems like a decent guy. I don't know how much school police can really do because juvenile justice in this city is so weak and it hinders the ability to enforce laws upon these children because they do not fear retribution from the law.
ayinde81
There is an article in today's Examiner that is an interview with the current chief of School Police. it is an interesting read as he provides insight into the difficult nature of school policing and he talks about how the profession has changed since he first entered the field in the `970's. He cites the onset and rise of gangs as the biggest problem the school police force is facing and the violence as a whole as a big issue. The most interesting insight gained from the article is the act that there are 120 officers for 193 schools which is rather ridiculous. This means that the school police force is stretched pretty thin and decreases their ability to respond to situations. The other interesting thing about the school police I have learned is that next year they will not be supervising hall monitors anymore. Hall monitors will fall under the jurisdiction of the schools and therefore the principals. That should make for an interesting situation because hall monitors by nature can only do so much and it really is a thankless job because you make very little money, takes tons of verbal abuse from children, and have to swallow a heap of blame from teachers and administrators. I have met the chief because his grandson attends our school and all in all he seems like a decent guy. I don't know how much school police can really do because juvenile justice in this city is so weak and it hinders the ability to enforce laws upon these children because they do not fear retribution from the law.
ayinde81
Paging Professional Responsibility
I am in my classroom and I look up at the clock and realize that it one o'clock i sigh , get up from up my desk and head out to the end of the hallway. I begin to direct traffic as children come from four directions back from their SPAR classes. This is a daily routine as the children are NEVER walked back to class by their teachers. Despite admonishments, memos, and directives this practice continues to occur every day and with the end of the year rapidly approaching I doubt that it will change. This story and a million others like it underscores one of the larges problems in this school system which is the lack of professional responsibility and accountability. It is distressing to come to work every day and observe teachers refusing directives, ignoring policies and procedures , and broadcasting openly how they plan to abuse their leave time for no other reason than they can. It is bothersome because this kind of attitude does a great disservice to the children whom should be our primary reason for coming to work. This lack of professional responsibility and accountability will continue to be an impidement that keeps this system from moving forward. I do not pretend to have the answers because I do not know what can be done with these types of people. I just know that at this point of the school year i am beyond tired of them. I have no problem dealing with children who are problematic but I have little patience for lazy adults.
ayinde81
ayinde81
Sunday, May 4, 2008
When Your Neighbors Don't Want You There
Baltimore is a racially segregated city. There are clear lines between white, black, Hispanic, Jewish and other ethnic groups. It floored me that I could ride down Coldspring and see some of the biggest houses ever and then some of the poorest neighborhoods within minutes of each other. As times change and new real estate areas become hot spots (hello gentrification) we have school issues arise like the one in Canton.
With the closing of Canton Middle School in 2009, the neighborhood does not want another school in the building, though it seems likely that a new charter will be placed there. Speaking from experience, being a school in a place that doesn’t want you has harmful affects. Two years ago, my school moved locations into the Robert Poole building in Hampden, as their existing middle school was being shut down. Over the past two years, I have seen extreme acts of racism done to my children by members of the Hampden community. I am not saying it is the whole neighborhood, of course there are certainly great people who help our school a lot. But overwhelmingly, my students can not walk to the light rail with out being called the n-word at least once. I have talked to my students about this issue a lot and I am appalled that they are to the point where it doesn’t faze them as much as it used to.
Being unwanted, in a twisted way, brings us together as a school community – as our kids always walk with each other, I drive kids home, etc. I constantly tell my kids to be the bigger people and not acknowledge the hurtful comments and generally they heed this advice. As the decision is made of what to do with Canton, I hope they chose wisely. With the emergence of so many “choice” schools, students are traveling up to 2 hours to get to school each day. In order for students to learn, they need to be in a safe and welcoming environment. I wish that every neighborhood would welcome students freely, but it doesn’t seem to be the case.
With the closing of Canton Middle School in 2009, the neighborhood does not want another school in the building, though it seems likely that a new charter will be placed there. Speaking from experience, being a school in a place that doesn’t want you has harmful affects. Two years ago, my school moved locations into the Robert Poole building in Hampden, as their existing middle school was being shut down. Over the past two years, I have seen extreme acts of racism done to my children by members of the Hampden community. I am not saying it is the whole neighborhood, of course there are certainly great people who help our school a lot. But overwhelmingly, my students can not walk to the light rail with out being called the n-word at least once. I have talked to my students about this issue a lot and I am appalled that they are to the point where it doesn’t faze them as much as it used to.
Being unwanted, in a twisted way, brings us together as a school community – as our kids always walk with each other, I drive kids home, etc. I constantly tell my kids to be the bigger people and not acknowledge the hurtful comments and generally they heed this advice. As the decision is made of what to do with Canton, I hope they chose wisely. With the emergence of so many “choice” schools, students are traveling up to 2 hours to get to school each day. In order for students to learn, they need to be in a safe and welcoming environment. I wish that every neighborhood would welcome students freely, but it doesn’t seem to be the case.
GAP vs. GATE
We are all too familiar with the achievement gap... but how many of us know anything about the gate? And by "the gate," I mean GATE: Baltimore City's Gifted And Talented Education program. We learned in our special education class that just as we are required to identify students with suspected disabilities for special education, we are legally required to identify students who are achieving at a significantly higher level as well. But how many of us have ever done that? And the better question might be, if we were to identify a student as gifted and talented, how many of our schools would have the means to accommodate that student in a meaningful way?
According to the Maryland State definition, a gifted and talented student is one who " (1) has outstanding talent, and performs or shows the potential for performing, at remarkably high levels of accomplishment when compared with other students of a similar age, experience, or environment (2) exhibits high performance capability in intellectual, creative, or artistic areas (3) possesses an unusual leadership capacity and/or (4) excels in specific academic fields.
I can think of several students who fulfill all of those criteria, and I strive to differentiate assignments for them in order to make their work more challenging. Nevertheless, I feel like my school is doing them a disservice by not offering a formalized GATE program. At the same time, I have my suspicions about some of the GATE programs that are already in existence. For example, my husband is currently working at a Baltimore County middle school that offers two formal GATE classes in the 8th grade. 28% of the 8th grade class is African American. However, out of the approximately 50 students in those GATE classes, only 2 are African American. Is it really possible that the white kids are just that much more "gifted?" I don't think so.
I was in a program similar to GATE throughout my elementary and middle school years and I truly believe that those classes helped make me the "learning-lover" geeky person that I am today. I wish that more of our students had those some opportunities. If any of you have information about GATE programs at your school or how to start one at my school, I would love to hear from you!
According to the Maryland State definition, a gifted and talented student is one who " (1) has outstanding talent, and performs or shows the potential for performing, at remarkably high levels of accomplishment when compared with other students of a similar age, experience, or environment (2) exhibits high performance capability in intellectual, creative, or artistic areas (3) possesses an unusual leadership capacity and/or (4) excels in specific academic fields.
I can think of several students who fulfill all of those criteria, and I strive to differentiate assignments for them in order to make their work more challenging. Nevertheless, I feel like my school is doing them a disservice by not offering a formalized GATE program. At the same time, I have my suspicions about some of the GATE programs that are already in existence. For example, my husband is currently working at a Baltimore County middle school that offers two formal GATE classes in the 8th grade. 28% of the 8th grade class is African American. However, out of the approximately 50 students in those GATE classes, only 2 are African American. Is it really possible that the white kids are just that much more "gifted?" I don't think so.
I was in a program similar to GATE throughout my elementary and middle school years and I truly believe that those classes helped make me the "learning-lover" geeky person that I am today. I wish that more of our students had those some opportunities. If any of you have information about GATE programs at your school or how to start one at my school, I would love to hear from you!
The Power of Play
There are not nearly enough opportunities for our school children in Baltimore City to play. I'm not talking about the "we was only playin" type of playing that kids regularly get reprimanded for. I'm talking about safe and meaningful physical activity that will aid in our kids' physical, emotional, and cognitive development.
When our children do not receive quality physical education, they are not only robbed of learning basic athletic skills, but also of body awareness, self-esteem, and social skills. In areas of poverty in particular, there is increased obesity, diabetes, attention difficulties, and anti-social behavior in young people. A structured, safe, and inclusive environment where children are explicitly taught how to engage in healthy play is a sound remedy. Conflict resolution begins on the playground for most people. In the absence of a regular, required gym class it's no wonder a friendly game of Uno erupted into two twelve-year old black males trying to beat each other up in my class last Friday.
Gym class should be seen as essential, rather than a luxury--especially in inner-cities. We know that lower-income areas have fewer stores with healthy, affordable food choices. We know that African and Hispanic Americans are disproportionately poor and have historically and culturally had higher-fat diets. We know that depression and stress can lead to sedentary lifestyles. We know that in high-crime areas, moms often stay indoors with kids for safety reasons. So then, why don't we seem to know that qualitiy physical education is a glaring deficiency in our current school system?
When our children do not receive quality physical education, they are not only robbed of learning basic athletic skills, but also of body awareness, self-esteem, and social skills. In areas of poverty in particular, there is increased obesity, diabetes, attention difficulties, and anti-social behavior in young people. A structured, safe, and inclusive environment where children are explicitly taught how to engage in healthy play is a sound remedy. Conflict resolution begins on the playground for most people. In the absence of a regular, required gym class it's no wonder a friendly game of Uno erupted into two twelve-year old black males trying to beat each other up in my class last Friday.
Gym class should be seen as essential, rather than a luxury--especially in inner-cities. We know that lower-income areas have fewer stores with healthy, affordable food choices. We know that African and Hispanic Americans are disproportionately poor and have historically and culturally had higher-fat diets. We know that depression and stress can lead to sedentary lifestyles. We know that in high-crime areas, moms often stay indoors with kids for safety reasons. So then, why don't we seem to know that qualitiy physical education is a glaring deficiency in our current school system?
Saturday, May 3, 2008
North Avenue
Last night’s conversation about school boards made me think about the current situation in DC and the role that politics play in our system. Politics are an undeniable force and in a school system they are especially dangerous because they distract us from our ever-important goal of educating children. Michelle Rhee of DCPS hinted at this when she spoke of her desire to clean out the central office, saying, “I am convinced that we must not let the rights, privileges, and priorities of adults to take precedence over what is in the best interests of students.” Since taking the helm in DC, she has encountered much ire from the union and many administrators for her willingness to call people to task and her hatred of inefficiency. One of Rhee’s primary goals is similar to that of Alonzo’s – to clean out the central offices and streamline the administrative process. Because she is appointed by the mayor, she has the luxury of an almost apolitical position. She has no constituents to appeal to, and the only person she is accountable to is Mayor Fenty.
If we are going to make changes at
Thursday, May 1, 2008
Now I'm Confused??
I’ve been known to be a staunch opponent of the idea of “school choice”, I have always felt that vouchers turn quality education into a financial market place. Schools are for education, and if that is not working, giving up and running away from the problem is not going to create change for everyone. Parents of students who attend a poor performing school will choose to utilize a voucher (which rarely pays the full cost of tuition at private schools) and send their student elsewhere. The poor performing school will begin to see falling enrollment and then will be forced to either change (which will be nearly impossible with no funds, no students and few teachers), or close down. Those students will then go to another public school, and the cycle will continue. Unless we are willing to completely do away with public schools altogether, the voucher system is only putting a Band-Aid on skin cancer. I believe that pay for performance, unless it is based on improvement, is fundamentally biased in favor of school districts in which students are primarily from upper, middle, and lower middle class families, who usually begin the school year at or above grade level. But after reading an article from World on the Web online magazine, about Obama’s (the love of my life) support of school choice in terms of charter schools, I find myself perplexed. I thought school choice meant vouchers? If school choice includes charter schools then I am all for it—hey I work at a semi-charter school. Charter schools are free, they are public, they must be accountable for student learning, and they have been proven to be successful for students from all educational and social backgrounds. If developing 7,907,189,743,097 public charter schools is our method of public school reform, which gives ALL students a free appropriate public education, I’m all for it!
The Angry Rant of a Fed Up Teacher
Last Friday, a teacher was severely beaten by a student while 30 other students sat and watched. Wow, there are so many problems within that one scenario that are commonplace in Baltimore city schools that I am surprised that more incidences have not been reported. Let’s start here. There are entirely too many students in Baltimore City Classrooms. I believe that an incident like the one mentioned above would not have happened in a class of 20, because in those instances, it is easier to form a team like relationship with the members of the class, and that relationship might have moved a student to stop the fight instead of root the violent student on. 2) There is not enough support for new teachers; this woman who began teaching in December should have had more training and support from the administration and mentor teachers. Let’s be honest, very rarely do situations go from cold to hot in a matter of seconds. I believe someone nearby heard the chaos, but decided to think “she needs to get control of that class” instead of, “let me see if she needs help”. 3.) Why are we surprised at what happened when children are allowed to do whatever they want to do, with no repercussions. Instead of calling for specific instances (in my opinion, to avoid dealing with the problem) Dr. Alonzo needs to step up and put some serious policies in place to make our schools safe. Let’s shift our energy from paying students to fail an exam, and take a look at the order of needs, safety: for teachers and students is always at the top of the list.
Do Grades Matter?
Do grades matter?
As a government teacher I use news about the 2008 election, and the biographies of the candidates in my classroom on a regular basis. However, this can bring up conversations that can be difficult to have with my students. For example: by consistently playing up the fact that he received some of the lowest scores of anyone in his class while at the Naval Academy in Annapolis John McCain seems to be implying that academic achievement is not particularly important. True, simply graduating from the United States Naval Academy is a major accomplishment, but I’m forced to wonder how the dozens of people who excelled academically feel about his current success as Republican frontrunner. McCain has also discussed his discipline problems while he was at the academy, which apparently were numerous. All of this comes in the wake of President Bush, who frequently brought up his poor grades while at Harvard and Yale.
I see the mentality that grades don’t matter in my students who are constantly obsessed with simply passing. There are students who want to receive the highest scores in the class, but many just want to cross the threshold of 60. Of course I encourage these students to set their sights higher. But, the success of McCain and President Bush does beg the question – do grades actually correlate to success? Perhaps these leaders, and some students, measure their success by a standard completely different from a grade point average. Maybe there’s nothing wrong with that. However, the danger is when students begin to think that because other people have been able to succeed with bad grades that opportunity will be available to all of them as well. That said, moving beyond grades as the premier measure of success may be a good direction for schools and teachers to move in.
Individual growth or passing rates?
One of the many criticisms swirling around about NCLB is that by setting a uniform passing score and holding everyone to it, schools that serve disadvantaged students are put at a further disadvantage for making AYP because there is more ground for them to make up. A brief analysis of this question was recently posted on the Education Gadfly, published by the Fordham Institute. The point of this analysis is that only a small number of schools will meet AYP in a growth model who do not already meet it in the current absolute model.
My sense is that it doesn't particularly matter how exactly we define the goal, so long as the end goal is a school system where students are ready for college or work on graduation. This goal can be implemented with absolute goals that expect all students to be on grade-level, or with growth goals that are scaled to take into account the achievement gap, so that a student who is three years behind is expected to make more than a year's worth of growth. It seems to me that the former system would be easier to implement, but if a state decides that a growth model would be more effective or egalitarian, then I have no problem with them implementing it so long as they ensure that schools who make AYP are putting their students on track to graduate adequately prepared to contribute to society.
Cell phones in schools
Our hallways are filled with the sounds of the latest “in” ring tones. Students don’t even try to hide the fact that they are on their cell phones. You can’t miss the mass number of students walking down the halls on their phones, especially those who insist on using the walkie talkie feature. That incessant beep the phones make every time a student finishes a sentence could almost be our school song.
I can deal with the annoyance. It’s safety that concerns me. Just like happened at Freedom High in
I understand why students need cell phones. Many go through rough neighborhoods to get to and from school, or live in rough neighborhoods themselves. If I were a parent, I would want them to have phones, too. I’m not suggesting that they can’t bring them to school. But there has to be a solution that will create a safe environment in school. Right now students have free reign, and in the current environment there really isn’t a way to prevent incidences like the ones described from occurring.
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Role of Parents
I recently came across an article titled, “Parents’ Role in Schools Earns Fresh Respect.” To my surprise, the article was about Maryland’s new standards that places increased value on parent participation. The Maryland Department of Education has launched an awards program to recognize parents who have made an effort and contributed to schools in their community. It seems to me we are willing to reward people for everything these days. When talking to many of my high school students in Baltimore City, I realized – not to my surprise – that their parents have not been up to their school since middle school. When they do come, it is often for a conference for misbehavior. I do not doubt that contributions from parents can play a huge role, but I am wondering how proponents of the program Parent Involvement Matters, envisions the role of the parent and the role of the teacher. The National Network of Partnerships Schools would include as parent of their program, giving small grants to school districts to help them build parent-partnership programs. I find it interesting that Maryland has formed a parent advisory council that focuses on ways those parents can support student success. The major push for parent environment has emerged after the recent beating of a teacher by a student in Baltimore. Under the No Child Left Behind Act, schools are required to have a parent-involvement policy. From my experience with parents, in general, they do not know how to become involved or how they could be helpful. An effective parent-involvement policy could be very beneficial. There is only so much you can do in the school itself and during a school day. Many of the problems we are seeing come from the neighborhood. In most cases, parents would be very helpful in developing that bridge between the school and the community. Since Maryland is getting recognition for this initiative, I am looking forward to how to turns out in Baltimore City.
Teacher Absences
Review of my school’s improvement plan indicates that many of the root causes of the problems and challenges with our school stem from teacher absenteeism. It is a problem discussed at all of our faculty meetings. It is a reason expressed by many students as to why they do not come to school or stay the entire day. Lack of teachers in HSA areas has also been a contributing factor to low scores on assessments. This is just what I see at the high school level. From what students have explained to me, there were entire years during middle school that the teacher left at the beginning of school and was never replaced. The year resulted in watching MTV and playing cards.
I recently read an article that outlines a districts’ experiment with cutting teacher absenteeism. Despite evidence that teacher absences harm student achievement, teachers’ unions object to districts that are interested in cutting down on the absences. In my opinion, teacher abuse of leave is prevalent. Not only does it hurt the student, it always causes stress on the rest of the staff that are forced to step up and fill a position on a daily basis. Studies of test results by Harvard and Duke economists indicate that teacher absences negative effect on student achievement. The economists suggest an incentive plans that rewards exceptional attendance or pays teachers for earned leave they don’t take. Another suggestion is to require teachers to report time off to their principal directly, rather than to the central office or an answering machine.
With the changes that are occurring in schools next year, teach absenteeism is an issue that should not be ignored. Reporting directly to the principal and providing rewards to reduce abuse of leave, will hopefully improve the school. Teach absence is linked to student attendance, school climate, and student test scores. Another important point to consider is the cost that teacher absence causes. With the budget in the hands of principals next year, I am skeptical of the number of substitutes that will be provided for absent teachers.
I recently read an article that outlines a districts’ experiment with cutting teacher absenteeism. Despite evidence that teacher absences harm student achievement, teachers’ unions object to districts that are interested in cutting down on the absences. In my opinion, teacher abuse of leave is prevalent. Not only does it hurt the student, it always causes stress on the rest of the staff that are forced to step up and fill a position on a daily basis. Studies of test results by Harvard and Duke economists indicate that teacher absences negative effect on student achievement. The economists suggest an incentive plans that rewards exceptional attendance or pays teachers for earned leave they don’t take. Another suggestion is to require teachers to report time off to their principal directly, rather than to the central office or an answering machine.
With the changes that are occurring in schools next year, teach absenteeism is an issue that should not be ignored. Reporting directly to the principal and providing rewards to reduce abuse of leave, will hopefully improve the school. Teach absence is linked to student attendance, school climate, and student test scores. Another important point to consider is the cost that teacher absence causes. With the budget in the hands of principals next year, I am skeptical of the number of substitutes that will be provided for absent teachers.
Powerless Teachers
Throughout the year in the BCPSS you are more than likely to hear of a few cases of students filing claims of abuse verses teachers. Usually these teachers end up at North Avenue for awhile pushing papers while things “settle down” and then they eventually disappear (quit). This disappearing act isn’t something that is BCPSS specific. I was recently reading the Scottish Sunday Express which had published an article titled “TEACHING IN CRISIS AS FALSE ABUSE CLAIMS BY PUPILS RISE”. This article was filled with the voices of “disgruntled” teachers who have left the profession because of having been falsely accused of abusing or harassing students.
Hearing their voices and stories made me realize how powerless a teacher in any school setting actually is. Simply put, there is one teacher and many students. These students are many times friends of each other and the few “trustful students” that the teacher has have learned from an early age to keep to themselves. This leaves a teacher outnumbered.
In thinking how teachers could regain their power I came up with two ideas. The first idea is in agreement with Dr. Alonso’s heavy push for the co-teaching model. Although this model may strip the teacher of some of their planning power, it would help protect them against cunning students with a motive. Yet, I’m not to sure this would be a model that would entice more people to enter the profession.
The final idea was that cameras, with sound, need to be placed in every classroom. This may be a huge expense, but I find it much less expensive than the loss of excellent teachers who have been abused by students for years. It would get ride of the entire “he said, she said” game that is played out in the court system, and simply ensure that the right person won. I’m not sure if this has been instituted anywhere already, but stay posted and for my next blog I’ll update you on my findings.
Hearing their voices and stories made me realize how powerless a teacher in any school setting actually is. Simply put, there is one teacher and many students. These students are many times friends of each other and the few “trustful students” that the teacher has have learned from an early age to keep to themselves. This leaves a teacher outnumbered.
In thinking how teachers could regain their power I came up with two ideas. The first idea is in agreement with Dr. Alonso’s heavy push for the co-teaching model. Although this model may strip the teacher of some of their planning power, it would help protect them against cunning students with a motive. Yet, I’m not to sure this would be a model that would entice more people to enter the profession.
The final idea was that cameras, with sound, need to be placed in every classroom. This may be a huge expense, but I find it much less expensive than the loss of excellent teachers who have been abused by students for years. It would get ride of the entire “he said, she said” game that is played out in the court system, and simply ensure that the right person won. I’m not sure if this has been instituted anywhere already, but stay posted and for my next blog I’ll update you on my findings.
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Vouchers and Teacher Unions
An opinion article in the Wall Street Journal (McCain's School Choice Opportunity) combines two issues that we have talked about recently in our class: vouchers and teacher unions. The author makes primarily a political argument about how John McCain can use his support of vouchers to gain support from African-American voters. Statistically, African-Americans favor school choice, but do not vote for Republican candidates. Likewise, Democrats are supported by African-American voters but can not support school choice because they can not risk alienating the powerful support base of the teachers unions. Thus, McCain can use school choice to gain favor with African-American voters.
Politics aside, I do not think that vouchers would reform BCPSS. The article argues that African-Americans have a 42% higher graduation rate in Catholic schools and that a valuable resource is being squandered as 1300 Catholic schools have closed since 1990, many in the inner-city. I think that vouchers would be an amazing opportunity for some students in this city and is hard to disregard a reform that would help some students reach their potential. However, I do not think that competition would improve BCPSS. I think that it would only further drain human capital from an already deflated system.
However, back to the political issue, it would be such a difficult voting issue as a parent in Baltimore. How can you vote against something that would have the potential to help your student receive an excellent education? Individually, it makes great sense. But collectively, I think vouchers would be detrimental to the city and the state of our schools is a problem that needs to be solved collectively.
Politics aside, I do not think that vouchers would reform BCPSS. The article argues that African-Americans have a 42% higher graduation rate in Catholic schools and that a valuable resource is being squandered as 1300 Catholic schools have closed since 1990, many in the inner-city. I think that vouchers would be an amazing opportunity for some students in this city and is hard to disregard a reform that would help some students reach their potential. However, I do not think that competition would improve BCPSS. I think that it would only further drain human capital from an already deflated system.
However, back to the political issue, it would be such a difficult voting issue as a parent in Baltimore. How can you vote against something that would have the potential to help your student receive an excellent education? Individually, it makes great sense. But collectively, I think vouchers would be detrimental to the city and the state of our schools is a problem that needs to be solved collectively.
Out With the Old
I came across a fascinating article recently in the New York Times (2/8/08). Like many schools we are familiar with in Baltimore City, Junior High School 22 in south Bronx had just hired its seventh principal in just over two years. Clearly, the school was ready to take an unorthodox approach. Ironically, this took the form of the Ultra-Orthodox Jewish Shimon Waronker. In a school that is predominantly Black and Hispanic, one can easily imagine how a Caucasian, bearded, skull-cap wearing Jewish man must stuck out. More interesting than the premise has been the results he has achieved, which provide valuable insight on how cultural rapport may be more than skin deep.
In order to achieve success, Waronker “Zero-Based” and replaced half of the teaching staff. Since taking the position, Waronker has outlasted all of his predecessors and improved the school’s performance in several key areas. The school has been removed from New York City’s list of most dangerous schools, has increased attendance to 93%, and has helped improve test scores enough to earn the school an A on its new school report card.
Waronker’s “Zero-Basing” success made me think of Baltimore City. Baltimore City is ripe with teachers who possess the negativity and pessimism of the past. If Alonso, and many of his new principals, are to be successful in this innovative city, they need to boot out the old. We are ready for change and need the human capital to take us there.
Persistently Dangerous
Violence in Baltimore City Public Schools has become an expected, perhaps even accepted occurrence. With the latest, most publicized attack by a student on an art teacher at Reginald F. Lewis High School, school violence has taken on a high profile status. The most remarkable part of the story for me is how unremarkable the event was in a conversation I had with fellow teachers in Baltimore City.
After watching news clips together reporting the attack, there were multiple people who shared similar stories of student on teacher violence in their schools and other schools across the city. I myself had filed assault charges earlier that day after being struck in the face with a bin of protractors during my last period class. The conversation had a somber tone as we discussed the violence in Baltimore City, but not one person expressed surprise when hearing about the attack.
Don’t get me wrong; we have great kids here in Baltimore City. Most of the kids I teach are really fantastic. Even the knuckleheads that throw bins of math manipulatives at you while you’re attempting to help a student at their desk, really can be great a lot of the time. But there is definitely a higher norm of accepted violence in schools. And students will continue to toe the line to see what they can get away with until a clear line is drawn that they are not allowed to cross.
One obstacle in drawing that line is the label of “dangerous” or “persistently dangerous” school. This label is awarded based on the number of suspensions for violent offenses that occur within the school year. Earlier this year five schools in Baltimore were recipients of this label, although there are likely others that should qualify. In an article in USA Today, Program to Identify Most Dangerous Schools Misses Mark, (http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2007-01-18-dangerousschools_x.htm) school and district leaders in various parts of the country speculate that under-reporting of violent offenses is done so that schools can avoid the label. According to Inside Ed (http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/news/education/blog/2007/08/report_questions_persistently.html), teachers and principles in the state of Maryland report that this is very well the case.
If we are to improve the situation of violence in our schools, we must first acknowledge that the problem is real. Schools then need to develop a system to address the problem of school violence and be faithful in following that system, even if there are unfavorable labels connected to strict enforcement. Only then will students be able to see the line they are not to cross. With the line drawn, we can then work towards creating a safe environment for our kids.
After watching news clips together reporting the attack, there were multiple people who shared similar stories of student on teacher violence in their schools and other schools across the city. I myself had filed assault charges earlier that day after being struck in the face with a bin of protractors during my last period class. The conversation had a somber tone as we discussed the violence in Baltimore City, but not one person expressed surprise when hearing about the attack.
Don’t get me wrong; we have great kids here in Baltimore City. Most of the kids I teach are really fantastic. Even the knuckleheads that throw bins of math manipulatives at you while you’re attempting to help a student at their desk, really can be great a lot of the time. But there is definitely a higher norm of accepted violence in schools. And students will continue to toe the line to see what they can get away with until a clear line is drawn that they are not allowed to cross.
One obstacle in drawing that line is the label of “dangerous” or “persistently dangerous” school. This label is awarded based on the number of suspensions for violent offenses that occur within the school year. Earlier this year five schools in Baltimore were recipients of this label, although there are likely others that should qualify. In an article in USA Today, Program to Identify Most Dangerous Schools Misses Mark, (http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2007-01-18-dangerousschools_x.htm) school and district leaders in various parts of the country speculate that under-reporting of violent offenses is done so that schools can avoid the label. According to Inside Ed (http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/news/education/blog/2007/08/report_questions_persistently.html), teachers and principles in the state of Maryland report that this is very well the case.
If we are to improve the situation of violence in our schools, we must first acknowledge that the problem is real. Schools then need to develop a system to address the problem of school violence and be faithful in following that system, even if there are unfavorable labels connected to strict enforcement. Only then will students be able to see the line they are not to cross. With the line drawn, we can then work towards creating a safe environment for our kids.
Monday, April 28, 2008
Teacher's Salary
“Would six-figure salaries attract better teachers?” Without a doubt. In fact, it already has. The Times reported recently that a
My jaw dropped the first time I read this story. Then I smiled and thought to myself, “It’s about time!” It’s about time our society pays teachers what they deserve. It’s about time we do justice to the widely-held conviction that teaching is a noble profession. It’s about time we attract (and retain) the kind of teachers that will help close the achievement gap in the classroom.
In addition to basing the salary on sound economic principles, the school’s selection process is based on sound research. Research has shown consistently that one of the most important factors in determining students’ success in school is the quality of their teachers. Research also has proven that verbal ability is the best predictor of the quality of teachers. According to a publication by the Abell Foundation, “Teachers with higher verbal ability produce greater achievement in students” (see page 8 of the publication). The Equity Project requires applicants to score in the 90th percentile on the LSAT, GRE, or equivalent test.
Perhaps the most striking features of this school’s novel approach is the principal’s salary, $90,000, which is less than 75% of what the teachers will make.
Money talks. At The Equity Project it is making a statement.
Check out the school’s website.
Saturday, April 26, 2008
Paying Students
At first glance, money would seem like an obvious motivator for our students. Many of our students are consumed with the thought of money and want the things that money can buy. When it was announced that students would be paid for attending night school programs and improving their scores on HSAs they had already failed, I thought at least it would get students to come and perhaps put a little more effort into it. I was wrong. Out of 74 students eligible to attend my Algebra night school program, I have 4 who come regularly and a total of 8 more who sometimes attend. Those who attend would have participated without the fiscal incentive. They truly want to pass the test for internal motives or simply to insure they graduate come next May.
It is for this reason that I do not think the Peer-to-Peer program would be a huge success. A coalition in
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