Race to the Top: The Common Core Dilemma

4 years after the start of the Race to the Top initiative, we as a country have reached a point in which we should see the fruits of the insurgence of resources schools have received. However, the benefits have yet to be reaped. This is due to a variety of reasons. 

With the money that schools received, there were stipulations put into place that forced schools to implement certain strategies. This would work if schools across the nation that were receiving this money had the same type of needs. Working in an inner city school, the students I serve need different things than students at higher performing schools even in the same state, let alone the country. Whereas the implementation of common core standards are great in theory in raising the bar of the education in this country, they are lofty and inappropriate to be implemented in every county. The common core standards that each and every school that accepted race to the top money are held to were not released until this past year. The assessment that students will be evaluated with are still not yet released with definite detail. Therefore, it would be highly irregular for success to be met at any which level in the first couple of years of the testing cycles. Would it have been a more effective way if the common core standards were released, then funding be provided and finally then hold our students accountable to testing measures? Probably, however we are now still "catching up" to meet standards that were promising for our educational system. 

It will be interesting to see what the next few years bring in terms of actual implementation of assessments that focus on common core standards and to see how students do on them, especially for those students who are still unprepared, not due to a lack of trying, but only due to a lack of not enough preparation time with resources. 

Teacher Certification

In my humble opinion, we will not have an effective public education system in the U.S until we, as a country, take some pride in the teaching profession. The phrase that I heard over and over after telling people that I was goign to teach in Baltimore was "Those who can, do and those who can't, teach!" The funny thing is that if I told them I was joining Teach For America the reaction was quite the opposite. I would hear soemthing along the lines of "wow, I hear that is a really selective program, congratulations."

It shouldn't matter if I became a teacher through traditional means or an alternative certification program like TFA, ultimately I had signed up for the same job as every other teacher in Baltimore. Why then was the reaction so different?

Because, as a society, we value competition and accomplishment. People are proud to say that they are a doctor or a lawyer or a neuroscientist because we accept that those fields are competitive and only the most competent individuals succeed in them. This is simply not the case for teaching. The perception throughout our society is that the most capable people stay away from teaching, and the only way it is acceptable to become a teacher if you have other options is to join a program like TFA. TFA essentially provides a stamp of approval that says, "this candidate has succeeded in school and could be doing a lot of different things, they chose to teach for at least two years as part of their growth as an individual and in hopes of helping our country's youth." Without this stamp, would TFA get the level of highly competent corps members that it is so proud to hire?

So teacher certification and training and everything else that accompanies the current practice of preparing a teacher does not matter until we make being a teacher more prestigious than being a doctor or a lawyer or a neuroscientist.

Wide Angle Youth Media

   The most exciting student group that I read and hear about this year was Wide Angle Youth Media. I first heard about the group when I went to the school board meeting, and was amazed with what the students were doing. WAYM is a program that introduces students to media production and the performing arts through various media outlets. The video they showed at the meeting was written, produced and edited by students and used to get their message out through a creative outlet.
   I think that integrating arts back into schools is one of the most important things that we can do. There is a serious lack of art programs in Baltimore and it is discouraging because it is one of the things that our students like the most. I think that giving students the opportunity to express themselves could improve not only student academics but also classroom behaviors. So much of the negative behavior we see in class is students wanting to express themselves with no outlet to do so. Therefore, I think giving them this outlet would really help them focus in class. Also, creating a piece of media art is a huge production that will help students learn how to work together, develop work ethic and simply give them something positive to put on their resume.

New Science Budget

   I read an article posted on the TFA Facebook page that discussed Baltimore City's new science budget. The funding includes $1.74 billion dollars to bolster science curriculum and give teachers much needed science supplies. The article made me think about my own situation in a Baltimore City science classroom. On the one hand, I am very supportive of the City giving school money and materials. Clearly these supplies are needed, and Baltimore is vastly under funded. In my own class I have very little materials to perform labs. This means that generally I have to purchase the supplies on my own. However, at times I feel that Baltimore City pumps money into so many new initiatives, but never follows through on anything that it starts.
   For instance, my school initiated an online reading program at the beginning of the year. Just last week they followed up on it asking "How has this worked for everyone?" Not only did they take away our planning period to try and follow up it, but they never gave us any resources to actually implement the plan or any time to do it. While in theory I am sure this was a great plan, there is no accountability in the system. Thus, in the end it was just a waste of money that could have been allocated to a different program.
   This is a point of contention for me that I don't know how to solve. I really wish that the city was much more efficient at implementing programs so that they could be more effective at helping our students. I know that there are a lot of moving parts when implementing a program, but there must be a better way of using the money that gets put into city schools, or at least a way that gets better results.

The Ultimate Teacher Rant

I recently read an editorial style piece in the Huffington Post (find it here) that left nothing but a bad pessimistic taste in my mouth. The author, a veteran teacher, gave an overview of what seemed like every new piece of educational policy to go into effect in the past decade. And then proceeded to detail how each of these policy initiatives destroyed education and is currently destroying the teaching profession.

While not all of it seemed to miss the mark, I found it, on the whole, hard to swallow. Yes - it is clear that our schools have lost art programs, physical education classes and extracurricular activities in order to allow for increased test based instruction on math and reading. Yes - it is likely that teachers have lost an amount of autonomy in their classrooms as the era of high stakes testing was ushered in. But could it be true that every reform has harmed our nation's classrooms?

For example, the author takes an extremely hard stance on student survey's being integrated into teacher evaluations. Is this horrifying to me as an educator? Probably  But that does not mean it is not a valid measure of teaching success and it does not mean that this reform won't help create more positive, productive classrooms. As teachers, I think it is important that we examine reforms and new laws relating to education from not only our vantage point in the classroom but also from the perspective of educational advocates who want to see meaingful, lasting and impactful change.

Teacher Retention...?

I know we left this topic alone a while ago but I found myself thinking about it the other day while reading the New York Times. On May 4th the Times ran an article about an old factory in Philadelphia that is being converted to housing, some of which is specifically set aside for teachers. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/05/education/philadelphia-renovating-apartments-to-lure-teachers.html?ref=education&_r=0

When I read the headline, I immediately thought about Miller's Court and Union Mill, two buildings that serve a similar role in Baltimore. Sure enough, the article references the two buildings in Baltimore and the same company that oversaw the work here in Bmore is involved in Philadelphia as well. The article highlighted some of the benefits of the housing complex, it offers a discounted rate for teachers, it offers a community that people can be a part of, and it offers safe, comfortable, secure housing for people who may be moving to the city for the first time. Teach For America was mentioned in the article because of the partnership that was formed here in Baltimore, and the new complex in Philadelphia sounds almost identical to the two here.


The reason I brought this up was that the article said that the goal of the buildings was to increase teacher retention in Philadlephia. My obvious question was whether or not the housing does anything for teacher retention. I know the two buildings in Baltimore are wildly popular amongst the teaching crowd but I also know that some people who live their begin to feel like they can never get away from the teaching conversations that go on in the building. I am curious as to whether or not Teach For America in Baltimore has looked at any data on retention for people who choose to live in the subsidized housing units. In the end, do they help hold teachers in the classroom or are they just a nice idea that allows teachers to live in comfortable, affordable apartments?

Matt Gould, Teach For America's vice president for administration said that he had no data on the retention of teachers who live in the Baltimore options. If this is the case, why don't they gather some? It seems that TFA has data on everything else...

K - 8 Schools and the Opportunity Gap

There is little arguing with the data. It seems that K - 8 schools, quite common in Baltimore City, are here to stay, and data bears that they should be. In Mary Tamer's "Ed." magazine article "Do Middle Schools Make Sense," the answer seems to be a clear no. If student achievement, as measured by test scores, is the measure of success, the middle school model is not successful; it does not serve the purpose of a school by improving learning for its students.

However, there is more to a school than test scores. Our public schools are the great equalizers. They are places where students not only learn academically, but improve socially and gain experiences. In a small school, beginning or maintaining an extracurricular activity is a challenge. It is difficult to garner enough interest in activities to make it worthwhile. While the K - 8 school model is beneficial academically, it does not encourage students to have new experiences outside of the classroom.

Extracurriculars not only provide new opportunities for middle school students, they hook middle school-ers and may bring students to school who would not otherwise attend. At my school, middle school students have one extracurricular option: the school newsletter. Certainly the school newsletter will not interest all students. The school should be able to field a baseball or lacrosse team and a photography club. There should be 5 - 6 different activities, not one, for a middle school student to choose from. Perhaps the motivation and excitement about school associated with a favorite activity would translate into increased test scores and more confident and hard working people. If we intend to teach our students to be citizens and not test takers, we must find a way to increase access to a variety of opportunities within the middle grades of a K - 8 school.

Chronically Underemployed

While the challenges of a classroom, a school or even the district seem to be overwhelming as it is, the even greater context in which public education exists can’t be ignored. Scott Simon, host of PBS’s “Need to Know,” spent some time in Baltimore interviewing young men who are among, what he refers to as, the chronically unemployed. (See video here:http://video.pbs.org/video/2149549112/)

The interviews and segments briefly address the issue of education and its role in the cycle of unemployment directly, but the implications are obvious throughout the entire 7 min. clip. When factories and large industry left Baltimore, they left a huge employment void that has yet to be filled. Children are raised in communities that have no jobs and no prospects. They attend schools that have been chronically failing for decades.
The video begged the question – even if we fix education, even if each child graduates high school and goes on to college, is there a community that can sustain them? Provide them with job opportunities? Housing? The answer, currently, seemed to be a resounding no.

While the outlook may seem grim, the segment also made it clear that there are community members with drive and community members who are ready to welcome change. Re-contextualizing the information into a conversation about education, I challenge us to remember that it is not only our job to teach students so they may leave their communities, but teach students so they can help transform their opportunities for the next generation. 

Should school performance be used to evaluate teacher effectiveness?

            Baltimore City Public Schools is currently field-testing a new teacher evaluation system that it plans to implement in the 2013-2014 school year. The new evaluation model attempts to remedy the existing observation-based system, which critics claim does not accurately reflect disparities in teacher effectiveness. The innovative model will incorporate student growth measures, such as value-added scores based on standardized assessments, student surveys, measures of school performance and professional responsibility, and observations. While there is an emerging body of research on value-added measures and the utility of student surveys, there ought to be more debate on whether or not school-index scores should impact individual teacher evaluations.

            In the new evaluation framework, (accessible in presentation form here: http://www.baltimorecityschools.org/Page/18778) measures of student growth and the school index score will make up 50% of a teacher’s entire evaluation. Any individual component may not consist of more than 35% of the final effectiveness measure, which means that the school index score will make up at least 15% of a teacher’s evaluation. The school-index component will consider attendance, school-wide growth measures, and school climate. The District argues that this will promote teamwork within individual school communities and reward schools that tackle school-wide challenges. This sounds great, but I can’t help but wonder what effect this will have on schools facing the greatest challenges. City schools with the most concerning climate issues and lowest growth rates are arguably the hardest schools to work at from a teacher’s perspective. If teachers working at schools with positive climates are rewarded, then what incentive do effective teachers have to teach at our lowest performing schools?

            I am very skeptical of the idea that including school-index scores in teacher evaluations will incite school improvement. The idea that teachers will rally together to prompt school-wide change, in order to improve their evaluations, is troublesome. A low score will imply that teachers in failing schools are not working together or doing everything they can to improve their school. Teachers I know in failing schools will beg to differ. Schools fail for a multitude of reasons outside of teacher performance, including poor leadership and years worth of lowered expectations for academics and behavior. Improving schools and school climate starts with building a school family and a staff that is committed to the school, community, and students. How can a school build a strong community if it is constantly experiencing large staff turnovers like many failing schools?  If the school-index scores negatively impact overall teacher evaluations then this problem is only exacerbated. As a school district, we need to be thinking of ways to keep highly effective teachers in front of the children who need them most, and in my opinion, incentivizing employment in high-growth schools with positive climates is counterintuitive to improving failing schools. 

Teacher Motivation and Merit Pay

While researching for my position paper, I came across a study called “Incentive Pay Programs Do Not Affect Teacher Motivation or Reported Practices.” The researchers in this study surveyed teachers who were part of the following incentive pay programs across the nation: Project on Incentives in Teaching (POINT), Team Incentives (PPTI), and School-Wide Performance Bonus Program (SPBP). Although the three programs differed in program design, they all rewarded teachers on the basis of student achievement gains.

By interviewing the teachers, the study aimed to address important questions regarding merit pay programs- a) did teachers find incentive programs to be motivating? b) In response to the implementation of the programs, did teachers report changes in their practices or their working conditions?

Interestingly, the researchers found that teachers who participated in this study did not find their incentive programs as motivating, did not have high expectancy that their personal efforts would lead to student achievement gains, and did not see the opportunity as worthy of changing their behaviors. Thus, all three incentive programs had little impact on teachers’ instructional practices.

Before reading this article, I considered the absence of credible teacher evaluation systems to be a major barrier to incentive pay programs. Although this may be true, this article made me realize that teachers’ acceptability of reform is critical to success of all merit pay programs. If the ultimate goal of merit pay programs is to increase teacher effectiveness and student outcomes, then more attention needs to be given to factors that contribute to the lack of changes in instruction among teachers who participate in merit pay programs. First, it is important to examine why teachers lack motivation to achieve program goals. Second, it is important to not undermine teachers’ intrinsic motivation and existing accountability pressure, which may have stronger motivational effect on teachers than financial incentives. Third, and most importantly, it is critical to realize that teachers might not be equipped with the knowledge and skills required to improve student achievement. In other words, teachers in these incentive programs were not necessary lacking in motivation, but may have lacked resources. The teachers may have done best to improve student achievement if there were additional professional development or other capacity building mechanisms added to the merit pay program.

In conclusion, even though it is important that there has to be more studies examining and comparing the benefits of traditional salary system and merit pay plans, it is equally important to consider redesigning of other components of already existing merit pay plans. 

Article: Incentive Pay Programs Do Not Affect Teacher Motivation or Reported Practices : Results From Three Randomized Studies

Teacher of the Year!

Reading about the recently announced teacher of the year for Baltimore city is inspiring and it helps to show that there are great things happening in our schools. After reading about this year's teacher of the year, I find myself thinking about my own classroom with and my own students with a renewed sense of possibility. 

Despite different titles and the specifics of our teaching positions, we all share many of the same fundamental goals for our students. I was reminded of this when I read that "One of Stokes' chief philosophies is fostering independence and confidence in students, and challenging them to go beyond their comfort zones." I am a high school general education teacher and Ms. Stokes is a middle school special education teacher, but I share these same fundamental goals for my own students.  

I think that recognizing more of the great things that teachers are doing in their classrooms, and sharing out the successes that teachers are having with our students will not only help to inspire us to be better teachers tomorrow than we were today, but it will also help to unite us as professionals that too often operate as islands because we are so much more effective when we come together to share ideas, strategies, and information.


http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/baltimore-city/bs-md-ci-teacher-of-the-year-20130418,0,4172190.story

Should We Extend the School Day?

As a teacher, I am always running out of time to finish a lesson with my students. I often have to cut a lesson short or finish it the next day. This makes me think, “If I only had a little more time in the day…” Although I am thankful a day is over when it is many times, I did begin to wonder about the issue of an extended school day. Do extended school days really help students achieve higher standards of learning?

I recently read this article by the Washington Post about the latest research on the affects of an extended day on student learning. The article criticized the extended day model that is currently being pushed by the United Stated Department of Education. The article referenced two different studies that both showed that an extended day had little effect on student learning. However, the article did say that many of the school systems in the studies quickly put an extended day in place without thinking through the true needs of students and what would be done with the extra time. So I continued to do further research.

I found another article, that was posted by a user on the Washington Post, that actually referenced the correct way for an extended school day to happen. This gave me hope in the model. When done right, an extended day can really help students do a better job in school, especially students from high need areas such as Baltimore City

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/what-new-research-on-extended-school-day-says/2012/04/18/gIQAnmV3RT_blog.html.

http://www.educationsector.org/sites/default/files/publications/OffTheClock-RELEASED.pdf

8th Grade, Diabetes, and Lead Dust

Recently, I have found myself worrying about two of my 8^th grade boys more than any other students. It’s probably because both of their mothers called me last week to share medical news – medical news that brought both to tears.

My first student has always been the heaviest child in school. At age 13 he weighs 170 pounds. Last week he was diagnosed with diabetes and hospitalized with respiratory problems. His mom is terrified that she is going to lose him.

My second student was diagnosed with ADHD two years ago. Last week, he was also diagnosed with lead poisoning. It turns out that his learning disabilities and hyperactivity are both likely the result of lead dust exposure while his mother was still pregnant. Now wracked with guilt, his mother is worried that her younger children might have also been exposed.

In these situations, what do we teachers do – especially us young teachers? What can we possibly say or do?

What would you do for these boys? For these families?

So far I’m just trying to play the role of teacher. I listen, I’m there for them, and I’m learning as much as possible about their issues so that I can share it with them.

Some of what I’ve learned, I will also share with you:

---Johns Hopkins has a Diabetes Center in Baltimore.

---This Center has a dedicated Children’s Center just for the treatment and study of childhood obesity.

http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/diabetes/

---Most Baltimore homes built before 1950 contain lead paint.

---At least 50% of Baltimore’s homes probably contain lead paint.

---It does not take very much lead dust to cause harm to a child.

---The amount of lead dust in a sugar packet is enough to contaminate several family homes.

---Lead poisoning can cause: learning disabilities, severe brain damage, memory loss, stunted growth, and more.

http://baltimorehealth.org/lead.html

Desegregation in Baltimore City

Last week, the Washington Post ran an article citing a study that found that 54% of Maryland’s black students attend a “segregated” school—a school with more than 90% of students having a minority background. As those who live in segregated regions know, Brown vs. Board of Education did not translate, more than 50 years later, into schools that are integrated racially, ethnically, or socioeconomically. With the decline of busing, housing patterns have shaped school populations and guided schools that are increasingly homogeneous over the last 20 years. So What?
 

Results are mixed on integration’s impact on student achievement. Surely integration is better than segregation, but integration does not seem to be a silver bullet solution for increased student achievement. Although Amy Hawn Nelson may argue otherwise in her TEDx talk, there are many failing integrated schools, and integration cannot be the defining factor of an excellent education. A great education comes from instruction and learning. Perhaps, though, it is diversity and, in this case, integration, that can push an education from great to excellent.

I teach in one of the most diverse elementary/middle schools in Baltimore City, with a population that is 50% white, 36% black, and 6% Hispanic/Latino. Undoubtedly, this diversity of population does not on its own raise student achievement. Nonetheless, as educators know, a student’s background knowledge on a topic or skill can make or break his or her success as a learner. The more experiences and diversity of views we can expose our students to, the more prepared they will be for whatever learning assignment comes their way. 

To ensure full clarity, I am as enthusiastic, if not more, about the exposure that white students will have to minority students, be they black, Hispanic/Latino, Asian, or otherwise. Non-Caucasian people in the United States are consistently exposed to upper middle class white culture on television and in music. A television show, produced by a black man and featuring a majority black cast, is not just television or a sitcom. It is considered black television. White students, on the other hand, are rarely exposed to beliefs outside of their homogeneous communities. Integrated schooling, while perhaps not a fix all for academics, will hopefully produce adults that are thoughtful and can work well with a heterogeneous population. 

It is no replacement for instruction and academic learning, but integrated, wonderful learning environments are the model we should be working towards here in Charm City.

Washington Post Article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/report-half-of-black-students-in-maryland-attend-segregated-schools/2013/04/18/9097c29a-a83e-11e2-8302-3c7e0ea97057_story.html

Poet Warriors: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8v-ChtTiv80 

TEDx talk:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ffz1qOyY3Bk

Does Michelle Rhee Deserve to be Vilified?

To say that in the education world Michelle Rhee is a polarizing figure is like saying that infants have a little trouble with calculus. I recently read Anthony Cody’s and John Thompson’s articles about the ongoing Michele Rhee saga in Education Week.  What is helpful about vehemently condemning her personally and professionally?

One of the biggest problems with the vilifying of Michelle Rhee is that we are becoming a society increasingly intolerant of the necessary time it takes to go through the learning curve to become great. We value experience, but we no longer have the patience to give people in leadership positions the time necessary to acquire it. We shouldn't have thrown Rhee out like a disposable diaper; worthless as soon as the littlest bit of mess appeared.  We should have given her time to gain the experience she needed from her mistakes.

Do I think that Rhee knew about the cheating in her district and chose to do nothing about it? The evidence suggests that perhaps she did. Does that mean that I am ready to stone her politically and lose out on all the ideas and strategies that were good enough to make her Chancellor in the first place? Absolutely not.

Think what you like about Rhee, but at least she spent her time working to make the education system better. I am tired of smart-mouthed critics who spend their time publicly crucifying others just to hide the fact that their own strategies aren't working either.

We have a crisis in education. We as educators and reformers are all on the same side. We need to work together, to learn from our collective failures and to create a safe space for people to try and to fail and to learn from those mistakes and try again.  If critics tried as hard at positive reforms as they do at tearing down others who tried and did not meet expectations, we might all move a step closer to closing the achievement gap.

http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/living-in-dialogue/2013/04/who_created_excuses_for_michel.html

http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/living-in-dialogue/2013/04/john_thompson_education_reform.html

Considering different governance structures in urban school districts

What governance structure of Baltimore City Public Schools should be implemented as a means of maintaining and improving our school district?  Should Dr. Andres Alonso and City Schools offices maintain their autonomy and strong decision-making abilities?  Conversely, should city public officials become more invested in Baltimore City Public Schools by taking on a direct governance role? 

Governor Martin O’Malley was quoted in April for being “open” to the idea of giving Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake more influence on Baltimore City Public Schools.  On one hand, I believe this idea makes sense.  Why shouldn’t public officials and policy makers be held more accountable to maintaining and improving one of the most public institutions of their constituency?   On another hand, this policy idea could allow further politics and bureaucracy into public education.  Furthermore, why shouldn’t professionals in education be the leaders of a school district instead of a public official with no related experience?  Governance structures of public school districts truly can be characterized as presenting us with a “Catch 22” experience.  Should experienced school leaders forfeit their autonomy and decision-making influence in order to receive more assistance from public officials?  Should public officials be more invested in public education by being directly responsible for maintaining and improving their schools?

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/education/blog/bal-omalley-would-support-more-mayoral-control-of-schools-20130411,0,537464.story

Perceiving school reform as a process, not an event

Back in February the University of Chicago Consortium on Chicago School Research published a report called “Turning Around Performing Schools in Chicago.” This report summarizes the findings from a research study that examined five different reform models initiated by the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) between 1997 and 2010 in 36 elementary and high schools identified as chronically low performing. The five reform models examined are: reconstitution (staff and leadership replacement), school closure and restart (staff/leadership replacement, governance replacement, change in attendance rules), school turnaround specialist program (leadership replacement), academy for Urban School Leadership (staff/leadership replacement, governance replacement) and Office of School Improvement (staff/leadership replacement).

While turnaround models to radically alter the educational landscape of the worst-performing schools have receive a great deal of attention, there has been little rigorous research on the impact of such reforms. Considering the lack of research, this report aims to provide answers to common questions regarding turning around low-performing schools, such as the demographics of students in the schools after intervention, teachers in the schools after intervention, and student outcomes in the schools after intervention.

Although this report makes clear how school reform occurred, and what actual changes came along with each of the intervention (reform model) in schools (i.e., teaching staff was less experienced in most schools after reform; the Closure and Restart model schools that were less likely to serve their original student population had substantially higher student outcome after reform; turning around reform models showed less success at the high school level than at the elementary level), this study does not provide answers to which aspects of reform are most critical to success or report student progress after the first four years of post reform. The fact that this study cannot determine exactly why improvements came about, however, highlights the important point that school reform is a process rather than an “event.”

Perceiving school reform as a process is particularly echoed in the fact that there were adequate data to analyze the effectiveness of the different turnaround models years after they were first implemented. While I hoped to find definite answers to the questions I had regarding school reform through reviewing this report, I am actually reminded by the data presented that the picture is very complex and can support many interpretations.

Although further research is needed to address the knowledge gap that exists on school improvement models, this report does confirm that realistic approaches that can be implemented in all schools, such as building the skills and knowledge of those individuals responsible for student learning, engaging the staff and community in setting goals, and targeting immediately addressable problems are good efforts to turn around low-performing schools.

 The report: http://ccsr.uchicago.edu/sites/default/files/publications/Turnaround%20Report%20-%20Long%20Version%20FINAL.pdf

The Only Education Reform That Matters: Love

I love my students more than they will ever know.

“When those paper stacks get too high, the demands too tedious, the conversations too one-sided, the love of students gives us the reason. The opportunities we create for them to learn get reciprocated in the opportunities they create for us to grow.”

This is a quote from a teacher-written article on a site that I read back on Valentine’s Day. I knew that this was an article that I wanted to share with the class on the blog.

Love is a simple thing and yet it can be seen behind many different things we do. I love my students when I get to the building hours before the first bell rings and leave hours after the last. I love them when I grade 76 of the same exit tickets each day, but read each one as a different climb to success or fall towards failure. I love my students in the difficult conversations that we have and in the time and emotions that I invest into classroom skirmishes and detention battles.  As the quote above states, the learning opportunities that we create for our students are reciprocated in the opportunities that our students create for us to grow.

Students and teachers, we grow and learn together. This is love.

The conversations that we have around different school structures and systems brings to question are these different varieties and flavors, from charters and vouchers to community school models and federal incentive games, all just distractions? At the end of the day it doesn’t matter what you call the system or the structure of the school, it only matters whether or not the people in the building truly love and care about the children that come into the building every day.

The teacher ends the article by saying that “a real school for children puts forth love in action, even when the system disallows those emotions.”

Upon deeper reflection, I have a correction: My students know exactly how much I love them.

I have a new, and clearer lens for viewing school reform: How does this policy, system, or idea support love for our students?

So I am left wondering what is it specifically about our current school system that disallows teachers acting out of love for our students? What can we do to create schools where it is easier for teachers, counselors, and administrators to act out of love for students?

http://www.good.is/posts/the-only-education-reform-that-matters-love

Integrity

As commonly known, Baltimore City Public Schools suffered a massive cheating scandal on standardized testing scores in 2009.  Consequently, multiple principals were fired and a prolonged investigation of standardized test scores took place from 2008-2010.  The investigation took place from 2008-2010 because that was the period where it was most believed that the cheating took place.  During this time frame, Dr. Andres Alonso received $29,000 in 2008,2009 and 2010 for improved tests scores throughout the district.  Despite BTU and administrative union efforts and requests, and despite strong possibilities that school-based cheating frequently took place, Dr. Alonso will not forfeit this large sum of money that he earned in bonuses from improved standardized test scores.

Integrity and honesty are two of the most important characteristics that district leaders and school leaders must demonstrate.  It is true that Dr. Alonso has launched an extensive effort to minimize cheating throughout Baltimore City Public Schools, but the fact remains that he is the sole person who financially benefited from these inflated test scores.  Throughout the time frame of the investigation (2008-2010), Dr. Alonso earned approximately $90,000 in bonuses for improvement in standardized test scores.  If testing integrity is a true issue in public education, and specifically in Baltimore City Public Schools, shouldn’t Dr. Alonso lead by example and forfeit the money?

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/baltimore-city/bs-md-ci-cheating-results-denial-20130413,0,7432871.story

Substitute Teachers; Rethinking What They Do

This is not a post inspired by an inspirational article or a substitute research report but I wanted to throw out a few ideas about subs that I would like to see your reaction.  I was talking with a non-TFA teacher from another city the other day and we were discussing our feelings on how we still do not feel as if we are able to take a day off.  Not that we NEED a day off, but if a situation were to arise (like being sick) that we could take off and that the ship would still be running.

I have visions of my students just sitting there in class, fist bumping themselves, celebrating that I am not there.  Although, I understand where they are coming from I would rather them be productive and look at a "day when the teacher's out" as not a carnival that during which they ignore their assignments but as a day that they can learn something. 

Here are my thoughts.  It would put substitute teachers out of a few part time jobs.  But what if we spent that money on a full-time substitute teacher.  The school would have a teacher whose permanent job would be to teach random classes.  They would be a resource teacher, a leadership teacher, etc.  They would have a room that students would go to when their teacher was out and they would have lessons from them.  They could teach them valuable things such as balancing a checkbook, how to write a resume, make themselves safe on the internet, etc.  The teacher could give grades to students, just to keep them in line during class.

This is just a thought that I had and thought that it would be fun to discuss.  So no more sick days worried if the kids have lit your desk on fire, no more stacks of half done sub-work assignments.  Yes, this does mean they wouldn't be working on MATH in a math class or READING in english but they would be learning something and not wasting their time.

Virtual Schooling

I often tell my students, “Those who do not understand the mistakes of the past are doomed to repeat them.” I say this when we are reading historical fiction. My kids don’t get history class.

Once invested in that end, it was a challenge to give them a similarly profound reason to read science fiction. “It’s about the future!” they would argue. “It hasn’t even happened yet. We can’t learn from this!”

“You can learn tons!” I would say. “Imagery and plot and conflict and… Goodness I’ve just lost them.”

Middle schoolers need more – or at least mine do. So, when it came to science fiction, I explained: “This writer has imagined the future! It’s our duty to decide if we want that future or not! If we don’t do something, it’s coming!”

At the time, this seemed a clever ploy to get 6^th grade quiet, focused, and ready to read. But in reviewing education articles for this post, I found it is a disconcertingly true possibility.

Isaac Asimov, in 1951, wrote a short story called, “The Fun They Had.” In case you haven’t read it, you can find it here.

In this story, Asimov writes of a future where two kids find a real book… and they’re THRILLED about it! They’re thrilled because they hate school. Counter-intuitive, I know.

In fact, they hate the “mechanical teacher” (robot) that is meant to educate them from their home. Margie particularly hates it because the robot keeps giving her tests! She becomes so inundated with assessments that a County Inspector must be brought in to fix the system.

Regardless, the book they find is a story about education in our recent past. With such revelations as teachers “having a special building” to teach kids and kids being taught by a human, Margie can only daydream about, “the fun they had.”

Now, consider our present! According to the Washington Post, “Virtual schools are multiplying, but some question their educational value.”

Just as Asimov showed us in his short story, it would be a great detriment to our kids if virtual schooling became the norm. Consider how much would be lost, especially in terms of social interaction!

My challenge to you, then, is just what I posed to my students: Is Asimov’s suggested future what we want? Will we guide it to fruition? Or will we do our part to maintain that indispensible human quality in education?