The Challenge to Care in Charm City

Most Children Left Behind

2011-08-11T17:25:00.004-05:00

The National Association for Educational Statistics released a report that tested the rigor of state exams in both reading and math for 4th and 8th graders and the findings were disheartening. It found that most states' proficiency standards are below NAEP's definition of basic performance. Maryland's standards were deemed below proficient and in the bottom 10 in 4th grade reading and math; below proficient and in the bottom 15 for 8th grade reading; and slightly above basic in 8th grade math. The report also concluded that there was a significant amount of variation in the "levels of achievement required."

This report also gives strength to implementing an across-the-board curriculum like the Common Core, because it would norm the standards and really hold states accountable for ensuring that the standards are actually rigorous. On a website that discussed Georgia's performance, there was a quote from U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan's Chief-of-Staff, Joanne Weiss, speaking to the report and why it may be so. She said that the federal No Child Left Behind law has inadvertently driven states to lower their standards. Hopefully, with the implementation of the Common Core, this doesn't have to be the case in the future.

http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2011458
http://www.gpb.org/news/2011/08/10/study-finds-low-test-standards

Making change

2011-08-04T11:14:00.002-05:00

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/how-to-improve-teacher-education-now-and-why-teach-for-america-isnt-the-answer/2011/08/02/gIQANclsqI_blog.html

This piece by Arthur Levine, president of the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation and former president of Teachers College, argues that alternative certification programs like Teach for America serve to undermine true reform efforts in teacher quality. These programs, he says, siphon off resources that could go towards truly reforming teacher education programs. Instead of shutting down or revamping poorly performing schools, we simply create another source of teachers. Meanwhile, poor schools continue producing lackluster results.

This sounds a lot like the opposition I’ve heard to the charter movement. Much like Levine’s frustration with alternative certification, critics see them as band-aids for more systemic issues in education.

But if there is demand for these schools – and for these teachers – programs like charters and alternative certification can offer an important service.

Both charter schools and programs like Teach for America act in many ways as laboratories for innovation. Teach for America doesn’t simply provide certified teachers to classrooms. As an organization, it has contributed to a body of knowledge, offering valuable insight into what creates results in low performing schools. Though not everything a charter school or TFA tries is successful, these movements accelerate innovation.

A Warning for Charters?

2011-08-03T22:01:00.001-05:00

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/15/nyregion/tom-vander-arks-new-york-area-charter-schools-falter.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1

When first reading about Tom Vander Ark’s history as former director of education for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and his ambitious plan to create a network of his own charter schools, I thought he and his schools were sure to be another charter success story. However, his efforts to open charters in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, and Newark can be described as nothing less than an epic fail.

After spending more than $1.5 million of investors’ money, Mr. Vander Ark has walked away from the project, and the schools will not open as planned this fall, leaving others involved “stunned and frustrated”.

One consultant puts into words the thoughts of many charter school critics that seemed to come alive in this particular case, “…it signals what’s wrong with the so-called charter school community. Somebody who doesn’t deserve a charter gets a charter. Somebody who doesn’t deserve a building gets a building. And then somebody who doesn’t care about the communities can turn their head and walk away.”

Obviously what happened in the case of Mr. Vander Ark is not exemplary of every charter school, and many find much more success than their traditional counterparts. However, I think it does provide a warning for anyone hoping to open a charter in the future as well as a possible deterrent to school districts’ desires to expand their charter numbers.

Leave the kids behind. They just aren't curious.

2011-08-02T09:30:00.000-05:00

A New York Times article published yesterday listed scores and results in the national geographic survey, administered to 4th, 8th and 12th graders across the United States. The article started out with promise, saying, “The good news is that students did not do all that poorly.”

That was the only good news and I wasn’t impressed.

Only one in four fourth graders could identify all seven continents. (Did anyone else fight this battle in his/her classroom this year? It drove me crazy.) No higher than 27 percent of any of the grades tested were rated proficient. If that’s not “all that poorly” then I don’t know what is. The article was written in a Q&A style and I found some of the comments made by David P. Driscoll, chairman of the National Assessment Governing Board quite interesting. He put the blame on today’s children lacking curiousity for knowledge. He said they could memorize song lyrics, but couldn’t name the vice president and that was the fault of not working hard enough.

He sounds like a real winner.

I agree that students need to take responsibility in part, but they need to be provided with quality instruction in a quality environment in order to succeed. They also need to have sturctured home life that encourages that curiousity. They need to have books in the house. Maybe this Driscoll wasn’t all bad, but he certainly rubbed me the wrong way.

Equally concerning was that results had not shown significant improvement since the test was last administered in 2001. I thought no children were being left behind during this time period…

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/01/us/01questions.html?ref=education

You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make them stop cheating.

2011-08-01T15:27:00.001-05:00

Congratulations to my home state of Pennsylvania for adding itself to the growing list of states filed under educational cheaters. The New York Times reported today that 89 schools in Pennsylvania (28 from Philly) have thrown up red flags for “questionable gains” and questionable numbers of erasure marks.
The information that led to this discovery was collecting e-dust for more than a year before a reporter from a Philadelphia outlet called The Notebook had time to dig deeper. The state put out a study of red flagged schools and then did nothing with the information – nothing that is until The Notebook ran an article with the information from that study.
It’s frustrating that a state study went widely unnoticed for so long. It’s even more frustrating that I doubt much more will be done with the information. The article paralleled the Atlanta cheating scandal, where 10 months of investigations led to the identification of 44 shady schools. Those schools account for half of Atlanta’s district. In Pennsylvania, there are 3,300 schools to sift through.
So far, no teachers or administrators have gone on record about cheating at their schools. Additionally, there are political ties that will further complicate an investigation. One of the schools that had the most flagrant violations reported is run by the biggest donor to Governor Tom Corbitt’s last campaign.
It always comes back to leadership, doesn’t it? Crooked politicians. Crooked Administrators. Maybe that is the key. We need more Geoffrey Canada’s out there. How do we change the whole system? How do we create an educational climate where schools don’t resort to cheating?

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/01/education/01winerip.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1&ref=education

Raising the stakes

2011-07-31T20:47:00.001-05:00

http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaign-k-12/2011/07/duncan_teacher_salaries_should.html

On Friday, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan called for higher pay for teachers, more accountability, and higher entrance criteria at education schools. And in order to make this happen, he stressed, the nation is going to have to think critically about our current hiring practices, job security, and benefits in the field.

In other words, we need to raise the stakes for public school teachers.

About a month ago, I would have seen this news, reported in Education Week, as purely positive. But the class on school reform I am currently taking makes this news more nuanced for me. It’s not that I do not want stronger teachers or incentives for hard work. I truly believe that these measures will do good things for our nation’s students. Still, I think we need to consider carefully how we evaluate our teachers and structure compensation modules.

When we place a disproportionate focus on test scores in a school environment – and then award money accordingly – we can create a climate that does not focus on complex and meaningful learning. As Alfie Kohn argues in a recent opinion piece featured online in the Washington Post, some teachers in struggling schools that aggressively and sometimes obsessively pursue gains on standardized tests reduce their classrooms to relentless test-taking drills. There is little room for a constructive approach to education in these settings.

It’s just something to think about.

Ed Schools' Pedagogical Puzzle

2011-07-29T18:18:00.000-05:00

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/24/education/edlife/edl-24teacher-t.html?_r=2&pagewanted=1&hp

At Relay Graduate School of Education they are doing things differently. Instead of lectures and traditional courses, graduate students will mainly be mentored at their schools and focus on teaching techniques that they can “use on Monday”. There have been many complaints lately that teachers are unprepared for the classroom- even though they may be certified or have a Master’s degree. Relay, a spin off of Teacher U which was founded by leaders from Achievement First, Uncommon Schools, and KIPP to train their teachers, seems to be following the national trend of emphasizing practical instruction over academic study in order to vastly improve teacher education. Students are not even allowed to receive their master’s degree until they have submitted a portfolio proving that their own students have made at least one year of academic progress.

While there are many supporters of this kind of teacher education, critics worry about several factors of the Teacher U/Relay model. Some say that it will add unneeded competition in a time of budget cuts and teacher lay-offs. However, the main criticism is that it dumbs-down teacher education and that the focus on pedagogical context has teachers following protocol without intellectual rigor. Though I would argue many teachers find daily classroom struggles much more challenging and “rigorous” than their traditional master’s coursework. Others are not so much concerned with the methods of Relay but rather that resources could be better spent on monitoring and supervising existing graduate schools rather than saying “let’s just toss it to the side and create something different”.

The goal of Relay’s leaders, though it may not be achieved, is to move their model beyond just servicing the charter school world. They hope to have half of their students be traditional public school teachers who can benefit just as much from the techniques and strategies, including those of Doug Lemov, that Relay focuses on. I think that many teachers would be in favor of this type of education; however, as Linda Darling-Hammond warns, with anything new “we risk learning on other people’s’ kids”.

Tricky Tenure

2011-07-29T17:19:00.002-05:00

New York is often one of the first looked at cities when regarding school reform in urban environments, and tenure consistently remains in the center of reform controversy. What is the purpose of tenure? Is its main purpose to still protect teacher’s rights? Or is it working more to keep a steady flow of ineffective teachers responsible for educating our nation’s children? What rights do ineffective teachers deserve if they are not living up their professional expectations as educators?

In New York, tenure is changing. According to the New York Times, Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced that the era of automatic tenure for teachers is over because of tougher evaluation guidelines put into place earlier this year.
Teachers are eligible for tenure in New York, once they have completed their third year teaching. This year only 58% percent of eligible teachers received tenure based on the evaluation system where teachers are rated as highly effective, effective, developing, or ineffective from student test-scores, classroom observations, feedback from parents, and other factors. Teachers who did not score in effective categories were deferred tenure, and three percent were denied tenure. Bloomberg says that teachers who continue to work a fourth year, with deferred tenure, will be helped with training, with hope that they will improve and earn tenure eventually.

Tenure becomes a very sticky subject between districts and unions. What should the policy be here in Baltimore? Does the extra “developing” category give new teachers the support they need to become the effective teachers that students deserve and who deserve to stay in the classroom. I think Baltimore could definitely benefit from this four-tiered evaluation system for both our teachers and our students. How will we get there, and who will decide?

For more information, read here.

This Is Your Brain on Summer

2011-07-29T12:27:00.001-05:00

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/28/opinion/28smink.html?_r=1&ref=opinion

We often joke during the school year that our students are just going to forget everything they learned over the summer. A New York Times article published last week explains that summer learning loss isn't just a joke: it happens every year, and it disproportionally affects low-income students. A Johns Hopkins Study of Baltimore students found that "about two-thirds of the achievement gap between lower- and higher-income ninth graders could be explained by summer learning loss during the elementary school years" because they are exposed fewer opportunities for learning, reading, and thinking each summer. This is a scary thing.

The reality is that a 180-day school calendar is highly ineffective. It's based on an outdated agrarian calendar, which our country no longer has a need for. Many other countries (which surpass us in student achievement) have embraced year-round schooling. An alternative to converting to year-long schooling (which I honestly don't see happening in the near future) are good summer programs. However, very few districts offer this on a large scale. The article argues that high-need schools "should have at least six weeks of full-day summer school that is comprehensive and engaging." Perhaps summer learning will be the newest school reform craze.

Race to the Top Funds

2011-07-28T08:07:00.002-05:00

Reuters reported on statements made by Republican, Senator Richard Shelby of Alabama, in an educational funding hearing. Yesterday, Senator Shelby questioned funding for Obama’s Race to the Top campaign. He expressed concern about the program being too competitive and drawing funds away from poor states. He conveyed doubt regarding the mandates of the Race to the Top applications, and he showed worry about federal meddling in the state business of education. Senator Shelby provided support for state flexibility in education decisions to meet the needs of the state.
Moreover, Senator Shelby asked Education Secretary, Arne Duncan, to review and possibly change criteria for evaluating Race to the Top allocation of funds. Reuters included a quote from Shelby in which he stated that he is concerned funds will be drawn away from poor rural areas and redistributed to urban areas. Arne responded by saying that the evaluation of distribution of funding criteria is a “work in progress,” and he added that there will be more grant opportunities for rural areas. Reuters mentioned that critics argue that Race to the Top has been emphasizes charters school, which in return hurts public schools.
Senator Shelby displays a valid concern for rural areas. At times, I feel so consumed by the education reform going on in Baltimore City that I forget to acknowledge work in other low income areas. Are there reforms taking place in rural areas that could benefit initiatives in urban areas? How can we better communicate and partnership with schools from rural areas to enhance education for students in both areas? The allocations of funding for Race to the Top present a challenge for the federal government. A competition does not usually include equity, but when the federal government examines funding for education, it appears equity must be taken into consideration regarding the students. Does a competition change the way the federal government should approve allocations? Is it fair to students in low income areas with failing schools that are in states that do not get as much funding? What will the allocation of funds from Race to the Top look like in Baltimore City?
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/07/27/us-usa-states-education-race-idUSTRE76Q5LA20110727

School Choice

2011-07-27T19:31:00.000-05:00

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/25/nyregion/at-best-schools-competing-for-best-performers-students-may-be-left-behind.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1&ref=education

I strongly recommend reading this article if you’re interested in school choice.

This is a riveting story about a single mother of three who wanted to send her youngest daughter to a strong public school in New York City. The child started out at Dewey, a failing school with low test scores. To find a strong middle school, the mother had to practically memorize the education department’s vague and confusing guide to middle schools, attend middle school fairs, tour schools, and ultimately, invest hours and hours of her time into doing so.

The results: Dewey. “Dewey,” Ms. Otero said. “A complete waste of my time. She should have gone straight into Dewey.”

I couldn’t imagine the efforts parents must invest in having to choose an elementary, middle, and high school for multiple children. School choice sounds good in theory, but in reality, few parents have the time to sort through all the research and make the best decisions. Remember how stressful it was applying to colleges? Imagine the same process for elementary school, middle school, high school, and college? It’s overwhelming, and I’m not sure that it’s the answer. And I can’t imagine how terrible it feels for parents like Ms. Otero, who did invest hours and hours of her precious time, only to have to send her daughter back to the same failing school.

With anything else, I wish we’d just focus our efforts on making the public schools that we do have great. The system we have in place has the potential to educate our students; why are we investing millions of dollars into opening up charters, providng vouches, etc., when we could pour that same money into attracting strong human capital to fix the schools we already have?

Baltimore County Public Schools Cut Teaching Positions

2011-07-27T15:18:00.002-05:00

Baltimore County schools appear on the front cover of The Baltimore Sun today because 196 teacher positions have been cut for the upcoming school year. Liz Bowie of The Baltimore Sun writes that the school system hired administrators, curriculum supervisors, accountants, and others, amounting to $1.9 million in annual salaries (1). The Baltimore Sun finds that with a budget of $1.9 million Baltimore County Public Schools could have hired 42 teachers at an annual pay of $45,000 or 37 teachers for at an annual pay of $50,000 (1).

Cutting teachers is a challenging side to defend when placing student needs first. The article offers alternative measures to cutting teacher positions like freezing teacher salaries for a year or reducing health benefits. These appear to be good alternatives to reducing teaching positions, but it makes me question how unions would respond to this type of arrangement.

This article directly relates to two new hiring updates that were provided today by Balitmore City CEO, Dr. Alonso. Two new leadership positions have been created and filled according to the press release to better meet the needs of students and families. These Baltimore City new cabinet appointments make me question whether these types of new positions created by Alonso are a good use of funding. As the weight of education continues to fall on the shoulders of teachers and reform emphasizes the need for highly qualified teachers, why are funds being allocated to fill new positions in administrative roles? Could these administrative roles be better organized with fewer people and still be run efficiently? It would be interesting to see research on how the funding of different school districts (in particular looking at the funding for teachers verses administration/ operations) plays into student achievement.

Baltimore City Press Release: http://www.baltimorecityschools.org/cms/lib/MD01001351/Centricity/Domain/1/%20pdf/BricePerkinsPressRelease.pdf

Baltimore Sun Article: http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/baltimore-county/bs-md-co-schools-hiring-20110726,0,4016054.story

Common Core Academies in Maryland

2011-07-26T23:05:00.000-05:00

Late last month educators from across northwestern Maryland arrived at Mountain Ridge High School in Frostburg, MD. on a mission: to figure out how to apply the common core standards to their classroom and to their schools. This gathering is the first of many “educator effectiveness academies” for teachers and principals, which officials say will be the largest teacher professional-development program ever held in the state. Every public school from this region, 1,450 total, have been asked to send a team of educators to one of the three day workshops that will continue over the next two summers. The state is expecting to spend $12.5 million of its Race to the Top award on the academies over three years. To conclude the professional development plan, Maryland officials say they will provide follow-up support by having schools complete “transition” plans to describe how they will make their colleagues comfortable with the standards.

Educators attending the academy voiced both their support and concern of the new standards. Matthew Marsh, an English teacher, predicts that the standards could result in students’ arriving in his class with a better set of skills acquired in earlier grades, but worries that the standards will de-emphasize a rich study of literature. Another teacher asked during a question-and-answer session, “How Maryland could be developing a system for evaluating teachers using test scores, when the state is still trying to explain its standards to teachers, and hasn’t developed the exams that will be based on those standards” The state officials response was, “I wish I had an answer for that.”

What is Baltimore City doing to prepare for the use of the Common Core Standards? As part of the early childhood cohort, we were able to catch a glimpse of what the Department of Early Learning had began writing for the district at last summers New Teacher Institute, but haven’t heard anything since. Should Baltimore introduce the curriculum by sending teams to workshops as Northern Maryland has done? And also what are you thoughts on using the core standards?

http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2011/07/13/36maryland_ep.h30.html?tkn=SZYFpeW3f7%2B4kwTkDPDHUY%2BIvXiqKp7lalQX&cmp=clp-edweek

Switch to Elected Boards in the County?

2011-07-26T22:05:00.000-05:00

http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/news/local/politics/2011/07/balto_county_school_board_task_force_chair_looking_ahead.html

Out in the country, a task force was put together in order to examine the structure of the school board. A series of public hearings were held, whose input will help put together the board's recommendations. At the last hearing, it was reported that the public voiced support for an elected board. Currently, the board is appointed by the governor. However, others were skeptical, saying the structure does not need to be changed citing success on test scores as evidence.

It is noteworthy that when the public is asked how they want their school board members to be chosen, the majority said elections. Though, it's not entirely surprising, given that the people who attended these public hearings are likely ones who attend school board meetings, would vote in school board elections, and probably want more say in who sits on the board. Most interesting, however, is that some thought there should be no changes because the country is doing well (in their opinion). Does this mean that, if asked, Baltimore City residents would want to switch to an elected board, since City Schools is perceived by many to be failing? I would argue yes. Nonetheless, I doubt the City would ever switch to an elected board, given that most urban districts now have an appointed school board.

Traditional Education Reform Founded on the American Dream?

2011-07-26T21:22:00.008-05:00

In this day and age, the phrase "public education" has become code for the education of the poor and the achievement gap that exists between lower and higher income students. Many public education reform efforts target improving or shutting down failing schools in light of the conventional wisdom that failing schools are the cause of the problem--the achievement gap--and should thus be the point of intervention. Unfortunately, conventional wisdom puts the cart before the horse.

Solving the problem of public education in America requires more than just school reform. Schools should not be ignored, but they only account for a fraction of the problems that face American public education. There are extrinsic social, emotional, physiological, and psychological challenges related to socioeconomic status that leave children living in poverty playing catch-up from the minute they enter school. In particular, children living in low socioeconomic households are not adequately prepared to learn what schools are in place to teach when they enter school in PK or K.

Research has shown that low-income parents use fewer words with their children on a daily basis, engage in less two-way conversation, and expose their children to books and reading less compared to middle and upper income parents. There has been much discussion about the significant role that parents have to play in their child's education, but when it comes to educational reform efforts that reach out to parents most programs fall flat. This is what makes programs like Geoffrey Canada's Harlem Children's Zone unique. The HCZ and other prospective "Promise Neighborhoods" offer parents the educational opportunities and resources that they need to learn about early childhood education so that they can intervene as soon as their child is born. The program takes a more holistic approach to educational reform, providing poor parents with resource and support they need so that they can devote the necessary time and energy to prepare their kids for academic success.

Sadly, holistic approaches such as Canada's threaten the very platform upon which most traditional education reform programs are built: demography is not destiny and the American dream lives on! According to Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, every child can learn and thrive despite the challenges at home. This requires that reform efforts do not attempt to lower standards because certain students face significant challenges at home. However, maintaining high standards is not the idea being challenged. Rather, education reform should seek to maintain high standards while also providing poor students and their families with the resources that they need to achieve such standards. In this way, the holistic approach to educational reform places the horse in front of the cart in the hopes of moving forward.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-jim-taylor/failing-students-not-fail_b_534797.html

Is the NYC Middle School Lottery a True Lottery System?

2011-07-26T11:51:00.004-05:00

In the NYC public school system, students entering the 6th grade are placed into a lottery to determine which middle school they will attend. For a child to attend a school outside of his or her neighborhood, there must be demonstrated high achievement on the state standardized test. This was the situation facing Aaliyah Otero's mother as her daughter began the 5th grade. Ms. Otero was well aware that Dewey, Aaliyah's neighborhood middle school, was underperforming and would not be a good avenue for her daughter to be accepted into a strong high school. “A lot of kids at Dewey cut class, hang out on the street,” Ms. Otero said. “Kids get jumped in the park.” Ms. Otero was determined to get her daughter into a better school, and so she entered the lottery process armed with detailed knowledge of exactly what each school was looking for as far as admissions criteria.

After ranking Dewey at the bottom of the list and ranking several strong schools at the top, Aaliyah was still placed in her neighborhood school, Dewey. Aaliyah is not a bad student. Her test scores fall right on the cusp of what the more selective schools look for. However, the simple fact is that she will be a student at Dewey in the fall and will have much greater odds stacked against her as a result of having to attend there. “That’s so young for a decision that can affect them until they graduate high school,” one guidance counselor said. It seems as though this process really benefits those students who perform well, while it hurts students such as Aaliyah whose scores don't quite make the cut. In my opinion, it's the beginning of a two-class educational system where the stronger students (and usually more affluent students) will receive an even greater education than those students left to suffer at neighborhood schools which are on the decline.

Voucher Program Faces Lawsuit

2011-07-25T16:18:00.007-05:00

In Colorado, the Douglas County School District is facing a lawsuit challenging a pilot voucher program. The program, known as The Douglas County's Choice Scholarship Program is facing a lawsuit filed by three civil liberties unions, including the ACLU, and parents who claim that the program violates the lawful separation of church and state. The plaintiffs argue that taxpayer funds intended to go into Colorado's public education system should not be allowed to fund private schools because of their religious affiliations.

In response, district officials have filed a motion requesting that the court allow them to carry out their pilot vouchers, through which they have already distributed over $158,000 of public funds to private schools for 14o students. The defense argues that since the money has already been distributed it would be nonsensical to cancel the program because doing so would only serve to inconvenience the families of the students involved.

The debate over vouchers is not an unfamiliar one. In Baltimore, city officials continue to oppose proposals for voucher programs. Though there are surely numerous reasons for the rejection of vouchers in Baltimore, it is likely that the major point of contention revolves around spending public funds on tuition for private schools with religious affiliations. Many existing voucher programs appear to offer students and their families anywhere between $5,000 and $10,000. In Baltimore City, this amount of money would afford students entry into schools like Archbishop Curley High School or Mercy High School, which are both parochial schools with mission statements promoting Christian beliefs and values. Tuition for these schools is slightly above $11,000. To send students to any of the elite private schools in and around the city that are not religiously affiliated might cost upwards of $20,000 a year.

If Baltimore city officials were to adopt a voucher program, they may find themselves facing a lawsuit similar to the one facing Douglas county officials. Are such lawsuits the beginning of the end for vouchers programs as a means of urban school reform?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/25/douglas-county-school-boa_n_908961.html

"Students Score Slightly Better on State Science Test" -Baltimore Sun

2011-07-25T09:54:00.001-05:00

In an article released earlier this week, the Maryland State Department of Education shared the results of the science MSA taken by fifth and eighth graders. While the state average in science was better than this year's average in reading and math, there hasn't been a noticeable jump in test scores since the science MSA was instituted 4 years ago.

Bowie reports, "In Baltimore City, the fifth grade dropped 3 percentage points to 36 percent passing while eighth-graders rose 3 percentage points to 37.6 percent. The city scores were 30 percentage points below the state average[my emphasis]." This data represents a stark reality facing Baltimore City Public Schools. Whether or not we should consider this data reliable, we should be concerned at the disparity between the performance of students in Baltimore City and those in the surrounding Maryland counties. Why might we be performing so much worse?

Bowie mentions the release of a National Research Council "framework for what students should be taught in science from kindergarten through 12th grade. The framework places more weight on teaching engineering as well as science and reduces the number of core concepts taught in a year." To me, reducing the number of core concepts taught in a year - the depth over breadth argument - is key. While I don't personally have experience teaching science, one of my close colleagues this year (a teacher who just completed his fifth year) was tasked with trying to prepare our 8th graders for the science MSA. One of the major difficulties - he said - was the breadth of topics that the test covers, as well as the fact that the MSA is designed to test knowledge gleaned from 6th, 7th, and 8th grade. I think that he would welcome this framework as opposed to the current science curriculum.

This goes back to the consideration of new standards like Common Core: will this significantly help students in Baltimore City and other urban areas? And not only that, but how long will it take to see results? Ravitch argues that good curricula is essential to a good education. But obviously, it is not the only factor we need to consider in reforming our schools. Baltimore City also needs to continue to encourage and develop teacher effectiveness, infuse schools with good leadership, involve families and communities in the process of school reform, and much, much more if we want to see really game-changing results in the quality of our student's education (and this means not just results on tests, obviously). Better curricula is without doubt a great thing, but it is just one piece of the education puzzle.

Unions, the NAACP, Race, and the Courts

2011-07-22T21:33:00.000-05:00

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/22/nyregion/ruling-against-teachers-union-on-school-closing-plan.html?_r=1&ref=education

In New York City, the district is attempting to close 22 low performing schools and replace them with 15 charter schools (cue debate about charter schools). In response, the United Federation of Teachers filed a lawsuit to prevent the district from moving forward with their plan (cue debate about teachers unions). The UFT claims that the district acted improperly when closing the schools and discriminated against traditional public schools by giving charters more time in the common areas (e.g., cafeteria, gymnasium) than traditional schools.

This past Thursday, Justice Paul G. Feinman of New York's Supreme Court ruled against the union, declaring that the suit did not meet the standard required for the court to immediately stop the city from closing the schools. Further, he said that the union failed to prove that the city had acted improperly with the closings. However, the suit was not dismissed outright, and the union said they planned on continuing the legal battle.

Complicating the conflict, the preeminent African-American civil rights organization, the N.A.A.C.P., joined the lawsuit on the side of the....teacher's union. They, too, allege that the district unfairly discriminated against the traditional public schools. This lawsuit rose to national attention because of the N.A.A.C.P.'s involvement and their stance against charter schools because charters serve mostly black students. Their involvement got so contentious that one charter school mother accused the leader of the N.A.A.C.P.'s New York branch of "doing the business of slave masters."

This lawsuit raised a number of noteworthy discussion points. First, it is significant that New York City decided to replace their 22 failing schools with 15 charter schools. It appears as though NYC has unabashedly embraced charter schools as a better solution than traditional public schools. Next, it's interesting that the UFT opposed such a move to such an extent as to file a lawsuit and take it all the way to state supreme court-- though not surprising, considering how charters generally want more freedom from union regulations (a la KIPP's skirmish with the AFT here in Baltimore?).

Most interestingly, though, is the N.A.A.C.P.'s involvement and it's perception in the community. What made the N.A.A.C.P. take the side of the teacher's union against charter schools? The article did not say. What's the N.A.A.C.P.'s interest in supporting traditional public schools over the opening of more charter schools? One could only guess, but I speculate that there is a relatively high number of African-Americans in the teacher's union who are politically active. Moreover, why are charter schools associated with necessarily helping African-American students, and traditional public schools with hurting such students, in the eyes of some parents? And to such a strong extent as to make one mother associate any organization supporting traditional public schools as a "slave master." To extend this comparison, that mother, and surely others who share her views, must view the district as a force who purposefully attempts to hurt black students by trying to prevent more charter schools from opening.

Though charter schools have not been proven to conclusively raise student achievement, the fact that some parents appear to swear by them while strongly and actively opposing all groups standing in charters' way makes one wonder about charters' effectiveness and the regulations that keep them from being more commonplace.

Standardized Testing.... for a 5-Year-Old.

2011-07-22T11:32:00.000-05:00

The possibility of testing and accountability at the Pre-K and Kindergarten level is now certainly upon us. As part of the Race to the Top Early Learning Challenge, states wanting a shot at a grant will need to put in place standards and assessments that gauge student’s kindergarten readiness. Immediately the image of our youngest learners losing explorative playtime in place of standardized test prep enters people’s minds. Kindergarten readiness, however, is supposed to be thought of as a broad picture of a child’s abilities and behaviors that are observed over time in a variety of contexts. The intent of the initiative is to determine where children are upon entering kindergarten, learn of their strengths and weaknesses and use the data to improve instructional practices that are tailored to the individual child. Sounds good in theory... but I'm still wary.

So these assessments would be given during the first month of kindergarten, the same month teachers are instructing their students how to behave in a social setting. Is it fair to test a 5-year-old’s ability in their first few weeks ever in school? And would the results of that assessment even be a valuable indicator of their ability? Studies have shown that test scores of young children did not predict well what their future ability would be.

As accountability and testing become more popular, the age of testing becomes lower, and Baltimore City is already headed in that direction. Pre-K and Kindergarten students are already given the Maryland Measure for School Readiness test, a test seen in a negative light by some teachers because of the time needed to administer it and it’s almost futile results. Did this test tell me that some of my students were not ready for kindergarten? Yes (mostly because they were shy in my opinion, and again it was the first month of school). Did some of these students score in the proficient range on other reading and math benchmarks? Yes.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/why-giving-standardized-tests-to-young-children-is-really-dumb/2011/07/18/gIQAB7OnMI_blog.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rae-pica/is-prek-testing-coming_b_894834.html?ref=tw

Student Teacher…Quality?

2011-07-21T22:06:00.001-05:00

Today, the National Council on Student Teacher Quality issued a study reporting the flaws and shortcomings of educational schools’ student-teaching programs. The New York Times reports highlights here that reveal both poor results of training programs and the reactions from education schools.

“Student Teaching in the United States” examined 134 student teaching programs across the nation, and found that 75 percent of schools did not meet the five basic standards designed for evaluating high quality education schools. While the Times did not share the five standards, they do share Council President Kate Walsh’s comments on the lack of standards in evaluating education schools. Currently, basic accrediting bodies do not even standardize the length of time a student teacher needs to serve in the classroom. Lack of selection control over cooperative teachers also proved to bring negative scores for education schools.

Many institutions have reached out to the US News Report complaining of the council’s methods as these evaluations will contribute to the education schools’ grades of A-F to be reported.

Graduation from an educational school is supposed to bring accountability and credibility for those traditionally trained as teachers. What does this mean for Baltimore City? Education schools and their student teacher programs should be evaluated, but if we cannot agree upon assessment tactics, it undermines the idea of even trying to assess teacher quality. What makes a quality-student teaching experience and how can it be ensured and standardized? While the report appears to be heavily criticized, it does raise the important question of how we are ensuring that quality teachers are here for our kids and their education.

Implications of Summer School Innovation

2011-07-21T21:53:00.001-05:00

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/baltimore-city/bs-md-ci-summer-school-20110705,0,6482301.story

As part Baltimore City’s summer school program this year, 12 middle schools are offering a program to advanced math and science students in which students will build soapbox cars to be raced at Lake Clifton Park early next month. The program is part of the city’s “Grand Prix” of summer learning initiative, which also includes robotics competitions, foreign language immersion, and other enrichment opportunities. In addition, students at 22 elementary schools will be able to engage in similar projects involving cars. Many of the course offerings of the “Grand Prix” initiative reflect the district’s priority to emphasize the science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) curriculum again this summer. Last summer, the programs offered reduced summer learning loss for 70% of participants. This year, teachers leading the project based learning courses received weeks of professional development. Despite many lauding the district’s innovation, the summer school program nevertheless faced budget cuts earlier this year and lost $1.5 million in federal stimulus money.

Although I applaud the city’s summer efforts, the article raised the question of why these innovations are only being implemented during the summer months. On the one hand, I am quite impressed with the summer school program that the city has put together, especially the project-based soapbox car and robotics courses. These programs directly address the STEM initiative in an engaging way and allow students to engage in hands-on experience that will benefit them not only in preventing the summer setback but also as they move on toward higher education. On the other hand, I question why these innovative approaches are only being pursued by the district for select groups of advanced students during the summer. As we discussed in class, many non-charter traditional public schools could experiment with these less traditional, more engaging methods if they wanted to do so. Even if it is argued that the district does not have the money to implement this in its traditional public schools during the school year, the article implies that the district nevertheless has the institutional knowledge to train its math, science, and technology teachers to do these kinds of projects with their classes on a smaller scale.

As Linda Eberhart, the executive director of the district’s teaching and learning office says, “We learned that we've got to make something so engaging, so compelling that this is the place to be. You can't have a kid do math six hours a day unless they don't know they're doing it." Shouldn’t her comments apply not only for the summer months but also for every day of the school year?

New Approach Proposed for Science Curriculums

2011-07-20T21:51:00.002-05:00

The Committee on Conceptual Framework for the New K-12 Science Education Standards; National Research Council - (a very impressive name for an 18-member group) - has laid out a new framework for American science education that is focused primarily on "paring down" the curriculum in order to allow greater depth of study for the topics included. The newly developed framework is now in the hands of Achieve Inc., a nonprofit education group, which will expand it into a set of standards. Those standards will then be presented to the states which will decide individually whether or not to adopt them.

As far as reforms go, it could seem there's not much controversy here. The primary question is whether a curriculum should focus on exposing students to as much as possible, or allow them to fully explore a select group of concepts. Even in my short term as a professional educator, I have struggled mightily with this question. In my own opinion and experience, students benefit most from in-depth study of any concept, but I am concerned that in order to allow time for that in-depth study, I must excise other elements of the state curriculum. Doesn't sound like a big deal, but for many of my students, my US or World history class my be their only experience with the subject. For me, this raises a question: if I didn't have a chance to tell them anything about the world past the introduction of the atom bomb because I wanted to make sure they really understood the Great Depression have I done them a disservice? Is it better for my students to leave class with a cursory knowledge of as much subject material as possible - (as our current curriculum is designed) - or to provide students with opportunities to be experts on a select few concepts? I am not certain, but The Committee on Conceptual Framework for the New K-12 Science Education Standards; National Research Council seems to believe it has an answer to that question.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/20/science/20curriculum.html?ref=education

Consider New Zealand's Approach

2011-07-20T20:19:00.003-05:00

Good learners understand what others do well and adopt those skills that have proven to work. This is how success happens - by learning from others. Can this be said about education?

New Zealand, who ranks much higher than the US in the global standardized PISA test (7^th in both Science and Reading and 13^th in Math), approaches education in a fundamentally opposite way than the US. They believe in a system with a high trust/low stakes model of accountability whereas the US approaches education with a low trust/high stakes model of accountability. New Zealand feels that when you educate the whole child, you must believe in your teachers to try different, innovative ways to meet the standards (or “principles” if in New Zealand). Furthermore, standardized testing should be a powerful diagnostic tool to help get positive insights into what a student’s learning challenges may be. This does not sound very radical, and it is what some would say happens across thousands of schools in the US.

I think what the US can learn most from New Zealand is their view on education. According to Dr. Hipkins who is a distinguished Chief Researcher of New Zealand’s Council for Educational Research, New Zealand doesn’t believe that school learning should be entirely based on epistemology, but rather a central focus on shaping who children are and who they can become. Furthermore, learning must focus on who students are and what they can become, not just on what they know and can do.

I couldn’t agree more with this view and it seems I would be hard pressed to find a parent or teacher who does not feel the same. However, I can say with confidence that this is not what the current school systems in the US practice. If it were, the first thing to be ousted would be high stakes testing. Maryland State Assessment data doesn’t come in until students are dismissed for the summer. If the data is not used to shape instruction specifically to each child the following year than what good does it really server? Yes it holds schools and districts accountable and informs us on what students know but at what cost?

http://www.educationnews.org/political/158758.html

Too Good to be Chartered?

2011-07-19T19:18:00.001-05:00

The recent debate of whether charter schools belong in suburban areas has sparkled the age-old question, “Why fix something that isn’t broken?” This is what the group “Millburn Parents Against Charter Schools” want to know.

Add two more suburban charter schools to the relatively small, but growing list of charter schools located outside of urban areas if New Jersey State Education Department grants the founding parents their charter. Mr. Stewart, who is spearheading the petition, says “In suburban areas like Millburn, there’s no evidence whatsoever that the local school district is not doing its job. So what’s the rationale for a charter school?” This comment is backed by the commonalities that charter schools have with one another dating back twenty years when the first charter school was founded in Minnesota. Charter schools are publicly funded but have autonomy when determining the mission and areas of study the school wants to focus on. Furthermore, charter schools have been promoted as a way to give poor children an alternative to underperforming urban schools.

Another argument that petitioners of the like side with is that these unnecessary suburban charter schools take away funding from an already tight budget intended for traditional public schools.

It is tired to argue that funding does not necessarily equal achievement nor does it play as big of a role as having effective teachers who spark passions (more likely to be done in schools with higher autonomy) in students or smaller class sizes which, consequentially is what Millburn public schools would more than likely have if their attrition rates increase slightly due to a neighboring charter school.

Entities apposed to charter schools in suburban areas need to understand that education is not static. The once association that poor children equals the need for charter schools or underperforming urban schools equals the need for charter schools is not up to date. If charter schools whether in urban or suburban areas are achieving to the standards that the state was deemed “adequate”, then what’s the fuss? Even if something is not broken does not mean it can't get better.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/17/education/17charters.html

The Suspension Problem

2011-07-19T16:23:00.002-05:00

In the article, "School Discipline Study Raises Fresh Questions," Alan Schwarz explains some startling results of a comprehensive study concerning discipline rates in Texas middle and high school and their correlation to juvenile detention rates late in life. While the fact that there is a connection will be of no surprise to any education, the rate at which students are now experiencing suspension and high severity discipline is astoundingly high. Nearly sixty percent of all students in Texas throughout the study experienced some high level discipline that was ascribed to their personal records. To demonstrate the problem, one educator was quoted as having to deal with an "eighth grader who swore at teachers, threw books and pencils."

Now, I am certain that my counterparts in Baltimore are more than familiar with a few (or maybe even many) students who swear at teacher and throw something now and then. And, there is no debating that discipline remains a problem for many urban schools, and is becoming a growing problem for many suburban schools as well. The discussion in this article revolves around how suspensions and other activities by the schools are possible culprits for this growing problem. However, it also hints at a more serious possibility. The stigma once associated with suspension, expulsion or other serious disciplinary activity seems to be dissipating from main stream society. As these activities become more common place, they have almost become expected as a right of passage, thereby decreasing their effectiveness. In short, the problem may be two-fold: the overuse of these practices, and their acceptance within mainstream American society. In my opinion, suspensions can and do still work, but they should be used lightly after all other alternatives are exhausted. This increases their severity, and hopefully their effectiveness.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/19/education/19discipline.html?_r=1&ref=education

President Obama Meets With CEOs to Discuss Education

2011-07-18T15:52:00.000-05:00

White House Press Release

Huffington Post Article

Obama's roundtable suggests that going forward there will be even stronger ties between private businesses and public education. Aimed at creating a stronger workforce, most of the partnerships enumerated in this press release emphasize the need to get students into post-secondary education programs. Though it is difficult to argue with the goal of creating a stronger workforce, I fear that these partnerships risk giving corporations the upper hand in determining what students need to know and how school districts can demonstrate this knowledge.

It is hard to look a gift horse in the mouth when companies such as Microsoft Education donate $15 million for "learning technology, including digital archives and game-based teaching". Technology would go a long way in my classroom and at my school, but when companies get as specific as "game-based teaching", I wonder where the teacher stands in this transaction. What if teachers would rather not use games in their classrooms? Without millions of dollars to spend on initiatives such as this one or the Bill and Melinda Gates' Foundation's push for smaller high schools, will teachers and other stakeholders be able to impact what and how students learn?

In Baltimore there is a revolving door of ideas regarding the implementation of public education. This speaks volumes of the creativity of organizations and individuals dedicated to making a difference for thousands of children and their families, but it does not say much about the success of these ideas. I'm curious about how much impact Baltimore teachers can have in determining what and how to teach when faced with Race to the Top, corporate funding, and private affiliations.

"D.C. Schools Fires More Than 400 Educators" -Huffington Post

2011-07-18T09:00:00.001-05:00

As part of Michelle Rhee's legacy, the teacher evaluation system designed by Jason Kamras - called IMPACT - has struck again, this time firing 413 teachers in the District of Columbia Public School system. (For comparison's sake, last year DCPS fired 211 educators.)

Despite being almost finished with The Bee Eater, I was unsure exactly what IMPACT entailed, so I decided to read the New York Times article linked at the bottom of this Huffington Post piece. According to Dillon, 5 observations (3 carried out by the principal and 2 carried out by "master educators" hired from outside the district) decide 75% of a teacher's evaluation. The other 25% is based on student scores on high-stakes tests and "teachers' commitment to their school communities" (how vague). The final verdict, whether a teacher is ineffective on the one extreme or highly effective on the other, will decide the bonus the teacher does or does not receive. (And in this system, teachers can earn up to $25,000, which is a pretty tidy sum.)

I think that what bothers me most about the firing of these teachers is actually not the evaluation system itself, which seems to rely more on teacher observations than test scores (although there was some debate in the NYT article about how useful and objective those "master educator" evaluations were, not to mention the bias that can be inherent in principal evaluations). What bothers me is that Rhee pushed this teacher contract through without input from the union, and while she may have done so with the best of intentions, I think teachers are feeling the sting of not getting to have their say.

This article, while about DCPS, is incredibly applicable to the Baltimore City Public School System and Baltimore County Public Schools. Since Maryland is a recipient of Race to the Top money, we are going to have to implement an evaluation system that ties teacher performance to test scores. D.C. is kind of a guinea pig for the rest of the country as to how such a system might be structured. Whether it's working or not yet is debatable, but one thing is for certain: teachers aren't going to get a "free ride" anymore. We are going to be held much more accountable for the goings-on in our classrooms, and we will have to answer to more than just our students, their parents, and our principals.

I think that I'm ambivalent about all of this change. On the one hand, I think that student achievement should be factored into teacher evaluations. However, I think that standardized test scores should only be one small piece of that puzzle, as there are many other ways student achievement can be measured that should be taken into account. On the other hand, I'm concerned about the implementation of any new evaluation system. There will undoubtedly be a period when things are being "ironed out" and I wonder if there would be an opportunity to amend any evaluation system put into place once we see how it works on the ground. Maryland has already approved a system tying 50% of a teacher's evaluation to student performance, while ignoring the teachers on the panel who decried it. If they won't even value the opinions of strong teachers in determining the evaluation system, what hope is there that they would seek our advice in revising it?

“Number of Schools Missing Academic Targets Surges” Baltimore Sun

2011-07-15T11:23:00.002-05:00

View Full Story Here

This is a sobering article that discusses Baltimore’s progress (or lack thereof) towards reaching NCLB’s 100% standard by 2014. The term sobering may be an understatement when we consider that “90% of Baltimore’s elementary and middle schools fell short of academic targets on state assessments this year.”

To me, this article is upsetting for reasons that may not be quite as obvious. Our students' scores on the MSA matter little to me. It’s a poor test with frightening implications—teachers now have the overwhelming pressure to “teach to the test,” using any means necessary to make sure their students will score proficient or advanced on a multiple choice exam that relies on questionable standards and even more questionable measures of excellence. Students are unarguably getting a worse education, tied soley to passing state tests. What goes by the wayside is often, well, everything else: novel studies, creative thinking, innovation, engaging discussions, and the arts—some of the very things in our public education system that, in the past, have helped to make our nation great.

My concern, then, is the implication of the most likely reality that Baltimore City Public Schools (and most other school districts across the country) will not reach the unrealistic 100% goal by the 2013-2014 school year, only to face the demoralization of being labeled a failing school system, and what’s worse, all of the sanctions that accompany such a designation, including loss of funding. Is this truly the best method we can come up with for fixing broken systems?

Sadly, none of this has much to do with how much ACTUAL learning, quality instruction, and college preparedness is occurring in our schools. But of course, the article doesn’t address this point… and neither does NCLB.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/baltimore-city/bs-md-ci-ayp-schools-20110714,0,7067530.story

Schools Chiefs See a Path to Proposing Their Own Accountability Systems

2011-07-15T10:19:00.000-05:00

View Article Here (New York Times)

This article indicates that Arne Duncan and his aides have "signaled" that some states will be able to create their own accountability measures for schools as a sort of waiver to the proficiency provision of NCLB. Though this action is not by any means set in stone, it seems that state educational leaders have expanded their senses of possibilities in terms of what it is possible and desirable to do in their schools. Leaders in Indiana, for example, would be interested in exploring ways to ensure that the lowest 25% of every school is making gains and holding schools accountable for that growth. In Delaware, education officials are interested in experimenting with language immersion programs and summer programs in math, science, and engineering. Many of these states, in fact, have developed these accountability measures alongside NCLB provisions, and are working to meet both sets of requirements.

Maryland officials were not included in the article, so I could only imagine what might happen in classrooms if the MSA Finish Line books were packed up and stowed away. As a middle school language arts teacher, I would hope that practical measures would be used to assess writing across the entire state starting in elementary school. In general, I would like to know that my students have a working knowledge of computer technology before graduating from high school. Figures such as the number of students sitting AP exams and the graduation and attendance rates of individual schools could also be used to hold these schools accountable for rigor and engagement in the classroom. Still, action is yet to be taken, and it is possible that waivers will be granted only to states that agree to pursue specific reforms.

Charter Cherry-Picking

2011-07-15T07:41:00.002-05:00

In the recent New York Times article, "Message from a Charter School: Thrive or Transfer," author, Michael Winerip, uses a situation with one New York family to ruminate on an issue that is especially prevalent with charter schools in the Baltimore area. As he says, " do [charter schools] cherry-pick students, if not by gaming the admissions process, then by counseling out children who might be more expensive or difficult to educate — and who could bring down their test scores, graduation rates and safety records." In this case, the student in question was admitted to the school and then dismissed from the school to P.S. 75, all with the child's best interests in mind according to the charter school's officials. Now, it is worth noting that the child is now thriving in his new environment, and in this case, the decision may very well have been the correct one.

However, I do not believe, simply from my own experience that this is always the case here in Baltimore. Working at a traditional PK-8 school, we often receive transfer students out of charter schools. As might be expected, the number one reason for a student's transfer is a dismissal from the charter school for behavior problems. As a result, my school becomes a dumping ground for those that the charter school has deemed too difficult to manage. Is this fair? When students are deemed too difficult to manage in a normal environment within normal K-8s, they are sent to alternative programs for smaller class sizes, not away from charters for often bigger class sizes. Should charters function outside of this system, inherently assuming that they are “above” traditional schools in the pecking chain?

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/11/nyregion/charter-school-sends-message-thrive-or-transfer.html?_r=1&ref=education

Alonso responds to decline in MSA test scores with a new program idea

2011-07-14T15:17:00.001-05:00

http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2011-07-03/news/bs-md-ci-msa-score-follow-20110703_1_schools-ceo-andr-s-alonso-school-system-msa

After many years of increasing assessment scores, Baltimore City’s 2011 MSA scores have fallen three percentage points in reading and five percentage points in math. This small decline is considered normal for large urban districts, but is being referred to as a “wake up call” for the city’s educational leaders. In explaining this decline, Dr. Alonso cited ongoing problems with lack of quality instruction and teachers. He also reported cheating scandals at a few city schools, and noted that tackling teacher contract reform this year removed some of the focus on what was happening inside schools and classrooms. In the short-term, Alonso is doing an individual analysis of each school whose scores declined and considering opening weekend academies for 5^th and 8^th graders to remedy the decline in scores. In the long-term, Alonso plans to continue to implement innovative school choice options and to hold principals and teachers accountable for student achievement.

I am interested in learning more about Alonso’s potential short solution of weekend academies. Although I believe in the benefits of additional instruction time, I am skeptical that many educators and students would embrace weekend academies, especially if these academies were mandatory and did not generously compensate teachers. I therefore am wondering about the structural components of the academies, including whether or not they would target failing students and/or schools. In addition, I question why Alonso would limit these academies to 5^th and 8^th graders. While I understand the idea of targeting the weaker performing grades, it would seem to me that as many students as possible should get access to this supplementary program.

What are charter schools really doing?

2011-07-13T23:56:00.002-05:00

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/11/nyregion/charter-school-sends-message-thrive-or-transfer.html?_r=1&ref=education

I know that cream rises to the top. I also know that it is important to make sure that the students who are the most capable are challenged. It is especially important in today's global economy to produce crops of students that are as strong as possible. However, what does it say when we are willing to sacrifice the education and well-being of the struggling to ensure the development of that "top level" student? This is most certainly an effective way to make certain a school performs at the highest level of academic rigor (there will not be any students who slow the class down), but is it the right thing to do?

This article tells the story of a little boy who was (arguably) forced out of a charter school because he was doing just that, slowing the class down. He later proved to be a successful student elsewhere. The disturbing part is he was only in first grade when the high performing charter decided to "redirect" this student. Should charter schools be able to select their students in this way? Is it the burden of the truly public school to take all those unwanted students? What does this do to a child's psychology? Will every student be as successful after being kicked out of a charter? I cannot know the answer to these questions and I know they are a little bit dramatic, but the point is one worthy of discussion. What do you think?

New statewide evaluation system denounced by BTU

2011-07-13T20:32:00.010-05:00

In a vote at the end of last month, the Maryland Council for Educator Effectiveness approved a new standardized evaluation system that will be implemented in seven districts, (including Baltimore City and County), at the start of next year. Under this system, student performance will be worth 50% of the total evaluation - a notion so unpopular that every state and district teacher allowed to sit on the panel voted against it. BTU President Marietta English decried the system as "yet another misguided example of an obsession with test scores," and in the wake of this year's testing scandals I am surprised that there was not more trepidation on the parts of non-teachers with regards to this tremendous emphasis on student achievement. It only seems logical that the more emphasis is placed on test scores as an evaluator of one's acumen as an educator, the more likely incidents such as the recent MSA testing scandals will become. This evaluation tool is not yet even in place, but educators are already feeling enough pressure regarding test scores to forge results outright. In my opinion, it follows that the more emphasis is placed on test scores as a measure of teacher quality, the lower the actual quality of teaching being delivered will become. There will be no cause for teaching anything other than the test. People want to protect their livelihoods - to be surprised at the lengths some will go to to do so is nothing more than extreme naiveté.

http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/news/education/blog/2011/06/baltimore_teachers_union_denou.html

Plan for emergency school reform in Detroit resembles reforms in Baltimore

2011-07-12T17:22:00.005-05:00

Michigan’s governor Rick Snyder and Detroit Public Schools Emergency Manager Roy Roberts recently announced a joint plan to reform schools throughout the state. Beginning in the fall of 2012, the lowest performing five percent of Detroit public schools will taken over by the Education Achievement System (EAS) – a newly created statewide school system. At each school taken over by EAS, decision-making and responsibility will by placed in the hands of principals, staff, and parents rather than the Detroit Public Schools central office. Emphasis will be placed on hiring of qualified principals and teachers (current teachers would have to reapply for their jobs).

Gov. Snyder’s announcement has been met with strong reactions, both negative and positive. Opponents view the installation of Roberts as Emergency Manager - able to make unilateral decisions - and the severing of union contracts as deeply undemocratic. Supporters believe the reform plan is focused on student achievement and may be radical enough to give Michigan the impetus it needs to truly change. Many elements of Snyder’s plan are considered drastic, but in fact we have already seen many of these elements in Baltimore City, with turnaround, transformation, and charter schools leading the way. (Detroit Public Schools and the Detroit Federation of Teachers have opposed the expansion of charter schools despite the rampant failure of its public schools.) Reform efforts proposed by Gov. Snyder may serve as blueprint for (or a warning against) future education reform in our country.

http://www.michigan.gov/snyder/0,1607,7-277-57577-258186--,00.html

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5ii5X6xIoI0g4tB5U-N6XabVk-U5g?docId=ae4510d640274d94b3879e60efd98115

Biting the hand that teaches you

2011-07-12T11:45:00.002-05:00

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/12/us/12aft.html?_r=1&ref=education

The president of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), Randi Weingarten, gave an impressively strong speech at the kick off for the first day of the National Conference, according to the New York Times. I say strong because she voiced opinions that are controversial in a time when most people in the public eye strive for political correctness over their own feelings and opinions. She was not afraid to make claims like, "[the debate over the education system] has been hijacked by a group of self-styled reformers" who, in her mind are working to save the system in the entirely wrong way.

Weingarten argues that the transformation needs to be headed by and stem from the teachers and those on the front lines, not by "by people who are happy to lecture us about the state of public education — but wouldn’t last 10 minutes in a classroom" (another rather controversial remark!). Personally, I think she is right! The change does have to come from those in the classroom. No matter what happens outside (policy change, introduction of merit pay, certification changes, etc), if teachers don't change then the schools will not change. The question is, will teachers change without impetus from the outside? And will teachers stick around in the profession long enough to see that change through? It is clear, from what I have read and heard, as well as my own limited personal experience, that a transient teacher force limits the achievement of students. It is even more clear that teachers who last more than a few years become increasingly more effective (unless, of course, they become disenchanted or burnt out). So, how will we get teachers to stay? That is the real question. I think if the policy makers focused on that question and saw the lack of student achievement as a symptom (instead of the main problem) we could really make some change without biting the hand that feeds us.

Building School Ties Over Language Barriers

2011-07-11T17:16:00.001-05:00

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/for-burmese-refugees-english-lessons-at-work-build-school-ties/2011/06/23/AGPnxOsH_story_1.html

In Howard County, there was been an incredible influx of Burmese refugees in the past several years- many of whom work at Coastal Sunbelt Produce. And this year, the company forged a partnership with the local Bollman Bridge Elementary School. Laurel Conran is an elementary school teacher who has volunteered her time to go to the company’s lunch break to teach about 2 dozen Burmese workers, mostly parents, some practical English skills. She has taught them how to call in sick for work, or even how to work an oven. Her philosophy is that by teaching parents English, we can build stronger ties within the school community and help educate entire families, not just the students. There is a communication breakdown between families of immigrant children and teachers because often the parents do not speak English.

I was just thinking about how this philosophy of educating parents to help the children and their families within a school system could work in Baltimore. We do have a small immigrant population, particularly at schools like Moravia Park. Many schools, including my own, have some ELL students whose parents do not speak English- thus making communicating with families extremely difficult. While we translate progress reports, report cards, and important letters home, I think about the lack of face-to-face communication with those parents of students in my class who do not speak English. When a conversation requires an interpreter, it can be easy to shy away. But by encouraging families to learn some English and with teachers working to build these ties, we can create an open and inviting atmosphere for all of our families. We can cut down on absences for unnecessary reasons, keep parents informed, and make them feel welcome to our schools. I wonder if schools with a higher ELL population will adopt such a program in their school communities.

Is long vs short days really the issue here?

2011-07-08T21:47:00.002-05:00

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/06/education/06time.html?_r=1&ref=education

This article, featured in the New York Times, focuses on the amount of school students must attend in America. It discusses longer days, longer weeks, and longer years. Despite all the evidence saying that our students need more instructional time, more and more school districts are moving to shorter weeks, shorter days and shorter years. For example, next year Oregon teachers will only have 165 days to teach their students, fifteen left than the standard 180 calendar. Again, American public school systems find themselves in a great contradiction.

However, I believe that there is a greater problem that no one is focusing on here: what is going on during the school day, week, and year no matter if it is shorter or longer? I have seen teachers accomplish so much in a 50 minute lesson and teachers barely get through anything in a 100 minute class. I think the greater issue that lies here is using time effectively. We must create schedules that maximize the amount of learning that is taking place in a classroom. With required drills, announcements, silent reading times, and other daily requirements that are en vogue in education today, we must make the most of the time that we have with our children. Yes, in a perfect world, we should be moving towards being in school longer. However, public education in America is failing. We should be putting all of our focus into determining why students are not learning in the time that they are in school. If a teacher is completely ineffective and time is being wasted, it does not matter if students are there for one hour or ten hours.

How uncommon is the common core?

2011-07-08T19:21:00.001-05:00

http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2011/06/30/36common.h30.html?tkn=QNQFTUgofPtXiqhiwMMHJq9hAGERMPRP%2F4sZ&cmp=clp-edweek

Last week, top curriculum leaders and board of education reps from 13 states assembled to discuss the implementation of common core standards at a meeting organized by the National Association of State Boards of Education.
States now have the task of amending their current curricula and, of course, tailoring their teacher assessment criteria to reflect it. However, they also need to educate teachers on what exactly the common core is and how to adjust their planning accordingly. This article suggests that the common core standards are so different from the current individual state standards that they need not look for similarities, but rather view them as a brand new agenda.

It is now our responsibility as educators to embrace all these changes, make them our personal classroom goals, and implement them to the best of our ability. New standards, new curriculum, new assessments…. New teacher?, oh well! These changes are happening and they’re happening fast. We are just passengers on this express train to student success…Welcome Aboard!

Accountability Is The Order of the Day... Even When We're Not Sure What It Means

2011-07-07T17:04:00.003-05:00

The NEA has just taken a strong stance on teacher accountability: namely, that there should be some. But what does this mean? Though the new policy includes a statement on the importance of a strong teacher evaluation system, union members remain firmly opposed to using students' standardized test scores to drive this evaluation... even as fifteen states are currently part of a federally-backed initiative to do exactly that. The AFT has already spoken out in favor of a strong evaluation system at least partially based on "valid assessments;" one NEA member commented that the move towards Common Core standards might come hand in hand with the longed-for "valid assessment," while others were less than hopeful. "It's too late," said once science teacher from Louisiana. "It's going to take a major fight and a lot of money to change anything now."

At the national level, the new NEA policy is rather unspecific about what teacher accountability (and evaluation) actually looks like. As it is, with the Maryland Council for Educator Effectiveness's policy of basing fifty percent of a teacher's evaluation on student scores, it doesn't appear that the NEA's policy will have much practical bearing on our professional lives in Baltimore this coming fall.

Does Merit Base Pay Punnish Some Teachers?

2011-07-07T07:54:00.003-05:00

Article: http://www.commonwealthmagazine.org/Voices/Perspective/2010/Summer/Teachers-are-not-to-blame.aspx

When doing research for my position paper on merit based pay, I came across an interesting article against merit based pay. The article asserted that a merit based pay system has the potential to drive teachers away from the Urban school districts (due to low scoring on standardized test in these schools), and over to high performing schools (like in the county), where a teacher is sure to make more money. The article suggested that due to this, a merit based pay system punishes teachers who are placed in harder schools, with students who did not grow up speaking or hearing Standard English (which helps a student succeed on these test). This fact alone makes merit based pay an unfair system. It can even discourage teachers from teaching in the schools that need good teachers the most.

The article goes on to say that it is not a fair system of pay because students who live in more affluent areas and go to more affluent schools will continue to do better on the test because of the way the test is written, so these teachers will reap the most benefits of this type of pay system. According to the article, with a merit based pay system we will continue to punish children for being born in a certain zip code. Schools that are attended by primarily minority children in urban areas will have year round, drills, worksheets, and test prep in an effort to over prepare for the state test, and a teachers desire for a raise. This will just widen the achievement gap, as these methods are not only proven not to work, but simply move further away from project based learning, cooperative learning, and the higher level thinking our students truly need to succeed.

The article is also filled with a ton of great data to support the idea that bad teaching is not the real reason students are not succeeding.

Riddle Me This: The elusive panacea revealed

2011-07-06T22:18:00.005-05:00

Diane Ravitch and David Brooks each espouse their own version of what it takes to fix American’s failing school and their opinions and personalities were bound to collide eventually.

Ravitch has entertained Brook’s “Smells like teen Spirit” editorial by asserting that Brooks misrepresented her views on charter schools, stating that she is always careful to point out that charter school success (and failure) varies widely.

She holds strong to her belief that some charters make their gains because they obtain additional resources, increase instructional time, limit the enrollment of students with disabilities or students who can not read, or remove students with learning problems.

As it relates to Baltimore City Public Schools, I’d like to focus on schools that increase instructional time. KIPP runs on both a longer school year and school day. The SEED school (a public boarding school) provides students with a comprehensive educational experience from Sunday evening through Friday afternoon, 24/7, during the school year.

These schools have achieved tremendous results with their students, and their “secret” ingredient seems elusive. Lucky for you, I’m about to reveal it. Okay, here it is. I’ll give you a few clues:

RIDDLE:

1. It flies (for some more often than others)

2. It occasionally stops (only in science fiction and in mathematics too complicated for me to grasp)

3. It rhymes with rhyme

You guessed it…. TIME. Educators are spending more TIME with these students and that time is being valued. Increasing student achievement for students in Baltimore City isn’t about the latest fad, whether that be revamped teacher evaluations, PBIS, or high-stakes testing. It’s about nose to the grindstone TIME. When educators spend time with students and that time is structured and effectively used, they learn on par with the best and brightest.

Students in Baltimore City do not need the latest in a series of so-called innovations. Plain and simple, students in Baltimore City need to be provided more opportunities to go to schools that offer more learning TIME.

No money=cutting school days?

2011-07-06T18:12:00.000-05:00

In the NYtimes article from yesterday, it outlines the pain associated with cutting school budgets. The solution for many states and school districts is to decrease the hours within a school day/school year and/or cutting summer school programs. However with these cuts, many would argue that our children need more instruction time, but for some, the solution is the opposite.
The most successful programs in our nation today all contain longer schools days, a longer school year, and/or extensive summer school options. A radical approach suggested in the article discusses the possibility of year round schooling which could possibly eliminate expenses in some avenues yet providing students with an effective means to an education.
One piece to this puzzle I'd like to discuss is that if the school year does get shorter and shorter, and basic supply budgets are getting smaller and smaller, how can a teacher be effective in the classroom with such limited resources? The demand for high test scores and the pressure on teachers to improve performance seems impossible with such little wiggle room.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/06/education/06time.html?ref=education

Enough With the Analogies!

2011-07-06T10:58:00.003-05:00

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-merrow/david-brooks-diane-ravitc_b_891189.html

This article from The Huffington Post does a nice job of summarizing the main players facing off in terms of educational reform today. Merrow contrasts Ravitch and her "army" as those battling people such as Klein and Rhee over various education issues, but mainly focusing on testing.

However, I found the most interesting part of the article to be the fact that Merrow offers up one more analogy to illustrate the shortcomings and failures of the current educational system in place. Referring to struggling schools today as the pony express and highly functioning school models such as KIPP and TFA as a more effective pony express says, "that's nice, but what about all 50 million children in need of an education?"

This is very true, but Merrows's article stops short of providing an answer, and instead poses the question to readers. In turn, I ask how we can make these more effective educational models widespread? Why discredit these success stories due to their limited enrollment? Instead, let's figure out what works at these institutions and how to make it work in schools everywhere.

Legislators are ready to train teachers

2011-07-06T00:23:00.001-05:00

Last week a bill was introduced in the Senate, Growing Excellent Achievement Training Academies for Teachers and Principals, which would encourage states to open teacher preparation academies aimed at producing well-rounded and classroom-ready educators.

Politico’s article reporting on the bill recognizes the growing public realization that teacher certification programs aren’t adequately preparing educators for the classroom, noting that over 60% of recent grads reported they were unprepared. These new preparation academies, in contrast, would treat incoming teachers like medical schools treat doctors.

Not only will the focus of these programs be hands-on learning, but these academies will also be held accountable for their students’ success as teachers. Interestingly enough, as Politico points out, while they will be held accountable for the success of their students, they won’t be held accountable to a rigid structure of exactly how they must operate to prepare new teachers.

In addition to tracking their graduates, they will be screening their entrants – also something rarely seen in traditional teacher preparation programs at most universities. These programs will be looking for candidates who have a high probability of being successful in the classroom.

It sounds a lot like TFA Summer Institute, but longer.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0611/57582_Page2.html#ixzz1RIbZLt5A

Plan B Education Reform?

2011-07-05T12:53:00.000-05:00

Article: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/jun/14/obama-proposes-plan-b-for-education-reform/

As time for the No Child Left Behind mandates slowly expire, a new education reform proposal has been suggested. This “Plan B” education reform would essentially give waivers to states to perform outside of the existing mandates of NCLB who can prove their systems are successful. While this proposal does place additional freedoms to perform outside of the stronghold of NCLB mandates, will it produce any viable results?

My first issue with the proposal is that it lets lawmakers off of the hook. Essential time is slipping away to refresh some of the NCLB mandates in continuing to raise test scores and boost student achievement. The idea that “states are gamers of the system,” reduces my faith that some states will continue to make gains with students, and in some cases lessens state accountability.

My second issue is that perhaps loose enforcement of NCLB rigorous standards are to blame for failing test scores to date. Lawmakers need to draft a proposal to reform NCLB mandates, giving additional time to truly make academic growth, instead of demanding high results without adequate means of truly achieving growth. I agree there should be some freedoms given to states to produce accurate results, but I don’t believe giving them autonomy of education policies is the best solution.

Whether You Like It or Not

2011-07-05T11:47:00.002-05:00

http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/education/2011/06/28/2011-06-28_new_york_state_teachers_union_sues_to_block_rating_system_based_on_students_stan.htm

So, it seems that the reaction to the new educational trend is spreading. The York State Teachers Union is suing in an attempt to change the decision to implement a new teacher rating system stating that it relies too heavily on standardized test scores. The union filed suit on Monday, June 27th as we discussed this very issue in class. Union officials stated that they knew of and agreed upon the tests bearing 20%of a teacher’s rating, but have now come to find that there is a new state regulation that allows districts to place twice as much weight on the scores. HA! Imagine their reaction to the Baltimore City contract negotiation….laying out 50% of a teacher’s annual effort to be determined by the results of one test! This article goes on to state one of the concerns that continues to rise, which is that this will lead to more “teaching the test”. It is felt that, in reality, this process goes against the actual goal of quality education for all. This was the first time the union has sued the state in more than 40 years.

It seems that if you don’t eat it, you will be force fed. Even here in Baltimore, the contract had to be voted on twice because it didn’t pass the first time. The second time, it passed with absolutely no support from the teachers on the voting panel. So, gear up and arm yourself with as many msa-like test questions that you can and disperse them as warm-ups, drills, classwork, quizes, exit tickets and homework until April. Absolutely, this is what you have to do… whether you like it or not.

Does anyone know what it takes??

2011-07-05T08:13:00.003-05:00

After our discussion on principals and principals’ evaluations in our final class, I thought I would write about the same topic for this post. An article from The New York Daily News with the headline “'Least-trustworthy' principal in New York City public schools finally fired from Brooklyn post” poses a similar question I had from class: what, exactly, does it take to get the boot if you’re a principal, and who ultimately decides?

The article tells the story of Andrew Buck, a New York City principal at the Middle School for Art and Philosophy, and his turbulent history in his position. Surveys of his C-rated school found a violent and hectic environment where 40% of the students said they felt unsafe in the halls. He was voted ‘least trustworthy’ principal in 2008 by the teachers union, and made headlines in 2010 when he sent bizarre and almost nonsensical letters home to parents filled with grammatical errors about withholding textbooks from children.

An eighth grade teacher at Buck’s school commented: "I cried tears of joy… teachers were getting hurt, and the kids were running amok - he ran the school into the ground.” This teacher was assaulted by a student during class last year and openly blames Buck for conditions at the school. Many parents are also interviewed in the article and discuss his poor leadership and dangerous school environment.

I do not think that anyone would argue that this article paints Buck in a poor light, and that he clearly made a lot of poor decisions while running his school. Many of us have probably seen similar administrators or heard stories like this one. What I found most interesting in the article, however, was not the details of his tenure, but instead, what was glazed over: the process for his removal. The article begins by saying “The Department of Education is canning an infamous Brooklyn principal “ and later points out that Buck has been put on “desk duty” until he can be fired. How does this work? And since when does the US Department of Education step in to remove principals? Since our discussion on evaluations in class, I would be interested to look deeper into this story and the process it took to remove this man from his office.

Direct vs. Online Instruction

2011-07-04T22:33:00.001-05:00

Article: http://www.edweek.org/dd/articles/2011/06/15/03hybrid.h04.html?intc=mvs

As we have entered the 21^st century, there is undoubtedly a race to integrate the use of technology in the classroom. As highlighted by the article on Education Week, as the debate over how to raise test scores in schools across the nation has evolved, so has the approach to bring about innovation in the classroom. These hybrid charter schools offer in-person instructors as well as online classes in a structured setting. While the need to increase the use of technology in the classroom, I think we should continue to find solutions that balance the effect of quality teaching with reinforcement from technological resources that best help our students. Using this philosophy, I believe we should continue to expand the idea of hybrid schools due to a few reasons.

As education funding is being cut, allowing face-to-face instruction to be supported with online instruction and assessments allow for teachers to oversee independent learning from students. Additionally, teachers are there to manage the students and oversee social interaction of students as they work independently or in small groups. Overall this idea seems most supported due to the various models that schools can choose in the effort to create project based and collaborative learning opportunities. Some students support the model due to the need to alleviate overcrowded classrooms.

Online instruction also provides these schools some degree of innovation and flexibility in choosing their curriculums. These teachers can then provide direct support to struggling students by giving them additional assignments to clarify any misconceptions. Using online instruction, students can be assessed, receive additional work from teachers, and continue to complete more work to assist in overall mastery of the material.

I believe we should support the use of more online resources for general instruction in Baltimore City, especially as we are shifting towards our 2014 Common Core Goals. By providing additional opportunities for online instruction we would best assist our students’ ability to test, as we will begin to use computer-based standardized assessments.

Just the tip of the Iceberg

2011-07-04T21:35:00.005-05:00

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/bs-md-msa-scores-20110629,0,818657.story

Baltimore City's drop in MSA scores has been on hot topic for the past couple weeks. As a middle school teacher, this is something that has been of particular interest to me. There has been so much speculation as to what has caused the scores to drop significantly from last year when the district had been making progress for years. Cheating seems to be the easiest answer. There have always been cheating rumors and then came the schools that were officially caught cheating. This year, the testing officials made sure to put an end to that and we have to scores to prove that. However, the more I think about it, the more I don't think cheating is what we should be up in arms about.

Here's a list of things that I think should concern us more than just the idea of cheating:

1. It is concerning to me that we have created a system so reliant on ONE TEST that educators have prioritized cheating over student learning. We have reached a point with high stakes testing that, above pride and dignity, test scores conquer all.

2. It is also concerning to me that we have created a test that almost no one truly believes in. In my school, at district wide functions, in almost all conversations with other middle school teachers, people are doubting the MSA. Teachers do not believe it is rigorous enough. Teachers don't feel that its truly efective in testing someone's ability. It's not about reading, it's about answering MC questions. The list of complaints go on and on. Yet, this test determines so much for ourselves as professionals, our schools and, most importantly, our students. Why should I care about cheating on a test that I do not believe truly measures anything anyway?

3. Lastly, the passing scores concern me. Try to find what exact percentage is passing for each test in each grade level. I bet you would have more trouble than you think. I have heard rumors and whispers that these passing scores are not what you think they are. Students that are 'advanced' or 'proficient' are not the high flyers we imagine them to be. When passing rates do increase, are the kids getting smarter or the bar to pass getting lower?

Smaller Schools the Answer?

2011-07-04T13:42:00.001-05:00

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/04/nyregion/a-failing-school-not-to-these-students-at-jamaica-high.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&ref=education

Today, the New York Times featured this article on "failing" Jamaica High. Given Ds two years in a row and boasting a graduation rate of 50%, the school is slated to shut down after it's last class of freshman has graduated (or not). The school will then be "shut down" and filled with four smaller schools - a concept that is heavily supported by Mayor Bloomberg.

Here in Baltimore, the same idea has been applied. Many of the mega-schools of the past have been "shut down" and filled with two or more new schools. The high school formerly known as Northern High School was shut down and replaced with W.E.B. Du Bois High School, Reginald Lewis High School and the Samuel Banks High School. After looking this history up one article stated that this school transformation happened in order to, "make high schools smaller to help increase the student teacher ratio, increase parental involvement and improve student safety." This is just one of the many examples of school "replacement" found across the city. And not only are these schools replaced with several smaller schools, these new schools often have "alternative focuses" such as technology, trades, or the arts.

But is this strategy really working? Does closing down a large, "failing" high school and replacing it with several smaller, "themed" high schools within one building the best way to help failing schools? Instead of working with what is there (and shown by the NYTimes article), partially working, it seems that the "best" move is to simply close a school and give it a new name (or several) and attach some sort of career-based theme. However, are we really seeing results? Are these new, smaller, "arts" and "technology" schools really producing better educational experiences "for the kids?" Or is it just an expensive attempt at rebranding? This article, as well as the current situation in Baltimore City, makes me curious about whether or not it is worthwhile to go through all of these expensive changes in order to create smaller schools. Instead, I wonder about completely revamping an existing large high school in order to increase retention, enrollment, and educational results. Are many more smaller schools really the way to successful school reform?

"Shocking" results of a new study

2011-07-04T09:43:00.002-05:00

Article:

http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaign-k-12/2011/06/the_us_department_of_education_2.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+CampaignK-12+%28Education+Week+Blog%3A+Politics+K-12%29

For those of us who spent the last year (or longer) working with students in Baltimore City, we are all too aware of the disparities that are taking place in the public schools system. Apparently, to some people, this is news. According to the article “New Federal Data Tool Reveals Widespread Disparities” a new recent study, done by the U.S Department of Education, found new data to support what many of us already know; “Students across the country do not have equal access to a rigorous education”.

The U.S Department of Education collected data from some 72,000 schools, making sure to include all districts in the country. The department’s office of civil rights (which I did not know existed) desired to get a clear idea of how schools compare with each other across states. Their conclusions were pretty grim.

Perhaps the most shocking part of this article was the idea that there are still people out there who are unaware of how drastically unequal education is in America. The article listed many “shocking” statistics, yet none of them surprised me in the least. According to the article, schools that consisted primarily of African American students, have teachers that are twice as likely to have two years or less teaching experience. Again, that main criticism many have for Teach for America, (put the least experienced teachers in the most at risk schools), echo’s loudly here.

The article also said that this was the first year the U.S Department of Education asked about Advanced Placement courses, students with disabilities, participation in algebra, and if the school was public, charter, magnet, or an alternative school. The goal of the study was to “better enforce civil rights in schools”, interesting as this is, we often forget that the fight for equality in our schools is also a fight for our students civil rights. There was as usual not a lot of discussion on what the next step was, but there is more data to come in the next few months. This new data is said to include how many students are promoted per year, teacher retention, school funding, and teacher absenteeism. I am sure we will continue to be “shocked” by the results.

High-Stakes Testing in Pre-K?

2011-07-04T00:18:00.002-05:00

Proposed rules for this year’s Race to the Top competition for early-childhood education aid focus on creating standards and assessing pre-K students.

According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, winning states of the Race to the Top – Early Learning Challenge awards will be required to: devise early-learning/development standards and assessments for pre-K student, develop/administer kindergarten-readiness tests, develop systems for assessing early-education programs, collaborate with various agencies providing non-education related early-childhood services, establish statewide standards for what pre-K students should know, and incorporate said data into the state’s longitudinal data system (Reported by Education Weekly on July 1, 2011).

These requirements have several apparent benefits and pitfalls. On the plus side, developing standards for kindergarten readiness would prevent students from entering kindergarten already behind their peers. Many parents struggle with the decision of when to send their children, especially boys, to kindergarten. A kindergarten readiness test could help determine whether or not children are developmentally ready for the kindergarten setting. Establishing statewide standards for what pre-K students should know could decrease the wide variability in pre-K programs. If all pre-K programs were required to teach certain developmental and kindergarten readiness skills, there might not be such a range in skill set and exposure to content among the incoming kindergarten class. Moreover, the requirement to collaborate with agencies dealing with early-childhood issues, such as health, encourages states to take a more holistic approach to early-childhood education.

Now for the pitfalls. I realize that assessment does not necessarily mean filling in a bubble sheet, but I cannot help fearing what could become of these kindergarten readiness or other pre-K tests. So much of early-childhood education involves exploration, motor skills, creativity, social skills, and other performance-based tasks that are hard to measure and assess without careful observation. Will the state create a rubric and send examiners to observe children for a day? Or will pre-K students actually have to sit and take a written test like their older peers? I can see how it would be easy to measure whether or not a child can recognize numbers and letters, but what about the other essential skills that children develop in pre-K and kindergarten? Have we become so obsessed with data and assessment that we could lose the very essence of what early-childhood education is all about?

We know that the achievement gap begins at a very young age, before children even enter pre-K. Thus, creating strong pre-K programs and ensuring that all students enter kindergarten with certain developmental and academic skills could create a strong foundation for students once they begin school. However, I worry that applying the same pressure for data and assessment to pre-K as NCLB did for older grades will result in focusing on “test prep” in the early-childhood environment rather than cultivating young, thoughtful and imaginative learners.

What does raising test pressure do?

2011-07-03T15:16:00.001-05:00

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/bs-md-cheating-on-tests-20110625,0,6697385.story

“Cheating scandals put tests in the spotlight” There are about a million over and undercurrents wrapped up in this title, but I am going to focus on two simple ones.
1. We do not yet (at least for the vast majority of city schools) have merit pay or teacher evaluations based on the performance of students on these standardized tests. If we think that cheating and tampering is a major problem now, what do we expect to happen when that pressure is applied even more broadly. Those of us who espouse the idea that putting more emphasis on the raw data of test scores will raise the bar for all teachers and schools, should think twice about how account for that added pressure in their analysis of a system’s effectiveness.
2. Riffing off that idea of implementation, I do think that there are some pretty simple ways to do these tests better, especially if we want to raise the amount of pressure. The first thing to do is move toward all-electronic testing. This takes an investment, but it also prevents outright cheating by schools or teachers. The second thing to do that will require slightly more of an effort is to institute a proctoring system where teachers are not in the room or at least with someone else when students are taking the test. Again, if one wants a system with even greater pressure on teachers to have their students perform well on tests to succeed without cheating, these things must be put into place

Four more years? Impressive.

2011-07-01T14:55:00.000-05:00

Article: http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/news/education/blog/2011/06/alonso_says_he_intends_to_sign.html

While I know very little about Dr. Alonso or how long a normal CEO stays in Baltimore City, for some reason I am impressed by his willingness to keep the job. I think this reaction has to do with the comments he made to the Sun’s editorial board. In an interview, he said there was, “"no way, I step away from the fight. So, you have to deal with me for four years or until I get fired.” This is both courageous and inspiring. My belief about teaching is similar to this, and that is why I can’t leave after only two years. I can’t make enough of a change in two years and am not willing to step away from the fight.

I am not Dr. Alonso’s biggest fan, but his announcement and coinciding remarks earned him some respect. More than anything, our students need consistency, and for our students to get consistency, their teachers need consistency. With Alonso staying another four years, we know that at the very minimum, teachers can expect some form of ‘normal’ in our system – for better or worse.

College: A Thing Of The Past??

2011-07-01T08:54:00.000-05:00

http://globalpublicsquare.blogs.cnn.com/2011/06/26/school-daze-school-daze-good-old-golden-rule-days/

Interested in a different viewpoint? Check out this editorial in which William Gross defends his belief that college has lost its value and not really worth the time. Gross mentions Peter Thiel, the man who will give 20 students $100,000 to drop out of college to become “entrepreneurs”. Gross believes that having a college degree was valuable years ago, when this path to education led you into a promising job market. But obviously times have changed and a four year college education doesn’t automatically ensure stability and employment. The article argues that our country should turn away from the traditional liberal arts education and instead focus in on technical education, technical institutes, and apprenticeship programs. This shift in focus would allow for individuals with good technical skills but no college experience to earn a good living. To continue his argument, Gross goes on to mention that some of the greatest companies of the 21^st century (Apple, Facebook, Google, etc) tend to higher employees without a college degree.

So does Gross have a point? Or does he simply represent one extreme of the spectrum? Here in Baltimore, we’re pushing college on our students starting in elementary school. We try to instill confidence in them and make them believe that college is something they can and, more importantly, should reach. But are we pushing them towards a goal that will ultimately have no real value in the end? Is college just a way to delay the inevitable for another four years: unemployment? How would this affect the values and mindsets that we try to ingrain in our students here in Baltimore City?

Evaluations Should Develop, Not Punish, Teachers

2011-07-01T00:07:00.005-05:00

One of the current narratives in education reform is the notion that in order to raise student achievement, we must "fire bad teachers." A recent piece in the New York Times, Teacher Grades: Pass or be Fired (featuring a 2010 TFA DC Corps Member), discusses the culture of fear and pressure resulting from new evaluation systems, such as the Impact evaluation used in DC Public Schools. In addition to taking student test scores heavily into account, Impact is based on five evaluations throughout the year - three by the principal and two by "master educators," many of whom are brought in from outside of DC. Several hundred teachers in DC are expected to be fired this year based on their Impact evaluations.

While I believe that teacher accountability is an important part of successful school reform, I fear that the narrative may soon change from complaints that it is nearly impossible to fire bad teachers once they are tenured to the issue of teachers being fired left and right based largely on standardized test scores. Using standardized test scores to rate teachers is a highly contentious issue. However, I will focus on a different aspect of teacher evaluations brought up by the article: "some educators say [Impact] is better at sorting and firing teachers than at helping struggling ones."

There are lemons in every profession, and teaching seems to be notorious for the "dance of the lemons." Teachers who shirk their responsibilities and repeatedly fail to make gains with their students should not be kept on. As Michelle Rhee has said in interviews, parents do not want to hear that their child's ineffective teacher was just granted more time to improve (meanwhile, students suffered).

However, I find it hard to believe that all attempts were made to aid "ineffective" teachers before they were let go. No matter what teacher training or education program teachers come from, the true learning process for the teacher occurs when they set foot in the classroom. But the instruction for teachers should not halt when they receive their teaching certificates. Ongoing training, professional development, and mentoring could go a long way to ensure that teachers are given the means, not just the time, to improve.

Numerous traditional teachers whom I have spoken to over the past year have asked me about (or just assumed that I had) a mentor teacher. While there were multiple teachers at my school who took me under their wing and helped me survive my first year of teaching, I do not know many city teachers who have designated mentor teachers. As I understand it, mentor teachers should meet with teachers every week to look at lesson plans and discuss/trouble shoot problems in the classroom. Mentors also observe teachers in a non-threatening way and without a rubric - they are there to guide, not judge, new teachers. Along with building a cooperative culture in the school, mentoring allows teachers to learn from the true teaching experts, their school's veterans.

Teachers should be held accountable to evaluation systems that take many factors, including test scores, into account. However, what seems to be missing from the conversation about teacher evaluations is the lack of meaningful professional development and mentoring for teachers, especially those deemed ineffective. If teachers must be observed five times throughout the year under the Impact system, there should be ample time to identify struggling teachers early enough to provide interventions. Such interventions could take the form of teachers observing and debriefing with exemplary educators, observations by mentor teachers from the same school, and meaningful staff development with specific strategies and suggestions for teachers.

Although there are positive incentives in the form of bonuses for excellent teachers, there should to be a meaningful way to help struggling teachers before the end of the year evaluations. No one aspires to be bad at their job. High stakes evaluations and the "fire bad teachers" narrative create a culture of fear and low morale among teachers. Evaluations should help identify struggling teachers and the specific supports they may need early enough in the year to provide true opportunities for growth.

Principals are exhausted, too

2011-06-30T11:24:00.003-05:00

Since the public has shifted its gaze towards education reform in recent years, much of the discourse has been centered around ineffective teachers and failing schools. Recent discussions and grant money have focused on trying to make teachers more effective, firing teachers who are ineffective and holding teachers accountable for student growth.

With all this talk about teachers, there is distinctly less public dialogue about the status of principals in urban districts. The Washington Post brought one principal into the spotlight in an article on June 25 – because he quit. Bill Kerlina, a young principal who quit this summer after 17 years in education, opened up to the paper about why he chose to leave.

The article tries to describe what made Kerlina’s term as principal so difficult, and Kerlina himself “is quick to acknowledge that he was far from the perfect principal and that his grievances may strike some as whiny or carping”.

I believe that had I read Bill Kerlina’s story this time last year, I would have been unsympathetic and given him the “whiner” label he hoped to avoid. However having spent a year as a teacher in Baltimore City, I understand how his nuanced frustrations became a climate he couldn’t stand anymore. Responsibilities to parents, teachers, staff, students, district representatives, budgetary concerns and other variables simply burned Kerlina out.

His story concerns me because school systems aren’t just exhausting teachers, but clearly principals as well. Working towards school reform doesn’t appear to be growing less demanding, and smart people with good intentions are being spread too thin to keep at it. With budgets shrinking and pressure to succeed rising, I wonder how we can ease a demanding workload for dedicated administrators and teachers that is seemingly on the rise.

A Better Teacher Evaluation System?

2011-06-30T11:07:00.002-05:00

For eleven years, Montgomery County teachers have been evaluated using the unique Peer Assistance and Review system, in which a panel of senior teachers and principals evaluate, mentor, and, if necessary, discipline both new and veteran teachers. Nancy Grasmick, the Maryland State Superintendent of Schools, has called the system an "excellent tool for professional development," and Montgomery County school officials have even traveled to Washington to explain how their system, which relies heavily on a positive professional culture, works.

Now, thanks to the new Race to the Top initiative that uses standardized test scores as its primary yardstick for teacher effectiveness, the PAR system is in jeopardy, much to the chagrin of the school officials who deride standardized tests as "unreliable" and criticize the Race to the Top Initiative for its "top-down" effect. In Montgomery County, where the PAR system has worked for eleven years, and eighty four percent of students go to college, the still-inchoate RTTT system poses a threat to teacher and administrative autonomy, razing the already-established and effective evaluation structures in favor of a government-imposed and as yet half-baked plan.

Perhaps instead of relying on test scores accrued over one week of testing, we should take a leaf from Montgomery County's book and use a comprehensive system of evaluation for teachers, implemented by veterans of the field, who take into account the multiple variables, components, and standards that go into effective teaching.
While effective implementation of this system requires an effective and united leadership, it seems to me far more sensible than a system that relies heavily on one standardized test score. My eighth graders had cycled through two English teachers by the time I came in mid-year; should the bulk of my evaluation be based on a test for which I had two months to prepare my students? Or should it instead be largely based on constant observation, peer evaluation, rapid implementation of professional advice, and--fluffy as it may sound--the quotidian setbacks and triumphs of teaching?

Andreas Alonso's Response to Baltimore's MSA Scores

2011-06-29T18:59:00.002-05:00

Please watch the following video before reading the post:

http://www.baltimoresun.com/videobeta/2b5f1f1c-c777-4d54-b858-478fc563a388/News/Alonso-on-student-test-statistics-2-of-4-

There is no doubt that Andreas Alonso is doing just about everything he can to push student achievment in the city of Baltimore. He has been bold and even courageous in his attempts to make our schools a place where any parent would be proud to send their child. Unfortunately, we are not there yet and have, in fact, taken a step backward this year in the department of raw student achievement. The rumors are true: after several years of steadily improving MSA scores, the city's scores dipped in both reading and math in 2011.

To be sure, this is a setback. I know it, our parents know it, Alonso knows it. For what its worth I happen to think that this does not constitute a major setback, but that is not what this post is about. This post is about how we be expected to deal with such setbacks and specifically how Alonso's response measures up to those expectations. I was dissapointed in two major points that he made.

First, Dr. Alonso talked a little bit about statistics. At their best good statistics can explain a setback or on average excuse it, but Alonso's use here is worse: It is misleading. He talks about two circumstances in particular that he believes may have contributed to the dip. The first is that he says we are not measuring individual students' growth. What he misses, however, is that the overall average DOES tell you individual growth writ large. Yes, maybe little Jimmy made two years' growth in reading, but when we are looking at the whole system, we can categorically say that Baltimore City's students grew less this year than they did last year. The second mistake is likewise guilty of this macro-micro disconnect. Alonso offers up the transient nature of students as a mitigating factor, stating that many of Baltimore City's schools experience student turnovers of 30% or more. However, unless he can prove that these students are ending up in places besides other Baltimore City Schools, the argument is washed out. If we are talking about the success of the system, regardless if students switched schools or not the result remains the same. The academic achievement of our students is down.

The second point that Alonso made that did not measure up to my expectations of his leadership was one regarding teachers. He alluded in a statement that bordered tediously close on blame to the idea that the dip can be partly attributed to ineffective teachers in the classroom. Perhaps the obvious lack of discipline that this sort of blaming shows can be excused due to frustration (I still think a great leader does not blame the people he leads), but what is not excusable is faulting a system that he has power to change and enforce. What great artist would excuse a poor painting on bad brush? No, just as the artist would go out and get herself a new tool, so must Alonso take ownership of his. If Dr. Alonso truly believes that the evaluation system is part of the problem for the dip in the City's MSA scores, it is HE, not the teachers (yes, even the bad ones), who is to blame.

These two shortcomings disappoint me in Dr. Alonso as a leader. By no means are they an indictment, but we should expect more from someone who has willingly taken on the responsibility for the system that serves the futures of thousands of our children.

Librarians getting the axe

2011-06-29T13:02:00.002-05:00

http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2011/06/26/are-school-librarians-expendable/school-librarians-assessing-the-unassessable

An opinion article in the New York Times discussed the growing trend of laying off librarians. The article specifically mentions public libraries being the target, but does extend the lay-offs to public schools. The author makes a fantastic point about librarians (and I would even say other resource teachers) constantly being viewed as less important because they are not directly involved with high stakes testing. No Child Left Behind does not mandate a library test, therefore it must not be important. As she puts it: "belt-tightening will often involve eliminating what can't be counted or assessed." Also, as technology consumes the way we access information, some people are calling to question whether or not someone such as a librarian needs to be paid to teach students how to find a historical fiction book with an author whose last name starts with a "K".

Well, I just wanted to put some love out their for our public school librarians. The impact that they have on students is rarely seen or mentioned, yet the work they do is incredibly important. Did I teach my students how to use a dictionary this year? Nope, my librarian did. The first assignment I gave the students this past year resulted in just about every single student plagiarizing from Wikipedia. Who helped me work with the students? You guessed it, our librarian.

I know it only takes two seconds to Google search and find the answer to just about any question you've ever had, but that's not academic. When will students learn how to cite sources? Or even find sources? Producing "college ready" students cannot take place without school librarians; it's as simple as that. Librarians are a vital asset to any school, and the fact that they are viewed by some as expendable is atrocious.

Oregon to Baltimore? High school Schedules, Unions, and Governance.

2011-06-29T11:11:00.004-05:00

As a native Oregonian living on the East Coast, I try to stay up with what's going on in the Portland education scene as well as those in Baltimore and around the nation. Two recent headlines from The Oregonian piqued my interest, and I found myself asking whether the happenings there can be linked or translated to happenings here. Both headlines also coincide will with the discussion of unions and school governance that we had in class yesterday.

Firstly, there is a big dispute right now between Portland Public Schools, Oregon's largest urban district, and the Portland Association of Teachers (the city's union) regarding teaching schedules in high schools. Historically, PPS high schools have operated on a 7-period-per-day schedule, in which teachers teach five, 50-minute classes per day (I am unclear whether one of those free periods is lunch or is taken by other responsibilities, but the article makes it clear that teachers have one, 50-minute prep period per day). To save money for the 2011-12 school year by cutting teachers, PPS mandated that all high schools move to an 8-period rotating block schedule, in which teachers would teach 6 classes--3-per day, with one 90 prep per day. This is the most common model in Portland-metro high schools--it was the model of mine. The dispute is over school autonomy in setting schedules. From what I know, BCPS seems to give schools autonomy over the schedule to which schedule they adhere: I taught four, 70-minute periods this year, will teach five, 55-minute periods next, and have colleagues at other schools with an array of different models. I am surprised that our union doesn't demand more continuity. A teacher who teaches an 8-peroid block schedule has a 90-minute prep period everyday. Next year, I'll only have 55 minutes of planning everyday. Arguably, a block-schedule teacher might be asked to teach more preps (teacher/budget reduction IS why Portland is trying to move towards this model), but, per our contract, 2 preps is the supposed maximum.

Should BCPS try to move to a more standardized schedule to even out the planning times given in each school? Or should each school be allowed to create a schedule of their own? Which model--rotating 90-minute blocks or daily 55ish-minute periods--is better for schools? Which is better for students? Teachers? District budgets seem to favor the former. Personally, I would love to see a 90-minute block schedule implemented at my school. I like the idea of longer periods and more prep time each day. Yet I've heard the extremely valid point that in Baltimore, poor attendance poses huge obstacles for rotating schedules. If a kid misses one day, he might only have that class once in a given week. Any thoughts about this from secondary teachers who teach on a block schedule? Maybe the attendance issue is why Baltimore has not embraced this potentially-budget-reducing district-wide shift.

----

Very briefly, the second article deals with governance. Last week, Oregon became the first state ever to declare the governor "statewide schools superintendent." This won't take effect until the term of the current state schools superintended is up in 2014, but it's an extremely interesting shift. Will it streamline things? Will it politicize things? Both? We'll see in 2014...

L.A. Unified Provides Students with a Homework Break

2011-06-29T08:13:00.001-05:00

I will never forget the first Open House meeting in the beginning of the school year when several parents complained about the length of time homework assignments took their child. Once one parent mentioned their concern, many others quickly commented on “the issue.” I didn’t know how to address their questions without stating the fact that I was not going to change my homework procedures; the homework that was assigned reinforced what the student had learned in class that day.

Needless to say, issues over homework policy in Los Angeles Unified School District have been a controversial topic for quite some time. On Monday, L.A. Unified decided to give students a break from homework by decreasing homework percentage to 10% of a students’ overall grade. In the article, many teachers addressed their concern that the policy would encourage students to slack off assigned work and even reward students who already disregard assignments. In addition, it could also penalize hardworking students who receive higher marks for effort.

The major reason why L.A. Unified decided to implement this policy was to limit the amount of homework so students can spend more time with their families or pursue extracurricular activities like sports or other hobbies. Parents indicated that, “The competition to get into top colleges has left students anxious and exhausted, with little free time.” In my opinion, homework should not be about the quantity of work assigned, but rather the quality. Teachers who merely assign busy work for students to complete are doing in injustice to the overall learning of students. However, it upsets me to see how the district can now determine teachers grading procedures. Previously, teachers could determine how much weight should be given to homework, tests, and other assignments. Now, educators must implement the new homework policy into their class, whether they support it or not.

But What About The Money?

2011-06-28T09:42:00.002-05:00

http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/news/education/blog/2011/05/a_breakdown_of_top_losers_gain.html

In light of the new teacher contract and allegations of MSA cheating, I feel like the City Schools’ budget has been put on the back burner. I came across an article written about a month ago that highlights the losses that many of our schools will face. I too had forgotten about the budget cuts and how this will affect the upcoming school year. The article notes that the school board has adopted a budget of $1.3 billion, which give schools 1 percent more money than the years past. Yet principals are now losing out on millions of dollars in what they call “flexible” money used to staff their schools and provide student resources.

For the past week we’ve been debating the issues that surround education reform in an urban environment. I think that many of us, however, will agree on one thing: Money plays a huge factor in helping to turn around a school system. After reading this article about the budget, I can’t help but wonder what this will do to the progress of our schools here in Baltimore. Due to budget cuts at my school, we are losing a fourth and a fifth grade teacher, bringing the class sizes in those grades up to over thirty students. I feel that student achievement and teacher performance will be affected by these large class sizes. And not just at my school, but at schools all around the city. We’ve read about places like the Harlem Children’s Zone and select Charter schools where educators are making significant strides to close the achievement gap. Yet these places also have astronomically large budgets. So what about here in Baltimore City? Is it really possible to make significant gains and progress with our students if our schools keep losing money year after year? Can we be expected to raise test scores and make AYP without the resources and without a fully staffed school? In a world where money is power, how can we be expected to provide the best education for our students with the least amount of funding?

The Safe Kid Club

2011-06-28T06:12:00.005-05:00

Every child suspected of being a victim of sexual abuse decorates a butterfly when they visit the Baltimore Child Abuse Center (BCAC). This year over 850 butterflies were decorated and that is just too many.

Through programs like The Safe Kid Club, the BCAC is encouraging strong personal safety habits and educating students on what to do in dangerous situations. Recently, BCAC entered in Chase’s Community Giving Program and was award a total of $68,000 as one of only five non-profits picked to be a finalist. BCAC’s big idea of providing training to ALL kindergarten children, parents and teachers in Baltimore, in addition to support for survivors through a creative arts program, truly got the judge’s attention.

The panel asked a series of bold questions that need to be answered in the coming months. David Robinson asked "why didn't Baltimore schools have programs targeting prevention of sexual abuse already." While Matthew McConaughey wanted to know "why doesn't the federal government just mandate sexual child abuse prevention education in schools?"

This is not a subject to be taken lightly, it’s affecting our students everyday and there needs to be an end to sexual abuse in our city. This past year I’ve been able to see first hand what a positive impact The Safe Kid Club had on my young students. They were much more aware of themselves and each other. Baltimore City students deserve to be educated on safety and with a curriculum lacking this component, BCAC is crucial in stopping sexual abuse.

Trouble with achievement? Just lower the bar!

2011-06-27T22:39:00.003-05:00

A troubling trend (another one) is popping up all over the education system. 60% is a passing grade. Even with such a low bar, it's rare to find a teacher that hasn't been pressured to bump up a student or two or twelve to passing to avoid a lower evaluation. Then when schools had trouble meeting AYP for NCLB, state tests got easier and the focus on test preparation increased to a near-mania. Now, a new policy in the Los Angeles Unified School District, the country's second largest school district, states that homework can only count for 10% of a student's grade. Can you hear the students cheering? Can you hear the teachers crying?

The "logic" behind the new policy is that this will even the academic playing field. Students have "varying" levels of academic support at home. They also need more time to focus on extracurricular activities. One Superintendant was quoted as saying "We do not want 50 percent of a child’s grade to be based on collecting notebook papers and keeping a folder all year long. That’s not going to demonstrate the child’s mastery of those standards." Perhaps this goes back to the whole issue of having policymakers ignorant of actual education practices making policies, but does he REALLY think homework is about collecting papers? See, I thought homework was about getting much-needed practice with skills learned in school. Homework is an important part of reinforcing the learning process. We've all heard the Malcolm Gladwell study that it takes 10,000 hours of deliberate practice to truly master something. Students don't even get 2,000 hours of school in a year...how exactly are they mastering math, science, reading, writing, literature, social studies, art, and foreign language in that time without some extra practice?

Then again, as some teachers in the article pointed out, my students don't even do their homework when its 30% of their grade. Maybe we should just admit defeat and lower the bar. It is certainly easier than doing our jobs and helping students to reach the bars we set.

Crossovers and Duncan

2011-06-27T21:14:00.004-05:00

So it appears that No Child Left Behind has left many behind, and a large percentage of schools continue to fail to meet increasingly unrealistic benchmarks. The goal of ALL children in various subgroups attaining proficiency in reading and math by 2014 was doomed from the start, and no clever jargon can escape the detriment a politician (or aspiring politician) will face if he or she had to claim the before mentioned goal unattainable.

NOT TO FEAR: ARNE DUNCAN IS HERE

Education Secretary Arne Duncan plans to develop a systematic approach to helping out (bailing out?) states that are making substantial strides to improving its schools. No Child Left Behind (NCLB) is a bill often scrutinized for its punitive measures, and Duncan’s approach to helping out states is to remove or ease off some of those measures. Entrenched in a program where the stick is the norm, I suppose removing it feels like gaining a carrot.

A state like Maryland can demonstrate that its schools are improving by improving in ways that align with the Obama Administration’s education goals. This includes the adoption of the common core, encouraging charter schools, and overhauling teacher evaluations. With Maryland winning Race To The Top dollars and Baltimore City accepting those dollars in exchange for national standards, charter encouragement, and teacher evaluation overhauls, it appears that we are in for some major school and district reforms.

In this volatile time, it’s important for district and school leaders to navigate educational maps and mirrors to develop and implement curricula that result in true impact for our students. I’m not saying that the common core, charter schools, and teacher evaluation overhauls are negative, but I am saying that they can be if they are hurriedly adopted to avoid sticks as we salivate for carrots. Be careful current and future district and school leaders. Our students depend on you.

Of course, this all hinges on whether or not Congress rewrites NCLB by the start of next school year. If they fail to do so, it looks like Duncan and the Obama Administration has its stop-gap measure (almost) ready and waiting.

The Summer Achievement Gap

2011-06-27T21:09:00.003-05:00

Heat waves and humidity, sweat and sunburns are not the only pitfalls to summer, as the infamous summer achievement gap lies daunting in our future. Come September too many bundles of joy will come prancing back into our classroom having forgotten already mastered skills, putting them even farther behind. Every year students around the country suffer from a lack of academic stimulation and consequently lose substantial amounts of academic knowledge. Perhaps this year, a few less students will fall into that gap and be fortunate enough to benefit from a summer learning program.

The Baltimore Sun recently reported that the Walmart Foundation has awarded the National Summer Learning Association a grant of 11.5 million dollars to be used to fund high-quality summer learning programs. Over the next three years, ten fortunate cities will be able to use this money and hopefully close the gap just a bit more. Baltimore is one of those cities, being awarded $615,000 to go towards summer learning programs, more specifically Building Educated Leaders for Life, known as BELL.

The BELL program provides students a full day of learning with a heavy emphasis on reading and math but it does not just end there. In the afternoon students will be able to participate in science and athletics. Through this enrichment summer program, students will learn the necessary skills to advance in academics while simultaneously gaining confidence and become invested in their own learning. "When students get the skills and support they need to invest in their own success, they discover that they can be scholars, said executive director Erin Hodge-Williams.” This summer 300 middle-school-aged Baltimore students will get the high-quality summer opportunity that they deserve.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/baltimore-city/bs-md-ci-summer-learning-20110624,0,4853077.story

Unconventional Ways to Earn Course Credits

2011-06-27T16:47:00.003-05:00

Students learning how to sail on the Hudson River; not your typical math class. According to the New York Times, students in New York City are earning math credits through a program that teaches them sailing and the math behind the it. The same class could count instead for a science or physical education credit, depending on what the student needs to meet graduation requirements.

In order to graduate in NYC, a students needs to have earned 44 credit: 8 each in English and social studies, 6 each in science and math, 2 each in foreign language and art, 4 in gym, 1 in health, 7 in electives. What classes they take to earn those credits is largely up to the individual schools, as long as the classes have the required class hours logged and evidence of student work and progress.

Outside organizations, like the one that teaches sailing, are aligning themselves to the state curriculum and offering their programs as a way for students to earn credits toward graduation. The Y.M.C.A. fitness programs, with staff members logging student hours, can be counted for a physical education credit. United Way sponsors a program where community organizations hire teachers and offer classes at school that vary from film and video production to living environments. Internships are also popular. Each school decides how these alternative programs and classes count as credits toward graduation.

While it is refreshing to hear about classes that have students working and applying learning concepts to real life situations, such as the sailing class, it makes me wonder how this fits into a standardized system. Each school decides how to award credits for these alternative options. There is not much oversight of the school's decisions. How can we be sure students are being offered comparable classes when there is so much variety? Do these kind of classes shrug off the graduation requirement formula? Which is worth more, standardized education or variety of classes to meet different student needs?

Class size: the debate rages on

2011-06-26T21:06:00.000-05:00

The New York Times reported this weekend on a question that has been causing school reformers to scratch their heads: how much does class size matter for students in urban environments? The story focuses on San Diego, a district that has capped class sizes at 17 students per class for grades kindergarten-third in the 30 poorest schools in the district. The district has shown gains in reading standardized test scores in the last several years (45% proficient to 56% proficient in three years), and the school board president believes that these gains are due, at least in part, to the smaller class sizes. The article then goes on to explain that heavy budget cuts on all levels may cause this cap to be removed: as teachers are cut to satisfy budget requirements, class sizes will necessarily increase. Parents, teachers, and administrators alike are worried about how the increase in class size might negatively affect learning for the youngest learners in the poorest schools.

I believe that the school board's president's claims that class size reduction leads to better test scores should be taken with a grain of salt---correlation does not imply causation, and the article cites no specific evidence to prove any relation between class size and test scores. However, I think that the comments made by parents and teachers in the article do shed some light on the more qualitative benefits of small class size in urban schools, especially in the younger grades. Students with special needs (both academic and health-related) are given more personal attention. Teachers are able to more effectively monitor student progress, attend to health and safety problems, and care for students' emotional and physical needs. I think that the rhetoric of reformers needs to be careful about placing too much value on shaky data surrounding test score/small class correlations (data that could be easily picked apart by those who want to cut budgets and increase class sizes), and focus on getting more data on both the quantitative and qualitative advantages to small classes for young students.

graduate degree or bust?

2011-06-26T17:23:00.002-05:00

An article from the Huffington Post yesterday touches on an issue that affects teachers earning graduate degrees, revealing that there is no proven correlation between completing graduate classes and being a highly effective teacher. There has been recent hype claiming that a graduate degree is not beneficial and there is no guarantee students’ test scores will rise if their teacher holds a masters degree. Not only is there claim that graduate degrees are a waste of resources as expressed in the article, but it also uses standardized test scores as a means of blaming teacher effectiveness.
John Deasy, LAUSD Superintendent boldly stated, “I actually don’t want qualified teachers [ones with graduate degrees] in the classroom. I want highly effective teachers [test score manipulators] in the classroom.”
To comment first on Deasy’s statement, I think it is imperative that all teachers need to be highly effective but some of the best teachers that I have had throughout my education and that I have observed or encountered here in the city of Baltimore hold an advanced degree (master or doctorate). Therefore how do you weed out the qualified teachers who have a graduate degree from a highly effective teacher who is also qualified that also holds a graduate degree?
To quickly discuss a graduate program for teachers, I think the role of a teacher is pivotal and while taking master level classes better equip us with the knowledge both in theory and practicality, it significantly supports a continuous learning pathway. As a teacher what’s more important, growth or proficient/advanced on a piece of paper? Initially, test scores were not designed to evaluate teachers however standardized test scores are now measuring teacher quality and determining if a teacher is highly effective or not. Once again, we can have a debate on the factors into high stakes test scores but to involve graduate degrees as an element that blames poor test scores seems like a low blow to educational reform.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/timothy-d-slekar/deforming-the-graduate-degree_b_881918.html

Charter Schools: Separate and Unequal?

2011-06-26T08:56:00.002-05:00

The article “Both Sides Square Off at Hearing on Charter School” describes a current lawsuit in New York City regarding school locations. The United Federation of teachers challenges the NYC Department of Education’s efforts to close 22 existing schools and to use the space for these schools for 18 charter schools. As the article explains, the hearing addresses two issues that continue to exist in the battle for education reform: school closing and the opening and expansion of charter schools. The charter schools depend on these locations for survival.

Generally, those against the charter schools, the union, parents and the N.A.A.C.P. argue that closing local public schools endangers the education of students who remain in the traditional school system, and could lead schools to become “separate and unequal”. They cite examples of ways children in traditional schools have been negatively affected by charter schools, including an example of students who had to use bathrooms that were not on the same floor as their classrooms to accommodate the charter school in their building. Those in favor of the charter schools, including the city, argue that they are simply trying to “get as many students as possible educated with a quality education”.

In many ways, this article was extremely empowering. Watching parents, teachers, community organizations and the government engaged in a debate over education reform demonstrates that people truly believe that this is a battle worth fighting for; that the future of education is important for communities and cities. Active involvement of parents, in addition to teachers and city officials, demonstrates that reforms are being questioned and even challenged, which to me is a positive aspect of the education debate.

However, this article combined with my recent exposure to these kinds of situations (closing existing schools to make room for charters) in the documentary, “The Lottery”, has made me think deeper about the charter school model. It has been so easy for me to see charter schools as one of the key solutions to the problem because the model charter schools, most of the ones we hear about, are successful, efficient, well-lead and generally, a positive experience for the students they serve. Who doesn’t want these opportunities for their child and their student? Furthermore, there is no doubt that charter schools have changed the course of urban education. They have proven to many people that urban schools can be successful and even more importantly, that urban students can achieve.

However, does this mean that charter schools are always the answer? Or even, an aspect of an ideal education system? Should we really have a system in which entry into a lottery determines your education? Is this even fair? What about students who don’t have the parents who know enter them in the lottery at age 5? I was struck by the implications of the statement the challenging lawyer in this case made which suggested that charter schools might be making education “separate and unequal”. This is a hefty charge, but also a striking statement. Aren’t charter schools supposed to be making education more equal? And if they are not, what do we do about it?

Article: "Both Sides Square Off at Hearing on Charter Schools"

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/22/nyregion/both-sides-square-off-at-hearing-on-charter-school-suit.html?_r=1&ref=education

Scantron Scandal

2011-06-25T19:55:00.000-05:00

An article today in The Baltimore Sun tackles the sensitive issue of cheating scandals on standardized tests. In the wake of this week’s release of MSA 2011 scores, the buzz about cheating is louder than ever. After the disclosure of several instances of cheating in Baltimore City Schools in past years, Baltimore City Schools CEO Andrés Alonso initiated a reform for increased security during standardized testing. Education officials and critics debate the role of school and teacher assessment based on standardized tests, arguing that the high-stakes of test results drive cheating.

Once again, the issues of teacher accountability and measures of student progress rear their ugly heads. As a “seasoned” teacher, I recognize now the tremendous qualitative growth that takes place in a classroom, and the frustration of not being able to provide hard evidence of this progress. On the other hand, I strongly believe that quantitative growth is critical… at the end of the day, if students can’t pass tests, they won’t graduate. This article contributes to an ongoing, circular debate: teachers must be held accountable, but at what cost? As Diane Ravitch stated in the article, the responsibility aligned to test scores may be more detrimental than inspiring: “They're putting pressure on principals and teachers … to do all the wrong things” (Marbella, 2011, para. 12). I can’t say that I have a solution to this problem, but I do know one thing for sure: student growth needs to be measured by more than just a scantron.

Possible Changes to Disciplinary Codes

2011-06-25T10:40:00.001-05:00

On Tuesday, The Maryland State Board of Education delayed any action on proposals to ensure that students who are suspended from school are dealt with fairly and quickly. The proposal would require a superintendent to decide within 10 days whether a student would be expelled or placed on a long-term suspension. However, if the student receives a long-term suspension, the parents have the right to appeal being held out of school during the appeal process.

The state board has been considering changes to the disciplinary codes because of cases in the recent year were students seemed to have been punished harshly for minor incidences, or had no access to schooling while under a long-term suspension. The superintendents’ association and teachers union are opposed to tightening the guidelines on how quickly suspensions are handled because they indicate that, “[T]here are few cases in which students were treated unfairly and prevented from returning to school during an appeal.” Their concern addresses the idea that the guidelines proposed would “burden” local school systems.

As a Baltimore city teacher, my school prides itself on the lack of suspensions and expulsions they approve throughout the year, for better or worse. However, towards the end of the school year, students “received” several suspensions. Parents complained about the “unfairness” and “extreme punishment” their child received, and therefore, suspensions were never followed through. Students began to view suspensions as a joke. Therefore, I can’t relate to how students are treated unfairly during the suspension process because that has never occurred in my school. Suspensions or expulsions are punishments for extreme behaviors, and I agree that they need to be addressed promptly in order to be effective.

Needless to say, the state board decided to proceed with the serious of small changes to how data on superintendents is gathered from local school districts and to change the definition of expulsion.

Just the parents?

2011-06-25T08:37:00.001-05:00

In a ‘behind the headlines’ article in the Washington Post, journalists found that recent polling indicates “D.C. school ratings up among system parents, but doubts remain.” In a survey done by the newspaper itself and the Kaiser Family Foundation, 53% of parents with children in the D.C. public school system rated their school as doing a good or excellent job, compared to just 31% in January of 2008.

The survey also shows an increase in Michelle Rhee’s favorable ratings since her resignation. The article offers quotes from parents who say that they used to move their child to schools outside of the city, but now recognize the growth of the school system and where it is headed.

However, the article isn’t all positive: while parents attitudes may look a little sunnier, “the survey found views of the general public are still downright negative in some areas.” Sixty percent of the general public in D.C. rated the schools as “not good” and “poor,” and many suggest that the schools are too risky to send children or do not prepare them for college.

But which opinion matters? I think it is enormously meaningful that the parents who are intimately involved in the system are beginning to recognize the impact of change in D.C. schools. But they aren’t the only people in the city who vote and determine funding for schools or policy-level change. It takes a whole city to embrace change in education for real change to happen. And what would a poll like this look like in Baltimore? Many suggest that Baltimore is a city where the majority of people recognize the changes happening in the school system, but I’d be curious to see the results of a poll like this in Charm City.

Perhaps with the new chancellor of schools, Kaya Henderson, who was unanimously approved Tuesday, the parents and general public will become a more united front. Henderson, once the director of Teach For America DC, is quoted in the article as saying “I think we have come a long way, but we have a long way to go.”

Teach for America's... Private School?

2011-06-24T17:48:00.000-05:00

Considering the budget cuts that have sent many of our colleagues scrambling to hiring fairs filled with eager new teachers, seasoned veterans, and fewer and fewer administrators looking to fill vacant spaces, it was interesting to find a blogger on the Baltimore Business Journal looking at where there are teacher positions open. Furthermore, the hiring struggles that incoming corps members will be contending with in the face of budget constraints will inevitably force them to think about alternative placements as well. Regardless, it turns out that some of the top (read: most expensive) private schools are looking for qualified applicants to apply for teaching and administrative positions.

Coming into teaching through TFA, the idea of working at a private school doesn’t even seem to be a possibility. The struggles that our students, schools, and communities face daily are the major reasons for our presence here. It may be strange to think of a high-paying, private school position as a last resort, but for many, that will be the only alternative to looking outside of the city for employment.

(Posted For Jamie Cassermere)

http://www.bizjournals.com/baltimore/blog/2011/06/baltimore-area-private-schools-are.html?page=all

A Royal Visit to Baltimore

2011-06-24T17:26:00.002-05:00

This week Baltimore City received a royal visit by none other than Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex, the seventh in line to the British throne. To what do we owe such a surprise? Baltimore is joining 132 countries, 20 states, and our nation's capital in the Duke of Edinburgh's Award-Young American's Challenge. Prince Edward was joined by Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake and the 2011 Miss America Teresa Scanlan as he engaged with students with the Living Classrooms Foundation in Fells Point to discuss this new partnership. He commented on how close-knit the community of Baltimore was, and he mentioned, "if we can fit into that family... I think there's a very bright future in Baltimore."

The prince explained in his remarks that he feels as though the city's youth represented what the Duke of Edinburgh's challenge is all about. Their goal is to try and give young people the life skills and experiences they need to change their lives. This visit marks a concrete example of moving forward in such a partnership with Baltimore City Schools. Students from the Crossroads School, a public charter middle school operated by Living Classrooms, had the chance to meet with the prince and engage in conversation about the challenges faced by students in Baltimore City. The award was founded by Prince Edward's father, the Duke of Edinburgh, as a self-development program for youth ages 14-25 that challenges students in community service, physical fitness, and adventure.

I was particularly struck by this article because my school is currently operated by the Living Classrooms Foundation as well. As a turnaround initiative in the city, certain public schools were partnered with non-profits and charter networks to improve school culture and achievement. I have been on field trips through Living Classrooms as well as participated in events they sponsor for our students, so I was excited to hear about this organization working globally as well. An exposure like this to royalty is exciting for our students- and this is a great opportunity for Baltimore City kids. Yet I wonder why sometimes we are continuing to give the funding and resources to those that already seem to have it? Or is this simply because the funds are put to good use and the programs currently in place are strong through those foundations? The Crossroads School is an excellent example of a well-resourced and supported school. Should we be working towards building partnerships for those schools that do not have any current relationships? I'd be interested to hear thoughts from those who do not have any of these partnerships in their current schools.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/education/bs-md-ci-prince-edward-visit-20110621,0,7627562.story

A Khan Invasion

2011-06-23T19:37:00.004-05:00

The free website Khan Academy provides lessons on math, chemistry, history, and even GMAT prep. The lessons are in the form of videos and then there are exercises to put what you learned into practice. It's basically an online school for free. You sign in with a google or facebook account.

I told my sixth grade math students about Khan Academy this year. Some of them signed up and loved playing around on it. I like that I can see what skills they are working on and how well they are doing. All the data comes back to me, their coach on the website. If I can wrangle up some computers for my classroom, I would like to include it in my math class as a part of my instruction; that's what some schools in Los Altos, California are doing in this NPR story.

These schools are actually implementing the website as part of their math curriculum. Students are on the computer for a half-hour each day working on the math skills on their level. Some of the fifth graders are multiplying decimals and others are doing high school calculus. If they get stuck, there are videos they can watch to walk them through the math. It's differentiation.

The school from the story seems to have implemented the program well. Students are all working at their level with the teacher monitoring their progress and available for support. Students are also working cooperatively and helping each other. Everyone seems thrilled about the program.

An internet-based curriculum could be education-altering. Why would you need an expert teacher in the room when students have high quality informational videos at their disposal? The data from their time on the computer is all logged and graphed; does there necessarily have to be a highly qualified teacher in the room? It would certainly be cheaper. Mr. Khan even says that his vision is for the teacher to be a mentor or coach while all the students work at their own pace through the material.

Mr. Khan has a big supporter. Bill Gates is loving Khan Academy as evidenced by his video on the website. Khan academy math will be expanding to more schools next year.

Cheating in the City

2011-06-23T18:10:00.002-05:00

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/education/bs-md-ci-city-cheating-schools-20110621,0,5931688.story?page=1

In the Baltimore Sun on Thursday a report came out stating that an investigation into several Baltimore City schools has come up with at least two instances of cheating on the MSA. The two schools were Abbottston Elementary and Fort Worthington Elementary. This information comes out of an 18-month investigation of a number of city schools. Two other schools are still under investigation.

It is sad to think that any progress made on the MSA this year by the city as a whole will be overshadowed by these 2 (or possibly more) schools that made a terrible decision to tamper with and alter student tests. At the same time though, it is hard for me to be upset or even mildly surprised by this news. Every single year we read of schools or even entire school districts that try and manipulate the data in their favor. But honestly, can you really blame them?

Well, of course you can, and no, I do not support cheating, and this is certainly not an apology for the principals who were caught. However, it makes me think about what would drive someone to risk their entire professional career to change an 8 year olds test answers. Most principals, I would argue, are very intelligent individuals (although it may not always appear to be the case). And if such an intelligent individual has come to the conclusion that their only hope at keeping his or her job and receiving federal funding next year is to attempt to cheat the system, then maybe the nexus of the problem lies elsewhere…perhaps in the crushing pressure that comes from NCLB and these tests.

Again, in no way am I making excuses for these principals; what they did is atrocious and inexcusable and they deserve whatever punishment they receive, but is this going to be the last time we here of cheating on standardized tests? Not a chance. The fingers will be pointed at the principals (sorry, former principals) of these two schools and the larger problem -- the yolk put on the shoulders of public education by these tests -- will continue on.

Summer Learning—A New School Reform Movement?

2011-06-23T06:07:00.002-05:00

http://www.wypr.org/sites/default/files/podcast_audio/midday110620hr2.mp3

I heard a slice of this interview (the link above) on WYPR’s Midday with Dan Rodricks on Monday. The topic is summer leaning loss—the “brain drain,” the “summer slide,” call it what you will. Research shows that our students lose academic ground during the summer if they are not engaged in meaningful learning throughout June, July, and August.

The interview referred to “The Case Against Summer Vacation,” an article published in TIME last July. Much of the data in the article was collected by a group of Hopkins professors, including Marc Stein, who was one of the guests on Midday. In a nutshell, the research found that "while students made similar progress during the school year, regardless of economic status, the better-off kids held steady or continued to make progress during the summer, but disadvantaged students fell back. By the end of grammar school, low-income students had fallen nearly three grade levels behind, and summer was the biggest culprit. By ninth grade, summer learning loss could be blamed for roughly two-thirds of the achievement gap separating income groups.” I find it hard to believe that summer is what causes 67% of the achievement gap in America, but the point is not lost. If our kids are sitting at home doing nothing productive all summer, they are going to fall behind their peers in the suburbs who attend science camps and arts programs and the like.

What I loved about these reports was the type of summer learning promoted. The guests on the show (including Ashley Steward of Baltimore’s Comprehensive Community Initiative to Advance Summer Learning and Monica Logan of the city’s “SuperKids”) promote extremely interactive, project-based, field-based, and FUN-based programs that keep kids sharp and engaged all summer. Summer shouldn’t be for remediation, they say, but for enrichment, and I completely agree.

The problem: how do we get our kids involved? How do we ensure that there are programs enough for all? The show indicated that last summer 16,000 BCPS kids were enrolled in some form of summer program—traditional summer school or enrichment. 16,000 sounds impressive, but that’s only about 20% of the district population. The TIME article posits that effectively selling summer learning as “the opposite of school” could make summer the “season of true educational reform.”

My question…where is the money? And the staff? Should this be City Schools funded? Or should we use this model to network with other organizations to close the achievement gap?

One more issue that was brought up in the interview: should we just extend the school year? Or have more numerous, shorter breaks instead of one long summer vacation? Stein noted that learning loss happens in equal proportions during those shorter breaks. Summer enrichment, then, truly seems the key.