Paying Students

At first glance, money would seem like an obvious motivator for our students. Many of our students are consumed with the thought of money and want the things that money can buy. When it was announced that students would be paid for attending night school programs and improving their scores on HSAs they had already failed, I thought at least it would get students to come and perhaps put a little more effort into it. I was wrong. Out of 74 students eligible to attend my Algebra night school program, I have 4 who come regularly and a total of 8 more who sometimes attend. Those who attend would have participated without the fiscal incentive. They truly want to pass the test for internal motives or simply to insure they graduate come next May.

It is for this reason that I do not think the Peer-to-Peer program would be a huge success. A coalition in Baltimore city is asking for 3 million in funding in order to have students tutor and mentor their peers, while getting paid for their services. I can sympathize with the group’s views and goals. I do believe that they do great things. I know students, for example, who participate in the debate mentoring program. They enjoy it and get a lot out of it. But, I do not think that offering money will draw in significantly more student volunteers. Those who would do it are already doing it. And, I’m not sure if the programs would benefit from most of the students who are only in it for the money. Would they really do a good job mentoring their peers? Would they take it seriously? I’m not sure.

I do feel for the students who already give up their time for such programs. Its much more of a sacrifice for our students to volunteer than it is for others. Volunteering, to some extent, is a luxury for those who can afford to. Many of our students are supporting families and need to work as many hours as they can. Perhaps funding these programs would help those students, but I'm not sure it would be widespread.

AP for everyone?

As an AP teacher in Baltimore City, the article in last week's post really struck me. In case you haven't read it, or aren't planning on reading it, the article talks about one inner city school where ALL students take two years of AP English classes, one in 11th grade and one in 12th grade. The school had over 200 students take the test last year, and only three of them "passed." This is a bit more understandable when you consider the fact that most of the student population are not native English speakers. But still...

Why did this school make this choice? And why is it so popular with both the students and the parents?

Because it gives the school structure and a meaningful assessment to work towards. "Janeece Docal, 32, the AP coordinator and English department head" said, " 'When we first started thinking about our English curriculum, I will be honest with you, it stunk. It was really, really bad. We had one teacher who had the AP class. Then we had another teacher teaching something else, which she liked, and then another teacher teaching what he liked.' "

Teachers discussed the problem and decided that even though AP was more difficult than the English courses their students were used to, it at least gave the English department a consistent, high standard and a way to show all students what they had to do to succeed in college."

Okay, I get it, we want to set high stakes for our students. We want a good curriculum that leads to a great assessment, I get all that. But why does it have to be AP? Why can't we do that for all of our students, without making them take the AP? Why didn't the English department sit down and make a consistent, rigorous curriculum before they started teaching AP? As teachers and educators aren't we capable of creating interesting classes with rigorous assessments without being told how to do so by a national FOR profit organization? Not all students should have to take an AP class to get a good education. But if they have to do so, doesn't that speak of something even greater?

I am truly encouraged by Dr. Alonso’s call to community members to volunteer in our city schools as a response to the recent wave of violence we have experienced. When working on the Change Project for class, I read The Governor’s Commission On Quality Education In Maryland’s report containing thirty recommendations to address key issues that could improve Maryland’s public education. Recommendation nineteen focuses on challenging businesses, parents, communities, and faith-based organizations to help improve college awareness. I think this approach should also be implemented to help curb the violence in our schools. As Alonso wrote in the letter to community members, "this essential work of making safe schools cannot be done by the administrators, teachers, staff or students at each school alone. I cannot say strongly enough how important it is for families and community members to rally around our schools, our teachers, and our students."

Alonso has set up a team to organize volunteers and there is a working website to sign up to volunteer (here's the website ) and a phone line (410-545-1870). The cost of a background check for each volunteer will be covered. Alonso and his team have taken steps towards what I believe will be invaluable to the Baltimore City School System: investing the people of Baltimore City and giving our students a concrete way to see that their families, the community members, and the City of Baltimore care about not only their safety, but their education and future.

Dropouts, Prison, and GEDs

In December, James Heckman, a Nobel Prize-winning economist who has also achieved my life goal of having a statistic named after him, published, with Paul LaFontaine, an analysis of high school graduation rates. The study reaches four conclusions:

1. the high school graduation rate peaked in the late ’60s and has declined slightly since then
2. the high school graduation rate is quite a bit below the often reported level of 88%
3. about 65% of blacks and Hispanics leave school with diplomas
4. the minority-majority achievement gap seems not to have budged in the last 35 years

Though the whole paper is interesting, the last conclusion really interested me.

The reason that the majority-minority graduation rate is often reported to have converged is the GED. According to the authors:

We show that when we count GED recipients as dropouts (incarcerated or not), there is little convergence in high school graduation rates between whites and minorities over the past 35 years. A significant portion of the convergence reported in the official statistics is due to black males obtaining GED credentials in prison.

And GEDs, it turns out, are essentially worthless. Economically and socially, GED holders compare very closely with other dropouts. That’s mainly because they don’t have the non-cognitive skills (like perseverance) that diploma holders have had to demonstrate. The most astonishing thing about this to me, as usual, is that national-level statistics can be affected by the number of young black men in prison (nearly 10%).

This underscores two things to me. First, I think that it really points to the value of the diploma that my students are reaching for. We as teachers often disparage the quality of that degree, but it’s certainly worth noting that extensive research shows that students who graduate high school will do much better than those who merely complete it. Second, I think it drives home the point that our students—and particularly our black male students—are fighting substantial and entrenched societal obstacles to their success. Not that we didn’t already know.

Good news for city schools

Today Mayor Dixon announced that she is reversing course on a proposed property tax cut, which will enable an extra $2 million to be allocated for youth programs for city students. The money is to be used to supplement social services in schools, and to encourage senior citizens to volunteer in the schools. Aside from questions about the wisdom of using volunteers to help stop violence in schools which were well described in a post by mathnerd, this is good news for schools that desperately need more funding for social services. Impressively, the news of increased funding for schools comes even as the city is bracing for funding issues related to the faltering economy.

It’s good to see that elected officials are looking at the long-term, and putting resources into places that could directly help students and schools. However, I’m forced to wonder if the money would have been found were it not for highly publicized incidents of violence in schools – specifically the teacher assault at Reginald F. Lewis. In fact, one of the people responsible for using this new funding allocation cited the media scrutiny that BCPSS is under as a reason why this proposal is important. Thought that might be a factor worth considering, these priorities are important all of the time, not just when ugly incidents get city schools in the news. If Baltimore wants to stay out of the news for incidents they’re going to have to invest the necessary resources to give students the services that they need. We need to shift to proactively addressing problems before they become embarrassing, rather than making hasty decisions after they already have. When the focus is off of BCPSS, and violence continues but stops getting press coverage, will elected officials still make the tough decisions that address the needs of students?

"Cleaning House" - an Effective Staffing Model?

Coming into the Baltimore City school system, I heard quite a bit of buzz about the various processes that schools could go through in terms of meeting "school improvement" requirements. In fact, I heard that the school that I was hired to work at (sight unseen, I might add), was told to either "zero base" or undergo some sort of principal replacement. Now, I can't speak to the extent that these rumors are true, but I think that it brings up an interesting point about "zero basing" and the merits (or lack thereof) that this policy entails (neither option happened, by the way - the staff remained, as did the principal... though she would quit two weeks prior to the start of the school year).



Approximately two years later, I find myself assisting with the interviewing process for new staff members for the upcoming school year. However, in order for this to occur, my principal has "asked" a (large) handful of teachers not to return. These teachers, for reasons mostly pertaining to rigor of instruction, adhering to the school vision, and compliance with accountability pieces, have not "met the expectations" of the school's administration (with which, I happen to whole heartedly agree). In my eyes, taking such a step in not renewing these teachers is essential to pushing our school forward and making it the educational institution that we all would like it to be. Needless to say, "the union" is ENRAGED (or so seems to be the gossip-driven perception). Should they be? Perhaps. Is it their "role" to support teachers in their outrage - but is it the best course of action for the school? I'd argue not...



I fully support the idea that you should "cut the fat" at schools where teachers are not performing. However, I also get the sense that there is this incredible red-tape-forcefield (reinforced by the intimidating effect of unions), which prevents this from happening effectively. On the other hand, I see this idea of "zero basing" schools as being something that my principal is doing now - but on a larger scale. Except that with "zero basing," you are losing ALL of the teachers, instead of just getting rid of the unsatisfactory ones. Sure, you can apply to get your job back at your failing school - but how appealing is that option? I'd certainly stay with my school for another year, knowing that the "unsatisfactory" staff contingency is being "let go" - but I'd have serious reservations of having to "prove myself" to an outside individual/group... it'd almost be easier to go elsewhere and start fresh, instead of returning to an uncertain situation.



I understand the potential for abuse with hiring and firing, but I also have incredible reservations about protecting teachers at all costs. If your principal is trying to get you fired from your school - it's probably not the best fit for you, anyway. And if you're a quality instructor, then it shouldn't be an issue for you to find a job elsewhere, with an administration that is more aligned with your style and needs. I also understand the fact that the purpose (in theory) of unions is to protect the rights of workers (in this case, teachers). But at what point does going through this process become more about proving a point and "sticking it to the man," as opposed to actually looking out for the best interest of our students? I fear that, more often than not, we land on the former side, when we should be landing on the latter.

Spellings Announces Reforms, and the World Yawns

So the Bush administration has proposed NCLB reform. Margaret Spellings today proposed two major reforms to the way that states do business. First, all states will now be required to report dropout rates according to the same standard. That seems like a really good idea since even my school administrators have no idea how our dropout rate for 2006-2007 was calculated by the state (somehow, we made AYP). Moreover, that will, for the first time, let us compare how Baltimore is doing to how, say, Detroit is doing.

Secondly, failing schools would have to do a better job of informing parents of their tutoring or transfer options. This seemed particularly timely since we talked in class about it last week. And this is the requirement most likely to affect us on the school level. In theory, this could pretty much destroy BCPSS. If every parent—or even a substantial number of parents—at failing schools take advantage of their rights to transfer their students, administrative costs would skyrocket, and it would be nearly impossible to balance school sizes. (I’m pretty sure that this was part of the motivation in ending the idea of zoned schools.)

I’m pretty sure that in the end this will have relatively little effect in Baltimore, though. First of all, it’s been shown that if you obfuscate the data enough, parents won’t act, so if the city doesn’t want to follow the spirit of the law, they really don’t have to. Secondly, my experience suggests that even if a school tries to convince parents to have their high school children participate in after-school tutoring for things like Algebra or Government, as my school has, kids still won’t show up in significant numbers. Overall, then, the changes Spellings announced probably won’t have much of an effect here.

Investing Students in the Face of Social Promotion

As third quarter closes and fourth quarter begins, failure notifications have been sent to the parents of students that have failed a core subject for three consecutive quarters. For many of these students this is a token notification. These are students that have failed a prior grade, and, as a result, qualify for a social promotion. Still others who have never been retained, will be promoted by administrators to speed troublemakers through the education process to ensure they will not be around for any additional years to cause continued mayhem.

Keep in mind that these are students that have failed with a 55% minimum. Baltimore City mandates that even students earning a 4% for a quarter be assigned a minimum grade of 55%. The reason behind this is to create a possibility for redemption in later quarters. It is much easier to earn a 60% average for the year if your current average is 55% instead of a 20%. This is a potentially good incentive. However, the impact of this incentive is nullified for students that will be promoted regardless of their class average at the end of the school year. As students go through the educational system in Baltimore City, they are learning that they will not be held accountable for the material covered or the work assigned in any class.

In an article, Agonizing Decision in Knox News (http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2008/apr/20/retaining-students-agonizing-decision/)
Lola Alapo analyzes the process of social promotion in Knox County, Tennessee. The article rightly points out that it is not the ideal situation to have a fourteen-year old in a classroom with nine-year old fourth graders. Nor do we want to have illiterate juniors in high school. School officials in Knox County recommend working with struggling students early in the year to ensure that failure does need to be an option. They also say that each decision needs to be made on an individual basis. Great advice. My concern in Baltimore City is that, in not holding kids accountable to promotion criteria in any form, we are disabling our ability to invest them in prevention measures we have put in place to help them be successful. If they know they will be promoted no matter what, it becomes exponentially more difficult to invest already low-achieving students in their academic success.

The importance of arts education

A per pupil payment to Baltimore City principals will be a gift for some and a chore for others. Choosing how to spend their dollars school leaders need to be well educated about the options available for students and the benefit and downside of programs and services. Principals would be well advised to consider reinstituting or increasing arts funding in their schools. Research on the relationship between arts education and student achievement suggests that an investment in arts programs can improve the educational experience of children.

Since NCLB became law schools have been criticized for shifting resources away from courses such as arts and music in order to increase time for test preparation. An article in Politico, http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1107/6715.html, quotes a recent study by the Center on Education that finds school time spent in art classes had decreased by nearly half since NCLB was passed. “Some educators say that the focus on testing is so intense that it is forcing schools to siphon time away from other non-test subjects such as music and dance.” Arts education was originally included as a core subject in NCLB but it was difficult to find both funding and attention for arts after reading and math tests became schools’ main focus. The law also does not require schools to provide arts classes. 

The arts community has responded with research suggesting that eliminating arts from education inadequately prepares students for 21st century careers. An integrated arts curriculum has been shown to increase imagination and creativity as well as focus and discipline. “Art classes enhance the creative and innovative thinking that drives entrepreneurs.” Studies have found that art classes can help students’ performance in other subjects and could even raise test scores. For instance, dance movement can be used to help a child learn rhythm and meter in reading classes, while singing can enrich the memorization of multiplication tables.

Locally a group of arts supporters have come together to emphasize the importance of a fully integrated arts curriculum in our schools. Partners for Enhanced Learning formed in 2004 with a mission “(t)o lead a community-wide collaborative effort using Baltimore’s arts, cultural, educational and leadership resources as the vehicles to transform Baltimore’s middle grade schools into powerful learning communities.” http://www.baltimorepartners.org/organizationalhistory.html. Their goal is to have an arts program in every middle grades school in Baltimore. Hopefully, principals will become educated on the importance of arts in their schools and when it comes time to allocate resources decide to make an investment in an area that has been shown not only to improve achievement but to keep children who might not otherwise be engaged in school coming back for more.

It’s only called CREDIT Recovery for a reason…

This past week, I was in the computer lab at my school during last period. There were several students who were working in the lab, independent of my kids. As I walked around I noted that one of the girls was working on a Credit Recovery Course. Needless to say, she was supposed to be in another class, but despite this, I noted the quick rate with which she was answering the questions and felt compelled to ask. The student grinned. “I’m finishing English III. She gestured to the keyboard and clicked on the “Summary” function of the program, which essentially highlighted the answers for the student. Credit Recovery is an increasingly popular option for students who are behind in credit, but is this merely a way to corral students toward graduation? Students are recovering credits, but are they recovering missed information? A sense of responsibility or accountability? Unfortunately, I would argue that in most cases they are not. Students can miss several months of school but with the right amount of money and brief dedication in their Credit Recovery course, they are good to go. Those months didn’t matter and neither did the information.
Online Credit Recovery seems seen as a cure-all for kids who fail to attend or simply fail a course. The reason for absence seems irrelevant (though many of my kids have very compelling reasons not to be at school sometimes) , students don’t need the credits quite as much as they need the INFORMATION that they missed. We let them off from the actual learning. Forget the 180 days that they missed ¾ of, they also missed all of American Literature and are moving on to a new grade without the writing skills, knowledge and enjoyment of literature that could occurred in the classroom. The New York Times article, Lacking Credits Some Students Learn Shortcut discussed this issue in New York looking at it through the story of one student who used Credit Recovery to pass an English course that he chronically cut. The student did three essays and was permitted to graduate with his class last spring. It must be noted that I think that Baltimore has put a much greater interest in developing academic programs that it seems New York has. I still wonder, however, if students in these programs come out with knowledge they are able to use? One educational advocate cited in the article noted that “…when it’s used correctly, it might be a good thing,” Ms. Ravitch said of credit recovery, “but when used incorrectly it’s a way of gaming the system.”
In a desperate crunch to increase graduation rates, Credit Recovery programs provide an easy out for students. They send the wrong message, in many cases. Students don’t need to be accountable for their education—they just need the credits. It’s ok to cut school and to miss class. You didn’t need to do any of that work. For a little over $100 and a few hours of pointing and clicking you can buy your credits. I am concerned that this online program, well intentioned as it may be, is just what it states credit recovery rather than academic mastery.

Call for volunteers needs more foresight and planning

This post is written in response to Dr. Alonso’s call to recruit 500 volunteers in the next two weeks (See “City schools seeking helpers” in the Baltimore Sun). This initiative was part of Dr. Alonso’s proposed solution to school violence, which the recent media exposure has brought to light. I appreciate that Dr. Alonso’s response was not merely to increase punitive measures, which is the loud cry that is coming from the BTU. Is it important to have high expectations for student behavior? Yes, but in my experience negative consequences have done little to encourage this behavior, and nothing to engage the hearts and minds of students in a way that will produce positive life change. However, I would like to see a little more concrete direction in the new call for volunteers. How are the new volunteers going to be trained and equipped to work with students in a difficult school environment? How are administrators going to support volunteers so that the feel valued and empowered when many parents already feel unwelcome and by the school system? I imagine that there will be some extraordinary volunteers who are able to effect students just by their personality, but I would guess that many volunteers would be overwhelmed by the experience, especially since they likely won’t receive the support that they need. I appreciate Dr. Alonso’s desire to increase community involvement, but I think if this initiative is hastily implemented without serious thought and planning that it could have disastrous results.

Achievement Gap at all levels.

I came across a really interesting article in my NCTE blog again, and I wanted to bring it up because I just spent time with one of my students from last year who is now a freshman at City College High and making great grades. The study showed that the gap between high-achieving white and black students is higher than the gap at the low end. Apparently, it's because high-achieving black students are often in all-black schools. According to the article from Education Week, “'It appears on average to be worse for a child to be in a school with a high black enrollment share, but it’s not clear why,”' said Mr. Rivkin. '“It could be important given the recent [U.S.] Supreme Court decision on desegregation,” he added, referring to a ruling in June of last year that sharply limited schools from using race to assign students to schools.'"

The article lists a lot of reasons, but I can certainly give a few based on my teaching experiences over the last two years. My highest-achieving students don't have very many opportunities for enrichment--no gifted program, just one Algebra class, and no advanced resources. As a middle school student, I was taking six classes, including a weekly all-day gifted class. I improved in school because of expectations and opportunity, which my students don't experience in the same way. I also think that racial diversity, in addition to religious, linguistic, etc., provides learning opportunities that enrich and strengthen learning.

I had students in my classes who were very different from me, and I learned a lot from them over the course of my schooling.

I also had an interesting comment from one of my students at the beginning of the year. He said that he was in a private school last year, and he had to be very competitive because the white students didn't expect him to do well. While I obviously don't want students to become racist in their profiling of other students, I also think that a culture of achievement and competition is the best kind of classroom in our educational structure. Theoretically, everyone wins if they pass, so competition is good in the classroom.

Lastly, I think that our students, many of whom have limited mobility in and out of the city. Letting them learn with other students would be a great opportunity. Even if students who get bussed to the suburbs don't improve their scores, they could thrive here in Baltimore if they are offered more opportunities to improve.

Stakeholders?!

After reading The Governor’s Commission on Quality Education in Maryland I came to the conclusion that I have no idea who or what a “stakeholder” is. People throw around the term casually as if we all share a common definition. When I use the term “stakeholder” I am referring to people who are directly involved with education on a daily basis but I get the feeling that others don’t share this same definition. In my mind stakeholders include students, parents, teachers, and administrators. When politicians use the term they are referring to stakeholders they are often referring the local community, state population, or even our American society as a whole.

If you accept the politicians’ definition of the term then every single American is a stake holder in our educational system. Using the term in this sense also absolves people of their individual responsibility. If we’re all stakeholders then it’s assumed that someone else will step up and take charge of spearheading reform movements. If things don’t turn out as we expected then as stakeholders we have the right to criticize the decision makes since we are “invested” in our school systems.

Since we don’t take the time to be specific and identify our stakeholders many times we all let out a collective sigh and shake our heads at the lack of progress. We hear things like “The stakeholders aren’t invested!” or “…it’s because of North ave “. The problems in our schools are always somehow traced back to North Ave.; we have all the problems in our school system because North Ave exists. No, it is not North Ave as a whole. North Ave is a building filled with individual people who make policy decisions. When the results of these decisions are not what the public expected these people are able to escape responsibility for these decisions because we all continue to use ambiguous language.

This all leads to the issue of semantics in education. As a community of educators we all use the same language but don’t necessarily hold the same definitions. Whether we are discussing “investing” students or “reaching out” to “stakeholders” we have a general sense of what the speaker is getting at. This general sense, however, doesn’t necessarily result in a common understanding. We use all of these terms with confidence and conviction but does it really mean anything? Can we come to a true consensus or act on identified problems if we lack a common understanding at the very basic level, the meaning of our words.