Scantron Scandal

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

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?

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?

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

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

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

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?

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.

Literacy Goes Green

On Tuesday the Maryland State Board of Education announced a new graduation requirement for Maryland students: “green literacy” (Wheeler, 2011, para. 2). This ruling mandates that all public schools in Maryland expose their students to “conservation, smart growth and the health of our natural world” by integrating these topics into core academic subjects. The requirement will apply to those students beginning high school in the upcoming 2011-2012 academic year. Although no additional funding will be allocated based on this ruling, Maryland may be eligible to receive additional federal funding based on the incorporation of green literacy into the state curriculum.

Initially, I didn’t find this announcement to be too radical. I currently teach fifth grade, and environmental science already exists as one of the six primary curriculum standards I covered with my students. This standard incorporates green literacy objectives related to natural resource use and human impact on the environment. According to the Voluntary State Curriculum, scaffolded variations of these same green literacy topics make up the environmental science standards for Maryland students from first grade through high school.

In actuality, this “new” graduation requirement isn’t revolutionary at all – it simply hasn’t been enforced. I personally support green initiatives and believe they are important issues to address. However, I can’t help but think that high school teachers who are struggling to meet the demands of their current subject area would be overjoyed at the prospect of infusing yet another set of objectives into their curriculums. Until all Maryland students are reading at or above grade level, maybe the focus should remain on literacy… minus the green.

Stop the Blame Game and take some responsibility

On Monday, Maryland voted 13-7 to approve a new teacher evaluation system that bases 50% of a teacher's evaluation on student achievement. While the details are being worked out, I find it notable that every teacher on the panel voted AGAINST this evaluation system. While the Baltimore Sun article does not suggest any reasoning for the strong teacher disapproval, I have a couple ideas.

First of all, perhaps the issue in approving this evaluation system is the same one many teachers had in approving the new contract: its all very vague right now. There's going to be some data from standardized tests, and maybe some projects or portfolios, but nothing definitive yet. I strongly believe that some portion of our teacher evaluation should involve student data, but just as I want to know where a plane is going when I buy a ticket, I want to know exactly how I'm being evaluated before I give my approval. If you don't have a clear plan, I'm not very confident that I should trust you to evaluate me (particularly when my evaluation is linked to my pay).

It seems to me that we should be doing a lot more to get the major players on-board with reforms. By approving a system that teachers (at least those on the panel) cannot get behind, MD is basically saying "we want you to change, because we believe teacher quality is an important factor in increasing student achievement, but we don't really care if you agree or not". Maybe this evaluation system could be a step in the right direction, but failing to get teacher support is skipping a crucial step.

As we've learned in class, real reform requires community support. Teachers have to buy into this! Whether I am evaluated or not, if I don't BELIEVE that the way I teach impacts student performance, I'm not going to work hard to be a better teacher. Consider the standpoint of veteran teachers. If I've been rated proficient every evaluation of a 10+ year career, and every one of those years I've only been able to get a handful of students to score Proficient on a test, how will I react when suddenly that test data is taking MY rating from Proficient to Satisfactory? Will I believe that I've suddenly become a worse teacher? Will I imagine that actually all of these years I was only truly a Satisfactory teacher? Not if you never got me to believe that the way I teach impacts student achievement.

Recent opinion headlines from the Baltimore Sun, such as "Rating Teachers: Parents are the ones who determine student performance" and "Stop blaming teachers for poor student performance" tell us that not only teachers, but community members as well, do not want to see teachers carry this much responsibility for student achievement. Blame the families. Blame the communities. Blame the administration. Blame the unions. Blame the money. Blame the students. No one wants to be blamed for failures (though they're real quick to take credit for successes), and they would all like to blame someone else.

Frankly, it is irresponsible. No ONE part of this mess of a system is to blame-we are ALL responsible. Systematic change is what is needed: a partnership of teachers, students, administrators, families, communities, unions, and funders. If each of us could own up to the part we've played in making some schools successful and others not, we might actually get some real results.

New teacher evaluation program in MD

The Baltimore Sun reported on Monday night that the Maryland Council for Educator Effectiveness has unveiled a new teacher evaluation system for the state that will begin a pilot program in seven counties--including Baltimore City and Baltimore County--starting this fall.  The new evaluation system will rate teachers as highly effective, effective, or ineffective based on their scores in several different areas.  50% of an educator's evaluation will be determined by the principal's assessment of qualitative factors such as classroom environment and lesson plans, much like the evaluation currently used in Baltimore City.  The other 50% of the evaluation will be based on student performance, with 30% based on measures determined by the state (results from three assessments; using state assessments as one indicator, with city benchmarks or student portfolios as other measures) and 20% based on measures determined by the district (also to include student work).  The article mentions that the panel also suggests some alternative options for teachers who do not teach tested subjects, such as submitting videos of musical or dramatic performances. 

This new evaluation system seems promising in that it holds each teacher directly accountable for their students' performance.  It does not matter how well a classroom is organized or how good a teacher's management is if the students are not learning, and this new evaluation attempts to address the issue of student achievement in a way that the current BCPS evaluation system does not.  If increasing student achievement is the goal of the state's public education system--as I believe it should be!--then teachers should certainly be judged on whether or not they are making academic gains in their classrooms. 

However, as with any new system, the question of implementation remains a problematic one.  It is already difficult for some principals to conduct their semi-annual classroom observations in a timely manner, so what will happen when they are expected to look at work portfolios and analyze student achievement data for every teacher?  When the time is found, how can we be sure that principals know what rigorous instruction and student growth looks like in every content area and in every grade level represented at his or her school?  The hope is that all of the state's administrators would be familiar with all of the content taught at their schools, but the reality is that this new evaluation system, if not implemented correctly and carefully, could end up being simply more paperwork that is passed through offices and signed off on by administrators. 

I believe that the proposed new evaluation system is a very good start, and a huge improvement over the current system used in our city schools.  However, there will need to be a lot of oversight on the part of the state--especially during the pilot year--to make sure that principals know how to use the new system, and are prepared to invest the time and resources necessary to make it a worthwhile and accurate measure of teacher effectiveness in the classroom. 

Otis Rolley's Education Plan

Otis Rolley just made a friend.

The mayoral candidate is running on a platform of fixing education in Baltimore, including a list of specific reforms that he is looking for: vouchers for failing middle school students (not a universal voucher system), mayoral control, and the separation of Baltimore's charters from the BCPS LEA.

For a democrat, these are very right-wing ideas. Separating charters from the BCPS LEA means that charter schools in Baltimore would be able to set their own pay scales, separate from the unions (if they chose) and report directly to the state board or parent governing boards. (Note that these are all market reforms, meant to fix the problems of bad incentives that I mentioned in my earlier post.)

Now, I think it's important to note two things: first, there is no panacea in education. Anyone that promises that policy X will change the whole world is nuts. Second, it takes guts to offend the unions at this stage of the game. Either Rolley is foolish, or he is brave. The line between the two is pretty thin.

His suggestions made me think of an interesting question, however. Today, in class, we talked about how CEOs don't need certification programs. It also dawned on me that there is no CEOs union. Each one contracts with a company and sets their own pay.

Thought experiment time: What would happen if every school was its own LEA? If every teacher set their wage with the principal, and contracted individually with them? What if parents ran school governing boards that hired and fired principals and guided school policy?

I don't think that it's a good idea, so if you're thinking I'm crazy, you're missing the point. You can learn a lot from that thought experiment. What would happen if teachers didn't have collective bargaining--but rather, bargained individually? What if principals were accountable directly to parents, and not just to North Ave? Is there a way to make that happen?

In any case, it will be interesting to see how Otis articulates his educational philosophy in the coming months.

Cheating? What Cheating?

Link: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/class-struggle/post/cheating-what-cheating/2011/06/19/AGp0VwbH_blog.html

The opinion piece “Cheating, What cheating?” by The Washington Post’s education columnist Jay Mathews addresses the issue of cheating on the D.C. Comprehensive Assessment System tests, the tests the District of Columbia uses to evaluate student progress in accordance with No Child Left Behind. Mathews begins his commentary by looking at the data from the Bruce-Monroe Elementary School in Washington, DC, whose test scores declined despite the implementation of a new math program. While the school gave multiple reasons for the decline in scores such as high teacher turnover, lack of funding etc., Mathews suggests that readers consider the first reason that came to his mind: a potential increase in test security at the school. While Mathews does not provide the data of erasure marks on the exams, he does note that the school was flagged in 2009 for having “an above average rate of wrong-to-write erasures”. Generally, Mathews writes that even though we know this is happening in multiple schools and districts, not much is being done to address the problem. He notes that nothing was asked of Kiya Henderson during her confirmation hearings of how she would be handling the cheating scandals. It does not seem to be a mainstream issue of concern. Mathews suggests that failing to look at these issues has significant long term effects, most importantly as to misappropriating resources and attention when it comes to school that really need those things

As a teacher in Baltimore City, I am familiar with stories of similar things happening in our own school district; there are rumors of schools being investigated, administrators being fired and the like. I know that I was required to follow strict procedures at my school after my kids took their Stanford Ten to ensure that the test books were closely monitored at all times. However, what this article really makes me think about is priorities. It seems to me that educational priorities must be seriously out of order if school administrators in any district would rather falsify data, which is both unethical and detrimental to student achievement, than accept and tackle the true realities of their classrooms. We constantly hear about how data is essential to student achievement but has our obsession with numbers become so great that it is an obstacle to true education? We run into this same dilemma when we discuss test preparation or curriculum development along with a state or city level standardized test. There is so much pressure to do well and achieve that in many ways, some of the purpose of education is lost. It seems to me that this loss of purpose can be directly linked to the fact that the policies that exist allow for the focus to be on numbers and measurement, rather than actual student achievement. Thus, while we can each work to fix this in our own classrooms by producing well educated, well-rounded students, our system as a whole cannot foster this whole child education until our testing procedures are adjusted or fundamentally changed. If policies are not changed, we are ultimately failing to recognize and reward many positive things going on in classrooms across the nation and losing much of the potential of what a good education can do for a child.

Bad Incentives

This is a bit long, so forgive me.

I need to give some context to my thoughts; I’ll give it in two pieces of wisdom from my first college econ professor.

1). People respond to incentives.

2). Skewed incentives lead to skewed outcomes.

Parenthetically, these shouldn’t sound groundbreaking—incentives are defined as “that which motivates one to action.” People are motivated by that which motivates them.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

City Schools is riddled with bad incentives (as is education generally). Let me list a few for your perusal and consideration.

1). Schools that suspend too many students for too many years are placed on a “persistently dangerous” list. Instead of leading schools to improve their discipline (by, for example, a tough crack-down on inappropriate behavior) schools are punished for giving consequences. In some cases, I’ve seen administrators issue “off-the-record” consequences, including unofficial ISS or OSS. Other administrators simply stop giving consequences, and let their schools fall into chaos to prevent the perception of a chaotic school.

2). Among my colleagues, City Schools is infamous for promoting people “out” instead of “up.” That is, people are quickly promoted out of the classroom. Network positions, policy positions, governance board, union positions, Hopkins teaching, admin… the list goes on. We are devastatingly good at promoting people out of teaching. In a district that is burdened by high teacher turnover, shouldn’t the incentive be to stay in the classroom?

3). The schools that most need good teachers are the hardest schools to teach in. Those schools have the hardest students, and sometimes have the worst resources, administrators, facilities, and reputations. Worst of all, you are more likely to be punished for lack of student success as a teacher in a hard school than anywhere else. So the best teachers always move to the best schools—even if they stay in the district.

4). I won’t belabor this one—we all know of the incentives regarding failing too many students. If we fail too many kids, a principal will ask us to change their grades, or change them themselves. Worse yet, we get in trouble for holding a high standard if too many kids don’t meet it.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Dr. Alonso seems to believe (as do many people) that the way to fix skewed incentives is by market-oriented reforms. For example, Baltimore's new teacher contract is meant to curb bad behavior by tenured teachers and encourage good teaching across the board. Schools in New York have even eliminated tenure in exchange for more money to emphasize better incentives. Many people who oppose vouchers support fair student funding, which is just vouchers for public schools only. These are all market-based reforms that are meant to alter mismanaged incentives. Are they working? Are market-based reforms the answer?

Magic Word: Hope

Link: Baltimore Brew: Baltimore school and partners kick off renovations and, they hope, a turnaround. 

“The NEW Benjamin Franklin High School @ Masonville Cove. “ This is our anthem, our chant, and our hope. Well over 80 years old, the old Benjamin Franklin Junior High, often referred to as “Ben,” is finally receiving much-needed renovations. I can personally attest to the excitement among the students, faculty, and administration when discussing the new buildings. A media center? A full library? New science labs? It is all going to be there!

However, it should not stop there.  There are far too many dilapidated, outdated, and unhealthy schools throughout the district, and we all know it.  It was rejuvenating to see the ACLU come speak at our school celebration last week; and while many of their comments flew right over my students’ heads, the ACLU’s words stuck with me. Frank Patinella of Maryland’s ACLU stated, “We get emails and calls about schools being closed because of boiler problems and electrical problems. Kids are missing school because of this.” These are only the serious problems. Do not get me started on the lack of heat, air conditioning, or other basics.

My reaction to this article is two-fold. On the one hand, as a teacher at Ben Franklin, I am overjoyed simply thinking about my students walking into our new school next year. They deserve it. However, at the same time, thousands of our kids across Baltimore City will walk into the same buildings they left last year. They deserve better, and if we are serious about reforming our schools, let start with the basics. This is my hope.