Unions, the NAACP, Race, and the Courts

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.

           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?

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

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

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

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?

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

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

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

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?