A Change in Suspension and Expulsion Guidelines

The Maryland State Board of Education has just released new guidelines that change regulations relating to suspensions and expulsions in Maryland schools. Their aim is to move to a more rehabilitative model of discipline. This move is not entirely shocking considering the national debate around this issue and the fact that an inordinate amount of minority and special education students are impacted by suspensions and expulsions.

Overall, I think this is a great idea and a necessary step if we are to close the achievement and opportunity gap for all students. Too often, suspensions and expulsions are used as a “crutch” for schools, instead of investing the time and resources in more difficult students. Further, in my personal experience it was too easy to suspend kids from school, as there was little oversight or questioning of disciplining decisions, even as our suspensions ballooned. Many times, the kids being suspended were simply given a three day vacation from school for disrupting class or being difficult, with no follow up to address the situation or correct the action long term. Additionally, many kids were routinely suspended for the same misbehaviors (which were not a threat to school safety), indicating that the policy of suspending did not work.

There are necessary times to suspend or expel students, mainly when the general safety of the school or other students has been compromised. Outside of these parameters, suspending students is not the best strategy, especially in areas where students are already at least one grade level behind. I admit, it is easier to suspend students that are troublesome and distractions for the entire class, but other avenues need to be pursed in this case. Students should be in school as much as possible; we cannot afford to have students miss days simply for being disruptive or disrespectful.

Hopefully, these new guidelines will work, but I hope they are coupled with new support systems for schools and administrators. I know as a teacher I want to do everything in my power to keep kids in my classroom and on task, sometimes I just need help doing that. These guidelines could end up being a difficult mandate to follow if they are not also established with new resources to help schools, teachers, and administrators meet this goal. 

Age is Just a Number

As a teacher right out of college, a big concern that I had when entering the classroom was my age.  Would other teachers, parents, or even my students view me as being too young?  It was something that I definitely could not get out of my head at first, but after stepping into the classroom on the first day, all I could think about is that old saying, “age is just a number”.  It shouldn’t make a difference of how old I am, as long as I am trained properly, educated sufficiently, and prepared to teach in Baltimore county. 

There are many to quickly link youth and inexperience; the younger you are the less experienced you are.  Is this true?  I for one disagree, and believe that age cannot define experience.  However, the age and years of experience were the first two facts discussed about Baltimore County’s new superintendant S. Dallas Dance.  In the first Baltimore Sun article announcing Mr. Dance as the new superintendant, the article states, “Dallas, 30, had only two years of teaching experience in public schools”. 

Regardless of how many years Mr. Dance has had in the classroom, his years of experience in the education system have been impressive, and I for one, am excited to see what he is able to do in the Baltimore County schools.  With experience as a principal and assistant superintendant in one of the largest school districts in the county, Mr. Dance may lack teaching experience, but truly understands the education system and has the ability to make some drastic changes that are need in Baltimore county schools. 

Mr. Dance was also a finalist to become Howard County’s superintendant but decided Baltimore County, “the larger and more urban district.”

See the rest of the Baltimore Sun Article here:

http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2012-03-27/news/bs-md-co-balto-co-names-superintendent-20120327_1_dallas-dance-chief-middle-schools-officer-renee-foose

And to see more about Mr. S. Dallas Dance and his experience, see his résumé here:

http://www.houstonisd.org/HISDConnectEnglish/Images/ReusedImages/DallaDance.pdf

Streamlining Federal Education Funds

This is Drew Indorf - I couldn't figure out how to access this blog through my own account.  Sorry! 

In Congress, both sides of the isle know that closing the $1.2 trillion deficit has to be a top priority for Washington in the next decade.  Yet agreeing on a strategy to accomplish such a momentous task has proven much more challenging.  Sequestration, the automatic funding cuts that will initiate in January 2013, threaten blanket cuts across all sectors of government funding.  While the media has poured out articles on the threats to defense spending, I haven’t heard nearly as much about the potentially devastating cuts to education. 

A New York Times article from today alerted me to the issue, noting that “automatic cuts would slice $590 million from federal spending on Head Start,” eliminating 80,000 spots for pre-K children and 30,000 teacher jobs in the country.  To give a broader perspective on the budget cuts, Duncan explained two days ago that “Title I funds for poor students, state grants for special education and the Head Start public pre-school program…would lose $2.7 billion over 10 years, the report predicted. As many as 15,000 teachers and aides could lose their jobs, and 10,000 special education workers could be laid off” (Huffington Post, see below).  

When reading this, I first reacted in outrage that we would threaten the future of our country with these massive cuts.  But after further consideration, $2.7 billion over 10 years really isn’t a lot of money, and federal government funding of education is quite a small part of the budget.  Additionally, many proponents of the cuts cite evidence suggesting that Head Start has failed to demonstrate lasting changes in student outcomes.  A 2010 federal study claimed, “The benefits of access to Head Start at age 4 are largely absent by first grade for the program population as a whole”(See NYT article, below).  Even Paul Tough’s book on The Harlem Children’s Zone cited the failure of Head Start to achieve lasting gains. 

At the same time that sequestration threatens to cut pre-K services for 80,000 American kids involved in Head Start, the White House has announced its new Initiative on Educational Excellence for African Americans, which aims to ensure “that every child has greater access to a complete and competitive education from the time they’re born all through the time they get a career” (Obama, see Education Week article, below).  The programs outlined include early childhood programs for African Americans, too.  After reading the chapter of Paul Tough’s book Whatever it Takes, I’m convinced of the importance of early education programs to address the challenges of the “unequal childhoods,” yet I also question how this program will differ from Head Start.  If sufficient evidence suggests that pre-K programs without the follow-up of a “pipeline” model do not produce lasting changes in academic outcomes, why do we appear to be replacing one program with something much the same?  In fairness, the details of Obama’s new initiative have not yet been released.  I am hopeful that the new program aims not only to fill any potential losses due to cuts in Head Start, but also build the efficacy of early childhood programs by integrating them within a sustained ‘conveyor belt’ of support. 

The fact remains that we need to cut the deficit.  Yet instead of seeing this as our children’s futures on the chopping block, perhaps we can see it as an opportunity to make the tough calls about what works and what doesn’t.  We shouldn’t cut funding to education, but we should take a critical eye to the programs we support, ensuring that every dollar we spend maximizes its intended impact on our nation’s youth.

New York Times Article Today: 

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/27/us/head-start-fears-impact-of-potential-budget-cuts.html?_r=1&ref=education

Education Week Article: 

http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2012/07/27/37africanamerican.h31.html?tkn=SWXFOiBcXmtdU9G9Y8o3mTBZe78QFbSMkgIq&cmp=clp-edweek

Huffington Post Article: 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/25/education-budget-cuts_n_1703442.html

What Would Gordon Think of Finland?

Baltimore seems to have made a lot of progress in terms of supporting students with special needs.  I was very happy to hear my professor, Gordon Porterfield, proclaim that after 44 years of teaching, he believes one of Baltimore’s largest areas of growth has been in providing more students with special education services.  However, I did not realize that this growth was initiated 28 years ago by a lawsuit against the school system for failing to provide proper special education services.  An article from The Baltimore Sun explains that even though the lawsuit ends this year, Baltimore school officials pledge to continue developing all special education services.  This makes me wonder: will this promise be enough?

As many of my classmates know, I love considering the Finnish education system.  In a previous class, I mentioned how Finland has one of the best public education systems in the world, with highly educated and well-respected teachers.  Besides exceptional teacher quality and prestige, there are many other factors that may contribute to Finland’s educational success (please check out the links below!), including their revolutionary special education services.  Recently, I watched a short video about Finland’s special education approach.  The video explains the special education strategies: early intervention and tracking, a culture of accepting help (being “special” is actually the norm), personalized attention and support, and intensive collaboration through a “student welfare team.”  I was amazed by the value of Finland’s special education system.  While I know that adapting this type of system to Baltimore schools would require restructuring, human capital, and other additional resources, it is exciting to consider the possibilities of this reform.  Since Baltimore has already been making strides in special education, could this be the next step?  Could special education in Baltimore be conceptualized differently?

Overview of Finland's education system (all really fascinating… CHECK IT OUT!!):

Short BBC Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rlYHWpRR4yc

Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_Finland

High School Classroom Sizes

One of our topics of discussion this semester revolved around classroom size, particularly at the high school level. Classroom size can have huge implications for classroom management, differentiation, as well as the types of relationships that exist between students and the instructor. As we have seen, there is a large push in many school districts to break down classroom sizes in high schools by closing or fragmenting the largest schools. Across the country, there have been mixed results and emotions surrounding this movement. Proponents say that smaller class sizes allow them to better differentiate their instruction, develop stronger relationships with students and track student growth more carefully. Critics of this movement say that behavioral problems still exist after class sizes are reduced, students have fewer options for class choices and funding for extracurricular activities is reduced.

A May 12th Baltimore Sun article described the growing classroom sizes in high schools across Baltimore County. After eliminating 200 teaching positions, Baltimore County high schools have felt the toll of larger class sizes, as students are receiving less individualized attention and in many cases, high schools have had to drop higher level courses, including a number of Advanced Placement (AP) classes, despite promises not to do so. While Superintendent Dr. Joe Hairston did succeed in retaining smaller class sizes in the poorest performing high schools, many of the highest performing students in various schools are now in some of the largest classes of 30 or more students. This brings up in an interesting question as to school size vs. the student population of a school, which is a more important factor in producing results? Schools that have larger classes but higher performing students don’t seem to suffer from the increase in class sizes because teachers and student there have identified strategies to cope with the “loss” of individualized instruction.

While this is obviously a relatively recent phenomenon in Baltimore County, the class size debate is a growing one across the country. Personally, I think it is imperative that the lowest performing high schools in Baltimore City and County retain their small classroom sizes because of the great need for individualized instruction in those schools. While I support small classroom sizes for all high schools schools, if budget cuts make larger classes inevitable, the highest performing schools should bear the brunt of this because of abilities of their teachers and students to adapt and succeed to such challenges.

This article can be found at:

http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2012-05-12/news/bs-md-co-class-size-increase-20120512_1_class-size-small-classes-fewer-classes 

Another interesting article surrounding class size

http://www.greatschools.org/find-a-school/defining-your-ideal/174-class-size.gs?page=all

Bring on the Band-Aids?

It is no mystery to the American public that the majority of our school systems are in dire need of change, particularly in the lower-income school districts across the nation. Unfortunately, there is much less agreement surrounding how to solve the growing achievement gap among American students as well as between American students and the rest of the world. There is evidence of successful reforms, demonstrated by KIPP and the Harlem Children’s Zone, but until we learn how to implement effective reform strategies and procedures on a larger-scale, we are continuing to allow our lower-income students fall farther and father behind their wealthier peers and the global community.

While politicians and educators continue to hash out ideas and argue over what may or may not work, we need to remember the students for which we are reforming schools and recognize that they are continuing to suffer as we brainstorm and develop long-term, large-scale reform strategies. In the meantime, perhaps we should begin considering some more superficial and short-term changes to supplement and support our students’ learning. Some of these quick fix repairs are implementable on a larger-scale and may ensure a higher quality education, even if just for a brief time. Even if such superficial changes are not meant for the long-term, there is no reason not to utilize them to ensure our current students receive a better education.

A recent article, published by Education News, considers alternative methods to academic success implemented by two schools in Guilford County, NC. In the past year, both schools demonstrated significant gains in standardized test scores, but they attribute their progress to resources outside of the school district.

Montlieu Academy attributes their success in the past year to their incorporation of technology into the school experience. Nearly every member of the school has access to iPads, which they use to enhance instruction and learning, and were leased thanks to the help of several grants. What makes this approach even more exceptional is that it has done more than raise test scores. The school’s iPad program has rejuvenated teachers and students alike, increasing enthusiasm and investment in the school community. The interactive learning tools have students actually excited to come to school. Of course, the novelty of technology may wear off in the years to come, particularly if it becomes the norm in modern classrooms; however, technology can provide at least a short-term solution to enhance student learning as well as motivate students to come to school and work hard in a setting that is less boring and more intellectually stimulating.  

Wiley Elementary attributes their successful year to expanding the school day, rewarding teacher achievement, and implementing gender separation in the classroom. While all of these changes likely helped improve student success, the school focuses on the value of gender separation, which is becomingly increasing popular in American schools despite resistance from organizations like the American Civil Liberties Union. At Wiley, boys and girls receive the same instruction but in slightly different learning environments. Middleton Heights Elementary School went as far as to painting the rooms different colors for boys and girls. There is still little research that demonstrates just how effective gender separation is in our schools; however, this is a minor change that could enhance the quality of education for our students in the meantime.

      It is important to remember the difference between long- and short-term solutions. Strategies, such as technology use and gender separation, are not long-term solutions; they are merely band-aids that may help enhance the quality of our students’ education until we develop a long-term, large-scale approach to education reform. As long as people remember that these quick fixes are only meant to enhance educational experiences and not revolutionize them, and it is understood that these will not fix our school systems but help support our current students for the time being, I think there could be value in considering some superficial changes that are easy to implement on a large scale. It may be quite some time, if ever, that we develop a reform that can be applied on a larger scale, but until we achieve this, we should not continue to neglect the opportunities to enrich the educational experience of our current students.

http://www.educationnews.org/k-12-schools/schools-take-different-path-towards-academic-success/

http://www.digtriad.com/news/education/article/235973/165/Technology-Helps-Boost-Test-Results-At-Triad-School

http://www.educationnews.org/k-12-schools/number-of-single-sex-classrooms-growing/

Click "Start" to Learn

            Place a highly effective teacher in front of the classroom to make a difference.  What if we go further and provide each student with a highly effective teacher of his or her own?  Each lesson would be tailored perfectly for every single child.  Differentiation, evaluation, and content based on preference would be available immediately.  Computer programs like Read 180 and those created by Dr. Schank eliminate the need for teachers and place students in front of a computer screen for individualized learning sessions.  The difficultly may exist in letting go of the traditional classroom setting, but the benefits for student achievement might make it worth our while.  Students are able to move at their own pace and move on once content is mastered.  In a traditional setting students are frequently moved with the whole group to new content even though they failed an assessment.  

            The teacher’s role would change dramatically if a computer program completed all planning, instruction, and evaluation.  Would a teacher be necessary in a school where programs like this are used?  Are schools even necessary if programs like this are used?  A criticism of these programs would be that human interaction is irreplaceable.  An interactive computer program is not the same as interacting with another human being. 

            Baltimore City has waged war on students’ use of personal electronics in school without addressing their talent in using social media, playing video games.  If our students are failing with current methods and aching to click, scroll and tweet, perhaps these programs offer a realistic compromise that could truly reform a district.   

Using Technology to Improve Nutrition

July 1^st marked the date public schools were required to be in compliance with the new nutrition standards in the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Program.  Recently, the New York Times reported at the annual conference held by the School Nutrition Association and explored some of the innovative menus being served in our nation’s public schools (for more information see http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/18/us/school-menus-get-a-fresh-look.html?ref=education).  With many children eating two, even three meals a day at school, the need for better nutrition standards is dire.   However, filling students’ plates with servings of vegetables, fruits, and whole grains will be useless unless they are educated about the healthful effects their changing lunch menus..  How do we educate our students about the benefits of good nutrition so that they are making healthy choices outside the walls of the school building and into their adult lives?

            One answer to this question is the University of Maryland’s Text2BHealthy program, tested in eight Maryland public schools this past school year.  Utilizing ubiquitous technology to target parents, Text2BHealthy sends text messages to parents with practical suggestions on how to improve their children’s diets and keep them active.   As one of the eight test schools, my school, Moravia Park Elementary Middle welcomed educators from the program who cooked with students and taught them about the importance of eating fruits and vegetable  Now in its second year of operation, Text2BHealth will be studied by University of Maryland Department of Family scholars Stephanie Grutzmacher and Katherine spheres to test the efficacy of the project.  With grass roots programs like Text2BHealthy and a new set of nutrition standards aimed at improving our students’ health, there is hope that education about healthy and active lifestyles will be re-integrated into the public school system.

To keep updated with this study, see:http://sph.umd.edu/news/whats_new.cfm?id=18221

The Baltimore Development Initative

Prior to embarking on my first year teaching, I was an Out of School Time Coordinator for an organization called Elev8 Baltimore. Essentially, I was responsible for coordinating and managing an after school program  for fifth through eighth graders at an East Baltimore school. My time in the position was formative insomuch as it made painfully clear to me that students in Baltimore City were struggling on many fronts and mere good intentions would not be enough help them succeed. It seemed obvious to me then that there needed to be radical changes in the community and the overall responsibilities of schools.

I continued to formulate the lessons I learned but I held little optimism for any real change in Baltimore until I read about Harlem Children's Zone (HCZ) and Geoffrey Canada's work to once again establish Harlem as a thriving community through education. I found myself compelled by Canada's success and wondered why no-one ever tried this type of reform in Baltimore. Baltimore, as a city of neighborhoods, seems the ideal location to create a community based school -- the small communities are homogenous in nature and certainly in need of revitalization. Indeed, Elev8 and the East Baltimore Development, Inc. that operates it were born as a response to the steady decline of housing, schools, businesses, and human capital in the area north of the JHU Medical Campus. Though the impact these initiatives may have on East Baltimore are largely unclear, they speak to the possibility of significant reform.

At present time, EBDI and Elev8 provide supplemental services to four schools in the community -- out-of school time opportunities, school-based health services,  support and outreach for the families they serve. Further, EBDI works to provide infrastructure, workforce development, and housing and employment counseling among other services. In East Baltimore then, it would seem that significant, though slightly disjointed, changes are being made. However, to truly work these initiatives need complete and utter cohesion. There cannot be any gaps in the model or any uncertainty about the end goal because that is the point at which reform faces death as Geoffrey Canada can attest to. Speaking of Canada, the initiative also requires a clear leader. Currently, there is no official leader of spear-header of the project -- it is run by a board. While democratic,  I believe that the lack of an official leader weakens the promise of the initiative. 

Baltimore needs EBDI to succeed and, despite its shortcomings, I think it will prove a worthy initiative.  It is my hope that change in East Baltimore will begat change in West Baltimore and so on.

Educating the Mind, but at the Expense of the Body?

What is the purpose of public education?  What subjects do we think are most important to teach?   When we discussed these questions throughout the course of the last two weeks, our answers to the first question (many of us agreed that the HCZ model of providing holistic education to our students and other members of the community was crucial to ending the achievement gap) came in slight conflict with our answers to the second question.  We were asked to identify what we saw as the order of importance of the subjects taught in public schools.  The overwhelming majority of us ranked Physical Education at or near the absolute bottom of our list; while Health was ranked slightly higher on average it was still usually in the bottom ten as well.  Then, when the public response to the same question was revealed, we were shocked to see the importance responders placed on these subjects.

As we began studying Harlem Children's Zone as a model for education reform, however, many of us cited Canada's efforts to educate parents, children, and other community members on issues of public health that are often a major issue in low-income neighborhoods.  In comparing the KIPP model with HCZ, most of us agreed that it was, in fact, the responsibility of public schools to provide some form of Health and Physical Education. 

Recently, the New York Times reported that despite growing public concern over childhood obesity rates, Physical Education classes are being cut nationwide.  The article suggests that the growing emphasis on tested subjects such as Reading and Math, combined with increasingly tight budgets in public schools, has led to this decline in programs.  Unfortunately, the very Physical Education programs that are being cut in favor of "more academic content" have been proven to have a positive impact on student achievement. 

Keeping in mind the positive impact Phys. Ed can have on our students, as well as the apparent public opinion that Health and Phys. Ed. should be priorities in our schools, why have major urban districts turned their back on these subjects? 

Master Teacher Corps

Today the Obama administration announced a new plan to create a corps of master teachers with the goal of improving education in high-need subject areas.  The plan would cost $1 billion and would focus specifically on math and science teachers.  These master teachers will receive a yearly stipend of $20,000 in exchange for several years commitment to the program.  The program aims to have 10,000 teachers in the Master Teacher Corps within four years.   Master Teacher Corps hopes to encourage science and math education by providing incentives for high-performing teachers and equipping them with additional tools and knowledge to share with their colleagues.

While Obama's plan is specifically geared toward encouraging science and math, it made me think of the Baltimore City tracks for "master" or "lead" teachers, where high-performing teachers can earn almost $100,000.   Reading about plans like Obama's and seeing some increase of reforms based around merit-pay for teachers make me really encouraged, especially after our class discussion on teacher retention and recruitment.

Closing the achievement gap will never be possible without high-quality teachers in every urban classroom (although we know defining 'high-quality' is a whole other subject of its own).  One reason schools like KIPP are so successful is because their teachers are essentially self-selected to share a certain mindset and a work-ethic.  Great teachers flock to schools like KIPP because it is a chance for them to have the support and incentive to perform at the peak of their craft.  Why can't public schools offer this same appeal?  Unfortunately, teaching does not usually have the same draw as law, medicine or business - which is typically where top talent ends up.   Creating corps of "master teachers" and offering high salaries for top-achievers is a great step in attracting more talent into the realm of teaching and giving them the incentive (and hopefully the support) to perform.  

I hope there continues to be more programs like the one Obama is proposing and I hope Baltimore City continues to use merit pay and reward high-performing teachers.  If we are going to attract the best teachers to our cause (and get them to stick around), we need to create a professional system that appeals to the top talent in our country.

The not so silver (but still rather shinny) bullet: Character

If you are a typical new teacher in Baltimore City, you will most likely have at least heard of the book Mindset and perhaps, like myself, have somehow come into possession of three (or more) pocket sized copies of the book. If you are even more like me (in which case, your procrastination is particularly attuned), after your third copy you read enough to learn its general premise of viewing failure as a means of growth and integral to one’s personal development. Similarly, if your classroom looks anything like mine (“Mr. Bradunas, this is just too much!”), you perhaps realized that this is a message missing in your students’ mindsets. 

A few months ago, NYT released an article (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/18/magazine/what-if-the-secret-to-success-is-failure.html?pagewanted=all) that spoke to our failure to teach students this lesson that they called grit. It made a small splash when released in the education field and after reading it, I became determined to make grit central to my classroom. Charts were made. Lessons taught. Lessons reinforced. Chants chanted.  Fast forward to May. Through an assessment of the highest rigor (watching my students during independent practice) it became apparent that my attempt to create a character development system had eroded in the daily grind of MSA prep. I leave it to you to infer exactly what happened. 

I am of the camp that education is two fold. Character and academics. I come from a background of private education and while I can barely remember trigonometry or chemistry (besides what I have relearned watching Breaking Bad), I can still remember my schools motto; Men of Faith, Intellect and Integrity. According to this, academics (intellect) is only 1/3 of the equation. Granted, mottos are not made with proportion in mind and so I’ll settle with saying that character is, I believe, paramount to what education’s true purpose is. 

The NYT article referenced research that stated grit is the single strongest predictor of future success. I’ll go on to say that character in general is a better predictor of future success than any MSA score. Out of curiosity, I created a couple wordles of education blogs and found that none of them had character as one of the words in the wordle. The greatest predictor of academic success does not appear in blogs whose singular purpose is to talk about education. (Caution: this was not done with any true consistency and so I would be more than happy if anyone found a blog that mentioned character on a consistent basis). 

The reasons for this are quite simple. Character is abstract, hard to measure, and not tested (and therefore not related to funding, evaluations, etc…). Character is a long-term variable that takes more than one year to develop. Character is not possible to standardize. I mean, if we can’t get together to agree on social studies standards, can you just imagine the meeting that would arise if we were to create a character system for the city? Character is also strongly related to morality which is strongly related to religion. And therein lies the problem. Character is complicated. Too complicated to be the silver bullet. Too complicated to be used to justify funding. And so, while we may possess three copies of a book that helps make us effective, we fail to pass on this knowledge to our students. The key to committing something to memory is repetition. Perhaps we should start talking about character a bit more. 

The Summer Slide

I recently read an article from the Des Moines Register presenting the argument for year round schools. The data from the Des Moines Public Schools, where five elementary schools, who serve a high number of low income (87% FARMS) and ESOL students are proving the case that a shortened summer break, from 12 to 6 weeks is helping keep students on track and lessening the dreaded summer slide. Standardized testing scores are not off the charts, but a move from the lowest performing spot in the district to outperforming the district averages shows progress in the right direction.

I wonder how such a shift from the traditional school year to a year round model would benefit our students here in Baltimore City? We see our students make so much progress during the year, only to have to spend the first couple months of the school year re-teaching material as well as classroom expectations. Those opposed to the idea argue that a shortened summer break does not allow for family time, summer camps, and part time jobs. While this argument might hold up in a suburban community where these programs are easily accessible,  many of our students here in Baltimore City do not have the same level of  opportunity to attend such enrichment camps or summer reading programs.

The article failed to discuss the positives and pitfalls for teachers with a year round calendar. Based on my own experiences I would have to believe that such a system with more frequent breaks would allow for rejuvenation, self-reflection, and the opportunity to attend professional development. With such a system I also wonder how student growth could be better assessed on a more frequent basis and the findings could be applied to instruction in a timely fashion?

You can read the full article at: http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20120709/NEWS02/307090051/1004/NEWS02/Year-round-schools-Des-Moines-report-improved-test-scores

Pennies for Thoughts

With great reform comes great price tags. It seems that at the center of any reform conversation is the question of where the money is going to come from to fund the project. An obvious way to generate funds is through taxes, but even the slightest increase can be met with huge disapproval. In San Antonio, a 1/8th cent tax to fund the city’s full-day preschool programs in an effort to even the playing field for low-income and minority students is being met with significant opposition. According to the New York Times, the tax would cost the average family less than $8/year. With the importance of preschool and the devastating effects of the achievement gap before Kindergarten being demonstrated consistently across studies, is a couple of dollars too much to ask? Perhaps, especially since a June report from the US Census Bureau indicated that per pupil spending is up 1.1% from the previous year, once again stimulating the debate over whether spending more money leads to gains in the classroom. DC Public Schools, which consistently spend the most per student, is often the subject of great scrutiny because their test scores put them well below the national average despite their spending. Baltimore City ranks third highest among the 50 largest school districts in the country in per pupil spending, up at $14,711/student in the 2009-2010 school year and that’s only going to go up.  Less than three weeks ago, Mayor Rawlings-Blake signed the Bottle Tax into law, which will go into affect next year to improve school facilities. Because taxpayers are often very aware of how much money is going to schools due to new ballot measures and extensive media coverage, they are often quick to judge the quality of schools, increasing the pressure of reform efforts to show immediate effects.

Perhaps taxpayers and politicians could be better swayed with a cyclical argument (that admittedly, is not particularly new and rather cyclical itself.) Janet English discusses an economic model that suggests that a good teacher can dramatically impact the economy. High school graduates, she argues, earn 133% of what high school drop-outs make, and if a teacher could help a student reach their potential and earn as little as 1% more per year, that would equate to about $40,000 over the course of a lifetime per student.

 The question is, can we find the efforts to fund that given a few dollars here and there will amount to thousands of dollars at the end? And is it the lack of resources or the improper allocation of them that are causing are schools to fail? While 1/8 of a cent seems like such a trifle to provide an intervention that has shown to be so successful, since failed efforts have been so widely publicized and critiqued, it makes sense that the public is so resistant to these changes. Regardless, stronger and more sound studies of reform efforts will help us make sense/cents of it.

The Problems of Housing Discontinuity

A few weeks ago I came across a local newspaper entitled Word on the Street which “aims to educate the community and expose the underlying causes of homelessness.” The front page story of the issue was titled “Lack of affordable housing key to homelessness and poverty”.  It explored the history of budget allocations for the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and how they have attributed to a stark increase in homelessness in Baltimore. In particular, the article mentions the effects of the HOPE VI program initiated in the 1990s. HOPE VI manifested itself in Baltimore with the demolition of existing housing projects and replaced them with mixed-income developments, which displaced over 20,000 residents, of which only a small fraction of would end up living in the HOPE VI sites.

As a proponent of the Harlem Children’s Zone (HCZ) and community schools, I couldn’t help but see homelessness and/or frequent relocation as significant obstacle that would have to be addressed. Not only does this affect children’s ability to focus one getting to school and to focus in school, but it also compromises the continuity of a child’s education. Part of the allure of what Geoffrey Canada has been able to set up so successfully in Harlem is that there is sustained support for children and their families. These supports, from parenting information to test prep to healthcare access, are able to have a compounding effect for the children and families in the neighborhood, but what if you have to move out of the neighborhood? In my opinion, what is so critical about the HCZ and the concept of community schools is that they provide the stability to build up positive momentum over a long period of time. Unfortunately, families that move in and out would have a difficult time building up enough momentum to see significant educational outcomes.

For community schools or HCZ-like endeavors to be successful in Baltimore, I believe ensuring that students have stable living accommodations must be a priority. While this may not be an issue in some communities, in others this is sure to be a significant challenge. Although the HUD programs of the past may not have been helpful in this area, this agency could be a very strong ally for school and community leaders. After all, the Department of Education shouldn’t be the only one looking out for the best interests of children.

You can find more information about Word on the Street at http://wordonthestreetbaltimore.wordpress.com/

Rewinding a Year

Just one year ago today, everybody in our class was surviving the intensive Teach for America summer training program called Institute. I thought back to that time, when I was so full of hope, so full of inspiration, and so full of the belief that students everywhere can achieve. Fast-forward a year, to this School Reform class, and I hear on a daily basis the same complaints that cynics everywhere shower upon our inner-city children. If it isn’t being short on resources, it’s having an under qualified administration, a central office that makes poor decisions, or a curriculum that doesn’t make sense. What happened to the belief that our children can achieve?

I stumbled on this story earlier, about a woman named Dr. Camika Royal, who was a TFA Baltimore member in 1999, and gave the speech at the opening ceremony of induction recently in Philadelphia. Speaking of school reform, Dr. Royal has kept a close eye on the happenings in Philadelphia, where they are completely eliminating the school district in favor of charter management organizations. Her point is that, as teachers, we are the ones who, in her words, “control the weather.” Educators, she says, and I agree with, are not bad, but they are tired and reform weary. And our students are more than test scores, subgroups, and graduation rates- they are human beings, who want the best for themselves and for the people around them.

A year later, I feel that a part of me forgot that simple truth.  The simple truth that, despite the challenges we face as educators on a daily basis, we are here because we believe that our students can do well for themselves and for the world. Maybe there are some things that schools or school districts can change along the way to make our jobs easier, such as creating smaller schools, supplying us with more resources, etc. But, in the end, our job is to teach. Whatever reform the school districts have in store for us shouldn’t effect our simple ability to teach to our fullest.