Sinking Morale

In a recent New York Times Article, MetLife's Survey of the American Teacher revealed that teacher morale is at its lowest point since 1989. The survey included teachers, parents, and students and indicates particular factors that have caused the significant drop in satisfaction. Of the factors mentioned, common ones include:

• Increased pressure of standardized testing
• Increasing class sizes with fewer resources
• Overall job security.

The most interesting piece of the article for me was the section that identified that the results were consistent across teachers who were working in poor and stable neighborhoods. While ignoring the lack of clarity surrounding what a "stable" neighborhood is, it is also interesting to see that the race and ethnicity of the students, and length of a teacher’s experience, had little bearing on the survey's results. Despite the apparent consistency across the profession, the survey also noted that teachers working in urban schools with a large population of minority students reported lower satisfaction with their jobs.

Common trends amongst teachers who were satisfied with their jobs included a stronger sense of job security, more opportunities for (meaningful) professional development, longer planning time, and higher levels of parental involvement.

For those teaching in Baltimore City, most of these factors are familiar and relevant in our day to day work. It raises the question of what it would take to increase teacher satisfaction overall, but particularly in urban areas where many of these issues are magnified. It would appear that a multitude of factors result in higher or lower satisfaction, but how many of these factors are within the district, school, and teacher's control?

-Michelle

For Art's Sake

While arts education isn’t the hottest topic in Baltimore City reform circles, maybe its absence should be. An issue that has for years been condemned to a whisper—a need at once both clearly manifest and nearly mute under tons of testing turmoil—arts education is suddenly being spun to a different beat. And some urban school districts are beginning to listen.


Last week, the Chicago Tribute released an article with the headline, New study shows arts programs helped improve academic scores at three CPS schools. The article describes a recent study, conducted in partnership by the educational arts non-profit Changing Worlds and Loyola University, which attributed significant testing gains to arts programs in three Chicago Public Schools. Researchers tracked the test scores of 95 students enrolled in these schools, all of whom participated in Changing Worlds’ Literacy and Cultural Connections Programs, to find that “fourth graders who started with the program in 2009 saw an 11.5 percentage point gain in composite test scores,” and that these same students “scored on average more than 11 percentage points higher than fourth through sixth graders at the same schools who did not take part in the [arts] program.” (Let’s ignore for a moment that the creator of the program funded 50% of the study, and take them at their word.)

After Chicago Public School officials recently adopted a longer school day, many groups are using research like this to push arts enrichment activities into newly available time slots. Personally, I think this would be a valuable use of time. As a test-obsessed nation, we’ve gone too long starving students of the arts in service of sought-after scores. Rigorous arts education helps provide students with a means for thinking abstractly and creatively about topics—skills that serve them academically, as well as in more obvious artistic fields.

But the artist in me is sad to see that arts education is selling out. Should arts education have to play into the testing game to achieve its goals? Can’t we just appreciate this kind of learning, for art’s sake?

Read the article here:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/education/ct-met-cps-arts-20120228,0,2307593.story

  

Choosing Charter Schools

Dr. Steve Perry, a renowned educator, has an educational segment on CNN called Perry's Principles. In his recent segments he has discussed teacher evaluations, Dr. Alonzo's progress in Baltimore city public schools, and paying students to attend school. On one segment he is asked by parent for advice in choosing a charter school. The video brings to light a problem that most parents have which is a lack of knowledge about charter schools or schools in general. Steve Perry founded a public charter school in Hartford, Connecticut so he is considered somewhat of an expert. He offers the advice of completely ignoring any information on the internet about a school. "You must visit the school during a school day."

There are many websites and publications that boast to have the vital information that parents need to make the critical decision of school choice. Most of these websites and publications are missing key factors that affect the success and functionality of a school. Factors such as attendance rate, teacher turnover rate, and suspension rate are missing in these reports. Parents should conduct research and visits to schools. When visiting schools, it is important that parents ask questions that are important to them. If parents want their child to have an exceptional football coach, then they should ask to speak to the athletic director, the football coaches, and the head of football booster club. Dr. Perry insists on parents conducting multiple visits including the open house to get a complete picture of how a school operates.

 The link for the video is below:

·         http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/living/2012/02/26/perry-charter-school.cnn

T. Sims

A Superintendent for All?

In a recent article, Liz Bowie of the Baltimore Sun newspaper broke down Baltimore County’s search to find a new superintendent.

Read more at:

http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2011-12-01/news/bs-md-co-superintendent-search-20111201_1_attea-associates-search-firm-conduct-search

While the article states that in the last decade minority enrollment has increased in the county from 38% to 54% and students on subsidized meals has increased from 27% to 43%, Bowie also states that Baltimore County is “not seen as a major urban school system.” To say this is severely undercutting the paradigm shift of some Baltimore County schools away from a suburban model.

The company that Baltimore County Public Schools hired for the superintendent search claims that they reach out to parents, local community members, and officials in higher education in order to target the area’s specific needs and interests when picking a superintendent. The real question in my mind is, “What ‘areas’ are you specifically targeting for their opinions?” Are they too neglecting the increasingly urban environment of Baltimore County?

In my experience in Baltimore County, there have been many systemic changes for turn-around schools based on the successes of schools with vastly different demographics. For example, one policy in my school last year required all English teachers to assess my students on their ability to fill out “SOAPSTone” templates, a resource from the AVID college and career readiness board, on a variety of higher than grade level informational texts. For many of my students who were sufficiently below grade level in reading, the daily drills did more to frustrate them with reading than actually improve their levels. I am sure that a similar program may have worked in other schools in the county, but there was little done to consider the actual needs of my students. Whoever the new superintendent is, they must realize that Baltimore County serves a wide array of students, all with very different needs.

In order to have a superintendent that is effective in bringing change to Baltimore County as a whole, I think that we need to begin searching for someone with experience in both urban and suburban communities. Parents and community members from all areas of Baltimore must be represented, or else Baltimore will end up with someone looking for a panacea for two vastly different problems.

The Baltimore Sun: Principal Turnover

            Erica L. Green’s Baltimore Sun Blog post comments on a recent study by the RAND Corporation titled, “First-Year Principals in Urban School Districts: How Actions and Working Conditions Relate to Outcomes.” The report examines the working conditions of first-year principals and relates information on those factors to school achievement and principal retention. 

            In Baltimore City, New Leaders for New Schools has produced “nearly half of the city’s new principals in the last four years,” (Green) yet these principals are not sticking around. In 2007, a reported 188 principals led schools in Baltimore City. Today only 50 of those remain. In addition, Baltimore’s principal corps are younger, less experienced, and increasingly from regions outside of Baltimore and even Maryland. Many of these newcomers are more likely to leave if their school is unable to make AYP or if test scores decline in their first year. Furthermore, schools that lost its principal after one year noted declining achievement in subsequent years, according to the report. We must find a way to attract and support talented leaders for our schools.

            In my opinion, the ability to turn around a failing school rests just as much on a strong principal as it does on good teaching. I really believe that a good principal can make a mediocre teacher better, and a good teacher transformational. The type of change that we need to see across Baltimore City cannot just happen in individual classrooms; it needs to happen throughout entire schools. Good principals are an essential part of the equation to ensure these outcomes. 

A Dicey Future for Pre-K Kids

It’s no surprise that children who attend high-quality preschools enter kindergarten with stronger reading and writing skills. Perhaps more intriguingly, reformers assert that these studious 3- to 4-year-olds are less likely to become high school dropouts or face unemployment and incarceration. Whereas past dropout-prevention efforts have focused on at-risk teens, studies now suggest that offering preschoolers small class sizes, frequent parent conferences and effective teachers is the best approach to ensuring student achievement down the road.

Unfortunately, the majority of middle- and low-income families can’t afford to enroll their children in the best and priciest programs; currently, only about a third of Maryland’s 4-year-olds attend “high-quality kindergarten” schools, which can cost anywhere from $300 to $500 a month. And the other 66%? Well, you can forget about Harvard, kid.

Of course, the guys at North Ave. know that early childhood education is important — they just don’t know how to fund expanded access to high-quality ECE programs. The newest proposition is to legalize table games at Maryland’s slot sites, and use the gambling revenue to fund free, full-day pre-K for low-income families.

But is gambling revenue stable enough to support public education? Some argue that Maryland’s transition from slot machines to full-on casinos is inevitable, but others are more skeptical, stating that we should examine the real “efficacy of our current gambling program” before making any major expansions. Either way, it’s hard to oppose any bill that promises students more equitable access to a better education.

Overtime? Or Overpaid?

The Baltimore Sun published an article this week that spotlighted the amount of money the Baltimore City School System has paid employees in overtime over the past four years. My initial reaction to the steep figure, which is $14 million dollars, was relatively neutral. With 10,800 employees, you figure that overtime costs are inevitable.

However, as I continued reading I was completely shocked to discover that the top overtime earner in 2011 was Ralph Askins – Dr. Alonso’s driver. Askins “more than doubled his $76,816 wages, logging roughly $78,000 in overtime last year.” I actually had to take an extra couple of seconds to process these numbers. Am I missing something? Alonso’s chauffeur, who does also provide security, makes more money than Gov. Martin O’Malley and the highest-paid educator in any city school.

So, what are the Baltimore City Public Schools officials saying about this? Tisha Edwards commented about the overtime figures and made valid points about overtime being necessary at times to keep students safe, fill gaps and support the operations department. She also said that while overtime is an “expected expense for the system,” they are going to make sure that “those dollars are always being scrutinized.”

Askins declined to comment, which makes the situation that much more unclear to me. While I can understand Alonso’s need for some form of security working in the tougher parts of the city after hours, the amount of money Askin is making seems somewhat absurd! I would have liked to hear what the driver had to say about his salary and overtime figures in hopes of gaining some clarity. Until then, I can only hope that Edwards’ promise to scrutinize overtime spending will hold true.