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.