Teachers Say They Are Unprepared for the Common Core

            The Common Core State Standards is going to be hitting 46 states and the District of Columbia for good starting in August.  While many schools have opted in to the new curriculum already for the 2012-2013 school year, everyone will have to be on board in less than half a year and yet I came across an article in EdWeek titled, “Teachers Say They Are Unprepared for the Common Core.” 

Reassuringly, 67% of teachers said that they feel the CCSS will improve teaching.  I agree with this statistic and I think the Common Core will show a transition to teaching from a more skills-based perspective than merely content based and that the CCSS will force upon teachers a shift in instruction that needs to happen.  While I did not feel a big shift in the pedagogy expected from teachers (likely because I am only a second year teacher and the CCSS is the framework in which I began my career), it is understandable that many teachers have to rework their system of teaching to meet the needs of the new curriculum – which isn’t to say that’s a bad thing.

            The biggest question that comes to my mind is “how do we get teachers more prepared?” Only 60% of teachers teaching at risk youth who had more than 5 days of preparation and professional development regarding the CCSS felt prepared to teach their students.  Having the same amount of preparation, only 40% of teachers who educate students with disabilities and English-learners felt prepared to implement the standards.  Knowing that these are the populations that we work with in Baltimore City, it is unacceptable to think that potentially less than 60% of our teachers will feel prepared to help our students meet success in the coming school year.

            From my own experience and in speaking with other BCPS teachers, the personnel administering my professional development do not teach the same demographic that I teach.  Yes, they teach 6^th grade science like myself, but in regards to students current level of academic performance, there is no comparison.  To teach me how to effectively engage students and teach students CCSS, facilitators use on grade level or above text and many strategies that I know are higher than and inappropriate for most of my students’ academic levels.

            The disconnect between professional development and individual teachers’ needs is frustrating and what I believe is holding teachers back from feeling like they will meet the CCSS with success.  What teachers need is time to collaborate within their school settings and with an expert on how these standards can realistically be implemented in our schools.  Likewise, if professional development is held on site at teachers’ schools, they have to go.  Currently many teachers are not going to district wide CCSS development sessions. How can a whole school be prepared for testing of CCSS when certain teachers at those schools aren’t even learning about how to implement the standards?  Furthermore, we need the time to plan for and adjust our current lessons and units to blend with and meet the same standards of the CCSS.

I also can’t help but wonder if this poll was taken by a number of worried teachers that are feeling the urgency of the Common Core pressing down.  While we have been practicing with the standards and some schools have opted in, until we are assessed on the CCSS, there is no way to tell if teachers really were or were not prepared.  Only time will tell.  Until then, what do you other bloggers think?  Do you think the shift to Common Core is a smart one?  How prepared do you feel for the shift to happen?

Article Link: http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2013/02/27/22common_ep.h32.html?tkn=QYVFy81d5R7avRfWtqsMHKs07ao9B7Xvxyz0&cmp=clp-edweek

Safety and Suspensions

It was Wednesday morning at my school. I arrived at my normal time but immediately upon turning on my computer checked my inbox and saw someone had sent me a link. It was an ABC news story about how school assaults on staff were on the rise. It was not the best way to start my day. Almost immediately after reading this I stepped out into the hallway where two students were fighting. A staff member and school security personnel broke up the fight but one student would not stop, and was very close to striking the school security staff that had intervened.

Some of the schools that we work in have serious safety concerns. A minority of our students come to us with issues that are not easily addressed with re-directions, consequences and incentives. As it stands, the system does not provide enough real support for these students. They are often passed between schools, pushed into transferring, or bouncing from suspension services or alternative programs.

There are many ideas and studies on how to support these students, but that is not the central focus of this post. Student and staff safety is the main focus. It may seem cynical to focus on safety over strategies for these children but bear in mind I choose to work in these schools and, on most days, I do my best to educate every student I teach.

We cannot completely fix the education of these students if they attend schools that are dangerous. The culture of schools and the consequences and systems of schools need to be all aligned behind the idea that every school should be completely safe. I am not simply talking about assaults on adults. I am talking about verbal threats, menacing, and intimidation. The culture of acceptance and the reality of these behaviors need to change in every school.

Suspension numbers be damned. While we cannot teach individual children if they are suspended, we cannot teach a classroom of children if a culture of violence prevails. Students in every school need to know that these behaviors are not acceptable. This needs to be taught and reinforced with actions. If this is done, in the best case scenario children will learn to avoid these behaviors. Worst case scenario, at least there will be consequences for such actions which is a step up from where we are now in certain schools.

Getting back to the original incident that happened the morning that I read the story. The one student that was fighting another student and attempting to strike the school security staff was not suspended. There was no real consequence or even discussion of his behavior, he remained in classes for the day. While keeping him in school may seem like a good idea, my perspective from the classroom says otherwise. This student, just two weeks prior to this, had repeatedly shoved me in my classroom and tried to forcefully steal my personal property. He was not suspended for these actions.

I do not think that suspensions or consequences are the only answer for troubled students. But in the absence of anything else, I believe strongly that my students and I deserve to be safe.

Read more from ABC 2 Baltimore: http://www.abc2news.com/dpp/news/region/baltimore_city/student-on-teacher-assaults-on-rise

Recently, the Baltimore City School Board announced that several City Schools will be closing or renovated within the next ten years.  Low enrollment and outdated facilities have been the main concern of Baltimore City School officials.  Each school building in the city was evaluated and became a part of an intense intervention for the much desired update to the school buildings.  Some schools will receive basic updates at the end of the ten years, while others are facing more immediate “solutions” including school closure.

 

For some communities, the news that their school is being closed has been cause for an uproar.  Some communities have protested at school board meetings while others have even taken legal action in response to the news. 

In particular, the community of Northwestern High and some of its highly successful alumni have filed a lawsuit claiming that the decision is discriminating against low-income, minority groups.  The counterargument is that most schools in Baltimore City have similar demographics to Northwestern and are able to supply their students with an updated facility and effective teaching resources – unlike Northwestern High School.  If the decision was truly meant to deprive low-income, minority students, the majority of schools in the city would be closed. 

But, while parents and alumni are concerning themselves with saving a fallen building, I think that they should be more concerned about where their children are destined to go after the school is closed.  While Forest Park High School, the school students are being transferred to, is benefiting greatly from the reconstruction of Baltimore City Schools, their recent test scores have fallen even below that of the dismal scores of Northwestern.  In the case of Northwestern students I would pose the question: can a new building be the answer for both school communities?  Will glossy hallways and up-to-date art centers be the answer to failing schools?  Forest Park will also experience a school that is running at full capacity; will this help students be career and college ready?  And if Forest Park does not prove to offer the turn around it appears the school board is claiming it will be, what are the other options?

Climate Survey Results at Forest Park

Climate Survey Results at Northwestern

Blended Learning: A phenomenon that could actually change education for the better?

            As a classroom teacher, I’ve become increasingly interested in different ways to deliver instruction.  One of these methods is blended learning.   Blended learning is a method of teaching where are portion of instruction is delivered online.  The Innosight Institute has categorized different types of blended learning: the enriched virtual model, where student students use an online learning program that is complemented with a teacher in a classroom on an as needed basis, the flex model, where students receive most of their instruction through online tools and teachers circulate to provide extra help, the rotation model, where students rotate on a fixed schedule between online learning and spending time with a teacher in a traditional classroom, and the self-blend model where students choose to take one or more courses online to supplement their schools other course offerings.

While many of these models are used in a higher education setting, a number of charter school organizations have adopted the rotation model of blended learning, in which students use online learning tools and rotate through small groups with a classroom teacher.    

Blended learning is unique because it allows the teacher to be a true “guide on the side.”  Suddenly it’s not longer imperative that the teacher, execute a lesson effectively.  Instead they can be more concerned with helping students understand the depth and complexity of the material.   Additionally, by allowing students to spend a portion of time using an online tool, they are learning important technical skills that will aid them in their careers.  While the research on the impact of blended learning is still preliminary, I think that this type of instruction delivery could really revolutionize the way in which students learn because it allows for more targeted small group instruction, and it could prepare students more effectively for the future. 

To learn more about blended learning, check out the work that innosight institute is doing: http://www.innosightinstitute.org/media-room/publications/education-publications/classifying-k-12-blended-learning/

Keeping Urban Schools Safe

It is no secret that urban schools serve many needs of students beyond education. Schools provide sports, clubs, counseling, therapy, and two meals a day to students. It is also our charge to keep students safe. Inner city schools themselves are not inherently unsafe places, however the violence of the city can infiltrate the school walls and metal detectors.

For the past two weeks, This American Life on NPR produced a two-part episode on this exact topic. The program spent a few months in an inner city high school in a rough neighborhood in Chicago, Harper High School, in which there had been 27 students shot in the previous year, six of whom died. Harper, facing significant issues, was deemed a turn-around school, and given additional millions of dollars over five years to try and enact real change with this additional support. To help the student body in this tragically violent setting, the school added support staff of social workers, counselors, and enrichment/mentoring programs, including teams of people who speak with students and community members to stay informed of happenings in and around school to take preventative measures against violence. However, as the school is in its fifth year of turn around status, the money goes away next year, and with it the staff, programming, and sense of community it took so long to build. Two security guards who worked at the school for a long time commented, “It always changes when the money is added. Then everything goes backward when it’s lost. There’s more fights. The violence gets worse.”

I am not a proponent of the argument that increased funding will save urban schools in America. That is far too simple. However, I do believe that kids must feel safe in order to learn. They must feel like they have a shot at life in order to be invested in an education to make their lives better. To create this environment, it does take more staff and programming, which in turn does require more funding. Students must take care of their most pressing needs of physical and emotional safety before opening their minds for learning.

The final act of the program addressed a tweet at This American Life that stated the program “found the most violent high school in the country.” They addressed the point that this is statistically impossible to tell, and, more importantly, Harper High School is not an isolated case. Poignantly, principals and teachers in cities all over the country state the number students who have been lost to violence at their schools. I will add my statement to theirs:

My name is Sara John. I am a teacher at Patterson High School in Baltimore. I have lost one student this year to violence.

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/487/harper-high-school-part-one

The Plight of Principals

EdWeek has an article out this week on principals' increasing frustration with their jobs. The national survey they conducted found that "three out of four K-12 public school principals, regardless of the types of schools they work in, believe the job has become 'too complex,' and about a third say they are likely to go into a different occupation within next five years." The article goes on to talk about some of the principals' complaints of how their jobs have become increasingly more difficult over the last five years because of the mounting responsibilities that they are given. A couple of the more recent tasks added onto this list include implementing Common Core Standards and handling tight budgets.

 

It does not surprise me that principals are dissatisfied with their jobs. Being a teacher, I see the stress that my own principal experiences on a daily basis trying to juggle all of her responsibilities in an effort to keep our school afloat. The duty of rolling out Common Core Standards in our school is one endeavor in particular that has resulted in added pressure to our administration and staff. While I am not surprised at the high level of dissatisfaction among principals, I am worried about what these statistics mean for the future of Baltimore City Schools in particular. There are already enough ever changing factors within our schools; the last thing we want is to see lower retention among our school leaders.

 

One question to ask is whether it is fair for principals to be given the amount of responsibility that has been piled onto their plates. Are there other routes or stakeholders that could help to balance out the workload? Another question to ask--and this is the one that concerns me more--is whether principals are even prepared to take on the workload that has been handed over to them. I realize that there is much work to be done in our schools, and someone certainly has to be the one to step up and take on the responsibility. I also do not doubt that our principals are willing to take on the heavy load that is necessary for their schools to achieve. The problem that I see is that principals are being asked to do more, but they are not being given the support, training, and professional development needed to effectively manage the heavier load and meet the demands of new expectations. I believe that there are some great leaders within our schools in Baltimore, but I think that our schools are unfortunately missing out on the great potential that our leaders bring to the table because the proper mechanisms of training and support are not in place to see the potential of our leaders actualized. Baltimore City has been cracking down on principals, emphasizing new expectations of increased accountability. While I agree that there needs to be a great push for competent school leaders, I also see a need for our district leaders to own up to a commitment to our principals--one in which they don't see demotions as the solution to fixing issues of school leadership, but instead they invest in developing those leaders to be able to meet higher expectations.

To view article: http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2013/02/21/22leaders.h32.html?tkn=RUWFk5wLOIjnL%2BWf9udaOFtcL79VZ9aVGnSb&cmp=clp-edweek

Measuring teachers effectives: Teacher actions that cannot be measured

Bullying has been a topic of conversation not just in Baltimore City Public Schools, but also across the nation. This upcoming Wednesday, February 28^th CNN will release a powerful documentary called, “The Bully Effect.” This documentary captures the story of three families who were callously effected by their son or daughter being bullied. “The Bully Effect” aims to expose the tremendously hurtful and sometimes deadly actions some students inflict on other students on their way to and from school. Additionally, the documentary aims to reveal how individuals are making difference in their communities and all throughout the country are standing up against bullying.

The conversation of bullying is relevant to our upcoming classroom discussion on value-added (VA) scores which are used to only measure academic teacher effectiveness in some states. These scores are based on the end-of-year test scores of a teacher’s students. A teacher whose students’ scores exceed expectation, get a high VA score. A teacher whose students achieve below expectations receive allow score. In opposition, some educators argue that the VA-based evaluations unfairly reward or penalize teachers based on the students they teach rather than on their true impact which at times cannot be measured-student change in mindset, student development of confidence, and in this example helping a student through a mental and physical challenge (bullying).

Placing this type of stress or emphasis on teachers, limits and discourages a teacher to be actively involved with all the other components that develop a whole child – sports, character building, and in class and after school safety. Teachers are being placed under strict scrutiny; we are pressured day in and out to deal with the multiple expectations placed upon us by the district. These expectations include both high test scores outcomes and certification requirements. Both of which research has shown to have very little impact on a student’s development. If we are expected to produce great citizens for our society, teachers cannot be suffocated with the pressures of producing a specific test score. We must be provided with the time and resources to address the development of the whole child, which includes the rising issue of bullying.

I agree that schools should be held accountable to student achievement, but how can a school focus solely on achievement, when their students are combating violence in and outside of schools in multiple ways? How can a teacher direct all of his or her attention to only producing academic gains, if there are so many complexities with in an urban school? The question at hand, what's at stake when you have teacher striving to be effective in only one area in order to earn that high VA score? Is it not significant for a teacher to help students cope or escape bullying or other incidents of malice and violence? Should these teacher actions not be factored in when evaluating their effectiveness to be a teacher in an urban setting?

http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2013/02/12/ac360-special-documentary-the-bully-effect/

Teacher Preparation and Certification

After our class discussion this week about teacher preparation and certification, I started to wonder where Maryland ranked in the country for our teacher preparation programs.  A recent Baltimore Sun article showed me that Maryland’s teacher preparation programs recently scored a D+ on the National Council on Teacher Quality’s annual report card. 

The report said that Maryland should raise requirements for applicants wanting to enter teacher prep programs in schools of education and hold them accountable for how effective the teachers they produce are.  In the same report, the NCTQ gave Maryland high marks for its accessibility to alternative certification programs.  I thought this was an interesting point considering that myself and many of my co-workers come from alternative certification programs such as Teach for America or Baltimore City Teaching Residency.  I thought about our different routes into teaching and if one prepared us better than the other.  I know this is a highly debated topic and that there hasn't been much concrete evidence showing whether teachers from alternative programs perform better or worse than those that were traditionally certified.  

From my experiences, I have seen myself and other teachers from these alternative programs perform better then traditionally certified teachers in my school.  One of the traditionally certified teachers in my school said she felt completely unprepared to teach in an urban school.  She said her program taught her a great deal about how to teach in a rural or suburban district, but not how to teach in an urban district.  She ultimately felt overwhelmed and quit her second month into teaching at my school.  Whereas, my co-workers and I felt more prepared for the urban setting because we had been more informed of the challenges.  Not only that, but we all possessed the same traits of being resourceful and relentless.  She received four years of teacher training, and us a few months to a year, and yet we have excelled and lasted at our school.  I agree with the study in that Maryland and other states should raise the requirements, but not based on say things like SAT scores or grades.  I think applicants to a teacher preparation program should have an interview or a “sample lesson” before being accepted.  Strong teachers need to possess a certain set of character traits and beliefs that standardized tests don’t necessarily capture.  I believe a strong teacher possesses the skills to think on his/her feet, is resourceful, takes criticism, is able to multi-task, has a strong presence, and is someone that’s not willing to give up.  I think the last trait is extremely important because teachers have to be willing to never give up on their students.  It is a challenge for schools and students when a teacher quits during the school year.  The school has to scramble to find a replacement and the students have their stability and learning interrupted.

 I think Teach for America does a great job with their screening process for the fact it is heavily interview based.  I’ll never forget the question I received when I was interviewed for Teach of America – “What would make you quit before the end of your commitment?” My answer-“Nothing.” 

            I think teacher preparation programs in Maryland and across the country need to take a hard look at their admission requirements and consider adding an interview component so they can get a better look at the character traits of the people entering their programs.  With the right classes and training, anyone can learn a content, but not everyone can learn the traits it takes to be a strong teacher such as being relentless and resourceful.  I think once programs start screening for those traits, schools will be turning out stronger teachers and ones that will be in the profession for the long haul.