K - 8 Schools and the Opportunity Gap

There is little arguing with the data. It seems that K - 8 schools, quite common in Baltimore City, are here to stay, and data bears that they should be. In Mary Tamer's "Ed." magazine article "Do Middle Schools Make Sense," the answer seems to be a clear no. If student achievement, as measured by test scores, is the measure of success, the middle school model is not successful; it does not serve the purpose of a school by improving learning for its students.

However, there is more to a school than test scores. Our public schools are the great equalizers. They are places where students not only learn academically, but improve socially and gain experiences. In a small school, beginning or maintaining an extracurricular activity is a challenge. It is difficult to garner enough interest in activities to make it worthwhile. While the K - 8 school model is beneficial academically, it does not encourage students to have new experiences outside of the classroom.

Extracurriculars not only provide new opportunities for middle school students, they hook middle school-ers and may bring students to school who would not otherwise attend. At my school, middle school students have one extracurricular option: the school newsletter. Certainly the school newsletter will not interest all students. The school should be able to field a baseball or lacrosse team and a photography club. There should be 5 - 6 different activities, not one, for a middle school student to choose from. Perhaps the motivation and excitement about school associated with a favorite activity would translate into increased test scores and more confident and hard working people. If we intend to teach our students to be citizens and not test takers, we must find a way to increase access to a variety of opportunities within the middle grades of a K - 8 school.

Chronically Underemployed

While the challenges of a classroom, a school or even the district seem to be overwhelming as it is, the even greater context in which public education exists can’t be ignored. Scott Simon, host of PBS’s “Need to Know,” spent some time in Baltimore interviewing young men who are among, what he refers to as, the chronically unemployed. (See video here:http://video.pbs.org/video/2149549112/)

The interviews and segments briefly address the issue of education and its role in the cycle of unemployment directly, but the implications are obvious throughout the entire 7 min. clip. When factories and large industry left Baltimore, they left a huge employment void that has yet to be filled. Children are raised in communities that have no jobs and no prospects. They attend schools that have been chronically failing for decades.
The video begged the question – even if we fix education, even if each child graduates high school and goes on to college, is there a community that can sustain them? Provide them with job opportunities? Housing? The answer, currently, seemed to be a resounding no.

While the outlook may seem grim, the segment also made it clear that there are community members with drive and community members who are ready to welcome change. Re-contextualizing the information into a conversation about education, I challenge us to remember that it is not only our job to teach students so they may leave their communities, but teach students so they can help transform their opportunities for the next generation. 

Should school performance be used to evaluate teacher effectiveness?

            Baltimore City Public Schools is currently field-testing a new teacher evaluation system that it plans to implement in the 2013-2014 school year. The new evaluation model attempts to remedy the existing observation-based system, which critics claim does not accurately reflect disparities in teacher effectiveness. The innovative model will incorporate student growth measures, such as value-added scores based on standardized assessments, student surveys, measures of school performance and professional responsibility, and observations. While there is an emerging body of research on value-added measures and the utility of student surveys, there ought to be more debate on whether or not school-index scores should impact individual teacher evaluations.

            In the new evaluation framework, (accessible in presentation form here: http://www.baltimorecityschools.org/Page/18778) measures of student growth and the school index score will make up 50% of a teacher’s entire evaluation. Any individual component may not consist of more than 35% of the final effectiveness measure, which means that the school index score will make up at least 15% of a teacher’s evaluation. The school-index component will consider attendance, school-wide growth measures, and school climate. The District argues that this will promote teamwork within individual school communities and reward schools that tackle school-wide challenges. This sounds great, but I can’t help but wonder what effect this will have on schools facing the greatest challenges. City schools with the most concerning climate issues and lowest growth rates are arguably the hardest schools to work at from a teacher’s perspective. If teachers working at schools with positive climates are rewarded, then what incentive do effective teachers have to teach at our lowest performing schools?

            I am very skeptical of the idea that including school-index scores in teacher evaluations will incite school improvement. The idea that teachers will rally together to prompt school-wide change, in order to improve their evaluations, is troublesome. A low score will imply that teachers in failing schools are not working together or doing everything they can to improve their school. Teachers I know in failing schools will beg to differ. Schools fail for a multitude of reasons outside of teacher performance, including poor leadership and years worth of lowered expectations for academics and behavior. Improving schools and school climate starts with building a school family and a staff that is committed to the school, community, and students. How can a school build a strong community if it is constantly experiencing large staff turnovers like many failing schools?  If the school-index scores negatively impact overall teacher evaluations then this problem is only exacerbated. As a school district, we need to be thinking of ways to keep highly effective teachers in front of the children who need them most, and in my opinion, incentivizing employment in high-growth schools with positive climates is counterintuitive to improving failing schools. 

Teacher Motivation and Merit Pay

While researching for my position paper, I came across a study called “Incentive Pay Programs Do Not Affect Teacher Motivation or Reported Practices.” The researchers in this study surveyed teachers who were part of the following incentive pay programs across the nation: Project on Incentives in Teaching (POINT), Team Incentives (PPTI), and School-Wide Performance Bonus Program (SPBP). Although the three programs differed in program design, they all rewarded teachers on the basis of student achievement gains.

By interviewing the teachers, the study aimed to address important questions regarding merit pay programs- a) did teachers find incentive programs to be motivating? b) In response to the implementation of the programs, did teachers report changes in their practices or their working conditions?

Interestingly, the researchers found that teachers who participated in this study did not find their incentive programs as motivating, did not have high expectancy that their personal efforts would lead to student achievement gains, and did not see the opportunity as worthy of changing their behaviors. Thus, all three incentive programs had little impact on teachers’ instructional practices.

Before reading this article, I considered the absence of credible teacher evaluation systems to be a major barrier to incentive pay programs. Although this may be true, this article made me realize that teachers’ acceptability of reform is critical to success of all merit pay programs. If the ultimate goal of merit pay programs is to increase teacher effectiveness and student outcomes, then more attention needs to be given to factors that contribute to the lack of changes in instruction among teachers who participate in merit pay programs. First, it is important to examine why teachers lack motivation to achieve program goals. Second, it is important to not undermine teachers’ intrinsic motivation and existing accountability pressure, which may have stronger motivational effect on teachers than financial incentives. Third, and most importantly, it is critical to realize that teachers might not be equipped with the knowledge and skills required to improve student achievement. In other words, teachers in these incentive programs were not necessary lacking in motivation, but may have lacked resources. The teachers may have done best to improve student achievement if there were additional professional development or other capacity building mechanisms added to the merit pay program.

In conclusion, even though it is important that there has to be more studies examining and comparing the benefits of traditional salary system and merit pay plans, it is equally important to consider redesigning of other components of already existing merit pay plans. 

Article: Incentive Pay Programs Do Not Affect Teacher Motivation or Reported Practices : Results From Three Randomized Studies

Teacher of the Year!

Reading about the recently announced teacher of the year for Baltimore city is inspiring and it helps to show that there are great things happening in our schools. After reading about this year's teacher of the year, I find myself thinking about my own classroom with and my own students with a renewed sense of possibility. 

Despite different titles and the specifics of our teaching positions, we all share many of the same fundamental goals for our students. I was reminded of this when I read that "One of Stokes' chief philosophies is fostering independence and confidence in students, and challenging them to go beyond their comfort zones." I am a high school general education teacher and Ms. Stokes is a middle school special education teacher, but I share these same fundamental goals for my own students.  

I think that recognizing more of the great things that teachers are doing in their classrooms, and sharing out the successes that teachers are having with our students will not only help to inspire us to be better teachers tomorrow than we were today, but it will also help to unite us as professionals that too often operate as islands because we are so much more effective when we come together to share ideas, strategies, and information.


http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/baltimore-city/bs-md-ci-teacher-of-the-year-20130418,0,4172190.story

Should We Extend the School Day?

As a teacher, I am always running out of time to finish a lesson with my students. I often have to cut a lesson short or finish it the next day. This makes me think, “If I only had a little more time in the day…” Although I am thankful a day is over when it is many times, I did begin to wonder about the issue of an extended school day. Do extended school days really help students achieve higher standards of learning?

I recently read this article by the Washington Post about the latest research on the affects of an extended day on student learning. The article criticized the extended day model that is currently being pushed by the United Stated Department of Education. The article referenced two different studies that both showed that an extended day had little effect on student learning. However, the article did say that many of the school systems in the studies quickly put an extended day in place without thinking through the true needs of students and what would be done with the extra time. So I continued to do further research.

I found another article, that was posted by a user on the Washington Post, that actually referenced the correct way for an extended school day to happen. This gave me hope in the model. When done right, an extended day can really help students do a better job in school, especially students from high need areas such as Baltimore City

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/what-new-research-on-extended-school-day-says/2012/04/18/gIQAnmV3RT_blog.html.

http://www.educationsector.org/sites/default/files/publications/OffTheClock-RELEASED.pdf