The Budget Blues

Ah, it’s that wonderful time of the year when birds are chirping, flowers are blooming, and nothing can be agreed upon in our school systems budget…

Today, I sat in a meeting with our principal as he was trying to be transparent about where our budget was going for the next school year, and it’s just downright frustrating!

The state hasn’t had their budget approved, which means the city hasn’t had their budget approved, which means the school district hasn’t had their budget approved, which leaves me wondering at this table…”Why are we crunching imaginary numbers based on no factual fiscal information?” Anyways, I digress.

In Baltimore County, County Executive created a budget with no tax increases for fiscal year 2013. At the core of his budget proposal was public education and public safety. Currently, in Towson, there is great overcrowding down the York Road corridor. Therefore, by renovating schools and adding more seats in up to date classrooms, 1,100 more students will be placed in a first rate building. This systemic overcrowding could only be solved by adding more seats. In addition, 10 county schools would be adding air conditioning. Finally, 124 teaching positions would be added for all the incoming 1,100 students, and 50 non-classroom positions would be eliminated.

So, what does this mean for Baltimore City? I believe Baltimore City should take note of the renovation efforts being made by Baltimore County. A warm environment with a functional building is essential for a happy school experience. No child wants to go to a school where asbestos is present or there are window that are cracked. That devalues the importance of education. A student should be comfortable in their classroom as well as the teacher. A happy environment provides the groundwork for a safe and comfortable zone where teachers and students can learn and grow.

Link:

http://www.baltimoresun.com/explore/baltimorecounty/ph-tt-budget-briefing-0418-20120411,0,4310296,full.story

Dropout Law

The Maryland General Assembly is considering passing a law that will raise the dropout age to 18. President Obama has made it clear that there is a national concern about the high dropout rates for high school students. The Baltimore Sun recently wrote an article explaining the pros and the cons about the law. It is obvious by the information in the article that bill will pass despite its many negative effects on education. Requiring students to remain in school until the age of eighteen will cost the state about 54 million dollars per year. The law does not take this into consideration because it has no mention of additional money being added to the yearly education budget. Also, another concern which lawmakers have ignored is the amount of problems that this will cause classroom teachers. Students who are forced to sit in school will be a major disruption to the other students.

Honestly, this law will be about effective as putting a band aid on a bullet wound. Times have changed but the idea of school has remained the same. The time has come for not just individual schools, but the idea of school to be reformed. There should be serious discussions between parents, teachers, and administration about the purpose and expected outcomes of school. After decisions have been made, policies should be put in effect to slowly transform modern day schools into schools of the future.

As a current teacher of over aged student, I am confident that raising the dropout age will have minimal effect on the dropout rate and graduation rate. Students view school as a tumultuous, disadvantageous job that yields no paycheck. School should prepare students for post-secondary life whether a student chooses the college or vocational route. When students have an invested interest in what they are learning and can clearly see the connection between their classroom lessons and potential problems in their real life situations, then the dropout rate will decrease. Math teachers are encouraged to include real life applications in their lesson but students very rarely see the relevance of those problems. A student who aspires to be a barber does not care about how an engineer uses trigonometry but would be more interested in learning business math. Every aspect of school needs to be reformed, even the curriculum.

The DOOMSDAY BUDGET

I recently read an article addressing the approaching “Maryland Doomsday Budget” which if passed would require $512 million worth of budget cuts to schools and state programs.  Granted, this large amount of money would be detrimental to many programs that are present and quite possibly effective.  But just for kicks, I feel that it would be interesting to play devils advocate to this issue. 

I am most curious as to how effective the district’s spending has been in the past years.  With evidence of misspending surfacing, (such as the $14 million in overtime spending to city schools employees, $154 thousand of which went to Dr. Alonso’s PRIVATE DRIVER), could a budget cut of this magnitude force the district to refine its spending?  Furthermore, with the control of individual school budgets being in the hands of principals who may not have any background in business or financial education, are the individual school budgets subject to misspending as well?  I routinely am reminded of this as I enter my school that has invested thousands of dollars in SmartBoard technology which, with the exception of a few teachers, is vastly under-utilized.  How many more “resources” has this district invested in which are either not used, or do not improve the quality of education for our students?

I would be curious to see Baltimore City School’s contingency plan addressing the fact that this budget cut may be passed.  Would they search to remove frivolous spending? (*cough *cough A private driver for our fearless superintendent?) Or would the cuts truly effect the quality of education in this district?

City schools will have to shed more than 100 international teachers

Dr. Alonso took a bold move when he hired over a hundred Filipino teachers a few years back as part of a cultural learning opportunity. However, at a meeting yesterday at Poly, Dr. Alonso informed over 100 international teachers that they needed permanent residency or risk losing their jobs. The district (BCPS) could not sponsor 46 international teachers. This was the result of a market-test that showed that there was a surplus of American certified teachers who could fill the spots held by Filipino teachers.

The article in the Baltimore Sun further noted that according to US Labor Law, districts could only hire foreign teachers with a work visas for positions unable to be filled by American workers. This law therefore makes the current situation change since American workers are able and ready to take those positions held by Filipino teachers. Dr. Alonso said that he wants to keep the teachers, but that pursuant to labor laws, he must act. The next market data test will take place every September from 2014 to 2017.

The recent article on this fiasco is definitely important to school reform. We all know that teacher vacancies and teacher retention is tough in the US educational system. Furthermore, what we see is that districts are forced to use different formulas to ensure students receive their education. I have witnessed how Filipino teachers in schools is a common phenomenon in Baltimore. However, I can see why the district chose this route. Filipino teachers also pose some issues such as a lack of cultural connection with students and language barriers. This is not to say that they are not compatible for our students; but it does shed light as to whether they are effective. I have students who have had Filipino teachers and they have cited an inability to connect or understand their teachers. We know that if students are not invested or build a relationship with the teacher, then academic and behavior concerns arise. I wonder what would be the ripple effect on all the schools and as budget concerns continue to plague us what will happen to other teachers in alternative programs.

Link:

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/education/blog/bal-job-market-test-finds-limited-positions-in-city-schools-for-international-teachers-20120411,0,1807229.story?track=rss

Maryland’s Service Learning Requirement: Good for Seniors?

Last week, the Washington Post published an article about Maryland’s mandate for all graduating seniors to complete 75 service learning hours. Of 35 states with policies on service learning, Maryland is the only state that requires service for graduation. Not surprisingly, many seniors put off this requirement until spring break of their senior year, leaving many in a last-minute rush to complete the hours. As a teacher in Baltimore City, I have also seen the spring break rush first-hand.

The larger question raised in this article is whether Maryland ought to have a service learning requirement. The intent of this requirement is to encourage students to gain experiential learning through community organizations. However, when students wait until the last minute to complete their service learning, the possibility of having a meaningful experience diminishes. Because of the rush of students during spring break, many charities and community organizations cannot accommodate the sheer number of students who want to volunteer.

Although Maryland could force students to spread out their 75 hours over a few semesters or even years, I think this would be far too difficult to monitor and enforce. Instead, I think teachers should infuse service learning into the high school curriculum. This way, service learning is not just a requirement that seniors must complete for a diploma, but a relevant learning experience.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/spring-break-for-seniors-community-service/2012/03/14/gIQAsfpqWS_story.html

Too Soon?

As some of you might have heard, right before teachers were released on Spring Break Baltimore County announced that the search for its new Superintendent was over: enter S. Dallas Dance, from Texas (really).  The switch did not come as a surprise as the superintendent of the last 12 years, Dr. Joe Hairston, declared that he would be stepping down months ago through an interview with The Sun.  That revelation came in October, so after nearly 6 months of searching, everyone was ready to hear what BCPS had come up with.

At first glance, Dance seems like a highly competent candidate: he has been a teacher, an assistant principal, a principal, and (most recently) the chief of middle schools for the Houston Independent School District (The Sun).  His last job earned him a great deal of authority due to the vast size of the Houston Independent School District, yet many worry that he is not ready for this new role.  Dance will be 31 years old when he takes office, making him the youngest BCPS superintendent in 50 years, according to Bowie.  Each of the positions he has held in the past have lasted for about two years, including his role as teacher.  Many parents are worried that he is simply trying to climb the career ladder, and that he will be gone from this role in another two.

At this point, he is certainly saying all of the right things.  He has been continually claiming that he wants to be "transparent", "open", and surrounded with "divergent" points of view.  I cannot help but wonder, however, how ready he is for this position having only taught for two years.  Many of us will soon be "2-year vets", but I certainly do not think I am now ready to be an assistant principal, much less a handful of years removed from being a superintendent.  I am also unsure of how 'in-touch' he will be with the issues of educators if he has only spent a limited amount of time in the classroom.  Ultimately, though, I am excited that BCPS picked a fresh new face for the new head of schools, someone who is hopefully devoid of cronies waiting for kickbacks as well as antiquated views on education.  I guess we'll just have to wait and see how this hire turns out; this dance is only just beginning.

It’s No Wonder Why This Generation Can’t Hold a Conversation…

On Wednesday, Governor Chris Christie announced that New Jersey’s first virtual school will be opening this fall. The New Jersey Vitrual Charter School will serve grades K-10 in its first year and hopes to expand to 11th and 12th grades in 2013 and 2014. Headquartered in Newark, students from all over the state will be able to attend this school.
Although identified as a virtual school, attendees will have access to blended learning in addition to online classes. Students will also be responsible to taking all state-required tests.

The idea sounds cute, at best. I am all for integrating technology into the classroom, but I am worried that schools like this one eliminate one of the key aspects of school: social learning. How do we expect children to appropriately interact with one another when at least seven hours of the day are spent in front of a computer screen. I wonder if a computer can properly nurture the development of kindergarten-aged children. Lastly, I am curious to see this school’s budget. I just don’t (and probably won’t ever) understand why resources are spent constructing virtual charter schools when Newark’s functioning public schools lack technology and other valuable resources…like books!

Yes, technology needs to be integrated into our schools, but how much is too much?

Reform?

Out of her big city chancellor job, Michelle Rhee has taken her talents to New York City. Since 2010, she and former chancellor of New York City Public Schools, Joel Klein, have joined forces in spearheading StudentsFirstNY. StudentsFirstNY is a school reform movement that promotes charter schools, resists tenure, and aims to rid New York City’s public schools of “ineffective” teachers. According to a New York Times Article, the two “have formed a statewide political group in New York with an eye toward being a counterweight to the powerful teachers’ union in the 2013 mayoral election.” Mayor Michael Bloomberg, the current mayor of New York City, is an advocate of school reform, but will most likely be replaced by a candidate with different views on education and teacher unions in the upcoming election. Both Rhee and Klein are notorious for going head-to-head with unions and are strong opponents of tenure. Thus, the two, in addition to a board of big name reformists, are pushing to bring StudentsFirstNY to the forefront of the reform discussion before 2013.

If you can recall, Michelle Rhee resigned from her position as chancellor of DC schools at the end of 2010. Initially installed by Mayor Adrian Fenty, Rhee was given absolute control over the district’s public schools. During her time as chancellor, Rhee fired hundred of teachers and shut down plenty of schools due to lack of student achievement as measured by standardized test scores. Rhee even adopted an evaluation system in which student test scores accounted for half of a teacher’s evaluation. It is no wonder why dozens of DC schools are now under investigation for cheating under Rhee’s term as chancellor.

While I am not completely at odds with the StudentsFirst reform philosophy, there are some aspects that truly concern me. Research shows that most charter schools have little to no effect of student achievement. Why aren’t these resources being poured into public schools? Furthermore, until standardized tests measure growth instead of mastery of what are supposed to be grade-appropriate skills, there is no way that test scores should determine if a teacher is ineffective or not. Lastly, as an educator and member of a union, I am a supporter of teacher unions and tenure as they provide valuable benefits to the profession. Neither should be used as a scapegoat for the problems our education system is facing. So while I can appreciate Michelle Rhee and Joel Klein’s radical reform ideologies, I am not sure of how the StudentsFirstNY movement will work to academically enrich our children.

Baltimore City PTA: Congratulations?

At the most recent meeting of Baltimore City’s school board, I was shocked to hear applause and congratulations that Baltimore City Schools is now an official member of the PTA. City school board commissioners congratulated the representatives of the PTA for meeting and having seven member-schools. I sat there dumbfounded by the idea that we did not have an organized PTA this entire time. I knew that my school did not have an official PTA organization, despite how often we hear that collaboration and communication with families is integral to a school’s success. I figured that was my school alone and surely other parts of Baltimore City must be utilizing this historic organization to better our schools and, at the bare minimum, meet the requirements of No Child Left Behind…right?

Apparently, Baltimore City Public Schools had member-schools and had an official PTA Council of Baltimore City before 2008. In 2008, however, the city PTA “was stripped of its authority to operate under the auspices of the state organization, amid concerns that the its [sic] president was expressing his personal views of the schools [sic] chief in his official capacity.” The President of the Baltimore City PTAs “gave Alonso an F for his revisions of the system’s organizational chart (he said it doesn’t include parents and community)” in his 2008 report card of the district. The PTA had various paperwork accountability problems, but was ordered to “cease and desist” essentially for being critical of City Schools not involving parents and community members.

At the board meeting I attended, the new PTA president said that the newly reauthorized PTA is attempting to organize PTA chapters and had 7 school-members. This entire ordeal seems somewhat absurd. Is it not more beneficial for our students to be advocated for by their parents and teachers on a regular basis rather than entirely disbanding the PTA for 4 years for standing up for family involvement? I worry that the PTA will struggle to gain traction within Baltimore itself even Baltimore once again has a voice in the state’s parent advocacy organization.

Is Red-Shirting A Solution?

I recently read an opinion piece in the Baltimore Sun that addressed the important issue of preparing Baltimore City students for the demands and challenges of college.  The author proposes using the idea of “red shirting” college-bound Baltimore youth to give them an additional year to sharpen their skills before heading off to college.  At first glance, the idea has merit.  Indeed, the author points to many current prep school and college remediation models that may work for many students.  Perhaps on a tailored, individualized basis such intensive preparation can really help students truly succeed in college.  The author’s emphasis on experimentation is also alluring  -- why not try this method and see if it can help ensure Baltimore’s children are ready to take full advantage of the academic opportunities afforded by post-secondary education?

However, as I thought about this proposal, I kept returning to the thought that this must be a temporary solution; a sort of stop-gap that might help in the short term but is not really a long-term fix.  There are two primary reasons that I keep thinking this.  The first, and most alarming, is that this proposal assumes that inner-city students inherently need a different formula for schooling, that they must be educated in a different way and with a different time frame than their suburban peers.  This is troublesome.  We should expect that all our schools provide an excellent education – not an “OK” education in 4 years and a “Good” one in 5.  If public schools are to remain a foundational piece of our democratic society, they must all provide an excellent education that prepares children for the various demands of their future.  Additionally, this proposal alarms me because I want to ask the question, “What are you doing in this extra year that you aren’t doing in the first four years of high school? Or all of K-12?”  If there is some combination of skill work or academic work that prepares students in a better way, we should be utilizing these methods throughout their education. 

Is academically “red-shirting” high school students a viable option to prepare them for college, or does this send our inner-city students a message that is demoralizing?  While experimentation in this area may reveal valuable findings, I think that spending more time in high school will not substantially improve the outcomes for our students. 

The Internet is really, really great....or is it?

Sex and pornography are topics many school districts consider off-limits. Sex education is rarely even discussed in the curriculum, much less offered to students. The Internet, on the other hand, is praised. With our current “technological society,” teachers and administrators are touting the vitality of the Internet as a source of information and are pushing for students to learn about how the computer can help them. Schools without computers and Internet put their students at a disadvantage -  peer counterparts in other parts of Baltimore City are effectively learning and using the Internet to their advantage. So when sex and the Internet collide, staff and schools are at a stand still.  

In an article the New York Times published Monday, one school in Missouri is feeling the heat because Internet filters are shielding students from pro-gay websites but not anti-gay ones. In conjunction with the Children’s Internet Protection Act of 2000, school and district Web masters block certain sites and leave others unfiltered. Simple solution to be in compliance with the act – block the inappropriate sites; give access to the rest – right? Wrong! In Missouri, the problem arose when anti-gay sites were left unfiltered and pro-gay sites were blocked. While some may argue this is censorship, others argue that Web masters are simply protecting our children. So who is right? No one knows. Who decides which content is appropriate and which is not? No one knows. Just like the Internet itself, so many questions and answers are ambiguous and highly controversial.   

This NY Times article sparked immediate interest because my school, a school in Baltimore City, uses website filters. While I can’t get on to YouTube to show short, educational videos, I can post pins on Pinterest and read a plethora of blogs. The filters most certainly block out pornography, but they also block out important news articles and sites that could help my students learn to research. Are Baltimore City web filters engaging in censorship, or are they just trying to protect our youth?         And what about the kids who know how to override the blockers? Are website filters even effective? My students, mere fifth graders, know how to access all the content they desire – violent computer games, pornographic music and who knows what else in the school’s computer lab.

Perhaps if we stopped filtering our websites at school (with the exception of true pornography), we could begin a conversation with our students about sex and other controversial content that is in Cyberland and life beyond the walls of the classroom. At home, our students live without filters, unless parents impose them. We need to gear our kids for the real world in a safe and healthy manner without making uncomfortable topics taboo – only then can we ensure that our schools are doing justice to our youth, turning them into citizens of the world with a keen understanding that the Internet is a platform for free speech and free surfing.    

Baltimore Schools 2.0

According to a recent New York Times Article, a district in Mooresville North Carolina created sweeping changes in its schools three years ago by providing a Mac Book laptop for every child in the school system.  Now, Mooresville is held up as an example of the potential that education technology can have to transform education.  According to administrators in Mooresville, test scores and graduation rates are up, the achievement gap has narrowed, and both teachers and students are more satisfied.  The obvious question is whether a similar investment could be a boon to cities like Baltimore that have long struggled to improve education and close the achievement gap.

A transformation like Mooresville’s highlights some of the key issues in the education technology debate – the costs (over $1 million per year and teacher jobs), the potential to personalize education for students, and the need for accompanying changes in attitudes and teaching methods. As researchers and technology supporters recognize, the implementation of technology without an accompanying transformation in teaching and pedagogy has little affect on student achievement.  Indeed, teachers and administrators in Mooresville are quick to emphasize the importance that professional development and changes in pedagogy have made in school culture and achievement surrounding the implementation of their program. 

If the claimed successes in Mooresville are true, then it has significant implications for a city like Baltimore.  In a city that struggles to find the funds to maintain and renovate its school facilities, is the cost of investing in technology the best use of funds?  More importantly, if the transformation is as much a function of professional development and a transformation of teaching styles, could not some of these components be implemented at less cost than a 1-to-1 computer program?  Although the use and integration of technology in classrooms may be inevitable and ultimately even beneficial, it clearly must be accomplished in a thoughtful and balanced manner that carefully weighs both the costs and benefits of such a transformation. 

Raising the Bar

I recently read an article that described the state boards endorsement of new standards to address gifted students in Maryland’s schools.  In response to this article,  the Chief Academic Officer for Baltimore City schools commented that the city schools is focusing their attention for GT programs primarily on the middle grades.

As a middle school teacher, I have noticed a strong push by the district and my administrators to get my students to the “proficient” level in their skills.  However, once they reach that level it is almost as if they are set aside.  I have yet to see a time where significant efforts and programs were in place to bridge the gap between proficient and advanced.  Considering that on many standards for the benchmark exams proficient is deemed as 60-80%, I find that this is a vast lowering of expectations. While I read that the district fully supports increasing differentiated learning opportunities to meet the needs of all students, including advanced learners, I have a hard time believing this.  Considering the large push towards an all inclusive model in the coming years, which again, is more designed for targeting the lower performing students, when is the district going to place a higher value on students performing at the higher levels of achievement?

Making Students Hungry for More

This week, I took my students on what was, in retrospect, the best field trip ever. No, we didn’t visit the eerily familiar Blacks in Wax, or survey Baltimore’s glory days at the Reginald Lewis Museum. We went to... the movies. A previous blogger expressed a tinge of guilt while admitting to her indulgence in the good ol’ “movie day” — but I maintain that my Hunger Games expedition was an educationally relevant opportunity (you know, to engage in cross-textual analysis). Turns out, I’m not the only teacher riding the Katniss craze; at schools across the country, the bestselling, action-packed (and, okay, kinda violent) novel has been incorporated into the traditional English curriculum, raising more than a few eyebrows. As students eagerly write from Peeta’s vantage point or discuss the implications of a dystopian setting, nervous mothers fear that the book’s fight-to-the-death plotline will only fan the flames of our students’ unsettling fascination with bloodbath video games and salacious Teen Moms.

Still, I couldn’t help but gleefully smile when one of my students stated, “Yeah, the movie was great — but the book was waaay better!” This is a kid who downright detested reading before we picked up Susanne Collin’s juicy novel — she’s now done with the third book, and is requesting that I give her more outside reading suggestions. Other teachers have seen similar progress in struggling students as a result of teaching The Hunger Games; one literacy instructor states that a handful of students in his program had “never read a full book, so to see them excited to read this one, to accomplish that, is really something.”

What do you think? Should we stray from the classics, if it means that we can “turn on” students to the joys of literature? Or is it too much of a stretch — I mean, what’s next? Twilight?

Do New Evaluation Systems Favor Younger Teachers?

 Across the country, school districts are figuring how (and whether) to incorporate multiple measures into teacher evaluation systems. In 2009, DC Public Schools unveiled IMPACT, one of the first evaluation systems in the country to incorporate student test scores in teacher ratings. “The D.C. IMPACT system, originally developed under former Chancellor Michelle Rhee, is a rigid, numerically based teacher evaluation system that rates teachers on the basis of classroom observations and student performance data” (Headden, “Inside IMPACT”). The implementation of IMPACT has led to the firing of many educators, put hundreds on notice, and left the rest either encouraged and re-energized, or frustrated and scared, says Headden in Inside Impact.

            Bill Turque’s article, “IMPACT: Does it Favor Younger Teachers?” raises some interesting questions related to the DC evaluation system for teachers. His report hints at a trend that the best teachers improve quickly in their first few years on the job and then hit a kind of plateau. His age data also suggests that younger teachers may have an easier time navigating the IMPACT system.

            The most telling tale from this data depicts the attrition rate common to teachers across America in large, urban public school systems. The plateau of teacher improvement and high rates of teacher turnover may reflect the daily struggles that teachers encounter within these large school systems. High rates of student failure, low feelings of adequacy and appreciation among teachers, and constant fear of not making test score benchmarks leads to high teacher burnout and cynicism.

The easy conclusion to draw is that as we continue to reform America’s failing school system, we must find a way to keep good teachers from burning out. The more pressing and difficult question is how? How are evaluation systems, such as IMPACT in DC Public Schools, supporting educators in their professional growth and enabling them to increase student achievement? On a larger level, how sustainable is standards-based reform, and to what extent is it actually working and actually educating our children?

Education and National Security

As I opened Internet Explorer last week, an article title on my CNN homepage caught my attention: “Report Calls Education A National Security Issue.” As a teacher working in a low performing school, I have spent a fair amount of time considering the negative implications of a failing education system. However, the idea of problems in education creating a “national security threat” caused me to think about things from a new perspective.

The headline came from a report released by an independent task force from the Council on Foreign Relations on March 20^th. The task force cited the U.S. educational crisis to pose the following five threats to national security:

1.     Economic growth and competitiveness

2.     U.S. physical safety

3.     Intellectual property

4.     U.S. global awareness

5.     U.S. unity and cohesion

The report went on to include specific examples of how the U.S. education system is creating bigger problems than some people may realize. Examples included unprepared students who cannot compete in the global workforce, failure of students to qualify for the armed forces, lack of technologically qualified individuals, and an increasing gap between the education and undereducated citizens of the U.S.

At first I thought the “national security” claim was a bit steep, but after thinking about the negative effects of a poor education system, I find myself agreeing with the task force. The threat that I find to be most apparent is that of U.S. unity and cohesion.

Unfortunately, the recommendations suggested by the task force seem to once again fall short of a realistic solution to such a serious problem. At this point, I think we can agree that the state of education in the United States is a very real issue that cannot be ignored. However, the solution to this problem remains unclear.

An Invitation to Climate Solutions, not just surveys

Last week I received an invitation to participate in the City Schools climate survey. While I’m aware of the potential ramifications poor results may cause for a school’s status and an administration’s job security, the e-mail describes the purpose and confidentiality of the survey in a less onerous manner:
“Each year we conduct this survey to learn more about school climate and changes that may have taken place within our schools during the intervening year. The survey focuses on school conditions, not on individual staff members. All surveys are kept strictly confidential.”

While I understand North Avenue’s desire to assess school climate using quantifiable methods that can quickly show trends on teaching, leadership, school safety, etc., as I clicked through Likert scale statements and tried to determine the most accurate responses, I couldn’t help but feel as though the survey is flawed in its design and also is an enabling tool of the politics that engender poor school cultures to begin with.

My hunch is that in the majority of lower performing schools, statements along the lines of: “Students learn a lot in school” and “Teachers collaboration is an effective use of time” don’t fit neatly into a strongly agree, agree, disagree and strongly disagree. While answering questions such as these, a variety of variables come into play. Students may learn a lot in school if they have strong teachers for each subject. They also may learn a lot from a teacher who supplies copious amounts of book work every day—but "learn" and “a lot” here clearly are not objective measures that necessarily implies or denies quality. If the survey included a “neutral” answer option and the opportunity for free response, I think the results would be much more reflective of an individual’s specific feelings on why some aspects of school climate are wonderful, horrendous, or somewhere in between.

While I think making these revisions to the survey could provide North Avenue with more reliable data, ultimately the climate survey is another method that enables school staff to externalize issues on one another rather than take responsibility in house and work collaboratively to address the most pressing needs. To provide an common example: Imagine a teacher that does not feel safe at his school and feels undervalued by his superiors. He could express this daily to the administration or hall monitors. He could collaborate with a group of teachers bi-monthly to address common concerns. This takes time, effort and poses the potential for conflict and power struggles. If other elements of school culture are lagging, potential for solutions in these areas might appear bleak for our teacher. So instead, annually, the district provides him with the opportunity to check a box in secrecy on a climate survey. This will provide him with the opportunity for honesty—and perhaps, as I’ve heard many teachers express this week, a sense of vengeance against those on staff responsible for the continuation of a tense and unruly climate. His results will be quantified and used as a gauge of the school’s overall climate that he has taken few measures to proactively improve.

In order to empower this teacher to do more than check a box, climate surveys should be used frequently on a school level and trends that cause concern should be used immediately as a spring board for seeking solutions rather than as a method of diffusing responsibility. In current practice, climate surveys enable a nasty type of school politics—like closed door meetings, fear of speaking out of place, and the diffusion of responsibility—these are essential ingredients of negative school culture. While many staff members seek a more open and empowering environment, as long as they are used as annual accountability measures rather than a true tool for improvement, the district will find that in many city schools, climate survey results will continue to measure how politics can pollute school culture. Ultimately schools need teachers and leaders that are confident that climate issues can be solved, not just quanitified on a survey.