High School Graduation Tests: Solution or Problem?

By 2012, almost three-quarters of the nation's public school students in 26 states will have to pass a high school graduation test. The Center on Education Policy believes that exit exams have a significant impact on a student's education. States are leaning toward implementing end-of-course exams, which I assume would be standardized in order to maintain a consistent amount of rigor. By 2015, 11 states will include end-of-course assessments, including Maryland. Schools are moving away from exams that assess below the high school level. The overall idea is that teachers will be more likely to teach to a higher level. Another solution to the bad teacher problem.

I don't completely disagree with end-of-course assessments. Coming from the Massachusetts's public school system, I didn't have to take any myself, but I trusted that my teachers were doing a good job. I see the purpose and value in these changes, but I also foresee many challenges. As a teacher in a school that services over-aged and under-credited students, I witness daily the struggle of convincing a student that they should come to school at least three days out of the week, pushing a student to take notes even though they can't read the words that they are copying, writing notes to students' bosses asking them to cut their hours during the school day, sending home work when a student's child is sick, and transitioning a student back from being incarcerated.

There are many things holding a child back who is raised in poverty. I would never lower my expectations, but I am also realistic. Many of these students have made it to high school, some even to senior year, without reading or writing well. How long do I hold them back? Until they age out? When a student is almost 21, do you tell them that because they can't pass the high school test they will have to take the GED? Will we force more students to become drop-outs?

I witness students making up credits with "online" classes that are a joke. The teachers help them submit work. I watch students that I failed take my courses online, and I can't believe that my credit and that credit are worth the same. Clearly we are trying to give students diplomas, raise the graduation rate, and open up some opportunities. Until we figure out the problem of dealing with poverty and education before a student gets to high school, though, I think it's a hard bargain to push for a graduation test. It's not a student's fault if they had some bad teachers in their childhood. It's not even their fault if they missed a lot of school. They may make amazing gains in high school but that may not make up for the serious lack of gains they experienced in elementary and middle schools. To be honest, I don't know where I stand on this issue because I see so many problems with simply trying to raise graduation rates without assessments, but I also see why the push is enticing. Perhaps we should take a step back and ruminate on this a bit.

Source: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/thehomeroom/2008/08/high-school-exi.html

Parental Involvement-How do we get them to come?

If you ask most teachers how many parents show up for things like Back to School Night and Parent/Teacher Conferences, very few will give you a double digit answer. The largest number of parents I have had on a parent conference day was five and that was with a roster of over 80 students. My school, however, has started a new conference system and we had almost 80% parent attendance the first time! The new concept is called a Student Led Conference (SLC). SLCs are designed for students to be the ones telling their parents about their progress thus far in school. Two school days were set aside and teachers were responsible for scheduling the conferences to meet the needs of the parents’ work schedules, sometimes staying as late as 8:00pm for a conference. During the conference, the student, one teacher and the students’ family meets in a room for approximately thirty minutes. The student will walk the family through his/her four classes, explaining how he/she is doing in each and why. The parent has time to ask the student questions about their academics and about the student’s work samples. The very first SLC we had over 200 parents and family members show up, which was well over five times the attendance at any other school event.

Are there other programs at different schools that are successful in providing parental involvement? I would argue that these types of programs not only get parents involved in their students’ education, but they hold students more accountable for their own education as well.

Charter Schools-The Equalizer or the Equilavent?

In the wake of groundbreaking education reform and popular documentaries such as Waiting for Superman, the state of the education gap and the nation’s failing educational system has never been more at the forefront. For many, the answer to failing school districts is the idea of school choice via charter schools. Charter schools, essentially, are privately-operated schools that are funded by public dollars. The persons running the charter schools have full autonomy in governing the schools, but still have to teach to the requirements laid out by the state and/or city. Charter schools have seen success in some areas, but they are still are a relatively new phenomenon. The biggest success stories have been seen in charter schools that have had students from one community and can service that whole community, such as the success being seen in Harlem with the Harlem Children’s Zone.

Baltimore is a city that has employed its fair share of education reform, and currently about 10% of its students are enrolled in charter schools. The question has been whether or not charter schools are an effective solution, as traditionally they do not always make the major gains that many think they do. According to the Baltimore Sun, charter schools demonstrated a 5-percentage point lead in students demonstrating proficiency in reading and math when compared with traditional public schools for the 2009-2010 school year. While the gains are not significant, Chief Executive Officer Andres Alonso remains a major proponent of charter schools, saying that the increase is a sign that the district is moving forward. He suggests that both charter schools and traditional public schools are doing their jobs.

Source: http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2010-08-23/news/bs-ci-charter-school-performance-20100823_1_traditional-schools-charter-schools-ceo-andr-s-alonso

She works hard for the money

In his most recent column for the New York Times, Nikolas Kristof came out as a disappointingly lonely voice in the latest debate around teacher compensation: we should be paid more, not less. As political battles in Wisconsin and other states take on public employees as the roots of all financial problems, teachers have been characterized by some as lazy, part-time employees who don't deserve the inflated benefits and union rights they've been afforded.

Kristof argues that "...the bottom line is that we should pay teachers more, not less — and that politicians who falsely lambaste teachers as greedy are simply making it more difficult to attract the kind of above-average teachers our above-average children deserve."

The reader comments on his blog about the column take both sides of the argument. Some readers enthusiastically support his call to raise the professional regard for the teaching profession, with a salary to match. Others argue that increased salaries won't have much impact on the quality of individuals attracted to teaching, nor will it increase the caliber of teachers already in the classroom.

Separate from the union issue, I think, is the fundamental question of whether quality work is motivated by external or internal factors. Kristof quotes a study that shows the pay gap in New York between a teacher and laywer is over $115,000. While it's nice to say teachers are all bleeding hearts who do their jobs out of a calling to a higher moral order, our society makes a strong connection between power and money. I think it's no coincidence that we've become a highly litigious society; it's financially lucrative for lawyers to find reason to file a lawsuit. I can't help but wonder what would happen those same financial indicators pointed to well-educated citizens, rather than the generation living in the "If you have a phone, you have a lawyer" mentality.

Increasing Class Sizes: What People Outside the Classroom Don't See

This week Baltimore County Executive Keven Kamentz suggested shifting fourth- and fifth-graders to middle schools in order to solve the problem of overcrowded elementary schools. Across the country schools are suffering from increased class sizes due to budget problems despite the research that shows smaller class sizes promote higher achievement. However, across the country districts have been appealing penalties placed on schools for exceeding class sizes that have resulted in violations of the law.

Those who aren’t in the classroom don’t realize the added responsibilities of teaching more students aside from the issue of classroom management. As a teacher with rosters that reach almost sixty students per class, I understand those frustrations. No matter how many students sit in front a teacher every day, the teacher must deal with extra pressures. These include grading extra papers, providing more makeup work for the higher amount of absent students, contacting more parents, documenting more behaviors and academic data (especially if there is a higher population of special education students in the classroom), among other responsibilities. For teachers with “copy limits” or small classrooms, the increased sizes can add extra stress that is completely unnecessary and ultimately distracting from the teacher’s critical role: teaching.

In addition to a public misconception about the duties of a teacher when class sizes increase, it seems that our leaders are not in touch with the real numbers. Last Sunday Arne Duncan spoke with governors in Washington and asked them to consider paying bonuses to the schools’ best teachers for taking on extra students. Mr. Duncan stated that he would prefer to put his own children in a classroom with 28 students led by a “fantastic” teacher than in one with 23 and a “mediocre” teacher. Mr. Duncan, 28 students has become more of a norm for teachers in low-performing schools. When you look at the average class sizes of students in a city, you are including all schools, not just those schools serving low-achieving students, which are the schools that would benefit most from small sizes.

Sources: http://www.wbaltv.com/education/27141722/detail.html;

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/07/education/07classrooms.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&ref=education

Relationships Between Charter Schools And Unions May Suffer Due To Struggles Between AFT and KIPP

Earlier this month, Randi Weingarten, the president of the American Federation of Teachers, criticized the KIPP schools in Baltimore for their alleged unwillingness to work with the union to reach an agreement concerning the temporary deal made last year. KIPP is seeking a ten-year extension of its one-year agreement with the BTU. Under that deal, it can afford to keep its 9 1/2 hour school days because its teachers are paid 20.5 percent extra for the extended day, much less than under the current union contract.

Weingarten expressed frustration that “KIPP is playing by its own set of rules”. She stated that KIPP has been eager to run to the press and criticize the union or try to change Maryland’s state law that requires teachers at charter schools to be represented by unions, instead of working with the union for an agreement that would benefit everyone involved. KIPP Baltimore’s executive director Jason Botel responded that KIPP schools in the city would have to close if they were forced to comply with the unions’ rules, and that he hoped they could reach an agreement soon.

Reading the article, interesting issues are raised between charter schools and unions. Should KIPP be able to “opt out” of union rules by changing the state law? And if so, would this result in a sort of landslide effect in which dozens of other charters would be tempted to do the same? Should teachers trade off their union rights in exchange for working at higher-performing schools, or should they be “forced” to follow the same rules as other teachers, even when they don’t want to? Either way, the tensions resulting from these public altercations is, as the author notes, a blow to the budding relationships between teachers unions and the charter school movement, “one of the most robust developments in American education.”

Source: http://voices.washingtonpost.com/class-struggle/2011/03/randi_weingarten_scolds_kipp.html

Teacher Effectiveness Drives Student Performance: How Do We Evaluate Our Teachers?

Teacher effectiveness is often thought of as the most important factor in student growth. This means that the teacher himself or herself is stronger than income, class size, race or family educational background. The million dollar question is, how do we define an “effective teacher?” Cities have struggled to find an effective system for evaluating teachers. Last year the National Center on Teacher Quality did a report on teacher evaluation and Human Capital in Baltimore City. Only half of the City Schools teachers were evaluated. Of this 50%, 97% were rated Satisfactory or higher which is two percent lower than the national average. This means that Baltimore City is becoming more progressive in teacher evaluation.

Certain programs such as the Teacher Advancement Program (TAP) measures teaching against standards in three major categories, designing and planning instruction, the learning environment and instruction. TAP evaluates a teacher rigorously and provides information on what a teacher is doing well, struggles with and gives them feedback. Another system implemented in Tennessee Value-Added Assessment System where school systems follow and track student test scores between 4th and 8th grade in math, reading, social studies and science. Each student has a profile and their performance can be projected. Both of these systems contribute towards greater student performance. I tend believe that a system such as TAP is more effective. TAP is a way where teachers are not observed once a year and given a general unsatisfactory, satisfactory or proficient score. TAP consists of a rigorous method for evaluating teachers based on three important factors, designing and planning instruction, the learning environment and instruction. What do you think are the most important factors in evaluating teachers? Which system do you feel would be more effective in Baltimore City?

Teacher Buyouts? Budget Concerns vs. Losing Experienced Teachers

In an effort to offset budget shortfalls, Baltimore City Public Schools has offered a buy-out plan for up to 750 of its most experienced teachers. Teachers who have taught for more than 10 years can opt for an early-retirement package, which will pay 75% of a teacher’s current annual salary monthly, for a total of five years. Those who take the buyout will also get their regular pension at retirement age, but will not receive health benefits. BCPSS predicts a 73 million-budget deficit for next year, in addition to probably state budget cuts to education next year due to a change in the Thornton funding formula. BCPSS hopes to save 5-10 million from the buyout plan.

Andres Alonso, BCPSS CEO, defends the plan saying it will help avoid layoffs and also encourage expensive teachers, who may already have considered leaving the district, to do so, so the city can hire new teachers at a much cheaper price. He also says that by offering this plan, it will ensure there are more teachers who truly want to be teaching in the classroom, which insinuates that the teachers who accept the buyout are teachers who don’t really want to be there.

On the other hand, many parents are worried that BCPSS will lose many seasoned teachers, thus affecting their children’s education. Others have noted that spending for training and professional development for new, inexperienced teachers may mitigate the cost savings from the buyout and also may make it hard for schools to raise test scores with more inexperienced than experienced teachers in the classroom.

New Teacher Contract

The New Teacher Contract is a very progressive step for Baltimore City public schools. Whereas most aspects of the contract between Baltimore City Teacher's Union and Baltimore City Public Schools will remain the same, the main area of change will be in regard to compensation. In the new contract the compensation will be performance based. This means that the Teacher Evaluation will play a role in teacher salaries. Teachers will be compensated on how they teach, children learn and Achievement Units (AU). Teachers will receive Achievement Units not only for a Proficient Teacher Evaluation but also for approved collaborative site-based work as well as teacher professional development that is demonstrated to increase student learning.

While some believe that this is a huge step forward for Baltimore City, others are extremely hesitant. For the first time, compensation is linked to student achievement. Being able to control the amount of AUs may be dangerous. Certain teachers may attend professional development that may not correlate to their specific content simply to collect AUs. Teacher Evaluations are often based on test scores. While “cheating” becomes a bigger issue in City Schools, it may be risky for test scores to hold even greater importance. How do you think the new contract will play out in regard to standardized testing? Do you think teachers will abuse the AUs accumulation policy? If so, in which ways?

Cut or Not to Cut?...Changing the Thornton Education Funding Formula

As a result of budget shortfalls for the next fiscal year, Governor O’Malley has proposed altering the “Thornton” formula, which calculates per pupil spending, and thus how much money is allocated to each school district. The Thornton formula was established in 2002 and focused on allocated funding based on student needs. The original formula included an adjustment each year for inflation, but in 2008, the inflation component was removed to save money for the state, which in effect reduced the amount of education funding each year for the past three years already. Now by, by changing Thornton, per pupil funding will be reduced, which equates to even more cuts to the education budget in Maryland.

Baltimore City Schools anticipates the proposed change to the Thornton formula would equal a $15 million dollar cut to its budget. And because BCPSS has already made cuts to the central office in recent years, most of the budget cuts would be passed on to schools. This could mean almost a 10% cut to each schools budget, which could lead to teacher layoffs, increases in class size, the elimination of the arts and after school programs, and recent initiatives, such as pre-k expansion, to be halted or abandoned indefinitely.

Each state must have a balanced budget, unlike the federal government, who can run a deficit. Governor O’Malley must make cuts, but cutting anything in the state budget will incur criticism. Do you think in today’s economic recession that O’Malley is justified in the education cuts and that everyone must “feel the pain” or do you think K-12 education should be shielded from such cuts? If you think education should be shielded, where do you think O’Malley should cut in order to balance his budget?

Education leaders who are not educators.

There is a strong argument that smart, successful, and innovative leaders can be this type of leader in any setting. It is true that I belong to a program that touts this very idea. While I personally believe that leadership can be transferable, I also have personally experienced a severe lack of knowledge and skills. This deficit proved to be extremely challenging, if not disabling at times. Cathleen Black has been appointed the chancellor of schools in New York - a strong, successful leader in a leadership position. This seems like it will work, right?

I think Black could be a successful chancellor and I hope she is. I think the skills required of the chancellor of schools definitely overlap with other leadership skills. But I also think that the lack of knowledge of education and the NYC public schools could be a huge challenge. Having an understanding of a teacher's challenges would allow Black to make more realistic expectations. Understanding what good teaching requires and what good school leadership requires is necessary to leading a school system. Some say running a school is like running a business. I see the comparison and I think there are commonalities between the two, however I do not think it is this simple. As the Huffington Post reports Black is "cramming" to prepare. I think this is a good sign. Leadership skills are necessary and she has them (check!), but so is at least a fundamental knowledge of education and the system. Black needs to go to "institute" and learn the basics if she hopes to use her own skills to lead in such a high-stakes business as education.

Which Culture of Poverty?

So, the argument has been made that there is this "culture of poverty" that undermines student work ethic and scholarly habits. Apparently, the "culture of poverty" is not a racial issue, it is a class issue.

But even if it isn't a race issue, it seems to be one unique to America. We are actually talking about the "culture of American poverty" that seems to manifest differently than poverty elsewhere.

Consider the following blog/article written for the India journal "Learning the Indian Way":
http://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2010/09/01/india-journal-learning-the-indian-way/

Interestingly enough, the grossly underfunded Indian education system is producing some seriously impressive results. Even those who end up having to drop out of school because of money are not suffering from a lack of work ethic or desire to study.

So, what is it about the culture of poverty here? Why, in a country where there is somewhat of a social net to catch you before you fall all the way down, did we end up with a debilitating "culture of poverty"?

The Harlem Children Zone

I know this is old news, but perhaps my framing will provide some new light on just how awesome the Harlem Children Zone is, and why cities all over should be working to replicate it.

Quality teaching is hardly the only/most important obstacle that stands in the way of student achievement. Harlem Children Zone acknowledges the deficits in parenting and in the "culture of poverty" (we can call it), then addresses those things head on. It isn't a side bar, or checking a teacher's parent log. They have created a series of parent training programs to help create the educational partners teachers really need for success. It is not condemning. It is not condescending. It is spot on and we need more of it.

School Choice: Baltimore CIty All-School Fair

This weekend at Poly-Western was the great Baltimore Fair, and I’m glad I went early because I have never seen so many people interested in Baltimore City Public Schools in one place. It was quite a showing!

I really like the idea of this fair: students and parents can see presentations from all of Baltimore’s schools at once. Each school can showcase what they do best, and each school can compete for the most engaged students. Students and parents also get choice in their education (or the education of their children). This is the most important part of the fair. Instead of just going to the neighborhood school where their students are assigned, parents can have agency in the decision process. If the parents hear negative things about their neighborhood school, or if they hear positive things about other schools, parents can take actions to help their kids.

My high school is one of the schools that doesn’t have exciting or particularly innovative programs. It is a typical zone high school that claims having a certain theme, but doesn’t have any funding to allow the school to explore that theme, and it doesn’t have a particular mission to expound that theme. If fairs like this are successful, and if parents take ownership of their children’s schools, maybe high schools like the one at which I teach will be lost. I don’t think this is necessarily negative. If a school doesn’t serve the needs of the population living within the neighborhood, and if it is unable to engage students in learning, then maybe it means that it’s time for the school to close.

The challenge in Baltimore will be keeping the geographic diversity of high schools alive. If only the most popular high schools remain open, there must still be schools available to every student. These schools must be located throughout the city.

Rigor: You'll know it when you see It

RIGOR: You’ll know it when you see it

If you’ve had your fair share of Baltimore City Schools professional development this year, you’ve likely heard about the three big “do’s” from the office of Teaching and Learning this year: Rigor, Engagement, and Intervention.  These are the things that central office will be looking for on classroom visits.  And while professional development coordinators seem all too willing to address engagement through multiple intelligences and technology, or intervention, through data analysis, I seem to get nearly the same response from professional development coordinators when I ask what rigor is.  The answer is usually the same: “It looks different in every classroom” or – my personal favorite – “you’ll know when you see it.”

I do not disagree with either of these statements.  Rigor can look different depending on the content, the background knowledge of the students, and the repertoire of teaching strategies the teacher has at their disposal.  I also have seen the elusive rigor a handful of times, when my students begin answering – and asking – questions that are ten steps removed from where we started instruction.  But how can it be that the very thing that needs to be readily apparent in classrooms is so tough to even define?   And how can new teachers possibly develop the capabilities necessary to incorporate rigor into their classrooms with no measurable definition or goal?

In my attempt to define what rigor is and how to incorporate it into the classroom, I did a bit of research:

In Strong, Silver and Perini’s book Teaching What Matters Most: Standards and Strategies for Raising Student Achievement, the authors argue that rigor is getting students to “understand content that is complex, ambiguous, provocative, and personally or emotionally challenging.”  This means that what is important is what you teach rather than how you teach.

Others, including author of Teach Like a Champion, Doug Lemov, seems to believe the opposite – that rigor is in how you teach new material and the strategies that you use to engage students.  This includes getting students to answer questions using complete sentences or requiring the correct (“right is right”) answer one hundred percent of the time.

My own definition spans both of these: rigor is both in what you teach and how you get there.  Rigor can be enhancing the understanding the importance of concepts that you teach and how they manifest themselves in the real world.  Rigor is also in the approach to understanding – how you question students or lead them to the discovery. 

In their introduction of the 2010 Master Plan for “Rigor, Engagement, and Intervention”, Baltimore City included a power point slide for rigor, which included the following action plan:

“Develop a common set of expectation for what rigorous teaching and learning in all classrooms across the district through development of a deep understanding of the Common Core Standards”, and called for a realignment of curricular materials to the common core standards. It also called for:

1. Principal Development –training and support around leadership actions that transform principals from transactional leaders to strategic leaders

2. Teacher Development –training and support in the content areas and research-based teaching strategies

3. Re-Alignment of curriculum materials and assessments

(Source: BCPS Master Plan 2010)

I think that this is a sufficient start – but simply that: a start.  An even more aligned curriculum and some new teaching strategies.  A principal that is a pedagogical leader as well as a “transactional” one.  Good ideas, I think.  But not concrete enough to implement on the classroom level. 

So until I have a more refined definition of rigor, I’ll keep using my own, hoping that when central office steps into my classroom “they’ll know it when they see it.”

lower drop out rates and increased graduation rates for Baltimore City

The recent statistics for the increased graduation rate and lowered drop out rates in Baltimore city caught my attention. I was very impressed with the shear numbers. A 59% decrease in drop out for African American males is quite impressive. I was very excited and definitely shared in the pride of the city. However part of the article discusses that these higher rates are going to translate into more college going males and thus better job opportunities for African American males. While I believe that this is definitely a great first step, I am somewhat skeptical of reaching these goals immediately. While I do believe in the important steps being made I think there is often confusion with being in school and learning. I used to have a poster on my wall as a kid that jokingly had Garfield saying learning through osmosis. Unfortunately that is not actually how kids learn. Most of the students I teach are far behind grade level and it seems to me that even those that manage to graduate are not ready for college. I think we focus a lot on how kids learn (which is obviously important) but not as much on what kids learn. At a recent PD I went to we had a discussion about technology. One teacher pointed out that in the 4 years it takes to graduate high school most of the technology they will have learned will be outdated. That teacher continued to point out that our goal should be to make sure that students are equipped to learn on their own rather than just learning content. That has been an idea that stuck with me and something that I would really like to explore. Is it really important if a student knows the difference between a dictatorship and an oligarchy or is it more important if they can write a coherent letter to their congressman describing a problem they face. I guess I am asking us to think about what we teach our students and if it is the actual knowledge that will help them succeed in life or just a series of content that we are told we mus teach?

New BTU Contract - enough details?

A new contract. An extremely progressive contract. As you probably heard, the BTU released an updated version of this new contract late last night with key adjustments and substantial details added in the section regarding how teachers would actually move up this new four – tiered pay scale. However, the contract is still said to be a bit murky regarding teacher evaluations as the state’s Department of Education has not yet released specific information – just the phrase, “tied to student performance” – a phrase teachers often shy away from due to its ambiguity. The Baltimore Sun highlights the new contracts release, its additions and explanations, but says nothing related to the “AUs” – who will be keeping track of these?

As a young professional, I think the idea of a modern contract where teachers are forced to pursue additional professional development or go back to school once in a while to receive an increase in pay is a great idea. I also think it is awesome that our veteran teachers who have educated our children for more than 20 years are given the opportunity to increase their pay each year as well. But I think that the BTU needs to realize that until they specifically outline all of the “murky” details, a progressive contract like this will not realistically pass. Furthermore, when the BTU presents the tentative agreement to its members, they should be more prepared to explain and explain more. During the last vote, a young teacher paraded up and down the long lines holding a sign that said simply, “Please do not vote if you do not know the specifics.” As Baltimore City Teachers, it is our job to get the specifics.

The Importance of School Mission and Vision

The panelists from our class last Thursday (October 21) on Charter Schools in
Baltimore left me thinking about the impact of student investment in the school
mission on student achievement. In the final question, panelists were asked, “How
do you message your school vision to your students, or is it just implicit in
everything that your students do?”

The answers varied between charter schools. Green Street Academy prides itself
on its five core values, which every student knows and recites in the form of a daily
pledge. Every discipline issue is framed as a breach of one of these core values. The
same teacher, who had worked at The Crossroads School the year before, mentioned
that sixth graders entering the middle school picked up on the “Crossroads Way”
and knew how to conduct themselves appropriately. And there are, obviously,
plenty of other Charter Schools around the country that adopt and communicate
similar concrete visions for their students, with successful student achievement
outcomes, including KIPP schools.

Other panelists, including the representatives from City Neighbors Charter School,
responded that having nonnegotiable pledges did not fit succinctly into their vision
for their school. President of City Neighbors, Bobbi MacDonald, commented that
several years ago, when founders first sat down to write the mission statement,
there was disagreement about using the word “enlivened” within it because it
wasn’t something that could be measured. Despite the debate, they included it, and
were rewarded last year by feeling as if their graduating middle school students
were truly enlivened upon exiting the school. City Neighbors’ success was perhaps
the result of their mission and vision, yet theirs is messaged more implicitly than
that of the previously mentioned charter schools.

Personally, I appreciate the more implicit messaging of a school vision, which is
embodied by all members of the school community; however, I think that it is more
difficult to pull off successfully. In order for a mission and vision to be successful,
students should be able to describe their school by citing their mission statement,
not necessarily repeat it in a pledge or do something because the school values
say so. But at the same time, how can we teach our students this without telling
them the values outright, bringing them up in conversation, or having them repeat
them on a daily basis? It is a difficult task, but as City Neighbors has proven, not an
impossible one.

Whether implicit or explicit, a school mission and vision that is understood and
embodied by all members of a school seems to have some effect on the success of a
charter school. The questions remain: How strong does the school identity need to
be? And how should we message it to students?

Performance Pay: Coming to a City Near You!

A piece in the Baltimore Sun about a week ago stated that a state legislative committee had put a hold on "a regulation that would require student achievement be at least 50 percent of a teacher's evaluation in Maryland." This is because the committee feels the State Board of Education has started to place more specifics into the proposal than were initially proposed. According to Paul Pinsky, the law states that student achievement should be a "significant" portion of a teacher's evaluation but does not specify a percent. There is some concern that if this new teacher evaluation is not enacted, than Maryland may lose some of our Race to the Top money.

My point is not to discuss whether the legislature was justified in being surprised that the board of education had to put a numerical value to "significant." My point is to discuss performance pay. I have an aunt who is, as of last June, a retired veteran teacher. She once told my dad, regarding tenure, "I'm not sure I could go to work each day and know that I could be fired if I didn't do a good job." Obviously, that line is a little unpolished and probably doesn't completely reflect what my aunt actually thinks. However, I think there is a sentiment there that is shared by a lot of teachers.

Everyone agrees that we want good teachers teaching. However, we don't seem to want to fire bad teachers. At the same time we don't want to reward good teachers with more money. How is it fair for a teacher who consistently moves her students two years in reading gets the same pay as a teacher who pops in a video everyday and doesn't move their children much at all? I think we are sending the wrong message to teachers, you can work very hard or work very little and you'll make the same money.

Performance pay has many problems to work out to ensure that it is a fair and valid form of measurement. We need to make sure that regardless of how performance pay is awarded, it is sensitive to all the other factors that can influence students performance. However, teachers need to know that performance pay is going to happen. As a political issue its a no brainer. It is very hard for the public to accept that teachers should not be held accountable for their performance on the job, when nearly every other employed person in the world is accountable for their performance on the job. It is just a difficult argument to make and the public wants accountability from schools and that means teachers.

As I was typing this I just received an email saying another tentative contract has been reached. This brings us right back to where I began. Performance pay is going to happen, today, tomorrow, a year from now. The public supports the idea and teachers should too. Good teachers stand to make the kind of money that make teaching comparable with other bachelor level careers. Furthermore, it just makes sense, teachers should be held accountable for the job they do in the classroom. It is time for teachers to decide whether they want to be part of the process of shaping performance pay or have it forced upon them by a law. Either way, performance pay is coming to a city near you.

Charter School Proposal on Tuesday

The Baltimore Sun reported that Dr. Alonso will be a part of a meeting on Tuesday to hear the plans for new charter schools in the city. Amongst the 7 charter schools and 4 transformation schools, I am watching two of the schools most closely. There will be a proposal for an all boys high school and an all girls high school. We talked in class about the advantages and disadvantages of each, and I have been watching the way the two genders interact in my class. I have noticed that if I work with a group of girls or with a group boys separate from the opposite, they are different. The boys, especially, tend to calm down a lot when there are no girls looking.

Boys and girls learn in different ways. Girls mature more quickly, and boys need to be more hands on. Here in Baltimore, I have noticed too that students get sexual at an earlier age, sometimes unaware of the risks and repercussions of sex at a young age. The drawbacks, of course, include a lack of social interaction with the opposite sex, but it is important to consider that academically students may thrive in this situation.

As a product of single sex education, I believe that single sex education made a difference for me. I have not been able to find any examples of a public school with single gender, or to find their level of success. The research that I have found though states that if teachers are properly trained in how to teach a single sex classroom, they can capitalize on the situation and make the most out of it to raise student achievement. The research states that children will not become more gender restricted, but instead will be given more opportunities to explore and express their actual interests.

It will be interesting to see how the board votes on these two high schools, since there are so few charter high schools. If they are approved and can prove to be successful, they could change the way education is done on a much larger scale.