Jive SBS Syndication Feed

Teachers are not Widgets

info@hopestreetgroup.org — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 02:01:35 GMT

I learned a new application for an old word in a recent article in Education Week (Vol. 31, No. 27). The word is “churn”. While the traditional definition is “to stir or agitate violently”, in this article, it refers to the practice of moving teachers around and compares this churn to a hurricane.

Urban school districts suffer the most from this type of disaster. New teachers often leave the teaching profession within the first five years or they at least leave the urban schools for suburban institutions. This creates a stir in the school or the entire district as educators move in and move out and others move in to take their place. This interferes with relationship building between staff members and with their students. This instability creates obstacles in developing trust and understanding.

A more complicated problem is that teachers not only leave urban schools, but often , those schools will move teachers around within the building (and sometimes between from one school to another) treating them as objects or widgets, merely filling a scheduling or staffing hole. Teachers are not given the opportunity to develop expertise in a grade level or subject as they are moved about by the hurricane. The article states, “For every two teachers who left the district or the profession during our study, another three were moved from subject to subject, grade to grade, or school to school.” In addition to personal mastery, educators who are blown about are not able to form stable professional learning communities in which to grow in their abilities.

Educators, researchers, and policymakers have learned to accept churn as “background noise.” The constant movement has become a fact of educator’s lives. Further research showed that of controlled studies attempting to measure the effects of new interventions churn was ignored as a possible reason for failing to find effects from the interventions.

Churn is apparent even in the world of administrators where principals are switched about in efforts to turn around struggling schools. As a result, teachers are constantly adjusting to new leadership styles.

What does this mean for teachers?

Less knowledge. When teachers are moved from grade to grade, they need to learn new curriculum materials and new educational standards. Looking at the National Common Core State Standards, it is obvious that a teacher would find differences and variance in the standards.
Weak relationships. Teachers in schools with a high-level of churn, fail to make lasting relationships with co-workers. In fact, they may feel less inclined to even attempt the effort of connecting with colleagues if they feel that the coworker will only disappear at the end of the year.
High turnover. Teachers who feel like widgets will leave the profession http://widgeteffect.org/ Teachers who feel valued for their contribution to the education of children, stay.

What does this mean for students?

We have to remember that students ultimately suffer due to churn. Students cannot build relationships when teachers are moving to other buildings. Without a degree of staff stability, students encounter a new school climate every year of their education.

What does this mean for policymakers?

Teacher turnover has been talked about for many years. Teachers leave the profession for a variety of reasons, but the fact remains that teacher turnover has related economic costs. It takes money to train teachers and to provide them with materials to meet educational demands. It takes money to recruit qualified individuals.

Turnover has educational costs. If students are consistently taught by less experienced teachers, they will experience less effective teaching on the whole. If students are taught by teachers who are always new to the curriculum, they will not benefit from a teacher’s deep understanding of a subject matter or grade level.

Turnover has personal costs. Educators and administrators are never able to develop confidence in an area, a building, or a subject area if they are constantly tossed around by the winds of change.

Churn needs to be recognized and addressed. It cannot be a necessary evil involved in education. The root causes of churn need to be examined. How arbitrary is churn? What are the reasons that are given when teachers and administrators are moved or choose to move? How can we convince teachers to stay? How can we convince administrators to let teachers stay in one place long enough to develop a level of expertise?

Final Thoughts:

Educators leave the profession of teaching for a variety of reasons. Although teachers may seek higher paying jobs, more often teachers site the reasons for leaving as “environments that lack essential professional supports including:

support from school leadership,
organizational structures and workforce conditions that convey respect and value for them, and
induction and mentoring programs for new and experienced teachers.”

When teachers feel valued and respected, they will stay – through thick and thin. When teachers are treated like warm bodies to fill a classroom based on scheduling needs, they feel undervalued and unable to fulfill their role as a mentor for the future.

Some people think that anyone can teach. That is a widget mentality and teachers are not widgets.

The 21st Century Scarlet Letter?

info@hopestreetgroup.org — Sun, 01 Apr 2012 16:36:55 GMT

The 21^st Century Scarlet Letter?

I am completely stymied over the current trend to publish the evaluation scores of teachers in the press. The Los Angeles Unified School District started releasing teacher scores in 2010 with the Los Angeles Times doing their own internal “value-added” statistical analysis which was somewhat different than what the LAUSD has published. Most recently, New York Public Schools made their teacher scores available this year, which were published in the New York Times. Tennessee now has plans to release teachers’ scores in the next few months. Will more states follow suit?

The original impetus for these actions was based on a journalist’s requests under the Open Records Act. After a legal battle, the courts ruled that it was in the public interest and part of parents’ “right to know.” However, the data used to determine these test scores are filled with flaws and are difficult to translate into a value that parents can use to cast judgment on their child’s teacher. The release of the individual rankings has been questioned among the scientists who designed them in the first place. Douglas N. Harris, an economist at the University of Wisconsin said, “releasing the data to the public at this point strikes me as at best unwise , at wors t absurd .” Bill Gates in a recent op -ed in the New York Times stated the recent release of teacher scores is a "capricious exercise in public shaming."

Evaluations serve to highlight teachers’ strengths as well as their weaknesses but the basic purpose of evaluating teachers is to help improve instruction. Evaluations are intended to provide guidance to teachers to improve their skills by linking areas of weakness to recommendations for professional development opportunities. When evaluation feedback is linked to recommendations for improvement, evaluations become opportunities for growth. With this understanding, evaluations should be perceived as positive experiences, but publishing details around areas of weakness bring he about personal embarrassment rather than motivation to improve.

We all agree that the teacher is the most important in-school variable in a child’s educational experience. We agree that parents have the right and responsibility to know how their child’s teacher is doing in the classroom. However, we need to remind ourselves of what really motivates us to do better in our lives. Most of us believe that the best motivation includes external rewards and incentives. “That’s a mistake,” Daniel H. Pink says in his book, Drive . The secret to high performance and satisfaction—at work, at school, and at home—is the deeply human need to direct our own lives, to learn and create new things, and to do better by ourselves and our world. If Pink is correct, then this trend towards publishing flawed data about teachers will certainly motivate current and future teachers to run as fast as they can away from the teaching profession and into other, more fulfilling and less humiliating professions.

How can we improve the evaluation process with the goal of making information available to parents while preserving the dignity of teachers?

Jumping to Conclusions About the Common Core: limited exposure leads to limited understanding

info@hopestreetgroup.org — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 21:53:48 GMT

Teachers: What are your misconceptions about the Common Core?

I recently read an article in the Washington Post written by a disgruntled teacher who just received his ”training” in the Common Core. As a Student Achievement Partners (SAP) Fellow, I have had the opportunity to work closely with the Common Core. SAP is a nonprofit working with teachers to develop an online library of resources for teaching the new standards. I have assisted with the introduction and explanation of Common Core to district leaders from across the country and have worked with the standards extensively in my own classroom.

I would like to direct my comments to Jeremiah, the teacher from the Post article and any other teacher experiencing difficulty understanding and incorporating the Common Core.

As a teacher with 9 years of experience, five of them in high-needs public schools in New Orleans, I recognize that even the best of initiatives can be foiled with poor preparation. This is my greatest fear for the implementation of Common Core.

Jeremiah, reading about your experience makes me truly sorry that the Common Core was presented to you in such a scripted and uninformative light. I would react to the training you received in the same way.

However, let’s talk through the intentions vs. actual practice. Allow me to explain the intention of the Common Core, as I understand it given my experience.

Exemplars

An “exemplar” is not and should not feel like a prepackaged lesson. It is a model. It is important for new teachers and veterans alike to have models and exemplars of what excellence looks like. We would never ask our students to produce mastery work without first providing them with examples. Why would we not provide the same scaffolding and support for teachers?

The exemplar is not meant to be scripted or read verbatim– it is a model of excellence that you, as an effective teacher, then modify to meet the needs of your room. Teachers understand that each child needs something different – an exemplar cannot meet all of those needs. Those are your responsibility, as the purveyor of knowledge in your classroom.

Alignment to good teaching

Common Core asks that our children to be able to access informational and rigorous literary text, analyze it and defend answers with textually-based evidence, write eloquently by making connections between these texts, and use academic vocabulary appropriate to their grade level. These requirements are directly, explicitly aligned to the needs of our children. I would never implement a set of standards that I did not feel aligned to the needs of my students and the world they will be entering.

Prior knowledge

Informational texts, such as the exemplar Jeremiah witnessed, are intended to be cornerstones to a unit – not the unit itself. It is not the intention of the Common Core to imply that other information should not be taught. We ought to remember that the activation of prior knowledge can put some children at a disadvantage, putting them at odds with the text before they even begin. Common Core does not ask that you do not teach historical context – it asks that you do not require it as a prerequisite to mastery.

Text-to-self connections

Common Core emphasizes that text-to-self connections should not take precedence or be made to feel more important than connections to other texts. As a teacher, it’s my job to know my students well enough to provide the connections that are right for them, whether linking the lesson to personal experience or other literature I know they have encountered.

Literary instruction has gotten to a place where if it doesn’t connect easily to a student’s life, they believe that they do not have to care about it. Are we, as teachers, helping them ready themselves for a global business community by saying, “How does this make you feel?”

The world will not care about the ability of our students to express their opinions about informational text. It is our responsibility to prepare them for what they will have to do with these texts and the Common Core supports the development of these skills beautifully.

Policy makers: What can be done to prevent chaos when implementing the Common Core?

“The best laid schemes of mice and men…” absolutely cannot apply to the Common Core! This is a chance for our children to receive rigorous standards and an education will help them compete globally. When it comes to implementation, it’s clear there needs to better communication and better training for teachers. Here’s what I recommend:

State policy makers should band together in developing a team of expert educators who can conduct national trainings. If possible, they should coordinate with Student Achievement Partners (SAP). This will ensure proper alignment and messaging.
Use this educator team to vet materials being developed by textbook companies by rating them on quality and alignment.
Use the team to train and develop state and district Common Core experts.
Have the team develop meaningful professional development and training that is meaningful and closely linked to standards and real life classroom experience.
Regularly evaluate this team against rigorous goals to ensure quality.
Encourage districts to hire an expert – whose credentials have been vetted through SAP – who can support the implementation of the Common Core. This would not only ensure alignment but high quality professional development and the effective creation of materials.

Creative Approaches to Evaluating Schools

info@hopestreetgroup.org — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 19:12:38 GMT

“Employers are increasingly saying that they don’t just need people with basic job skills, but people who are creative (and) who can generate new ideas and new ways of solving problems,”

~Sen. Stanley C. Rosenberg – Massachusetts

http://steam-notstem.com/articles/praesent-in-orci-mauris/

We want all students to be college and career ready and in order to do that we are focusing on Reading and Math results. However, in a few states creativity indexes are also being explored. The intention seems to be based in preparing students to compete in the 21st Century. In Daniel Pink’s book, A Whole New Brain: why right-brainers will rule the future, he describes a future that will belong to “creators and empathizers, pattern recognizers, and meaning makers.”

There are pros and cons for measuring creativity of schools and curriculum. One benefit could be a balanced curriculum that includes arts, debate, science fairs, filmmaking, and independent research. Schools that focus on creativity in their classrooms would reach out to the whole child. Creative curriculums could approach learning in new ways and boost student achievement in Math and Reading scores by providing an education that connects facts and concepts with application in innovative ways.

The fear is that the index could trivialize creativity into a checklist of activities. “We don’t want to encourage quantity over quality of activities,” said Robert J. Sternberg in a recent article in Education Week.

However, one way that the creativity index could emphasize a balanced curriculum would be to provide schools with another measure of effectiveness. In the same Education Week article, Daniel J. Hunter states “If the only public measurement of your school is a standardized test, then schools have every incentive to teach to the test.”

What does this mean for teachers?

This could mean that teachers would feel empowered to design instruction that looks outside of the box. Instruction would be geared towards the need for students to develop skills that include collaboration, problem-solving, and communication. Educational strategies could be thematic or problem-based. This creativity index could provide support for teachers who are feeling confined to measurement by state tests.

What does this mean for policymakers?

Administrators and policymakers will need to support and allow flexibility for creative teachers. Research shows that a quality demonstrated by creative individuals is risk-taking. Teachers must be allowed to take risks when developing innovative approaches to learning. Currently, teachers feel constrained by testing demands that dictate the schedule in the classroom. High-stakes tests also affect the approach taken to instruction including where we prioritize our strategies and personnel. There are a number of other issues that restrict free-thinking by classroom teachers. I welcome blog readers to provide comments about these limiting factors so that we may dialogue about them. Implementing creativity indexes could be another way to measure teacher effectiveness and could provide more balanced data for teacher ratings.

Final Thoughts:

Research is finding that creativity is not an innate gift experienced by a select few. In fact, it is a skill that can be learned and nurtured. When presented with opportunities to actually think and to problem-solve real-life situations, students are offered more chances to demonstrate creativity. As teachers, we need to be able to give them those opportunities. If administrators and other policymakers were willing to focus support on and nurture the creativity of teachers, we would have the encouragement we need to cultivate a creative environment in our classrooms that teach our

students how to be truly prepared for the 21^st century.

Evaluation bill should do better job of engaging teachers

info@hopestreetgroup.org — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 19:28:13 GMT

Congress this week took another step toward reauthorizing at least portions of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) -- also known as the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) law.

The House Education and the Workforce Committee approved two bills dealing with ESEA: the Student Success Act (H.R. 3989) and the Encouraging Innovation and Effective Teachers Act (H.R. 3990). You can read descriptions of the two bills here.

The Effective Teachers Act would require states and school districts to create teacher evaluation programs with a "significant" weight on student achievement data, similar to the Race to the Top requirements. Hope Street Group (HSG) weighed in with a letter to the Education and Workforce Committee sharing some ideas on how the teacher evaluation portions might be improved -- based on the work HSG has done on evaluation reform in the states and through its work with numerous teachers on the issue.

Among the concerns of HSG, the legislation could have been strengthened, for example, when it came to incentivizing states and school districts to plan and implement evaluation systems based on collaboration with teachers. HSG believes state policymakers should engage and seek ideas from teachers not only from the very beginning planning phases but after implementation for continuous improvement of the new evaluation system. Teachers will be impacted most by an evaluation program and will often have the best ideas on how the system can be improved to help them in the classroom.

HSG also believes a federal requirement should not single out teachers. H.R. 3990 should include school administrators in evaluation programs because their work also impacts student learning and growth. Principals deserve constructive feedback and professional development opportunities. HSG encouraged the Committee to include principals in its final draft and not place new accountability solely on teachers.

Now that the Committee approved the two bills, House leadership will decide whether to bring them up for a vote by all of the representatives. Actually passing either bill into law seems pretty difficult given the political environment in Washington right now and the fact that Democrats opposed both of them.

Ensuring Intentional Innovations

info@hopestreetgroup.org — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 18:08:22 GMT

Innovation, autonomy, and flexibility are just some of the buzz words resonating through our nation’s education reform efforts to provide more local control to schools and teachers. Because the contexts of school communities and students’ lives matter, it is critical to offer avenues through which teachers and school leaders can effectively tailor their schools to the specific needs and strengths of their families.

The White House has been recognizing and celebrating Champions of Change working on the front lines to help students “Win the Future.” Our national government is offering flexibility and incentivizing effective reforms through initiatives such as Race to the Top and the recent NCLB waivers. A few states and districts are encouraging school leaders to implement innovations that will improve student achievement. Colorado, where I am currently working at my second innovation school, thanks to the Innovation Schools Act of 2008, is just one example.

Academic achievement data has continued to reveal a gap for many generations, clearly indicating that what has been done in the past is not working for all students. It is obvious that we must begin to do things differently and do so beyond a few successful pockets. However, before swarms of well-intentioned educators unleash the innovations that our historically failing system needs, let me offer these points of reflection from a practitioner’s perspective,

“What are the questions to consider before designing and implementing an innovation at the school and classroom level?”

To what end are we designing and implementing this reform?
If the answer to the first question is, “improved academic achievement as measured by growth on standardized tests,” of what longer term, desired outcome are we hoping improved academic achievement is an indicator?
What rich body of research proves that this idea has a significant chance to achieve the longer-term, intended outcome?
What are the unintended consequences of this proposed program? Is it possible that while it may increase test scores, it could also be a detriment towards our larger purpose and vision for educating youth?
Before we design and implement this reform, have all stakeholders (students, teachers, families, etc.) agreed on what the problem is that we are trying to address with this innovation? Do most stakeholders agree on what the root-causes are of this problem?

6. What are the resources we need to implement this reform with integrity through the depth of its intention and across the breadth of its scale with fidelity? (qualified staff, funding, facility, etc.)

Now that we have vetted our plan with these questions, “How can district, state, and federal policies support the design and implementation of these thoroughly vetted innovations?”

Ensure that school leaders, while being held highly accountable, have full capacity to manage all available resources (including financial ones) in order to focus the application of them towards the reform’s intended outcome.
Ensure full transparency about what resources are available.
Encourage directors of centralized systems to be as flexible as possible when asked by school leaders to provide services that lie outside of the typical way their resource has been used in the past.

If reform leaders use the first six questions to carefully vet their plans and policymakers support those that survive this rigorous vetting process in the three ways listed above, we would see a dramatic increase in both the effectiveness and sustainability of those ideas currently waiting in the innovation bullpen.

Teacher Evaluation: Soft Skills for Hard Moments

info@hopestreetgroup.org — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 02:46:51 GMT

Teachers: What can we learn from an evaluation?

It has been truly exciting this year to be able to spend some time taking a hard look at the topic of teacher evaluation with Hope Street Group. I have learned a lot, participated in innumerable conversations, read dozens of articles and other documents, and have listened to many people I respect, voice their opinions about it.

After all of this, I still find myself left with a sinking feeling that I often get after hearing teachers express worry or frustration with teacher evaluations. I think this sentiment comes from a nagging question that no one seems to ask – why don’t teachers want to be evaluated? Will they really benefit the teacher they are supposed to serve?

At my school, teacher evaluation occurs four times a year, and it is the most significant feedback I receive on how to become a better teacher, which is what all educators should strive to be.

The evaluation is based in the following things:

1. Am I meeting the goals that I set forth for my classroom and scholars? Am I on track to meeting those goals and, if not, am I taking active steps to meet them? I am responsible for the academic and behavioral success of a small group of girls in my advisory: is my advisory meeting the goals set for them? Are they on track to college success?

2. Are the “teacher tasks” that I am asked to do on a regular basis getting done? Am I prompt to my duty spots? Are students getting regular grades and feedback? Am I entering demerits and making phone calls home? Are my lesson plans submitted on time?

3. Am I a good team member? Am I having the right conversations when I need something? Am I solution –oriented? Am I modeling the world that I want to see for the scholars and for my coworkers?

4. Am I growing, as a teacher? Am I improving on things areas of weakness indicated on the previous evaluation? AM I striving to do better and make my practice stronger?

As I look over this list, it occurs to me that, when measured correctly, these areas of growth are also the places in which I can grow as a person. These evaluation points set up solid moments of reflection for me as a person, as well. Am I achieving what I set out to achieve? Am I on time when I say I will be? Can people trust me to follow through? Was I supportive and not negative when someone needed me? Do I have a fixed mindset, or do I see my world as a place that can always grow?

Evaluation doesn’t have to feel like a punitive battleground. We as teachers can choose to view it as a positive experience – a chance to become better educators and people.

Policymakers should focus on ways to communicate evaluation as a positive experience and support school administration and teachers in this process!

Of course this cannot occur if:

1. evaluations are not designed to be linked to professional development and growth and

2. if those evaluating us are not equipped with the skills and tools they need to support their teachers.

Therefore, teachers should demand strong professional opportunities that are tied to their evaluations. Before any evaluation, administrative staff should be ready to take solid growth-minded steps prior to conducting evaluations.

What can administrators and other policymakers improve their teacher evaluations?

1. Find ways to indicate that evaluation points out the good as well as areas to improve. No one is perfect – we can always get better. Find ways as a school or department leader to be very visual with the ways in which you are trying to improve yourself.

2. Be vulnerable with your growth areas – lead by example.

3. Have administration and department heads model what feedback looks like in order to indicate to teachers that everyone should receive an evaluation, and that it doesn’t have to feel punitive.

4. Teach administrative staff soft skills – the ability to communicate well, listen effectively, and show empathy will make this process a lot smoother.

5. Encourage administrative staff to be available and open to concern and suggestions. Often, teachers do not feel listened to and this should be a time when they feel included in the process.

6. Be clear about intentions and deadlines. Whitewashing expectations sets an unclear example and can create insecurity and political backlash.

Note: the opinions expressed here are the writer's own.

Our Visit to the U.S. Department of Education

info@hopestreetgroup.org — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 20:29:06 GMT

Dru Davison and I were invited to represent Hope Street Group to interview Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan about teacher evaluation. What an honor it was!

It was a whirlwind tour and in a matter of hours, we had met with Secretary Duncan, his chief of staff Joanne Weiss, and the Department’s Teacher Ambassador Fellows. I am still in a dream state about it. We first met with Joann Weiss and Sec. Arne Duncan where we spent an hour talking with them about the federal role in education. They talked to us about their experiences, answered our questions, and to our delight, listened to what we as teachers had to say about what we are seeing in our schools. We discussed the importance of including professional development as a vital component of a teacher’s evaluation and supporting the Arts as part of a well-rounded education. It was an experience that is truly memorable and inspirational.

To finish up our meeting at the Department, we met with the Washington DC Teacher Ambassador Fellows and learned what their daily work encompasses. Each fellow is assigned to work with a specific person and section within USDOE, such as communications, reading, technology, etc. The Teacher Ambassador Fellows are currently recruiting next year. This is where one can apply: http://www2.ed.gov/programs/teacherfellowship/applicant.html

Since my return to the real world, I have been able to speak to numerous people in my school district about the discussions we held. The most valuable part of this whole experience has been the ability to see firsthand that our policymakers care about what teachers have to say. They not only care about our input but they want our ideas and they want us involved in the implementation of new policies. Teachers as well as the administrators in Delaware have been so grateful to hear that their issues are being heard and that the federal government supports teachers in doing what they do best, helping their students achieve. I’m grateful that teacher voices are counted as important and essential in the policy process because as the professionals we are, we should have a place at that table.

The State of the Union – Teachers Matter

info@hopestreetgroup.org — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 22:58:01 GMT

The most powerful words from the State of the Union? “Teachers Matter” and “teach with creativity and passion.” The creativity and passion in teaching has been leached out over the years by increasing emphasis on high-stakes testing. Everything seems to hinge on a single assessment. Though we talk in my district about viewing the whole child and analyzing more than one source of data, we find that people are attached to certain results almost to the exclusion of common sense.

In the State of the Union address, President Obama spoke about teaching with “creativity and passion.” Teachers need to once again feel confident in their approach to subject matter. The teachers I know are passionate about teaching. They love to see the light bulb go on when students “get it”. They are driven by the need to teach students. They crave that interaction. Currently, teachers swim through red tape that serves as an educational obstacle.

As teachers, we agree that we want data about student abilities. We need to understand how much a child knows so that we can take him beyond that knowledge into enriching possibilities. When children are struggling, assessments can help in determining an action plan to meet their needs. And high-achieving students must be challenged to continue to grow.

Also, teachers welcome an opportunity to be evaluated as a professional when those assessments result in feedback that can help them grow. We as teachers hope for evaluation systems that not only provide feedback but are connected to professional development to help us improve. Even our best teachers still seek knowledge and training for improvement. That should be a goal for every teacher in the profession.

The President called for an end to teacher bashing. Too often society is driven by sensational news that clings to a controversial topic in order to sell headlines. We need to look for the positive events in education. We need to celebrate the triumphs. We need to recognize teachers as a major element in a child’s life and respect them as such.

What does this mean for teachers?

Teachers must live up to this respect. Educators must put concerted effort into planning for student instruction. Professionals need to act and dress the part as well.

Teachers need to feel confident again to teach standards creatively. Common Core State Standards provide a framework for WHAT needs to be taught, but teachers are the driving force for HOW those standards are taught. This is where, though the same standards are taught, educational strategies for students may differ.

Teachers need to voice their thoughts. Educators must participate in discussions about the ways that student growth and achievement are measured. Teacher voices are also needed to determine fair and consistent ways to measure teacher performance. Teachers can look for ways to get involved in important conversations about education. Look for opportunities within your district and your state. Teachers can look to non-profits to amplify their voices. Hope Street Group provides a platform for discussions like this.

What does this mean for Policymakers?

Policymakers need to listen to the “in-the-trenches” voices of teachers. Policymakers (and the public) cannot just assume that teachers are trying to protect their jobs in these discussions of student achievement and teacher evaluation. Policymakers must recognize that educators represent a valuable steering element for these discussions. These teachers serve as necessary resource.

Policymakers can look to other states that are working with teachers to gather their voices in meaningful ways. Delaware, for instance, is working toward involving the work of state teachers when developing the teacher evaluation system that will be put into place. I participated in a workgroup that created assessments to measure student growth. During these work sessions, I had access to the people working for the department who are making decisions. I have voiced my concerns and the concerns of my colleagues. In addition, I have suggested possible solutions. I have found the ears of my policymakers to be open.

Final Thoughts

President Obama’s remarks about Teachers and Education lead us down the path of transforming our educational systems and re-thinking some strongly held beliefs about the methods we use to educate students. A step further contributes to the conversations about ensuring that our children receive an education from the best teachers available. While our paradigm is shifting, we must remember to share our voices together in this important conversation.

Whole Child Reform: The Easy to Follow Recipe

info@hopestreetgroup.org — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 15:08:31 GMT

In Malcolm Gladwell’s book, “Outliers,” he takes a close look at the many details behind successful people. In looking at highly successful people he defines as “outliers,” Gladwell cleverly reverse engineers three secret ingredients necessary to becoming a highly successful person on top of just being smart and hardworking: opportunity, strong community, and cultural legacies.

These ingredients have huge implications for education and ultimately confirm that we must address the “whole” child.

Each ingredient as you might guess is complex and not created easily, For example, if a lasagna recipe calls for tomato sauce, you better not add a can of Ragu and expect great things. To do it right we must start from scratch using only that which is fresh, ripe, and organically grown.

INGREDIENT #1: OPPORTUNITY

In his book, Gladwell uses several examples to show us that in addition to innate talents and individual effort, highly successful people have unique opportunities that add to their practical intelligence. Practical intelligence includes things like “knowing what to say to who, knowing when to say it, and knowing how to say it for maximum effect.”

While practical intelligence matters for success, it only matters to a certain extent and intellect and achievement are far from being perfectly correlated. Gladwell makes this point through the comparison of two geniuses: Chris, with an IQ of 195 and Robert, with an IQ of 130. Chris lacked many of the opportunities that Robert was given. He was poor, abandoned by his father, had an uneducated mother, and was often beaten at home by his mother’s partners. Chris never finished college and became a horse rancher. Robert won the Nobel Prize.

Being a speech language pathologist and reading about practical intelligence, I immediately correlated it with pragmatics, otherwise known as social language. This social piece of teaching a child is something we talk about in education, but it is often far from the priority.

If we accept that social skills will play a significant role in student achievement, then the teaching of this practical knowledge ought to be part of our strategic plan as educators. While many students may learn good social skills from their parents, many others do not. In order to create equal opportunity, we need to recognize and rectify this imbalance. That may require extending the school day/year, providing broader experiences, and teaching basic lessons on social skills.

INGREDIENT #2: STRONG COMMUNITY

Cognitive science teaches us that children learn best when their stress levels are low and when they engage in regular positive social and communicative interactions with peers. As such, we could conclude that the creation of strong school communities yields optimum learning.

Gladwell in fact supports this conclusion with an example about a community in Pennsylvania called Roseto. The residents of Roseto had remarkable health statistics. After researching diet, exercise, genes, location, etc, a physician named Stewart Wolf was left with only one conclusion: “the Rosetans had created a powerful, protective social structure capable of insulating them from the pressures of the modern world.”

INGREDIENT #3: CULTURAL LEGACIES

The discussion of cultural legacies is fascinating and a must-read. One example he gives is that Korean pilots have a statistically high crash rate. After detailing the conversation between a NYC air traffic controller and a Korean 1^st officer and Korean Captain, he shows us how the different communication styles of the different cultures resulted in a fatal crash that could have been avoided. In response to these cultural legacy issues, the Koreans are now being trained differently on how to express emergency situations with less mitigation and more commands regardless of job hierarchy.

As we think about cultural norms among Korean pilots, is it so different to compare to our students? They have all come from different homes and have been taught a variety of behaviors. It’s up to us, as educators to better understand the cultural legacies of our students so we can teach them the skills they need to be successful.

So there you have it, the three secret ingredients necessary to address the whole child and create a successful adult. All of these are well within our control if we decide as a society that that is our goal. As teachers, we understand we have students from all backgrounds with various needs. We need the school structures, supports, and accountability to help us provide opportunity for all students, even those who may not have it at home.

With these secret ingredients would Chris not have also been an outlier?

What if his educators had considered his cultural legacy and determined that he needed strategic efforts at improving his practical intelligence and created a stress free community filled with positive peer/teacher interactions for which to help teach these skills and also gave him more opportunities to gain more practical intelligence with teachers/peers through such things as summer school and extended school day activities, so that he was logging more social savvy hours? Would the smartest man in the world then be curing cancer instead of shoveling manure?

2b or not 2b…That is the Question: But Are Standardized Tests Asking the Right Ones?

info@hopestreetgroup.org — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 23:48:51 GMT

Standardized testing has become a hot topic of conversation everywhere from the teachers lounge to local P.T.A. meetings. The news is filled with articles about teachers “teaching to the test” (see a few examples here, here and here). But are standardized assessments the best and only way to measure student learning?

Teachers use many tools to assess and measure student growth and learning, which then guide future teaching. A formalized test is one of the tools we as teachers use to assess a student’s knowledge. We then discern the best possible way to move forward and what to teach from that point. However, testing has turned into a dreaded monster.

The word “test” has become the new four-letter word to both students and to teachers. You say “test” to any teacher these days, and they stare at you with a look of regret and sadness in their eyes. The bubble over their head says, “Oh…remember the days when testing truly evaluated what students could do and what they learned.”

The end goal is now making sure that, no matter what, students perform well on standardized tests. We have developed a culture of teaching to the test. What happened to teaching to the students?

What is the purpose of standardized tests?

Standardized tests were initially put into place to gather a large amount of data on student achievement. As a nation, we are expected to raise student achievement and yet, we haven’t asked ourselves the most fundamental of all questions: how are we defining student achievement? We, as teachers, parents, and collectively as a country, need to ask ourselves, do we want our kids to be able to fill in a bubble or do we want our children to be productive citizens in our country and in our world for today and the future? Are we “testing’ them to see if they can critically think, problem solve and have the skills necessary for the workforce?

How do standardized tests affect teachers?

I hear more and more teachers talk every day, telling me, in hushed whispers that they “miss teaching” and “all we do is teach to the test. It’s not fun for the students or us. “

Recently, a teacher showed me a file cabinet in her room, chock full of creative lessons to teach percentages in her math class. “I can’t use these anymore. I used to have a “shopping day” and the kids would understand the real life implications of learning percentages. It was great.” When asked why she couldn’t do it anymore, she explained that she was told it “wasted” time and took away from the skill sheets that would help prepare her students for upcoming standardized tests.

Albert Einstein said, “Everything that can be counted does not necessarily count; everything that counts cannot necessarily be counted.” Just because standardized tests can measure large amounts of student growth, doesn’t mean they can/should measure every aspect of student learning. In fact, we need to remember they should not be used to assess everything.

We must have accountability in our schools and classrooms and there is a place for formalized testing but not at the expense of creative teaching methods. Teachers need to be able to use their creativity in teaching, to be able to teach critical thinking and problem solving while teaching the necessary academic skills.

Consider the following story problem and how you would respond:

You have a file cabinet in your room, full of creative lessons plans you have used and have found to be successful in teaching your students. Your principal and district leaders have asked that you not use these lessons because they do not prepare your students for the standardized tests. What do you do?

a. Meet the requirements of your principal and district and teach to the test

b. Find an alternative school that promotes the learning and teaching that fits your ideals

c. Go rogue and teach your students using the methods you know

d. Go into early retirement

Dollars: It isn't just a question of how much

info@hopestreetgroup.org — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 15:22:03 GMT

How does budget transparency, or the lack thereof, impact school and classroom level programming for students?

Across states in our nation, property owners pay taxes to provide the youth in their community with an education. While there are many current debates about how much those taxes should be, I don’t often hear debates about how states, districts, and schools should report how those funds are being spent. And I’d like to hear what people have to say about budget transparency.

I currently serve as a program director at an urban high school daring to both extend our school year by 39 instructional days and provide several travel excursions related to what our students are learning in the classroom. While everyone I’ve spoken with about these programming decisions agree that they are good for our students, the biggest questions and concerns arise around cost.

Of the dollars paid per student by the state to our school district, a portion is kept by the district for administrative and facility operating costs. While working to establish a reasonable budget for our students’ travel excursions, many have chuckled at my naiveté when I dare to ask, “How is our district spending the portion of per pupil funding that they keep?”

Perhaps the amplification of district budgeting details, as they pertain to a particular school, would unnecessarily stir up distracting conversation among teachers, administrators, parents, and other school stakeholders. Since district administrators have been hired to make those budget decisions (and hired without the expected collaboration of other school stakeholders), perhaps it would be a moot effort to be more transparent about where exactly the dollars that our district keeps in per pupil funding are spent. Would the can of worms opened by this proposed transparency and resulting conversation end up costing the district more money as they manage the discourse and publicity around their budget decisions?

I’m too in the dark, as a school program director, to know the answers to these questions. I crave the budget transparency that would help me and my colleagues make more effective decisions about instructional programming for our students.

How can policymakers promote more budget transparency between districts and schools?

While each state in our nation has its own right to run its education system independent from any federal expectations, perhaps continuing with the federal theme of incentivizing, The U.S. Department of Education could incentivize budget transparency between districts and the schools/communities they serve. From my point of view, this would allow teachers and program directors to make the most effective decisions about what instructional practices would best serve their particular students.

However, I’m curious to know other peoples’ experiences and thoughts around this budget transparency issue.

Lowering the Bar

info@hopestreetgroup.org — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 07:28:42 GMT

The Background

I was selected to testify at an Illinois State House hearing on the Basic Skills test on December 14. The Basic Skills test is a test that all potential teachers must take if they want to be certified in the state of Illinois. Here is some basic information, the cut score on the sub-sections of the Illinois Test of Basic Skills was raised in September of 2010 to require teacher preparation candidates to score 240 or above (out of 300 possible) in all four sub-sections in order to pass.

The Data

As soon as the new cut score was put in place, passing rates dropped from over 80% to around 30%.

In a March 2011 publication, the Coalition for Effective Teaching posted the following data:

The results of the February 2011 administration of the Basic Skills Test have come in. Nearly 2000 people took the test and less than 600 passed! The low pass rates are even more striking when you look at the racial and ethnic breakdown:

Out of 1,484 White students, only 490 passed all four subtests.

Out of 234 African-American students, only 25 passed.

Out of 212 Hispanic students, only 28 passed.

Out of 66 Asian students, only 16 passed.

My Voice

Analyzing this data, it is clear that the bar is definitely higher to become a teacher in Illinois and the data shows that minorities are passing the test at an abysmal rate on their first attempts. Here is the conundrum that I faced with analyzing this data and with writing a post about my experience. As an African-American woman, I would love to see more professionals of color in the profession. I teach in Chicago Public Schools where the majority of our students are the minority. I know that for many years there have been talks of reforms to be considered as it relates to standardized testing to remove cultural biases to make assessments equal across all cultural lines. I know that passing a standardized test does not take into consideration pedagogical knowledge and cannot fully equate to the success of a teacher. However, I also know that in the state of our education across this nation, we cannot afford to lower the academic rigor required to be a teacher. It is an oxymoron to require so much from the student but not so much from the teacher. Does that make sense? Should test change based on race or ethnicity? When I was asked to testify about this issue, I really wasn’t prepared for the all out race war that I entered on speaking up for keeping the standards high.

As a mother of a Chicago Public School student, I expect the best teacher, regardless of race, that our district can provide. I want her to have someone who stands in front of her everyday who is knowledgeable about the content he or she is teaching and is able to answer my daughter’s questions with proficiency and accuracy. Don’t get me wrong, I will never lie and say that I have known all the answers to every question my students have posed, but I can say that what I didn’t know, I let them know and found the answers for them. I say that to say that I am not so naïve to think that all teachers must be a walking encyclopedia but we as teachers need to strive to be continuous learners and stay abreast on all aspects of our profession and not being able to grasp basic content knowledge is unacceptable to me.

I was prepared with my speech about keeping the bar high and on the advent of Common Core State Standards being implemented; it is more evident that our students are being challenged to know so much more. As I finished my testimony, I felt secure with my speech and how I articulated my points. It was after my speech that the knot began churning in my stomach when state representatives called people who had testified to come back to the microphone and answer questions about remediation plans for candidates. State representatives declared the test as a case of the haves and have not’s and one representative mentioned how this test was used to keep minorities out of the profession as a means of modern day racism. I remember one Latino representative who stated that he didn’t believe in lowering the bar because he didn’t feel that just because he was Latino; it should be viewed that he cannot pass the test therefore lower the bar. I shared his sentiment and wondered why more minorities did not feel this way. Although the pass rate was higher in the pass, I wonder if the low pass rates now highlight the true value of a teacher. As pompous as it may sound, I will go on record saying that some people need a wakeup call to see that teaching is not as easy as people think and just maybe this new test will help to professionalize the profession and show the world that not just anyone can join our profession! We hear how other countries take the best of the best, why shouldn’t we? When I look at it, my first lens focuses on recruiting talent, but race and politics seems to run the same gait as talent for many other individuals. I then step away again and think of my 6 year old daughter and what I want for her and talent is the answer wrapped in whatever color of the rainbow that God made her teacher.

I left the testimony more disheartened than ever when I passed an African-American representative on my way out during a break when she said, “Don’t forget where you came from and don’t let them use you.” As if I needed her to remind me of who I was or where I come from. I have lived in this skin and with my experiences in this skin for 32 years but my race is not the only thing that makes me who I am. The words from the state representative continue to echo in my ear a month later and have caused me to discuss this issue in depth with other African-American educators and parents. Most everyone says this is a touchy issue but that’s the problem…no one wants to touch it and in the process, our education system is still not up to par. I felt like the representative was questioning my allegiance to my race as opposed to separating race from the issue at hand. I love who I am and what I stand for as an African American, as a teacher and a mother. Looking at the data, I know things need to change; there is a part of me that believes that people who really want to teach will rise to meet the standard regardless of race. As I told the representative after her comment, I want the best for my daughter, how can anyone in good conscience say that the bar needs to be lower?

A Teacher's Opportunity to be Uniquely Involved with RTTT-Early Learning Challenge

info@hopestreetgroup.org — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 04:02:03 GMT

Being a Reading Specialist who has worked with inner city early care providers, I was very excited to hear U.S. Department of Education's announcement concerning the RTTT - Early Learning Challenge. A grant giving each state an opportunity to submit a request for funding a systemic plan that would result in children most at-risk being better prepared for kindergarten.

For the past six years, I have been advocating for building collaborative partnerships between K-12 school systems and their neighboring early learning centers in Delaware. These partnerships or readiness teams would include the adults who are most directly involved in a young child's preparation for entering kindergarten. By building partnerships, communication and an increased understanding of kindergarten readiness could ease the transition from a possibly unstructured environment into the more structured K-12 instructional system and increase a child's overall success in school.

The idea of aligning early childhood education with K-12 and establishing "readiness teams” became one component included in Delaware's application. Parents, early childhood providers, K-12 teachers and leaders, community members, and nonprofit partners will work as a team to target high-need children and their care providers. Recognizing that I have been working with others in writing a proposal for statewide implementation of such an approach over the past year, I was asked to review this component and add any suggestions, revisions, or comments before it was finalized.

This grant was very competitive as Delaware was one of thirty-five states that submitted applications, but fortunately, was one of nine states awarded in the first round. Delaware will receive nearly $50,000,000 to build up present initiatives and roll-out those waiting for a jump start! This is added to $22,000,000 which our state's legislature budgeted earlier towards Purchase of Care funding and current early learning initiatives.

This is a very exciting time for all involved in increasing the success of children from birth and beyond. I look forward to my continued involvement as we initiate the additional projects in our state's plan. As a teacher leader and currently a Hope Street Group Fellow, it has been especially rewarding and exhilarating to see what I have been advocating for taken seriously and to be involved with the final draft of such an important application. I am grateful for the support bestowed many Delaware teachers over the years from the Rodel Foundation and Vision 2015; valuing the teachers' voice as participants at the table whether it be at the state or federal level and believing that everyone can and must do better for Delaware's youngest learners.

Alternative Certification: Is it enough?

info@hopestreetgroup.org — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 02:41:13 GMT

Is Alternative Certification Enough?

A generation ago, teachers became teachers by the same path that nurses became nurses- they attended colleges, majored in their subject area, received teacher training, and entered the classroom.

Within the past 15 years or so, this landscape changed, largely with the formation and rapid expansion of Teach For America, and today there are more paths to the classroom than ever before. While I am not a “TFA Corps Alum,” I became a teacher through a similar group called teachNOLA, run by the New Teacher Project.

After a infinitely brief summer training and a couple weeks of summer school assistant teaching, I found myself in the second worst performing high school in the district, attempting a reclamation of a classroom two other teachers had walked out of by October. I am still in the classroom 5 years later, but in retrospect realize that I was grossly unprepared to meet the needs of the population I was supposed to serve.

Each year, thousands of well-meaning, enthusiastic college graduates enter TFA, teachNOLA, or a similar “fast track program” and find themselves faced with the worst schools, most deplorable school conditions, and greatest academic deficits. They attend “alternative certification classes” while teaching and receive their teaching certification at the end of the year. We ask them to roll up their sleeves, work hard, have high expectations, and “close the achievement gap.”

And they do roll up their sleeves – they work hard, they do the best they can with the tools they have, and some of them stay… but not nearly enough. Often, the experience of alternative certification routes becomes a “stepping stone” to another career – in education or otherwise.

While Teach For America offers up statistics that more than 60% of their cohorts end up staying in “some form of educational work” after their two year commitment is at an end, many of these promising teachers leave the classroom before they have had a chance to fully develop their craft.

All of this leaves me with several questions. Where should these skills actually be developed? Is a “summer training institute” enough? How are these programs, or colleges for that matter, held accountable for providing high quality training for their cohorts and students? I have a 15-year-old sister – would I trust her education to a 22 year-old Yale grad armed with an English degree and three-months of training? In his recent blog, Doug Clark makes some excellent suggestions, and we as a nation need to begin to consider this as a national, not simply an educational, issue.

How are schools and training programs held accountable to excellence?

I went back to college, while teaching fulltime, and spent three years and thousands of dollars attending the graduate level education courses in order to become certified and – I thought – learn more about becoming a teacher. I was shocked at the lack of attention and rigor brought to these courses. Of all of the classes I attended, only two of them were of any quality.

There is absolutely no alignment between colleges on what it means to prepare a teacher for a classroom. Standards for excellence among teaching programs differ from college to college. Imagine if this were true for doctors and their preparation for the surgery room wildly varied depending on the university they attend!

I strongly believe that standardization for teacher certification is needed to establish consistency, credibility, and a level of accountability for excellence. How can we possibly expect to prepare prospective teachers for the classroom if the curriculum is not vetted and prepared by experts who are in communication and are constantly pushing their programs to be up to date?

Moreover, once teachers have come through these rigorous programs, they need to continue to develop their skills. In the United States, we have barely begun the process of teacher evaluation. In countries that have high performing educational systems, teachers begin excellently and are expected to continue to be so. In Singapore, teachers complete 100 hours of professional development annually. A similar program is true in South Korea, and while high school is not compulsory I that country, 97% of its population finishes.

Preparing teachers for the challenges they will face, demanding that the programs that prepare them are effective, and continuing a teacher’s education throughout their career. These are the qualities of an educational system that works and we will continue spinning our wheels with new initiatives until we truly begin to value the teacher as the integral part of the system, and prepare them effectively for the job.

The views expressed are the writer's own.