On the Shoulders of Giants

Common Core Shift--Notes for Revisions

I have been a fan of the Common Core Learning Standards for ELA since I first read them a few years ago. By and large, the Common Core Standards represent a shift that is more in line with what I've always tried to focus on in my teaching. I actually quite like these nicely organized standards that push toward deeper thinking. 

I have a few concerns though. In no particular order, here they are:

• Not everything in the standards seems developmentally appropriate--analyzing author's purpose in the 3rd grade, for example? 
• Only one teacher was included in the team of 60 who wrote the standards. (Perhaps this accounts the above point--either way, it needs to be checked and revised.)
• No mention of poetry writing. How many teachers across the country will stop giving students the opportunity to write poems?  How is this good for kids?
• Fiction writing is downplayed, visible only as couched inside the general concept of "narrative" witing. This lessens our students' participation in a rich literary tradition.
• At least in NY, teachers have not been included in the design of assessments for the CCLS. Instead, Pearson is doing this work. And it shows in the product that teachers are not involved.  Lots to think about and improve upon if the intention is there.  
• Are standardized assessments going to drive the instructional shift toward Common Core? That would leave so much out!  That would be to take a great opportunity and diminish it significantly and unnecessarily. 

I've got a lot more to say about each of these points and I will be exploring them over the next several months. As I said before, I like the Common Core, but, as many educators are saying right now, I'm concerned about implementation. I see a need for some thoughtful revisions.  Can we make that happen? 

[image credit: leaguewriters.blogspot.com]

Can We Get Real About the Purpose of Education?

I was reading through some of my favorite bloggers' posts of last month, which I missed and came across this powerful and troubling post by Renee Moore, Lessons From My Fathers. It tells the story of black men in her family, who played by society's rules and pursued their education, only to end up with low paying jobs that do not allow them to adequately support their families. 

She concludes, 

"The men in this family are black fathers who have tried so hard to do the right things.

Go to school. Study hard. Pass the tests. Graduate. Get a job. Get married. Work hard. For what?  To watch as their dreams crash, and their familes suffer? In America?

This is about real education.

We’ve drilled a generation with the lesson that the purpose of getting an education is to get a job. Yet, many young Black look at people they know and respect, like the men in my family, and ask, 'Why bother?'

Maybe it’s time to teach the rest of the lesson. That the purpose education in a free nation is to prepare well-rounded, intelligent citizens who can work together to find real solutions to the problems in our society."

My response:

Wow. How does this reality fit with the "no excuses" rhetoric of "closing the achievement gap"?   You're right. We need to reframe our narrative about what we are educating our youth to be able to do. The society children enter into, after completing their education, is not set up for everyone to be successful. It is full of problems ripe for fresh minds to dig in and solve.  That is something we need to prepare students to do--look at the big picture, and become problem-solvers and collaborators.  Otherwise we are lying and failing to prepare students for the realities of the adult world. 

This theme seems to be coming up more and more lately.  Steven Lazar writes in the Washington Post about the faulty implementation of the new Common Core Standards in Social Studies. An early supporter of the standards themselves, Lazar finds the new draft of NY State 9-12 Common Core aligned curriculum framework sorely lacking in preparing students to fullfill their civic duties as adult citizens in this country. 

Our country is far from perfect. However, I see little to no recognition of this fact in our education system today. We are feeding students (and teachers and parents) an unreal story about the role of education and failing to do the job of preparing the next generation for the real world. 

[image credit: veggiesmith.com ]

Could This Be a Turning Point for Education Testing?

I'd love to think so, but really can't say. Here are a few points for the "things might be changing" team. 

1.  The unified body of teachers at Garfield High in Seattle refused to administer the standardized test (MAP), because they don't believe it's a good use of their students' time or a fair measure for what it's being used to measure. 

2. My TLN colleagues are discussing the issue of testing and the movement at Garfield High at Teaching Ahead: Testing at a Crossroads (EdWeek Teacher). Check it out.

3. But I bet you didn't you see THIS! A student demonstration against the MECAP test as graduation requirement in Providence, RI, in which students marched in full zombie attire! Filmed and reported by the Providence Journal.

(Sidenote: A piece of this teacher's heart will always be with the students of Providence, RI, where I was a substitute teacher for a year after graduating college. I got to spend time in nearly every secondary school in the city: a fascinating vantage point from which to see urban education.) 

 

[top image is a screenshot from the above video]

Flipped Hierarchy

I often dream of a flipped hierarchy in education, where at the top of the pyramid are the classrooms with teachers and students, and below us are all of the other people in supportive roles, holding up the most important work we do.  

If you are not a teacher, but you're looking at this image, thinking, "Yes, that's exactly how it is," then you should try talking to some teachers.  

I'm fortunate to feel supported at my school by colleagues, school leaders, and parents, but that's not necessarily the norm.  And there are still outside forces that threaten these conditions.  Do teachers feel recognized and supported by the people/organizations that influence and govern their profession?  The answer, by and large, is no.  And when teachers aren't supported, students aren't either. 

If we are really most important, then let's flip the hierarchy!

PBS Frontline on Rhee Worth the Watch

In case you missed PBS Frontline's hour-long segment on Michelle Rhee's tenure as chancellor of D.C. Public Schools, I'm making a plug for everyone to watch it.  I finally did and found it startlingly moving. 

John Merrow did an exceptional piece of journalism here that was quite fair. I could see why Rhee was called to action, why she felt so strongly about making sweeping change, and why people like Mayor Fenti were inclined to give her a lot of power. I also saw clearly where she went wrong, the damage her decisions caused, and her less than caring response to the damage.

A few thoughts I had were

• This is what happens when we try to apply a simplistic business model to education 
• This is what happens when one person's leadership goes unchecked
• This is what happens when appointed leaders attempt to make change through hierarchical structures without listening to other voices and building community support
• This is what happens when test scores are viewed as measures of teaching and learning 
• This is what happens when people think they can solve problems by scaring people, instead of addressing the causes of the problems 

The details are stunning and the hour it takes to watch the whole thing is well worth it.

Watch it by clicking here: http://video.pbs.org/video/2323979463  

[below is a screenshot of Michelle Rhee and John Merrow]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is a follow up post written by John Merrow and Frontline's Phil Bennett, in response to accusations from current D.C. Chancellor Kaya Henderson and another commentor that the segment was unfair.

 

2013 Ed Policy Wish: Change "Obama's Approach to Education"

I woke up this morning from a strange dream in which my students were participating in a presentation on "Obama's Approach to Education." I was upset because I had planned to teach classes that day, only to find my students had gone to this bizarre assembly--and I had not been invited.

I was also upset, because, what valuable messages could possibly be imparted to students at this assembly? The presentation was not about the importance of education in students' lives, something the President has done a good job speaking about to students and parents in the past. This was specifically about his education policy initiatives.  

Students are the primary recipients of education policies, but I'm having trouble seeing how recent education policies benefit students at all. What is Obama's Approach to Education? Based on the last four years, I can point to Race to the Top, an initiative based on competition for public funds (our tax money), with a requirement that a significant component of teacher evaluations are based on value added measures of standardized testing data.  I know what my students think of that! (See this post: Student Thoughts on Accountability for Teachers).

In Teacher Incentive Fund grants, another policy initative of the last 4 years, all over the country districts are experimenting with creating hybrid roles that pay lead teachers more (which could be good moves), but the government controls the definition of a great teacher and the focus of the lead teacher's work: again through value added measures of standardized test data.  President Obama, do you really think tests measure what a good teacher is?  Apparently, you do not actually think so!

Yet, these heavy hitting policies--that gift and deny public funding to kids and families who have no voice in the matter--have the entire country chasing test scores and a huge, publicly funded industry growing around the endeavor. Meanwhile, students are losing out on authentic learning experiences, which they absolutely must have to be prepared for the dramatically shifting professional world they'll enter.  And with so much money supporting the new testing and data infrastructures, there is apparently not enough money for the essential elements of our children's education: foreign language classes, the arts, programs to support and retain teachers in high need schools, small class sizes, etc. How can we allow this to continue?

I've been nearly silent with my thoughts on these policies and how they reflect on president Obama's leadership when it comes to education. I've had my reasons--mainly, I didn't want to weaken Obama's chances of reelection, since I saw no better choice. I figured a negative blog post probably equals at least as much as a vote, so I kept my concerns to myself. I hope you know that was a big comprimise for me. I am a small voice in this debate, but I value my integrity. Now I will speak up.  

President Obama, you are a person of such intelligence, capable of the highest levels of leadership. You called on a highly articulate and experienced educator in Linda Darling Hammond to lead your education campaign in 2008, and you got my vote that year in large part because of that smart choice. I did not know enough about your leadership at that point to be certain you were the best person to lead our country, but I did know enough about Linda Darling Hammond's work to make a decision I knew would benefit children across America. Then you got elected and made a hard turn in a different direction. You have been nearly silent about this as well.  It's as if you just handed "education" off to someone else. I know you have so many issues to take care of, but I implore you to stand closer to our country's public schools.

Secretary Duncan said last month, "We came out of the gates flying" in the first term..." and he plans to "replicate that as much as we can" in the next term (EdWeek, Duncan Sketches Out Second Term Agenda).  Are you sure you're going in the right direction? The stakes for our country could not be higher. Education is becoming a support for big money at the expense of children's experiences, present and future, and you have the opportunity to turn that around. 

My education policy wish for 2013 is that President Obama will change his "approach to education."  For a great variety of thoughtful recommendations on how this might look, check out my colleagues at Teaching Ahead: Teachers' Advice to President Obama in His Second Term.  These are voices of teachers, who've committed their lives to our nation's youth, and their ideas deserve a chance.

 

[image credit: 5forcesofchange.com]

Poem in a Hurricane: The Teachers

Perhaps it was the hurricane, school being closed, the articles I read this morning, and the full moon.  I was inspired to write this poem. 

 

The Teachers

We’re in this together.

We don’t raise bars. We raise children.

 

Bars are metalic and mark rigid end points;

   Here is where I stopped learning about multiplication.

 Here is where I mastered “response to literature” and ceased reading.

 

We’re in this together.

We don’t raise bars. We raise children.

 

Our value can be measured years later in every love affair started over a good book,

every conversation about why the coffee spoon bends

or what the rocks have seen in their time on Earth.

 

Try to fill your pail with us--

and see us jump overboard in multitudes;

some with splashes, some

evaporating silently,

finding new harbors, and the light of new fires.

 

We are the teachers.

We’ve always known more of you

than you’ve known of us.

 

We can always do better.  In this world

Or the next.

 

 ~Ariel Sacks

 

 

Random post-it note: teachers resistant to change?

So I found a random post-it note on my computer's "Stickies" function.  I have no idea when or where this note was taken.  I have a feeling it was during a webinar that happened sometime during Connected Educator month, but I'm really not sure!  I think someone wrote the quote in that chat section and I composed my thoughts on this note before typing int the chat window.  It may have been a webinar moderated by Steve Hargadon...? Anyway, it was interesting, so I thought I'd share. 

I typed it into this Powerpoint slide: 

 

 

Let's Have More Conversations About What Works

In my previous post, Teaching Tip: Learn From the Positive, I wrote about the benefit of teachers taking time to celebrate and learn from something that is working well in their classrooms each day.  The more I think about this idea, the more I realize that so much of education these days seems to be focused on what doesn't work.  Muscue analysis in students and teachers' work, a focus on deficits, widening achievement gaps, "bad" teachers, desperate comparisons to higher-achieving education systems across the world, etc.  We don't teach students to improve their thinking and skills by focusing mostly on negative examples, do we?  

"The beatings will continue until morale improves..." is the New Yorker cartoon posted on the door of my mentor, Madeleine Ray's office at Bank Street.  She is the one who taught me to see what was working and build on it in my own classroom, in addition to working out the issues.    

Why aren't we having more conversations about what's working in education?   We have plenty of examples of what works, and research that explains why.  For example, The Odyssey Initiative is a group of teachers, working to highlight what's working in schools across the country.  The NY Times reported about Kalamazoo, Michigan is a city that is paying for it's young people's college tuition.  Anthony Cody shares an example of teacher collaboration transforming a school in Oakland. Or this article about The Oyler School in Cincinnati that has teamed up with non-profits and government agencies to turn the school into a community learning center.  

Perhaps I can start with my own blog--highlight what's working in my classroom or school.  I'd like to see education writers to do more to focus the national education policy conversation on what works in schools.  What can we all say yes to? The beatings are not getting us or our students anywhere but hurt.

 

[image credit: universityacademydaycare.info]  

 

Must Read: Dialogue With the Gates Foundation

The other day I was talking with my brother about education.  At some point he said, "Maybe we need a philanthropist to just fund everything we need to improve public education."  (My brother has experience as a grant writer for non profits, so he knows a bit about philanthropy.)

"Yeah, um, we do have a philanthropist funding just about everything in education--Bill Gates. But the jury's out on what his overall impact is and will be." 

See, Gates funds some great organizations, like the National Writing Project and some of Center For Teaching Quality's work; his organization also funds a lot of other reform initiatives, that focus on teacher quality, but rely on test scores as a measure of this.  

Isn't it okay to "play the field" so to speak? Can't Gates fund everyone and see who makes the most "progress"?

Enter teacher leader, Anthony Cody, and his blog, Living In Dialogue.  Anthony was one of the original members of the Teacher Leaders Network, whose voice in our conversations helped shape my ideas about what teacher leadership is and could be.  

Through his blog, Anthony has engaged the Gates Foundation in a remarkable dialogue about the key issues in education and their disagreements therein, revealing the complexity of the siuation. 

He begins with the topic and question, How Do We Build the Teaching Profession?  in which he disagrees with Bill Gates' assertion that there are no models for improving teaching quality out there.  He describes one such model that he personally experienced.  The Gates Foundation responds.  

Then the Gates Foundation asks the second question: How Do We Consider Evidence of Student Learning in Teacher Evaluation? Cody responds, in one of the most well-evidenced arguments against the use of test scores to determine student learning and teacher quality I have ever seen.  A MUST READ!

Next, Cody introduces the third topic with the question, "Can Schools Defeat Poverty by Ignoring It?" This is often what the "no excuses" brand of reform education seems to suggest we do, when they fund tests and data systems instead of actual opportunities for low-income students and better teacher preparation and support for their teachers.  The Gates Foundation responds with the point that "poverty is not destiny," suggesting that advocates for education reforms that address poverty are making excuses for poor achievement of low income students. Read both posts and decide for yourself.  This issue is certainly the heart of the debate over public education right now, recently heated up by the Chicago Teacher's Union strike.  

Next, they wrestle with the purpose of K-12 education.  Gates Foundations offers, "An Opportunity Catalyst" and Cody responds.  

In the final post, Cody addresses the question, "What is the role of the marketplace in pushing forward education improvement and innovation?"  He opens the post with some words about where he hopes this dialogue is headed:

"The tension uncovered by this dialogue reveals a disconnect between the work of the Gates Foundation and many of us who have spent our lives working in schools. Nonetheless, this represents an opportunity to move beyond the impasse...bridging our differences requires us to share and discuss those realities, even though our perspectives are very different. I hope that in the months to come this dialogue will deepen, and that the tensions we have revealed will not lead us throw up our hands and abandon the effort, but rather will strengthen our commitment to continue to wrestle with these issues in the interest of our students." 

I personally find Cody's rhetoric and tone throughout to be extremely impressive.  He clearly disagrees with much of what the representatives of the Foundation say, but he maintains a productive, even tone that makes it clear his goal is to actually have a dialogue about issues of great importance. He questions and carefully evidences his claims. He finds common ground with most of what the Gates Foundation intends to do, but takes a strong stand against those methods that he believes do not match the needs of students and their communities. He gives us all much to think about.

If you care about education policy, this conversation is a must read right now. You can also follow it at the Gates Foundation's site, Impatient Optimists.

[image credits: Living in Dialogue]