TeachMoore

America's Shame: Poor Schools

I finally figured out why I have a problem with the idea of school choice and vouchers as they are currently presented. It occurred to me as I pondered the recent cases of Black mothers jailed for "illegally" trying to send their children to better schools than the ones in the neighborhoods in which they lived.

Why, in these United States of America, should ANY parent have to choose between sending a child to a bad public school versus a good one?  Every public school should start at good and scale up; if anything we should have to choose between good and great. Instead, we point at schools that have been intentionally underresourced, in some cases for decades, and label them failing. 

One of my favorite passages from our book, Teaching 2030, addresses this problem squarely:

Without adequate teaching, supports, and resources, students taught in high-poverty schools have lower achievement. Why are we surprised to learn that many of these schools have become 'dropout factories'? They are stark evidence of our society's frequent failure to do what it takes for every child to succeed. And while many choose to blame students or families for the problems in these schools, we now have research documenting that even non-poor students who attend high-poverty schools have lower achievement than their counterparts in low-poverty settings. Plainly put, these are the schools that affluent America has been willing to ignore. (14)

Did you catch that? It's the poverty of the school, not just of the students, that's keeping too many of our students from achieving at their highest potential.

 

 

So, You Want Higher Test Scores...

For those who believe in standardized test scores as the best, if not only, way to measure how well students and their teachers are doing, here's some important information from the country whose students' test scores are consistently at the top of the worldwide race [pun intended].

Steve Hargadon over at Future of Education, recently hosted a webinar with Bob Compton, producer of a new documentary, The Finland Phenomenon. Here's Steve's blurb about the film and the webinar:

...the new documentary film The Finland Phenomenon, an "inside look at the world's finest secondary education system." Narrated by Dr. Tony Wagner of Harvard (a previous guest on our show), the film does a very good job of showing the surprising factors that educators and policy-makers in Finland believe accounts for their consistently being ranked as one of the best (if not the best) education system in the world--including students starting school at age 7, limited homework and testing, highly-esteemed and compensated teachers, and "trust" at all levels. We'll talk about these and other fascinating aspects of education in Finland for an hour with Bob.

The link to the recording of the webinar can be found on this page at LearnCentr

Are those in the U.S. who want higher test scores willing for our government to do what Finland has done for its students and teachers to get there?

Do As I Say…

This is a test.

Can you identify which well-known education reformer(s) made each of the following statements about what we need in public education? (Don't cheat; answers are at the end).

1. This reformer envisions a U.S. educational system in which "teaching experience regularly incorporates methods like interdisciplinary and project-based learning, work-based learning, and service learning."
2. "I envision teachers employing assessment systems, including new types of evaluations, multiple measures, and new data and statistical tools…teachers may also help to review and score them…"
3. "Year-or-longer residencies" for teacher candidates and induction programs that last up to three years, during which the newbies have "a lighter schedule, built-in time for learning and reflections, and the opportunity to team-teach with experienced colleagues."
4. "Teacher-led, school-based decision making [that] holds teachers accountable for school and student performance while giving them the authority to affect the factors that will improve that performance."
5. "A diverse, highly skilled, highly respected teaching workforce that is compensated according to the true value it contributes to our society."

Who might have said these things? Diane Ravitch? Linda Darling Hammond? Barnett Berry? Renee Moore? Any of dozens of fellow teacher bloggers I could mention?

Noooo---

Each of these statements is from our Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, published in his article, "A Vision of the New Teacher in the Twenty-First Century" which appears in the recent book The American Public School Teacher [Harvard Education Press].

So here's the bonus question: How do competitive grant, or the current turnaround models advanced in the Blueprint for Reform, or pushing for greater "flexibility" for states or districts that have established patterns of inequitable distribution of resources for poor and minority students get us to what Secretary Duncan envisions for American education?

Let's #AskArne.

Read This: Why Churches Should Care About EdReform

Thanks to @SOSMarch for the tweet that led me to this wonderful message from the United Church of Christ giving a faith perspective on some of the most pressing issues in education today. Here's a slice:

As people of faith we do not view our children as products to be tested and managed but instead as unique human beings, created in the image of God, to be nurtured and educated,” declared the Governing Board of the National Council of Churches in a 2010 pastoral letter delivered to the President and Congress.

Read more here. I'm going to share this one with my pastor/husband.

Looking Deeper, Looking Further

Recently, I was asked to address a group of new teachers at the start of their first school year. Thought I'd share with others what I shared with them.

Perspective: Three Assertions

• How we "look" at something; how we "see" it can change everything.
• Many things (objects, situations, and people) are not what they first appear.
• As professional educators, we must be willing (and able) to look deeper and further into matters of education than those with whom and for whom we work.

There are three things that have been most beneficial to me in my career, and I'll share them with you; hopefully, building on a foundation of what you have been taught or learned by experience already.

1. Learn Your Students

To paraphrase Shakespeare: The whole world is a stage, and on any given day our classrooms can be somewhere between Comedy Central and As the World Turns.

"He Looked Beyond My Faults and Saw My Needs"

Look deeper into our students; look beyond:

• Outside appearances
• Mannerisms (or lack of manners)
• Backgrounds
• Family history
• Past performance (academic and behavioral)
• Initial performance on academic tasks

You may and should see a future for them they may not yet be able to imagine.

Don't just practice looking beyond with those sloppy, noisy, low-performing students, but also with those neat, quiet, honor students.

Look not only for the needs, but for what your students can contribute to the class.

Use this deeper knowledge and perspective to guide your work.

2. Learn Your Subject and Learn How to Teach It

• Look deeper into your subject matter. You don't know as much as you will know about it.
• Subjects change (even English grammar)
• Don't give up on a lesson plan or topic that doesn't work well the first time or first few times. There's always another way, a different approach.
• Helps to be active in your subject area organizations, publications, coursework (keep yourself and your credentials current)
• Build and use collegial networks
  • Within building, district,
  • Organizations, meetings,
  • Online and social networks (Example: K12 Online Conference)

Teach As If Your Students' Lives Depend On It

Work as if for the Lord...

• Our students deserve our best professional efforts everyday. Do the right thing and do it right.
• Don't wait for a "thank you." (They may come back later, but it may be a long time later. Administrators, colleagues, parents…may or may not tell you you're doing a good job.
• Don't compromise your professionalism (means you may have to make some very hard choices or be very creative).

Teach well. Any one who can't teach well has no business setting educational policy, designing curriculum, or training teachers—at least not having the predominant say in those activities. Successful student learning should be the basic requirement for entry into educational leadership.

3. Learn Yourself

Be honest about how your own preferences, beliefs, and attitudes affect your perspective; your views of students and of teaching; and learn how to compensate for your own biases.

Don't underestimate your sphere of influence, or your own professional potential.

Then:

• Young person decided to be a teacher
• Completed teacher ed; got licensed
• Found a job in a school/district.
• Stayed there 25-40 years, working diligently, quietly in his/her classroom.
• Retired.

Now:

• Persons of all ages and backgrounds are entering teaching
• Multiple paths into teaching career
• Schools/districts are scrambling for teachers and competing in some areas.
• 1/3 of teachers leave in the first 5 years; many more change schools or districts; moving into other education related areas; more career switchers into and out of teaching.

Be a teacher and a leader.

Leadership in education is no longer reserved for administrators or university researchers.

Many possibilities are available today, and more are coming:

• Mentors / coaches esp. for novices and those in need of improvement
• Lead Teachers or Team Leaders
• Curriculum developers & coordinators
• Professional development planning / facilitators
• District, state, national commissions (Boards of Education)
• Professional educational organizations
• Teacher ed programs

Not every teacher will be or should be a formal teacher leader, but every one of us has a responsibility to our profession.

Until we consistently produce true teacher- leaders, our working lives and conditions will remain at the whims those who don't pay the price or carry the responsibility of shaping children's lives.

"Lead From the Front" – Leroy Byars

Speak up: For the profession. Be honest, but avoid just joining in the public-school-bashing that passes for policy debate on education in this country. Don't just bad-mouth the situation (there are plenty of horror stories); offer real suggestions, speak from your experience and knowledge base about what works in education. Teacher voices carry weight, but more so when you can stand on the credibility of student achievement. Teach well.

Teaching is a calling and a commitment.

Teaching is not for wimps, whiners, or washouts.

Teaching is hard, but not impossible.

Teaching is often undervalued, but not unworthy.

Teaching is the consummate profession, and if you do it right, it is one of the greatest adventures you could ever have.

Welcome. May God bless you with much success in your careers.

Read This: You Say You're Not Talkiing About Us, but....

In her wonderfully perceptive review of the recent National Board of Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) Conference last weekend in D.C., Anne O'Brien notes the sense of frustration among even America's best teachers these days. As she observes:

Policymakers often preface comments against teachers with, “We’re not talking about the good teachers.” The mood at the conference: “You’re not talking with us, either.

She doesn't mention that while Sec. Duncan's speech at the conference was met with tepid, respectful response; speakers such as Linda Darling Hammond, Diane Ravitch, and Pedro Noguera garnered thunderous ovations, and occasional shouts of "Amen." 

I've been at many gatherings of outstanding teachers including: National and State Teachers of the Year events, Milken Award ceremonies, National Board events, and many others. Without fail, I will hear these teachers commenting on how in order to be successful with their students, they often have to go against the grain of ther schools, many actually violate standing school or district policies, risk being dismissed for insubordination (it's easier to fire teachers than you might think, if administration REALLY wants them gone).

Why have we allowed such unnecessary and unhealthy conditions to constrain even our best teachers? Outstanding teachers are looking at policymakers and educational leaders asking: If I'm as good as you say I am, why won't you let me do all I could do for my students?

Speak up for teachers.

Update to States: Do Your Homework on Teacher Evaluation

Update: Since I first posted this on Aug. 1; NBPTS has made the report public. Join the publication webcast on Monday, Oct. 3rd., 6:00 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. (EDT) Register here.

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I agree with recent statements by Sen. Lamar Alexander that Congress should be cautious about legislating too specifically to states how teacher evaluation programs should be designed.

But here's a thought: Maybe the best way to figure out how to help more of our teachers become high quality would be to ask those who already are.

In response to such requests, the National Board of Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) has just released: Getting It Right: A Comprehensive Guide to Developing and Sustaining Teacher Evaluation and Support Systems. It's a concise and practical tool designed to help states and school districts develop effective teacher evaluation and support systems. Note how I worded that: We believe no teacher evaluation system can be successful or sustainable unless it is also, if not primarily, a system to support the improvement of teaching.

As we proudly note in the Getting It Right preface, "One could argue that by involving dozens of universities, research labs, scholars, teacher leaders, and premier testing organizations around the nation [for over 20 years], the National Board's investment in developing a voluntary, advanced certification system has built the field of teacher performance assessment to which states and districts turn today.

{For the record: I earned National Board Certification, and I am currently on the Board of Directors of NBPTS.}

A truly effective teacher evaluation and support system, according to the Guide, should have four major outcomes:

• Promote high levels of student performance
• Improve teaching practice
• Create more effective school environments
• Strengthen the public's understanding of what teachers should know and be able to do.

I would assign the members of both the House and Senate Education Committees, superintendents, union leaders, and anyone else who is truly interested in redesigning our teacher evaluation and support systems to study Getting It Right. Understanding how to approach this complex task may help identify the best roles for each of the stakeholders, including the Federal government.

Cross-posted at National Journal.com> Education Experts