TLN Teacher Voices

A Compelling Case for Detracking Schools

Detracking for Excellence and Equity

By Carol Corbett Burris and Delia T. Garrity
(ASCD, 2008)

Reviewed by Sherry L. Annee
Biotechnology Teacher
Brebeuf Jesuit Preparatory School (IN)
Teacher Leaders Network

What are the indicators that a book has made a significant contribution within its discipline? It’s one that challenges and moves the reader to take notice of the information, internalize it, and act upon the new knowledge and one the reader quotes and reflects upon long after reading it. Detracking for Excellence and Equity by Burris and Garrity is such a book! For example, read these compelling claims by the authors:

“Tracking, by its very nature, causes the achievement gap to widen.”

In a tracked system, the “talents of late bloomers go undiscovered.”

“Track movement occurs in a downward direction far more frequently than it does in an upward direction.”

“When schools are determined to level the playing field for disadvantaged students and ensure that all have access to their finest curriculum, students begin to see college and career possibilities that before seemed out of reach.”

“The reality is that you can’t close the achievement gap until you close the curriculum gap that is created by tracking.”

“The practice of tracking is based on the belief that the capacity to learn is shaped by biology ad childhood environment, and that there is little that schools can do to affect learning capacity.”

Whether or not you agree with the previous statements, you must read this book. Burris and Garrity are persuasive and credible because they support their assertions with research and firsthand experience as former teachers and current administrators in New York.

They’ve witnessed the achievement gap and apathy that occur as a result of tracking. They worked for a superintendent who claimed that “By the year 2000, 75% of all South Side High School students will earn a Regents diploma” — quite a bold statement given it represented a 17% increase from the number of students receiving the Regents diploma when superintendent William H. Johnson set the goal in 1993. By 2000, 84% of South Side H.S. students earned a Regents diploma and in 2005 that number increased to 97% as a result of a systematic and purposeful elimination of tracked courses.

In their book Detracking for Excellence and Equity, Burris and Garrity define tracking, debunk the myths associated with it, tackle the politics of detracking, and address how to dismantle tracking and develop an effective curriculum process, support teachers, and maintain reform.

Chapter 4, which is perhaps the most compelling chapter, outlines the “Three Ps” that sustain tracking: prejudice (intellectual, racial, and socio-economic), prestige (teacher, parent, and student), and power (parent, teacher, administrator, and board member). Once a school leader has been able to identify resistant stakeholders in the community and confront their deep-seeded myths and fear with various types of data, many people emerge with a greater understanding of detracking and the educational obstacles associated with it. The authors acknowledge that “the most difficult phase of detracking is when a school begins to question its assumptions and beliefs about teaching practices” but frequently reinforce that it is important to differentiate the learning experiences but not the standards or learning objectives.

The authors’ coverage of detracking is so comprehensive that it leaves readers with far more answers than questions — while simultaneously inspiring us to improve the educational opportunities for students at our local schools. Upon finishing the book, one is left cheering for Garrity and Burris as they claim, “By altering our methods of instruction in heterogeneous classes, we can accomplish what tracking never could — excellent educational experiences for all students.”

Teacher Leadership 3.0 – An Interview with Gayle Moller

 When Awakening the Sleeping Giant: Helping Teachers Develop as Leaders first appeared in the mid-1990s, teacher leadership was not on the lips (or minds) of most superintendents and principals. Or, for that matter, most teachers.

In the ensuing years, through three editions, Sleeping Giant has become a much-read classic, inspiring countless teachers to come out of their isolation and accept roles as leaders, colleagues and collaborators. Although the book has also become a staple in higher education leadership programs, in the new edition co-authors Marilyn Katzenmeyer and Gayle Moller continue to speak directly to teachers in classrooms and schools, urging them to wake up and take greater ownership of their profession.

To celebrate the appearance of this new edition — updated to reflect the many advances in teacher leadership during the past eight years — we spoke to co-author Gayle Moller, who in 2003 served as an expert advisor during the creation of the Teacher Leaders Network. We also invite you to read TLN member Nancy Flanagan’s review of Sleeping Giant, as well as her Teacher Magazine essay about the book's impact on her own life. — John Norton

* * * * * * * * * *

Thanks for talking with us, Gayle. You have many fans in the TLN community. Awakening the Sleeping Giant was first published in 1996. A second edition appeared in 2001. Why did you and co-author Marilyn Katzenmeyer decide that the time had come for a third edition?

In 1996, when we first wrote about teacher leadership, there were few people who acknowledged that teachers could be leaders. At the same time, when teacher leaders read our book they said: “You wrote about me!”

The opportunities for teacher leadership have increased substantially since those days. Our editors at Corwin Press approached us, noted the continuing interest in the 2001 edition, and suggested that the time might be right for an update. Marilyn and I knew the population of teacher leaders was continuing to grow, so we agreed.

What’s changed since 2001?

In the last eight years, school system leaders have begun to acknowledge that they’re not getting the results they would like. And many realize that mandates and limited professional development are not effective ways to improve results. The perceptive district leader is now turning to teachers who are competent and can work with their colleagues at the school building level.

New teacher leadership roles — literacy coaches, mentors, and staff developers — are becoming commonplace. In addition, the National Board certification process has helped many potential teacher leaders realize how they can improve their own practice and help other teachers. External support systems, like the Teachers Leader Network, are encouraging teachers to move outside their “comfort zone” to interact with other teacher leaders. When Education Week relaunched Teacher Magazine in 2006 with a specific focus on teacher leadership, many of us took it as a sign!

What's new or revised in the 3rd Edition?

We’ve done quite a lot of revising in this latest edition. Throughout the book, we show how teacher leadership has evolved over the last 20 years by linking current research and practice to new developments. There’s a new chapter written specifically for teachers who take on new instructional leadership roles. In that chapter we address things like deciding to be a teacher leader, negotiating the principal-teacher leader relationship, working with peers, and facilitating professional learning.

To encourage more conversations about teacher leadership, we’ve added two new instruments. The “Teacher Leader School Survey” measures how supportive a school culture is of teacher leadership. We’ve also included the “Teacher Leader Self-Assessment,” which can help potential teacher leaders determine how they currently match up with leadership standards.

The book is based on a leadership development model that includes planning for action. In this new edition, we introduce an action research process called the “Influencing Action Plan.” It’s a practical tool that helps teacher leaders work through strategies to address school site problems and issues.

Finally, we wrote a new chapter on the future of teacher leadership. In that chapter we predict, based on current developments, what teacher leaders might be doing in the years ahead.

Teacher Voice on Teacher Evaluation

Want to stir some lively conversation among any gathering of teachers? Bring up teacher evaluation and assessment. For decades, teachers, administrators and policymakers have sparred over the issue -- with little in the way of progress. Most teacher evaluation is still principal-driven, drive-by, and checklist oriented. That could change as the new Administration begins to target -- and fund -- teaching quality initiatives, in concert with the Gates Foundation and other philanthropies.

Will teachers have a voice in this debate? Two TLN members from California aren't waiting to be asked. In a recent joint interview with the New York group TeachersCount, Anthony Cody and David B. Cohen described some fundamental changes they'd like to see in teacher evaluation and assessment -- and warned of the consequences of a narrow approach to making judgments about teaching quality.

Here's a sample:

1. What are some of the problems with current teacher evaluation practices?

Anthony Cody: Time is a big factor. Recent surveys of principals have revealed they have inadequate time for observing and evaluating their teachers. My experience as a Peer Assistance and Review (PAR) coach in my district supports this because over the course of two years I saw dozens of evaluations that were incomplete. Many of these teachers should have been enrolled in PAR, and might have wound up being terminated, but their principals did not have the time to follow through.

This also reflects another weakness of our practice -- that evaluation is the sole responsibility of a few site administrators, and is primarily used as a means of eliminating “bad” teachers. Evaluation tends to occur in the form of a few isolated observations, with little connection to the professional growth of most teachers.

David Cohen: We also see that the tools and training for evaluation are rather uneven. Too many evaluators are going into classrooms armed with checklists that aren’t nearly up to the task of capturing the complexity of what they might observe. And it’s not just the materials, but the evaluators themselves who need development.

I’m fortunate to work in a district where secondary school teachers are mostly evaluated by a fellow teacher serving as the instructional supervisor. Unlike traditional department chairs, these teachers have had some additional training in conducting evaluations. It’s a long-standing and popular practice at this point, with the added benefit of providing teachers with evaluators who know the subject matter. If your principal used to teach English, and you're the AP physics instructor helping students with the calculus involved in their lab work, there seems to be an inherent limitation in that evaluative relationship.

2. What improvements would we see in your ideal evaluation system?

Anthony: We may be able to get beyond the time crunch for the principal if we re-imagine evaluation as something more positive, more collaborative and more integrated with professional culture at a school site.

David: This is a shift in mindset: let’s appeal to the best in professional educators. I’ve never met a teacher who didn’t want to be effective in the classroom. But we know that in order to maximize effectiveness, we need the opportunity to analyze and reflect on our work, and use that process to improve.

The current pace of teaching, and the student loads for secondary school teachers in particular, present huge obstacles to that kind of work: when you’re trying to monitor and manage the learning of 150 students or more, you’re in survival mode too often. If more schools would build in time for careful study of our own work, collaboration with colleagues and guidance by teacher leaders and administrators, we’d be far ahead of current practices. I’m certain we’d end up talking more about students’ learning and achievement, which goes a long way towards solving other issues in the classroom (like classroom management) without letting those issues consume you.

Other interview questions include:

3. Why do teachers resist the use of student performance in teacher evaluations?

4. What are the benefits of improved evaluation if tenured teachers are almost impossible to remove?

5. How does teacher evaluation fit in with current reform efforts?

6. What is the role of teacher evaluation in elevating teacher quality? Should we have performance pay to reward teachers with the best evaluations?

7. How has NCLB affected teacher evaluation?

Read the entire interview with Anthony and David here.

Habits of Highly Ineffective Principals

 When columnist Jay Mathews of the Washington Post wrote about the “7 Habits of Highly Ineffective Principals” recently, members of the Teacher Leaders Network Forum thought to extend his list.

While everyone was quick to admire principals who “get it” and perform admirably in their leadership roles, many TLNF’ers were all too knowledgeable about the highly ineffective administrator.

To set the mood, we began with a sample from Mathews’ own list:

Don't let teachers meet regularly to talk about students and share ideas. They will only gossip and plot against you. Notice that one of the reasons why many successful charter and alternative public schools have lengthened the school day is to have time for these gab sessions. One of the business leaders in the Nathan-Plotz report, former General Mills Foundation director Reatha Clark King, said an important way to improve quality is to "encourage people to think outside the box and free up their thinking." This is obviously someone who does not know how to survive in a big school district, where ineffectiveness is often seen as a virtue because the lethargic administrator is less of a threat to others.

Mary picked up with #8 --

8.  Bully and intimidate to get things done.  Making progress is much quicker and more efficient if you belittle your staff at every opportunity. That way they are more likely to just say "yes, sir/ma'am," duck their heads, and get on with the program. Veiled threats of job actions, snubbing your staff in the hallway, and reminding everyone who makes a suggestion that they are not being "a team player" will ensure compliance.  And, if scores are low, be sure to remind them that they now have a big 'L' for loser on their foreheads.

(Susan)
9. The more meetings the better. Never send teachers information in writing when you can hold a meeting instead. Remember, teachers can't  or won't read without supervision. Hold meetings to make sure they  all get the message. Be sure to include everyone whether the message pertains to them or not because they would just feel left out if you didn't expect them to come. Model the use of technology in the education enivronment by putting the  information in a powerpoint. Read the slides to the teachers to reinforce the information (this will differentiate the instruction for both aural and visual learners). The charts and graphs will give them a clear insight into what must be accomplished and how to get it done. Since you have provided such complete information, you don't need to waste time taking feedback from your teachers. You can safely assume that you have told them everything they need to know.

(Marsha)
10. Respond to the crisis of the moment...do not stay focused. Be sure to respond to every demand for your time -- you never know when the next call will be THE ONE that gets you fired.  Principals who operate this like this never have to be burdened with carrying out long-term plans or seeing systematic changes set into motion.  It is a much easier road to solve the problem that has currently set the most hands waving.  It will also go a long way in inspiring teachers to create crises so that their concerns can be addressed.

(Ellen)
11. Use observation as punishment. Never enter a teacher's classroom unless conducting a formal observation for the purpose of fullfilling employment contract agreements. Teachers do not need to see the principal as an instructional leader. They do not need to have confidence in a pricipal’s knowledge of best instructional practices. Teachers do not require formative feedback about their practice; instead they like to be told things like, "Your room was arranged efficiently and your lesson plan was clearly written." They will be sure to increase student learning if you make notations on the observation check-off sheet such as, "Your desks are not neatly aligned with your white board and students should be more quiet while visitors are in the room."

(Anne)
12. Provide teachers with lots of negative feedback. Teachers need to be told what they are doing wrong in the bluntest terms possible. Be especially alert to opportunities to "correct" new teachers, and be creative in ways of providing corrections.  For example, if the new teacher doesn't realize it's her responsibility to see that the lunchroom tables are clean after her students eat, then embarrass her by giving her the "Dirty Sponge" award and post this information on a bulletin board in the office so that everyone who comes in can see her mistake. Negative feedback keeps teacher self-efficacy low, where it should be. That makes the staff easier to control.

(Nancy)
13. Play favorites. Select a handful of teachers whose viewpoints most closely align with yours and meet with them, privately, in your office to share confidential information on upcoming changes or swap stories about troublemaking personnel. Appoint these confidantes as "acting principal" on days when you'll be out of the building. Invite them to use your office and your secretarial staff on those days. Use these teachers as your eyes and ears in the building, and encourage them to report back to you with the smallest rumblings. Develop a bi-partate atmosphere: you're either with me or against me.

(Gail)
14. Avoid any suggestion that teachers are accountable. In addition to the overly-controlling ineffective principal, we have the overly laissez faire principal. Don't hold anyone accountable for anything, ever. Don't expect teachers to learn, grow and improve their practice. Don't notice when teachers leave immediately after students on early release day instead of staying to collaborate with their colleagues. Don't say anything when you hear a teacher screaming at a student. Don't say anything when teachers skip professional learning sessions. Let teachers "cover" whatever they feel like teaching, or whatever interests them, instead of "uncovering" district/state standards for/with their students.

Do you have items you’d like to add to our list?

Sticky Professional Development

Posted recently in the Teacher Leaders Network Forum:

In these difficult economic times, I’m hoping to share a cost-effective, truly reforming professional development program with district leaders. Right now, it’s a meeting that exists in my mind only.

I began my thinking yesterday (while swimming laps) by examining the transformative educational experiences I have had -- and both of them involved total immersion for an extended period of time. This is the key to truly transforming teaching practices (or any human behavior, I believe). The problem with most professional development is that it is "one-shot," which may have only limited application when teachers return to their classrooms. Teachers may try a technique and succeed -- or try it and be frustrated or fail. If it works, the teacher will shove it in a bag of tricks for the next year or next unit, but it will hardly transform the teacher's thinking.

True classroom reform occurs when the teacher has two things: (1) a deep understanding of how a practice helps students learn; and (2) the confidence to make decisions based on that theory for the individuals who present their unique learning challenges in the room on any given day.

This can only come about if the teacher has a supporting network to return to time and time again to revisit and revise teaching practice in a safe yet challenging environment. (The same thing we need for kids in our classroom.) Presenters are great, but they will likely have little to no effect on teaching practice over time simply because they are here today, gone tomorrow. No network. No follow up. No stickiness.

And what were the two instances when a course literally changed my life? The first, oddly enough, was a one-credit course in jogging when I was a senior in college. We read the theory in class and then experienced the theory in action with three required jogs a week. When the theory -- aerobic exercise makes you feel, look, and even eat better -- was borne out in practice, my life was transformed. I was swimming laps yesterday because that single (one-credit) class changed me into a "lifelong exerciser." Its been 33 years.

The other instance: Five intensive weeks learning from other teachers in a National Writing Project summer institute. The five weeks of immersion made me a "lifelong learner of pedagogy" -- and an avid reader and writer who now models those habits for my students. The Writing Project support network continues to safely challenge me in my ongoing practice.

Both educational experiences changed my life in very positive ways. They're "sticky" examples of personal and professional development that have repaid the investment many times over.