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April 23, 2010 |
Click here to read printable version |
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| Zinn on Zinn |
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On January 19, historian and activist Howard Zinn gave his final radio interview, which Rethinking Schools has published in its entirety. In the question-and-answer session, Zinn relates that his experiences as the child of immigrants, combined with a great deal of reading, pushed him in an "activist direction." He also developed a consciousness that the country is divided into rich people and a lot of other people, the vast majority of whom struggle to get by. Many are rendered invisible by poverty and immigrant status. Yet even in our founding documents, Zinn said, we pretend these disparities don't exist: "The preamble of the Constitution begins with the words 'We, the people of the United States...,' as if all of the people established the Constitution. But that wasn't true because we were a class-divided country before, during, and after the revolution. The Constitution was not adopted by 'we, the people.' It was adopted by 55 rich white men who met in Philadelphia in 1787." Zinn's advice for prospective history teachers is to not be intimidated by "what they say you must teach... You have to play a kind of guerilla warfare with the establishment in which you try not to be fired."
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| Evaluating the evaluators |
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Although the Race to the Top competition was presented as objective and scientific, based on precise numerical scores, examination by the Economic Policy Institute suggests that the selection of Delaware and Tennessee as winners was subjective and arbitrary, more a matter of bias or chance than a result of these states' superior compliance with reform policies. In the view of institute analysts, the Department of Education (ED) should have made allowances in its 500-point system for significant errors in judging, "but publishing such margins of error would have made it plain that the winning states won only by chance." Such judging errors were compounded by the "needless complexity" of the design of the metrics themselves -- ED could have accomplished an almost identical result with a much simpler system, for example, one with only 70 points. Some states that lost in March are reapplying, again investing time and expense to redo their applications. Experts in these states are likely to spend hours studying the review process to exploit the quirks of the rating system. "Such gaming is unlikely to reflect an actual improvement in the education policies of applicant states," the authors note.
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| What Crist's veto really meant |
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"A number of observers will spin Charlie Crist's veto of Senate Bill 6 to the point where the representation doesn't come close to reality," writes Sherman Dorn on his One-Blog Schoolhouse. The veto is being cast as "the Event that Destroyed Florida Education, or the Victory of the Union(s), or the Resuscitation of Crist's Senate Campaign." In actuality, there are several reasons why Gov. Crist vetoed the bill. In the first place, thousands of Floridians from both major parties contacted Crist to urge a veto, probably including his sisters who teach and told him they hated it. From a political standpoint, those pushing the bill -- Republican legislators and former Governor Bush -- had largely sided against Crist in the primary against Marco Rubio. And in general, Crist prefers consensual processes. "Crist's veto kills this particular bill, in this form. It does not signal a victory of teachers unions over performance pay, and it does not mean that the Florida Education Association will oppose either performance pay or alternations in the process leading to due-process protections," Dorn writes. Where Florida goes from here is an open question, largely dependent on whether stakeholders are willing to negotiate in good faith or if they will cling to "extreme" positions.
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| Can we talk? |
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In a post on his Public School Insights blog, Claus von Zastrow decries the polarities that now characterize the reform debate: "You're either a wild-eyed zealot pushing for scorched-earth change or a dour obstructionist doing all you can to defend the status quo. There is little room for doubt in this super-heated environment." This seems especially prevalent in debates about teacher evaluation and merit pay reforms, where many are calling for 50 percent of evaluations to rest on test scores. Hold up, writes von Zastrow. There are questions we should ask before we settle on positions. For instance, with use of test scores for evaluations, do we know how this will affect teacher morale? Do we know how it will influence teacher recruitment? It's unclear how many teachers would stick around under such a regime, or whether bad teachers would be the ones to leave. Will states conduct impact studies before they proceed? We have seen before that when money dries up and concern for schools begins to wane, "bold" reforms can become caricatures of their original intent. Expressions of doubt aren't always a signal of entrenched positions, von Zastrow writes. They can be an invitation for real conversation.
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| 'Boot camp' for teachers |
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In a profile on National Public Radio of the Boston Teacher Residency (BTR) program (developed in conjunction with local education fund the Boston Plan for Excellence in Public Education), Claudio Sanchez asks, "What if we prepared teachers the same way we prepare doctors?" BTR is one of the first of a handful of teacher "residency programs" based on the medical residency model. then-Superintendent of Boston schools Tom Payzant founded it in 2003 as a means to attract more talented teachers, especially for hard-to-fill positions like math, science, and special education, and to address the quality of teachers coming out of colleges of education, which tended to focus on content over practice. Today, the BTR is run jointly with Boston Public Schools, with both private and government funds. It enrolls 75 residents per year, who take a full load of courses from area colleges that offer master's degrees in education. The "clinical training" part of the program takes place four days a week with an accomplished teacher in a Boston school where residents experience what it's like being in a big city classroom. Although there is no hard evidence that BTR is impacting student achievement, in six years the program has placed more minority teachers in the Boston city schools, and unlike most new teachers who leave the classroom within two to three years, 85 percent of BTR's graduates stay in the classroom much longer.
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| Rubber room gets the axe |
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Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the New York City teachers' union have agreed to scrap the notorious "rubber rooms" for teachers accused of wrongdoing or incompetence, and to speed up hearings for them, The New York Times reports. Under the agreement, teachers the city is trying to fire will no longer be sent to reassignment centers where they show up every school day, sometimes for years, doing no work and drawing full salaries. Instead, these teachers will be assigned to administrative work or non-classroom duties in their schools while their cases are pending. The centers have been a source of embarrassment for both the Bloomberg administration and the United Federation of Teachers, as articles in newspapers and magazines detailed teachers running businesses out of them or dozing off for hours on end. The agreement would also shorten the time it takes for cases to be resolved by allowing more arbitrators to be hired -- 39, up from 23 -- and requiring them to decide cases more quickly. While the agreement speeds hearings, it does little to change the lengthy process of firing teachers, particularly ineffective ones. Administrators still must spend months documenting poor performance before the department can begin hearings, which will still last up to two months.
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| Recipe for success |
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Federal education officials have taken note of San Francisco's Marshall Elementary School, a once-struggling school that has made the elusive turnaround, according to The San Francisco Chronicle. The school's test scores have been improving, as has the school's popularity since changes were introduced six years ago. Parents, teachers, and administrators recently recited the turnaround "recipe" to U.S. Deputy Secretary of Education Tony Miller: quality teachers, involved parents, and a supportive principal, mixed with a new dual-immersion Spanish program, as well as time to let it all take hold. The dual-immersion program combines English learners and native speakers with the goal that all students will obtain grade-level literacy and proficiency in both English and Spanish by the time they move on to middle school, and was embraced by the school community -- a necessary component of any reform. Principal Peter Avila cited several factors in creating the school's positive culture, including having a social worker, nurse, full-time instructional support staff member, and paid parent liaison on campus -- mostly funded by federal stimulus dollars or the city's Proposition H school enrichment money. The parent liaison knows every child and his or her parents, and works with them on attendance, nutrition, and whatever needs they have regarding the child's education.
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| The achievement gap behind the achievement gap |
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The stereotype of the nation's lowest-performing high schools is that of large schools located in big cities, but a brief from the Alliance for Excellent Education says this is not the whole story. Lowest-performing schools are scattered throughout the country, in every state in the nation and in nearly 350 congressional districts. Twenty-two percent have four hundred students or fewer, and 29 percent have between four hundred and one thousand total students. More than 150 of them, or one in eleven, are charter schools. Their common attribute, however, is the high number of poor and minority students attending them. In all, 28 percent of the nation's students of color are enrolled in one of these high schools, making minority students six times more likely to attend a lowest performer than their white counterparts. Eighty-four percent of these schools are high-poverty. In the view of the authors, federal policymakers have an obligation to prioritize these schools for massive transformation: "Effectively performing legislative triage now will yield economic benefit to the nation and to the millions of individual students who will graduate from high school with a diploma that prepares them for success in college, careers, and life."
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| A community college model that works |
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A profile by the New America Foundation posits that Northern Virginia Community College -- commonly known as NOVA -- Pathway to the Baccalaureate program may pose answers to the complex set of problems that community colleges presently grapple with. After years of neglect from policymakers and the media, community colleges have fallen under greater scrutiny, tasked with boosting our national college graduation rate and helping to turn around our economy. At the same time, they are flooded with students unprepared to succeed in college. Whereas most community colleges are just at the beginning stages of understanding what works and why, NOVA gives students a structured system of support from high school to community college to a four-year university. Pathway is centered on the student and designed to meet a range of needs -- academic, financial, or personal -- through one coherent program. "In an otherwise bleak landscape," the authors write, "colleges like NOVA offer hopeful examples of how individual colleges can make the most of what they have, not by relying on new funding sources or waiting for policy changes, but by using existing resources shrewdly, aligning practices to goals, and continually improving."
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| What's the point? |
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In an article in ASCD's Education Leadership magazine, Mike Rose writes that as we focus on school reform, it is useful to remind ourselves what we're ultimately trying to achieve. The history of reform shows that good ideas can become one-dimensionalized as they move from conception through policy formation to implementation, and have unintended consequences. Currently, characterizations of teaching often miss the richness and complexity of the work, with the teacher becoming a knowledge-delivery mechanism preparing students for high-stakes tests. "As we consider what an altered school structure, increased technology, national standards, or other new reform initiatives might achieve, we should also ask the old, defining question, What is the purpose of education in a democracy?" Rose writes. "The formation of intellectually safe and respectful spaces, the distribution of authority and responsibility, the maintenance of high expectations and the means to attain them -- all this is fundamentally democratic and prepares one for civic life. Teachers should regard students as capable and participatory beings, rich in both individual and social potential. The realization of that vision of the student is what finally should drive school reform in the United States."
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Another whack at tenure
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger of California is supporting a state law that would prevent teacher layoffs based on seniority, a stance that quickly drew the ire of teachers unions while being lauded by civil rights activists.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2010/04/20/state/n141521D10.DTL&type=business#ixzz0ll70aYjh
He signed this one
Gov. Charlie Crist of Florida has signed a bill requiring students to take more difficult math and science courses and pass new end-of-course exams to earn high school diplomas.
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/education/os-crist-graduation-bill-sign-04-20-10-20100420,0,1579375.story
MD educators on board for standards
A sampling of opinion from veteran teachers in Maryland finds that proposed national standards would be well received.
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/education/bs-md-common-core-standards-20100418,0,1955854.story
High teacher pay no guarantee of anything, really
A Chicago Sun-Times analysis has found a wide disparity between teacher pay and student achievement throughout Illinois.
http://www.suntimes.com/news/2172972,CST-NWS-teachers19.article
An extra nudge
The Texas Education Agency is offering to pay for one SAT or ACT college entrance exam for high school juniors this spring and summer as part of an initiative to increase college attendance.
http://www.statesman.com/news/texas/state-paying-for-all-high-school-juniors-to-565786.html |
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| NEW GRANT AND FUNDING INFORMATION |
NCTE: Norman Mailer High School and College Writing Awards
The Norman Mailer High School and College Writing Awards for Creative Nonfiction recognize excellence in truth/fact-based writing with literary merit, work that features authorial voice and personal experience, often with a significant narrative quality. The competition is broadly inclusive of genres and subgenres that fall under creative nonfiction: memoirs, personal essays, literary journalism, artful writings about place, environment, travel, people, etc. Maximum award: $5,000; travel and lodging to attend the award ceremony. Eligibility: high school and college students. Deadline: April 29, 2010.
http://www.ncte.org/awards/student/nmwa
AAAS: Leadership in Science Education Prize for High School Teachers
The American Association for the Advancement of Science Leadership in Science Education Prize for High School Teachers recognizes high school science teachers for the development and implementation of innovative methods for teaching, encouraging the next generation of scientists. Science teachers must be nominated by an administrator within their school, their district, or their state who is in a position to know the nominee's work and to assess the extent of its impact on others. Maximum award: $1,000. Eligibility: teachers currently employed as science instructors in a public or private school for grades 9-12 in the United States or its territories. Deadline: May 21, 2010.
http://www.aaas.org/aboutaaas/awards/hs_scied_leadership/
Dollar General: Youth Literacy Grants
Dollar General Literacy Foundation Youth Literacy Grants provide funding to schools, public libraries, and nonprofit organizations that help students below grade level or experiencing difficulty reading. Maximum award: $3,000. Eligibility: Organization must be located in Dollar General's 33-state operating territory and must be within 20 miles of the nearest Dollar General Store. (A store locator is available at www.dollargeneral.com). Deadline: May 21, 2010.
http://www.dollargeneral.com/dgliteracy/Pages/youth_grants.aspx
ASM Materials Education Foundation: Grants for Teachers
The ASM Materials Education Foundation is sponsoring grants to enhance awareness of materials science and the role of materials scientists in society through curricula. ASM International has local chapters across North America, with members willing to work closely with local teachers to develop and implement these lessons; cooperative proposals among several teachers are welcome. Maximum award: $500. Eligibility: teachers K-12. Deadline: May 25, 2010.
http://asmcommunity.asminternational.org/portal/site/www/Foundation/Educators/TeacherGrants/
Samsung Techwin America: High School Essay Contest
Samsung Techwin America is asking students across America to write an essay on the topic of technology as an investment in education. Samsung wants to hear what high school students think about the ramifications of spending on education technology, as well as alternative ways to invest a school district's limited budget.
Maximum award: $1,000. Eligibility: high school students in the United States; must have teacher to sponsor student. Deadline: May 28, 2010.
http://www.samsungscholarship.com/
For more grants, see http://www.publiceducation.org/newsblast_grants.asp
"There are so many people who bash our teachers' math knowledge that to be honest these results are better than what a lot of people might expect. We show up pretty well here, right in the middle of the pack."
-- Hank Kepner, professor of mathematics education at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, and president of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, on the results of the first international comparison of teacher preparation in math.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/15/education/15math.html?ref=education
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