Have you ever noticed how many people look like you? Or live in areas like the one you live in? Or dress as you do? Or eat the kinds of foods you do? Why does that matter? It matters because if you cannot find yourself in books, in social media, in advertisements or on TV, you are invisible.
This school year, for the first time ever, white children make up less than half of the country's public school enrollment. You would never know that fact by looking in the media centers or on the websites of the nation's school systems. Why does it matter?
Several years ago I visited a potential school for my godson. The school's focus was creating leaders for the future. In the media center and the hallways we were surrounded by large photos of people who were past leaders and who had made our country great. I recognized almost all of them and respected their accomplishments. But as I looked at them, I noticed that every one was a white male of Western European origin. I, as a white female, did not see myself represented. Were none of my kind among the leaders who made my country great? My knowledge of history told me this situation was not true. Did this school only prepare white males for leadership?
My godson is African American. I saw no dark-skinned people among those folk who made my country great. How could that be? More importantly what would be the message my godson would have looking at those photos? Would he conclude that African Americans had made no contributions to the greatness of our society. Clearly not true. More significantly would he decide that his role going into the future could never be that of a leader because his people did not lead?
Why does it matter that the bookshelves of our school media centers only feature stories about white kids? Why does it matter that of the 3,200 books examined by the Cooperative Children's Book Center at the University of Wisconsin, only 253 were by or about African Americans, Asians, Latinos or Native Americans. It matters because if all of our people are not represented in our media than none of our people is represented. From many people, our country has made one people. We are really the only country to have even approached doing that successfully.
We are in a vicious cycle. Publishers say books by or about ethnic characters do not sell, so they do not publish them. If these books are not published, people cannot buy them.
This is not an ethnic minority problem. This is an American problem. If we are to thrive in an increasingly non-white country and world, we need the skills and talents of all of our people. Seeing ourselves in the media reminds us of what we can be. It helps define who we are. Seeing people who do not look like us in the media and in leadership and/or hero roles increases our understanding of other people. We are reminded that we all have a role to play in the future of our society. Leaders come from all ethnic groups if we let them. Just as a healthy diet for our bodies embraces all food groups so a healthy diet for our society must include all ethnic groups to feed our future.
Tuesday, November 18, 2014
Tuesday, November 11, 2014
Why the shortage?
Public school leadership staff who are looking down the road are beginning to warn us that there is going to be a serious shortage of principals. That information, taken together with the fact that research repeatedly shows the importance of a strong principal in a school, gives one pause for the future of our schools.
One of the reasons for the shortage is the simple aging-out of principals. As the demographic of principals swings toward retirement age, we begin to lose more and more. Growing older is not something we can fix. But there are other more troubling signs.
Principals are dissatisfied with their jobs. It is not the money. Indeed public school principals, particularly principals of public high schools, do quite well. The dissatisfaction comes from leaders who are not allowed to lead. Few things are more frustrating than being held accountable for something you have no power to fix.
It is notable that the problems do not exist to the same extent in private schools. Before we look at the issues, it is important to note that private school principals generally have the right of first refusal. That is unless their census is down and the budget needs to be balanced. In those instances standards are lowered to the extent money is needed. Getting money and selection out of the way, let's look at other factors.
Public school principals report 29.5% of their students are involved in physical conflict. This figure is only 7.3% in the private schools. Those numbers are partly due to initial selection. But they are also due to the authority of the private school principal to remove a physically aggressive child from the environment whereas the public school principal is forced to contend with behavior policies that are becoming increasingly lenient.
Another huge difference between public and private school principals is influence on curriculum. Only 43.2% of public school principals report having a major influence on curriculum. On the other hand, 70.4% of private school principals report a major influence on curriculum. Curriculum is the meat of what we do in schools. That, along with instructional technique, are pretty much what schools are about. If we cannot trust principals to make decisions that will keep their schools safe and then don't allow them to have leadership in what is taught and how it is done, how can we call them leaders. More importantly, how can we hold them accountable for what is happening in the school. No wonder they are getting out of the sandbox as soon as they can. Who would want to play under these conditions.
One of the reasons for the shortage is the simple aging-out of principals. As the demographic of principals swings toward retirement age, we begin to lose more and more. Growing older is not something we can fix. But there are other more troubling signs.
Principals are dissatisfied with their jobs. It is not the money. Indeed public school principals, particularly principals of public high schools, do quite well. The dissatisfaction comes from leaders who are not allowed to lead. Few things are more frustrating than being held accountable for something you have no power to fix.
It is notable that the problems do not exist to the same extent in private schools. Before we look at the issues, it is important to note that private school principals generally have the right of first refusal. That is unless their census is down and the budget needs to be balanced. In those instances standards are lowered to the extent money is needed. Getting money and selection out of the way, let's look at other factors.
Public school principals report 29.5% of their students are involved in physical conflict. This figure is only 7.3% in the private schools. Those numbers are partly due to initial selection. But they are also due to the authority of the private school principal to remove a physically aggressive child from the environment whereas the public school principal is forced to contend with behavior policies that are becoming increasingly lenient.
Another huge difference between public and private school principals is influence on curriculum. Only 43.2% of public school principals report having a major influence on curriculum. On the other hand, 70.4% of private school principals report a major influence on curriculum. Curriculum is the meat of what we do in schools. That, along with instructional technique, are pretty much what schools are about. If we cannot trust principals to make decisions that will keep their schools safe and then don't allow them to have leadership in what is taught and how it is done, how can we call them leaders. More importantly, how can we hold them accountable for what is happening in the school. No wonder they are getting out of the sandbox as soon as they can. Who would want to play under these conditions.
Tuesday, November 4, 2014
Here we go again
Many years ago I learned that sometimes paperback book publishers take the covers off paperback books that have not sold well and put on new covers. The book inside has not changed, just the cover. This process came to mind the other day when I read that the organization of local boards of education had voted to delay the high stakes status of the PARCC (Partnership for the Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers) for two years. It seems the boards think that the current 9th and 10th graders will not be adequately prepared for the new tests based on the Common Core curriculum. The whole thing is further complicated by the requirement of Race to the Top funding that teachers be partially evaluated on their students' scores on these tests.
And there are further complications. The new tests are primarily taken on computers. That opens the door to lots of software bugs and the shortage of hardware in schools to take the tests.
The PARCC consortium is only made up of 9 states. Another consortium, Smarter Balance, is doing the western states and a couple in New England- 17 states in all. Twenty-four states are among the undecided or are taking an altogether different path. To say confusion reigns is an understatement. And remember one of the original goals of Common Core was a common curriculum among the states.
The State Board of Education very quickly backtracked on its commitment to use the tests this year as a high stakes test. Clearly it was a case of adding insult to injury. The local teachers' union was against implementation for its own self-serving reasons. The local ACLU came out as defending the civil rights of the kids to be tested on what they were taught. Imagine that silly notion!
Now with the change in plan by the State Board of Education, where does that leave us in Maryland? Maryland has required students to take a high stakes test in English, math (algebra) and science (biology) as part of the requirements for No Child Left Behind. While teachers and local boards of education have for the most part supported Common Core, the testing is giving lots of heartburn.
All this brings us back to those new covers on the paperback books. Everything old is new again. How the PARCC tests will emerge from the piloting programs over the next two years and how the politics of what equals a passing score fall out will be very interesting. Maryland loves to tout itself as number 1 in education across the country. Each state gets to set its own passing score for the PARCC tests depending on the pilot results. In order to keep its claim to #1, Maryland will need to set a passing score that is low enough to show great results. I'll bet right now someone is getting ready to rip off those old covers and add the new ones with a better passing rate as the passing score falls.
And there are further complications. The new tests are primarily taken on computers. That opens the door to lots of software bugs and the shortage of hardware in schools to take the tests.
The PARCC consortium is only made up of 9 states. Another consortium, Smarter Balance, is doing the western states and a couple in New England- 17 states in all. Twenty-four states are among the undecided or are taking an altogether different path. To say confusion reigns is an understatement. And remember one of the original goals of Common Core was a common curriculum among the states.
The State Board of Education very quickly backtracked on its commitment to use the tests this year as a high stakes test. Clearly it was a case of adding insult to injury. The local teachers' union was against implementation for its own self-serving reasons. The local ACLU came out as defending the civil rights of the kids to be tested on what they were taught. Imagine that silly notion!
Now with the change in plan by the State Board of Education, where does that leave us in Maryland? Maryland has required students to take a high stakes test in English, math (algebra) and science (biology) as part of the requirements for No Child Left Behind. While teachers and local boards of education have for the most part supported Common Core, the testing is giving lots of heartburn.
All this brings us back to those new covers on the paperback books. Everything old is new again. How the PARCC tests will emerge from the piloting programs over the next two years and how the politics of what equals a passing score fall out will be very interesting. Maryland loves to tout itself as number 1 in education across the country. Each state gets to set its own passing score for the PARCC tests depending on the pilot results. In order to keep its claim to #1, Maryland will need to set a passing score that is low enough to show great results. I'll bet right now someone is getting ready to rip off those old covers and add the new ones with a better passing rate as the passing score falls.
Tuesday, October 28, 2014
Accountability is good
Accountability is a good thing. It is just that testing is not a good thing. Testing measures knowledge about a rather limited amount of content at one moment in time. There is a huge number of variables that can and do confound this measurement. An individual's anxiety, the "I studied the wrong thing" syndrome, and any disconnect between content and measurement are just a very few of the variables. Additionally, while supposedly measuring learning, the tests are really set up as perform or consequences games. People who do poorly on tests get low grades, fail to get an award or some other punishment. With Race To the Top, teachers are now going to be punished for the behavior of their students on these tests. The notion is that the tests will measure how well a teacher has taught. There is just no way around the situation, regardless of intent, tests are punitive.
Well then if testing does not equal accountability, what does?
We must first begin with whom we want to hold accountable. Are we holding the student accountable for learning? In the end, the student will be accountable for learning with or without testing. As long as the content we are teaching is useful to the student long term, then the student's life will bear the consequences of not learning that content. If what we are teaching is not useful to the student then it really does not matter whether he or she has learned it or not. And we should be ashamed to waste that student's time on something that is not useful.
Are we trying to hold the teacher accountable? Testing students seems hardly the way to do that. Providing teachers with a rubric of the kinds of behaviors we expect to see in the classroom would be a good beginning. These rubrics should list only specific measurable observable behaviors. Then teachers should be observed multiple times during the school year. A remedial plan should be put into place for those teachers deficient in the expected behaviors. Frequent in-service opportunities should be provided to all teachers to increase their skills. Principals should return to their roles as instructional leaders.
Perhaps it is the school systems that should be held most accountable. In most local jurisdictions schools take up more than the Lion's share of the budget. The answer by the school systems to every problem is to ask for more money, yet there are no measures to see that this money is well used. There are two significant measures for school systems. The first would be the number of dropouts. We can reduce the number of dropouts by increasing the relevancy of the curriculum to ALL students, not just to those who are college bound. When we speak of career readiness we need to include those careers that require technical training but not a program of higher education. We need to follow up on our graduates. What do they think of their education? How has it worked for them? What could we be doing better? How are our birds flying? We are afraid to answer these real questions so we hide in the protective coloration of a standardized test.
Well then if testing does not equal accountability, what does?
We must first begin with whom we want to hold accountable. Are we holding the student accountable for learning? In the end, the student will be accountable for learning with or without testing. As long as the content we are teaching is useful to the student long term, then the student's life will bear the consequences of not learning that content. If what we are teaching is not useful to the student then it really does not matter whether he or she has learned it or not. And we should be ashamed to waste that student's time on something that is not useful.
Are we trying to hold the teacher accountable? Testing students seems hardly the way to do that. Providing teachers with a rubric of the kinds of behaviors we expect to see in the classroom would be a good beginning. These rubrics should list only specific measurable observable behaviors. Then teachers should be observed multiple times during the school year. A remedial plan should be put into place for those teachers deficient in the expected behaviors. Frequent in-service opportunities should be provided to all teachers to increase their skills. Principals should return to their roles as instructional leaders.
Perhaps it is the school systems that should be held most accountable. In most local jurisdictions schools take up more than the Lion's share of the budget. The answer by the school systems to every problem is to ask for more money, yet there are no measures to see that this money is well used. There are two significant measures for school systems. The first would be the number of dropouts. We can reduce the number of dropouts by increasing the relevancy of the curriculum to ALL students, not just to those who are college bound. When we speak of career readiness we need to include those careers that require technical training but not a program of higher education. We need to follow up on our graduates. What do they think of their education? How has it worked for them? What could we be doing better? How are our birds flying? We are afraid to answer these real questions so we hide in the protective coloration of a standardized test.
Tuesday, October 21, 2014
Leadership- does it even exist anymore
Is there no one who is willing to risk sticking her or his neck out to tell the truth and lead? Of course, before anyone can lead he or she needs correct information.
Common Core is one of the latest bogey men out there. For the one millionth time, it is NOT a federal program. Yet last week in a debate, a man running for a seat on the county council proclaimed that he was not in favor of Common Core but could not fight it because "it is a federal program and we could lose federal dollars." Listen up, it is NOT a federal program and one of the many complaints is that there are NO federal dollars attached to what will be an expensive rewrite of curriculum. This man wants to represent people on a governing body and has a position on an important educational issue that is based on total misinformation. How can we trust him to lead on other issues? Does he make a habit of having opinions completely unsupported by facts.
Then there is Ebola. Yes in Africa it is a very dangerous virus. And not even in all of Africa. Africa is a huge continent and only a small part of it is infected. Then there is the United States. We are a large county with approximately 330 million people. So far, one person has died in our country and he was infected in Africa and misdiagnosed when he got here, so his treatment started well into symptoms. He is still ONE person out of 330 million. Run those numbers, I did. That means .0000000909 people have died of Ebola in the United States. That is .00000909%! And yes there are two other people infected. There have also been several people who were infected, treated and cured in our country. Politicians are screaming to close the borders! Lots of citizens think we should too. Three hundred thousand people die in our country every year from illness/disease that is the result of being overweight. I have not heard a single person scream that we need to close the candy counters or purge the grocery stores of unhealthy food. Where is responsible leadership gone on this issue? Even the President has caved and hired an Ebola czar. Maybe he ought to hire someone from Weight watchers as an executive assistant. Between the media and politicians it is surprising anyone is venturing outside their homes. Remember when we thought elected officials were elected to lead? Thing again.
Then there is going into the earth's rocks for oil and natural gas. Is that process safe for the environment? Are we doing it correctly? I don't know. And what I think is we don't have all of the science in to know for sure. It has certainly helped us all economically as the price of oil is coming down steadily. What I do know is that responsible leadership calls for getting all the facts that are currently available; weighing the pros and cons, and seeing how we can best mitigate the cons and move on. I also know it is irresponsible and poor leadership to blame all of life's ills on this process just because you or your organization are against it. Organizations are asking people to donate to fight this process because it "could" expose chemicals that lead to breast cancer. We really do not know what it COULD do. Again the leaders of this organization have chosen to lead through fear rather than through thoughtful discussion and debate.
Leadership is tough. It is not management or the status quo. It is sticking your neck out and asking people to follow your direction. It is risking being wrong. But it is not purposely asking people to follow misinformation. That is not leadership that is demagoguery.
Common Core is one of the latest bogey men out there. For the one millionth time, it is NOT a federal program. Yet last week in a debate, a man running for a seat on the county council proclaimed that he was not in favor of Common Core but could not fight it because "it is a federal program and we could lose federal dollars." Listen up, it is NOT a federal program and one of the many complaints is that there are NO federal dollars attached to what will be an expensive rewrite of curriculum. This man wants to represent people on a governing body and has a position on an important educational issue that is based on total misinformation. How can we trust him to lead on other issues? Does he make a habit of having opinions completely unsupported by facts.
Then there is Ebola. Yes in Africa it is a very dangerous virus. And not even in all of Africa. Africa is a huge continent and only a small part of it is infected. Then there is the United States. We are a large county with approximately 330 million people. So far, one person has died in our country and he was infected in Africa and misdiagnosed when he got here, so his treatment started well into symptoms. He is still ONE person out of 330 million. Run those numbers, I did. That means .0000000909 people have died of Ebola in the United States. That is .00000909%! And yes there are two other people infected. There have also been several people who were infected, treated and cured in our country. Politicians are screaming to close the borders! Lots of citizens think we should too. Three hundred thousand people die in our country every year from illness/disease that is the result of being overweight. I have not heard a single person scream that we need to close the candy counters or purge the grocery stores of unhealthy food. Where is responsible leadership gone on this issue? Even the President has caved and hired an Ebola czar. Maybe he ought to hire someone from Weight watchers as an executive assistant. Between the media and politicians it is surprising anyone is venturing outside their homes. Remember when we thought elected officials were elected to lead? Thing again.
Then there is going into the earth's rocks for oil and natural gas. Is that process safe for the environment? Are we doing it correctly? I don't know. And what I think is we don't have all of the science in to know for sure. It has certainly helped us all economically as the price of oil is coming down steadily. What I do know is that responsible leadership calls for getting all the facts that are currently available; weighing the pros and cons, and seeing how we can best mitigate the cons and move on. I also know it is irresponsible and poor leadership to blame all of life's ills on this process just because you or your organization are against it. Organizations are asking people to donate to fight this process because it "could" expose chemicals that lead to breast cancer. We really do not know what it COULD do. Again the leaders of this organization have chosen to lead through fear rather than through thoughtful discussion and debate.
Leadership is tough. It is not management or the status quo. It is sticking your neck out and asking people to follow your direction. It is risking being wrong. But it is not purposely asking people to follow misinformation. That is not leadership that is demagoguery.
Tuesday, October 14, 2014
The Big Lie
Every day we are bearing false witness to our children. It is something we do in the name of higher standards and equality. We want all of our children to achieve high academic standards so we declare it so and go home. Nothing on the ground changes.
The latest and greatest thought is that all children need to take algebra 2. It is never exactly clear why this is so. Mainly we are told that our children need algebra 2 in order to go to college. There are no requirements that students master the skills in algebra 1, only that they "take it" before they "take" algebra 2.
We have a significant number of children in algebra 1 classes that have never mastered basic arithmetic. Many of those children are poor or black or Hispanic. Others are not. The problem is we cannot as a society admit that the poor, black and Hispanic kids have not yet mastered arithmetic skills because that might mean they have not received a quality education. And we all know that since our society is equal they must have received an education of equal quality to their socio-economic better off peers.
So we continue the big lie. We teach kids material for which they are not in the least bit prepared. We do not go back and teach them the 4th or 5th grade skills they desperately need and might actually use in their lives. Indeed not. In the 9th grade we teach algebra and lie to our colleagues, the children's families and worst of all to the children themselves. We tell all these groups that we are teaching algebra. How on earth could we be teaching algebra to children who have not mastered basic arithmetic? The answer is we cannot. But that has never stopped us before.
Since we have done such a great job of teaching algebra 1 to all of the children, we will now move onto algebra 2. There will be many more children who don't learn algebra 2 than there are who haven't learned algebra 1. Perhaps we will call this progress.
Someone once said that the bigger the lie, the more likely people are to believe it. It is not clear just how many people are believing this lie. Hopefully it is not the math teachers who are supposedly teaching algebra 1 and algebra 2. Great empires have been built on the notion that you can fool some of the people all of the time and all of the people some of the time.
Here is the biggest foolishness of all- of what purpose is algebra 2 to the vast majority of all students. Oh right, forgot again, it will be needed in college. Hey does that mean once college is done it can be forgotten altogether!
The latest and greatest thought is that all children need to take algebra 2. It is never exactly clear why this is so. Mainly we are told that our children need algebra 2 in order to go to college. There are no requirements that students master the skills in algebra 1, only that they "take it" before they "take" algebra 2.
We have a significant number of children in algebra 1 classes that have never mastered basic arithmetic. Many of those children are poor or black or Hispanic. Others are not. The problem is we cannot as a society admit that the poor, black and Hispanic kids have not yet mastered arithmetic skills because that might mean they have not received a quality education. And we all know that since our society is equal they must have received an education of equal quality to their socio-economic better off peers.
So we continue the big lie. We teach kids material for which they are not in the least bit prepared. We do not go back and teach them the 4th or 5th grade skills they desperately need and might actually use in their lives. Indeed not. In the 9th grade we teach algebra and lie to our colleagues, the children's families and worst of all to the children themselves. We tell all these groups that we are teaching algebra. How on earth could we be teaching algebra to children who have not mastered basic arithmetic? The answer is we cannot. But that has never stopped us before.
Since we have done such a great job of teaching algebra 1 to all of the children, we will now move onto algebra 2. There will be many more children who don't learn algebra 2 than there are who haven't learned algebra 1. Perhaps we will call this progress.
Someone once said that the bigger the lie, the more likely people are to believe it. It is not clear just how many people are believing this lie. Hopefully it is not the math teachers who are supposedly teaching algebra 1 and algebra 2. Great empires have been built on the notion that you can fool some of the people all of the time and all of the people some of the time.
Here is the biggest foolishness of all- of what purpose is algebra 2 to the vast majority of all students. Oh right, forgot again, it will be needed in college. Hey does that mean once college is done it can be forgotten altogether!
Tuesday, October 7, 2014
What if you don't agree with the team
According to federal and state law, parents are equal partners in the team. However, this situation does not always play out as described. First of all the school team is made up of multiple school personnel. So that means any issue that is voted on, the school wins. It is not unusual for school personnel to meet prior to a team meeting and decide ahead of time what the school position is going to be.
What's a parent to do if the team's view of a situation differs from that of the team. First and foremost, parents need to remember that the child will belong to the parent forever. Whereas, the team will be done with this student in a few months or a year or two. That gives the parent a lot more skin in the game.
So step one. Parents should arrive at the meeting dressed like a grown up. Ones appearance speaks a lot toward ones credibility.
Secondly, parents should come with a friend, advocate or other parent. It is good to have two sets of ears hearing what is being said. It doesn't hurt to bring a small tape recorder either or else have the second person take complete notes.
Thirdly, parents should cross-examine presentations made by the school personnel regarding a child's needs. How often has the child been observed? Has the child been tested? Has the professional met with the child? How do these experiences compare with other children of a similar age. Parents should be prepared to provide the same standard when presenting their views as to the child's needs. When a parent simply says, "I believe my child can do better than that", it is not a strong case without evidence.
Fourthly, parents should summarize what is being said and attribute comments to the specific speaker.
At the end of the meeting, if parents disagree with the conclusions of the team, it is important for the parents to make sure they are summarizing the comments accurately.
Finally, parents should ask what the next level of appeal is. There is usually another level that can review school based decisions.
Remember, the child belongs to the parents. Their stake in the situation is the greatest of all, other than the child him or herself. The cost of a mistake is borne by the child and the family, not the school system. Go for the gold.
What's a parent to do if the team's view of a situation differs from that of the team. First and foremost, parents need to remember that the child will belong to the parent forever. Whereas, the team will be done with this student in a few months or a year or two. That gives the parent a lot more skin in the game.
So step one. Parents should arrive at the meeting dressed like a grown up. Ones appearance speaks a lot toward ones credibility.
Secondly, parents should come with a friend, advocate or other parent. It is good to have two sets of ears hearing what is being said. It doesn't hurt to bring a small tape recorder either or else have the second person take complete notes.
Thirdly, parents should cross-examine presentations made by the school personnel regarding a child's needs. How often has the child been observed? Has the child been tested? Has the professional met with the child? How do these experiences compare with other children of a similar age. Parents should be prepared to provide the same standard when presenting their views as to the child's needs. When a parent simply says, "I believe my child can do better than that", it is not a strong case without evidence.
Fourthly, parents should summarize what is being said and attribute comments to the specific speaker.
At the end of the meeting, if parents disagree with the conclusions of the team, it is important for the parents to make sure they are summarizing the comments accurately.
Finally, parents should ask what the next level of appeal is. There is usually another level that can review school based decisions.
Remember, the child belongs to the parents. Their stake in the situation is the greatest of all, other than the child him or herself. The cost of a mistake is borne by the child and the family, not the school system. Go for the gold.
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