Peter Gow, an administrator and teacher in independent schools for nearly 40 years, is currently the director of special programs at Beaver Country Day School in Chestnut Hill, Mass. He is the author of today's entry in BookMarks' summer reading series penned by www.edweek.org opinion bloggers.

Mr. Gow writes about the relationship between private and public education in the Independent Schools, Common Perspectives blog hosted by www.edweek.org.

Habits of Mind

In my heart of hearts, I'm kind of an old-school romantic, and so to me education tends to involve the character side: How people use their brains and what they learn matters more to me than how much they have of either. I've been drawn for years toward the notion of habits of mind and dispositional intelligence. Lately, I've become even more fascinated by the question of what gives young people the sense of commitment and the passion that seems to be such a huge factor in adult success. And by success, I mean development as a happy, engaged person.

A few weeks ago someone recommended to me Good Influence: Teaching the Wisdom of Adulthood by Daniel R. Heischman (Morehouse Publishing, 2010), which I have started and I like very much so far. As a really thoughtful, occasionally moving, musing on the challenges of helping children cross the frontier between their world and ours, it matches up well with Wise Up! by Guy Claxton (Bloomsbury, 1999), The Path to Purpose by William Damon (Free Press, 2008), and some of Howard Gardner's recent writing related to his "GoodWork" concept.

I'm not quite ready to found a school based on the principles set forth in any one of these titles, but their themes, aggregated, remind us that the tech-driven, student-centered, 21st-century learning we are rushing to implement is in the end about much more than preparing children for admission cycles and careers. We're supposed to be helping kids become the best versions of themselves, able to look in the mirror and see themselves as satisfied beings with lives that they feel have real meaning.

For similar reasons Tony Wagner's Creating Innovators (Scribner, 2012) is eminently commendable; to me it seems more about character and habits of mind than about innovating, per se, although the publishers were probably happy to have a book with everyone's favorite "I" word in its title. Reading it last year, the parent in me was more piqued than the educator—most of the examples seemed to focus on families with their own disposition to feed their kids' expressed interests. Some years back at our school, we even experimented briefly with a "summer activities list" to supplement the de rigueur reading list, offering a menu of ideas that, we hoped, might spark kids' interests in all kinds of areas; I'm still a fan of this kind of thinking.

Also worthy of a plug here is Ron Berger's An Ethic of Excellence (Heinemann, 2003), which is a bit of a how-to embedded in a compelling treatise on what it is that inspires kids to do especially fine work. It's fine work in itself—deep and resonant. To complement Berger one can do no better than to revisit—as I try to do each summer— Nancy Faust Sizer and Theodore Sizer's hallowed The Students Are Watching (Beacon Press, 2000). Both books are supreme reminders that great educators have an unshakable faith in kids.

As a final kind of relevant note, lately I have found myself quite taken by a couple of Wes Anderson films that explore the character issue in astonishing ways. I hadn't seen Rushmore (1998) until recently, but I've now watched it a couple of times, and last summer our whole household—two teachers and two college students (possibly headed for a life in education)—was transfixed by Moonrise Kingdom (2012), which also rewards multiple viewings. Watched a few times through my educator's glasses (thick, probably smudged), these films jolted me, at least, into pondering the passage between childhood and adulthood—is it a quantum leap or a just a clumsy but inevitable misstep we are doomed to take? Are we supposed to be moving away from something or toward something? And, of course, the films are just weirdly fun.

Follow Peter on Twitter: @pgow.

Posted by Catherine A. Cardno at 9:29 AM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend

Today's book review is by guest blogger Patrice Gans, a technology teacher and library-media specialist at Fraser Woods Montessori School in Newtown, Conn. She is a member of the Computer Science Teacher Association for whom she is currently the National K-8 representative, chair of the K-8 task force, and vice president of the CSTA Connecticut chapter. She is also a member of the Connecticut Educators Computer Association.

By guest blogger Patrice Gans

How often do you read the words "fun", "engaging" and "computer programming" in the same sentence? Thanks to the new book Super Scratch Programming Adventure: Learn to Program By Making Cool Games, by The LEAD Project (No Starch Press, 2012), written with the MIT Media Lab, both adults and children will find that learning to program can be an exciting adventure. In classic comic book fashion, from the very first page, budding programmers are catapulted into a fictional world complete with super heros, villans, straightforward dialogue, and an engaging plot leaving readers eager to turn the page to find out how it will end.

LEAD (Learning through Engineering, Art, and Design) is an educational initiative established by the Hong Kong Federation of Youth Groups that encourages the development of creative thinking through the use of technology. "This book highlights the playful spirit of learning to program with Scratch, which inspires young people to apply digital technologies in imaginative and innovative ways," writes Dr. Rosanna Wong Yick-ming, Executive Director, The Hong Kong Federation of Youth Groups in the book's "A Note of Thanks."

Programming, a.k.a. coding, has received a lot of press over the past couple of months. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the United States can expect almost 760,000 new jobs to be created in computer and information technology by the year 2020. In a recent blog post written for the Huffington Post, Aaron Skonnard (CEO and Founder of Pluralsight) spoke to the urgency of teaching children of all ages how to code as a path to economic security. "For all the parents losing sleep over their kids' prospects in such a tight-fisted job market, I can see at least one recourse: teach them how to code. The earlier, the better," he wrote.

What parent wouldn't want to see their child succeed in this way?

Super Scratch Programming Adventure offers a comprehensive and fun introduction to computer programming using the Scratch programming language. Developed in 2003 at the Lifelong Kindergarten Group at MIT's Media Lab, Scratch offers an interactive learning environment which gives beginners the ability to develop programs without the impediment of having to first learn the proper rules or language structure ("syntax") of a programming language.

It also features a block-like graphical interface which enables the novice programmer to focus more on logic than on memorizing code.

The news media currently touts learning to code as a way to provide young people with a desirable career in computer science. However, the real objectives for learning to program at an early age are the skills that children develop along the way. Computer science enables students to express themselves more fully and creatively, helps them develop as logical thinkers, and helps them understand the workings of the new technologies that they encounter everywhere in their everyday lives. According to Mitch Resnick and his co-authors, who wrote a 2009 Communications of the ACM article:

As Scratchers program and share interactive projects, they learn important mathematical and computational concepts, as well as how to think creatively, reason systematically, and work collaboratively: all essential skills for the 21st century. Indeed, our primary goal is not to prepare people for careers as professional programmers but to nurture a new generation of creative, systematic thinkers comfortable using programming to express their ideas.

Learning to program from a textbook can be tedious. However, the comic book presentation style of Super Scratch Programming Adventure creates an entertaining interactive experience for the reader. The story begins with the hero, Mitch, attempting to create his first computer program when an earthquake strikes his school. Temporarily dazed, Mitch wakes to find himself talking to Scratchy, a feline from cyberspace. The two find themselves battling a variety of dangerous villains in their quest to save the earth. Paired with this engaging storyline, readers are taken through the necessary steps to create an assortment of computer games. Each chapter finds the duo facing different challenges, which align with important computer programming concepts. The scaffolding helps the reader to develop comprehensive games without the usual frustration of needing to create complicated code. Another benefit of the book is that all of the sprites (the small, individually drawn graphics that make up the visual vocabulary of a game) are available for upload directly into Scratch. This enables the reader to create the programs without having to worry about drawing costumes and backgrounds.

While the directions for most of the programs are easy to follow, a few of the games' objectives are a little confusing. In particular, children might find the instructions for the puzzle game hard to follow. It would also have been preferable if some of the coding was more open-ended. After working through the book, children might not be fully prepared to create their own games because they will have spent the majority of their time typing in the code provided in the book, rather than generating their own. However, with some adult guidance, children should be well on their way to constructing games of their own design.

Learning to program provides children with the opportunity to become creators of the technology that has become so pervasive in their daily lives. It enables them to think both creatively and logically, an important 21st century skill. Karen Cator, the director of the office of educational technology at the U.S. Department of Education, said it best when she wrote "Success in the 21st century requires knowing how to learn. Students today will likely have several careers in their lifetime. They must develop strong critical thinking and interpersonal communication skills in order to be successful in an increasingly fluid, interconnected, and complex world."

Since the Scratch website launched seven years ago, users have shared over three million projects. Learning to program with Scratch will enable your child to become part of this ever growing vibrant community of learners. Super Scratch Programming Adventure provides an enjoyable and highly accessible introduction to this technology and the power of computing.

Posted by Catherine A. Cardno at 9:33 AM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend

Written by guest blogger Ellen Wexler

When Where the Wild Things Are author Maurice Sendak was asked what makes a good kids' story, he said, "How would I know? I just write the books."

Well, Maurice Sendak, most of us are rather pleased with the way you've "just written the books." This week marks the author's 85th birthday, and the internet has taken up the task of paying tribute in a variety of creative ways:

PBS's Blank on Blank web series animated a 2009 Newsweek interview with Sendak. In the interview, Sendak discusses the origin of the monsters from Where the Wild Things Are: "The monsters were based on relatives. They came from Europe, and they came on weekends to eat, and my mom had to cook ... They grabbed you and twisted your face, and they thought that was an affectionate thing to do. And I knew that my mother's cooking was pretty terrible, and it also took forever, and there was every possibility that they would eat me, or my sister or my brother."

The Huffington Post staff compiled a list of their favorite Sendak quotes. Highlights include:
•"I believe there is no part of our lives, our adult as well as child life, when we're not fantasizing, but we prefer to relegate fantasy to children, as though it were some tomfoolery only fit for the immature minds of the young. Children do live in fantasy and reality; they move back and forth very easily in a way we no longer remember how to do."
•"I don't write for children. I write, and somebody says, 'That's for children.'"
•"I'm totally crazy, I know that. I don't say that to be a smartass, but I know that that's the very essence of what makes my work good. And I know my work is good. Not everybody likes it, that's fine. I don't do it for everybody. Or anybody. I do it because I can't not do it."

Google honored the author's birthday with an elaborate Google Doodle. In the animation, 16 of Sendak's characters parade through their stories until finally reaching a birthday cake (see a screen grab, below). Google notes that his accomplishments aren't limited to children's books and Sendak also created television shows and designed opera and ballet sets.

The Guardian writer Richard Lea, however, criticized the Google animation for being too cheerful. In reality, Lea writes, there's a fundamental element of darkness in Sendak's works, which are "equal measures of mayhem and merriment, with danger as well as delight ... And surely this is the secret of Sendak's genius, this combination of rage and wonder and childish delight."

Even the White House had something to say about the children's author:

Here's to Maurice Sendak, who would have turned 85 today. #WhereTheWildThingsAre, twitter.com/whitehouse/sta...

— The White House (@whitehouse) June 10, 2013

Posted by Catherine A. Cardno at 8:35 AM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend

By guest blogger Ariel Mond

Stephen Sawchuk's article last month in Education Week added a new component to the multi-faceted topic of diversity in education: teacher credentials. The article outlined how several states are in the process of designing policies to raise the bar when it comes to teacher standards. These new measures would require aspiring teachers to meet certain SAT, ACT, and/or GPA scores in order to apply to teacher-preparation programs. Theoretically, this would limit the application pool to better students, thus creating better teachers.

Well, here's the rub: results from these tests show that minority groups such as African Americans and Hispanic Americans score worse by these measures, according to Sawchuk. Cutting the applicant pool using these assessments, then, would lead to a less diverse teacher population, which is the opposite of what data says will help close the achievement gap. In fact, the article discusses studies showing that matching students to same-race teachers boosts academic, social, and emotional benefits for students.

The following books from the past academic year address diversity in schools and offer information on the social hurdles that accompany students from historically disenfranchised groups.

High Schools, Race, and America's Future, by Lawrence Blum (Harvard Education Press, 2012). A college professor of philosophy and issues of race, Lawrence Blum details his experiences teaching about race and racism in a racially, ethnically, and economically diverse high school. Working with teens for whom race has always played an integral part in their lives, Blum challenges his students to think deeply and critically about race and diversity in high schools.

Voices of Determination: Children that Defy the Odds, by Kevin Chavous (Transaction Publishers, 2012). With this book, Kevin Chavous tells the stories of 10 young people, all of whom battle poverty to get an education. The students share their experiences with inner-city neighborhoods, immigration, hurdles to adequate health care, struggles with substance abuse, addiction, and child abuse. Through the voices of these young people, Chavous argues that it is necessary to battle poverty in order to provide everyone with equal access to education.

LGBT Youth in America's Schools, by Jason Cianciotto and Sean Cahill (University of Michigan, 2012). In this book, the authors bring policy analysis and personal stories to the topic of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender youth. They identify the challenges these students face, including resistance and hostility from peers and educators as well as local, state, and federal laws. The authors also give policy recommendations on how schools can better meet the needs of their LGBT students.

Dignity for All: Safeguarding LGBT Students, by Peter DeWitt (Corwin, 2012). A book addressed specifically to educators, Dignity for All aims to open teachers' eyes to the difficulties of being a lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender student and to guide them in creating a more inclusive environment. Author Peter DeWitt, also the voice behind the www.edweek.org blog Finding Common Ground, brings his perspective as an openly gay elementary school principal and former elementary school teacher to such topics as bullying, curriculum-building, gay-straight alliances, and school board policies.

The Rise of Women: The Growing Gender Gap in Education and What It Means for American Schools, by Thomas A. DiPrete and Claudia Buchmann (Russell Sage Foundation, 2013). A sociological examination of America's gender gap in education, The Rise of Women traces trends related to female students in schools and notes the disparity between men's and women's educational experiences. DiPrete and Buchmann, both professors of sociology, discuss how women have been surpassing men in higher education achievement and attainment for the past forty years. They identify the causes of this trend as well as its exceptions, and examine the implications this change has for the education system as a whole.

The Resegregation of Suburban Schools: A Hidden Crisis in American Education, edited by Erica Frankenberg and Gary Orfield (Harvard Education Press, 2012). Frankenberg and Orfield, both academics in the field of education policy, have compiled this book to examine the racial implications of today's changing suburban demographics. Using case studies that illustrate growing racial diversity across America's suburbs, this book shows that communities lack strategies to deal with emerging patterns and risk a social form of resegration in schools. The book includes a discussion of how suburban schools can meet these demographical challenges.

There Is Nothing Wrong With Black Students, by Dr. Jawanza Kunjufu (African American Images, 2012). In this book, Kunjufu argues against the notion that there is something "wrong" with black students. Low test scores and disciplinary problems are more telling of failures on the part of teachers, than of students, he says. Based on his research and visits to over 3,000 public schools in low-income African-American neighborhoods, Kunjufu devotes his book to examples of successful African American students and describes the circumstances in which they thrive. If educators can make curricula more culturally relevant and suited to students' needs, he argues, the misconception of a racially driven achievement gap will be a thing of the past.

Lessons from the Heartland: A Turbulent Half-Century of Public Education in an Iconic American City, by Barbara J. Miner (The New Press, 2013). With this book, Miner leads readers through the story of Milwaukee, Wisc. and a history of the city's public education. A journalist and resident of Milwaukee, Miner investigates the reforms and setbacks that the city's public schools have faced, including segregation in the 1950s and 60s, desegregation and deindustrialization in the 70s and 80s, and resegregation in the 90s and 2000s. By examining this Mid-western city and its social struggles and educational trends, Miner opens up a greater discussion on public education in America.

Color by Number: Understanding Racism Through Facts and Stats on Children, by Art Munin (Stylus Publishing, 2012). Educator Art Munin takes a statistical approach to prove the pervasiveness of racism in America, compiling data that illustrate how children of color are subjected to disadvantages caused by racism. The numbers show that inequality pervades K-12 and higher education in addition to health-care access, environmental justice, and juvenile justice. In his final chapter, Munin issues a call to action that we must all be agents of social change in order to defeat racism and inequality.

Portraits of Promise: Voices of Successful Immigrant Students, by Michael Sadowski (Harvard Education Press, 2013). This book profiles eight successful immigrant students who have been in the United States for five years or less. Sadowski interviewed middle and high school students and offers each of the book's portraits in the voice of the featured teen. Key themes in the book include the newcomer experience, being successful in two languages, acclimating to American social norms, connecting with teachers, and struggling with identity. Sadowski ends with recommendations on how to address the challenges of being an immigrant student and how teachers can help them succeed.

First Class: The Legacy of Dunbar, America's First Black Public High School, by Alison Steward (Independent Publishers Group, 2013). In this book, journalist Alison Steward chronicles the impressive history and curious decline of Dunbar, the first black public high school in the United States. Founded in 1870 in Washington, the school flourished in its first 70 years only to falter after reaching its apex in mid-20th century when it sent 80 percent of its students to college. Now, as its students are barely proficient in reading and math and the school looks to open a new campus in the fall of 2013, Dunbar serves as a unique example of problems facing American education, including the struggles of urban public schools and the persistence of racism.

Posted by Catherine A. Cardno at 9:51 AM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend

This post was written by guest blogger Ellen Wexler.

English teachers, you might be used to STEM advocates claiming that literature is inferior to more technology-oriented subjects, but a recent Commentary that appeared in The New York Times blog, The Stone, practically dismisses literature's benefits altogether.

According to Gregory Currie, a professor of philosophy at the University of Nottingham, we can't be sure that reading great literature helps us improve as people.

Currie argues in the Commentary that, for many—but not all—people, the value of literature is accepted as so obvious that evidence doesn't seem necessary. Essentially, when we speak about the benefits of literature, we may discuss how it broadens our understanding of the human condition, or how it gives us a deeper appreciation for the intricacies of varying perspectives—but we don't feel the need to back up these claims with evidence like psychological studies. Currie isn't saying that the research in this area proves that literature doesn't have moral value. He's saying that the research in this area doesn't exist. "Advocates of the view that literature educates and civilizes don't overrate the evidence—they don't even think that evidence comes into it," he writes. "While the value of literature ought not to be a matter of faith, it looks as if, for many of us, that is exactly what it is."

Even if researchers started focusing more on the value of literature, Currie notes the difficulty of actually producing evidence:

"That will take a lot of careful and insightful psychological research (try designing an experiment to test the effects of reading War and Peace, for example). Meanwhile, most of us will probably soldier on with a positive view of the improving effects of literature, supported by nothing more than an airy bed of sentiment."

Two days after Currie's piece was published, Annie Murphy Paul published a response in Time magazine titled, "Reading Literature Makes Us Smarter and Nicer," in which she argues that there is evidence for literature's improving effects. She cites two studies by psychologist Raymond Mar and psychology professor Keith Oatley, which show that those who often read fiction are better at empathizing with and understanding other perspectives. A third study by Mar showed that the more stories young children read, the better their mental model of other people's intentions.

According to Paul, the problem isn't that reading doesn't help us improve, but that we're losing those benefits altogether as our ability for "deep reading" declines—deep reading being what we do when we read a great work of literature, versus the more superficial kind of reading available on the internet.

Deep reading is "an endangered practice, one we ought to take steps to preserve as we would a historic building or a significant work of art," Paul writes. "Its disappearance would imperil the intellectual and emotional development of generations growing up online."

Paul believes that if we don't effectively teach children how to develop their deep reading skills, they might believe that the more superficial kind of reading is all that there is.

And the result?

"We will have cheated them of an enjoyable, even ecstatic experience they would not otherwise encounter" Paul writes. "And we will have deprived them of an elevating and enlightening experience that will enlarge them as people."

Image: "Fact and Fiction" [old man reading newspaper beside young woman reading book], by Norman Rockwell (1917), Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, Reproduction Number: LC-USZC4-696; Call number: Illus. in AP2.L52 1917 (Case Y).

Posted by Catherine A. Cardno at 12:05 PM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend

This post, written by Larry Ferlazzo, is the third in BookMarks' summer reading series penned by www.edweek.org opinion bloggers.

Larry Ferlazzo is an award-winning English and Social Studies teacher at Luther Burbank High School in Sacramento, Calif., as well as the author of The ESL/ELL Teacher's Survival Guide (2012), Helping Students Motivate Themselves: Practical Answers To Classroom Challenges (2011), and Building Parent Engagement In Schools (2009).

He writes the Classroom Q&A with Larry Ferlazzo blog for Education Week Teacher.

Summertime is here and, as I do at the beginning of every summer, I created a stack of books on my nightstand that I hope to enjoy over the following two-and-a-half months.

Unfortunately, getting through that stack tends to be more "aspirational" than reality-based, but we can all dream ...

Typically, in order to find its way into my summer reading stack, a book has to meet one of two criteria—it either needs to offer very practical applications to my teaching, or it has to be entirely mindless (in other words, bubblegum for the brain).

Here's my list:

Education-Related:

Notice & Note: Strategies For Close Reading, by Kylene Beers and Robert Probst (Heinemann, 2012). Though the Common Core State Standards make this book particularly timely, I suspect the strategies they suggest are useful in any class at any time.

The Complexity Of Greatness: Beyond Talent Or Practice, edited by Scott Barry Kaufman (Oxford University Press, 2013). I've read many of Kaufman's articles, and look forward to reading his take on recent research about topics like persistence and deliberate practice.

The English Teacher's Companion, Fourth Edition, by Jim Burke (Heinemann, 2012). Previous editions of this extraordinarily helpful book have been invaluable to me and countless other teachers. I'm looking forward to seeing all the new ideas that have been added.

Improbable Scholars: The Rebirth Of A Great American School System And A Strategy For America's Schools, by David L. Kirp (Oxford University Press, 2013). I've heard a lot about this book and the story it tells—a different narrative than the one many "school reformers" push. And, after I read it, I hope to interview the author for my blog here at Education Week Teacher.

Getting Teacher Evaluation Right: What Really Matters For Effectiveness and Improvement, by Linda Darling-Hammond (Teachers College Press, 2013). There is no one more knowledgeable about the research on, and the practice of, teacher evaluation than Linda Darling-Hammond. I'm sure there will be a lot here that all educators will be able to find useful.

Bubblegum For The Mind:

Inferno, by Dan Brown (Doubleday, 2013). Really, who doesn't have this on their summer list?

Two Fronts: The War That Came Early, by Harry Turtledove (Del Rey, 2013). The latest by the master of "alternative history." I'm a big fan of this genre, and using it in my classroom is one of my favorite lessons each year.

The King's Deception: A Novel, by Steve Berry (Ballantine Books, 2013). Was Queen Elizabeth I really a man? And what does that have to do with international terrorism and geopolitical intrigue today? (Remember, this is on the "bubblegum" list)

The Striker, by Clive Cussler (Putnam, 2013). It doesn't get more mindless than Clive Cussler novels, but they tend to be a lot of fun.

I'm looking forward to seeing more posts in this series. If you feel like it, share your own suggestions in the comments section.

Posted by Catherine A. Cardno at 9:21 AM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend

This post, written by Peter DeWitt, is the second in BookMarks' summer reading series penned by www.edweek.org opinion bloggers.

Peter DeWitt is the principal of Poestenkill Elementary School in Averill Park, N.Y., and was named the New York State Outstanding Educator for 2013 by the School Administrators Association of New York State. He writes the Finding Common Ground blog and last year published Dignity for All: Safeguarding LGBT Students (Corwin, 2012).

Evaluating America's Teachers

Evaluation is such an important part of the educational process ... if it is done with integrity. It doesn't matter if a superintendent is evaluating a principal or a principal is evaluating a teacher, in these days of increased accountability, evaluation is more important than ever.

Although I do not agree with state decisions to tie point scales to teacher and administrator evaluation, I do agree that the process of evaluating teachers and principals is just as important as evaluating students. For that reason I am constantly looking for books that will help me complete the evaluative process with integrity.

One book that is at the top of my summer reading list, besides Dan Brown's Inferno, is Evaluating America's Teachers: Mission Possible? by W. James Popham (Corwin, 2013). Truth be told, I reviewed the book for Corwin Press and loved it, but there is so much more in the final copy than I saw in the original. The final version offers many more practical steps, as well as action items, that will help leaders and teachers get the most out of evaluation.

It's not one of those top-down books.

It doesn't blame teachers or administrators for all of the failures of America.

It is a book that will help us focus our energy in a positive way to improve our practices ... not just the practice of teachers, but of administrators as well.

Testing Evaluation

Popham delves into what underlies today's evaluation programs. He cautions policymakers on the steps they are taking and forcing educators to take with them. He says:

You see, if we start labeling tests as valid, then soon we start ascribing interpretive accuracy to the tests themselves. That's a mistake. Remember, it is human beings who make test-based inferences. And abundant evidence is at hand showing that human beings can make mistakes—usually every few hours. Thus, we need to be careful that the tests we use in a properly designed teacher-appraisal system do, in fact, contribute to a valid (that is, accurate) inference about a teacher's quality.

Popham goes on to explore the human judgment involved in the process of evaluating teachers. Where human judgment is concerned Popham writes:

By the time we try to sort out and, perhaps, compensate for the significant differences in particular teachers' instructional settings, differences that are more likely to represent a dozen such differences than merely one or two, the likelihood of accurate comparisons among different teachers becomes more and more difficult. A teacher's instructional setting matters—enormously.

Prove It!

One of the most important aspects to classroom observation is the role evidence plays in the process. As a school principal I look for evidence from the moment I walk in to do an observation to the moment I walk out. I want the observation process to be done with integrity because my teachers deserve it. They deserve effective feedback every time we have formal conversations.

Too often in the past, observations were seen as something to get through. Principals used checklists, and teachers walked away garnering very little insight into what they do well and where they can improve.

In my own observations as a new teacher, my principal sat at my desk looking through his wallet while I taught, and my formal narrative was a document I had written as part of my formal reflection. I walked away from the process feeling very disappointed because observation is supposed to be about feedback.

In his book, Popham describes the following places for evaluators to gain evidence of instructional practices and student learning.

Evidence from:
• Standardized Tests
• Classroom assessments
• Classroom observations
• Ratings
• Sundry Sources

The summer gives educators a time to reflect on the previous year, recharge their batteries, and focus on how to improve in the next year to come. That is a luxury not everyone has, and we should use it with integrity.

There are clearly lots of mandates and accountability working against us, but we also have to look at some changes as an opportunity to improve. Not because the state wants us to or the media makes fun of us ... but because we want to.

As Popham writes in the book, "Given the right evidence and the suitable weighting of that evidence, appropriately evaluating America's teachers is definitely possible. For the sake of the children those teachers teach, we need to make this possibility a reality."

Posted by Catherine A. Cardno at 9:37 AM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend

Today's guest post introduces a series that will run in BookMarks over the next few months. I've asked Education Week's opinion bloggers what books they are most looking forward to reading this summer.

Walt Gardner, the author of Walt Gardner's Reality Check, which is hosted by www.edweek.org, taught for 28 years in the Los Angeles Unified School District and was a lecturer in the UCLA Graduate School of Education. He kicks off the series with his thoughts:

Between writing the Reality Check blog, op-eds, and letters to editors, I've been too busy to read the books that I'd like during the year. As a result, I'm extremely selective. That's why I intend to include The Best Teachers in the World (Hoover Institution Press, 2012) by John E. Chubb, who will become president of the National Association of Independent Schools on July 1. I realize that anything published by the Hoover Institution is going to have a strong ideological bent, but I was intrigued by Chubb's claim that he presents a completely new approach to raising teacher quality so that students will be prepared to meet the challenges of the global economy. Whether Chubb delivers will be interesting to see because the nation's failure to do so seemingly has been thoroughly covered by others before. In any event, I'll reserve judgment until I finish the book.

Next on my list is The Road Out (University of California Press, 2013) by Deborah Hicks, who is an educational scholar at Duke. Billed as a teacher's journey to help poor white girls escape from their impoverished Appalachian community to find a better life, the subject caught my eye because it is a memoir rather than a study. Sometimes this format is particularly effective in engaging readers. The book follows in the footprints of other best-selling authors using this approach. I'm thinking now of Frank McCourt, Pat Conroy, Jonathan Kozol, and Jaime Escalante, whose first-person accounts of their experiences in the classroom with disadvantaged students raised the public's consciousness about their plight. Narrative non-fiction has the potential to engage readers in a way that fiction often cannot. I'm hoping this will be the case with Hicks's book.

Posted by Catherine A. Cardno at 7:42 AM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend

Written by guest blogger and newly minted Teach For America recruit, Lyndsey Wallen.

Michelle Rhee: She's a figure you either love or love to hate. Like it or not, it's hard to deny that Rhee has become the face of the education reform movement since her stint as chancellor of the D.C. public school system.

Rhee burst onto the D.C. scene in 2007 with the lofty goal of overhauling the struggling school system. She ruffled many a feather in her whirlwind of school closings, battles with the teachers' union, and creating a teacher evaluation system based partly on student test scores. Once her time as chancellor ended, she took her reforms to the national stage by founding Sacramento, Calif.-based StudentsFirst, a grassroots organization lobbying for education policy changes.

In her memoir, Radical: Fighting to Put Students First (Harper Collins, 2013), Rhee takes a step back and discusses her upbringing, her years as a George H.W. Bush-hater at Cornell University, and her career in public education, followed by her arguments for education reform. Rhee makes one thing clear in her memoir: It's her way or the highway, and she doesn't care what you think.

Rhee says the United States has "gone soft as a nation" when it comes to public education. "We are not doing our kids any favors by teaching them to celebrate mediocrity, to revel in the average, and to delight in merely participating," Rhee writes. In fact, Rhee even cringes when she considers the number of soccer trophies and medals her two daughters have collected. "They suck at soccer," she says.

She also argues that education reform in the United States is too much about the adults involved and not enough about the kids. She argues that politicians are too afraid to get involved in education issues for fear of losing their seats (which, incidentally, is what happened to her boss, former D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty, during her time as chancellor). Rhee also calls for parents to become engaged in the political process of education reform, which is one of the trademark initiatives of her StudentsFirst organization.

For me, one of the most interesting aspects of Radical is that it gives the reader some insight into what has shaped Rhee as a no-excuses, take-no-prisoner education reformer. While reading about her strict, Korean family and her struggles as a new teacher with Teach For America, I had a few light bulb or "aha" moments where I thought to myself, "Gee, that explains a lot."

Rhee grew up in a household where education was the main priority. As a child, she was shipped off to Korea where she attended school for a year. She describes the cut-throat world of schooling she experienced there, saying "in Korean schools, competition ruled." She explains how the class was ranked by grades, which drove competition for the students and their families. Mediocrity was not good enough, she writes.

As an upcoming Teach For America corps member, I was also very interested to read Rhee's account of her time with TFA. Rhee acknowledges that the program was in its early years when she joined, but she is realistic about her years as an elementary school teacher in inner-city Baltimore. She doesn't paint a pretty picture of changing the lives of her students. Instead, she talks about how she struggled to control her classroom for the first year: "[T]he hardest thing was coming to the realization that, in fact, I was the problem," she writes.

It's clear that her experience as a mediocre teacher influenced her future stances on education policy, including her dogged insistence that any child can excel in education with at least one great teacher. She shows no sympathy for teachers who don't perform, and some of her trademark fights have been trying to abolish teacher tenure and tying teacher evaluation and pay to student test scores.

Overall, I felt that I was left with more questions than answers at the end of the book. Rhee sticks to her guns and drills her select reform initiatives—such as performance pay for teachers, ending teacher tenure, and the expansion of charter schools as options—into the reader's head throughout the book, but there is no discussion of other important aspects of education policy such as school curricula and standards. Rhee also glosses over suspicions that, during her tenure as schools chancellor, D.C. teachers erased incorrect answers on standardized tests, and readers are also left questioning whether all of her school closures actually saved the D.C. school system any money, after audits showed otherwise.

Radical gives the reader a glimpse into the life, career choices, and reform initiatives of Michelle Rhee, many of which make a lot of sense. But it presents a one-sided argument with a few gaping holes, and it doesn't even begin to help readers understand the complex lightning-rod figure of education reform that Michelle Rhee has become.

Posted by Catherine A. Cardno at 11:32 AM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend

Guest blogger Ariel Mond wrote this post.

With the recent release of the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, the bible of psychiatric diagnoses, come new definitions of the learning disabilities many students experience. A number of new books may help prepare teachers for the challenging field of special education and demonstrate strategies for helping students with special needs succeed socially and academically.

The Autistic Brain: Thinking Across the Spectrum, by Temple Grandin and Richard Panek (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2013). One of the world's most well-known and accomplished adults with autism, Temple Grandin brings both science and heart to the conversation on autism in The Autistic Brain, her fifth book to date. Grandin, who described what it is like to be autistic in her groundbreaking memoir, Thinking in Pictures, now gives readers an account of the latest neurological developments in autism research. Weaving scientific understanding together with her personal narrative, Grandin argues that teaching children with autism must focus on encouraging their strengths rather than fixating on their weaknesses, and she questions the way in which autism is currently defined as a fixed and singular state. Yet another integral work on the subject of autism, Grandin's book shows that there is no such thing as one "autistic brain."

Developmental Screening in Your Community: An Integrated Approach for Connecting Children with Services, by Diane Bricker, Marisa Macy, Jane Squires, and Kevin Marks (Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co., 2013). The first step in learning how to teach students with special needs is diagnosing which children have special needs, and which kinds of special needs they have. In this book, the authors provide strategies to help communities establish a system for early detection of delays and disabilities. Six key components—having program goals, promoting community public awareness, implementing centralized contract and referral systems, using a developmental-behavioral screening system, following up, and making use of an ongoing program evaluation—can help communities more effectively and efficiently detect children's special needs early on.

High School Transition that Works by Maryellen Daston, J. Erin Riehle, and Susie Rutkowski (Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co., 2013). For students with intellectual and developmental disabilities, making the transition from high school to the workplace can be difficult. Daston, Riehle, and Rutkowski's book equips teachers with strategies to help prepare disabled students for this challenge. This guidebook, developed by the founders of Project SEARCH, provides guidance on teaching disabled students to market and develop their skills and breakdown obstacles to employment. The book also includes social skills activities, lesson plans on choosing internships, and case studies.

Social Skills Success for Students with Autism/Asperger's: Helping Adolescents on the Spectrum to Fit In, by Fred Frankel and Jeffrey J. Wood (Jossey-Bass, 2013). While classroom lesson plans have an academic focus, the social environment of school is just as important for students. For educators who teach adolescent students with autism and autism spectrum disorders, the social component of school can be difficult to address: How can teachers teach sociability? Frankel and Wood—experts in the fields of friendship formation and anxiety management, according to the publisher—offer advice and lesson plans drawn from an evidence-based program addressing the social challenges faced by adolescents with autism spectrum disorders.

A Survival Guide for New Special Educators, by Bonnie S. Billingsley, Mary T. Brownell, Maya Israel, and Margaret L. Kamman (Jossey-Bass, 2013). This book offers new K-12 special educators a manual for preparing for the first day of school, becoming acclimated to a school, managing student behavior, and more.

Understanding and Managing Behaviors of Children with Psychological Disorders: A Reference for Classroom Teachers, edited by Jered B. Kolbert and Laura M. Crothers (Bloomsbury, 2013). Featuring sections outlining the characteristics of different psychological disorders and strategies on how to manage these behaviors in the classroom, Kolbert and Crothers' reference book recognizes that not every teacher knows the ins and outs of every mental health and behavioral disorder. Their book provides comprehensive descriptions of psychological disorders such as attention-deficit/hyperactive disorder, depression, anxiety, and autism. Each chapter is written by an expert within that specific field.

Posted by Catherine A. Cardno at 9:44 AM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend