Evidence-based observations and other multiple measures give educators and leaders the opportunity to showcase the professional growth they have always strived for from year to year.

Teacher observations are vitally important for the principal as much as the teacher. Unfortunately, there are observation tools that offer teachers no insight into how they could improve their own practice. Even in these days of increased accountability, some school leaders use checklists. Checklists, without any real post-observation conference, are a waste of time and should be thrown away.

Leaders really need to see, and understand, what is going on in every classroom. They need to be in touch with their students and staff. Observations should never be something to get done. But let's face it, they are often seen as something to get through. That's unfortunate because observations can offer leaders so much good information when they are added to the other things they see during the year.

The observation process should start on the first day of school before the formal paperwork begins. Before a formal observation is ever completed, the school leader should have stepped foot into the classroom numerous times. Depending on the level the school principal leads, and the size of the building, they should get into the classrooms every single day.

From the first day of the new school year, school leaders should be establishing a presence. Not one that scares children and makes staff nervous that they are lurking around every corner. Leaders should be establishing a presence that tells staff and students that they care...about behavior, relationships, academics, instructional practices, and school climate.

APPR
Observation is just one piece in the much larger accountability puzzle. This year, the Annual Professional Performance Review (APPR) process is new for many educators across the country. There are multiple measures, student learning objectives (SLO's) and state assessment scores, which all have point values. The point values are mindboggling and are tied to multiple measures and state assessments, which should not be happening.

However, there is a much more positive side to multiple measures. Multiple measures that require evidence can lead to great professional conversations, and many teachers are not only doing it with integrity, they are doing it with creativity. This was happening already in many schools long before APPR turned to point scales. This process is done with integrity because of the people involved.

Multiple measures may include:
• Teacher reflections - teacher reflections can help leaders understand what teachers have done over the year. Teacher reflections can be an example of a teacher's honest feelings about grading, communication, professional growth, but also about what worked in their classroom and what didn't.
• Student portfolios - The portfolios contain student work. Not just the work of students who excel, but the work of students who struggle. All of the work is a span of a year and shows student growth. I love reading the thoughts of the students. Some of the teachers really encouraged students to write about things they struggled with during the year. They made sure that they encouraged student voice.
• Peer coaching - This has the potential to be a waste of time if it is not done with integrity. However, true peer observations can help teachers learn from one another over a school year. In the best cases, it also can bring about an honest reflection of what is working and what is not. The key is to choose the right peer to do the observation with during the year.
• Goal setting - Teachers choose a goal at the beginning of the year and work on meeting that goal all year long. It's a learner-centered project based learning at its best.
• Community service - Most teachers are civic minded. Working in their school community or their home community is important. There are so many benefits to community service, especially if teachers include their students in the process.

In the End
Like many school leaders, I work with over-achievers. They don't want to just hand something in. They want to hand in something that will truly capture what they want me to see as the school leader. It helps me get a better picture of the classroom environment, and it's something that has been happening long before our increased accountability.

There are teachers who took pictures of evidence with their iPads and used Evernote to keep organized all year. It made it easier for them to provide me with a compilation of evidence from throughout the year. Other teachers reflected on how they incorporated poetry slams or "open mic" days in their classroom so students could provide free expression.

Another teacher completed a video with her students that compared one instructional model over another. It was creative and took a great deal of courage because no one had done that before. It paid off and captured what happened in her classroom.

Evidence-based observations and other multiple measures that are done with integrity can provide leaders a window into the classroom of the buildings they lead. Doing it for points has not made teachers and leaders take it more seriously. Points can be given without much integrity at all. Evidence-based observations and other multiple measures give educators and leaders the opportunity to showcase the professional growth they have always strived for from year to year.

Questions for leaders to Ponder:
• What do you notice?
• What are the students doing?
• How is the teacher stretching the thinking of their students?
• How is the teacher helping struggling learners?
• Does the teacher feel like they can take a risk during their observation? If not, does that have something to do with you or them?

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"We have always expected that scores will drop initially. But that's not a sign that our education community is doing something wrong. It's a sign that we're doing something right." Meryll Tisch

During these times of increased accountability, school leaders are looking to state leaders for guidance on what they can do to make sense of all of the changes. Whether it is teacher and administrator evaluation or implementing the Common Core State Standards, educators want to know that they are doing the right thing. By nature of who they are, educators are rule followers.

As with any monumental change, educators need to understand how all of this accountability is helping schools become better because the trust is gone between public schools and many state education departments. We read blogs, articles and look at state resources. New York State, where I am an elementary principal has Engage NY, which is their only guidance on all things Common Core.

Recently, I read No Time to Slow Down on Common Core (On Board, NYSSBA) by Merryl Tisch, the N.Y. Chancellor of the Board of Regents. I feel that the title says it all. Why slow down and reflect on what has been going on? We should just plow through another mandate, much like the New York State Education Department always asks of their teachers and school leaders. After all, time is of the essence because all of these changes are created by a political cycle.

Where the new state assessments tied to the Common Core are concerned, Ms. Tisch wrote, "The goal of these exams is not to teach to a new test - in fact, Common Core is a move away from teaching to any test - teachers should be encouraged to focus on new ways of teaching to higher expectations." I agree with Meryll Tisch! We should move away from the over-testing of students.

The only issue with Tisch's statement is that all of our 3rd - 8th grade students, much like most states across the country, had to take six days of tests over a two week period. These tests lasted from 70 to 90 minutes a day for general education students and up to 3 hours a day for special education students. For someone who is directly related to such intense testing, it seems odd that Tisch would advise educators to get away from tests.

In addition, her statement is contradictory to the fact that the NY State Education Department has a five-year 32 million dollar contract with Pearson Education. It is also contradictory to the fact that part of the new evaluation system in New York State requires schools to give pre and post assessments to students in kindergarten, which means five year-olds get to take assessments. That is a great deal of testing to get away from in kindergarten through 8th grade.

Conflicting Message
What worries me most about some leaders leading from the 30,000 foot level is that they seem to send conflicting messages as if they really do not understand what is going on. They feel that all schools are failing, and that one-size-fits-all is good for all students, but then they change their mind and say that not all schools are failing. Do they not see the contradictions?

For example, in the article Tisch wrote, "In classrooms around the state, exciting conversations are taking place. For the first time, students are exploring longer and more challenging texts, debating economic issues, applying math to engineering concepts, and working in teams to solve real-world problems. These are not curriculum mandates, but examples of good teaching, the kind that many educators have practiced for years."

Now, which is it? Are they doing it for the first time or have they been doing it for years? To be perfectly honest, I find her position to be offensive. Many, many educators have been using those instructional practices for a long time. This is not the first time students have been exposed to this, and it's not because of the Common Core and accountability that it is being done.

Considering that the students were ill-prepared for this year's state assessments, Ms. Tisch wrote, "We have always expected that scores will drop initially. But that's not a sign that our education community is doing something wrong. It's a sign that we're doing something right." If the education community isn't doing something wrong why are there so many changes? And the whole idea of "doing something wrong...we're doing something right" does not make a great deal of sense.

Crash Landing
"There's also no question that the introduction of the Common Core is going to cause a bit of in-flight turbulence - especially with respect to these first rounds of test-taking." In-flight turbulence? Perhaps that happens when schools feel as though the rules are changing as we are going along.

Just recently, the New York State Board of Regents said they were discussing the option of changing the weight of the State Provided Growth Measure in APPR to 25% (Read StateProvidedGrowthMeasureInAPPR.pdf) of a teacher and administrator's evaluation instead of 20%. Yes, the 2012-2013 school year...which is ending in over a month. This seems odd considering that Tisch said they are trying to get away from testing.

Perhaps this is not in-flight turbulence. Perhaps this is just another case of state leaders building a plane while they are flying it and acting as though it is a good idea. My advice to Merryl Tisch and the New York State Education Department, and all other state education departments moving at a break-necking speed, is to slow down on the Common Core, because we all feel like we are heading to a crash landing.

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The public education system is at serious risk of only focusing on numbers, and we all know there are more important things in life than numbers.

Does everything in education need to be measured? Do we need some sort of proof that everything taught in schools has to lead to student achievement? Not everything in the public school system needs to be tied to a number. There are numerous ways to show whether a program or subject is successful. Unfortunately, due to accountability, all subject areas are held under the same microscope and only the strong will survive.

In our present system of Social Darwinism, the arts are constantly fighting for a place in the public school system. Many educators are concerned that if they can't prove it leads to student achievement, it will be cut from the public school system for good. Even worse, when it is a fight to the death between programs in schools, adults show support to one subject over the other and the arts are usually on the losing end.

Students are not provided with the experience to explore their artistic side unless it can be proven that it will lead to increased test scores and higher graduation rates. Accountability is forcing schools to churn out cookie cutter students who can all perform well in the area of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). However, not all students are STEM students.

STEM!
Education is all about STEM these days. STEM is clearly important but it seems to be the fix du jour to all of our problems. STEM will help U.S. students become more globally competitive. Unfortunately, we have seen contradictory reports about whether the U.S. is competitive or not. It seems to depend on who is backing the research.

The arts doesn't have the same kind of support that STEM does because the arts are seen as something that "feels good." They are not seen as a real pathway to college. The arts are seen as something kids can experiment with while they are in school. After all, how many kids get into the Julliard? How many jobs are there for students who are artistic? Being artistic is something good to have as an "extra."

We know that students who excel at STEM clearly do well academically. They must be good students to get into STEM-type classes. However, there are studies that show students who are in the arts are more civic-minded and do well academically. In a 2006 study, Catterall et al. says, "Teenagers and young adults of low socioeconomic status (SES) who have a history of in-depth arts involvement show better academic outcomes than do low-SES youth who have less arts involvement. They earn better grades and demonstrate higher rates of college enrollment and attainment."

But why does it have to be that way? Can't student achievement mean more than test scores?

A Case Not to Measure the Arts
In his famous 2006 Ted Talk, Sir Ken Robinson questioned whether the public school system was killing creativity. In the talk he even gave examples that focused on the importance of the arts. Remember the story about Gillian Lynne? Turning to dance saved her from being misdiagnosed for academic issues in her early years.

"Art education should be championed for its own sake, not because of a wishful sentiment that classes in painting, dance and music improve pupils' math and reading skills and standardized test scores." This was the thought of Ellen Winner and Lois Hetland. Winner and Hetland are two researchers who found that arts education did not improve academic performance. Yes, they said it did not improve academic performance. They later wrote a book entitled Studio Thinking, which focused on the real benefits of arts education.

In a 2007 N.Y. Times article Winner and Hetland said, "We feel we need to change the conversation about the arts in this country," They continued by saying, "These instrumental arguments are going to doom the arts to failure, because any superintendent is going to say, 'If the only reason I'm having art is to improve math, let's just have more math.'"

They're right. The arts should be important because it gives students the opportunity to express themselves in different ways. The arts provide an outlet for students who may not have other opportunities once they step outside of school. They may not always lead to increased student achievement, but they may lead to increased self-esteem or an increase in student confidence that may lead to improved performance over time.

Participating in the arts may also lead to a better appreciation for...the arts. Think of the last math problem that made you laugh! What about the last science experiment that brought you to tears! The arts lead to the same inner passion for students that other subjects do.

Data is a Four Letter Word
Not everything needs to be measurable. The public education system is at serious risk of only focusing on numbers, and we all know there are more important things in life than numbers. When we want an escape from a bad day we turn on an old movie. When we go to the city we long to see a play.

Every summer, I head to the Saratoga Performing Arts Center (SPAC) to catch at least one performance of the New York City Ballet. It's something everyone should experience at least once. Seeing a story unfold in such a beautiful way is hard to articulate. When I'm at SPAC I think of all of the concerts I have attended and have fond memories of hanging out on the lawn with friends or family. It is my hope that simply having the arts offered in school does not become one of those fond memories.

Randy Cohen gives his Top Ten Reasons to Support the Arts below:
• True prosperity
• Improved academic performance
• Arts are an industry
• Arts are good for local merchants
• Arts are the cornerstone of tourism
• Arts are an export industry
• Building the 21st Century workforce
• Healthcare
• Stronger communities
• Creative Industries
For a more detailed explanation of Cohen's top ten list, click here.

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"It's hard for principals to win over teachers if they haven't been one." Michael Winerip

It's a stressful time to be a new leader. With so many new mandates, accountability and budget cuts, leaders definitely have their challenges. At least new superintendents have administrative experience under their belts so, from an administrative level, they have seen these changes coming. New school leaders may not have that luxury.

School leaders have to learn a new set of skills when they move from one level to the next. At the same time they are trying to acquire that new skill set, they are working through the emotional side of accountability that everyone is experiencing. In teaching and learning, comes a great deal of emotion. Most teachers are very passionate individuals who care a great deal about their students, or at least, passionate about their subject.

It's easy to get bogged down in negative feelings for testing and accountability. High stakes testing always has the potential to put me over the edge but I try to not let it show. We don't need more chaos. We need calmness. It's important for those in leadership positions to rally the troops and get staff to laugh...every single day. We still need to find the fun in each day, even in testing time.

Relationships, Relationships, Relationships
There are many factors that go into creating a successful leadership experience and it begins with the relationships they create with students, staff and parents. Our positions are special because of the people we lead. It's not the building that is awesome, it's the people and children within in it.

In addition to staff that leaders work with every day, relationships with administrative colleagues is another "must." This doesn't happen as often as it should. Most leaders attend administrative meetings and then go back to their own islands. When leaders ignore to foster a relationship with their administrative colleagues, they are missing out on opportunities to learn and grow.
Whether it's the other elementary principals, the director of elementary special education or the principals and leaders in the other buildings and the central office, I have never felt alone in my position. That kind of teamwork takes a great deal of work.

Another "must" is that you must have teaching experience before you enter into a leadership role. Winerip says, "It's hard for principals to win over teachers if they haven't been one." Can you really lead what you've never done? That's a question that will bring out arguments on both sides. There are leaders who have probably been successful without teaching experience but I bought it happens very often. How do you lead conversations about student engagement if you've never engaged students in a classroom setting?

Don't Go It Alone
Most new leader worry that they have to know everything when they enter into the position. That is flawed thinking, and if the district you work in believes that, their thinking is flawed as well. New leaders bring knowledge and skills but they also have enormous potential that needs to be fostered. New leaders can bring excitement to an administrative team because they may have a new way of thinking or great past experiences that help the group.

New leaders need to understand that they do not have to go it alone. Everyone, whether they are a teacher, student or leader needs to have someone to lean on. It is why collaborative learning, and collegial relationships, are so important. We always learn from the people who surround us.
For full disclosure, I have never, ever felt like I could not call one of my administrative colleagues for help. It also helps that I can lean on my teachers as much as they can lean on me. Some of my administrative colleagues had prior experience in the district, while others had prior experience in the role I took over. They all held valuable information that they wanted to share with me, and they were willing to share.

New leaders should do the following:
• Understand Your Colleagues - You will not always get along with your administrative colleagues, especially during admin meetings. When you work so closely together and there is so much at stake (i.e. students and teachers), you are bound to have disagreements. Don't let the disagreements define you. Take some time to breathe and talk it out. Perhaps you end up working it out or agree to disagree but in order to make the district stronger, leaders need to work together. It's worth it in the end.
• Get a Mentor - There are two types of mentors; the first may be the one the district assigns to you if they have a mentoring program. If they don't have a program, leaders may find a mentor naturally. The other type of mentor is the one a leader has before they enter into the position or find outside of the district when they are in the position. Many leaders go to Twitter and create their own PLN. A mentor outside of the district offers a confidential ear and they have an outside perspective that may be helpful.
• Engage in Professional Growth - That sounds like common sense but some leaders feel like achieving an administrative position is where their learning ends. It's actually where a whole new set of learning begins. If leaders get to the point where they think they know it all, they should consider leaving the position. It doesn't matter how long leaders lead, the world is constantly changing and there is always something new to learn.

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On the first day of school, Juyeon sat in my second grade classroom crying. Her arms were locked around the back of her chair. I tried to comfort her but it didn't work. She looked at me but didn't understand a word I was saying. As the rest of my class met on the rug for the first time so we could go over the calendar, rules, and read a book, she sat sobbing because she was scared. How couldn't she be? Two weeks before the beginning of school she moved to the U.S. from Seoul, Korea.

As a second grade teacher, I had very little experience with non-English speaking students, and our English as a Second Language (ESL) teacher was only in the building twice a week, and she wasn't there on the first day of school. Juyeon and I spent a lot of time together in between those moments when she received services.

I was not prepared for this in my pre-service training. I didn't know what tricks to use to get her to the carpet. Even if she did get there, what would I do next? That is the challenge, and the joy, of being a teacher. Juyeon taught me that teaching is not easy.

I knew very little about her. Like most teachers at the beginning of the year, I did not know more than the fact that she was new to the country. Her father remained in Seoul and her mother was doing graduate work at a local university. I also knew that Juyeon had potential inside, just like all of my students, that I needed to unlock.

What is the Right Approach?
There seems to be a lot of debate about how to teach English Language Learners (ELL) students. Some believe in bilingual education, while others believe students need to be immersed in the language they're learning. I am not an expert but I recently read an article by Stephan Muldanado from Teach.com that made me reflect on my own experiences with ELL students, which made me think of Juyeon.

Muldanado wrote, "According to the National Association for Bilingual Education (NABE), bilingual education "refers to approaches in the classroom that use the native languages of English language learners (ELLs) for instruction." The goals of this form of instruction include assisting students in increasing their English proficiency, keeping their native culture and languages intact, helping them to adjust to a foreign environment and promoting academic success."

Does bilingual education help or hinder ELL students? Just like with any type of instruction, there are a variety of approaches that schools can take to meet the needs of ELL students.

Muldanado wrote, "According to the University of Michigan, there are six main approaches to bilingual or multilingual education. They are:
• Bilingual education - Students are given instruction in two or more languages. The amount of instruction given in each language varies from school to school.
• Submersion - Non-native English speakers are given instruction completely in English, regardless of how long the student has been learning English.
• Two-way bilingual education - Native and non-native English speakers are placed in the same classes. Instruction is given in English as well as the other native language, with the goal of all students becoming proficient in both.
• English as a Second Language (ESL) - Students spend part of the day in regular classes and part of the day in ESL classes. In the ESL classes, they receive focused instruction in mastering English.
• Immersion - This is often targeted towards native English speakers who want to master a foreign language. Teachers deliver instruction in a foreign language for the entire day.
• Three language systems - Also called trilingual education, students are initially taught in one language and a second language is integrated early on. After students begin to master the first two languages, a third is introduced with the hopes of students becoming fluent in all three by graduation."

All of these approaches seem like viable options, so it's difficult to decide which one is better than the other. Where Juyeon was concerned, we use the submersion model with a mix of ESL and that worked for her. It may not work for all ELL students.

Juyeon and a Thousand Paper Cranes
While Juyeon sat in the chair crying, I grabbed the funniest picture book I could find and began to read it. It's been ten years from that moment, so I do not remember what book I read. What I do know is that I realized that laughter knows no language barriers. By the end of the book, Juyeon was on the carpet laughing with the rest of the students.

I had a fairly tough class that year, and they had a wide range of abilities. There were students who didn't know how to read and others who were on a seventh grade reading level. Many of my students qualified for free and reduced lunch, and some came from home environments that we could never imagine.

Juyeon helped bond us together. The students who struggled saw her begin to excel. They treated her with kindness because we talked about how hard it must be to move to a new country, not speaking the language. Truth be told, my brother-in-law moved here from Beirut in the mid-80's with the same issue. Knowing his story helped me understand Juyeon's.

On the 10th day of school, which is a big day in elementary school, all of my students brought in projects. It was the first time all students completed their "homework." Juyeon came in with a plastic bag, and she handed it to me. I looked in with amazement. The other students were excited to see what she made. I pulled out one hundred paper cranes that were tied together. Juyeon made it herself, and to this day it still hangs in my office at school.

As the year went on, Juyeon excelled in reading, math and every other subject she touched. She was also incredibly creative. Although I realize that this is not always the case for students who are ELL it had a profound impact on the way I taught. I strived to find ways to get through to her, and then was positively stretched in my teaching to find ways to challenge her. By the end of the year she was testing out of ESL class and she was one of the best students I ever had the pleasure of teaching.

How do you unlock the potential of ELL students?

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There is a spectrum of opponents to corporate reform. There are those who complain about it behind closed doors and do nothing, others who have a couple of issues that they would like to focus on, and those who are fighting every single aspect of change happening to schools (i.e. technology, testing, curriculum, etc.). Everyone has their breaking point but if we're not careful, our message will get lost.

As I see it, high stakes testing, how it's tied to teacher and administrator evaluation, and a lack of equitable funding are our three biggest issues. These issues have created numerous negative scenarios. Teachers feel stifled, and children are at risk of being educated on a production line. Although many teachers and school leaders are taking one step forward and trying to innovate through all of this, mandates and accountability force them to take two steps back.

Risk-Taking...Not Rule Following
Educators are rule followers by nature. It's just who they are. They believe following rules is an important part of learning. This goes for administrators as well. Unfortunately, many administrators enforce rules they don't believe in. They abide by rules in the hallway and complain about them behind closed doors. That rule following doesn't create necessary change and its helping make education worse.

But what can educators do? They don't want to lose funding. They don't want to get in "trouble."

Many teachers don't feel as though they can speak out for a variety of reasons. They may not know where to begin, have a deep fear of saying something negative, or have an unsupportive administrator. They fear being moved to another school or being given an unfair observation that punishes them for being too vocal. Some administrators are fearful too. They work for superintendents who are too political and care less about speaking out against mandates and accountability that is unfair to students.

Where has rule following gotten public education? There is a great quotation that says, "Well-behaved women rarely make history." The same is true for well-behaved educators.

Do Educators Know What to Fight for?
Unfortunately, to make matters more complicated, there are educators who fight against everything. When that happens it just plays into the idea that the public school system doesn't get it. People use words like "monopoly" and "status quo." However, when we don't have a game plan for our issues we look just as bad.

Rallies are awesome. We show up and get inspired by speakers. We feel like people understand our issues. We walk away knowing that others care as deeply as we do. What happens next?

• Does each individual go back to their schools and get waylaid by school work.
• Do others go back and get stifled while some go back and begin to write letters and blogs?
• The fight only works when people are working toward a unified goal.

One of the best examples of educators fighting against something that is harmful for kids and the teaching profession is the New York Principal Movement. Written by Sean Feeney and Carol Burris, it started as a letter vocalizing concerns. It has been signed by thousands of educators who believe high stakes testing is bad for students and having it tied to administrator and teacher evaluation is even worse.

New York Principals, which involves educators from all backgrounds, have a collective voice and one mission. That mission is to stop high stakes testing from being tied to teacher and administrator evaluation.

Teachers, parents and administrators need to know what to do first. It's like standing at the bottom of Mount Everest before the climb. They need to take their first step. Everyone affected by education should show up to the rallies that are happening around the country, but they need to know what to after the rally as well.

Where Should Educators Begin:
• Join a Rally - There are rallies around the country. Join one. You will meet colleagues from all over the state or nation. Make contact with people and follow up afterward.
• Blog - Write about the issues that are happening in your classroom or school. You don't have to use specific names but you do have First Amendment rights.
• Social Media - Twitter brings educators together. Educators from around the world talk through 140 characters. It's a great way to learn from other educators and talk about issues. It's also a great way to learn about events that are happening near you.
In addition to Twitter, Facebook spreads the message as well. Many people may not "Like" or comment on your posts but they are reading them.
• Board Resolutions - Encourage your board of education to sign a resolution against high stakes testing.
• Write your Politicians - e-mail, fax, and write your local politicians. Pressure them to do something. Educators make up a very large voting public and they know it. Actions speak louder than words so make sure they are not just providing you lip-service.
• Stop Relying on Textbooks - Some of your colleagues just want a textbook that will tell them what to do next. If you don't believe that, you're not paying attention. Try to encourage them to not use textbooks. There are other options (i.e. leveled readers, on-line sources, news magazines, etc.)
• Use a Variety of Publishers - Publishers have been making money off of schools for decades and that will not stop anytime soon. Although not relying on textbooks won't get educators away from all publishing companies, you can balance out which publishers you use. Pearson doesn't have to be the name on everything you use.
• E-mail State Ed - Seriously, you should. We get those insane memos all the time. If you have questions or concerns about the memos, e-mail those state ed administrators who are sending them. You have a right to ask questions.

Michelle Smead, a teacher in upstate, NY created a Top Ten list of why people need to attend the education rally at the Empire State Plaza in Albany, NY on June 8th. In addition, the staff of Poestenkill Elementary School (upstate, NY) created a video to the tune of "March With Us Maybe?"

TOP TEN reasons to March on Albany in the Rally for Public Education:
10.You have realized public education is being hi-jacked by for profit organizations.
9. You are tired of reading about how ineffective you are at your own profession by people who know nothing about education.
8. You believe high stakes testing is out of control in NY.
7. You believe you have not had enough time to learn the Common Core yourself, let alone have your students tested on it!
6. You believe your students' personal information, including their state assessment results and their IEPs and other personal data should be kept confidential.
5. You believe your effectiveness rating should be kept confidential, and don't want a link on the district web page to this information or directions given to get this information.
4. You believe that NYS should report to the public the amount of tax payer money spent on developing, administering, grading and reviewing state assessments.
3. The word PEARSON makes your skin crawl.
2. You work in (Insert your own school district.) and have lost about a quarter of your faculty due to unfair state budget cuts!
AND THE NUMBER ONE REASON....
1. You are a caring professional who wants the BEST public education for your own students, children, and grandchildren and you know this isn't it!

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At least one state in the U.S. is making an effort to move in a more effective direction. After a decade of NCLB and a few years of RTTT's increased accountability and mandates, California is beginning to look in a brighter direction. That direction is toward Dr. Michael Fullan.

In a recent article, John Fensterwald wrote, "The man credited with transforming the Canadian province of Ontario into one of the world's most effective school systems is ready to help California do the same. Fullan, though, would lead the state in a sharply different direction from the forced march that federal officials in Washington, D.C., have led over the past decade."

That forced march has been toward a more punitive system; one that stifles creativity and creates fear in order to drive educators to change. Fullan has long held the belief that educational reform is led by "Drivers." "'Whole system reform' is the name of the game and 'drivers' are those policy and strategy levers that have the least and best chance of driving successful reform." Fullan has long believed that the public education system in the U.S. is being steered in the wrong direction, through the use of the wrong drivers.

"A 'wrong driver' is a deliberate policy force that has little chance of achieving the desired result, while a 'right driver' is one that ends up achieving better measurable results for students. Whole system reform is just that - 100 per cent of the system - a whole state, province, region or entire country."

What Drives Us to Change?
Does positive change happen because of rules and accountability? Rules and accountability are getting educators to change their practices. Unfortunately those practices do not seem to foster any real sense of creativity. Or, does change happen when people are intrinsically motivated to do so? People who are intrinsically motivated are more likely to find their own professional development and take risks which will benefit their students.

Fullan writes, "As an advance organizer, I suggest four criteria - all of which must be met in concert
- which should be used for judging the likely effectiveness of a driver or set of drivers.
Specifically, do the drivers, sooner than later,
• Foster intrinsic motivation of teachers and students;
• Engage educators and students in continuous improvement of instruction and learning;
• Inspire collective or team work; and
• Affect all teachers and students - 100 per cent?"

To many educators this may seem like common sense. However, if you've been paying attention over the past decade you have noticed that the change in public education has not been driven by common sense practices in most states. The changes have been driven by accountability.

Accountability was probably once an appropriate word used in conversations. Unfortunately, accountability means something very different in our present system. It is less about inspiring teachers to engage in high quality teaching and learning, and more about blaming teachers and administrators for not doing their jobs.

Fullan agrees that public education has been driven by the wrong drivers for far too long. The wrong drivers that Fullan believes are pushing our system in the wrong direction are: "The culprits are
• Accountability: using test results, and teacher appraisal, to reward or punish teachers and schools vs. capacity building;
• Individual teacher and leadership quality: promoting individual vs group solutions;
• Technology: investing in and assuming that the wonders of the digital world will carry the day vs. instruction;
• Fragmented strategies vs. integrated or systemic strategies."

What is unfortunate is that through all of this "reform" three of the four wrong drivers have gone from being a part of positive change to being the culprits of negative change. In most cases, accountability, teacher and leader quality, as well as technology would have been viewed as common sense elements to improve in our present system.

Fullan writes, "Although the four 'wrong' components have a place in the reform constellation, they can never be successful drivers. It is, in other words, a mistake to lead with them." He continues by writing, "The four 'wrong drivers' are not forever wrong. They are just badly placed as lead drivers. The four 'right drivers' - capacity building, group work, pedagogy, and 'systemness' - are the anchors of whole system reform."

Can Dr. Fullan Save California?
Fullan's work can help move education in a more positive direction. In a previous interview for Finding Common Ground (Impressive Empathy) Dr. Fullan said, "NCLB has had a negative impact on education. It has had minimal value on putting the spotlight on those who are disadvantaged, which we all knew beforehand. It has been helpful to open the door a little on that issue. However, it has been a dysfunctional policy because it is too narrow.

In addition, there has really been no successful strategy to implement it. The standards set by NCLB are all over the place and most of us believe that NCLB has been a failure when you add it all up. Now, in addition to NCLB we have initiatives like Race to The Top (RTTT) and it's time to rectify the failure it has helped create."

Time will tell if Califorina will listen to his ideas. Fensterwald writes, "State Board of Education President Michael Kirst said that "Fullan has momentum here" because so many of those who went to Ontario returned, to a person, enthusiastic that the changes in Ontario would be a good fit with California. But at this point, he said, "it's too general to say where we are with this." Someone has to turn Fullan's broad ideas into specifics, an operational plan for California."

We should all hope that California, and many other states, should appreciate the broad ideas, because the specific ones educators have been living with over the past decade have not been working.

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"Social and economic disadvantage--not only poverty, but also a host of associated conditions--depresses student performance. Concentrating students with these disadvantages in racially and economically homogenous schools depresses it even further." Richard Rothstein

Educators debate back and forth whether pre-school is necessary. Unfortunately, for those children who need it most, preschool is typically a far-fetched dream that will never become a reality. Their option is mediocre at best and does not provide them with the resources they need. Those are the 22% of children living in poverty (Scherer. Educational Leadership).

"Social and economic disadvantage contributes in important ways to poor student achievement. Children in poor health attend quality schools less regularly. Those with inadequate housing change schools frequently, disrupting not only their own educations but those of their classmates. Children whose parents are less literate and whose homes have less rich intellectual environments enter school already so far behind that they rarely can catch up" (Rothstein, "A Nation At Risk" Twenty-Five Years Later, 2008).

The preschool debate should be less about whether it's worthwhile and more about the impact it has on children. However, most affluent and middle-class homes prepare their children naturally for their school experience through the experiences they provide them and the conversations they engage with them. Through research we know that not all lower income households offer the same language rich environments that other households do.

Rothstein says, "On average, professional parents spoke over 2,000 words per hour to their children, working class parents spoke about 1,300, and welfare mothers spoke about 600. So by age 3, children of professionals had vocabularies that were nearly 50% greater than those of working-class children and twice as large as those of welfare children" (Class and Schools 2004).

High quality preschools could potentially help narrow the achievement gap. There's just one problem...

High Quality = Expensive
In How Preschool Fights Poverty (Education Week), Cynthia Lamy writes, "We know that preschool can provide the developmentally stimulating experiences that many children growing up in poverty lack. The evidence is incontrovertible." Those high quality experiences can help narrow the gap between these students and their peers who live in a language-enriched home.

Lamy goes on to say,
"To fight poverty, preschool must provide an enormous early boost that changes the academic trajectory of a child forever. Only a high-quality preschool program will do the job. Lower-quality programs do not have a significant impact on poverty because they do not make that life-changing difference. How do we know this? A mature body of research on preschool provides guidance."

The only issue is the fact that the high quality preschool programs that do exist happen to be expensive and parents cannot find a plethora of those high quality preschool programs in high poverty areas. And there are some very sad reasons why that happens.

Why It May Never End
Educators understand that children who do not grow up in language-rich environments enter kindergarten way behind their peers. Why wouldn't they? They lack experiences such as going to museums, movies, and have not been consistently read to at home. Even worse, based on research, we know that these children have not been spoken with...they have been spoken to and some do not have any books at home.

Poverty is not an excuse for why students are not learning; it is a reality. There are some great examples of schools who are beating the poverty issue (Fern Creek, Fern Creek Video). Unfortunately these schools showing success in the face of poverty are the exception and not the rule. Poverty is a very deep issues that has a long history.

In Why Our Schools Are Segregated (Educational Leadership) Richard Rothstein writes, "Residential segregation is actually the result of racially motivated law, public policy, and government-sponsored discrimination. The result of state action, residential segregation reflects an ongoing and blatant constitutional violation that calls for explicit remedy."

Rothstein goes on to say, "The federal government led the development of policies contributing to segregation. From its New Deal inception, federal public housing policy respected existing "neighborhood composition" by placing projects for low-income blacks in black ghettos and those for middle-income whites in white neighborhoods. As suburbs grew, the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) and the Veterans Administration (VA) financed the movement of working and lower-middle-class whites (including those living in public housing) out of cities, but denied mortgage insurance to blacks."

In the End
High quality preschool to narrow the achievement gap is just one part of the equation. We need to get state and local governments to direct funds for high quality preschools to our high poverty areas, and prepare preschool teachers to work with high poverty children. Just like in the example with Fern Creek, we need strong leaders who will stay in those situations and work to make them better. However, there are other things that need to be done as well.

Rothstein ends by saying, "Narrowing the achievement gap will require housing desegregation, which history also teaches cannot be a voluntary matter but is a constitutional necessity--that is, voiding exclusionary zoning laws, placing low- and moderate-income housing in predominantly white suburbs, and ending federal subsidies for communities that fail to reverse policies that led to racial exclusion." Unfortunately much of this will never happen because too many people in society want the separation.

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Educational Leadership.(2013). Faces of Poverty. May 2013 | Volume 70 | Number 8. ASCD. Arlington, VA.

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Professional development isn't about wallowing in our own self-pity, it's about establishing and fostering real learning opportunities.

Wait! School leaders don't know everything? No, they don't. And the ones who think they do... don't know everything either. The job of the school leader is changing rapidly. Whether it's through accountability and mandates or social networking and technology, school leaders have some serious learning to do, especially if their overall goal is to improve the school they lead.

Professional development is not just something teachers need. It's something school leaders need as well. Many leaders and researchers agree that the job of the school leader balances between manager and educational leader but for those leaders who have not been in the teaching role for a long time, they need to know what to look for in the classroom when they're trying to improve teaching and learning in their school.

Right there in lies part of the problem. If school leaders only think it is their job to improve teaching and learning, they are mistaken. It is the job of everyone from the teacher's aide, teaching assistant to the teacher and school leader to improve learning in the school. And yes, it's the job of the students as well. Educators refer to it as professional learning communities.

Professional Learning for Leaders
Everyone has a hand in making a school a better place. When leaders delve into their own professional learning or PD, they learn what is needed to make sure this type of improvement happens. School leaders need PD that focuses on teaching and learning, evidence-based observations, building communities within schools and using technology to improve the school culture. All of these lead schools to improvements in one way shape or form.

I'm not referring to improvement in test scores! I'm referring to the improvement in the learning environment and that takes a great deal of collaborative learning with staff, but it also takes a great deal of collaborative learning with other administrators. Veteran administrators as well as novice ones need to take the time to get together to talk about how to improve schools.

Most of this collaborative learning cannot happen by listening to one speaker on a stage in front of a crowd talking about the newest fad or our biggest problems. Those kind of conferences only allow the attendees to understand that other educators understand their pain. Professional development isn't about wallowing in our own self-pity, it's about establishing and fostering real learning opportunities. Professional learning means taking the time for administrators to get together and talk about what works and doesn't work in their buildings.

Our Best People Are Right Here!
School leaders believe they hired the best teachers for the job, so the best professional development for teachers is when they are encouraged to get together and share best practices. That philosophy is at the core of Edcamps. Teachers get together and share their most innovative ideas. The information they learn is more likely to get transferred to the classroom because each colleague can share with one another...or lean on each other when they need help. The same goes for school leaders!

Schools have to believe that they hired the best school leaders to run their school buildings. If they don't, then they should not have hired the leader in the first place. Those school leaders running each school have the knowledge and skill set to create their own high quality professional development. Through those collective conversations with others, they can come up with ideas to use in their buildings, and take the time to talk with one another about what works and what doesn't. The overall goal, of course, is to improve teaching and learning in the school.

Ways to offer PD to School Leaders:
• Send out an article or blog before each meeting - It's very popular to try to do a book club, which is really a great idea. However, many administrators will tell you they don't have time to read the chapters. Try sending out a blog or article that focuses on the area you want to cover. Typically they are shorter than a chapter and can offer as much good advice. Discuss them at the meeting.
• A focused agenda - Faculty meetings have long been criticized for just being a list of topics to discuss that could have been sent out through e-mail. Sometimes administration agendas fall under the same criticisms. Add one curriculum items to each agenda.
• Survey administrators - If you have a large administrative staff, survey them to ask what they would like to focus on during an admin meeting. K-12 administration teams may seem like they would have diverse needs, but sometimes they need the same thing.

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A 2011 Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network (GLSEN) study says, "The majority of LGBT students are faced with many obstacles in school affecting their academic performance and personal well-being. Results indicated that 8 out of 10 LGBT students (81.9%) experienced harassment at school in the past year because of their sexual orientation, three fifths (63.5%) felt unsafe at school because of their sexual orientation and nearly a third (29.8%) skipped a day of school in the past month because of safety concerns."(Kosciw)

In addition to GLSEN's research we know that LGBT students are at risk of suicide. We have heard countless stories about students who died by suicide after being suspected of being gay. Some of these students were, bullied at school, disowned by their families and kicked out of their homes.

Considering GLSEN's research and the stories of children dying unnecessarily at a young age, it came as a surprise that Michelle Rhee named someone who doesn't believe that LGBT students have a place in schools, as their Educational Reformer of the Year. That someone is Tennessee House Representative John Ragan. Ragan is the co-author of the Classroom Protection Act, which is better known as the "Don't Say Gay" Bill. Is that really putting students first?

Eric Lerum, the Vice President of National Policy for StudentsFirst, Tweeted that they named him Education Reformer of the Year in early 2012 before his introduction of the bill, which recently failed for a second time. However, Ragan has been introducing and supporting anti-gay legislation, as well as voting against protecting victims of child abuse, since he was elected in 2010.

Don't Say Gay?
The Classroom Protection Act was co-authored by Ragan and Stacey Campfield. The bill, if it had passed, would "prohibit teachers from discussing any sexuality except heterosexuality in grades K-8" (Bennett-Smith. 2013). This would have been discriminatory and nearly impossible considering there are gay parents with children in elementary and middle schools. There are also young people who are grappling with being gay at a young age and they need the support and guidance of their teachers, counselors and administrators.

To make matters worse, Ragan's bill would have gone a step further than just not allowing teachers to talk about LGBT issues. The bill would require teachers to tell the parents of a student who is suspected of being gay. Considering the inner-struggle that these students already experience from coming to terms with being gay, this bill would have had devastating consequences.

Besides the Don't Say Gay Bill, Ragan also had some other questionable choices. "Ragan in April 2011 was the only member of the House who voted against the bill that also was unanimously approved in the Senate. The legislation, signed into law, prohibits any person convicted of child abuse from contacting the victim, including by electronic means." Yes, he voted against that.

Despite Lerum's Twitter defense that they gave Ragan the honor long before the Don't Say Gay Bill, Ragan's vote against protecting victims of child abuse came in April of 2011. He was also an outspoken advocate of the Don't Ask, Don't Tell (DADT) Policy. Both of these came long before StudentsFirst named him Educational Reformer of the Year. Is it an oversight once again that they supported a representative who voted against protecting victims of child abuse?

Rhee-wind the Decision?
On his Twitter page, Eric Lerum Tweeted, "We wouldn't have endorsed had we known." Meaning that they would not have endorsed him if they knew Ragan had anti-gay views. He also Tweeted that most of the staff did an "It Gets Better" video. That was a pathetic attempt at saying they really like gay people. If Ragan's bill passed it would not have gotten better for countless LGBT students.

Rhee and StudentsFirst have no defense. The damage is done.

If StudentsFirst did know that Ragan was behind the "Don't Say Gay" Bill than this just partners them with other anti-gay groups, regardless of whether they did an It Gets Better video or not. It seems odd that StudentsFirst would miss Don't Say Gay, DADT and Ragan's vote against protecting victims of child abuse.

If they really didn't know that he had anti-gay opinions, then they did really bad research or had really bad researchers. Unfortunately, Rhee and her staff at StudentsFirst are so focused on making the public school system look bad that they only focused on the fact that Ragan supported a ban on capping the number of charter schools in Tennessee and that he supported using high stakes test scores to evaluate teachers and administrators.

If Rhee really wants to put students first, she has a lot of work to do.

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