A Place at the Table

It is the picture that captured my attention. In his white dress shirt and dark necktie, he stares into the camera--back straight and hands folded in front of him on the desk. He is serious, focused, and completely on task. He is five years old and he has "assumed the learning position" at his UNO charter school in Chicago. In the background I can see a classroom of children, all of whom have all assumed the position. The first word that comes to me is compliant. The second is conformity. That's not surprising, because assuming a position as part of an induction process has traditionally been associated with unquestioned deference to superiors. For UNO students, the induction prepares them to be "assimilated into American society."

I'm pretty sure that Chris Allen, director of the school, would perceive this as a good thing since he

....Spends a good part of a recent morning visiting classrooms with a check list of the elements of the culture. He notes if students aren't "100 percent" in uniform. Are they wearing tennis shoes instead of the requisite black dress shoes?

Hummm.....Do black dress shoes improve learning? Is there a research base that indicates black shoes are more effective than brown shoes? The reason I ask is because there is another picture showing Allen talking to a little boy in the hallway, and I couldn't help but notice that Allen is wearing brown shoes. The little boy is not making eye contact. He's looking down. Is he wondering about the brown shoes too?

He [Allen] also notes whether teachers are making smooth transitions between lessons and whether their libraries are well organized. Have students formed straight lines on the way to the restroom? Are they making noise in class that isn't what Mr. Allen calls "purposeful"?

Hummm....Smooth transitions. Yes, I get that. Organized libraries. Yes, even though "well- used" seems more important, I won't quibble. But I'm distracted by the bathroom line thing. Does it really matter if the line is straight? As a teacher I understand the importance of regulating of body functions. Experienced educators are experts at calculating fluid intake to align with bathroom break timetables. But even experienced teachers miscalculate sometimes and are really in a big hurry to go. Is it an expectation that Mrs. Smith's 20 kindergarteners synchronize their bladders?

The [UNO] directors are charged with having students grow academically by 1½ grade levels each school year on average, a goal that leaders of the organization say about 60 percent of students in their K-8 schools in Chicago have reached.

That's impressive. Especially since a large number of their students are English Language Learners. They also have satisfied parents and a waiting list. UNO students are being prepped for college enrollment and then for leadership roles. But, to my thinking, UNO schools, in a philosophical sense, have assumed a position that may include some false assumptions not in the best long term interests of their students.

UNO schools seem to have assumed the position that students must be thinking with a "school mind" rather than a "summer mind" for learning to take place. But I assume that to develop life long learners, the transition from "school minds" to "summer minds" should be seamless.

UNO schools seem to have assumed the position that total immersion will help Spanish speaking students become fluent in English. But I assume, since grownups can get frustrated when attempting to communicate while traveling abroad, that kindergarteners might really need a little bit of help to make the transition from Spanish to English when their parents drop them off and leave them alone in the strange new world of school.

UNO schools have assumed the position that discipline can best be achieved through conformity and compliance and that conformity and compliance will support the network's overall mission which is "to foster a culture that can turn out students who are leaders in the community and beyond." But I assume that the best leadership, more often than not, emerges from individuals who express their knowledge, skills, and thinking in unique and creative ways.

We all make assumptions, because our own values and experiences shape our goals and our behaviors. Like Dr. Evil with his Mini Me, we delight in children who mimic our own values and goals. There's nothing wrong with that, but it seems to me that as educators we have a responsibility to tread cautiously. When we look into their eyes, we must be careful not to seek out a reflection of ourselves. Rather, we need to see what Kahlil Gibran saw when he wrote

Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.
You may give them your love but not your thoughts,
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow,
which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them,
but seek not to make them like you.

Picture courtesy of Education Week

Posted by Susan Graham at 10:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

I don't need any new kitchen knives, but when a former student or kid from church calls and asks to come do a knife demonstration. I warn them that while I won't buy another knife, I am happy to let them practice their presentation on me and offer them a critique on their sales pitch. So every summer I watch and am asked to evaluate just how effectively those fine knives can cut through rope with a single stroke and how powerful those all purpose kitchen shears must be to cut a penny in half. And while I watch, I wonder: When and why would I need a kitchen knife that slices rope? We almost never have rope for dinner? Under what circumstances I would I cut up my spare change?

Still, it's a smart presentation design because the focus is on the tools, not the skill of person doing the demonstration. This makes sense, because while the knives are really are high quality tools, the college age sales representatives bring more enthusiasm than knife handling skill to the process. In fact, I can vividly recall the night that night Amy came to do the demonstration. While she cut the rope with a single stroke, she also managed to slice open her finger. She bled all over my kitchen table; she nearly pass out; and it took us half an hour to get her bandaged, cleaned up and calmed down.

These home demonstrations that are designed to evaluate the efficacy of kitchen knives can provide insight into why teachers are a bit skeptical of the accolades heaped on some of the new teacher evaluation systems by education reformers. Excellent tools are important; but sometimes it's important to make sure a tool is appropriate for the job. And, no matter how good the tool and how well intended and highly motivated the user may be, the outcome is still dependent of that individual's knowledge and skill. Ttwo new teacher evaluation scenarios have received a great deal of media attention lately have been Washington, D.C. and New Haven, Connecticut, so let's take a look at those. A spokesperson for DC schools says,

What saves IMPACT is that it's clear for both teachers and evaluators. . . . There is no way a teacher can say, 'I don't understand how they expect me to plan lessons.' It's all there: setting ambitious and measurable goals, aligning each lesson with content standards, communicating goals to students." Allan Odden, a University of Wisconsin educational leadership expert, said IMPACT was "sophisticated, well thought through and, if executed well, will represent one of the most rigorous systems in the country."

Sounds like a good thing, but the Washington Teachers' Union is wary of IMPACT. Why? Because, the Washington Teachers Union has limited confidence in the skill of the those who will use the tool and have what seems to be legitimate concerns that a good evaluation tool can, and might be, used inappropriately. Some would say that unions are just like that-- resistant to accountability and protective of their least effective members. But while WTU is locked in a bitter battle over teacher evaluation with D.C. Chancellor Michelle Rhee, it's sister AFT affliate represents teachers in New Haven, Connecticut where

The politically savvy American Federation of Teachers has decided that it is better to get in the game. In New Haven, the union has agreed in its new contract to develop an evaluation system in collaboration with the city. Secretary Duncan praised the agreement lavishly.

So what's the difference? It seems to me that the issue is not so much the instrument, but the credibility of the evaluators and a degree of trust that the evaluation results will be objective and that the outcome will be used appropriately. Here''s what my good friend, Renee Moore, who works in Mississippi, where there is no union collective bargaining for teachers recently sat on a panel for the Forum for Education and Democracy's Capitol Hill briefing. Renee said that

My comments focused on what I believe are two closely related reasons why we do not have quality teachers for all students, particularly for those in high needs, high poverty areas: ineffective teacher evaluation and weak professional development/support..... The true culprit appears to be the what passes for teacher evaluation in most places. Apparently, we do not have systems that accurately identify teacher effectiveness or the degree of that effectiveness. Rigorous evaluation systems would not only identify quality teaching, but give each teacher a realistic, timely assessment of his/her work, identifying areas or strength and weakness; thereby, guiding professional development and support needs.

This is why teachers submit themselves to processes such as National Board for Professional Teaching Standards assessment, even when they have to pay for the process out of their own pocket and receive no additional compensation for this validation of their expertise. That's why it's frustrating when an editorial on the New Haven contract in the New York Times cautions that,

School reformers were excited to hear that New Haven planned to take student performance into account in its teacher evaluations. But they uttered a collective "uh-oh" upon hearing that the details -- including how much weight would be given to student performance -- would be hashed out by a committee that includes teachers and administrators.... Political leaders, school administrators, parents and everyone else who cares about improving education in this country will have to keep a close eye as this effort moves forward.

Now that confuses me. Does the writer really believe that teachers are obstructionists who have no stake in advancing teacher quality? Did he do his investigative work and ask teachers what they thought? Or did he just parrot what some school reform pundit told him?Teachers are regularly accused of just caring about the money and protecting their own jobs, but let's not forget that there's serious money to be made in school reform; and in order to get press, prestige, power, and a paycheck as a reformer, you need to frame the problem and come up with a solution and teachers are an easy mark. But after the children, who pay the highest price for all the adult bickering, teachers have the most to lose. Yet,

Teachers, it turns out, are tougher on each other than anyone else, That's one of the lessons of Toledo's 25-year-old peer-review program, in which veteran teachers sift out the timid, disorganized, or otherwise unfit. Today some 70 NEA and AFT districts--mostly in California, Connecticut, and Ohio--use the approach. Teachers, least of all it seems, want to share the lunchroom with someone who can't hack it in the classroom.

I believe most teachers value meaningful assessment of their practice, and a well designed and thoughtfully administered evaluation can be the cutting edge tool to accomplish that goal. When that evaluation comes from peers, it sets a level of expectation for all participants, it creates an opportunity for meaningful professional sharing and growth, and it empowers skilled classroom practitioners to become part of the answer and gives them ownership of their profession rather than hired labor. But, teachers have a legitimate concern that best cutting edge evaluation tool, when placed in unskilled or unbiased hands could turn out to be nothing more than a blunt object for teacher bashing.

Posted by Susan Graham at 11:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)