April 2011 Archives

After viewing a YouTube video taken at a Pennsylvania school, Will Richardson feels a little squeamish about test prep pep rallies. He asks

You have to wonder, is this really what we've come to in schools? That we have to remind kids that they are "bigger than the test" and show pictures of kids with captions like "6th Grade: Not Afraid" in an effort to steel their nerves? That showing what they've "learned" in schools is something they have to mentally prepare themselves for instead of just naturally exhibit? Really?

Imagine: You and the rest of your 3rd grade class are sitting cross legged on the cafeteria floor as your teacher dances around doing The Bump to "calm your nerves and encourage you to do your best" on the big test tomorrow And then, as she sits down, she passes out, they take her away in an ambulance, and then your teacher dies. Well, it happened in Augusta Georgia on Wednesday, April 13.

Not to fear, the school system and even the state fully grasped the seriousness of the situation and the possible impact on the children. The school system says teachers at the school did a good job of trying to insulate the children from what was happening and extra counselors were on site on Thursday to support students and teachers. Because, as the principal told the press

Those teachers are devastated...There would be no way that these kids would be able to take that test Thursday.

On Thursday morning, a school system spokesman said

It's somber there. They're remembering her today. They have a memorial on their website for her. There was a lot of love for her, you could feel that yesterday in the building.

The school system and the state demonstrated compassion. Those kids and those teachers were given a full day to grieve. But on Friday, the test will go on. I googled this story and found about five versions. Every single one of them says something to the effect of "The tests will be postponed until Friday."

So I'm wondering---How did it go in Mrs. E's room last Friday? Did well meaning adults tell the children, "Mrs. E would have wanted you to do your best on this. Let's do this for her today." Well, actually the principal did say,

We will truly miss her, but we're going to go on, I told the staff to do everything as Mrs. E would want it to be done. She always gave 150 percent, and we're going to continue to give 150 percent in her honor.

Richardson says,

Some parents in Pennsylvania are saying "ENOUGH!" They're going to their legislators and educating them on the reality of the current testing culture that is harming kids and leaving them worse off as learners. They're pulling their kids out of the test to make a statement, one that is a personal statement for now but, if more people join in, could send a powerful message to the education "leaders" in this country that we have to think differently.

I wonder if any parents at that Georgia school kept their kids home on Friday and said "Enough all ready!" Didn't anybody consider that nine year olds might wonder if it's somehow their fault that Mrs. E is gone? Did anyone question whether the test results would have any real validity under the circumstances? If the school doesn't make AYP, will the record state that there were extenuating circumstances? And if the test scores were used to calculate Value Added Measures of teacher efficacy, would the conclusion be that the teachers were less than highly effective because one day of mourning should be sufficient?

Mrs. E's daughter said when it comes to teachers her mom was as good as they get. She says the teacher, who students called "Miss E" was hands-on and loved every kid she taught. Whatever lesson she taught she always tried to make sure that the kids had fun while they were learning.

Patricia Edminster was 53. She lived in North Augusta with her husband of 35 years. She had two children and two grandchildren and enjoyed swimming, watching NASCAR racing and reading good books.

This is a story about a tragic loss. But it is not a story about courage and dedication. It's a story about waste and misplaced values and the dehumanization of our schools. And it's wrong.

I'm sorry Mrs. E. You will be missed.

Posted by Susan Graham at 12:37 AM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend

Years ago, in a discussion about attempting to influence education policy stakeholders who sometimes seemed ill informed, my friend Mary said, "We are teachers, if we don't teach them, who will?" At the time, Mary and I were new NBCTs, and perhaps by some standards a little naive and idealistic. I suppose we're a little more jaded after the last ten years of attempting to have a voice in education policy, but...

You know what? I've been wondering about why I cannot fathom the thinking of many of today's education policymakers. They are smart people—they don't let dummies go to the Harvard School of Business and Economics. So why don't they don't get it? Well, I'm finishing up my NBPTS renewal portfolio that made me consider whether I may have made a fundamental teaching error.

Teacher are committed to their students and their learning.

Teachers will tell you that they attend student events, read young adult literature, watch some pretty bad movies and TV, and listen to terrible music in an effort to get into the heads of their students. And, interestingly, they often discover that even though they may not share their students' interests, they recognize that their taste and perspectives are legitimate. I've been thinking that maybe I don't make a serious effort to understand the perspective of the economist education reformer.

I've decided that if teachers want to do what Mary suggested, be the teachers of our fellow stakeholders, we need to do what all good teachers do—we need to be committed to relating rather than resisting these adult learners. After all, we know they care and are engaged even if we believe there are gaps in their understanding. And we need to realize that these "students" have a lot to teach us as well. So, I've decided I'm going to try to add some economists to the educators on my blog list. I started by checking out The Conversation at the Harvard Business Review. Today I found some common ground with John Baldoni who, like myself, was called to task on his classroom management by a student.

A management consultant and author, Baldoni writes about teaching a college level management class and how expectations differ from his management seminars. He concludes that he needs to

Hold people accountable....If they don't have an excuse, mark them absent.

Okay, this seems reasonable and I've been doing that for years. Yet, those of us in P-12 education are regularly told "NO EXCUSES!" when children without food on the table, safe housing, or parental support do not meet goals. That holds true whether the issue is class attendance, performance or advancement into higher education. We can't write off children as ineducable and we can't tolerate incompetence, but instead of complaining that it's not a fair expectation, let's talk about what might work.

MY QUESTION: I agree that every child should be successful and I am open to input that will help me achieve that goal. However, I haven't figured out how to do that with our current constraints of time, money, and people. I am unfamiliar with instances in business, medicine, law enforcement, military action or governance where demanding "No Excuses" has resulted in unmitigated success. Could you share examples of when, where, and how that has been achieved without violating personal freedom of choice?

"Baldoni also states that

Good teachers, as well as managers, know you need to be specific and spell things out.

Jefferson said that the product of public education should be young adults prepared for economic viability, social interaction, and self governance. But the specific instructions from management are to produce Adequate Yearly Progress on test scores. In organizational terms, there is mis-alignment between Mission Statement and Measurable Outcome Indicators. But when teachers point the disconnect between the Mission and the Measure, they are usually accused of being obstructionists, attempting to avoid accountability, or sacrificing the welfare of children to serve their self interests.

MY QUESTION: In order to do a better job of producing educated children, could you tell me more about how this test score will determine if the student will be a successful employee, a contributing community member, and a discerning voter?

Bladoni goes on to say,

Students, like employees, are accountable for results. They do the work and they are graded, compensated, and possibly rewarded. But too often we overlook the human dimension. Managers should insist that employees must abide by the three C's: cooperate with one another, coordinate tasks inside and outside the department, and collaborate with each other for the greater good.

Here's the rub. Business accountability measures are a problem at the student level since P-12 children do not choose school, are not chosen by school, and must work for intrinsic rather than extrinsic reward at school. We have no tools to hold students accountable. But let us examine the position of the teacher as manager of the classroom.

MY QUESTION: Since there is no measure or recognition for teaching children to follow the three Cs (which seem to be critical skills for employability, social interaction and self governance) and there are multiple efforts to incentivize teaching with rewards and punishments, what motivation is there for educators to abide by the three C's?

In the last few years we've spent a lot of time and a lot of money implementing business management organization concepts in our schools. A lot of teachers think it's all a bunch of hooey. But I like Mr. Baldoni, a business management authority who is willing to take feedback from his students and reflect on his own practice. Business people are smart; but they're not teachers. They understand what works in their world. By their measures of success—money and prestige—they are winners and teachers are hardly in the game. When they are not winning, they move on; so when teachers stay in the classroom, business people may assume that it's not an act of dedication, it's a lack of ambition or skill. Witness Michelle Rhee and Cathie Black.

I think I need to order a copy of Baldoni's book, Lead Your Boss: The Subtle Art of Managing Up. I've noticed that folks in education management haven't seemed to recognize or tap what education practitioners know about children, teaching and learning. Rather than being put out, maybe we need a more proactive approach. Maybe, we need to spend less time pushing back at the educonomists and more time inviting them in. We could use some better skills in networking and marketing our image. We need the access and money they have that we don't. Learning what they know may put me outside my comfort zone, but that's okay. I ask my students to do that every day. And, perhaps, once they step inside the classroom, they'll discover it's a little more complicated than they thought.

None of us are too smart to learn from each other.

Posted by Susan Graham at 7:47 PM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend

I'm reading from The Washington Post

Of all of the classes offered in high school, Algebra II is the leading predictor of college and work success, according to research that has launched a growing national movement to require it of graduates.

The study showed that of those who held top-tier jobs, 84 percent had taken Algebra II or a higher class as their last high school math course. Only 50 percent of employees in the bottom tier had taken Algebra II.

Whoa! If we are talking research, perhaps we should begin by defining some terms. What constitutes college and work success? Is college success measured in undergraduate degree completion, GPA upon graduation, completion of advanced degrees, pledging a fraternity that provides a great network, or meeting your future spouse? And what are the criteria for work success? I presume a "top-tier" job? Does this mean high income, good benefits, job security, prestige, great working conditions, or contribution to society? Oh, never mind. Define success for yourself and move on.

But now let's see, this says Algebra II the predictor. Humm, people are successful in college and work because they take Algebra II? So if you take Algebra II in high school, you'll graduate from college and get a well paying job and if you don't take Algebra II you're probably destined to be a loser. Are you sure that's a predictor or a indicator or just a correlation? And what makes the correlation became causal?

Because if correlations are predictors then

Car ownership is a predictor for committing a traffic or parking violation, the most common violations of the law. Therefore by reducing car ownership we can reduce crime in America.

Correlation is not causation. Perhaps we should worry a little less about Algebra II and a little more about Statistics and Logic. But it wasn't the "Raise the standards and we'll fix the problem" perspective of Achieve that really fascinated me. It was the 468 comments the article gleaned because they show so much about the mindsets that drive the education discussion.

The Washington Post article quoted Tiffany Woodle, a Conway High School student and an aspiring beauty salon owner who said

All those numbers and letters, it's like another language, like hieroglyphics. It obviously says something. I'm just not sure what, sometimes.

Well, Tiffany, apparently you are not alone. Based on the comments posted to this article, your enrollment in Algebra II speaks volumes to a lot of people. The thing is, that it seems there's a lot of loose translation in what taking Algebra II really does mean. There is considerable debate as to the importance of Algebra II among Post readers who say

I didn't know there were any high schools in this country that didn't require algebra II in order to graduate.

You probably won't use Algebra II in real life.

I use the principles taught in Algebra II most every day.

If you avoid Algebra II, then you'll go through life as a math illiterate (at least compared to the rest of the world). From an economic perspective, that's not a good gamble.

Every student should be forced to take Algebra II.

Higher math classes should be offered as electives.

Algebra II is the #1 deterministic factor on how successful someone will be in life. Your using the brain structures you build to do math to make smart decisions.

Donkey Dust!\I had 700 math boards and Algebra 2 was very hard and a waste of time.

When I state that Americans Read, Write and Comprehend at an 8th Grade Level, I wasn't just "venting", I'm serious, and I'm afraid!

It is already over for this country now. The corpse just has not noticed it is dead.

You see, Tiffany, if you don't do well in Algebra II, you're going to bring the United States of American to it's knees because those Post readers are telling us

In most developed nations math is taught to everybody up to elementary calculus an basic probability before high school graduation.

I bet the Chinese are debating whether or not their children should have Algebra II by the time they get to middle school.

The Germans are starting to outdo us Americans

Europeans actually think Americans are stupid. Most ditch diggers and housemaids in Europe understand advanced math as a matter of normal comprehension.

Algebra is an Arabic term. If we teach "the method" we will become an Islamic Caliphate headed by a Muslim-Kenyan-socialist.

If more of the US population had studied Algebra II they probably wouldn't have accepted the incomplete and illogical explanations of what occurred on 9/11.

Yes, Tiffany, the fate of our nation is dependent on your performance in Algebra II because

If people understood math there wouldn't be so many Republicans.

In reality the Democrats have a serious problem with math and reading.

This is a perfect example of how politics is corrupting our education system. People who have ZERO background in education are making education policy so they can score points with their constituents and angry parents

And why shouldn't constituents and parents be angry, Tiffany? Clearly,

Kids have it too easy - I d require at least Calc I.

Fat chance kids who can't seem to learn to read and write no matter how much effort/money is thrown at the effort to teach them are going to pickup on algebra ll.

American children cannot get any dummer than they already are. Let them sit and watch TV and have the rest of the world pass them by, which most of them already have.

The problem, as I see it, is kids in the US want to be pop stars and actors and the kids in India want to be engineers.

I'm sure the teachers' unions would fight an algebra 2 graduation requirement in many states. After all, they fight every genuine reform in education.

Most public school systems do not want to actually teach, therefore they drop the hard classes and make it an elective. It's about hitting the numbers so that the Teachers Unions can keep their pay grades and even get raises. It's not about education anymore.

Oh Tiffany, they're right. Too often the education conversation is not about education any more. I'm with you when you said "It obviously says something. I'm just not sure what, sometimes."

Well, don't lose too much sleep over Algebra II, Tiffany. The future of the world really doesn't hinge on your Algebra II exam. I hope you won't give up, and that you'll work hard at get through Algebra II because you never know when you will use it, but even if you don't, you follow your dreams, honey. I bet you'll do well in beauty school and develop a full book of clients. Maybe you will own that salon of your own someday. And who knows, maybe someday a plane will wait on a runway for you to come cut the hair of the President of the United States, Stranger things have happened!

Fairytales can come true, it can happen to you.
But I doubt they'll come true just because of Algebra II.

Posted by Susan Graham at 10:31 PM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend