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In reading as in driving, speed isn't always the best indicator of skill. But the nation's NCLB-induced testing frenzy now often includes periodic classroom assessments of elementary students' reading fluency. The problem, experts say, is that these tests often don't get down to the real nitty-gritty of reading fluency—instead, they focus mostly on speed. So children who can read fast and score well on such tests may be missing out on understanding what they read. "They read so fast, with no punctuation and no expression, that we'd go back and ask comprehension questions and they weren't very successful answering them," said one middle school principal. The rebirth of reading fluency as a curriculum area can be traced back to a 2000 report from the National Reading Panel that became the basis for President Bush's Reading First program, a cornerstone of NCLB. The report recommended a focus on reading fluency, but didn't define "fluency," so federal Reading First funds were often awarded to programs that stressed speed over comprehension. "Fluent readers are readers who know how to dig into a book and pull out just what they are looking for," says longtime teacher Susan Marantz of Columbus, Ohio. Looks like it might be time to apply the brakes and start focusing on the scenery.

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While schools across the nation are revisiting their lockdown plans and evacuation procedures in the wake of a spate of school shootings, crisis planning in Burleson, Texas, looks a little different. The 11-school, 8,500-student district is teaching students—even elementary-age pupils—to fight back if confronted by a gunman in the classroom. The district is thought to be the only one in the country embracing such a plan. Students are trained by instructors from the company Response Options, including Maj. Robin Browne, a British army reserve member. Browne tells children to "react immediately to the sight of a gun by picking up anything and everything and throwing it at the head and body of the attacker and making as much noise as possible." While there haven't been any parent complaints about the training so far, a spokesman for the local sheriff's department said he was concerned. "You're telling kids to do what a tactical officer is trained to do, and they have a lot of guns and ballistic shields," he said.

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Here’s something you might not have sensed at your last staff-development meeting: According to an annual survey released last week by the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, teacher job satisfaction is at a 20-year high. Specifically, “The Metlife Survey of the American Teacher: Expectations and Experiences” reports that 56 percent of 1,001 teachers surveyed this year said they are “very satisfied” with their careers, compared to just 40 percent in 1984. The finding comes as something of a surprise, considering reports in recent years citing teachers’ frustration with--among other things--mandated testing and lack of autonomy. Perhaps less surprisingly, the MetLife survey found that teachers’ job satisfaction is closely tied to their sense of professional standing. Teachers who reported being dissatisfied were more than twice as likely to say they feel their communities don’t treat them as professionals. The survey also reports—somewhat contradictorily—that one-quarter of the teachers polled plan to leave the profession within five years. Among the top reasons: unmet professional expectations (e.g., salary and benefits), lack of preparation, and lack of support from colleagues and principals.

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Jeffrey Huyck is the kind of teacher parents wish their kids could have. He holds a doctorate in classics from Harvard. He has taught at the secondary and post-secondary levels for 22 years. His Latin students at Pacific Collegiate School in Santa Cruz, California earn national honors and go on to elite universities. But Huyck is missing one thing: the 'highly qualified' stamp that, under the No Child Left Behind Act, would allow him to continue teaching at the charter school. Confronted with the choice of enrolling in a multi-year teaching-certification program that would cost at least $15,000 or leaving Pacific Collegiate, Huyck accepted a position at a private school. Influencing his decision was the experience of his wife, Sarah Whittier, who also works at Pacific Collegiate and holds a doctorate in English literature. At age 53, she drove 90 minutes to attend certification classes that she found humiliating. "To me, it's a badge of shame," she says of the highly qualified teacher requirement. "It's an embarrassment. It's infantilizing."

Posted by Denise Kersten Wills at 11:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (12)

Four-plus years into the NCLB era, some teachers are adopting a new attitude toward standardized tests: If you can't beat ’em, may as well use ’em. Educators in Bristol, Connecticut, for example, attribute the recent turnaround of two high-needs schools to a systematic approach of analyzing and acting on test-score results. For the past few years, teachers and administrators in the district have gathered in strategic teams to parse student-performance data and tailor instruction to address the trend lines. The process did not come naturally, however. “Education is not a culture of collaboration,” notes Bristol Superintendent Michael Wasta. “It’s a culture of isolation. ‘Give me my kids, close the door and let me do my thing.’” But there’ll probably be less door-closing now: The district’s method has been adopted as a statewide model.

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Fifty years ago, the first Advanced Placement classes were seen as a way for high-schoolers to acquaint themselves with college-level work. But today, with 1.8 million students taking them, they’re considered a top-college-admissions requirement. Scarsdale High School in New York, where 70 percent of the 1,500 students enroll in at least one AP course, is proposing to help end the rat race by doing away with AP courses—citing too much time spent on fact- and data-gathering and not enough on imaginative learning. “People nationwide are recognizing what an inhuman obstacle course college admission is, and a big element of that is AP,” says Bruce Hammond, an administrator at a New Mexico prep school that’s already dropped the courses. Some Scarsdale parents complain, however, that their kids need AP credits for entry into the best colleges. And the College Board argues that its AP exams are more flexible—and thus allow for liberal preparation—than most teachers assume. But colleges themselves are coming around to the non-AP approach, noting that substitute courses can be just as rigorous and more creative. In fact, 98 out of the 100 colleges told about Scarsdale High’s proposal said they wouldn’t have a problem with the change.

Posted by Rich Shea, Teacher Magazine at 12:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The traditional epicenter of the classroom may be losing some of its sway. Many teachers today are reportedly getting rid of their desks, saying the bulky objects distance them from their students and obstruct classroom interaction. There’s no research as yet on how many teachers are going without desks, but the movement appears to be strongest in charter schools. A number of charters have banned teacher desks outright in an effort to promote greater engagement with students. The idea of a teacher just sitting behind a desk “kind of makes me nauseous, actually,” says a founding teacher and administrator at one charter. Deskless educator Jason Kamras, the 2005 National Teacher of the Year, notes that what really matters is not whether a teacher has a desk but how he or she uses it. “Does the teacher sit at it all day? Is it the central element in the room?” he asks.

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