John McCain believes American education must be worthy of the promise we make to our children and ourselves. He understands that we are a nation committed to equal opportunity, and there is no equal opportunity without equal access to excellent education.
From: http://www.johnmccain.com/Informing/issues/19ce50b5-daa8-4795-b92d-92bd0d985bca.htm
Again as in the last post, everything in grey or black is from the site. The comments in green are mine.
No Child Left Behind has focused our attention on the realities of how students perform against a common standard. John McCain believes that we can no longer accept low standards for some students and high standards for others. In this age of honest reporting, we finally see what is happening to students who were previously invisible. While that is progress all its own, it compels us to seek and find solutions to the dismal facts before us.
I agree with this. As Collins says, "we must confront the brutal reality." I am more concerned by what the site goes on to say.
There is no shortage of federal programs targeted at early child care and preschool. State and federal funding for early childhood care and education programs is over $25 billion each year. The list of programs includes Head Start, Title I preschool programs, Early Head Start, Even Start, the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act, Early Reading First, the Social Services Block Grant, the Child Care and Development Block Grant, and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families. There is much to be achieved by leveraging and better coordinating these programs to increase availability of high quality programs. When used effectively this approach has had a tremendous impact on the wellbeing and educational outcomes of children.
Read--no more money for early childhood education. While coordination will absolutely improve these programs what is needed is a cultural change in the education of 0-3 year old children. It does not seem like this is what McCain is talking about.
State-level preschool and early care programs have created greater access for very young children whose families could not otherwise afford high quality programs. Several states such as Minnesota have launched new, high quality pre-K programs with a commitment to study their outcomes. Estimates are that 70-85 percent of children from low-income families have access to early care and/or preschool, and that nearly 90 percent of children younger than five with employed mothers are in a regular child care arrangement. However, due to complicated formulas and budgetary constraints, not every low-income child is getting access to high quality care and education on a consistent basis. Federal dollars can do far more to broaden access to high quality programs.
I agee with some parts of this but there are also some questionable ideas. Seventy - 85 % have access to early care? 1) If true it can't be the kind of educational early care that will affect learning, 2) 90% in regular child care--I have no doubt--but since their is no correlation with scores or achievement it can't be working.
28 September 2008
The Big Future of Education
“I don't want to send another generation of American children to failing schools. I don't want that future for my daughters. I don't want that future for your sons. I do not want that future for America.”
— Barack Obama, Jefferson-Jackson Dinner, Des Moines, Iowa, November 10, 2007
Some selections that I found interesting and related to the Concord School District. Everything in black or grey is from Obama's website. My comments, if any, are in green.
The whole K-12 plan is at:
http://www.barackobama.com/pdf/issues/PreK-12EducationFactSheet.pdf
Zero to Five Plan: The Obama-Biden comprehensive "Zero to Five" plan will provide critical support to young children and their parents. Unlike other early childhood education plans, the Obama-Biden plan places key emphasis at early care and education for infants, which is essential for children to be ready to enter kindergarten. Obama and Biden will create Early Learning Challenge Grants to promote state "zero to five" efforts and help states move toward voluntary, universal pre-school.
This agrees with earlier posts about the emphasis on early education. 0-5 is a critically important time and it will require a cultural shift to accomplish this goal. Geoffrey Canada says that we know how to educate young childern--it happens all the time in the suburbs. We just need to translate what middle and upper class parents have learned to the parents of poor children. Just as visiting nurses that come to all families just after a child is born, we need to provide information and education for all young children.
Reform No Child Left Behind: Obama and Biden will reform NCLB, which starts by funding the law. Obama and Biden believe teachers should not be forced to spend the academic year preparing students to fill in bubbles on standardized tests. He will improve the assessments used to track student progress to measure readiness for college and the workplace and improve student learning in a timely, individualized manner. Obama and Biden will also improve NCLB's accountability system so that we are supporting schools that need improvement, rather than punishing them.
This is further evidence that the illusion that NCLB will go away is just that an illusion. They are right that the initiative has the right goal but there will still be high stakes tests and they will still be incredibly important.
Make Math and Science Education a National Priority: Obama and Biden will recruit math and science degree graduates to the teaching profession and will support efforts to help these teachers learn from professionals in the field. They will also work to ensure that all children have access to a strong science curriculum at all grade levels.
Recruit, Prepare, Retain, and Reward America's Teachers
Recruit Teachers: Obama and Biden will create new Teacher Service Scholarships that will cover four years of undergraduate or two years of graduate teacher education, including high-quality alternative programs for mid-career recruits in exchange for teaching for at least four years in a high-need field or location.
Prepare Teachers: Obama and Biden will require all schools of education to be accredited. Obama and Biden will also create a voluntary national performance assessment so we can be sure that every new educator is trained and ready to walk into the classroom and start teaching effectively. Obama and Biden will also create Teacher Residency Programs that will supply 30,000 exceptionally well-prepared recruits to high-need schools.
Retain Teachers: To support our teachers, the Obama-Biden plan will expand mentoring programs that pair experienced teachers with new recruits. They will also provide incentives to give teachers paid common planning time so they can collaborate to share best practices.
Reward Teachers: Obama and Biden will promote new and innovative ways to increase teacher pay that are developed with teachers, not imposed on them. Districts will be able to design programs that reward accomplished educators who serve as a mentor to new teachers with a salary increase. Districts can reward teachers who work in underserved places like rural areas and inner cities. And if teachers consistently excel in the classroom, that work can be valued and rewarded as well.
In Concord we are fortunate that we do this work well already. We need to continue to do this well and to continue our new tradition of sharing what veteran teachers know with younger teachers.
— Barack Obama, Jefferson-Jackson Dinner, Des Moines, Iowa, November 10, 2007
Some selections that I found interesting and related to the Concord School District. Everything in black or grey is from Obama's website. My comments, if any, are in green.
The whole K-12 plan is at:
http://www.barackobama.com/pdf/issues/PreK-12EducationFactSheet.pdf
Zero to Five Plan: The Obama-Biden comprehensive "Zero to Five" plan will provide critical support to young children and their parents. Unlike other early childhood education plans, the Obama-Biden plan places key emphasis at early care and education for infants, which is essential for children to be ready to enter kindergarten. Obama and Biden will create Early Learning Challenge Grants to promote state "zero to five" efforts and help states move toward voluntary, universal pre-school.
This agrees with earlier posts about the emphasis on early education. 0-5 is a critically important time and it will require a cultural shift to accomplish this goal. Geoffrey Canada says that we know how to educate young childern--it happens all the time in the suburbs. We just need to translate what middle and upper class parents have learned to the parents of poor children. Just as visiting nurses that come to all families just after a child is born, we need to provide information and education for all young children.
Reform No Child Left Behind: Obama and Biden will reform NCLB, which starts by funding the law. Obama and Biden believe teachers should not be forced to spend the academic year preparing students to fill in bubbles on standardized tests. He will improve the assessments used to track student progress to measure readiness for college and the workplace and improve student learning in a timely, individualized manner. Obama and Biden will also improve NCLB's accountability system so that we are supporting schools that need improvement, rather than punishing them.
This is further evidence that the illusion that NCLB will go away is just that an illusion. They are right that the initiative has the right goal but there will still be high stakes tests and they will still be incredibly important.
Make Math and Science Education a National Priority: Obama and Biden will recruit math and science degree graduates to the teaching profession and will support efforts to help these teachers learn from professionals in the field. They will also work to ensure that all children have access to a strong science curriculum at all grade levels.
Recruit, Prepare, Retain, and Reward America's Teachers
Recruit Teachers: Obama and Biden will create new Teacher Service Scholarships that will cover four years of undergraduate or two years of graduate teacher education, including high-quality alternative programs for mid-career recruits in exchange for teaching for at least four years in a high-need field or location.
Prepare Teachers: Obama and Biden will require all schools of education to be accredited. Obama and Biden will also create a voluntary national performance assessment so we can be sure that every new educator is trained and ready to walk into the classroom and start teaching effectively. Obama and Biden will also create Teacher Residency Programs that will supply 30,000 exceptionally well-prepared recruits to high-need schools.
Retain Teachers: To support our teachers, the Obama-Biden plan will expand mentoring programs that pair experienced teachers with new recruits. They will also provide incentives to give teachers paid common planning time so they can collaborate to share best practices.
Reward Teachers: Obama and Biden will promote new and innovative ways to increase teacher pay that are developed with teachers, not imposed on them. Districts will be able to design programs that reward accomplished educators who serve as a mentor to new teachers with a salary increase. Districts can reward teachers who work in underserved places like rural areas and inner cities. And if teachers consistently excel in the classroom, that work can be valued and rewarded as well.
In Concord we are fortunate that we do this work well already. We need to continue to do this well and to continue our new tradition of sharing what veteran teachers know with younger teachers.
27 September 2008
Whatever It Takes
Whatever It Takes—the Story of Geoffrey Canada
Paraphrased by Tom Crumrine from the book of same name and from the most recent episode of This American Life
Geoffrey Canada had a son when he was in his teens and always thought he had been a good dad to him. It wasn’t until his forties when he had another son, this time while living in the suburbs rather than the inner city that he realized how much he had not done with the first one. Everyone in his neighborhood was so concerned with the brain development of their infants. They talked to them and read to them all the time and when they got older they received “time outs” for bad behavior rather than corporal punishment. At the time Canada was working with the young people of Harlem to help them with their educations. Not long after his realization he went to his board and told them that everything must change.
Canada realized that the biggest difference between middle and upper class children and poor children was what happened to them between the ages of 0-3. The result of his revelation eventually became Baby College. For nine Saturday mornings new parents come to ½ day meetings to learn how they can be better parents. They are not scolded and told what they are doing is wrong, they are shown the evidence and through experiential learning and conversation they are convinced that there is a better way. It goes without saying that this can be a touchy issue but the evidence for intervention like Baby College and the results from it are pretty clear.
Paraphrased by Tom Crumrine from the book of same name and from the most recent episode of This American Life
Geoffrey Canada had a son when he was in his teens and always thought he had been a good dad to him. It wasn’t until his forties when he had another son, this time while living in the suburbs rather than the inner city that he realized how much he had not done with the first one. Everyone in his neighborhood was so concerned with the brain development of their infants. They talked to them and read to them all the time and when they got older they received “time outs” for bad behavior rather than corporal punishment. At the time Canada was working with the young people of Harlem to help them with their educations. Not long after his realization he went to his board and told them that everything must change.
Canada realized that the biggest difference between middle and upper class children and poor children was what happened to them between the ages of 0-3. The result of his revelation eventually became Baby College. For nine Saturday mornings new parents come to ½ day meetings to learn how they can be better parents. They are not scolded and told what they are doing is wrong, they are shown the evidence and through experiential learning and conversation they are convinced that there is a better way. It goes without saying that this can be a touchy issue but the evidence for intervention like Baby College and the results from it are pretty clear.
Results:
- Reading level was greater than the NYC average
- Math level was greater than the NYC average
- 95% were on grade level
Pretty great progress and these are the students from year one of the program. The ones that were zero when the program began and who are 3rd graders now. Mr. Canada is hopeful that the students in subsequent years will do even better.
Class Rank and Why Not
I think my role, aside from being a teacher at CHS, is serving as the chair of the committee that is in charge of ensuring that we are focused on the big goals that we have set as a school. Part of that role is, as a newspaper’s ombudsman might, to point out when stated goals and practice might be at odds with one another. It is someone else’s role, in case you are wondering, to determine how many parenthetical sentences is too many when beginning a piece.
A colleague came to me yesterday and asked me if I knew that class rank showed up when students logged in to Parent Connect. I did not. We went and looked at her son’s page and there it was as one of the five pieces of information that appear on the home screen. The colleague went on to tell me that her son and his friends were checking their rank many times per day to see if they could move it as high as possible. One parent even baked her child a pie when he rose to 45th.
At this point if you are thinking—this is not a big deal, it is just a harmless feature—let me try to explain why it is a big deal. In the goals that we have written we hope to teach students to write well, think critically and be well rounded, educated people. In our classes every day we are saying, “These are the competencies—everyone can attain these standards if you work towards them.” While it is unlikely, we are saying to students that they all have the opportunity to meet the competencies at a level 5—they all can get to the mountain top staying with the example I often use.
Class rank is directly at odds with this. In the classroom we are talking to them about a criterion-referenced system. “Students you can all meet the standards.” While in Parent Connect we are showing them where they are in a norm-referenced way. The class rank compares them, not to the standards or the competencies or the graduation expectations, but to each other. This is the very type of comparison that competencies are designed to work against.
In addition to that issue, displaying class rank as one of the five pieces of information most deserving to be on the login screen tacitly says to students—“We feel this is important.” It lets them know that this is something that we want them to look at every day. Why else would we put it so prominently on their home screens? And they are checking it every day or in some cases multiple times per day.
I bring this to your attention because it is something that we need to discuss immediately. Parent Connect is a great tool and students are making great use of it but does showing them class rank every time they log in really fit with the goals of our school?
One argument for keeping it is that students and parents like it. That may be true but students like iPods and cell phones and eating in class. We explain to them that those things are not good for their education and we forcefully stand behind those guidelines. We can do the same thing with class rank. We could say, “Yes, class rank is occasionally needed but it is not something we want you to look at every day. We want you to focus on meeting the competencies in each class and on meeting the graduation expectations and habits of mind.” The same conversation could be had with parents letting them know that class rank is still available it just is not something that students should be concerned with on a daily basis.[1]
Fitting more with our goals and deserving of much more conversation is a movement away from ranking altogether. I find it interesting that we already have such a system when it comes to the honor role. Anyone reaching a certain percentage can be on honor role. Theoretically everyone could be on honor role if they met the standards that we had set for them. And think how exciting it would be to track how the number of students on honor role keep increasing and increasing as we become better at teaching competencies.
Educational and grading expert Tom Guskey goes a step further. Why do you have to have just one valedictorian? What if we said that anyone meeting the prestigious place of maintaining a 98.5 or above for 4 years could be valedictorian. There are schools that do this while the students and parents remain content and colleges accept their method. Continuing the thought a Latin honors system would fit much better with the goals and the way we are trying to teach each student. Summa cum laude could be everyone over 95%, magna cum laude could be everyone over 90% and cum laude could be everyone over 85%. What this does is allow for any number of students to reach points that our community values. Since it is criterion referenced it also gives students more reassurance that they are not competing with each other—they are all working toward a goal of making it to the set standards.[2]
I hope that I have laid out clearly enough what I would do if it were my choice. But it is not my choice to make. I ask that you seriously consider at least these questions:
What is the purpose in having students look at class rank every day?
What is the purpose in terms of student morale?
How does it fit with our mission, graduation expectations and competencies?
Upon sober inspection I’m confident that you will come to the conclusion that there is a better way than class rank.
[1] Consider also the student who is ranked 326th but is trying very hard each day. What does the constant message that they are in the 300s do to their motivation to succeed?
[2] From Developing Grading and Reporting Systems for Student Learning by Tom Guskey and Jane Bailey, Corwin Press, 2001.
A colleague came to me yesterday and asked me if I knew that class rank showed up when students logged in to Parent Connect. I did not. We went and looked at her son’s page and there it was as one of the five pieces of information that appear on the home screen. The colleague went on to tell me that her son and his friends were checking their rank many times per day to see if they could move it as high as possible. One parent even baked her child a pie when he rose to 45th.
At this point if you are thinking—this is not a big deal, it is just a harmless feature—let me try to explain why it is a big deal. In the goals that we have written we hope to teach students to write well, think critically and be well rounded, educated people. In our classes every day we are saying, “These are the competencies—everyone can attain these standards if you work towards them.” While it is unlikely, we are saying to students that they all have the opportunity to meet the competencies at a level 5—they all can get to the mountain top staying with the example I often use.
Class rank is directly at odds with this. In the classroom we are talking to them about a criterion-referenced system. “Students you can all meet the standards.” While in Parent Connect we are showing them where they are in a norm-referenced way. The class rank compares them, not to the standards or the competencies or the graduation expectations, but to each other. This is the very type of comparison that competencies are designed to work against.
In addition to that issue, displaying class rank as one of the five pieces of information most deserving to be on the login screen tacitly says to students—“We feel this is important.” It lets them know that this is something that we want them to look at every day. Why else would we put it so prominently on their home screens? And they are checking it every day or in some cases multiple times per day.
I bring this to your attention because it is something that we need to discuss immediately. Parent Connect is a great tool and students are making great use of it but does showing them class rank every time they log in really fit with the goals of our school?
One argument for keeping it is that students and parents like it. That may be true but students like iPods and cell phones and eating in class. We explain to them that those things are not good for their education and we forcefully stand behind those guidelines. We can do the same thing with class rank. We could say, “Yes, class rank is occasionally needed but it is not something we want you to look at every day. We want you to focus on meeting the competencies in each class and on meeting the graduation expectations and habits of mind.” The same conversation could be had with parents letting them know that class rank is still available it just is not something that students should be concerned with on a daily basis.[1]
Fitting more with our goals and deserving of much more conversation is a movement away from ranking altogether. I find it interesting that we already have such a system when it comes to the honor role. Anyone reaching a certain percentage can be on honor role. Theoretically everyone could be on honor role if they met the standards that we had set for them. And think how exciting it would be to track how the number of students on honor role keep increasing and increasing as we become better at teaching competencies.
Educational and grading expert Tom Guskey goes a step further. Why do you have to have just one valedictorian? What if we said that anyone meeting the prestigious place of maintaining a 98.5 or above for 4 years could be valedictorian. There are schools that do this while the students and parents remain content and colleges accept their method. Continuing the thought a Latin honors system would fit much better with the goals and the way we are trying to teach each student. Summa cum laude could be everyone over 95%, magna cum laude could be everyone over 90% and cum laude could be everyone over 85%. What this does is allow for any number of students to reach points that our community values. Since it is criterion referenced it also gives students more reassurance that they are not competing with each other—they are all working toward a goal of making it to the set standards.[2]
I hope that I have laid out clearly enough what I would do if it were my choice. But it is not my choice to make. I ask that you seriously consider at least these questions:
What is the purpose in having students look at class rank every day?
What is the purpose in terms of student morale?
How does it fit with our mission, graduation expectations and competencies?
Upon sober inspection I’m confident that you will come to the conclusion that there is a better way than class rank.
[1] Consider also the student who is ranked 326th but is trying very hard each day. What does the constant message that they are in the 300s do to their motivation to succeed?
[2] From Developing Grading and Reporting Systems for Student Learning by Tom Guskey and Jane Bailey, Corwin Press, 2001.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
