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Good insitutions evolve.
2007-03-10 17:23:00
According to a Harvard Business School study reported in the 2/07 CAS Bulletin, "70% of change efforts will fail." It should be clear to anyone interested in helping schools, that improvement is an issue of evolution and not rapid change. The fact that people unfamiliar with education demand rapid and dramatic "change," shows that they do not understand that systems today are so intertwined, that to alter one without consideration of all others only prevents any sustainable change or improvement efforts. Sure, there are an assortment of ideas floating around on how to "change" schools, but schools are linked with communities, with parents, with the economy, with politics, with social issues, etc. Just trying to "change" schools, without consideration for all intricacies, will result in failure.For successful school improvement to take place, progress needs to be looked at in terms of an "evolution." Appropriate incremental steps must becarefully planned, supported, and designed to t...
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A modest proposal?
2007-02-14 18:04:00
Chauncey Veatch (2002 National Teacher of the Year) recently warned an audience in Boston, Massachusetts of a dangerous trend in middle schools. In order to boost standardized test scores in reading and math (the two areas that are measured for the purpose of NCLB comparisons), schools are doubling time in math and reading instruction at the expense of time for science and social studies! As a veteran and one who appreciates democracy, his outrage over limiting access to social studies was very clear to the audience.Narrowing students' education based may be the biggest error any school can make in the 21st century! In Connecticut, schools are pulling out students from such areas as arts instruction, technology instruction, and other related arts to remediate students who have low math and reading scores. These schools are actually being held up as models for improving education!These schools should be chastised as schools that are narrowing their student's education!Now, don't g...
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Just slow down!
2007-02-14 17:42:00
In an article in NEA Today by Mary Ellen Flannery, "Advancing The Middle Ground," middle school stakes are raised as 8th grade is considered the new 10th grade. With that in mind, lawmakers across the country are moving to make sure that their eighth-graders are well on the road to college. In one of his final acts, former Florida Governor Jeb Bush signed a new law requiring middle schools to offer at least one high school level course. Even more novel, the new law also requires eighth-graders to choose a "major," or intended career, like landscape operations, theater arts, or even teaching assistant. In Arkansas, middle schools are going through the process of classifying all of their classes as either "regular" or "pre-AP," while high schools begin to offer only "pre-AP" and "AP." Does anyone else have a problem with this? It's time to slow down and focus on the real priorities of our youth. Of course rigor and high standards are important. The best thing for any middle school t...
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Arrogance? It's not the word I would choose!
2007-02-08 13:19:00
Even as a person who works every day with high school teenagers, they never cease to amaze me!This week the Associated Press reported that a Minnesota teenager, as part of a family tradition during the Super Bowl halftime, ran around outdoors - minus his shoes. According to the article:It was 17 below zero at halftime Sunday in this city about 30 miles northwest of Minneapolis, and D.J. Brown's dad said it was too cold to continue the tradition. But the 18-year-old senior at Buffalo High School ran outside in his T-shirt and jeans, threw off his socks and shoes, and ran around the block. Brown said he was outside only five minutes, but his feet started swelling and blistering when he got back inside. The pain was excruciating. He was treated for second-degree frostbite on both feet at the burn center at Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis and was on crutches and pain medication Monday. Brown, who said he's a straight-A student, chalked up his actions to "teenage arroganc...
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Let's try this. No, let's try this!
2007-02-07 16:50:00
A recent article in the Atlanta Journal Constitution by Kevin Duffy outlined a proposal in the state of Georgia to shorten the school year: A new bill in the state Legislature would allow school systems to shorten the school year and give students and their families more summer leisure time. The Flexibility for Excellence in Education Act, sponsored by Reps. Charles Martin (R-Alpharetta) and Ron Stephens (R-Garden City), would permit school boards to cut the school year by as many as 10 days.State law now requires 180 days of instruction. But the two lawmakers said that's too long and summer vacation is too short. House Bill 262 "gives local control and local flexibility over calendars," said Martin, a former mayor of Alpharetta. Shortening the calendar would mean packing the same amount of instruction into fewer days, Martin said, and could result in reducing transportation and energy costs. The money saved could be spent on salaries and materials, he said. Many Georgia schools al...
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Whoever thought students would know!
2007-02-04 18:25:00
Congratulations to officials in the state of Arizona, who put a group of 60 high school students in the same room with policymakers and educators to try to figure out how to make their high schools better. According to Laura Houston of The Arizona Republic, in a 2/1/07 article, "Student s try solving high school problems": Dropout rates, drug and alcohol abuse and brainstorming ideas to improve high schools were some of the topics that students wrestled with at Arizona State University at the West campus. Modeled after the Arizona Town Hall meetings, this...forum allowed students...to engage in open-ended conversations about what bothers them with their schools. Two days of talking weren't intended to be a magic bullet to fix the state's problems in high school education but were designed to get people of all ages thinking in a solution-oriented manner. Much like the state town hall meetings, the plan is for this forum to spin off debate that influences policy making and affects Ar...
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School success = family + school!
2007-01-31 16:20:00
One of the most logical and simple explanations on student performance and school performance came by way of an article by Saul Cooperman, "Good Families Make Good School s" in EdWeek, 1/24/07. His simple statement, which actually was focused on large cities (Newark, NJ in particular) reverberates truth for every size American city and town, large or small:Parents are their children's first teachers, and many...are failing in that responsibility. The institutions of the family and the school are inextricably linked. Good families make good schools, and where families fail, inevitably schools do also.Now, this is not meant to pass the buck on to the family. This is no indictment on parents. In fact, schools can be notorious for making parents feel less than welcome. Schools have a duty to always seek out best practices and improve the quality of teaching and learning. Any good school is always in "improvement mode," searching for ways to enhance education regardless of current succes...
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Doesn't it strike you odd...Part 1.
2007-01-30 18:17:00
EdWeek (1/24/07) reports that the Barnstable, Massachusetts school system has instituted a change to prevent students from being traumatized or embarrassed. The change involves the method of informing parents as to whether their children are overweight or underweight. "Superintendent Patricia Grenier said last week that instead of sending the test results home with children, parents of students in grades K-8 will receive letters in the mail informing them whether their children's weight is above or below average for their height." I don't mind the school protecting the self-esteem of their children, but doesn't it strike you odd that the schools now must be the guardians of proper proportion in our youth? Also, can't students tell just by looking at each who is overweight? Why does the school nurse have to inform Mrs. Jones that perhaps Johnny is eating too many chips at night? Don't schools have enough to do? And, don't even get me started on state legislation mandating healt...
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Business world warns that the future is bleak. Do they honestly think tha
2007-01-27 23:11:00
In the February 2007 issue of District Administration, Zach Miners reports on results from a survey on education conducted by The Education and Workforce Development initiative at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Here are two of the findings: “A substantial number of U.S. business organizations think the future is bleak for tomorrow's leaders… current K-12 curricula do not adequately prepare students for college and the workforce.” “Respondents to the survey represented a variety of business categories including association, education, small business, and nonprofit, more than half of which indicated that school systems need a great degree of input from the business community to set the state standards for college and workforce readiness.” It only took these two comments to drive me right over the edge! I didn’t need to continue reading much more of their impressions before a couple of thoughts from this pretentious and hypocritical group came to mind. First, the fact that ...
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Education reform: It don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing!
2007-01-25 22:22:00
In his book, The Wisdom of Crowds, James Surowiecki refers to David Halberstam's insights into Olympic rowing:When most oarsmen talked about their perfect moments in a boat, they referred not so much to winning a race but to the feel of the boat, all eight oars in the water together, the synchronization almost perfect. In moments like that, the boat seemed to lift right out of the water. Oarsmen called that the moment of swing. Surowiecki, relating rowers to groups and group decision making, believes:When a boat has swing, it's motion seems almost effortless. Although there are eight oarsmen in the boat, it's as if there's only one person - with perfect timing and perfect strength - rowing. Relating this idea to school reform, can we all agree that today's children deserve an educational reform movement with swing? It sounds logical, but to get all the stakeholders in education reform to act like a group of oarsmen in a single boat is certainly a challenge. In order to accompli...
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The State of NCLB
2007-01-25 04:09:00
In his Stat e of the Union address, President Bush included the following paragraph referring to the No Child Left Behind Act: Now the task is to build on this success, without watering down standards ... without taking control from local communities ... and without backsliding and calling it reform. We can lift student achievement even higher by giving local leaders flexibility to turn around failing schools ... and by giving families with children stuck in failing schools the right to choose something better. We must increase funds for students who struggle – and make sure these children get the special help they need. And we can make sure our children are prepared for the jobs of the future, and our country is more competitive, by strengthening math and science skills. The No Child Left Behind Act has worked for America's children – and I ask Congress to reauthorize this good law. Without taking control from local communities? Sorry, Mr. Bush, NCLB does not provide for local ...
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Life long learners - not limited learners!
2007-01-23 23:01:00
According to the Center for Public Outreach the following list represents "emerging careers for the next 25 years:"artificial intelligence technician automotive fuel cell battery techniciancomputational linguistinformation brokerleisure consultantmedical diagnostic imaging technicianretirement counselorshyness consultantcybrarian (organizing a library growing at more than a million pages a day)neuromarketer (advising on neural response - i.e., why people buy Coke instead of Pepsi)fusion engineerterrorism analyst / homeland security specialistimage consultantunderwater archaeologistwater quality specialistFascinating list! So what should schools do to train the next generation to be prepared for these jobs and others that do not even exist at this time? Schools should do the same thing that good schools have always been doing: encourage students to be lifelong learners. If you believe the reports, the next generation will have several different jobs during the course of their adult w...
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National Standards! Who should decide? Please don't tell me...Congress!
2007-01-20 20:06:00
According to Lynn Olson in EdWeek (Vol. 26, No.19), Senator Christopher Dodd, Democrat (of CT) and Representative Vernon Ehlers, Republican (of MI) introduced a bill that "would provide incentives for states to adopt voluntary 'American education content standards' in mathematics and science, to be developed by the governing board for the Nation al Assessment of Educational Progress...'Core American standards would set high goals for all students, allow for meaningful comparisons across states, and ensure that all of our students are prepared for higher education,' Sen. Dodd said at a Jan.8 event here to unveil his bill."Does anyone else get the sense that this a political move made by a Senator who just announced his candidacy for President? Does anyone truly believe that a single set of standards is logical for every school in every state in the country? Does anyone want to entrust Congress to come up with those standards?Here are the two biggest problems:1. The tern "voluntary...
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"...we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children...will
2007-01-17 20:33:00
On this year's anniversary of Martin Luther King's birthday, Valerie Strauss of the Washington Post wrote the following:"In many schools across the country, teachers say social studies has taken a back seat under the federal No Child Left Behind law, which stresses math and reading. Squeezing history into the curriculum can be difficult, educators say, and taking time out of a scheduled lesson to use a federal holiday -- even King's -- as a teaching moment can be tough."And so Elliot Eisner's prophetic words from the 1982 publication, Cognition and Curriculum: A Basis for Deciding What to Teach, come to haunt American education - thanks to the shortsightedness of NCLB."...there are many significant educational goals that are not easily tested: the desire to continue to learn what one has been taught, for example. What is not easily tested is frequently neglected. What is easy to test...is more likely to be tested.One of the most effective ways to create an educational crisis is ...
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The Republicans feel left out! Too bad. They had their chance.
2007-01-16 21:05:00
According to the New York Times:House Democrats on Friday (1/12/07) unveiled a bill that would cut interest rates on federally subsidized loans to college students by half over the next five years. They said they would finance the $6 billion measure by increasing costs that lenders pay to the government and reducing the largest lenders’ government-guaranteed profits. The bill, one of half a dozen that the new House majority had placed on its 100-hour agenda, underscores the Democrats’ all-out effort to consolidate gains made in November among middle-class voters. “How to pay for a college education has become a primary concern for students and families across this country, a concern that Congress must urgently address as part of our goal of strengthening America’s middle class,” said Representative George Miller, chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee. The measure is expected to pass in the House, where it is scheduled for a vote on Wednesday. Its future in th...
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Better Teacher Training is where the focus of NCLB should be!
2007-01-10 21:29:00
Most of the higher-achieving countries we consider peers or competitors now provide high-quality graduate-level teacher education designed to ensure that all teachers can effectively educate all their students. Preparation is usually fully subsidized for all entrants, and includes a year of practice teaching in a clinical school connected to the university. Schools receive funding to provide coaching, seminars, classroom visits, and joint planning time for beginners as well as veterans. Salaries are competitive with those in other professions and include additional stipends for hard-to-staff locations.From "A Marshall Plan For Teaching" by Linda Darling-Hammond, EdWeek, Vol. 6, No. 18.If the government is serious in its efforts to improve schools, they must be committed to improving the quality of teacher training programs. The job of the teacher is difficult and multi-dimensional. Teaching is a complex activity in an ever-changing world. Teacher s must be masters of content, motivat...
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Inquiry and Creativity: Are they lost in an age of NCLB?
2007-01-10 00:40:00
These are difficult times for educators who believe that learning is worth pursuing for its own sake and that the chief purpose of school is the nurturing of students as whole human beings. Higher test scores seem to be the order of the day. To accomplish this aim, administrators strain to meet political agendas, teachers respond by teaching to the test, and students in turn react by cheating, taking “learning steroids” (legal and illegal pyschostimulants), or just not caring in order to cope with the demands placed on them in school. The adventure of learning, the wonder of nature and culture, the richness of human experience, and the delight in acquiring new abilities all seem to have been abandoned or severely curtailed in the classroom in this drive to meet quotas, deadlines, benchmarks, mandates, and targets.- - -The most destructive legacy of NCLB may turn out to be that it hijacks the dialogue in education away from talking about the education of human beings and toward a...
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No Child Left Behind - - Except by Congress!
2007-01-09 02:37:00
According to NewsLeader, congress left for their winter vacation having voted to "keep federal education programs running at their FY 2006 levels through February 15, 2007." It was also reported that while committing only to maintain level funding through February of 2007, the appropriations committee officials "intend to continue those funding levels until the end of the current fiscal year." The fact that millions are lost to educational programs is absolutely inexcusable, especially while the current administration continues to promote the flawed NCLB as a hallmark accomplishment. The absolute hypocrisy of this move cannot be ignored at a time when the President presses Congress to reauthorize NCLB! According to NewsLeaders the list of the biggest losers in this move are:- Striving Readers, which would have received a $5.3 million increase from FY 2006 funding.- The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), which would have received almost $100 million more than in FY 2...
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Forget Future Shock - It's PRESENT Shock!
2007-01-05 23:26:00
Every high school in America is being asked to redefine what the American high school should look like! Well, maybe we're not really being asked. Most often we're being told to redefine. Sometimes it's by business leaders. Where are their interests and ethics? Sometimes it's by the government. And you know what? The same question "where are their interests and ethics" applies! Schools have quite a challenge ahead in the next 25 years. Consider the following!The following is from "Shift Happens" on the blog Beyond School, by Clay Burell. You can find his blog at burell.blogspot.com!- If you are one in a million in China, there are 1300 people just like you. In India there are 1100 people like you.- The 25% of the population in China with the highest IQ’s is greater than the total population of North America. In India it’s the top 28%. Translation for teachers: they have more honors kids then we have kids.- China will soon become the number one English speaking country in the ...
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NCLB - Now Citizens, Let's Blog!
2007-01-05 23:18:00
More than two-thirds of American children ages 6-17 lack the sustained support needed to put them on track for adult success, according to a report scheduled for release this week.- - - - -The (study), conducted in the fall of 2005, asked the adolescents and the parents about a set of indicators in five areas:- Caring relationships with adults both in and out of school.- Safe families, schools, and communities and the chance to engage in constructive activities, such as after-school clubs and teams.- A healthy start and health development, including regular medical checkups, good nutrition, and daily physical activities.- Effective education for marketable skills and lifelong learning, including a positive school climate, a school culture that emphasizes academic achievement, reading for pleasure, and friends who value being a good student.- Opportunities to make a difference through helping others.- - - - -The indicators, according to the report, are designed to supplement more tra...
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