According to an article in the Free Press, it seems that fewer than 10% of students graduating this spring are college ready. Maybe they are not college ready because they come to school in their pajamas, listening to their ipods and texting on their iphones totally oblivious to the world around them. Makes me sound like an old fogey doesn't it? Well I guess I am. I don't get the lax rules in schools today. It isn't the curriculum that needs to be more rigorous, it is the expectations that we have for students' appearance and behavior that need to be raised. Let's raise that bar and see what happens. If schools could take control back from students who think no rules apply to them, we might be able to graduate kids who are ready for the challenges that face them after high school. A citizen in Detroit was quoted as saying "If they can't control 30 students in the classroom, how are they going to control 60?" Why is it so difficult to control the behavior of students in many public schools today? Maybe because today's students have no idea that there are rules to be obeyed as they see the adults around them breaking them everyday. Maybe because today's students have mommy and daddy swooping in the minute the student has the slightest problem with anyone in the school, screaming that it isn't their kid's fault. Our leaders might tell us that in Japan classrooms have 60 students, so what's the problem? Well, in Japan the students enter the classroom and bow to the teacher, and apologize if they were absent the day before, or are arriving late! Picture that in an American classroom full of students who are reading about how horrible their educational system is, and are listening to everyone and his brother bash the teacher. We have good kids, we have respectful, thoughtful, and motivated kids, and we have kids who are graduating with the skills necessary to succeed in college. Let's start hearing about them and the good teaching it took to make it happen.
Rosemary
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Education Reform Part 4
Stop using state and national assessments as a way to judge if teachers are doing their jobs. Here is a letter I just sent to the Free Press. I don't know if they will print it or not because it is fairly long so I am posting it here. Those who want real education reform need to stop putting all the apples in the testing basket, and they need to stop throwing data around to prove their point. Data needs to be analyzed. When newspaper writers and politicians just throw the numbers around it is misleading, and it becomes a tool of propaganda.
WHERE TO BEGIN?
Let's start with the editorial in Monday's paper, "New metrics reveal schools' real woes." "When the state Board of Education lowered the cut scores..." I am not sure the board ever lowered the cut scores, but yes, according to an esteemed colleague of mine, the scores were set low at the start with idea of raising them little by little. That was never done so now the scores have been raised dramatically. Then there is this statement; "More than three-quarters of the state's students did adequate work on the MEAP, but only 30% did so on the NAEP." I am assuming this is based on the data of 4th and/or 8th graders since both the MEAP and the NAEP are given at those grade levels, (the results of the 12th grade NAEP scores were not listed on the NAEP website, and the last results I found were from the 2009 assessment year.) First it must be pointed out that all 4th and 8th graders take the MEAP, but only a sampling of these students take the NAEP. Secondly, the 30% makes it sound like Michigan students tested far below the national average which isn't so. For 4th graders the scores in mathematics were just slightly lower, in reading they were practically even as they were in science, and only slightly below in writing. 8th grade scores were again, just slightly lower in mathematics, even in reading, slightly higher in science and just slightly below in writing. If another "sampling" of students were chosen the scores would have been different, perhaps far better. I find it interesting that on Jan 25th of this year, Lori Higgings, a Free Press education writer, had an article titled "Michigan students outpace U.S. national average on the NAEP exam!" Which way does the wind blow? The editorial goes on to say that "reraising" (again the scores have been dramatically increased, but I am not sure they have been "reraised), the cut scores will more closely reflect the standards that children are meeting in other states." Which states? I found many states where the scores on the NAEP were much lower than the national average. I believe the demographics of the states have much to do with the results. Then there is this; "Michigan's slide backward in educational achievement has been going on for a decade or more, and has touched a lot of different areas that now need attention." This statement is just another slap to Michigan educators, it has no backbone or data given to support it! On the positive side, the lack of funding for education in Michigan is mentioned as one of the areas that need attention. The writer of the editorial says that Michigan has antiquated tenure laws which give school districts too little leverage to get rid of underperforming instructors, and union leaders who have been slow to embrace performance-based metrics. I do not think any "good" teacher wants "bad" teachers to continue in the profession, however, you can not judge a "good" teacher based on the scores students get on state or national assessments because those scores reflect only how well the student tested that day, and not the knowledge the student has gained and can apply to real life and work situations. Do these tests have a place? Yes, but using just a number to decide if a school is succeeding in its job to educate its students is not it.
Rosemary
WHERE TO BEGIN?
Let's start with the editorial in Monday's paper, "New metrics reveal schools' real woes." "When the state Board of Education lowered the cut scores..." I am not sure the board ever lowered the cut scores, but yes, according to an esteemed colleague of mine, the scores were set low at the start with idea of raising them little by little. That was never done so now the scores have been raised dramatically. Then there is this statement; "More than three-quarters of the state's students did adequate work on the MEAP, but only 30% did so on the NAEP." I am assuming this is based on the data of 4th and/or 8th graders since both the MEAP and the NAEP are given at those grade levels, (the results of the 12th grade NAEP scores were not listed on the NAEP website, and the last results I found were from the 2009 assessment year.) First it must be pointed out that all 4th and 8th graders take the MEAP, but only a sampling of these students take the NAEP. Secondly, the 30% makes it sound like Michigan students tested far below the national average which isn't so. For 4th graders the scores in mathematics were just slightly lower, in reading they were practically even as they were in science, and only slightly below in writing. 8th grade scores were again, just slightly lower in mathematics, even in reading, slightly higher in science and just slightly below in writing. If another "sampling" of students were chosen the scores would have been different, perhaps far better. I find it interesting that on Jan 25th of this year, Lori Higgings, a Free Press education writer, had an article titled "Michigan students outpace U.S. national average on the NAEP exam!" Which way does the wind blow? The editorial goes on to say that "reraising" (again the scores have been dramatically increased, but I am not sure they have been "reraised), the cut scores will more closely reflect the standards that children are meeting in other states." Which states? I found many states where the scores on the NAEP were much lower than the national average. I believe the demographics of the states have much to do with the results. Then there is this; "Michigan's slide backward in educational achievement has been going on for a decade or more, and has touched a lot of different areas that now need attention." This statement is just another slap to Michigan educators, it has no backbone or data given to support it! On the positive side, the lack of funding for education in Michigan is mentioned as one of the areas that need attention. The writer of the editorial says that Michigan has antiquated tenure laws which give school districts too little leverage to get rid of underperforming instructors, and union leaders who have been slow to embrace performance-based metrics. I do not think any "good" teacher wants "bad" teachers to continue in the profession, however, you can not judge a "good" teacher based on the scores students get on state or national assessments because those scores reflect only how well the student tested that day, and not the knowledge the student has gained and can apply to real life and work situations. Do these tests have a place? Yes, but using just a number to decide if a school is succeeding in its job to educate its students is not it.
Rosemary
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Education Reform Part 3
This is precipitated by the news that a teacher in Pennsylvania is being threatened with the loss of her job for a blog she posted that does not put high school students in the best light. I did not read her post, just reports about it and comments on it. Part 3 of my education reform series was going to be about parents so this is fitting. What would really help to reform education and enhance student achievement would be to let teachers be honest with parents. Administration should support the teacher who has to deal with an angry parent and not cave in to the parent's demands because the school can't afford a lawsuit. Yes, folks that is today's reality, if parents don't get their way they threaten the district with a lawsuit, and as you all know school districts have no money! I can see the hesitation in going to court because the most ridiculous lawsuits win. Here's the problem; "One of Munroe's former students, who now attends McDaniel College in Westminster, Md., said he was torn by his former teacher's comments. Jeff Shoolbraid said that he thought much of what Munroe said was true and that she had a right to voice her opinion, but felt her comments were out of line for a teacher." Why are her comments our of line if she spoke the truth? If her students are not being appropriate in the school environment, why are there actions not having consequences?
"Whatever influenced her to say what she did is evidence as to why she simply should not teach," Shoolbraid wrote in an e-mail to the AP. "I just thought it was completely inappropriate." Why? Frustration over the stress of trying to do your job well, when those you are trying to help are not participating in their own learning is not appropriate?
He continued: "As far as motivated high school students, she's completely correct. High school kids don't want to do anything. ... It's a teacher's job, however, to give students the motivation to learn."
It is a teacher's job to plan lessons that will deliver the curriculum and that will engage students. It is the teacher's job to do everything possible to help the unmotivated. But it is not the teacher's job to jump through hoops, bang her head against the wall, lose sleep, spend countless unpaid hours trying to find the answer to why the students "won't" engage and in the end fight a losing battle because no one in the students home is holding the student accountable It is not the teachers job to give students the motivation to learn, young tadpole, that is the job of the home.
Rosemary
"Whatever influenced her to say what she did is evidence as to why she simply should not teach," Shoolbraid wrote in an e-mail to the AP. "I just thought it was completely inappropriate." Why? Frustration over the stress of trying to do your job well, when those you are trying to help are not participating in their own learning is not appropriate?
He continued: "As far as motivated high school students, she's completely correct. High school kids don't want to do anything. ... It's a teacher's job, however, to give students the motivation to learn."
It is a teacher's job to plan lessons that will deliver the curriculum and that will engage students. It is the teacher's job to do everything possible to help the unmotivated. But it is not the teacher's job to jump through hoops, bang her head against the wall, lose sleep, spend countless unpaid hours trying to find the answer to why the students "won't" engage and in the end fight a losing battle because no one in the students home is holding the student accountable It is not the teachers job to give students the motivation to learn, young tadpole, that is the job of the home.
Rosemary
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Education Reform Part 2
How do we improve education in Michigan and the good ol' U S of A? It is vital to start by improving teacher education and my last blog addressed that. Of course, my ideas are not all of the answers, but it is quite obvious that changes to how teachers-to-be are educated and trained need to be made. I mean, I am sure the field of medicine has changed how doctors are educated based on the developments in the field, well, the structure of the family has changed, kids have changed due to the environment, nutrition (or lack of), and technology, how children learn has changed, in a big way, so how we learn to teach needs to change.
Step 2: Once on the job, there needs to be much better mentoring, and more opportunity to observe good and bad teaching. Every new teacher needs to be paired with a master teacher, and it is common practice to pair the new teacher with one who is tenured, but the tenured teacher is not always a master teacher (and I will address the system of tenure in another part of this series). The two of them should have time to go into other teachers' classrooms (not just once), that the master teacher has chosen, and then discuss what went on, what worked and what didn't and why. This will cost money because substitutes will be needed to cover classes in order to free up the teacher-in-training and the master teacher, but it will be money well spent. For this to realistically produce a better teacher, all teachers need to be willing to be critiqued, thereby improving many teachers! I see teaching as a constantly evolving process, you're never done, you're never good enough and you're never as good as you can be. New teachers also need to not have to do so many hours of professional development! In most districts new teachers have to put in triple the amount of time as seasoned teachers to learn new things. Doesn't it make more sense to let them use that time to implement what they just spent four or five years learning? New teachers burn out quickly because it is so overwhelming and the support received is minimal, we need to change this. I think teaching is a wonderful profession, and new teachers need to be encouraged and nurtured just as their students do. Another change that needs to be made in the college education of teachers is to make it clear that the certificate that states they are "highly qualified" to teach such and such, does not mean that they now know it all. I see too many new teachers who think they have nothing more to learn and that they are ready to go it alone. That certificate means the new teacher is ready to start a career in teaching, and if day 1 looks the same as day 180, that's a problem.
Rosemary
Step 2: Once on the job, there needs to be much better mentoring, and more opportunity to observe good and bad teaching. Every new teacher needs to be paired with a master teacher, and it is common practice to pair the new teacher with one who is tenured, but the tenured teacher is not always a master teacher (and I will address the system of tenure in another part of this series). The two of them should have time to go into other teachers' classrooms (not just once), that the master teacher has chosen, and then discuss what went on, what worked and what didn't and why. This will cost money because substitutes will be needed to cover classes in order to free up the teacher-in-training and the master teacher, but it will be money well spent. For this to realistically produce a better teacher, all teachers need to be willing to be critiqued, thereby improving many teachers! I see teaching as a constantly evolving process, you're never done, you're never good enough and you're never as good as you can be. New teachers also need to not have to do so many hours of professional development! In most districts new teachers have to put in triple the amount of time as seasoned teachers to learn new things. Doesn't it make more sense to let them use that time to implement what they just spent four or five years learning? New teachers burn out quickly because it is so overwhelming and the support received is minimal, we need to change this. I think teaching is a wonderful profession, and new teachers need to be encouraged and nurtured just as their students do. Another change that needs to be made in the college education of teachers is to make it clear that the certificate that states they are "highly qualified" to teach such and such, does not mean that they now know it all. I see too many new teachers who think they have nothing more to learn and that they are ready to go it alone. That certificate means the new teacher is ready to start a career in teaching, and if day 1 looks the same as day 180, that's a problem.
Rosemary
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Education Reform Intro and Part 1
Do we need to reform public education? Yes, we do. The people in Lansing and Washington, however, do not understand what needs to be done. They think that by making the curriculum more rigorous we will produce smarter graduates, but we won't. Why won't we you ask? Well, we have many cognitively advanced students now who are excelling in their studies, going on to college and being successful there. Then we have some cognitively advanced students who are not excelling, not doing average work, and some failing. They don't "do school" well. We have many cognitively average students now who are excelling in their studies, going to college and being successful there. Then we have some cognitively average students who are not excelling, not doing average work, and some failing. They don't "do school" well either. And we have some cognitively below average students now, who because they work really hard, are excelling in their studies, going on to college and being successful there. Then we have some cognitively below average students who are not excelling, not doing average work, and many failing. They not only are less able, they don't "do school" well. Kids who "do school" well, make it their focus. They get to class not only on time, but early. They prepare for learning by getting out the materials necessary and they are armed with all they need for that class, including their homework! They sit up, they lean in, they turn their heads to the point of instruction or discussion. They participate. They want to learn, and they are willing to work hard to gain knowledge. Kids who don't do well in school don't make it their focus. We need to help them learn how to "do school." Just "raising the bar" will not increase our graduation rate nor get our kids career and college ready. So how do we do this? Step 1: Colleges need to improve their teacher training programs. Those studying to become teachers need to be instructed in the basics of how to engage kids, (not entertain), and how to develop relationships with kids so they will want to learn from you. Teachers need to KNOW KIDS. All teachers should have many classes on child and adolescent development, not just one or two. Teachers should LIKE KIDS, and there needs to be way to weed out those who think teaching is just a grand career because they fancy the time they think they will have off, or they just love a subject area and want others to love it too, but don't really have time to bothered with kids! Teacher education in college should include some sort of interview/dialogue process (before student teaching), with seasoned teachers so those who probably shouldn't be teachers can be identified and gently led down another path! Colleges need to have in the teacher education curriculum courses that will instruct teachers-to-be in how to share control with their students, in other words, to explore the idea of active learning as opposed to passive learning. Teacher in charge and talking, talking, talking, just doesn't work for kids, at least not American kids and that's where we are. It is time the people in Lansing and Washington realized we are not Japan and if you know about the educational system in Japan (and many European countries), that's a good thing (not that they don't have some excellent ideas that we should embrace, and I'll get to that). We can best them, but not by just making school really, really hard. Okay enough for tonight, Part 2 later.
Rosemary
Rosemary
Friday, January 21, 2011
Grandchildren
Okay, I am so in love with my grandchildren. McKenzie at three is just the brightest, most adorable little girl. Braden is gorgeous, and every bit as smart as McKenzie in a sly sort of way. I live for them. I remember when I first held Kenzie in my arms on the day she was born, I simply fell in love again. When Braden was given to me to hold, well, falling in love is a beautiful thing! It is just so natural to be around them, to talk to them, to play and laugh and dance with them. And they are so good! They laugh and run and pretend and remember and love me back. Well, Braden didn't for a while, he actually didn't want me around. We figured it was because I am the one who stays over when Joe and Heather get a chance to get away, and Braden loves his mommy and daddy! John, who babysits twice a week, is the King and one of their favorite things, but Braden would see me and think "hey mommy and daddy are going away!" But, we have turned a corner! I am now accepted, loved and hugged by my grandson! There are so many things going on right now that worry me, make me sad, and upset me, but I have these wonderful beings in my life to bring me joy. I can't thank God enough for them, and I know why they are here; they are pure, they are innocent, and they are love. Grandchildren are here to remind us that God knows what he is doing, we are the ones who mess things up! So goodnight to my loves and goodnight to you.
Rosemary
Rosemary
Monday, January 17, 2011
Raise the bar, fall on your ass, blame public education
Okay, let's start with raising the bar. There is a plan to set the bar higher for determining what's considered proficient on the MEAP and the MME. The goal is to boost college readiness and career readiness. First let me just make it clear that it isn't raising the bar higher that is a concern to those of us in the trenches; it is the fact that the bar was to be raised little by little, but it wasn't. Students' test scores did improve as the Michigan Merit Curriculum was taught and learned, but the low cut scores were not increased little by little, instead they remained frozen. Now they want to take the bar and make it unreachable for most students, they have stated that fewer students will pass state exams. The curriculum is still being taught, and the students are still learning, but it won't look that way. In fact, teachers will again be blamed for the failure of their students and the need to cut pay and benefits will be lauded as just punishment for not doing the job. In reality the only thing that will have changed is a number. Look at it like this; you're a member of the pole vaulting team and the minimum the bar is set at is 10 feet, all members must be able to consistently vault over that bar for your team to be considered successful. Your little brother is set to try out for the team next year. You have been working with him and he can easily vault over the 10 foot bar and has successfully, on occasion, vaulted over a 13 foot bar. Now, you just found out that the bar has been raised! In order to make the team, in order to be proficient in pole vaulting, you must be able to vault over a bar that is 16 feet high! Oh, and you have only one chance to do it. Good luck, and don't blame the coach.
Rosemary
Rosemary
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