There are two huge lessons I learned from developing my portfolio for National Board Certification.

First was a lesson about teaching: Every minute of every class period I teach, and every task I ask my students to do must be intentional, aimed squarely at a valid and worthwhile learning goal. Those goals are not arbitrary either: they are developed from assessing my students' needs, dispositions and prior learning.

Second was a lesson about writing: To fully communicate the value of any message I seek to transmit, I have to be clear, consistent, and convincing.

A recent paper from the Center for Reinventing Public Education (based at the University of Washington) has taken a stand that is critical of National Board Certification, and in particular the past practice in the state of Washington of providing a yearly stipend to accomplished educators who have achieved National Board Certification. I hesitate to question this paper's intention, as that would open a can of political worms. What I do question, though, is based on the second lesson my National Board experience taught me: to make a point, I need to be clear, consistent, and convincing. To me, the CRPE report failed in this regard, and is therefore pushing the limits of outright misinformation. 

In particular, as other state education leaders have pointed out, the assertions offered by this report feature incomplete, inconsistent, or unclear data. As a result, if taken on face value, the conclusions drawn in this paper are misleading. The incomplete data means that the conclusions are not fully or convincingly valid. Unfortunately, this is an instance where data is being misused and misconstrued. In particular, this data seems to attempt to undermine a far more comprehensive and complete examination of National Board Certification in the state of Washington previously completed (in 2010) by the State Board of Education.

According to my reading of a recent Washington Education Association press release in response to the CRPE report, regarding the data offered by SBoE and the CRPE: one study is clear, consistent, and convincing… and the other isn't.

This forum here at SFS has a track record of level-headed, well-informed and respectful discourse: like no other time in history, level-headed, respectful and well-informed discourse is what we need right now. I worry that the CRPE paper, if taken as truth, will serve to muddy the waters of this discourse and set back some tremendous progress which actually has happened as part of our state's efforts to improve the quality of the teaching that our schools provide.

The CRPE study simply lacks clarity and consistency, and ought not to be convincing since it fails to effectively offer a comprehensive picture.

by Guest Blogger Sarah

I am in Finland from January 31 through May 30 on a Fulbright Distinguished Awards in Teaching grant. This grant is for k-12 teachers who are interested in doing research abroad. The program is running in 11 countries around the world this year.  My research is about school libraries and information literacy instruction.  I am living in Helsinki, but trying to visit schools around the country as much as I can.  Inevitably, the conversations I am having with teachers lead us to the question everyone is asking…what is their secret?

It is interesting to be here amidst all the talk in the US (and everywhere, I suppose) about the fabulous Finnish school system. At the school I was at this week, there were visitors from:
Germany, France, England AND Japan. And then me. In Helsinki, and especially in the teacher training schools, they are used to people, from everywhere, coming and going all of the time.  I have seen the 2 main schools I have visited, the teacher training schools, featured on many news clips about the “Finnish Phenomenon.”

So, what makes their education system work so well?

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I say no.

Too often in public education, decisions are made with the standard "what's best for the kids" tagline, when the reality is usually that what is eventually decided upon is chosen because of cost effectiveness and ease of administration.

And, as any ineffective teacher will tell you, it is simply easiest to demand the same thing from everyone rather than to differentiate based on individual needs. Hence, the blanket-approach of standardized testing and the data-driven sameness movement. (No, data is not inherently evil… but data can certainly be used improperly.) To me, when an entity such as the USDE is charged with something of such broad scope, it is no surprise that the result is a one-size-fits-all solution which ultimately fits no one well.

I think a good step in reforming public education is to do something you'll rarely hear a liberal like me suggesting we do: decrease government involvement. Specifically, if we need to make budget cuts at the federal level, cut the United States Department of Education and turn absolute power over to the states.

We know that the things which matter most in education are those which are closest to the student: the teachers who provide instruction, paraeducators who provide support, custodians who keep the buildings safe and clean, just to name a few of the front-line workers. Unless someone can explain to me what vital service is provided to my students by Arne Duncan and USDE bureaucrats, I think that it is simply logical that this is where outright cuts ought to take place.

But I am open to being educated about the Department of Education, so please, share your answer to that title question.

It's been a long, long time since I've contributed to this forum. It's been a very, very busy year – overwhelmingly so. Ironically, I was reading Tom's Wednesday post about how often we consider making policy based on what's best for our kids today, and "walla" (as my students write – because they don't know it's actually a French word spelled "voila"), I saw the persuasive prompt for the 10th-grade HSPE. It turns out they also write prompts without considering what's best for our kids.

I teach English 10th-graders at a low-income, high-needs school, so we have spent a considerable amount time preparing for this test. As you all know, one of the keys to getting kids involved in their own education is making it relevant to them. Thus, I was absolutely appalled at the prompt the kids were given to write about. It was relevant to… well… my husband who works in the security field. Included in the prompt was a new type of technology with an appellation of ambiguous language, including the word "tag."

First of all, a persuasive prompt on a high-stakes test should be about an issue with which students are familiar. The purpose is to give them a topic with which to show their skill. One sitting is not enough time to think about an issue for the first time and be able to develop convincing and persuasive arguments – particularly if a large number of our students have no idea what the topic is in the first place. The word “tag” is already ambiguous, as the kids might understand it in the context of price “tags,” name "tags," dog “tags,” graffiti “tags,” clothing brand “tags.”  

With the high number of ELL students and students living in poverty at my school, there were many students who were completely confounded in how to approach this prompt. While some of our more creative students were able to “make up” enough details to complete their essays, others were completely and utterly discouraged when this unrealistic prompt was coupled with the enormous pressure they were already experiencing because of the high stakes this test represents. I saw despair on many faces.

My heart broke for one student who has been coming in regularly to work with me after school. He was determined to pass this test, and he knew that writing was not his strongest suit, so he asked for and received tutoring. Normally a gregarious one, when he came into class he could barely stand up straight. Shoulders slumped, head down, when I asked him if he was okay, he couldn't make eye contact with me or respond. I kept him after class, hoping to give him some encouragement, but all he could say was, "I just couldn't do it. I didn't even know how to start so I didn't finish."

For many of our third-world immigrants, the concept of a new technology is so foreign that they have a difficult time imagining it – much less constructing compelling arguments one way or another. Plainly and simply, this prompt is culturally insensitive to just about everyone.

It was a difficult day in a difficult year. My students and I have worked very hard to prepare for this test, and it is incredibly difficult to see their hope and high spirits shot down.

Did anyone else share this experience? In a middle-class venue, did the prompt work?

By Tom

We were having a “conversation” one day during a faculty meeting. It was during one of those Teacher Learning Days that happen before the school year starts. We had just been given the specialist schedule, which, for those of you who don’t teach elementary, is the schedule that tells you when your kids go to PE, music or the library. In other words, it tells you when you get your daily, 30-minute planning time.

The fourth grade teachers were upset. “We always get our planning time in the morning! Why should the fourth graders always get the bad schedule! That’s just not fair!”

I’m not normally one to enter into a vigorous debate between various groups of middle-aged women, but sometimes I can’t help myself. 

“Actually, that is the only fair way to do it,” I said. “Think about it: if one grade level has to have a bad schedule – and apparently it does – then the fairest way to do it is to give the same grade level the bad schedule every single year. That way, every kid gets it only once. But if you move it around every year, then you practically guarantee that some kids will get it more than once and some kids will never have it.”

“Of course,” I continued, “that’s only if we’re looking at this situation in terms of what’s best for the kids. If we’re talking about what’s best for teachers, then that’s a different conversation.”

I’d like to say that my razor-sharp logic won the day, but I can’t. My comments weren’t appreciated, least of all from the fourth grade team, who only glared at me with their collective stink-eye. And as I recall, it was my grade level that ended up with the crappy schedule that year.

But seriously, how often do we really regard policy decisions from the perspective of the educational stakeholders who hold the largest stakes? How often do we look at the long-term benefits for the greatest number of students when we decide policy?

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by Brian

In the comments to my recent post I suggested that charter schools might be part of the solution to the perceived shortcomings of our educational system.  There were some good, challenging  questions to that position.  

I am not a champion for charter schools, but I have found one, and he is persuasive, at least to me.  Not to say I'm persuaded, but he made me think more deeply about their potential.

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I really don't have much to complain about. I teach in an affluent, privileged school district. So affluent, in fact, that a good chunk (if not the majority) of teachers cannot even afford to purchase a home in the district. I live relatively close, and my drive is 45 miles round trip.

But the community is a great one–it consistently supports bonds and levies, has that "small town" feel while still being close to the big city, and because the median education in the district is high, we inherit children whose home lives include a valuing of at least academic performance (good grades) if not a good education. I have to work less hard to get my kids to learn than I did when I taught at a semi-urban district in Puget Sound or than when I did when I was at a rural high school in Oregon where it was easier just to give all the kids free meals rather than sort out the 2% who didn't qualify for free lunch. We certainly have our challenges in my current district, and we do see an achievement gap based on socioeconomic status, but all in all, kids are doing well by the grand measures that everyone seems to care about.

As a result of our community and their valuing of education, all of our HSPE scores are well above the state average, and are the highest of any traditional comprehensive public high school in our region. Last year, our pass rates on the reading and writing HSPEs were knocking on the door of 100%. 

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Public education is the square peg in the round hole. 

America is the land of opportunity: if you work hard, you will earn success. Anything is possible. The Dream, despite all the commentary over the years in which it is exposed as utter fallacy, is still the premise on which America operates. 

Our economy requires competition in order to function. We compete for jobs; companies compete for our money. This is all great if you only pay attention to the one who gets the job or the company who cashes in. When I teach Orwell's Animal Farm, I do a quick (way too quick) primer about communism, socialism and capitalism, so that students will have a better sense of the political and economic context in which the allegory is set. Of course, the students realize that capitalism is the most palatable to them, but every year they are shocked when I twist the discussion this way: because I have this job, someone else does not have this job. Because I spend my money one place, someplace else doesn't get money. They start to realize that inherent in capitalism is the competition which naturally segregates the haves and have-nots.

To me, this is the essence of why everyone hates teachers right now.

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By Tom

There’s a failing school in my district. I know about it because their service area is right next to ours. We share a boundary. They’ve been failing for several years, so they’ve reached the stage at which their punishment entails a “turnaround.” They have to get rid of their administrator and half of their teachers.

As you might expect, they have a high proportion of students living in poverty (over 80%) and a large number of English language learners (over 40%). As you might not expect, they also have a lot of great teachers. Teachers who are really good at teaching high-needs students.

But apparently they’re not good enough.

Last week, my district sent an email to every elementary teacher, telling us about the situation and inviting us to become a part of the team that will take on this exciting challenge. They also explained the plan that will guide this team’s work over the next several years. They borrowed the plan from a school they visited; one of those 90/90/90 schools, where high-poverty students earn high scores on high-stakes tests. I looked it over and gave it some thought.

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by Brian

It's almost March and time for the Madness to begin,  No, Tom, I'm not talking about the NCAA basketball tournaments, I'm talking about the Washington State SPRING 2011 HSPE/WAAS/EOC/MSP TESTING WINDOWS.  It starts in March with the HSPEs in Writing and Reading for grades 10-12.  In April it's the Science HSPE, since the promised EOC isn't ready this year.  Then in May it's the tykes' turn as the MSPs take over for grades 3-8.  In June math gets its turn as the high-schoolers get their first crack at the Algebra 1/Integrated Math 1 EOC and the Geometry/Integrated Math 2 EOC.  Those "Must be administered within three weeks before end of course". (BTW, if you give a 14 year-old student an End Of Course Exam 3 weeks before the end of the school year, how are you going to keep him in his seat for the last 12 days?)  Oh, and for students who have previously taken those courses: they can take the EOC Makeup Exams. That's a lot of tests. You should watch this if you are confused.  (Even if you're not, it's fun.)

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