by Brian

This is inspired by Taylor Mali's poem What Teachers Make. 

For a long time I don't think I had a good explanation for why I teach.  I started teaching when I was already in my thirties.  I had done a lot of things, and I was working as a carpenter building a house in November in the Pacific Northwest when I decided I wanted to go back to school to get my teaching certificate.  If you've ever lifted a bundle of wet cedar shakes out of the mud and carried them up a ladder, only to repeat that action a hundred times, you'll understand why.

I remember meeting someone early in my career who asked what I did for a living.  I said "I'm a teacher now."  She said what do you mean now, and I explained that I had been many things and now I was a teacher.  It was what I did, not what I was.  I remember the odd look she gave me.

But as the years went by, and the first class that I had as freshmen graduated and went off to work or college I started to feel a change.  Every so often one of them would write me a note, or send me a card, thanking me for helping them in some small way.  Sometimes they came out of the blue, years later, describing some small but meaningful thing I had done; often a thing I had no memory of.

I've been here 27 years now, and I have kept all those notes.  When I get a little low I pull them out and read them again.  Some of them were written by students who are now the parents of my students.  When I see them at Back to School night, they tell me how glad they are that I am teaching their son or daughter.  Often neither one of us can remember exactly which subject I taught them, but there's a warmth.  We like each other.  I helped them grow up.

So now the answer to what I do is unequivocal:  I am a teacher.  I make a difference!

by Brian

Jay Mathews recently wondered if one of the reasons our students do so poorly on high stakes tests in math is because of a poor education in middle school.  I taught math in our middle school for 10 years before returning to our high school, and I have been hesitant to play a blame game with my colleagues.  I think they work just as hard as I do, and in my district I think the teachers are highly qualified. But I think Mathews may be on to something.

He points out that even though the middle school students are required to take state exams there are really no consequences for poor performance.  The 8th grade students who do not meet standard on their math test still end up in my Algebra class the next year.  If we're serious about this accountability issue why start with high school graduation?  Why not tell them they have to stay in 8th grade until they meet standard on the math test?

Or for that matter, why even let them in to the middle school until they are proficient at 5th grade math?  A student can stay in the public school system until they are 21, so what's the hurry?  It's pretty clear that social promotion isn't working in the era of high stakes tests, so let's make them repeat the grade if they don't pass the test.

So I'm with Mathews on blaming the Middle School, but not for the same reason.  Teachers at the middle school level deal with the same issues we all do with regard to student motivation and parental support.  But if I keep getting students who don't have the skills necessary to learn Algebra, then I am going to start blaming the practice of social promotion. 

by Brian

I have been thinking about having test scores released in my district, like they want to do in New York City.  The public would be able to see which teachers had added value to their students and which hadn't.  

Joel Klein, the chancellor of New York City’s schools says:

"If one teacher is found to be consistently high performing, don’t we want that teacher collaborating with others? And, in turn, if one teacher is found to be consistently low performing, don’t we want to help that teacher improve, or move to replace him or her?"

Well, here's the rub:

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by Brian

I teach math, but it's football season, so here's an analogy from the gridiron.  It's just the start of the second quarter, and we're getting our butts kicked.  And it looks like the refs want us to lose; we just can't get a call!

By second quarter I am referring to the fact that the class of 2014 has entered our high schools and joined the class of 2013 as the first students who will have to pass End of Course exams in Algebra and Geometry in order to graduate.  And by getting our butts kicked I mean that we are behind 42% to 58% ( that's students who passed the HSPE last year vs. those who didn't.)  And by the refs I mean the State Legislature, The State Board of Education, and the Superintendent of Public Instruction, who have collectively not yet even figured out what the End of Course exams are going to look like. 

Today we got a look at Item Specifications that showed which standards would be included in the EOC exams.  A quick check against the Algebra 1 Crosswalk, which also claims to show which standards will be tested, showed some glaring inconsistencies.  Will quadratic factoring be on the test or not?  It matters.

I also teach Algebra 2, and recently signed up to have my classes pilot test questions for the EOCs in Algebra and Geometry.  Sometime in October we will take a class period to answer potential items for the EOCs which will be given next spring (within 3 weeks of the end of school). Obviously, the tests have not even been created yet, or field tested, or validated, yet they will be used to determine whether or not our students will be able to graduate.

Wait, it gets more crazy.  You see, students who passed Algebra last year are in Geometry this year, so they will take the Geometry EOC exam.  But the state law says they have to pass an EOC exam in Algebra too, and there was no EOC exam available for Algebra last year when they took the course.  So they have to take something called Comprehensive, Part 1.  No wait, that was last week. (I'm not making this up!)  This week it's the EOC Retake.  The sophomores in Algebra 2 this year (they're the reason we keep leading the nation in SAT scores), well they have to take Comprehensive Parts 1 and 2, or maybe it's the EOC retakes for Algebra and Geometry.  That's not clear either.

Last February I went to Olympia to testify before the Senate Education in support of a bill postponing the requirement that the class of 2013 and beyond pass EOC exams that had not even been written.  They listened politely, kind of, but the bill died in committee.  I plan to go back when the legislature convenes next year and try again.

You see, it's kind of embarrassing to teach a subject based on logic and reason to students who are being treated so badly by adults acting irrationally.

It’s August already, and any day I expect the arrival of “The Letter”.  That’s the one with the school district return address and the schedule for the first days back at work.  But summer vacation isn’t quite over, and I have a last minute recommendation for your reading list:  Stones into Schools, by Greg Mortenson.  I received it as a gift from the National Education Association Foundation in July and just finished it.  I have been telling everyone about it, expecting them to recognize Mortenson as the author of the wonderful bestseller Three Cups of Tea, but I have been surprised at how many people have not heard of him yet.  So here’s my book report.

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Our last student day was last Thursday.  After the final test in my first period Algebra class I asked B if he thought he should receive a passing grade.  He had been suspended for 10 days for a bad choice, and had not made up the missed work, or corrected the tests that he had done poorly on.  He said no, he knew he had not done the things he needed to do to pass.  I told him I was sorry, but I agreed.  He had more than enough chances and had not taken advantage of them.

It was also the day my mother died.  It was sudden, but not unexpected. She was 93, and had a wonderful life.  So I rushed through the checkout procedure, turned my grades in and left for Seattle to be with my sister and brother.  When I got back home yesterday I checked my school e-mail and found this message:

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  by Brian

Our high school graduation is two weeks away, and it looks like Jake (not his real name) will make it. Jake is in my Algebra class this year, and he needs to pass it because he did not pass the state math test.  The rules say that he can graduate anyway as long as he has taken, and passed, additional math classes in his junior and senior year.  Whether or not he passes those classes is a decision that the teacher makes, based on his own standards and knowledge of his students.  Two weeks ago Jake quit coming to school.  It looked like he was going to drop out, a month before graduation.  Then last Thursday his girlfriend talked him into coming back and trying to finish. He came into my room after school and asked me if there was any way he could still pass.  He said he knew he could catch up in his other classes, but Algebra was the one he was worried about. It was why he got discouraged and quit coming to school.  I could say yes, you can pass, because it is still my decision to make.  

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by Brian

 

Today the drumbeat continued to have school districts in Washington sign the state application for The Race to the Top funds.  In the Seattle Times, Brad Smith of the Washington Roundtable writes: "By making a strong show of support for Washington's application today,
districts increase their chances to receive additional funding for
reforms they will need to implement tomorrow."

A Tacoma News Tribune editorial writer encouraged districts to sign the RTTT application, and applauded the Peninsula School District, saying: "So don’t count Peninsula among the districts that can’t be bothered to
accept a check for improving their instruction."

But the Columbian struck a different tone in their editorial: In our view: 'Race to the Trough'? They quote La Center Superintendent Mark Mansell as saying, “Any time you chase money
and not an idea, it’s not meaningful change. It has no real impact.
That’s the thing that makes me really, really upset about this. We’re
chasing after the money.”

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by Brian
 

Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.

Bush NCLB: Every child will be proficient at reading, writing, and math by 2014.

Obama/Duncan RTTT:  Every child will go to college by 2018.  

The finish line has been moved, but the result will be the same:  in America, all children will be above average.

It's just "The Emperor's New Clothes", over and over again.  The President says he wants legislation on education that will catapult the United States back to the top (by the way, top of what?).  His advisors write a blueprint, which is overwhelmingly approved by Congress (why is that the only bipartisan thing they can do?) and the pundits and CEOs applaud.  While the teachers (see David Cohen's post, and Tom's), who have not been consulted, stand on the sidelines and say the plan is naked.  

In Washington we are being prodded by our governor to endorse our application for Race to the Top funds. She wants all districts to buy in: it will get more points for the application.  The application requires only the signature of the local superintendent, but the state gets more points if the president of the school board, the president of the principal's association, and the president of the local education association also sign. So there will be significant political pressure to sign on; in Delaware and Tennessee, the first round winners, there was 100% district participation.  You will soon be asked if you will support the state's application by having your local association president sign the district's application.

My problem is this:  I will not support the American Idol model for funding education.  Reducing the access to federal funds to a contest is both demeaning and wrong.  Students will be winners or losers without having any role in the process.  Money will be doled out according to grant writers ability, regardless of the needs of students.  

I have no problem with rigorous criteria to qualify for RTTT funds. But I have a problem with a process that is purportedly designed to reward states and districts and teachers that are trying to do the best for their students, but is in reality a contest between state legislatures.  

When they base the process on standards that I can believe in, and will accept the application of every state that agrees to meet those standards, I'm in.

For now, keep the money Arne.