Category Archives: Education Policy

Turnaround is Fair Play

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Assessment, Education Policy

Sometimes when I’m riding my bike I have imaginary conversations with real people. This morning I spoke with the Seattle Times editor who wrote this piece. Here’s a transcript of our discussion:

Me: So I’m still waiting to take my test.

Editor: Which test is that?

Me: Well, I’ve been reading your paper for over 35 years, assuming that at some point you’re going to give me an assessment on my comprehension of local, national and world affairs so that you’ll know how well you’re doing.

Editor: We don’t do that.

Me: Seriously? Isn’t it your job to inform your readers? How do you know how well you’re doing if you don’t assess them on the extent to which they’re informed?

Editor: First of all, writing a newspaper is a very complex undertaking. We do a lot more than report on current affairs.

Me: I guess that’s true.

Editor: And besides, not everyone reads the articles about local, national and world affairs. Sometimes they just read the sports page. Or the funnies.

Me: Imagine that. But can’t you do something to make us pay attention to the important stories of the day?

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And How Did I Do?

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Assessment, Current Affairs, Education, Education Policy, Life in the Classroom

To steal from Tom’s post a few days ago, I too wonder “How I did” this school year. Since my evaluation was likewise “satisfactory,” I thought I’d consider the question how a state government might: through test scores.

Colorado has joined with a few other states (Florida and New York are among those with plans in motion) to tie a teacher’s continued employment directly to test scores. It appears that student test scores must comprise “at least fifty percent” of the evaluative criteria for teacher tenure and retention. If improvement is not sustained, a teacher can lose tenure and risks being fired. That would certainly align with an “unsatisfactory” review…potentially sparked by poor test scores. 

As I read the article, it stated clearly the bill calls for teachers to demonstrate student growth. I’m not familiar with the Colorado assessment system, and a half hour of wading through the web didn’t net me many answers. I’m a skeptic of that word growth, however. Something tells me we’re not talking about a preassessment in September and a postassessment in June, which is the only kind of assessment of growth I’d feel comfortable tying to teacher pay and continued employment. The old argument of comparing apples to apples is key. If we’re comparing apples to oranges, then ready the court for appeals.*

In a once-a-year test situation, how can growth be assessed? Let’s trace it out and play the how I did game by considering my students’ performance on the recent High School Proficiency Exams (HSPE) in reading and writing and previous years’ Washington Assessment of Student Learning (WASL) tests.

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Running Stop!

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Education Policy

In an earlier post in response to the meme “Five Things I Would Change about Our School System,” one of the items on my list was the Running Start program. Running Start is an option that students have to take classes at the community college and earn college credits while still in high school. Some students are able to finish high school with both a diploma and an AA degree. Sounds good, right? So what is my problem?
 
While students have to pay for their own books and transportation, the tuition is paid fully by the state. Every dollar is a dollar that doesn’t go to the students’ respective high schools, so it is a financial drain on public education. I can just hear some people say, “If you want to keep those kids in high school, offer the classes and programs that will attract them.”
 
It’s not that simple. At my high school, we have the International Baccalaureate program. These are college level classes that challenge the intellect and offer potential college credit. For many of our Running Start students, IB or AP classes are too difficult. Instead, they take basic reading and writing, or biology, or chemistry, or whatever that is also offered at the high school. They don't leave because our high schools don't offer a good education; they leave for the free college credits.
 
It’s not just the money that runs away to Running Start, it is a core group of mid-to-high-level students who both set behavior and academic standards for the school. When there is an exodus of large numbers of these students, it actually changes the climate of the school. Who are left? The very high IB students in their IB classes. And the lower, more poorly achieving students mixed with a smaller than necessary core of "middle" kids.

I do understand that there are some students who simply need classes that aren’t available through the public school system. However, the number of students whose needs could not be met by an IB or AP program is very small.
 
I don’t take issue with high school students taking classes at the community college; I just have a problem, as a taxpayer, diverting the money from our public schools to pay for it. It is our responsibility as taxpayers to pay for education through high school, but it is NOT our responsibility to pay for college.

 
 

Rethinking the Diploma

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Assessment, Education, Education Policy, Social Issues

DRCgXe  By Mark

I keep hearing about how education as a system is broken. Everyone has an opinion and a finger to point, and many have "solutions." I spotted an article recently which attracted my attention: a Utah senator is being accused of "dumping the 12th grade." (The article is here.)

I think he's on to something. Part of the criticism lobbed at modern education is that it isn't a modern system at all: it is an antiquated 18th century system. One change which could help us rethink the purpose and structure of schools is to rethink the finish line.

We should abolish the high school diploma as we know it.

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It’s not (just) about the bonus

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Education Policy, National Board Certification, Professional Development

338qMr  By Mark

Let me begin by clarifying the title of this post: I am beyond appreciative that Washington is one of the states in the union which recognizes the achievement of National Board Certification by awarding an annual bonus to NBCTs. I am eternally grateful for that bonus…and I feel, no I know, that I earned it. I know I am an infinitely better teacher than I was because the process helped me reflect, analyze the effectiveness of my instructional decisions, and examine with a more critical eye whether my students are learning what they need to learn.

But let me trace the ripples caused by the Washington legislature's decision to reward my efforts (and the efforts of hundreds of other NBCTs). While some may see that as just a change in my paycheck, it is much, much more than that.

The first ripple? Earning the bonus meant I could quit my job. My night job, that is. Oh, and my weekend job, too.

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Cursive, Anyone?

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Education Policy, Elementary

By Tom

Back in the mid-eighties, when I was fresh out of college and looking for a teaching job, I stopped by the Everett School District to apply for a position teaching fifth grade. When I checked in with the receptionist I was handed a piece of notebook paper and a pen and told to write an essay. I forgot what the topic was supposed to be, but I remember specifically being told to write in cursive. Unfortunately, I did not see that coming.

Needless to say, I didn't get that job. But I shook it off and went on to become a third grade teacher. That's the grade in which every American student learns how to write a paragraph, how to multiply and divide, how to subtract with borrowing and (ironically) how to write in cursive.

But that might be changing.

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Persistence and Will

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Education, Education Policy, Social Issues

NxkveK  By Mark

A recent Education Week article suggests that we already know how to fix the public school system in America, but simply aren't doing it. According to his CV, the author, Allan Odden, has been a university professor and policy maker since 1972, after spending five years as a math teacher.

The article kinda frustrated me. More than a little. A lot really. I had to walk away from the computer several times. 

First, the solutions he suggests for struggling schools: new curriculum, stronger professional development, teacher-leadership, extended literacy instruction at the secondary level…none of these are rocket science. 

But Odden's claim is is that we all know how to fix broken schools, we're just choosing not to do it. 

To me, the article illuminates two great problems with the education system:

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No Logos.

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Current Affairs, Education, Education Policy, Social Issues

HaO6x8  By Mark

I'm presently working with my sophomores to examine news and web articles for the rhetorical triangle of ethos, pathos and logos. In doing so, they've become fantastic critical readers by asking these three questions: What is this article assuming about its audience? What questions is this article not answering? and What is being left unsaid?

That latter two questions came to mind when I was emailed a New York Times article detailing the potential closure of four "failing" schools in the NYC school system under Mayor Bloomberg. The gist was this: four schools had failed to meet growth expectations over the last few years, and therefore the future employment of teachers and administrators was in jeopardy and students were likely to soon be relocated.

The question that seemed to be unanswered to me: How exactly will closing schools solve the problem? 

Let's think about the logic of that…

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My Case for Homogenous Groupings in High School

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Assessment, Education, Education Policy, Life in the Classroom, Literacy, Social Issues

TBg4YM By Mark

I look with envy at my peers in the math department.

Sure, I know they have the same issues I have as an English teacher: kids who don't turn work in; hours of planning, prep, and grading to do; a state standardized test looming over our heads.

But, there's one thing they have that I really want.

You probably won't find many Algebra II students who cannot do basic work with monomials and reverse order of operations. In Geometry, the kids are all likely equally confounded at first by the mysteries of Pythagorus. In Algebra I, more often than not I think the kids at least have basic number sense.

Or, perhaps it is better put this way…

In that Algebra I class, there's probably not a kid sitting there running advanced differential equations through his head while everyone else solves for x. If that kid were spotted, you better believe that his teacher would bump him up to somewhere that he could be both more challenged and better served.

But in an English 9 class, just because their birthdays fell within a given year, a kid who can immediately spot the nuances in Scout's narration in To Kill a Mockingbird and by the end articulate how the novel is a coming-of-age tale about the collapse of childhood illusions is sitting next to a kid who still thinks Scout is a boy and Atticus is African-American.

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