By Tamara

We currently have a 65% graduation rate in my district. Raising that rate has rightfully become the district’s top priority. Yet after my experience teaching summer school at the high school with the lowest graduation rate in the district, I question how administrators are pursuing increased on-time graduation.

My summer school students were mostly upper-classmen needing to retrieve freshman English credits. I was given a packet the students were to complete with the stipulation that as soon as students adequately finished said packet, I could pass them (all summer courses were pass/fail) and send them on their way. This was the expectation for every course offered regardless of subject. Check the box, pass go, collect your credit/diploma.

This approach to credit retrieval raised huge questions and flags for me:

1. If they struggled with the content/concepts the first time around, how was independently completing a packet with the same assignments going to produce success let alone learning or acquisition of skills?

2. If students know they can complete a semester’s worth of credit by completing a packet in a week (this was happening in a number of classes) why should they bother coming to class for 40 weeks during the regular school year? Especially in a neighborhood whose zip code is one of the poorest in the state. Their families often need them to work.

3. What does this kind of “box checking” do to the value of a diploma? We already have businesses and colleges screaming about kids not having adequate skills.

Because I wanted my students to gain confidence and experience success in an area they had struggled, I altered the packet and added additional assignments and assessments. I shared my rationale with them that if they struggled the first time, why do the exact same thing again. Let’s try a different approach to success. Their response was resigned at best, pissy at worst. One student said to me, “I was really looking forward to just completing the packet and getting on with my summer.”

And the real kicker? If they didn’t get the work done and pass the summer session, they could complete those packets in a special after-school “detention” class this fall. Um, accountability? When my eyebrows raised at this, the acting principal quickly pointed out that they needed to do whatever it took for kids to retrieve their credits, graduate on time, and get central administration off their back.

But I ask, at what cost? When expectations are no higher than completing a packet will any of these kids actually graduate with college or work ready skills? Have we given them the opportunity to develop the quality of perseverance or to value critical thinking? Has our (teachers and administrators) transparent goal of graduation by the most minimum standard foster a sense of achievement or even learning? Or have we sold them the idea that “success” is earned by checking a box.

2012-13 will be my twelfth year teaching English Language Development at the middle school. I am the wife of a middle school science teacher (just imagine what our dinnertime conversations revolve around), mother of two children just beginning their journey through K-12, and second language learner who can find every possible route around the subjunctive.
Education policy issues that get under my skin tend to revolve around what 21^st
century education should include and look like, how our decisions as adults
support (or not) kids’learning, and how we as an institution and as a
nation address the challenge of educating an evermore ethnically and
linguistically diverse student body.

By Tom

It was bound to happen. Sooner or later, the worst law since prohibition was destined to swallow my school. It was like watching a slow, stupid goat thoughtfully and systematically eating the neighbor's zinnias. And now it's finally happened; the fun and games are over: my school failed to make Adequate Yearly Progress.

This is our first year, so it's not so bad. We're only "on notice." But if things don't improve by next year we'll have to send  letters home to the parents telling them how lousy we are, with suggestions as to which nearby schools they should send their children. That'll hurt. And in the meantime, we'll have to do something about our math and reading scores, which are apparently the only things that really matter.

The fact that my school didn't make AYP wasn't much of a surprise, actually. We barely scraped by last year, and since then the state raised the bar considerably. Passing this year would have been an incredible feat.

But we failed, and I'm left to describe how I feel. A little disappointed, a little discouraged, but mostly frustrated. Frustrated by the fact that our low reading and math scores belie the many great things about my school, a school that for two years running has received a cash award from the state in recognition of our progress in reducing the achievement gap. But somehow, our test scores don't mention that. 

Continue reading →

By Kristin

I used to be prejudiced against Teach For America. I was sick of hearing about them. I thought of them all as smarmy, privileged, smarty-pants do-gooders who dropped into a classroom for two years, patted themselves on the back and added a line to their resume, then moved on to a career that paid more and was easier than teaching.

Then, I met a bunch of Teach For America teachers and alum and changed my mind about them.

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by Brian

This summer I was able to go to China on a trip sponsored by the NEA Foundation and the Pearson Foundation.  The trip was part of an Award for Teaching Excellence, given by the NEA Foundation to a teacher from each state who is nominated by their NEA affiliate.  I was chosen by the Washington Education Association to be the 2011 nominee.  Cara Haney from Kent, WA, is the 2012 nominee, and the NEA Foundation is planning another trip for Cara and her colleagues next summer. (Tom White, one of the contributors for Stories from School is a previous ATE recipient.)

We travelled to the cities of Beijing, Shanghai, and Hong Kong and were able to visit schools in each city.  We also did tourist things, like visit the Forbidden City and the Great Wall (it really is pretty great, especially with vendors with coolers selling cold drinks on hot days.)

Now I'm trying to figure out what to say when people ask me:  "How was China?"  The only answer that works is inadequate, but true: China is amazing.

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By Tom

Recently I was asked to join a panel discussion in San Francisco hosted by The College Board, as part of their annual AP conference. The topic was Teacher Advocacy. There were four of us on the panel and they were kind enough to give us some general questions ahead of time so that we could be prepared.

Since this event happened during our blog’s annual month-long hiatus, and since the topic is particularly germane to we’re all about on this site, it gave me a great excuse to review my own beliefs about teacher advocacy. Besides that, being on a panel usually means that you don’t get to answer all the questions, even the ones you really want to answer. So here they are, the questions I was prepared to answer, and the answers I was prepared to give:

What exactly is Teacher Advocacy?

Teacher advocacy is simply speaking up in support of teaching and learning and promoting those policies that improve the teaching and learning conditions in our country.

Why do teachers need to be advocates?

Of all the stakeholders in our education system, teachers are uniquely positioned to know which policies work and which ones don’t. While teachers may not have all the answers, they do get to see what all the answers look like as they play out in classrooms. When teachers see what works and what doesn’t work in schools, they owe it to their students to speak up.

How has Teacher Advocacy changed over the years?

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I teach second grade in a community just outside Seattle.  This will be my eleventh year teaching and my eleventh year at this school.  The school is federally designated as Title I.  It serves a linguistically, culturally, and economically diverse body of students.  It is a wonderful place to teach.

Originally from Michigan, I followed the trail west.  I have two children, the oldest is entering Kindergarden.  I’ve played soccer most of my life and I am still active in the sport.  My summer involves tending to a garden, raising chickens, and catching a Sounders match whenever possible.

I always thought I’d work my way into the policy side of education but I find too much joy in the classroom.  Writing on this blog allows me to combine my life in the classroom and my interest in policy.  I am grateful for the opportunity to lend my voice to the vibrant dialogue of the Stories from School community.

Charles “Rob” Duerr
 
 

By Tracey

Welcome back to Stories from School!  While we still have a few more weeks before the school year begins, our blog is back in session, with three new wonderful bloggers joining the dialogue.  Our stories from our classrooms are critical.  I’m realizing this more and more, especially today, in Washington DC, as I talk with people and explain to them why I came all the way from Seattle to participate in the Save the Schools March.  So many people truly don’t know.  And, unfortunately, some of these people make policy decisions. 

I want to begin by sharing one of my greatest concerns, and one of the reasons I felt so moved to travel to DC.  Jonathan Kozol says it much more eloquently than I.  So, I videotaped his speech to the thousands of teachers who came.  In his speech, he says that segregation in schools today is worse than it’s ever been since 1968.  I’m seeing the inequalities in my school, where the education my students, 80% of whom get free or reduced lunch, is not the same as the education on the other side of town in the affluent neighborhood.  Their parents wouldn’t allow the arts, science, and social studies to be absent from their child's program.  But, we remove it altogether, or we offer a truncated version of it for our low-income students.  And the result, as Kozol attests, is a modern-day version of Jim Crow in our schools.

He ends his speech with the words, "I don't care what happens to me, or what price I may be forced to pay, but I intend to fight in this struggle to my dying day."  Thank you, Jonathan Kozol.  I think we'll have a lot to talk about in the year ahead.

By Tom

Normally we shut things down during July here at Stories from School. It gives us a chance to reflect, take a break and pursue other interests. This year is no different. We'll be off playing at the beach, reading in the backyard or, in my case, riding bikes. When you check back in August we'll be rested, relaxed and full of new ideas.

We'll also have a few new bloggers. Betsy, Rob and Tamara are joining the team, and all of us are excited by the prospect of new directions and new conversations.

There is one other change. Our behind-the-scenes producer, manager, editor, benefactor, founder and friend is leaving. "The Sandal Queen" has taken a new job. She will be dearly missed. This blog is but one manifestation of her enduring vision that the voice of teachers be amplified and included in the important conversations about education policy. Everything you like about Stories from School is because of her and we can't thank her enough.

Goodbye.