by Brian

I teach high school mathematics, and this year I have 132 students in 5 classes.  That's an average of 26.4 students per class.  Not bad, right?  Except that one of them only has 13 (Pre-calculus)  and one has 33 (Geometry).  So the "average" really doesn't tell the story. 

What about that Geometry class?  I know it would feel better to both me and the students if there were only 25 of them, but would they really do better?  This Saturday I am going to participate in a Policy Symposium of National Board Certified Teachers, and one of the topics we will discuss is class size. Superintendent Randy Dorn has recommended class sizes of 15 in Kindergarten to third grade, and 25 for fourth grade through high school.  So has the Basic Education Funding Task Force, and the Washington Learns Council.  Ample research has shown that reducing class size at the elementary level has a real and lasting impact on student achievement.  But there is little evidence that smaller classes have a noticeable impact at the secondary level.  When my colleagues complain about large classes it is usually about their own workload rather than their students' success.

So given the reality of limited resources, and scant evidence of class size making much difference at the secondary level, shouldn't we concentrate our efforts at the lower elementary grades?

By Tracey

Old Mother Hubbard,

Went to the cupboard,

To get her poor class some dry erase markers and sticky notes.

When she came there,

The cupboard was bare,

And so she ran out and bought some.

I’ve always started the year with trips to the store to purchase supplies, but never have I had to buy so much.  In addition to the regular pens, pencils, paper, notebooks, and folders, many supplies that were for regular classroom maintenance have also fallen into my lap.   I see teachers daily opening up the cupboards in the office that once housed supplies for our classrooms, looking for the basics, such as dry erase markers, index cards, sticky notes, manila folders, envelopes, etc. and there’s nothing to be found.  What a prize to find a Sharpie buried deep in the far corners of the tippy-toe shelves.  But, I still need dry erase markers to write on the board; and I want my students to have post-it notes to mark places in their reading.  So, who picks up tab?  I guess I do.

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By Tom

Today was an in-service day. One of the activities on which we worked involved analyzing various assessments that we administered to our students early in the school year. We worked in small groups of four teachers. The first test we discussed was the QRI, which stands for something that involves reading fluency. Our group had mixed opinions; I found the data useful, as did two other teachers, but the fourth thought her kids read much better than the data revealed, so she disregarded it.

Next we talked about the writing assessment. Again, three of us thought the data was useful, but another (different) teacher thought her kids could write much better than the data revealed, so she disregarded it.

Then it was math. Again, we had mixed opinions on the quality of the data, and a conversation ensued. But then I pointed out that it was moot; we were instructed at the math trainings to power through the curriculum regardless of how well the students were learning it. (It's a "spiraled" curriculum.) We had essentially been trained to disregard the data. They all agreed, so we disregarded the data.

So I got to thinking. To what extent are we, as a profession, data driven?

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By Mark

In our "Race to the Top," some schools are going to be getting a little bit more help.

The U.S. Department of Education's Investing in Innovation "i3" Fund will provide grants to three tiers of applicants: Development grants of up to $5 million, aimed at unproven but promising innovative start-ups; Validation grants of up to $30 million, which will support existing programs which have a proven track record of success; and Scale-up grants of up to $50 million, aimed at expanding current programs whose past performance suggests expansion will result in greater success (source).

Is there a catch?  Of course.

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By Kristin

My district is looking to have full inclusion of our high-incidence special education students at some point in the next few years.  High-incidence kids are the ones with learning disabilities or behavior disorders who, with modifications that fit their 504 or IEP, could be successful in a mainstream classroom.  Of course, as with many things, the news came before the details and mainstream teachers are freaking out.

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By Kristin

My district is trying something new and daring in order to either lower the graduation requirements and help more children graduate, or raise them.  It's hard to tell which.  The most controversial part of the plan is to lower the GPA required for graduation from a C average to a D average – a 2.0 to a 1.0.  D for Dismal, some say.  Others argue that if a D is passing, it should be good enough to earn a diploma.  But like all things in education, it's more complicated than that.  The district is also moving from a point system that doesn't average failing grades into a student's GPA to one that does.  Sound messy?  It is.

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