Posts Tagged ‘student achievement’

Standards We Can Believe In

Wednesday, May 26th, 2010

The entire education world stands behind consistent core content standards to use as benchmarks for student evaluation.  But, what about teacher evaluation?

another California elementary school

another California elementary school

At this moment most school districts in the country are frozen by the disarray in state budgets and taxpayer angst, preferring to blame teachers when students aren’t doing well just as the oil execs pointed fingers at everyone but themselves for the latest catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico.

So with the uncontained controversy over funds for schools-think about it, we’re talking about money to make sure students are educated.  What would it be like to live in the countries where children don’t go to school at all, aren’t educated, struggle through life with little to sustain them much less lift themselves out of their hard scrabble existence?

Here in the U.S. the latest way we value our students is to not approve school district budgets, vote not to pass parcel taxes, exact wage freezes and higher insurance premium concessions from teachers, and require furlough days–to name a few of the cutback options pervading not only urban districts but upscale suburban districts also.

On top of such turmoil, state legislatures are passing new education bills that feel to teachers like another slap.  Why?  Before common core standards for students are put in place, and no matter what the states say, teachers are being evaluated by one tool–analyzing the improvement in test scores for the teacher’s students.  For many states improvement in this area would mean SPENDING funds and time to make those test scores valid and available.

Here it is: the cart before the horse.

This is how academic standards for student achievement should affect the teacher evaluation goal.  Follow this path: consistent standards and benchmarks, preferably throughout regions of the country if not nationwide; then tests that actually assess those standards and for which proficiency is equivalent region-wide; after test analysis, provisions made for each school to support those students who need intervention; next yearly evaluation, non-threatening, designed collaboratively with teachers in a school, test scores being one aspect; yearly evaluation of the school as a whole and of the district as a whole, including the superintendent and school board; money set aside to provide professional development for aspects of academic achievement not met by teacher, principal, school, and district.  REPEAT EACH YEAR.

This process is not on the agenda.  Instead, teacher tenure, anathema for most lay people, drives the process, especially for those fixated on turning schools into businesses, which they aren’t and won’t be even if run for profit.  Why would anyone wish to make a profit on the backs of little kids just doing what their parents want and the state requires?

The tenure aspect of teacher evaluation ought to be seen as an outcome of consistent, agreed upon standards and benchmarks for student achievement.  The teacher’s standards must be clear, unequivocal, based on objective statements of good teaching.

In addition, an agreed upon framework is needed for how the school community works together to meet student achievement goals.  If one teacher can’t or won’t support that goal, then steps to lay off the teacher make sense.

If you are interested in details of national student core standards, part of the federal Common Core State Standards Initiative to make assessment and proficiency consistent and achievable across the country, you can go to the National Governor’s Association or the Council of Chief State School Officers.

Both groups have overseen the development of and recently set out a draft of national core standards K-12 from which the process outlined above would lead to results that teachers may feel adequate for successful evaluation.  Don’t forget the principal and school district administrators must be evaluated also.

You can go directly to look at the core standards and take a survey.  Do so.

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Posted in Council of Chief State School Officers, National Governor's Association, low-performing schools, public schools, school accountability, school community, school reform |
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Transience-Going and Coming and Going Again

Wednesday, April 28th, 2010

Reading and listening to the news, the huge bet in the education world is how many teachers and other staff are going to the unemployment office in June due to layoffs in each state and school district.

superintendent with students at a Los Angeles elementary school

superintendent with students at a Los Angeles elementary school

Worst of the worst, 300,000 teachers laid off will certainly clear the board of its latest spread of new teachers at low-performing schools just as those schools are identified as turn around targets.  How will it help any school when young committed new teachers who have been acknowledged as creative, innovative, self-confident, highly educated, and technologically competent are the first to be laid off when the roulette ball lands in their slot?

More pink slips than really needed are often sent out so as not to litigate layoffs that are identified too late in the school year, a no-no nationwide negotiated by unions and part of most state’s education code.  But even 100,000 is a huge number and leads to the problem to be addressed in this post-TRANSIENCE.

Begin with student transience.  In most states and definitely in California high transience in low-performing schools practically guarantees that few students will have proficient or advanced levels on the state tests given in May.  Generally, students who make strategic moves like those because of school safety issues, overcrowding, class size reduction, even suspension do not necessarily lead to worse academic achievement.  On the other hand, reactive transience due to financial stress, family dysfunction, and housing instability often lead to negative results in student achievement.  The more moves in a school year and over several school years generally indicate a worse outcome.  For more detail see the Urban Institute’s 2009 study “Student Transience in North Carolina.”

Like truancy, student transience can be reduced with relentless determination.  When a student moves to another attendance area, the child stays in the original school for the remainder of the year, a procedure dependent on buses and parent permission.  Speaking of parents, the district can educate parents on the short and long-term consequences to student achievement with constant movement.  In addition, within a school district, the speedy transfer of student records can be improved, especially with data being established on servers that can be accessed by every school.  Of course, over time in a city or region, the availability of low-income housing would ensure that students remain at the school.

Students coming and going increases teacher anxiety as each is preparing to be evaluated on student test scores.  Think, though, about the anxiety for children as teachers go and come and go again when layoffs are the way to balance the school district’s budget.

Students in low-performing schools usually need steady well-structured learning time.  One school in Los Angeles was described recently as losing half its teachers due to last year’s layoffs, and even now six months after school opened for the 2009-2010 school year, some classes are taught by a series of substitutes instead of full-time regular employees.

Teachers need to be in place in the school for an average of five years for the most effective teaching to take place.  What is going to happen in June 2010 as students see new teachers take home all their materials, still unsure of the location or grade level they will be called to teach when 2010-2011 begins?  If they get rehired.  Before the school year begins.

Last, in the Fall it’s a sure thing that some teachers laid off in the Spring will be assigned to a school when the enrollment is stabilized.  Think about the time that will be needed to train the new staff in the strategies, special programs, student discipline procedures, and myriad other details that make each school unique.  In the meantime, students review and wait for the real teaching to start.

Let’s hope student transience doesn’t begin until the transient teachers have had time to lay down the rules of the game.

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Posted in layoff notices, low-performing schools, public schools |
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No blood in those state turnips

Wednesday, March 10th, 2010

Means no $ for Ed

School districts are beginning negotiations with their unions based on their 2010-2011 budget numbers, which are depressing.  If it’s impossible to draw blood from a turnip, just try to wring money from state legislatures for education.

The Colorado legislature is about to claw back $250 million+ from public schools for the ‘10-’11 year.  It will probably take back just as much, if not more, for ‘11-’12.  If school districts don’t have enough reserves, and no one does, they will be going backwards in funding for years.

Money saving tricks

Some districts are freezing salary - no COLA, no steps and levels.  Others are doing furlough days.  Others are charging for transportation.  Others are ending all technology purchases.  Others are emptying administration - no more professional development for teachers or curriculum support!  Others are increasing classroom size by one, two, or three children.  Last but not least, some districts are closing buildings.

No more investing in education!

Investment in education has stopped.  Districts that have made progress in student achievement will probably freeze in place or will start drifting backwards.  After all, if no one is in charge any more of managing the voluminous data underlying each student’s progress, how will the analytical process thrive that supports achievement?

Schools going backward in funding

The largest district in Colorado is about to cut $60 million from a $670 million budget.  The district estimates it will make the same size cut in ‘11-’12, and possibly again in ‘12-’13.  That means that by ‘13-’14, unless miracles happen, the district will be at a budget starting point roughly $180 million below where it is today.  And yet the District is supposed to get every student to meet annual growth targets.

Colorado calculates annual growth against student peers.  Proficient students are measured against proficient students, barely proficient against barely proficient, etc.  So the only good news for schools is that all students in the state are in the same hole, so the lack of annual achievement growth should be relatively similar.  This prediction will assure funding remains at about the same dismal level for all schools in the state.

Not enough tax dollars for education today

Colorado is almost last in state funding per student, at about $7300, even though the state has one of the highest college education levels.  This “Colorado paradox” happens because educated out-of-staters like to come and live here for the mountains.  The state is also reasonably affluent.  But like other western states, including California, citizens prefer to keep their money in their pockets.  Colorado has one of the lowest state income tax and sales tax levels in the country.

How’s that Obama money doing?

ARRA money has bailed districts out in 2010, but now everyone is headed towards a cliff.  What kind of help is the Obama administration offering?  Race to the Top, of course, or as some wags say, slow jog to nowhere.  Really, the $4 billion will go to schools doing education Arne Duncan’s way, which means pay-for-performance and closing non-performing schools or turning them around or starting over.

What does any of that do to help districts whose schools aren’t completely in the doghouse yet (but may be after two or three years of these budget cuts)?

What would you do if you could?

And will pay-for-performance really do the trick with teachers? Schools definitely need something beyond steps and levels, but what should that look like?  Do schools need a more streamlined way to move bad to mediocre teachers out?  Yes.  Do schools need more money for entry level teachers, so education can compete at least marginally with law and medicine for top graduates? Yes.  Do schools need a way to pay off student loans to encourage teachers to work in challenging schools?  Yes.

How about a little extra money for some teacher career tracking - giving teachers money for online course development, professional development of peers, etc.

Get your 30 in and retire

It’s true that some relationship needs to exist between compensation and how well kids learn, but that’s not the whole package.  And frankly, in Colorado, teachers and districts are going to be so busy plowing money into their PERA pension fund, they may not get a raise for years.  They are mostly going to be working for that glorious final moment when they stagger over the 30 year finish line and can get out of education altogether.  Not very pretty, is it?

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Posted in Colorado Budget Crisis, Race to Top, public schools, school accountability, school resources |
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Second Year

Wednesday, August 12th, 2009

School begins the third week in August in my district.  I’m already thinking how to start–what worked last year and what I’ve figured out to make this year better.  Less stressful, less harried, better prepared, more sure of myself.

To make sure things run smoothly I’ve already been to Office Depot (used my coupons), Lakeshore Teacher Supply (carries everything), and The Container Store (the best price on plastic shoebox containers in which to store the supplies).  It’s guaranteed every teacher, young and old, is doing the same thing.

independent reading

independent reading

Lucky for me, I’m teaching the same grade I taught last year.  I’ve planned out the first three weeks, how to get my students into shape for group work and independent work, not to mention which door to exit from and how to be civil in line without me hovering.

I’ve been sorting through my boxes of stuff to take back to school and contemplating the boxes of materials left under my desk and stacked in the corners that belonged to the teacher who taught in this room before me.  All new teachers have this dilemma.  How do you kindly get rid of the accumulated possessions of a teacher who’s moved to another school and not cleaned out the closets?

Here’s where the recession creeps in.  The school district has cut back on support services, that is, fewer maintenance workers to lug away old stuff to make way for the new.

Lest you think I’m merely about the surface things like matching tables, clean carpet, neatly stacked textbooks, enough chairs, room for my computer, let me put your mind at ease.

Now that I know the ropes, I’ve spent the past week planning how to manage my reading time block, hour and a half minimum.  How much to use the textbook every student dislikes, how to organize literature circles, how to provide enough conference time with each child, when and how to teach skill lessons.  It’s complicated in a school that stresses ‘best practices’ and accountability for student achievement.

Same for the language arts/writing time block in the day.  New teachers in California have been coached in the writing process modeled by the local university’s branch of the National Writing Project and coached in 6+1 Traits, a valuable writing assessment tool.  The issue is to design my plan for teaching skills and providing conference time.

Then, there is the new math series.  Hardly different from the old series which was only used for seven years.  Why change?  Because the California State Department of Education requires every district to purchase a new series every six to eight years.  (Same for reading, science, and social studies-on a rolling schedule).

Who benefits?  As the California Education Code says, the books with which I finally feel comfortable are still consistent with the state criteria for content, reflect current and confirmed research, and are based on fundamental skills that rise in depth and complexity.  The math standards have not changed.  Stacks of old texts and support materials are filling warehouses, perfectly good, but not the new series.

Can you imagine how much money is poured into the publisher’s coffers from a new math series bought for 6 million kids in California every seven years?

In the middle of severe California budget cuts, wouldn’t it benefit public schools to adjust the purchasing schedule and hold onto the books we have?  All that money could be well-used to keep, at least, K-1 classes with the 20-1 student/teacher ratio.  Or middle school counseling.  Or after school programs.

What would you do?

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Posted in California budget crisis, highly qualified teachers, public schools, school accountability |
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