UVA tumult highlights reform divide

The following editorial was published in the local paper The Winchester Star on Monday, June 24.  The downside to print: none of the hyperlinks can be included.

     While the paroxysms at UVA still have the public’s attention for the next five minutes, let’s use this as a window of opportunity to clarify the education debate argued over the past decade and already resulting in a fundamental shift in our here-to-fore national treasure: a free and public education for every child. 

      Rector Dragas has accused President Sullivan of not moving fast enough or enacting bold moves mirroring those of a top CEO like herself. Though the charges against Sullivan have been vague, the allusion to operating a public institution as a business hints at the larger argument.

      Whether the public is aware or not, a concerted effort is in process to impose Milton Friedman style, free-market forces on the education of the nation’s youth.  Though the general public seems to buy the argument that competition will foster excellence, competition in education will result in nothing less than the destruction of public schools and a further division in our populace we can ill afford.   Those with money and power will, of course, be able to afford and locate the best.  And those without?  Picture Dicken’s London.

      The push toward privatization has already affected instruction in the state of Virginia and diverted taxpayer monies from the classroom to private industry.  Pearson, the testing giant that continues to tally record profits even in an economic downturn, holds a $110 million contract with the state for administering the SOLs. These are tests teachers may neither see nor question on terms of validity but which determine many high stakes decisions. While public employees are held to “high standards,” online, private contractors are held to none. 

      The largest for-profit online provider in Virginia, K-12 Online, reported third quarter earnings of $178 million (all taxpayer dollars), all without any supporting research on the effectiveness of online instruction.  Meanwhile teachers have lost positions, had salaries frozen and seen increases in class sizes.  Governor McDonnell recently signed into law a new graduation requirement that all students must have one online course, yet another unfunded mandate thrust on localities—again without research. (It is notable that moving toward online instruction has been cited in Sullivan’s dismissal.)

       No sports enthusiast would agree to the unleveled playing field in this contest.

       Currently, the College Board – another testing entity—has used its resources to set up a visual: 857 empty desks on the National Mall representing the number of dropouts every hour.  Though this is unquestionably a national shame, the real irony is that the drop out rate has soared in the face of the current testing mania which has drained resources, narrowed curriculum, and turned classrooms into test-prep, data-collection boredom.  In contrast, high achieving nations test minimally and use results to drive improvements in instruction and teacher training.  We use tests to erode real teaching and vilify public employees—and then recommend more testing.

       What is at stake is this: a shift of public monies into the hands of private entrepreneurs who are currently rewriting rules in their favor.  Across the nation this has taken a variety of forms, (charters, vouchers) most untested but always at the expense of children.

       As the faculty of UVA seems to be currently arguing, education is not a business.  At its fundamental level, education is an act of sharing. The collective knowledge of one generation is passed on to the next.  When competition enters the arena, knowledge becomes the property of the elite, to be bought and sold at the discretion of a limited few.  Losing a free, public education cannot be tolerated.  Starving the public system while bludgeoning it with rules appears to be the plan.

     Thomas Jefferson, founder and spirit of UVA, said it best: "The end of democracy and the defeat of the American Revolution will occur when government falls into the hands of lending institutions and moneyed incorporations."

     Our cherished--and most frequently exported--model of public-education-for-all is halfway there.  

Homeschooling

For the first summer in years the Northern Virginia Writing Project's Summer Institute in the Valley is not meeting.  Sad face.

Though it is a long commitment for teachers, the month-long experience is usually described as invigorating.  It has been for me.  Each year teachers lead each other through successful classroom lessons and ultimately learn to lead each other.  We share, read, discuss, write, and share again.  The synergy is amazing.

I'm going to miss it this summer.  Though I direct the work of the teachers, each year the influx of ideas restores my energy and engagement in the classroom work throughout the school year.  The relationships formed between committed teachers is uplifting.  This experience, often cited as the among the best offered in professional development, has proven repeatedly that facilitating discussions among professional teachers is where the real reform in education resides.

But I don't have to miss out on the conversations and insights of my colleagues.  Part of my plan for the summer is to continue learning, from home.

If you haven't taken advantage of the multiplicity of resources that have exploded for teachers who want to learn from and with each other, then you are missing out on opportunities to "steal" from the best.

Here's a list of resources that I'll be accessing on long summer afternoons to refresh my teaching next year and stay connected with teaching professionals.  Some have a minimal cost.  Others are free for the taking.  All are Language Arts related.  If you have great resources you access regularly in your subject area, please share in the comments below.

Low tech:  A pile of books have accumulated.  Two I hope to tackle are Doing Literary Criticism by Tim Gillespie (been eyeing that one since December) and The Digital Writing Workshop by Troy Hicks (still working on getting more kids digitally literate.)  Already read, with new Virginia SOLs and Common Core Standards in mind: Teaching Argument Writing, Grades 6-12 by George Hillocks.

If you are into learning from books, both Heineman and Stenhouse (links above) are consistent producers of teacher written and tested professional books. Most are written with busy educators in mind (clean, approachable text), frequently include student stories, and almost always have extremely useful appendices.

For the digital natives Stenhouse is reviving its summer Blogstitute.  Starting on June 25 teachers can log in and start learning from some of their well known authors.  All free.

One of my low tech go-to sources is the Advanced Placement list serve.  Though this dinosaur in the current connectivity world of blogs, twitters, and social networking is about to be upgraded (one course at a time) the daily deluge of emails from AP teachers all across the nation is invaluable.  Of course you'll need a method of organizing this flood.  I learned my organization method from monitoring two other early list serves, both of which connect teachers from all over the nation: The Journalism Education Association and the Teacher Leaders Network.

If you really want to get cutting edge, set up a twitter account and start reading and following the feeds on your mobile phone.  Here's a guide to getting going: Twitter Handbook for Teachers.  And if that's not enough to blow your mind, go back to paper and read Sheryl Nussbaum Beach's new book The Connected Educator: Learning and Leading in the Digital Age.  The text takes you one step at a time further into the world of online learning, teaching, and sharing.

Finally, here is the future of PD:  Web 2.0 Discussion Boards.  The best example of a connected community of learners is Jim Burke's English Companion.   If there are other subject-area discussion boards out there, chime in.  This is clearly the way professional discussions are headed.  In the interactive forum, teachers ask questions, find answers, share blogs, learn in book discussion groups-often with authors as part of the group, and even post handouts and other materials.

For those who want to follow policy or education related issues (or anything else of that matter) I highly recommend Zite.  This app acts as an aggregator of the web and - on an iPad - has a clean magazine feel.  You simply select your own sections and the app delivers the latest to your phone or iPad--a quick and easy way to keep track of your favorites.  By indicating whether or not you liked the source, the aggregator adjusts to reflect your interests.  Blogs, news articles, online magazines are all included.  A good way to find out what is happening in cyberspace.

Still, in spite of all the free online forums there is nothing I've found to replace the immediacy and intellectual stimulation of teachers working together around classroom issues in a face-to-face setting.  But in the meantime I'll continue to learn from the best without letting geography get in the way.

Now, if I could only get recertification points for all this new knowledge....

Year Round School, please?

I've been on summer break for six days and already feel like a new person.

After clearing the clutter from a year's worth of classroom activity, I started in on my home.  And my health.  In six days I've resumed a daily habit of exercise and zoomed through closets in every room and the basement removing the clutter from nine months of running in and out, all things household having been tabled because teaching means a twelve-hour day, plus weekends.

In between running and cleaning I've read three novels and a professional book.

It's refreshing.  I feel great.

And yet, I still face ten more weeks of unstructured time before returning to kids and the classroom.

It's too long.

A school year is intense.  Even more so as kids and teachers face the current climate of testing.  For the classroom teacher, testing has meant the added stress of consulting data and making sure every child receives services to improve scores. It is high pressure work.  Sometimes if a task takes 30 seconds  to complete that can be too long.  The next expectation/need/focus of attention is already flying full throttle at classroom teachers.

For kids, it means cramming in multiple college-level courses or sitting for days on end and bubbling in answers on high-stakes tests.  (And then re-testing, remediating, re-testing).

So a break is welcome.  Unfortunately, eleven weeks is a ridiculously long break for both kids and teachers.

We all know about summer loss.  But what are we doing to learning and health when we cram a year's worth of instruction, sports, music programs, field trips, and make-or-break testing into nine months?

For the top students the intensity of the year can mean sacrificing health for grades as a recent New York Times article revealed students resorting to snorting amphetamines to garner the stamina to keep up with schoolwork--all at the cost of a developing brain and good health.

For struggling students, the long summer break is a wasteland.  With working parents (or parent) most low income students are confined to their block, their television, and a poor diet.  None conducive to learning.  The loss to learning over the extended summer break has long been documented.

I'm not a fan of a longer school day.  More cognitive work piled on top of more cognitive work does not mean that kids will advance.  In fact, our brains need some down time in order to make sense of what has been happening in our minds.  Only when we rest after learning is our experience processed by the brain.  We need rest in order to move learning into long term memory. (Here's an argument against teaching courses in a semester block.  Ninety-minute blocks everyday allow little to no time for processing.)

Some of these things we've known for years.  Others are just becoming apparent through continued brain study.  I'd love to give our Education system an 'A' for applying our new knowledge about how we learn to the school calendar.

Year round schooling could accommodate shorter breaks (two-three weeks) interspersed throughout the year.  Imagine students and teachers alike feeling, at regular intervals, as I do now. Rested and restored.  It might also improve the health of educators and reduce other costs.

Believe me, the tourism industry would adjust.

What's your take?  How long is your school break?  And wouldn't everyone benefit from rest?

The Appreciation Season

We have just come through the month of May when every service group enjoys its season of appreciation, among them soldiers, mothers, and teachers.

I wish it would stop.

The rhetoric surrounding these days or weeks of honors are hollow and as substantial as a magnetic yellow ribbon on the back of a gas-guzzling SUV.  Offering those who do the grunt work of a nation--defense from enemies, tools to fight poverty and oppression, providing and maintaining life--merely elevated lip-service and a ceremony is the height and breadth of cynicism.

I have not been in the military service nor have I been a police officer or a firefighter -- occupations that could result in the ultimate sacrifice, the loss of life -- but I have been on the receiving end of many, many days and weeks of "appreciation."  Personally, I find them to be a barrier to real progress in valuing service.

Mother's Day came to be reviled even by its founder Anna Jarvis, who saw it commercialized and a boon to greeting card companies--the previous century's magnetic ribbon.  Our current display of support is most likely to be made in China.

With three children of my own I am no stranger to the demands of a role that requires years of sacrifice and compassion.  Raising children was so important to my husband and I that I left the workforce for a dozen years to ensure an enriching environment.  I feel "appreciated" on a daily basis when I see how well they turned out, when they thank me by choosing to spend time with us or by asking for advice for their own children.  I also feel lucky to have been in a position to provide this full time mothering.  Few mothers today are as fortunate as I.

Teachers, on the other hand, are afforded an entire week of appreciation.  This usually involves notes in the teacher mailbox, some food, maybe a knick-knack like (another) tote bag or a coffee cup.  All of them stating some form of "We LOVE our teachers."  Most of this is meaningless to the teacher but it somehow assuages the givers' conscience.

My true "teacher appreciation" is a file I keep just for myself with meaningful notes from students or parents who have felt that something I have done has been beneficial in their lives.  Now that means something.

Well-meaning citizens are often involved in these sometimes laborious displays of support.  Why would I object to extensions of kindness?

The very act of extending appreciation to a group is one that places the receiver in a subordinate role, perhaps one who thrives on prizes or rewards, like children.  It keeps us dependent and subservient.  ("Well we thanked you, didn't we?")  When we state we'd rather be paid more the comeback is always "You knew you'd never be paid much when you started this gig."  Funny that no one says that any more. After the economic downturn our pittance is now decried as living fat off the state dole.  Sigh.

Meaningful appreciation would be displayed everyday and reveal a society which honors the values that it claims to uphold.  Those who are compensated fairly for their worth do not need a day or week of appreciation.  Have we every honored doctors or lawyers or upper-level management?  Who needs to?  Their needs and self-worth are more than met.

Drop the facade and do what is right when those who expend their lives doing what others cannot or will not.  Here is what real appreciation looks like:

• affordable, safe child care and preschool for working mothers
• affordable, accessible health care for growing children, veterans, teachers, firefighters
• retirement that ensures that those who served our nation do not die in poverty (mothers like myself who are out of the workforce for an extended time sacrifice more than time.  Lifetime earnings and contributions to social security are also reduced.)
• salaries that reflect the importance of the work done.  At the very least, employees should be able to afford to live where they work.

High Anxiety Schooling vs. Its Polar Opposite

Yesterday I attended a local viewing of two education documentaries - The Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting for Superman and The Finland Phenomenon.  (Disclaimer: I provided the copy of The Inconvenient Truth.)

The differences in the films are stark.

The first film was created by teachers who currently are working in the New York Public Schools and fighting from a grassroots perspective against the Mayor-Bloomberg-run public schooling system.  The filmmakers do a decent job of connecting the dots between the private monied interests and school reform. The private charters co-opt public funds for private profits and the results (or lack of them) are unfairly judged.

The public schools are routinely held accountable while charters are given a sweet deal with none of the accountability public schools face.  For instance, charters are allowed to "co-locate" with public schools. That means they get the physical resources of public schools while literally pushing the public school children into the basement.  In addition, charters can remove students from their rolls, thus forcing them back on the public schools.  This has resulted in test scores that look great over time.  Charter scores rise as the student population decreases. Generally the high-poverty or disabled are forced out.

The tenor of the film is explosive.  There is documentation of public meetings where parents and students are screaming at public officials to take their concerns seriously and to promise an equitable education for all rather than turning citizens against each other in lotteries where a student's future is left to chance.  That is followed by lots of evidence that the charters are not what they appear to be and that many of the celebrated results come from cooking the books.

The Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting for Superman is anxiety producing in the extreme.

After that we watched the film on Finland.

The mood and tone of this film is calm and inspiring -- as is the Finnish system of schooling.

Following the film every adult in attendance wanted to know: How do we get that in our country?

Here is what was learned from the Finnish school system:

• In the 70's the country recognized that human capital was their chief resource, and they needed to ensure that all children were educated well.
• The nation determined the purpose of schooling (see above) and dedicated resources toward that end.
• They set a national curriculum which is simple but clear and allows localities to meet the standards in a locally-situated context.
• Teacher preparation was studied and reformed.  Applicants must meet rigorous standards before entering the schools of ed.  All teachers have undergraduate degrees in their subject area and are at the top of their class before pursuing the two-year Masters program in teaching.  Now, after 25 years, there are routinely more applicants than can be accommodated in the programs.
• Once in, the novices watch master teachers, meet in collaborative groups to debrief lessons, share their lessons prior to teaching them, tinker with them in collaborative groups following the lessons, are given time to collaborate and plan, and then work hard to make sure that lessons are focused on giving students adequate time to discover their learning through projects and other student-centered activities.
• Once employed, these well-trained teachers are trusted to do their work.  There are no "accountability" systems.
• Teachers spend a little over half the time in front of students than American teachers.  (600 hours versus our 1100).
• Teachers stay in their careers throughout their lifetime.  The profession is honored and highly sought after.  Compensation, once the teacher has gone through a probationary period, is equivalent to other professions.

There were other surprises:

• Students don't start formal schooling until the age of 7. (There is a one-year preschool, state sponsored.)
• There is very little homework.
• Students are in school fewer hours than American students. (But schools are for learning only and there are no distractions like sporting events and so forth.)
• There is minimal emphasis on testing.  There is a graduation examination.  Any other testing is used to inform instruction.
• All students are taught together - no tracking of ability.
• Teachers expend lots of time on planning lessons which ensure that students feel calm - not stressed.
• In high school (grades 10-12), students can choose between an academic or vocational track.  Both are equally valued and honored (and supported in the above manner).  Unlike the German schooling system there are no placement tests for this.  Students are not forced into either track.
• If a student changes his or her mind mid-way through, the shift from vocational to academic or vice-versa is equally accommodated, with no stigma either way.
• Students can opt to do some programs in two, three, or four years - their choice.  Again, no stigma to these choices.  (Students spoke about the programs and why some might choose one over another, and it was clear the students saw a logical rationale in why a child might make different choices.)
• Finland spends less per child than we do.  (Please note above: teachers are paid well, but the stability of the teaching force results is spending less, not more.  We spend LOTS of money on recruiting and training and testing and testing and testing....only to do it all over again in just a few years...)
• Facilities are equal in terms of equipment.  (They appeared bright and clean...and calm.)
• Everything a student needs during the school day is provided.  That includes meals and snacks.
• Class sizes are kept small.

Certainly all this touchy-feely stuff couldn't result in real learning?!  Where's the nose-to-the-grindstone effort needed for success?

Finland routinely beats out all other nations in performance by their students.  By comparison the US has been ranking around 17th when stacked up against other industrialized nations-- though individual school systems pulled out can routinely out-perform all nations -- and our ranking has been falling.

My colleagues sometimes argue that our high level of poverty is more of a deterrent to learning than teaching conditions and argue that Finland does not face the levels of poverty we have.  And with that I would agree.  Nearly 1 in 4 students in the US live in poverty and that level of stress is never conducive to learning.  Finland's poverty rate is around 4% (rather than our 22%).

But we have done nothing in the past ten years but compound the stress our students and teachers face.  And we have the lack of results to show for it.

If facilities were equal... If teachers were well-trained, trusted, and honored...  If class sizes were small...  If the emphasis were on learning rather than testing... If students felt that moving at a more individualized pace were acceptable...  If the choice between vocational vs. academic learning were encouraged...

If, if, if.  

Surely we would do better--poverty and all.

Down the Rabbit Hole

Thank goodness for the recent "Pineapple Story" on the New York State reading exam for eighth graders.

The story the students were asked to read and the multiple choice questions based on the story were so patently absurd* that they became the talk of the eighth grade and finally the talk of the city of New York itself.  (If you read the story, be sure to read the comments.  Many claim they would have to be under the influence of drugs in order to comprehend both the story and any logical choice in the questions.)

*Can you imagine being an eighth grader who knows the importance of the tests to both your own future and your teachers'--and then being faced with this nonsensical story and its ridiculous questions?  If you think there isn't a moral question in all that's been foisted on our children, think again.

Finally, the conditions teachers have faced and the impossible game we have been asked to play--and its unsettling, bizarre landscape may be clear to the general public.

Let's hope.

Teachers have argued for ten years that the accountability game is rigged.  We can't see the tests in advance.  We can't discuss the tests afterwards.  We cannot give students feedback on the tests.  We cannot argue the validity of questions. (We can't see the tests, remember?)  We don't know who is evaluating our students.  We get scores too late to help anyone in terms of instruction.

Incidentally, we also don't think the testing mandates are reflective of either good instruction or good evaluation.

Gosh.  Even sports coaches get to scout out the competition before a game.

Suppose this were a football game and the opposing team said: "We're going to change the rules, but we won't tell you the new rules.  And we are going to bring our own referees, and you can't see their credentials.  And we will provide the score at the end of the game and there will be no discussion.  For all of this you will provide a LOT of money for the referees, the new rule books, and the upgraded, state of the art (online) playing field.  And if your team loses just ONCE we will declare the whole league a failure."   Add to that scenario that some of players on the team will arrive with only half the equipment, underfed, perhaps homeless....

You get the picture.  I think most sports fans would protest.  Sadly, most citizens do not pay even half as much attention to education policy as they do to big-league sporting events.

Meanwhile, there has been a huge media campaign to discredit teachers.

The narrative goes like this:

Teachers get a job for life.  They don't work very hard.  If they did, all the children would be successful.  They can't be trusted to evaluate children and their work.  Teachers are a drain on public monies.  They need to be watched ('cause they are sneaky cheaters who are gorging on public money).

And who is watching the hen house?  Large testing companies.

And who is scoring the tests?  Temporary workers.  (If I think about it, I get really angry about this.  With my master's degree, various publications, years devoted to improving instruction in writing, I am trumped by a $11/hour employee who may only have a high school degree......  I try not to think about it.)

And who is writing the tests?  Whoever they can find.

But let's be clear.  The rules are just a fog of distraction.  Improving schools was never the goal.

The real goal is to dismantle public education.

Getting teachers and policymakers to discuss the minutiae of testing rules, test questions, testing windows, extended days, salaries, training, while simultaneously expending time and energy in discrediting for-profit providers is a lot like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.

Everybody is kept busy playing "whack a mole" while the gorilla saunters by in the background and walks off with everything.

There's a lot of money to be made off the taxpayer's, and those who wrote the rules to the game we've been playing always intended to win.  They were just playing a different game: privatize and then profit off the giant education pie that is just waiting to be divvied up between the hedge fund managers.

The plan is working.

But maybe these bizzaro, alternate-reality test questions will get the public's attention.

Go ahead.  Read the test questions.  Then welcome to my world.

The Coming Police State

Years back, my daughters and I took a quick trip to New York to soak up urban life, shop, and visit a broadway show.  On the way north, we were pulled over by a Pennsylvania State Police officer.  It was just one of a series of interesting experiences I witnessed while traveling with two attractive, college co-eds.

It was an upsetting stop.  We were in traffic in the pouring rain on the two-lane, curvy Pennsylvania Turnpike.  The officer put on his lights while I was in the passing lane - doing the speed limit.  I'd seen the state car because it had been behind us for quite some time.  In fact, it had at first passed us and then dropped back and followed us.

To pull over, I had to negotiate crossing a lane and find a safe spot on a narrow shoulder up against a guardrail overlooking a precipitous drop in the Alleghenies.

It was kind of scary.

Next, the police officer comes to the window and explains that I did not use a turn signal when changing lanes and that this was a dangerous practice.  Really?  I asked.  More dangerous than pulling to the side of a narrow, teeming highway in the pouring rain?

He then changed the subject and began to chat-up my daughter (remarking, oddly, about a brightly colored bird on the shoulder) who was sitting in the passenger seat fuming.  It was clear the stop was intended as an opportunity to talk with the young women in the car.

I've thought about this incident all week in light of the recent Supreme Court decision to allow strip searches for even minor traffic violations.  I did talk back to the officer, politely I think, who was pleasant enough in spite of his lack of good sense.  There were no charges.  He wished us a good day.

I've thought of this all week because of the way the incident could have ended if this week's ruling had been the law of the land.  

I've thought of it all week because I have seen already how quickly a modern society can become a suppressive regime.  (Read the graphic novel Persepolis to find out what happened almost overnight to the women of Iran.)

The Supreme Court Justices' ruling was activist in the extreme since it is goes even further than standards set by the American Correctional Association, the U.S. Marshals, and ten states' existing laws against unnecessary strip-search.

I do not like what is happening in this country. 

A minority seems to be reigning in everyone's freedoms in the name of who-knows-what. And the rights of women and minorities seem to be at the top of the list.  Michigan has rescinded  majority-black municipalities' rights to democracy.  Arizona has banned books and courses of study.  Wisconsin has reduced women's health care rights.  And my own state of Virginia is forcing women to receive and pay for medically unnecessary ultrasounds when requesting their legally protected right to an abortion.

Sadly, there is more.  Too much to list here.  Probably the worst is the concerted effort of the Republican lead legislatures to disenfranchise as many voters as possible.   These recently passed laws do not reflect the wishes of the majority but have been churned by the well financed group ALEC.  I can only think that most of the citizenry--if they were aware--would be alarmed by the recent strip-search ruling.

This is scary.

Think about your daughters.