Year: 2013

A Teachable Moment on Columbus Day

Eduflack civics, Parents

So Eduflack comes from a proud Italian-Amerian family (at least on my paternal side).  My paternal grandfather, the man I was named after, was born Ponzion Ricciardelli.  He was first generation American.  His family came in through Boston, instead of Ellis Island, and you can still find a slew of Ricciardellis stomping around Beantown.

He changed his name to Patrick Riccards in the 1950s, but the pride in our heritage never changed.  My father’s mother is both a Finelli and a Peron (yes, our family is partly responsible for Evita’s 15 and a half minutes of fame).  And as the genealogy goes, I am also descendent of proud Italians who fought on Garibaldi’s right hand in the liberation of Italy itself.
Over the weekend, my princesa, now in the first grade, began telling me all she learned this week about Christopher Columbus.  Typically, Columbus is another one of those pride points for an Italian-American family.  She told me about the three ships and how he sailed, and how he came to America to “discover a land for you and me.”
Those who know me know that both of my children are adopted from Guatemala.  And they know how proud we are of that, as a family.  Both my kids know they are adopted.  They both know about Guatemala  And they both fight us each week as they have to get up extra early for their weekly Spanish class before school starts.  We want them to be proud of their heritage, both that which they were born into and that into which they were adopted.
So imagine my surprise as I took this lesson as a teachable moment to remind my princesa of where she comes from.  First, I congratulated her for all that she had learned and the poem she had written about Columbus.  I then explained to her how she is descendent of the Mayan civilization, and the advances they achieved and how much they had done well before Columbus ever set foot on North America. 
We talked about what descendent meant, about what the Mayan did, and to remind he of where she came from.  She seemed to get most of it.  Asked a few additional questions, then went back to playing with her horses.
In years past, Columbus Day was always one of those great points of pride.  It is still true.  And while I am one of the last people who would ever be called “politically correct,” I found the need to explain, to make sure my kids shared the same pride about their heritage that I do, and understand that there is often more to the story than they might originally hear.
Heritage in an adopted family can be a tricky thing.  By blood, my kiddos are Guatemalan with Mayan ancestry.  On my paternal side, I have my proud Italian-American family.  On my maternal side, I am German-Irish-Scottish, with the Scots bringing a family tie to William the Bruce (of Braveheart fame) and of an alleged witch who was stoned to death in the village square.
The edu-wife offers up a paternal side of Russian Jews.  On her maternal side, she is descendent of an actual signer of the Declaration of Independence (from the Commonwealth of Virginia) and a pirate of the same era.  
We are the American melting pot.  So on this Columbus Day, I am proud of my heritage and equally proud of where my children come from.  I am proud of the Ricciardellis immigrating through Boston, and of my two kiddos immigrating through Houston as I helped them get sworn in as citizens in the bowels of Bush International Airport as they were seven and 13 months old.
Life is full of teachable moments.  I’m glad I was able to take advantage of this one and hope my kids will be able to share the same moment as they explain where they come from and what makes them who they are today, be it Mayan Guatemalan, Italian Catholic, Russian Jew, and pirate.
 

We Changed Our Minds, Don’t Move

Eduflack accountability, Students

The nanny state seems to be at it again.  The good folks over at the U.S. Post Office decided a while back to issue a series of postage stamps to raise awareness for First Lady Michelle Obama’s “Just Move” campaign.  For those living under a rock these past four years, “Just Move” is an advocacy effort to get young people active and leading a healthy lifestyle.

This week, reports say that USPS has decided to destroy the entire run of “Just Move” stamps that were printed as part of the effort.  No, it wasn’t because they are looking to raise the cost of stamps again.  All of these lovely sheets of colorful stamps are being destroyed because they depict “unsafe” behaviors.  
The sheets in question depict a range of fun physical activities that kids can be to “Just Move” and be active.  And just what are these supposed “unsafe” acts found on the stamps?  The sheets include illustrations of a boy doing a cannonball dive, a skateboarder without knee or elbow pads, a baseball player without a helmet, and my personal favorite, a child doing a handstand without a helmet.
Seriously?  I’ll spare readers the “back in my day” stories about all of the dangerous activities we partook in just being children of the 1970s.  But we now can’t have illustrated stamps without the requisite helmets and pads?
Guess ol’ Eduflack will now be on the lookout for the stamps with the kids wrapped in bubble wrap.  

Teachers and the Morals Clause

Eduflack Parents, teachers

Down in Texas, it seems some parents have their knickers in a twist over the latest revelation regarding a Spanish teacher at a Dallas-area magnet school.  The teacher in question is Cristy Nicole Deweese.  Seems she has always wanted to be a Spanish teacher, and she is now living the dream.  And now a local mom is leading a crusade to have her removed from the classroom immediately.

Her sin?  When she was 18 years old and in college, Deweese posed for Playboy magazine.  In fact, she was “Coed of the Month” in the February 2011 edition of the mag.  Now her old photos are being circulated and the moral crusaders have kicked in.  Huffington Post has a good recap of the issue here.
Eduflack appreciates that teachers are held to a higher standard than most, particularly in the public eye.  And as a former school board chairman, I appreciate the morals language that is in most educators’ contracts, allowing the school and the school district to look out for the best interests of the community and the students.
But what, exactly, is Deweese’s fireable sin?  As a legal adult (18 years old) she legally posed for a magazine that is legal (for most) to purchase.  She broke no laws, committed no seeable offense.  And even if we might have a personal objection to a choice she made at the start of her adulthood, it was done years before she ever became a teacher.  
I presume that Deweese attended a college of education in Texas, passed her courses, and earned her degree.  She took all the requisite steps to secure a teaching license.  She even managed to impress veteran educators by securing a teaching job in a local magnet school.  She did everything that one asks of those entering the profession.
In all of the articles written on the subject, no one seems to reflect on what sort of teacher she was.  And since the school hasn’t taken action, I’m going to assume she is a pretty good newbie teacher, good enough that no one is acting too rashly.
I get that some folks, particularly down in the Lone Star State, may have problems with Playboy and the magazine’s industry in general.  But that’s hardly a reason to trash this woman’s career before it even starts.  Sure, there are pictures out there.  But at the end of the day, they aren’t much different than the pictures one sees of coeds on Facebook or Instagram or Flickr.  The world is changing, and folks just share too much of those images to begin with.
What’s next?  The new president of Cinnabon was a Hooter’s waitress to put herself through college.  Should we now boycott our cinnamon buns because she once wore tight orange shorts and a low-cut top when she was slinging wings?  I’m guessing there are photos of that too.
With so much we need to worry about to ensure that our kids are getting the public educations that they both deserve and we all should feel obligated to provide, can’t we start focusing on what is really important?  Can’t we focus on her skills and abilities as a teacher?  Are we really saying that the (legal) things we did or said or captured when we were 18 are now grounds from keeping us from our chosen professions and personal paths once we become more responsible adults?
Let Cristy Nicole teach.  Who knows?  If all this means just a few more boys pick up Spanish language skills, we might be thanking her for it later.
  

Common Sense Discussion on Common Core

Eduflack accountability, CCSS

While there is a great deal of discussion these days on the Common Core State Standards, much of it is being done at emotional levels that are just too high to be valuable.  Lots of red-meat rhetoric, plenty of vitriol, and a few scare tactics for good measure.  It makes for a wholly unproductive discussion.

But it seems that there are some level-headed, productive conversations going on out there on CCSS, its implementation, and how we can make it work.
Such a conversation can be heard out in South Dakota, where earlier this month SD Secretary of Education Melody Schopp and two local school superintendents were part of a thoughtful television program on CCSS and its impact on the Mount Rushmore State.
The full program can be found here.  Kudos to KELOLAND TV in Sioux Falls for taking the time and making the investment to have such an important discussion for the local community.
Thanks to my friend Fred Deutsch, a thoughtful school board member (and avid cyclist) in South Dakota.
It seems that common sense is finally starting to break through the posturing.  Discussions such as these are one sign of that.  Another is the Business Roundtable now calling for a panel to vet CCSS-aligned teaching materials.  It’s almost enough to make us think that some folks really want to get this right.
I know it is silly, but I do believe …  

Where Are the Parents in Education Nation?

Eduflack CCSS, Media, Parents, school boards, Students, teachers

With day one of the 2013 Education Nation Summit in the books, and day two offering up a terrific array of speakers, one has to be impressed.  Throughout yesterday’s program, participants heard from many of the nation’s leading education voices — superintendents, national organization heads, entrepreneurs, innovators, and all-around visionaries.

Spotlights were placed on new initiatives designed to spark new thinking.  There was even a constant reminder of an ongoing student competition, seeking to signal the best of the best in young education innovation.
Today promises tales from the celebrity sector of education, as names such as Tony Bennett (the I Left My Heart in San Francisco singer, not the I Left My Post in Florida state supe) and Goldie Hawn slated to address the audience.
In watching the 1 percent of the education community, if you will, though, Eduflack was left with a lingering question.  Where were the parents?  Where were the voices of those caregivers left to decide which school provides the greatest opportunity for their kids?  Where were the mothers worried about school safety or the fathers concerned about their son dropping out without employment opportunities?  Where were the parents in the academical village?
As a lead up to the two-day summit, NBC now offers two town halls to address some of these stakeholder issues.  Education Nation first offered up a summit with students, which is always an eye-opening and interesting development.  It also provided a town hall for teachers, letting educators discuss many of struggles and concerns they are facing each day in the classroom.
One can argue that these two voices also needed to be front and center during the two-summit itself.  No, I’m not talking the celebrity teacher who is trying to make a name for himself with his latest crusade.  Nor am I talking about the student who is on the cusp of curing cancer before being named homecoming queen and student body president.  I’m talking about those very real voices who can speak to the struggles and the victories that we see in classrooms across the nation.
Those are the voices that should be in there at the New York Public Library.  As those in the know are discussing the impacts and intents of Common Core State Standards, we should also be hearing from parents concerned with the amount of testing their children receive and whether any of those assessments measure if their child is ready for the rigors of college or not.
As the leaders in the field are discussing blended learning, its merits, and how it presents itself, we should also be hearing from parents who wonder how they provide it to their child when they don’t have internet access at home or can’t afford the latest tablet that everyone is gushing about.
Yes, Education Nation plays a valuable role in these ongoing discussions that drive our community.  It is important for the movers and shakers to get together and hear these discussions and understand many of the policy and instructional issues facing our schools.
But it is just as important for voices from the rest of the nation to be heard.  It isn’t enough to say that parents and local school boards and other such actors can watch Education Nation on the Internet.  We need engagement, not just information.  We need a give and take of ideas, not just the consumption of data.
Eduflack doesn’t mean to pick on Education Nation. The same could be said about virtually any education conference or summit these days.  At least Education Nation makes the effort at convening students and educators beforehand as part of the kick-off town halls.
In reality, Education Nation is made up of millions of parents and caregivers and volunteers and educators and other stakeholders who are unable to get into the room.  How do we ensure that their voice is heard during the process?  It is a challenge NBC and its partners are up to, and it is a puzzle that the entire education community should be committed to solving.

Demonstrating True Educational Leadership

Eduflack accountability, Students, teachers

We have all heard the stories.  A school run by the popularity of its sports programs.  Athletes who ruled the school.  Student-athletes provided all sorts of special exceptions.  Thanks to both 1980s movies and very real activities, the entire tale has become almost cliche.

So much so that we have all just accepted it as the norm.  Student-athletes hold a special position in many public schools.  In many ways, they rule the school.
That is why it is so refreshing to see the actions recently taken by Matt Labrum, the head football coach of Union High School in Roosevelt, Utah.  Football can be big business in Utah (it is no Florida, Texas, or Ohio, but you can guess the Friday night lights are just as bright).  Labrum is an educator.  An as such, he was concerned when he heard that many on his team were skipping class.  And he was downright bothered when told that his players were engaged in cyberbullying of other classmates.
So the football coach drew his own red line.  Following a recent game, Coach Labrum suspended his entire high school football team.  All student-athletes were relieved of their position.  All were told to turn in their equipment and jerseys.  The football team was shut down, as a result of behaviors not befitting student leaders.
As Cameron Smith of Yahoo Sports reports, it is having quite an impact:

“We looked at it as a chance to say, ‘Hey, we need to focus on some other things that are more important than winning a football game,'” Labrum told the Deseret News. “We got an emotional response from the boys. I think it really meant something to them, which was nice to see that it does mean something. There was none of them that fought us on it.”

The early results, as documented in this terrific feature from the Deseret News, has been remarkable. Players showed up at school the following day — a Saturday — at 7 a.m. and were told how they could re-earn a spot on the team. Teenagers have been cleaning up area streets as part of new team-mandated community service work. They are attending character classes during hours when they previously would have been practicing.

Just as importantly, the team’s natural leaders are starting to realize that they need to be more vocal and step in to help those teammates who go astray. A key part of Labrum’s decision to suspend the entire team was borne of his frustration that the players who did live up to his expectations were not rising up taking control of the locker room. Now, that is changing. Only two of the team’s seven original captains were re-elected during the team meeting the day after the Judge Memorial loss.

Such actions are never easy.  It isn’t every coach that is willing to cancel his season or take such a step.  And it certainly isn’t every student-athlete who can respond to such an action in a meaningful, positive way.  But the action and reaction in Roosevelt is one that gives us hope.  We have leaders and learners who are able to do the right thing.  And we have students who are willing to admit their shortcomings, take responsibility without blaming others, and change their behaviors for the better.
In an era where we only seem to hear about bad behaviors, both in our public schools and in sports, Coach Labrum and Union High help us find some nugget of good.  Well done, Coach!

Is the Bell Tolling for CCSS?

Eduflack accountability, assessment, CCSS, high-stakes testing

“Is this the beginning of the end for our caped crusader?”

Yesterday, Florida Gov. Rick Scott ordered the State of Florida to withdraw from Common Core State Standards assessments and its financial relationship with PARCC.  For those who have been watching Florida, this should be no surprise.  Scott is concerned with his upcoming re-election.  He is reading the tea leaves, particularly with Republicans, that CCSS are unpopular (just look at the growing number of anti-CCSS state groups on Facebook).  So for a governor with poor poll numbers, it seems natural that he would take a move that would shore up anti-federal intrusion Republicans who comforting anti-high-stakes teaching Democrats and independents.
So no, we shouldn’t be shocked that Florida’s governor wants out of CCSS testing.  But in the online tsunami following his decree, one important piece was overlooked.  He didn’t call for Florida to pull out of CCSS itself (yet).  Scott has just folded the state’s cards in the assessment game.
The more troubling development seems to be happening west of the Sunshine State in Louisiana.  In the Pelican State, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal is starting to raise concerns with the CCSS themselves.  Using phrases like “federalized curriculum,” Jindal is taking issue with the very standards he helped champion in the early days.  Now we have Jindal talking about the need for “Louisiana, not Washington, DC, standards.”
While it makes for some nice red-meat rhetoric, Jindal knows better.  These aren’t DC standards.  These are national standards, developed in large part by the states themselves, to raise the bar for all kids and help make them all college and career ready, at least in English and math.  And if Jindal really wants Louisiana standards, he better look back to the downright pathetic standards the state had just a decade ago, where the goal seemed to be providing all Louisiana students access to a mediocre public education, if they were lucky.
We’ve now reached the point where we are playing some dangerous political games with classroom learning.  Scott and Jindal may be scoring points on the campaign trail (or on Jindal’s hopeful road to the White House), but they are both being disingenuous about the issues.  Higher standards are important for our more transient student population, and are necessary if we expect all students to graduate from high school college and career ready.  And like it or not, we do need assessments that actually measure student progress against those higher standards.
Both of these politicians have their own reasons for doing what they are doing and saying what they are saying. But let’s not read too much into these announcements.  No states are required to sign onto CCSS, and Louisiana wouldn’t be the only state not to participate (just ask friends in Texas, Minnesota, or Virginia.)  And of the 40-some states that are part of CCSS, they aren’t required to be part of the CCSS assessments.  The two consortia are there to help reduce costs on testing by creating a common test that states could then enhance to meet their own needs.  If a state like Florida wants to spend significantly more to keep its own test, that is its right.
No, this isn’t the beginning of the end of CCSS.  While many “sky is falling” folks will see this as such (particularly those who have distain for CCSS in the first place), this is just the latest bump in the road.  Let’s actually get the aligned curriculum in the classroom, let’s give teachers content-based PD, and let’s get the tests up and running before we condemn CCSS to its untimely demise.

Phonetically Supporting Young Readers

Eduflack Parents, reading, teachers

Typically, Eduflack looks at education issues through a policy or a reform or a communications lens.  But I’m also fortunate enough to be parent.  A parent of a first and a second grader.

Last week was Back to School night at the kiddos’ school.  One of the most refreshing documents I’ve seen in quite a while came from my daughter’s first grade teacher (a “boy teacher,” she keeps reminding me).  In preparing parents for how they can support their children’s path to reading, he offered the following letter:
“Der Parints,
Az ur child brings hom riting 4 the frst tim, doo not b srprizd at the spelling. The inglish langwij iz a confuzing langwiz 2 lrn. Insisting that stoodents uz ‘correct’ spelling nhibits thair dzir and abilite 2 rit. We aftn uz ‘phonetic’ speling in r wrk.
Az parints, u can hlp ur child bi praising awl thair riting. Let ur child red thair riting 2 u. Displa thair riting around ur hows. No that az ur child bcums fumilyr with the inglish langwij throo reding and riting, he or she wil mak the tranzishun to ‘correct’ speling.
Thank u 4 ur suport,”
Kudos to my daughter’s teacher and all of the other educators out there who help in this way.  While such a letter may confuse some parents, it is just the sort of focus we all need to remember the reading and writing process, to support a phonics-based instructional approach, and to ensure our children become strong readers and writers.
 

Cracking the Books at the SDEs

Eduflack accountability

In recent weeks, we’ve seen public polls from PDK and others, where those surveyed claim that the public schools are vastly underfunded.  At the same time, though, we see that per-pupil expenditures — particularly at our largest urban districts — have never been higher than they are today.  Somewhere, there has to be a disconnect between the actual costs of public education and the perception of how our financial commitment is falling short.

Earlier this month, the Cato Institute released an interesting report that looks at how well our nation’s state department of education share information on how taxpayer dollars are actually being spent on the public schools.  The study — Cracking the Books: How Well Do State Departments of Education Report Public School Spending — casts a valuable spotlight on government transparency when it comes to school spending.
And how do our states stack up?  Only two states — New Mexico and South Dakota — score in the A range, garnering an A and an A-minus respectively.
Two states earn Bs (Washington and Texas) while three earn B-minues (Nebraska, Kentucky, and California).
What’s far more disturbing, though, is that 18 states earn an F or an F-minus for their transparency when it comes to school budgets.
The Fs?  Indiana, Delaware, North Carolina, Wyoming, Georgia, Minnesota, Mississippi, South Carolina, and West Virginia all earn the F.
But the bottom of the list is dominated by states that scored those strong F-minuses.  The “honor” roll includes: Missouri, Connecticut, Oregon, Ohio, Oklahoma, Nevada, Iowa, Hawaii, and Alaska.
While some may take issue with the report or the conclusions it reaches, it offers an important snapshot in the discussion of school spending and budgeting.  As Cato states:

Half of all states report a “per pupil expenditures” figure that leaves out major cost items such as capital expenditures, thereby significantly understating what is actually spent. Alaska does not even report per pupil expenditure figures at all.

Eight states fail to provide any data on capital expenditures on their education department websites.  Ten states lack any data on average employee salaries and 41 states fail to provide any data on average employee benefits.

When the state education departments provide incomplete or misleading data, they deprive taxpayers of the ability to make informed decisions about public school funding.  At a time when state and local budgets are severely strained, it is crucial that spending decisions reflect sound and informed judgment.
Cato raises some interesting issues for all to consider.  As states start moving to a common chart of accounts system, some of these areas may be addressed.  But until we have full transparency and complete accounting for all the dollars spent, it is hard for anyone — even the most knowledgeable person — to assess if our schools are properly funded or not.

“I Have a Dream” a Half Century Later

Eduflack Achievement gap

Fifty years ago today, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech before hundreds of thousands of civil rights advocates, supporters, and believers in our nation’s capital.

A half century later, his words are still enormously powerful and inspiring (particularly when one reads the history and learns the “I have a dream” part was improvised and wasn’t part of his prepared text).
The text of the speech is well worth a read, and can be found in its entirety at the National Archives.  One of Eduflack’s favorite sections remains:
We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind American of the fierce urgency of now.  This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism.  Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy.  now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice.  Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood.
For those who would rather hear the words of Dr. King, his August 28 speech can be watched here.
While many will continue to argue about what Dr. King would have believed about this issue or that issue were he still alive today, such arguments should be left for other days.  Today should be one to reflect on his words of 50 years ago, and to realize how far we have come, yet how much further we still must travel.