Students
“Not All Public Schools Are Created Equal”
Earlier this week, I got into an interesting Twitter debate with another edu voice. On the morning in question, I had posted a quote from Sen. Rand Paul, taken from a Politico story on his speech before the National Urban League.
The quote was a simple one. Senator Paul said to Politico, “I grew up and went to public schools. My kids have gone to public schools. But frankly, not all public schools are created equal.
I was taken by the statement for a few reasons. One, it is a belief that I share. Two, it was an interesting statement delivered by a Libertarian at the National Urban League. Not the typical speaker for Urban League, and definitely not the usual audience for Rand.
And then the back and forth began. I was accused of being irresponsible for giving credit to someone who wanted to “destroy public education.” How dare I say all public schools aren’t equal? This is just a veiled effort to promote charter schools. Paul’s budgets are irresponsible. Why am I elevating his man in his search for the presidency? How can I contribute to the rapid decline of this great nation?
A little hyperbole, yes, but interesting responses none the less. While I’d like to think a tweet from me would determine whether someone could win the highest office in the land, we all know nothing could be further from the truth. But let’s go to the edu-portion of this debate.
Can we honestly say all public schools are equal? When parents are charged with “stealing” public education by sending a child to a non-assigned district, is there really any question? When we look at data from the Schott Foundation, citing the vast inequities in access to college prep high schools, should we still be debating they “all is well?” When we still have dropout factories and pathways to the Ivies, must we ask the question? When upwards of half of black and brown students struggle to read at grade level, yet well-to-do white students are doing fine, is there any doubt?
Rand Paul raised a point that we all need to examine. We should all be supporters of public schools. I, for one, am a product of public schools. My mother is a retired public high school teacher. I insist my kids attend public schools. And I know, each time we have moved, that the quality of the local schools was our primary factor in decision making.
One can question whether we should scrutinize a politician’s rhetoric to see if it matches his actions and whether his votes match his public commitment to an issue. We should analyze records and seek out a bigger understanding. We should cast our votes based on the totality of a candidate and his record. And yes, this is sounding like a Schoolhouse Rock song.
But we should also look for every opportunity to raise the profile of education issues. We should hope that Rand Paul’s statement forces more Republicans to see the value and opportunity in truly public education. We should hope that groups like NUL recognize that public school support should not be a partisan issue. And we must all realize that, even if we have unimaginable love for public education, there are leaders and laggards and we all can do more to ensure that all kids have a great public education, regardless of race, family income, or zip code.
If not, we will be fiddlin’ as edu-Rome burns. For too long, too many kids have been at risk or left behind because we argue over whether all is well. Ask a fifth grader who can’t read, a recent graduate who needs to take all remedial classes, or a teacher who hasn’t had books for three years if all public schools are equal. Go ahead. I dare you …
“Our School,” Our Community
When we talk about education and school improvement, we can often forget there are real schools involved in the equation. In our quest for reform, we can slip into thinking in abstraction, thinking about public education as if it were a laboratory and our changes have little, if any, impact on the educators and students who spend the majority of their time in those very buildings.
While some of my reformer friends may say this is an unfair or downright untrue statement, it is rooted in fact. The reform movement, of late, is largely about changing systems and processes. It is about administrative changes and oversights and accountability. The rest can come later, after we change how these schools “operate.”
It is because of this that we need to be reminded of the human factor in our schools, both those that excel and those that struggle. That we highlight that there are no educators or students who seek to fail or not make the grade. That we all want to see success, even if we define it differently or can’t determine how to chart the best path to get there.
That’s why we need to refocus on our schools as a community. Good or bad. Success or no. We are a community, and we are in this together.
This spring, author Sam Chaltain reminds us of this important point in his new book, Our School. Published through Teachers College Press, Our School chronicles the search “for community in the era of choice,” as Chaltain weaves a powerful narrative that looks at the experiences in real schools. He reminds us why so many of us do what we do, and why this work can be much harder than so many people seem to think.
How? The impact of this book is best captured in the words of Sir Ken Robinson, a guy who knows a thing or two about school reform and improvement and who pens Our School‘s foreword.
Our School is an important book. It brings to life, in the most vivid way, many of the issues about American education that in political debates are too often treated as abstractions. In place of the conventional rhetoric about what’s right or wrong in the nation’s schools, Sam Chaltain offers a close-up, beautifully observed account of a year in the life of just two of them. In many respects, these schools couldn’t be more different. Both are in Washington, D.C., physically close to the epicenter of American power, though in most other respects a world away from it. One is a startup charter in new premises, still working to define its identity and to catch its beat. The other is a long-established neighborhood school, filled with the memories of generations, a school where many former pupils now send their own children or grandchildren.
On these pages, Eduflack has often written about the importance of conversing, engaging, and collaborating with those that offer a differing perspective. For many years now, Sam has been one of those folks in my life. Sam and I agree on much, and strongly disagree on some. And while I may not agree with all of the conclusions he offers up in his latest book, I’m damned glad to have taken the time to read it. We all must be reminded that community, far more than policy or oversight, is what is responsible for a school’s ultimate success or failure.
The EdSec and the EWA
On the closing day of the 2014 Education Writers Association National Seminar, U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan (a regular speaker at the annual event) delivered the keynote address.
After dispensing with the pleasantries, the EdSec launched into a speech that most in the room had heard, in one iteration, several times before. As he dove into his prepared remarks, the EdSec stated, “I often say that education is the civil rights issue of our generation. I want to elaborate on what that means and how the pursuit of equity runs like a ribbon through the Education Department’s programs and the initiatives launched by President Obama.”
The EdSec then launched into a passionate detailing of the work that his agency has engaged in for the past years. Some of the nuggets he offered:
- “There
is the outrage over our nation’s achievement gaps and the fact that millions of
our children still don’t receive equal educational opportunity.” - “Today,
we worry both about achievement gaps and opportunity gaps. Because we haven’t provided
access to high quality early learning to all families, millions of children
enter kindergarten already behind their peers at the starting line of school.
That is profoundly unfair.” - “The
bottom line is that students of color, students with disabilities, and English
learners don’t get the same opportunity as their White and Asian-American peers
to take the math and science courses that figure importantly in preparing for
careers and college.” - “No
one has been hurt more in recent years by low standards and a lack of accountability
for student learning than our most disadvantaged students.” - “Without
accountability, there’s no expectation that all children will learn. Without
accountability, there’s no urgency. Without accountability, without meaningful
assessments of student learning, parents don’t have an objective way to know whether
their children are getting the education they deserve.” - “Unfortunately,
in 2014, we don’t treat inequality and inequity in schools with the urgency and
seriousness of purpose it deserves.” - “Too
many Americans today have become complacent about our educational performance.” - “We
have achievement gaps and opportunity gaps. But more importantly, we have a
courage gap and an action gap.”
The full text of the prepared remarks can be found here, courtesy of Joy Resmovits of The Huffington Post.
All of these are great soundbites, and they were delivered with real passion. And following on the 60th anniversary of the Brown v. Board decision this past weekend, all are timely and relate to many of the issues those in attendance have been thinking, speaking, and writing about for the past week.
But for an audience that has heard the EdSec’s “civil rights issue” stump speech many times over the past five years, was it the right set of remarks to deliver? When so many in the room were eager to hear the EdSec relay some new information or news regarding the U.S. Department of Education and its activities, did these remarks deliver on the promise?
In a room that was looking for a little red meat and something new and shiny, they got the same appetizers they’ve been served many times over. Or maybe Eduflack missed something …
Seeking Assessments That Matter
To paraphrase from the classic movie Major League, “in case you haven’t noticed, and judging by the chatter and recent urban legends you haven’t, student assessments have managed to have positive impact here and there, and are threatening to be seen as a positive part of the teaching and learning process.”
Sure, student tests aren’t the Cleveland Indians finally making it to the playoffs, but we have long seen the same negative feelings and concerns attached to testing as we did for the Indians before “Wild Thing” Vaughn pitched them out of the cellar.
The improving public perceptions of testing is best seen in a new research survey conducted by Grunwald Associates on behalf of the Northwest Evaluation Association. In Make Assessment Matter: Students and Educators Want Tests That Support Learning, NWEA surveyed more than 2,000 students and educators on their perceptions of assessment. Interestingly, this seems to be the first significant study that actually asked students what they think about the tests they are taking.
There are some great write-ups of the full survey, including this piece at Education Week by Catherine Gewertz and this article at Huffington Post by Rebecca Klein.
Some of the results may surprise you. Among the highlights:
- 81 percent of students think student test scores reflect how well teachers teach
- 95 percent of students agree that tests are “very” or “somewhat” important for helping them and their teachers know if they are making progress in their learning during the year
- 80 percent of students say they have not heard of new state accountability tests, despite all of the CCSS hype we hear about
- 81 percent of students think student test scores reflect how well teachers teach
- 64 percent of African-American students, 65 percent of Asian-American students, and 61 percent of Hispanic students believe state accountability tests are very important to their futures, compared to just 47 percent of white students
- 78 percent of students think taking tests on computers has a positive impact on their engagement during tests, with 95 percent of district administrators and 76 percent of teachers agreeing that adaptive technology-based tests are “extremely” or “very” valuable for engaging students in learning
- 55 percent of teachers report they never took a course in assessment literacy in their teacher prep programs
- 96 percent of teachers who say they use assessment results do so to improve teaching and learning in the classroom
So what does it all mean? We see that students and teachers both value testing, as long as it is the right type of test. We see that, while they might not be able to define it, educators find real value in interim assessments and see them very differently than the “high-stakes” summative tests that seem to dominate the headlines. And we clearly see that much work needs to be done to build better understanding of the types of tests, why they are used, and how the data is applied. Or more simply put, we like tests if they are relevant and student learning focused.
Based on its research, NWEA offered up five recommendations for policymakers, administrators, educators, and all those involved in the learning process to consider, including:
- Engage with students in policy development process, especially when making testing mandates at the state, district, and classroom levels
- Realign assessment priorities in support of teaching and learning
- Establish formal learning opportunities on assessment for every teacher, principal, and building administrator
- Improve student learning by making educator collaboration a priority in every school district
- Prioritize technology readiness in every district, focusing on infrastructure and addressing glitches
It is important to note that most of these reccs do not cost us big bucks, unlike the typical policy reccs we see in education. All are focused on ensuring we spend our resources wisely and are focusing our assessment efforts on student learning, not solely on accountability.
Specifically, we should all be doing the stadium wave for number four. As testing isn’t going anywhere, it is of value to all those in the teaching and learning process to be more assessment literate, to better understand the portfolio of tests available to them, to distinguish the good from the mediocre from the useless, and to ensure that results are put to use and put to use quickly.
As we know in today’s education space, perception is the new truth. Whether we agree or not with these findings, these are the perceptions of students, teachers, and district administrators from across the nation. The scientifically valid sample gives us a clear understanding of how folks are thinking about testing. And it provides us an important building block as we shift to ensure tests have meaning and utility.
Sure, testing is not going to win the triple crown every school year. But this data makes clear that good tests are positioned to have real impact come the end of the school season.
(Full disclosure: Eduflack has worked with the folks at both Northwest Evaluation Association and Grunwald Associates.)
“Take Me or Leave Me”
It looks like we won’t “Light My Candle” in Trumbull, Connecticut. Last week, the principal at Trumbull High School canceled the school’s Thespian Society’s plans to perform the musical Rent. Principal Marc Guarino has the final say in such decisions, so spiked the students’ decision to put on the award-winning musical.
The reason was content. Guess some see the topics of AIDS and drug use as being controversial. And it is, if this were the 1990s. Let’s not forget that the students were performing the “school edition” of the musical, one that has been done at high schools across the country.
Trumbull High’s students put together a peaceful resistance to the decision. They organized. They collected a petition with more than 1,500 signatures on it. They took it to the board of education. Ultimately, the board backed the principal’s decision, saying it was on him.
It made its way to Trumbull’s “first selectman,” the Connecticut equivalent of a mayor. The selectmen punted as well. But they offered that this kids could look to do it as part of a youth community theater effort in the summer. Since the schools had no control over such productions, it seemed like a “safe” option in the face of growing community concern for the censorship. Unfortunately, no one checked with the youth group, who now says it won’t quite work for them either (and would have excluded a number of the intended castmates).
Why is all this important? First, we should all see the importance of the arts in high school, particularly if it engenders the interest and support that this intended production has generated. Second, we should applaud these kids for looking to take on such a challenging musical, and for recognizing the significance of such a performance. Third, we should be proud that these kids refused to roll over and fought for what they believed in and what was important to them. And finally, we should again be disappointed in the reaction of the adults in the process.
As someone who did high school theater many moons ago, I can say it was one of the most rewarding experiences of my K-12 career. I thoroughly enjoyed being on stage, being part of a cast that was really a family, and putting all the hard work into the process.
As a school board member, one of my proudest moments was seeing our high school put on a performance of Les Miserables. It was a terrific show, a favorite of mine, and the quality rivaled a professional production.
We should be doing more to encourage students to pursue their interests and get involved. Again, this was the school version of Rent. And this was Connecticut, hardly an area that lacks some progressive thinking.
Kudos to the kids for sticking to their objectives and having their voices heard. But sorry that we have to face this sort of censorship and objections at the end of 2013.
We Changed Our Minds, Don’t Move
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.
Where Are the Parents in Education Nation?
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
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!
13th Grade Dual Enrollment?
We often bemoan the lack of connection between K-12 education and higher education. While we like to talk of the P-20 education continuum, we still can’t get away from the reality that these are two very different, very separate systems.
Over at Hechinger Report, Joanne Jacobs relays the story originally reported in Community College Times of school districts in Oregon and Colorado that are strengthening the connections between K-12 and higher education, offering a fifth year of high school while earning a first year of college credits.
On the latest Eduflack Yack, we opine on the importance of dual enrollment and maximizing those high school years, while asking some important questions on who should be paying for that first year of postsecondary education …
Eduflack By Patrick R. Riccards 