Students

A Roadmap to Eliminating the Gaps

Eduflack accountability, Achievement gap, Connecticut, Students
When we discuss achievement gaps, it is hard not to dwell on the negative.  Put simply, we struggle as a nation to provide an equitable education for all students.  We find solace in incremental gains, even if white or wealthy students are gaining faster than their minority or low-income peers.
Some will maintain the gaps are just figments of our imaginations, and that our students have never achieved as much, academically, as they do today.  But tell that to a poor Black student in the South, or a Latino student in South Central.  There, the achievement gaps are very real.  And they are more than just statistics.  They are walls preventing far too many students from succeeding, both in school and life.
As much as we may talk about the problems, when it comes to
education reform, we really focus on the solutions.  Yes, it is important we understand the
achievement gaps and appreciate the enormity of the problem.  But being aware isn’t nearly enough.  We also need to identify a path for
eliminating those gaps, for providing hope and opportunity to the many kids
that have long been denied both.

To forward that discussion, today the Connecticut Coalition
for Achievement Now (ConnCAN) released an exciting new report – The Roadmap to Closing the Gap: 2012-2020.  In the Roadmap, ConnCAN
explores what is necessary to close the achievement gaps in Connecticut, the
state with the largest such gaps in the nation, by the year 2020.

In this report, ConnCAN moves away from abstract percentages
and depressing statistics.  And instead
identified  – using a student-centered
approach – a path for closing the gaps.

As a state, Connecticut needs to add just 2.8 points a year
to its average SAT score over the next eight years to get to the magical 1,550
level.  The Nutmeg State needs to
graduate just 456 more students a year to hit a statewide graduation rate of 90
percent.  And to move student performance
from the current 65.5 percent at goal to 80 percent, we need to move just 719
kids per grade statewide to goal or better.

In each of the state’s 30 lowest-performing districts, how
many kids need to get to “goal” on the state tests? How many more students in
each of these districts need to graduate from high school? How many more points
must we add to the average SAT score to ensure every student in each of these
districts is college ready?

The answers to these questions may surprise you.  Despite the enormity of our deficiencies, we can close the gaps in less than a
decade.

The Roadmap breaks
down the achievement challenges in each of these 30 districts (known as
“Alliance Districts”), showing what those cities and towns must do to ensure
that we can get 80 percent of our students performing on grade level; we can
achieve a 90-percent graduation rate; and we can get our average SAT score up
to 1,550. 

New Haven can raise its four-year graduation rate from the
current 62.5 percent to 90 percent by graduating 54 more kids a year between
now and 2020.  In Hartford, students can
boost their average composite SAT score from a current 1,194 to the
college-ready measure of 1,550 by adding 44.5 points a year.  And in Bridgeport, where just 31.8 percent of
students are performing on grade level, we can boost that to 80 percent by
moving 82 students per grade per year to goal or above on state measures.

Yes, these are significant goals, and the seriousness of
achieving them should not be underestimated. 
It is possible, it is doable, and it is necessary.  But for it to happen, we have to act, and we
have to act now.

The Roadmap is a
call to action, a map to demonstrate that meaningful education reform is both
possible and achievable in the next decade. 
This report won’t take Connecticut all the way to where public education
needs to be, but it provides an important and clear starting point.

Connecticut’s path to reform has just begun.  The Roadmap
tells which direction to go.  And it
serves as a model for how other states can join in the journey.

Stepping Up Through AP

Eduflack accountability, Achievement gap, AP, Students

In our national quest to have every student college ready and to ensure all learners have the math and science knowledge to succeed in the 21st century, are there many stronger yardsticks than AP?

Over at USA Today, Greg Toppo takes a look at the push to get more kids enrolled in AP courses, particularly in math and science.  In what was once an area where just a select few students were deemed “worthy” to take an AP course, Toppo chronicles AP classes than now have 25 or 30 students in them, all in pursuit of that college- and career-ready tag.
What is particularly interesting is folks are finally realizing that AP is about far more than simply securing that elusive 5 on the end-of-course exam.  Instead, it is now about the rigor of the course.  It is about pushing students to do more.  About the learning that happens in such advanced classes.
This is summed up nicely by the principal featured in Toppo’s piece:
Principal Sean Callender said he pushes AP classes “every time I talk to parents.” He invokes a sports analogy to explain his line of reasoning with prospective students: “If you’re getting good grades already,” he said, “why don’t you step up to the next league?” Teachers also push struggling students to attend after-school tutoring sessions each Tuesday and Thursday help “to get them used to the rigor,” he said.
There is something novel about Callender’s approach, and about the general push to increase access and exposure to AP courses, perhaps the best way to expose today’s high school students to college-level learning.  And it may just be one of those great equalizers to help us close the achievement gaps that dog far too many high schools.
With anti-testing fever at an all-time high, and many believing it is unfair to actually assess whether a student has learned something in a class, AP is the ultimate measure of testing.  After completing an AP course, every student in the nation will take the same exam.  They will be graded on a scale of 1-5.  And as more and more students take the test, more and more are likely to score 1s and 2s in those early years.
But taking the test shouldn’t scare kids away from the courses.  Despite an assessment, the content of the course and the lessons learned throughout the year are a worthwhile investment. Even scoring a 1 or 2 shouldn’t prevent students from going AP.  Students who are capable should “step up.”   Taking an AP test is not the demise of modern civilization. 
What we all know, and what the USA Today article focuses on, is that students benefit from taking more rigorous courses.  The push should be on expanding AP, IB, and dual-enrollment programs so that more kids — and ultimately all kids — have access to them and can be pushed to doing more rigorous work in high school.  We should all be demanding increased access to AP math and science courses, particularly for those students from historically disadvantaged populations.
Perhaps the teacher highlighted in the lede of the piece says it best:
“People need to strive to do things that are meaningful and good and hard,” she said. “The more kids you can convince to do tougher things, the better off your society will be.”

Breakfast: The New Collective Bargaining?

Eduflack AFT, NEA, Students, teachers

“Collective bargaining.  noun.  The process by which wages, hours, rules, and working conditions are negotiated and agreed upon by a union with an employer for all the employees collectively whom it represents.”

Up until now, Eduflack thought he understood the meaning of the term collective bargaining.  The grandson of a Teamster and the son of an NEA teacher who walked the picket lines to increase those wages and work conditions for her fellow teachers, collective bargaining is a concept I believe is essential to having a strong and protected workforce and middle class.
But it was a real head scratcher when Eduflack was reading the latest out of Los Angeles.  Seems LAUSD enacted a new school breakfast program that is serving 84 percent of LAUSD’s students.  The same students that many defenders of the failed status quo say can’t learn because the come to school without breakfast.
At any rate, the local union is taking issue with the breakfast program.  They weren’t consulted in its implementation.  They find the food and trash a distraction.  So they are now demanding that the new breakfast program be part of the union’s collective bargaining agreement with the district.
Over at the ConnCAN blog, I share LAUSD Superintendent John Deasy’s view that the union’s stance here is just “incomprehensible.”
From that blog post:

Incomprehensible is putting it kindly. For years now, ConnCAN has fought to ensure that the needs of students were included in any arbitration decisions involving teacher contracts. Yet it is still illegal for Connecticut to consider the interests of the child in any such decisions. After all, those status quo defenders contend, collective bargaining agreements are all about protecting the rights and interests of the adults in the system.

Fair enough. But then how can one possibly insist that contracts governing the pay and benefits for teachers should act as a forum for unions to negotiate whether or not a community can provide breakfast to its poorest children?

It is just another example of public education being all about the adults in the room, with no real concern for the children we are supposed to be serving. Such logic is indeed incomprehensible … and unconscionable.

Happy reading, and enjoy your breakfast.  A little ed reform and eggs this AM.
    

“None of You is Special”

Eduflack Students, teachers

As the merriment of commencement commences, one if often inundated with tales of graduation speakers orating on how much students have accomplished, how much they can now achieve, all with a generally congratulatory tone for the impending graduates.

It seems Massachusetts’ Wellesley High School asked one of its English teachers to deliver the remarks to the graduating class of 2012.  And what did David McCullough, Jr. (the son of noted historian David McCullough) inspire his former students with?  Here’s some of it:

All of this is as it should be, because none of you is special.

You are not special. You are not exceptional.

Contrary to what your soccer trophy suggests, your glowing seventh grade report card, despite every assurance of a certain corpulent purple dinosaur, that nice Mister Rogers and your batty Aunt Sylvia, no matter how often your maternal caped crusader has swooped in to save you… you’re nothing special.

Yes, you’ve been pampered, cosseted, doted upon, helmeted, bubble-wrapped. Yes, capable adults with other things to do have held you, kissed you, fed you, wiped your mouth, wiped your bottom, trained you, taught you, tutored you, coached you, listened to you, counseled you, encouraged you, consoled you and encouraged you again. You’ve been nudged, cajoled, wheedled and implored. You’ve been feted and fawned over and called sweetie pie. Yes, you have. And, certainly, we’ve been to your games, your plays, your recitals, your science fairs. Absolutely, smiles ignite when you walk into a room, and hundreds gasp with delight at your every tweet.

Strauss includes the full text of McCullough’s (what’s the opposite of cheerleading) remarks.  It makes for an interesting read.

True Collaboration on the Field

Eduflack Parents, Students, teachers

This morning I have the privilege of volunteering for Field Day at edu-son’s elementary school.  There is nothing quite like watching a group of kindergarteners through fourth graders run obstacle courses, do three-legged races, roll tires, and crab walk down the field.

I didn’t realize how hard volunteering would be, as I just wanted to watch my son compete (he ran the anchor leg of the sack race, by the way, and did just a stellar job).
But Eduflack was really taken by the collaboration that was happening on that field this morning  Teachers, administrators, and parents all working together.  All focused exclusively on the kids and their experience.
Even with all of the fighting and the concerns and the vitriol thrown around as part of the education reform efforts in Connecticut these past few months, all stakeholders were able to come together, work together, enjoy each other, and make a difference.
Yes, it was just one day.  Yes, it was just field day.  But for a few hours this morning, I saw what was possible.  How we can set aside differences to focus on the most important part of this whole equation — the students. 
Now we just need to figure out how to do it without a wet field.

Speaking for Students

Eduflack accountability, Achievement gap, Students

There is little question that efforts to improve our public schools generate significantly heated rhetoric and emotions on all sides.  But when the shouting dies down, does anyone really want to hear a student ask, “who will speak for me?”

That’s the level we’ve reached in the ed reform fight in Connecticut, where the past few months have focused on the adults in the room and what is owed them.  But at some point, we need to ask who will stand up and advocate for the children in the room?
Over in the Connecticut Mirror, Eduflack has a commentary addressing that very question:
For months now, folks have spoken loudly in support of the adults in the room. We have spent week after week, hour after hour, discussing property rights, dismissal procedures and windows for contract negotiations. We’ve seen hundreds of teachers dance at a rally as our schools and students suffer, and as legislators tell those teachers they won’t have to agree to any uncomfortable changes that might benefit students. Yet we know 130,000 students remain trapped in failing schools, 9,000 won’t graduate this year, and thousands more will “graduate” but will be completely unprepared for the challenges of work and life in 2012 and beyond.
  

Representing Kids … or Adults?

Eduflack accountability, AFT, NEA, Students, teachers

What is the primary objective of a teachers’ union?  Is it to represent the adults in the system with the ultimate zealousness, or is it to improve student learning and outcomes?

In the 1980s, the great Al Shanker, long-time head of the American Federation of Teachers, was quoted as saying “When schoolchildren start paying union dues, that’s when I’ll start representing the interests of schoolchildren.”  And while some believe he may not have said those words, it is easy to see where such sentiment comes from.
For example, let’s take a look at the Connecticut Education Association.  In reading “About CEA” on the labor union’s own website, the CEA defines its role as, “advances and protects the rights of teachers at the bargaining table, and works with state policymakers to continue to elevate the teaching profession.”  
On that same page, we see the list of accomplishments the “state’s largest public employees union” can tout, including creating the State Teachers’ Retirement System, written notice on contract non-renewals, collective bargaining, fair dismissal laws, binding arbitration, pension benefits, indoor air quality programs, and increased state aid.
But something important is missing from CEA and many teachers’ unions like it.  In its nearly 700-word “CEA: The Advocate for Teachers and Public Education,” the word “students” only appears twice.  Once in saying CEA represents college students looking to become classroom teachers.  The second noting that students also benefit from the clean air rules that CEA fought for for its educators.
Let’s be clear here.  There is nothing wrong with CEA and other teachers’ unions advocating, lobbying, and acting on behalf of its members.  That is the point of a labor union.  It is fighting for the salaries, rights, and benefits of those who pay it dues.  In the case of public education, it is fighting for the adults in the room, ensuring those teachers and other educators are protected and don’t lose what is “theirs.”
But it begs the question, who is fighting for the students in the system?  Who is speaking for those kids who are slated to go to an historically failing school?  Who is speaking for the kids predestined to attend a drop-out factory?  Who is speaking for the kids on the short end of the achievement gap?  Who is advocating, lobbying, and acting on behalf of those kids?
In reform fights like those we are having in Connecticut, many school teachers will get up and say they are speaking for their kids (and we’ll try to overlook those scenes of ugliness when, at public hearings, teachers have been telling parents and kids to “sit down and shut up,” saying they had no business participating in the education reform discussion).  And in their heart of hearts, I believe that to be true. 
But when a discussion that began by focusing on student achievement, opportunity, and college readiness has devolved into one of tenure, property rights, termination procedures, and what is “owed” teachers who have put their time in the system, one has to wonder.  Can one represent both the educators and the students in the same fight?  Can you have it both ways when we know the benefits, to students, of excellent teachers yet we have union leaders saying “the last thing I’d want to do is get someone fired?”
There is no question that the rights of the adults in the room are important.  But at some point, we need to shift our attention to the students, the very reason why public education exists.  Over the weekend, Eduflack wrote about this needed shift in the Connecticut Post, in a piece entitled Conversation Needs to Focus on Children, Not the Adults.
In it, I wrote:
We’ve spent the past two months hearing the Connecticut Education Association and its local union heads focus exclusively on what is owed the adults in the room. We have heard teachers shout down parents in public forums, hurling insults and indicating that families are to blame for the failures of our school system. We have seen the CEA ads and publications spreading lies and misleading half-truths about the content and meaning behind proposed reforms, and personally attacking supporters of those reforms. No wonder the statewide conversation about reform has focused so much on fear and punishment and so little on what’s best for kids.

If we are going to have a serious conversation about improving our public schools, we need to bring all parties to the table — educators and advocates, parents and policymakers — and leave the vitriol at the door.  The stakes are too high for us not to focus on what matters the most … real, measurable student learning.

Take the Test? Me?

Eduflack accountability, high-stakes testing, Social media, Students

When we talk about the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, we usually like to focus on the freedom of speech part.  Some of us (including us former reporters) like the freedom of the press thing.  The recent Occupy movement has given us new-found interest in the right of peaceable assembly.  And come election time, we often hear about freedom of religion.

But what about that fifth First Amendment right?  How often do we give attention to our right to “petition the Government for a redress of grievances?”
This week, clause five takes on special significance for dear ol’ Eduflack.  Courtesy of the good folks over at Change.org, I am now the target of an online petition.  
For those unfamiliar, Change.org is a terrific site where folks can post their grievances on any topic you care about.  Oppose the war in Afghanistan?  Wanna stop the Keystone pipeline?  Demand the return of tan M&Ms?  Doesn’t matter, Change.org is your site.  Post up a petition, spread the word, and work toward that goal of 100,000 signatures.  When you hit the magic number, great things will come to the petitioners.
This week, a petition was posted opposing the use of standardized tests in K-12 education.  Using standard language of attacking those dreaded “bubble exams,” the petitions note:
Students are put under pressure like never before to meet high expectations on Standardized Tests. Not only that, but teachers are held accountable for these tests scores, putting just as much pressure on teachers all over the United States. Ultimately, destroying the true purpose of school and education. Basically, it doesn’t matter how much a teacher helped a student go from a struggling reader to a student now never seen without a book in his hand. It doesn’t matter that the teacher inspired and motivated the student to want to graduate high school instead of dropping out on her 16th birthday just 2 months away.
The petition’s call to action?  Before subjecting our kids to more of those dreaded bubble sheets, the politicians responsible for such horrific measures of accountability should first take those standardized tests themselves.  “If you are in a position of power in the education system and think the tests are good and valuable, the theory goes, then you should feel comfortable taking them yourself and sharing how you performed,” the petitioners write.
The petition is addressed to nine parties.  The U.S. Senate, which is working to enact ESEA reauthorization, is target one.  It is followed by folks like CA Gov. Jerry Brown, NJ Gov. Chris Christie, PA Gov. Tom Corbett, NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo, CT Gov. Dannel Malloy, and NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg.  But wait, there are two other targets on the list.  The first is former DCPS Chancellor Michelle Rhee, now the head of StudentsFirst.  The second?  Patrick Riccards, your friendly neighborhood Eduflack.
  
For the record, I do think student tests are good and valuable.  I believe that the ultimate measure of our public education systems should be outcomes.  If we are serious about improving student learning, we need to enact some measures to ensure that is happening.  Standardized tests may be far from perfect, and they may not be the only measure of student learning, but they are an important component to determining our success.  Like it or not, we need quantifiable measures of student progress and school achievement.
Sure, technically I’m not “the Government.”  But folks should feel free to bring me their redress of testing grievances.  Will I take the test?  I’d be happy to.  But as the head of an education advocacy organization, I’d like to have some of those voices defending the status quo and chanting “all is well” when we talk about improvement in the testing room right there with their own No. 2 pencils.  
Sadly, we are only up to 27 signatures on the petition.  When we hit the magic number, I’m ready for my bubble sheet.

Reconnecting McDowell County, WV

Eduflack accountability, AFT, Parents, Students, Workforce

Readers of Eduflack know I often speak of my roots and connections to West Virginia.  I am a proud graduate of Jefferson County High School in Shenandoah Junction, WV (Go, Cougars!)  But I am particularly privileged to have served on the staff of one of the greatest U.S. Senators in our nation’s history, the Honorable Robert C. Byrd.  

Working for Senator Byrd, I was able to see much of what makes West Virginia and the nation great.  I had the ability to travel the Mountain State’s 55 counties, from its beautiful ranges to its research universities, its large cities to its company towns, its river rapids to its coal mines.  Yes, West Virginia has much to be proud of.  But it is also a state with communities ravaged by poverty, poor health, and struggling schools.
Which is I was so taken by an announcement made last week by the American Federation of Teachers.  On Friday, the AFT officially launched “Reconnecting McDowell County,” a “comprehensive, long-term effort to make educational improvements in McDowell County the route to a brighter economic future.”
Reconnecting McDowell County has an impressive list of partners, including WV Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin, the WV Congressional Delegation, Benedum Foundation, Blue Cross Blue Shield of West Virginia, College Board, Safe the Children, WV AFL-CIO, and the West Virginia State Police, just to name a few.  
The effort’s Covenant of Commitment is a particularly interesting read.  The effort is focused on six key issues: 1) education; 2) services for students and their families; 3) transportation, technology, and other issues; 4) housing; 5) jobs and economic development; and 6) the McDowell Community.  In the Covenant, the partners note:
We understand that there are no simple solutions — no easy answers or quick fixes.  Together, we are striving to meet these challenges, but we know we won’t accomplish that in a day, a month, or even a year.  We will find ways to measure our progress, and we believe that the changes we propose and implement must be judged by rigorous standards of accountability.  We accept that this will be a long-term endeavor, and we commit to stay engaged until we have achieved our goals of building the support systems the students need and helping the residents of McDowell County to take charge of their desire for a better life ahead.
Yes, I realize that McDowell County is not alone its history, its current challenges, or its desire to change.  Across the nation, we have counties, cities, and communities that face similar struggles.  What makes this interesting is that Reconnecting McDowell is committed to demonstrating the demographics do not equal destiny.  Old industrial towns, even old coal towns, can be reborn in the 21st century.  We can rebuild currently struggling schools around a new culture of improving instruction, greater accountability, and rising student performance.  And we can work together to put all of the conditions — from housing and health to education and jobs — in place for achievement and success.
We should all keep an eye on Reconnecting McDowell, looking at its metrics and watching its progress.  And we should be asking why we aren’t launching similar efforts in other states, in other counties, and in other communities across the nation.  The principles laid forward by Reconnecting McDowell are universal.  

Healthy Foods, Successful Students

Eduflack accountability, Students

For those who believe we have survived the economic downturn of 2008 and have righted the ship, today’s New York Times offers a very different perspective.  Sam Dillon reports on the increase in the number of students now receiving free lunches from our public schools, noting a whopping 17-percent increase in the numbers over the last five years.  According to the NYT, thanks to U.S. Department of Agriculture statistics, 21 million kids received free school lunches last year through a program that was once seen as a safety net for the poorest of the poor.

What’s even more startling is that “Eleven states, including Florida, Nevada, New Jersey, and Tennessee had four-year increases of 25 percent or more, huge shifts in a vast program long characterized by incremental growth.”
This seems to be the part of public education that we often don’t talk about, or don’t talk about enough.  We acknowledge that poverty is a problem in achieving a high-quality education, but usually align such a discussion with per-pupil expenditures, the presence of white boards, and the general accumulation of “stuff” in our schools.  Schools with “stuff” succeed, those without it struggle.  But all the “stuff” doesn’t do you a lick of good if students are coming to school hungry and leaving even hungrier.
Fortunately, this is a topic that some are looking to bring front and center.  Earlier this month, the Virginia School Boards Association (of which Eduflack is a member) announced its Healthy Foods Initiative.  Led by new VSBA President Joan Wodiska, school districts across the state are beginning to work together to address the childhood hunger issue in the state.  Wodiska’s video announcing the new initiative can be found here.  VSBA is also in the process of creating a Healthy School Meals Database, highlighting some of the best practices that are being used to address the issue.  This includes the work that Eduflack’s own Falls Church City School Board undertook to tackle this problem (which earned the city’s schools the prestigious NSBA Magna Award for its school meal efforts).
While I realize that Virginia is not alone in addressing this issue, the push now coming from VSBA is an important step.  While we all recognize that student achievement is the ultimate goal, we must realize that many factors — effective teachers, research-based instructional materials, proper assessments, meaningful accountability, and, yes, healthy meals — all contribute to a student’s ability to succeed.  
The statistics reported by Dillon and The New York Times are important.  Of greater importance, though, is what we do with them.  Do we act, or do we make excuses?  Fortunately, places like the Old Dominion are choosing the former.