Strange Bed Fellows

This is an interesting article about how learning a foreign language is being support in the classrooms. The CIA has come out in support of a bilingual curriculum. It makes sense from their point of view because their agents are working in many foreign countries and it makes sense to me because many of my future students will be working abroad. I have heard for years that learning a foreign language is going to be mandatory in the future but it has never happened. We are doing our children a great disservice by not providing this to everyone. The article does go into some information about funding which is a huge concern these days. Maybe the CIA and other security interests such as Homeland Security and the DOD would be willing to help out?

A positive piece of information.

This article in Education Week about the decrease of the drop out rate is something we don't hear every day. A positive piece of journalism. The talk about the decline in the student drop-out rate for the last four years. They also outline some really cool and innovative ways that some of the worst school districts are using to recapture students who have already dropped out. The author, Sarah D. Sparks talks about how some of the previously notorious Drop-out Factories are turning around at a good rate. I do worry that they may be cutting corners but the article doesn't talk about how well these students are doing compared with other standards. I am glad to see that something is being done in education to help these students, who normally would slip through the cracks.

He got part of it right.

Bill Gates has suddenly become an educational expert. This article on edweek.org talks about Bill's view on educational reform. I think this is another example of business leaders getting it wrong. He talks about merit pay and the effects of compensation on teacher quality. As we are just now learning from Alfie Kohn, Rewards and Punishments are two sides of the same coin. As this applies to teachers, Bill would manipulate teachers into being better by paying them to succeed. I know I have talked about this before but what these business leaders don't realize is that unlike them many, many people are not motivated by money. And as the research, noted in this article and by Mr. Kohn, shows, that this does not work. The intrinsic drive of most teachers is to affect change in their students lives. I propose that if you make sure that teachers don't have to worry about their lives or the lives of their students outside of the classroom by making sure both get the resources they deserve, we will see great improvement in the educational system. I do think that Bill got part if right when he said that making short term, one-time cuts will hurt students academically. So let us now focus on a long term solution that will benefit everyone.

Testing varies and a move towards international standards

This article in the recent Education Week shows how assessments vary from state to state and country to country. It talks about how each state sets standards differently and reports to the federal government achievement based on these standards. The problem with that is that then students can't always compete on an international level. As the world shrinks our students need to know how they compare to other students around the world. The Common Core Standards is the first step to address this issue but they are not really assessing the achievements of the students, only setting goals. I was pleased to see Oregon mentioned as one of the states that where taking the first step to using global standards. For years I have heard that Oregon leads the nation in learning but recently have noted that by nation we are lacking. I hope that by using the benchmarks listed in this article we can prepare our students to compete on a global level.

New Haven Conn. Setting and Example for the Country.

This article online at Edweek.com illustrates what a community can do if it puts it's students first. They have set up a program to send every student who is eligible to college. They have realized that the future of their town depends on it. They talk about how this program will bring people to their town and I think it will also bring business to town that will create jobs. They talk about the long term affect of having students come back and be productive members of the community.

There where a few questions I had that the article didn't answer. How are they going to pay for it? How are they going to get these students to move back after they complete college? They also talked about it providing around $2,500 per student per year and I wonder what the tuition for a public university in Connecticut is?

As we all know one of the biggest barriers to success for a college graduate is the heavy debt that comes with it. This is a great step forward in the fight against public debt. I hope they can be a model for the future and I know that they will have many bright minds moving to their town who normally would not be thinking about their children going to college because of the cost.

Education Week: Digital Directions

Last week I talked about technology and its use as a tool in the classroom. This article in Education Week's Digital Directions outlines how this could become less expensive and easier to implement. Some schools are switching to Freeware or Shareware in order to save money. They don't want to mess with Microsofts licensing or Apples high prices. I remember when computers first came to the classroom. Apple took a chance and made them available in many classrooms during the 1980's. It might be one of the reasons that I still prefer them today. The article talks about using a open source operating system and applications in order to keep cost down. I would think that Microsoft and Apple would want to keep people using their products and offer their tools to students for a greatly reduced price in order to get them "hooked". This would be advertising to minors that would be looked on in a positive light. Most widely used applications such as Word and Excel are becoming obsolete specially when you consider what is available on the web for free. I do have some reservations about what these free applications might cost us in the long run.

Technology and it's place in the classroom.

These two videos from Edweek.org bring up a very good point about using technology to teach. The both talk about technology as a tool, not the be all to end all in the classroom. Sure teachers should be current on what is available to help them teach their subject but technology only enhances their pedagogy and does not replace it. There are many highly qualified teacher out there right now that have never heard of Web 2.0 and that does not make them less of a teacher. It is great that there is all this cool stuff out there on the web to communicate but if the message is flawed than technology can only make it worse. I believe that the more tools I have as a teacher the better I will be able to immerse my students into the subjects I choose to teach. Wether it is technology, developmental psychology, educational equity or any I have yet to take, as a teacher I am only as good as how well I can get my students to understand me. I hope that I will take away from the classes that I am taking, the tools to teach my students effectively.

willametteLive.com || The Charter School: Public Education of Choice

willametteLive.com || The Charter School: Public Education of Choice

This article in a local paper, Salem Weekly, talks about the advantages of charter schools on a local level. It goes into the Salem Keizer Districts support of the 4 local Charter Schools and how they would be happy to see more of them formed. I think they are an excellent solution to the growing need for a better system of education. I think that if you can get your child into one of these schools you are giving them a great advantage in learning. The writer Therese ONeill interviewed one of my favorite teachers, Marie Carver, of the Jane Goodall Environmental Middle School about the benefits of their charter school. Immersive curriculum, smaller class sizes and better parent involvement are just a few examples of why this Charter Schools seems to work so well. I also would like to point out that these teachers are very dedicated to the curriculum, often giving up spring break and other holidays or teacher perks in order to lead field trips and habitat cleanup days. I hope that more charter schools come to Salem with different focuses such as community service, government, business and any other focus that could be good for students.

Times are tight for everyone and because the Charter Schools are part of the public school district they will be feeling the budget squeeze just like other schools. Hopefully the people being elected next week will see the value of these schools and maybe make them available to more students.

Teachers expectations dictate students outcome.

This article in the October 13th issue of Education Week talks about the effect of the teachers expectations, and how this influences their student's achievements. It can sometimes very subtle how a teacher treats some students differently, even with racially prejudice. Knowing that a student comes from a disadvantaged home a teacher may set lower expectations and in so doing setting that student up to perform lower. The article talks about soft bigotry and how it can become a vicious cycle of discrimination. Making any assumptions about how a student is going to perform will affect that students outcome.

The article sites a study done in the 1960s where teachers where told that their students where all going to be strong learners based on assessment. This predestination made teachers believe that each student could achieve great things and because the teacher believed it, the students believed it. In the end every student improved and the teachers found them to be exceptional students. I think this shows some of the dangers of prejudging our students before we actually can assess their achievements. It also shows us that every student has the potential to be a great student and to achieve. They just need someone to believe in them because if they feel this, then they will believe in them self.

Merit-Pay Findings Show No Impact... Duh!

In this recent article in Education Week, September 29, 2010 they discus a recent study of  300 teachers in Nashville Tenn. where merit-pay showed to have no significant effect on student performance. I know they have to perform these studies to make points, but I could have told you that. At the beginning of this school year my class mates and I where all asked why we wanted to become teachers. Answers like for the love of children, the need to make a difference, for the enjoyment of seeing a student succeed, for the stability, or even to have summers off where are answers given. Not once was "for the money" given as a motivation to spend $23,000 dollars and two years of our life working towards a job that may or may not be there when we graduate. The reason? Everyone knows teachers don't make sh*t.

The average middle school math teacher in America makes roughly $50,000 a year (source Careeronestop.com). I know they get summers of so the really only end up working 9 months out of the year but if you have ever lived with a teacher you know that they rarely work only the 8 hours they are required to be in class. There is also the hours of grading and lesson plans and all the time spent in before and after school activities. So if I do some rough math and say that they only work and extra 3 hours on top of their in class work than I estimate this to be almost 2,000 hours a year which if you calculate that at the average annual rate for a middle school math teacher it works out to be $25 an hour. Do you think this is enough?

Ok so they might get summers off but they don't have any money to spend without some really good planning or really frugal camping. As far as stability goes, doesn't someone who dedicates their life to our children deserve something.

Back to the study... They gave up to $15,000 in bonuses to teachers who could meet their benchmarks and in the end spent well over 1.2 million dollars. That could have payed four teachers, salaries for a year. I think we need to spend a little research on the effect of giving a teacher 200 students to teach in one year and how that effects education. Might be interesting, or you could just ask me; it is not good.

I know this is a huge debate right now in America and we need to see evidence. So lets throw more money at doing research so we can prove what teachers already know.

Rhee may not get to finish what she started.

This article in Education Week discuses the implications of a recent election in Washington D.C. to Michelle Rhee who is their Education Chancellor. Because her boss, Mayor Adrian Fenty lost the election she may loss her job. If you have ever heard her name then you know she has been a vary controversial figure in education. She has made broad changes throughout our nations capitol's education system, firing many teachers, school employees and principles. She has closed several schools and spent a lot of money to revamp the system, and made a lot of enemies.

Only three years as Chancellor, the numbers speak for themselves. She has raised test scores, increased the number of students who are going to college, decreased the number of drop outs and decreased the budget. If she losses here position because of politics, Washington D.C. will loss a great student advocate. As she point out in this article, she will be fine, but the students will be the ones who loss out. It is sad that because the media never picked up on the positives of her tenure, she may only be remember for the controversy.

I hope that if she does lose her job, she might consider moving to Oregon, or maybe into a position of great range of effectiveness.

Charter Schools Program

Charter Schools Program This is a link to the federal governments Charter School program I found on Education Weeks website.

School Closures, a fundamental flaw in NCLB

This article online at edweek.org sites a study that proves that there are many fundamental flaws with "Shooting the goat" just because it is under performing. Unlike a goat, schools are complex problems that have more solutions than can be put into words. This article points out just one of the many implications caused by shutting down a school that is underperforming. They site a study of the NY City School District  that shows that closing schools effects the the poorer students the most. They don't have the resources to cope with this kind of change in the middle of critical education periods.

This article on opposingviews.com has more concrete information regarding the failure of NCLB. It points out that the people who are hit hardest are the ones who already are the most disadvantaged.

If you think about this on a more local level, it could be devastating to Oregon if some of their poorer schools where to close. Mostly because these schools tend to be in rural areas. Can you imagine if Dallas High School where closed because of poor test scores? Where would these kids go? What about even more rural areas of Eastern Oregon? These children already are so separated geographically, then you have to make them move to a new school and have to readjust to a new social structure.

I also think that shutting down a school makes poor economic sense as well. You shut down a school, then you move all the children to another school that is probable already taxed to its limits and you have a perfectly good physical location that stands empty:-( It makes more sense to me that you change some of the parts and try and give any underperforming schools additional help so that they can change their own situation. I agree that major change needs to take place in this country, but it needs to be done in a way that puts the children first.

P.S. This looks like a great resource for everyone involved in education:
http://nationsreportcard.gov

First week

These are my notes from class today regarding one of the articles from last week.

Education Weekly, September 1, 2010

Merit Pay or Team Accountability?

Commentary piece page 24

Strong reactions of article

Why is this important? Who is important to?

Teachers pay structure is important to tax payers, especially ones that don’t have children in the system. They are worried about where their money is going.It is important to teachers because they need to make a living. 

I wonder how their pay coorilates to other professions. What is the per hour salary of the average teacher?

This is the basic question of teacher worth

What is the function of each teacher?

            It is to prepare students for the future

            To provide the fundimental building blocks for society.

Individually or as a group

            The author of this article is arguing that teachers are only as good as their students and the only real way to analyze there progress is to analyze every aspect of there schooling. So each teacher needs to be judged in a group setting. I agree for the most parts with this because each teacher only gets a short time with each one.

Priciples roles

The question of teacher accountability is one of effectiveness.