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Dear Teachers Network Leadership Institute (TNLI)
MetLife Fellows:
Yes,
it’s yet again that time… the month of April is fast-approaching---and
our next national listserv discussion (i.e., beginning on
April 1st!) will be hosted by our Sacramento CA TNLI affiliate—with
MetLife Fellow Danielle (Dee Dee) Ring at the helm. Below
please find all the pertinent reading information—including,
of course, a digital link to the article. Special thanks to
Sacramento and Dee Dee—and we look forward to another lively,
informative, and provocative online discussion from everyone!
Ellen and Peter
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Hello
all -- It is a bit awkward to be the first (I think) to respond
to the reading, but I wanted to share my thoughts related
to Dee Dee's compelling prompts and to Kathy Emery's provocative
piece. I am not sure what the reality is for the bulk of TNLI
list-serve readers. If your school/district is not in program
improvement, or is only just beginning, then you may not recognize
some of the circumstances that Kathy describes. For those
of us here in the Sacramento affiliate, almost all of us are
associated with schools in program improvement. What this
has meant for our teachers is a draconian set of interventions
where teacher knowledge and expertise is continually de-legitimized,
and thoughtful and caring teachers are told that their students'
low test scores result from their lack of fidelity to the
scripted curriculum. In some of our schools, teachers use
ONLY scripted curricula for the entire day. In these schools,
children are taught mostly reading and math; social studies
and science, if taught at all, are taught once a week and
usually integrated into a language arts or math unit.
I see talented teachers trying to figure out how to work more
(not possible) and/or how to work smarter (also not possible).
I see them trying to abide by the logic of district administrators
and curriculum coaches who tell them to act against their
own self-interest and that of their students ("move on...the
curriculum spirals...the kids will get it eventually, it is
important to keep the pace up"). All kinds of support
that should be available to these teachers, like bilingual
aides, translators (required by law), primary language materials,
translated materials sent home by the school (required by
law), counselors, school nurses, etc. are not provided or
if provided, at insufficient levels. Here in California, our
situation is particularly dire because our funding is so outrageously
low, and disproportionately so in schools serving low income
children.
What I think is valuable about Kathy Emery's piece is that
it provides an historical context for this current focus on
high stakes testing, teacher/parent/student accountability,
teacher scapegoating, student tracking, and wholesale lack
of accountability for the business sector and the state. It
also names the current situation and though the portrait she
paints is particularly frightening -- that we have sectors
in our society for whom educational inequality is a goal --
it is no longer possible for me to deny the obvious, the evidence
in support of her argument is overwhelming here in California.
At the same time, I do think that the solution she offers
is daunting. Teachers and parents together defining goals
for local schools? How does that start? Where will it go?
How can it really progress in the face of sanctions, program
improvement interventions, and so on? Recent work with various
groups has led me to agree with Kathy and to also see this
as THE solution, though certainly not a short term one. One
project has brought parents and teachers together to talk
about hopes and dreams for their low income neighborhood.
Signs of increasing gentrification make this discussion all
the more crucial. An important insight has been that parents
-- once parents understand better the inner workings of a
typical day of school -- they voice serious concern about
the scripted curriculum, the lack of social studies and science
and the emphasis on high stakes testing. They welcome the
attention that NCLB has ostensibly focused on the historic
underachievement at their neighborhood school, but they were
not aware how that attention has transformed the curriculum
into test prep, and little else. They also had no idea how
hard their children's teachers worked nor the level of care
and passion that they had about providing a high quality education
to their children. Another project brings schools, a university
and a community organizing group together. This is also a
promising project as the community organizing group has helped
all involved to understand the educational issues in a broader
context and to help all participants gain political action
skills. These are slow roads to reform and will not necessarily
give these schools the test score gains they are required
to make. At the same time, if we accept that these test score
gains are the end goal, then we have already lost most of
the battle. What does seem to be unfolding is a deeper sense
of shared goals and unity between teachers and families --
this creates strength and resolve to stand firmly against
educational mandates that are harmful and limiting to students,
particularly low income students.
Well, I guess I went on longer than I wanted....we here in
Sacramento are looking forward to this dialogue. Thanks.
Pia Wong
Sacramento
4/8/06 |
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I
agree with Dana that a grassroots movement is necessary to
achieve meaningful and democratic education reform. In fact,
I would go as far as to argue that it is the only way to achieve
meaningful and democratic education reform. While legislative
and policy changes are also necessary, they must be driven
by a grassroots movement; otherwise, they become bureaucratic
and ineffective.
The following are just some of the questions that come immediately
to my mind when I think about a grassroots education reform
movement:
1. Is there currently a grassroots education reform movement?
If so, is it at the local, state, or national level?
2. If there isn't one currently, how can we help initiate
one?
3. Who are the stakeholders within such a movement?
4. What role should organizations such as TNLI play in such
a movement?
5. In the absence of such a movement, how can teachers play
a role in the reauthorization of NCLB next year?
6. What are the consequences of not having a grassroots education
reform movement, particularly at the national level?
Raymond Lau
Chicago
4/13/06
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In responding to the article of this month's
questions about fighting high stakes testing. IT would seem
that we could take a different tack at the teacher level,
the district level, and the state level.
As teachers, we can use high stakes testing to see how well
our teaching programs and methodologies are working. We can
then use the scores to hold the publishers accountable to
create standards based textbooks not old textbooks that have
had the standards added to the page. What we may be discovering
is that the hold lecture and test methods are no longer generally
applicable for students. They are purely auditory in nature
and that leaves out students whom learn in other modalities.
(See all the research on learning modalities i.e. Brain Based
Learning Eric Jensen et. al., Gardner's modalities of Learning
etc.) So now we use the high stakes tests to refine our instruction
for the following year's children by looking at them this
summer when they come out and adjust our lessons to meet their
needs. Unless all children become either vampires or werewolves
(that is a joke) there is no silver bullet to fix the problem
beyond paying attention to test scores and what they mean
and working in the weak areas while still unwrapping and breaking
out the standards. Is it hard work? You bet it is! Every adventure
is hard work and uncomfortable. At the district level schools
that are P.I. may need to be seen as schools that need an
outside view. It is easy to get lost in your own school and
your own programs. An outside view like a WASC review, or
SAIT review can help us all to see the blind spots we have
or are uncomfortable to change. The old saw we have always
done it that way will not hold water anymore. We must move
on and provide schools set for those students that need things
done differently. Dan Turner
Santa Barbara County
4/14/06
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I would walk in the shoes of a teacher teaching in a P.I.
school before I presume to know what they might need. I'm
sorry if this sounds harsh, but having walked in those shoes
for the past 5 years does allow me some credence to speak
from experience on this matter. Suggesting that a SAIT team
can come in (and I have experienced similar scrutiny) for
brief periods of time and judge what a community needs is
rather short sighted. A SAIT team focuses on curriculum, a
scripted curriculum that mandates practice without any knowledge,
or relationship to what meets the needs of those students.
They are certainly not concerned with the idea of students
having different learning modalities.
On the idea of using the test scores to assess our teaching
programs and methodologies, the current research seems to
point to background knowledge is the key to success on standardized
tests. If students do not have sufficient background knowledge
they will not fully comprehend what they are reading, "a
child needs to understand a minimum of 90 percent of the words
in a passage in order to understand the passage and thus begin
to learn the other 10 percent of the words." (E.D. Hirsch,
Jr. Building Knowledge, American Educator Spring 2006).
Tests of this nature are designed to test skills, not knowledge,
or how a child thinks. Deciding what your "weak areas"
are as determined by standardized tests might prove rather
self-deprecating. That would mean that the standardized assessment
you give once a year, for a specific time during those weeks,
measures how well you taught your students throughout the
whole year and measures your program completely as well as
your own assessments. When I professionally reflect on my
instruction, I take into account a wide range of outcomes
and adjust appropriately. While I do agree that we sometimes
need outside critiques of our teaching practice, I'd learn
more from a respected colleague than a point-in-time test
result.
PS. I'd like to know of a scenario when politicians would
hold a publisher accontable versus blaming the teacher for
failed test scores.
Dana Grimes
Sacramento, CA
4/15/06
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No it is not harsh to me but honest. I too
teach in a P.I. School and have for the past 4 years. Certainly
not as long as you have. My experience has been that the teachers
just continue with the same old thing for the most part. Administration
refuses to change what they do also. The reason I mentioned
a SAIT team is based like you on experience. Let me give you
an example. The SAIT team that did our local high school noted
that there are too many interferences in classrooms by janitors.
This started me to check how many times per period I am interrupted
by calls from the office for students. I am keeping a running
record and I estimate I lose approximately 5 minutes per call
to answer the call over the PA, send the student out, have
them gone, have them return and then resettle the class. Now
this is a middle school so any interruption seems to set them
off. I am sure you can imagine what happens when the student
returns. Total time lost for every call is an estimated 5
minutes of concentrated work or instruction time.
Since
I work with the students no one else wants to deal with I
have had up 15 calls in one period. I asked the administration
to please stop calling so many students or just come to the
classroom. A typical day can be 5-7 calls per period for every
class. I am sure you understand why I would like to have a
SAIT team come. We have tried to do it on our own. I have
put the request in writing, talked with Board Members, District
members, the principal, the Assistant principal etc. I am
at the point of severe PA system frustration.
The SAIT
team would point this out in a way that will help the administration
see how they are messing up my classes. My kids are the lowest
and the toughest. Some are gang members, some are wanna be's,
most are bilingual with low income parents. They are good
kids to me and try hard to learn but the constant interference
really is trying. I have lost I estimate so far two weeks
of instructional time so far this year. That is just the tip
of the iceberg for interference. The morning announcements
that drone on and on. The constant calls for students for
a variety of testing. Parents leaving lunch money, medicine,
taking them out for lunch or doctors etc. The list is endless
as I am sure all of us are aware of at this time. Recently
I lost students for a day to the Immigration walk out etc.
The curriculum
that the SAIT team would look at would hopefully be more standards
based. So far at least in Math the text books adopted are
not Standards Based. They merely took the standards and added
them to the text book. To that end I am meeting with a publisher
this next 4/17/2006 to go over what we as teachers need. I
intend to break out the standards and to write a sample unit
and ask them to publish books that meet the standards and
teach the standards in detail. I agree with you on background
knowledge. Hirsch is very good. Jensen also verifies this
and so does Letellier. The yearly test is really a guide along
with assessments that are standards based I think we can find
the holes in their prior knowledge plug them up and help the
students move forward to some degree. Are we going to fix
it for all students in one year? I would love to think so
but I do not want to fool myself. I have too many years trying
to do this in a PI school to believe anyone can fix it in
one academic year.
The feds
and the state can fix the publishers by demanding they develop
spiraling standards based books and demonstrate how they spiral
the standards so that students my may have covered the standards
and had lots of review and practice. If they do not meet this
test they are not allowed to sell the books to California
or any other state. The fed also needs to fix the triple dipping
problem on the scores. If a student is a minority, low intelligence
(resource), and low income school get hit three times for
the same student on the Fed NCLB test scores and rating. I
have had contact with one state assemblyman whom responded
and their research showed that it was unique to the NCLB scoring
system. I have emailed federal representatives and gotten
ignored so far. AM I surprised no not really. The presidential
election is coming soon so they are all focused on that and
not on schools we are not a convenient campaign slogan as
yet.
I use
Saxon math with my kids and I see the hole being filled in
and we learn by having fun, being self directed, and making
it a contest. They know what they need to get an A and they
work hard to fill in the holes to get the A. I get complaints
from the other teachers that I am too easy on grades. Hey,
I demand 20 chapters every 6 weeks completed, tested and missing
no more than two questions or a redo on the chapter until
they miss less than 2 questions. This has had a great impact
on the kids. I have some students in 8th grade at a 6th grade
level but it is improving their math scores in their algebra
class according to the teachers. They get the A with the comment
that it is below grade level on their report cards. They must
complete 120 lessons by the end of the year to keep the A
that means one Saxon test a year. Yet, I have two students
(8th grade) that are working in Saxon Algebra 2, having completed
Algebra 1 this year. They take the books home and work on
them and work steadily in class. The other teachers have asked
how I can get them so quiet and working. Their scores are
on the white board and we have fun while we learn and I am
still able to get in some creativity and art type stuff while
they are learning. They learn because we have made it fun
and challenging for them at a level they can succeed at.
We just
had CPM review and they were so satisfied with the way the
class was working that they did not even bother to talk with
me afterwards. I do nothing different from other teachers
but reduce the blah, blah, blah from the front of the room
to a minimum, get the kids involved actively as much as possible
and then run around like crazy answering questions and helping
them learn. If they do not get it the first time I try different
ways when I run out I use other students to help them learn.
I appreciate
your questions and concerns. As teachers, we need to take
the best from each other and from research and the idea that
I do not have the time to read research and change how I teach
is a sure way to end up in a grave and low test scores. Hopefully
this whole High stakes system will collapse under its own
weight soon. I have a sneaky feeling that NCLB and other things
are leading to a national curriculum and a national certification
which has both good and bad points.
So as we see in adventure movies it will be uncomfortable
and messy and dirty but lets take the attitude that we can
learn and have an adventure and as Bilbo Baggins says, "Oh
bother! Adventures make one late for dinner". Let's adventure
on in education into the future and go where no teacher has
gone before.
Dan Turner
Santa Barbara County
4/15/06
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Wow, I don't know how to respond to this article!
Is this the sentiment of most teachers today? It is so cynical.
It saddens me that we have to take an "us" versus
"them" approach to education. While I am intrigued
by some of the author's points, a radical and conspiracy-filled
voice only serves to undermine what the author claims are
her motives. The author's thesis is a gift to the members
of the
"corporate elite." They can point to this diatribe
against corporate
leaders and say that teachers are resistant to change and
do not or cannot understand the struggle of working class
parents trying to find quality education for their children.
I too do not like high stakes testing,
but we need to develop workable solutions rather than just
criticize the status quo. Who does not want to close the achievement
gap among students of different backgrounds, and who is not
in favor of some form of accountability? If we can start from
there, then we can begin to craft changes that all stakeholders,
including big business, can understand and agree upon. Changes
may or may not need to be made incrementally, but we will
be taken more seriously if we do not make polarizing arguments
like the following:
"It is important to understand that
business involvement in education is not the exception but
the rule. It is also important to understand why high stakes
testing doesn't make any sense educationally but is being
relentlessly imposed on our nation's public schools because
the corporate elite believe it will legitimize the transition
from a manufacturing to a service economy .... A college prep
curriculum for all is leading to increasing numbers of pushouts
and dropouts, thereby easily filling the ranks of the largest
employers in our economy -- Walmart and the fast food services."
I love teaching because when I close the door
to my classroom each day, nothing else matters but the interaction
and learning that goes on between my students and me. I value
the small moments and connections that I make with my students
of all backgrounds. Collectively, we teachers make a huge
difference in the lives of our students. It is crucial that
we demonstrate the profound impact that we have on students
and, at the same time, understand why everyone has such a
strong opinion about our merits and abilities.
Yung Lee
Third Grade Teacher
Fairfax County, Virginia
4/15/06
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In the April article by Kathy Emery, you will
note that her main tenet which is actually quite hopeful in
spirit is that the way to improve education is to create and
strengthen bonds between teachers and the families that they
serve in order to further the interests of children.
It is
NOT in the interest of children, especially children of poverty,
to focus so much attention on test taking that much of the
school year is spent test prepping and to spend TWO WEEKS
of the school year administering a test when we could be using
that time to instruct.
It is
certainly not in the interest of our children who are recent
immigrants to be subjected to the testing either. Why is it
that these students who speak little to no English are being
forced to take the tests? Does that seem strange to anyone?
We are constricted as teachers and told we are only allowed
to inform parents that they may opt their children out of
testing if they seek the information. How is someone who just
came here from an Indonesian refugee camp going to know to
ask? Exactly!
Note that
I am not opposed to assessment, but we need assessment that
will inform our instruction for the children we see before
us, not last years class (since in CA we get the results of
state testing in August). It really does not help to guide
instruction because children are different. If you are comparing
this year’s score to last years you are comparing apples and
oranges.
All of
the NCLB stuff, that children will all be meeting some kind
of standard in the far distant future is incredibly convenient
for politicians seeing as they won't be around when that future
date comes. It is also convenient to set an unattainable goal
for educators so that they can ALWAYS run on the platform
of educational reform.
Going
back to the 90/90/90 article...What kind of a society are
we going to become when our students are being deprived of
music, science and history instruction and most importantly
critical thinking? Who will be the inventors, the scientists,
the doctors, and TEACHERS?
OK, go organize!
Alison
Merlo
First grade teacher
Sacramento, CA
4/22/06
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......I
wanted to respond to Kathy Emery's article regarding high
stakes testing and also her thoughts on the "hidden"
tracking that goes on in public education, so here goes....
The beauty of
America is its diversity. Diversity defined meaning the obvious,
ethnicity, language, gender, sexual orientation, religion
and the not so obvious meaning socioeconomics and family values.
Yes, we have a diverse economic nation. Without it, our country
would not function. If we were all poor we'd be a 3rd world
country and there would not be enough, if we were all rich,
we would be greedy and there would not be enough.
How do we sustain the socioeconomic balance? We strive for
equity in education. We give our population the ability to
make decisions and have choices. But wait, not too much.....don't
let them know how to change their socioeconomic class! Big
business thrives on the ignorance of the vast population.
Big business supports government. Government supports public
education. Big business and politicians must "candy coat"
this education of ignorance with fancy wrappers like NCLB
and high stakes testing. So I say "Are you kidding me?
The American dream is founded on inequality!"
Senna Davis
Sacramento, California
High School Chemistry & Biology teacher
4/23/06 |
Hello
TNLI Fellows:
I am getting in on the discussion of this article late in
the month because I didn't know whether or not I had anything
new to add to the discussion. However, I was reveiwing some
back issues of Phi Delta Kappan and ran across an article
by Richard Rothstein (Oct 2004, v86, #2, pp. 104-110) entitled
"A Wider Lens On the Black-White Achievement Gap".
It was adapted from the introduction to his book, Class and
Schools:Using Social, Economic, and Educational Reform to
Close the Black-White Achievement Gap.
Under the subtitle "Limitations of the Current Testing
Regime", he states "...In a drive to raise test
scores in math and reading, the curriculum has moved away
not only from more advanced mathematical and literary skills,
but also from social studies, literature, art, music, physical
education, and other important subjects that are not tested
for the purpose of judging school quality." Our school
just resumed teaching science in the 5th and 6th grade because
our state has added it to its standardized test.
While focusing on test scores may indeed result in some percentile
gains, what is it that has really been accomplished. Have
we impacted the cognitive abilities of those we are testing,
or are we measuring a narrow and basic level of knowledge
(what we refer to at my school as "Green Light"
questions- the lowest level of Bloom's Taxonomy). I assume
this accountability testing is to ensure that ALL students
are afforded a quality education. But, how is "quality"
being defined. Will "High Stakes Testing" eliminate
the impact of social class on learning?
Kathy Emery's article, "Total Control and High Stakes
Testing", does a wonderful job of outling the history
behind this "movement" of "high stakes testing"
and answers the question we should always ask ourselves-What's
in it for Me or in this instance-Them.
DeeDee Ring of the Sacramento TNLI gave us some probing questions
to ponder. How do we as educators point out the flaws in such
testing practices without appearing to be against accountability
or closing the achievement gap? I think this organization
in part is the answer to that question. Research that provides
a broader base from which policy makers can make decisions
,and thus creating experts from which policy makers seek advice,
will have an impact on this issue.
It appears I had more to say than I originally thought.
Looking forward to the next article,
Asa L. Salley
3rd Grade Teacher
Sacramento-TNLI
4/27/06
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