The Learning Studio

When I walk into a classroom these days I feel like I am walking into a dance studio. I am the only one who isn't moving, learning, expressing, struggling or stretching and as a result, find myself sticking out like a sore thumb. For one, my clothes are too clean. And generally, a clipboard and pen now accompany me. I stand by the door observing, trying not to reflect on how much I'm interrupting by simply doing nothing.

I am enjoying my new job as a Child Development Specialist for Head Start, and some days I feel like I am really making a difference. Like last week, I was able to show a novice teacher how to negotiate the power struggle with a boy who kept pushing. I told her, "He wants to be told no. He wants you to love him by saying no. He wants to know that you won't let him float away." A little modeling on how to connect, some reflection, some follow-up the next day and she was teaching again with a new friend.

I get the feeling that teachers want me to see perfection when I enter their classroom. But there's no such thing as a perfect pre-k class. When I was teaching everyday, my classroom felt a lot like a studio. What happened there was imperfect, unfinished, and always a work in progress. I worked with an instructional assistant so I always had a "partner" to bounce ideas off of, to make sure I wasn't too far off the mark. Now I am by myself when I am "working."

I walk into other teacher's studios. I know they can't be sure how to interact with me. I am a supervisor and I am also too familiar with the imperfections of the classroom. Working in a preschool classroom is one of the most primal experiences you can have in education. I am talking body fluid primal. I am talking pure joy, pure rage, pure uncertainty, cultures clashing, towers smashing, tricycles crashing.

The children shed crocodile tears, Daddy arrested tears, and give me back my doll tears all in a couple minutes. Who am I to judge this chaos but, it's my job.

I could always tell how comfortable a visitor was with this primal experience by how far they came into my classroom. Another pre-k teacher might make it all the way back to the dramatic play area. Most, especially principals and school board members, never made it past the line-up line. The energy, chaos, joy, and terror, stopped them like a moat of tears. It was shallow, but who would want to get their feet wet in "real" teaching when they could just as easily not muddy the waters of their ideals with the human drama and primal experience of real pre-k kids.

I am trying to negotiate this role of supervisor. I wear the micro-politics of my role as a supervisor like a sports coat that is too small. I can see how tight it is, how it doesn't quite fit, and I wonder, does the teacher I am talking to think it doesn't fit either?

image: http://www.metmuseum.org/works_of_art/collection_database/european_paintings/the_dance_class_edgar_degas/objectview.aspx?collID=11&OID=110003530

image: http://www.buzzle.com/img/articleImages/294252-3328-5.jpg

Chattering Classes Meet The Psychometric Qualities of Performance Pay

I just read an excellent post on Bridging Differences about using test scores for teacher evaluation. My favorite part was this...

"And then there is the fundamental problem, as all psychometricians warn us, that tests should be used for the purpose for which they were intended, and not for other purposes. In other words, a test of fifth grade reading tests whether students in the fifth grade are able to read material appropriate for children their age. It cannot then be used to determine whether their teacher was good or bad."

Hallelujah
Testing validity depends on the test actually being used to measure what it was designed to assess.
I keep coming back to the idea that teachers don't go into education for the paycheck so why do, as Diane describes them, "the Chattering Classes" keep thinking that giving a mediocre teacher a couple extra bucks is going to make them a better teacher?

Tying student test scores to teacher pay is meant to increase teacher "performance" but what we are trying to do is increase student learning. If we had similar accountability to the banking industry we could still teach whatever wanted as long as we demonstrated the goal has been achieved ie "learning". But, we are more concerned about the test score than the learning that is meant to be demonstrated by the test. As an NBCT, I am totally for accountability and high levels of learning and teaching but until we develop a support structure for accomplished teaching from teacher prep to master teacher whatever we put in place will really evaluate how we support teachers not their effectiveness. Besides, there are plenty of economists who have studied how money is not an effective motivator in any profession and actually distracts from the goals of a profession. This approach focuses us on the gaming the system ala Enron and Bernie Madoff and not the goals the test scores are supposed to represent. Student Learning.

Maybe if the student test scores reflected actual learning instead of students ability to pass a test, teachers would be behind this type of reform. In the meantime, if we want to evaluate teaching lets start with evaluating their practice instead of how well their students can pass a test.

Teachers are Disheartened When they Work in Tough Schools or for Bad Principals

Joanne Jacobs just covered Teaching for a Living, a Public Agenda and Learning Point Associates study.

Jacobs wrote

"Most of the disheartened teach in low-income schools. They’re frustrated with unsupportive administrators, disorder in the classroom and testing. Contented teachers typically teach in middle-income or affluent areas where they say their schools are “orderly, safe, and respectful” and their administrators are satisfactory. Idealists are younger and often teach in elementary schools."

We expect miracles in hard to staff schools but don’t make choices that even come close to making miracles a reality. Good teachers won’t work for bad principals and lots of times the bad principals are only bad in high needs schools. They would be fine in a middle income school, just like most teachers. Teachers and principals are being pushed into the same boat more and more by pundits and the press. Maybe this is a good thing. I don’t think these statistics are particularly enlightening. Check out this data from the society for human resource management.

Research indicates that employees who are satisfied
with their jobs are more likely to stay with their employers.
According to this survey, 86% of employees indicated overall satisfaction with their current position, with 41% of employees reporting they were very satisfied. ((((Sounds like the teacher data)))))
What’s more, majority of employees (58%)reported that the current economic climate has not made any difference in their level of satisfaction—and this is good news for employers, especially during the economically challenging time.

Why would we expect teachers to be any more satisfied than any other profession?

Micro-politics of Cell Phones

Having moved from the classroom to an office I have been re-exposed to the intricacies of coworker micro-politics. I gained a pretty thorough understanding of micro-politics in my young adult life working for a grocery store. My father also worked for the company so I was in a unique position because employees would confess to me things and ask me not to tell my father. This type of information manipulation caused me to understand what was open information and what was sub-information. I because fairly adept at understanding when I was hearing information for my benefit and when I was hearing "gossip" meant to secure my allegiance.

Working in a school, the school day was so structured that the information exchanges were also fairly structured. I became adept at "not" overtly describing people and places so as not to be considered a gossip even though that was exactly what I was doing. This type of gossip is likely not exclusive to education but I think it holds a unique place in the school culture. I just finished reading a study of this type of gossip titled: Gossip at Work: Unsanctioned Evaluative Talk in Formal School Meetings. Gossip holds a special place in the hearts of teachers because "we" have always been the least powerful stakeholders in education besides students (another gossipy group). Gossip to me seems to be primarily concerned with power. When individuals feel dis-empowered they gossip to gain feelings of power and solidarity against an "oppressor". This can be the boss, parents, or other teachers.

This week I also learned that it happens outside the school too. One of my coworkers has been engaged in a power struggle with our supervisor for a long time. During a recent meeting she came 45 minutes late and then answered a phone call after she had been there for 10 minutes. She went in the hall to talk. Then, 8 minutes later, while the supervisor was talking, she answered her phone again. This time, instead of going in the hall, she started talking in the meeting. When she was ignored she finally hung up with a loud, "OK. OK, then. Talk to you soon!" Her voice rising so loud she was almost shouting.
This is when the politics came in. My supervisor did not address the interruption. I don't know the back story but I know that her decision was likely made as the most strategic decision. I thought to my self I would definitely have addressed the interruption. It seemed to me that by not acknowledging the power struggle she actually gave it more power than if she had.
What do you think? What would you do?

Get On the Bus! Or, not

I just read about the political battle that raged recently in Wake County, one of the most highly acclaimed school systems in the country. I can't believe I am writing this but it is about busing. The county has a "diversity policy" that attempts to balance socioeconomic diversity among schools. Wake County has some full year schools. My friend Bill Ferriter teaches in one of them and he loves it. Opponents of the Diversity Policy are hoping to block efforts to require some students to attend full year schools involuntarily.

From WRAL news:

Wake aims to have no more than 40 percent of students any school receiving free or reduced-price lunches. The school system reassigns students every year to maintain that level of socioeconomic diversity, as well as to fill new schools and relieve overcrowding.

Diversity supporters said they fear area schools will become segregated if the policy is abandoned.

"If you have all low-income kids in a school, they have no power. They have no voice," Goodmon said. "We know exactly what will happen to those schools."

The policy has became a referendum in the local school board elections polarizing the constituency. Check out this video...What do you think?

Having taught in a school system that began busing (poorly) and ended busing (poorly) I have seen how neighborhood schools can support segregation. I have also seen concerted efforts by parents and the community can make a school diverse. It is not easy and I am not sure that we are really post-racial enough yet to let go of these types of policies that protect the underserved. However, I also believe choice is one of the most powerful engines of school reform. I am not talking about charter schools but choices like community over opportunity. Wake County is one of the best school systems in the country with the second highest number of National Board Certified Teachers in the country. So I guess if there is anywhere that could do it, let go of the supports of policies that address desegregation, then Wake County might be the place. Will Wake County take a step forward or a step back? Would doing away with the policy lead us into the post-racial era or trip us up in our progress toward a worthwhile goal? Maybe if the push to end the diversity policy were actually driven by a lack of its relevance I might be less cynical but I am afraid we will see the county make a slow shift back to what is comfortable instead of what is right.
3 of the 4 seats went to neighborhood school candidates. All of the contested seats went to candidates against the diversity policy.
There will be a run off for the District 2 seat next month between two neighborhood schools candidates.



Image: Courtesy Valentine Richmond History Center Virginia students oppose busing in the 1960s.

Raise the Bar or Build Thier Own Course

A former state superintendent will be coming to my Politics of Education class next week. I feel like I have gotten to know her well enough to know that she will ask more than one tough question. I think I know one she will ask.

Virginia was a leader early in the standards based education reform movement. It's infrastructure for developing and administering effective accountability measures is strong. Currently our third grade reading pass rate is hovering in the 80% range through out the state. The advanced pass rate, students who answered more than 31 out of 35 questions correctly, has been steadily since 2005 from 18.8% to 38.9% in 2008.

I can just hear it now. Dr. Demary will ask us, "So, almost everybody is passing. Isn't it a good time to raise the bar?"

Every fiber of my teacher being wants to say no, but all of my learning in educational leadership says yes. I am torn. I believe in high standards but, I am not convinced that raising the bar is the best way to get teachers, and more importantly kids, to jump higher.

I think the reason for this is internal struggle is that I am not sure that bar jumping is what we should be teaching kids to do. I think we need them to build their own obstacle courses, not just master hoop jumping. As it stands now, on reading tests kids are asked to identify characters, setting, conflict, etc. They are required to read for comprehension, all worthy goals. We are not asking them to write their own stories, to tell the story where they are the main character. It is as if they are the actors in someone else's play.

If we buy into the post-modern perspective, that there is no single over arching story, then the reasons for assessment change a little. Our nation is a teaming tangle of stories. Maybe this is why fame has become such a fascination for our young people. The goal is not to help move the plot of the greater human story along but to be famous enough to be featured in the individual stories of the nation.

So what would I do? If it were my decision I would start evaluating beyond basic skills in areas closer to 21st century skills. Maybe it is a voluntary assessment for an additional ribbon on a degree. Maybe it is the certification movement pushed down into high school. Maybe a kid runs track, is in the debate club and earns a social media certification in order to make himself more competitive in college.

When Dr. Demary, (one of my education heroes) asks what do we do now that most of our students are passing the SOL tests, this is what I will say. "When students in your class pass a test you have prepared them for you don't give them the same test but raise the number of correct answers needed to pass. You teach new content, you expand on their solid foundation evidenced by their test scores. You start teaching them something new, something that might be even more important than what they mastered already, like critical thinking, creativity, and team work. There is only one problem though, it is hard to test those kinds of skills. Maybe the tests have outlived their usefulness? Maybe the kids could help build their own obstacle course to test their learning."


Image: http://www.japanwindow.com/images/20051012002715_051008_undoukai_041.jpg
Image: http://vaperforms.virginia.gov/indicators/education/3rdGradeReading.php

Raise the Bar or Build Thier Own Course

A former state superintendent will be coming to my Politics of Education class next week. I feel like I have gotten to know her well enough to know that she will ask more than one tough question. I think I know one she will ask.

Virginia was a leader early in the standards based education reform movement. It's infrastructure for developing and administering effective accountability measures is strong. Currently our third grade reading pass rate is hovering in the 80% range through out the state. The advanced pass rate, students who answered more than 31 out of 35 questions correctly, has been steadily since 2005 from 18.8% to 38.9% in 2008.

I can just hear it now. Dr. Demary will ask us, "So, almost everybody is passing. Isn't it a good time to raise the bar?"

Every fiber of my teacher being wants to say no, but all of my learning in educational leadership says yes. I am torn. I believe in high standards but, I am not convinced that raising the bar is the best way to get teachers, and more importantly kids, to jump higher.

I think the reason for this is internal struggle is that I am not sure that bar jumping is what we should be teaching kids to do. I think we need them to build their own obstacle courses, not just master hoop jumping. As it stands now, on reading tests kids are asked to identify characters, setting, conflict, etc. They are required to read for comprehension, all worthy goals. We are not asking them to write their own stories, to tell the story where they are the main character. It is as if they are the actors in someone else's play.

If we buy into the post-modern perspective, that there is no single over arching story, then the reasons for assessment change a little. Our nation is a teaming tangle of stories. Maybe this is why fame has become such a fascination for our young people. The goal is not to help move the plot of the greater human story along but to be famous enough to be featured in the individual stories of the nation.

So what would I do? If it were my decision I would start evaluating beyond basic skills in areas closer to 21st century skills. Maybe it is a voluntary assessment for an additional ribbon on a degree. Maybe it is the certification movement pushed down into high school. Maybe a kid runs track, is in the debate club and earns a social media certification in order to make himself more competitive in college.

When Dr. Demary, (one of my education heroes) asks what do we do now that most of our students are passing the SOL tests, this is what I will say. "When students in your class pass a test you have prepared them for you don't give them the same test but raise the number of correct answers needed to pass. You teach new content, you expand on their solid foundation evidenced by their test scores. You start teaching them something new, something that might be even more important than what they mastered already, like critical thinking, creativity, and team work. There is only one problem though, it is hard to test those kinds of skills. Maybe the tests have outlived their usefulness? Maybe the kids could help build their own obstacle course to test their learning."


Image: http://www.japanwindow.com/images/20051012002715_051008_undoukai_041.jpg
Image: http://vaperforms.virginia.gov/indicators/education/3rdGradeReading.php