I Do It, You Do It, We Do It

At ASCD's Fall Conference, ASCD author Doug Fisher is discussing what methods work in the classroom during his session, "Better Learning Through Structured Teaching." Fisher says the balance between teacher responsibility and student responsibility in the classroom is key to student success. By setting up a structure in the classroom, educators can reach students and ensure that they are actually learning, instead of hearing and seeing the lesson but not having it register.

Fisher says there are four structures, two focused on educators and two focused on students, that must be balanced out in the classroom:

Educators

• Focus lesson ("I do it")
• Guided learning ("We do it")  

Students

•  Collaborative learning ("You do it together")
•  Independent Learning ("You do it alone")

In order for students to learn properly, all of these structures must be balanced with teachers and students interacting with each other and students learning to to solve problems on their own. 

To Laminate or Cut/Keep/Create Curriculum

This morning at ASCD's Fall Conference on Teaching and Learning, author Heidi Hayes Jacobs spoke about upgrading curriculum for 21st century learners, or what she calls "Curriculum 21." Her forthcoming ASCD book of essays on the topic is due out in January 2010.

In her presentation, Jacobs questioned a lot of the stagnation and resistance to change in education. But don't call her a reformer: "I don't like being called a reformer; I'm into new forms," she told the crowd. Particularly, this involves new forms for school curriculum that are shaped by looking at what schools are doing and asking what we should we cut, keep, and create. "You can choose to "laminate" or cover the curriculum, or you can look at what needs to be cut, kept, and created so that students are learning today what they need for the future."

In your school, is curriculum "laminated," or are you in the ongoing process of deciding what to cut, keep, and create?

Read more about this presentation on the Conference Daily site.

Marzano on Feedback That Improves Teaching

How do supervisors systematically give teachers feedback so that they improve? To answer this question, in his Fall Conference session "Supervising the Art and Science of Teaching," Robert Marzano also had to address how supervisors don’t give teachers feedback that helps them improve.

Particularly, there are some fundamental flaws in the assumptions underlying common walk-through procedures, for example, assuming that frequent feedback is beneficial to teachers. To this assumption Marzano gives a qualified yes—frequent feedback is beneficial if it accurately reflects the complexity of teaching and learning. This means a checklist looking for the nine instructional strategies from Classroom Instruction That Works or the seven elements of Madeline Hunter's lesson design will not cut it.

Similarly, just because a lesson includes so-called "high-yield" strategies does not make instruction any more effective. Marzano says there are no such things as "high-yield" strategies, only "high-probability" strategies.

So how can supervisors approach observation in a way that supports effective instruction?

21st Century Skills to Revolutionize High-Stakes Tests?

This morning at ASCD's Fall Conference, Paige Johnson talked about the buzz around teaching 21st century skills and why it's a worthy topic.

On assessments, she brought up an interesting new development: Denmark is piloting a high school exit exam (Danes call it a "leaving exam") where students will be able to be fully online while taking the test. Any online resource will be at their disposal during this high-stakes assessment.

So what does that mean for assessment design? Briefly, Johnson said we'll need tests that require thinking and performing in novel situations, not just answers you can Google, cut, and paste.

Does this sound like the kind of makeover assessments need? Does it raise the spectre of the old curriculum debate of content versus skills?

How Did Test Scores Become King?

Post submitted by guest blogger Gerald Bracey. A longtime champion of accurate analysis of education research and vocal advocate for public education, Bracey died October 20, 2009.

In my article in the November Educational Leadership ("The Big Tests: What Ends Do They Serve?"), I mentioned a 50-year trend toward seeing test scores not just as a necessary tool, but as a sufficient measure to evaluate students, teachers, schools, districts, states, and nations. It's worth considering how we got to this point. 

Criticism of U.S. public schools grew greatly at the start of the Cold War. Two influential critiques were Arthur Bestor's Educational Wastelands: The Retreat from Learning in Public Schools in 1953 and Rudolf Flesch's Why Johnny Can't Read in 1955. In the midst of this hostility, the Soviet Union dropped a bomb, so to speak: Sputnik, the first manmade satellite to orbit the earth. Public shock at being bested by the Russians sparked even more attacks on the U.S. education system. 

These earlier criticisms did not invoke test scores as evidence of the schools' inadequacy, but later critics would. Bobby Kennedy insisted that the effects of 1965's Elementary and Secondary Education Act be evaluated, and the only available instruments were various norm-referenced, standardized tests. Tests took center stage.

In 1977, a College Board panel examined recent declines in SAT scores and blamed the changing population of students taking the test. The media and the public blamed the schools. The 13 indicators of national mediocrity in 1983's A Nation at Risk all referred to test scores. The message was clear: Information coming from teachers and administrators could not be trusted. We needed scientific, precise, objective measures of school outcomes. Tests, it was said, met these criteria. 

Well, if your only tool is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail. With only tests as tools for accountability, we've overlooked many other outcomes we should work for in schools. 

What important school outcomes do you think we're ignoring with our laser-like focus on test scores?

The Kinds of Knowledge Principals Use

A new article from the International Journal of Education Policy and Leadership explores the types of knowledge principals use and need, underscoring the need for more principal training that develops candidates' experiential or tacit knowledge.

The article identifies three big motivations to better understanding the nature of the principalship and the cognitive tools principals use to do their jobs:

• In many districts there is a crisis in succession.
• In many instances preparation programs appear to be deficient, even misdirected.
• There is uncertainty about the kinds of knowledge principals now need.

Here's article author Lazaridou's table highlighting the international reach of the succession/principal shortage; read the article to discover the four general areas, and 12 specific subsets, of knowledge principals identified as comprising their ever-evolving job descriptions.

Principals, is there a particular body of knowledge (i.e. organizational, interpersonal, experiential) you draw on most in your day-to-day, and how much did your training draw on flexing this sort of knowledge?

Source: Lazaridou, Angeliki. "The Kinds of Knowledge Principals Use: Implications for Training." International Journal of Education Policy & Leadership, October 19, 2009. Volume 4, Number 10.

Duncan Puts Ed Schools on Blast

Last week saw the most clicks landing on coverage of Arne Duncan's speech at Columbia University's Teachers College, where the Education Secretary criticized U.S. education schools for ill-preparing K-12 teachers. High enrollment programs like education bring in the bucks, but often, universities choose to spend that money on smaller, more prestigious programs like physics, Duncan said. The government has also been remiss in setting the licensure bar too low and disinvesting in high-quality mentoring programs, he added.

In his speech, Duncan cited former Columbia Teacher's College President Arthur Levine's 2006 report Educating School Teachers, which warned education schools to raise their standards and align program goals or prepare to be totally replaced by alternative certification programs. Duncan said the teachers he's talked to say education schools fall short on two main points:

Do We Pay a Price for Being Nice?

The norms in education are different than in politics. We don't throw shoes at leaders, we don't yell "You lie" during a speech, and we don't heckle and boo when someone is speaking.

But does that politeness carry a cost?

Do we sacrifice student welfare by being too nice to one another? Should we worry less about being civil than about students learning? Or should we always treat everyone in a civil manner, even though we know they're wrong?

(Meet the Scholars responding to this post by visiting the 2009-10 ASCD Annual Conference Scholars Yearbook or by clicking on their name in the comments below.)

Continuity of Learning and H1N1: What Questions Do You Have?

If you missed ASCD's web seminar H1N1 and Continuity of Learning: Meeting Students' Learning Needs When they Return to School, set aside some time to listen to the archived version of the presentation at our H1N1 page. Hosted by ASCD author and faculty member John Brown, this informative online seminar addresses the timely question of how educators can prepare for the possibility of lengthy and wide-spread absences due to H1N1.

Concentrating on students' return to the classroom, Brown briefly discusses the Department of Education's recommendations on H1N1 before reviewing a number of helpful tips and tools that educators can use as they plan for this year's flu season. He explores what a H1N1 continuity plan should cover, underscores the importance of collaborative planning, and highlights the power of diagnostic assessment and its relationship to student learning needs.

Whether you're currently dealing with students returning from extended absences or still preparing for the possibility, ASCD wants to help.

• What questions do you have regarding continuity of learning and classroom instruction?
  

• What kind of support do you need as you grapple with students' varied needs and gaps in knowledge?

Let us know what's keeping you up at night as you deal with H1N1.

Fastest-Growing Facebook Demographic Is Over 55

Dude, your teacher totally has a Facebook account.

WaPo wonders what's next for social networking, we wonder if teachers are the fastest growing professional demographic on Facebook? There's a lot of talk about how social networking is shaping the profession, but how are educators shaping what's next in social networking?

Image source: National Commission on Teaching and America's Future, 2009

Leadership for the 21st Century: Breaking Down the Bonds of Dependency (1998)

Because of work overload and competing responsibilities, principals often find it challenging to blaze new trails and lead proactively. In the April 1998 issue of Educational Leadership, internationally known educator Michael Fullan writes about how principals can overcome some of these obstacles and become leaders in school reform. 

Read the article: Leadership for the 21st Century: Breaking the Bonds of Dependency

For Fullan, the demands of the job—the "constant bombardment of new tasks and the continual interruptions"—create a context that encourages principals to depend on quick fixes and one-size-fits-all solutions. He suggests "giving up the search for a silver bullet" and instead recommends taking concrete steps that will lead to school reform. These steps include respecting those who you want to silence, forging new alliances, managing on both an emotional and rational level, and staying hopeful in the face of adversity.

With principals still feeling the weight of immense responsibility, Fullan's advice feels relevant almost a decade later. His prescription for school reform encourages leaders to shrug off insecurity and take charge in smart and effective ways.

The Carrot Revolution

We stumbled on the intriguingly titled blog the Carrot Revolution while digging through Dangerously Irrelevant’s new subject-specific education blog wiki. What a find. Here art educator David Gran pulls together resources for teachers, students, and artists with an eye toward bucking the status quo. 

The blog is filled with eye-catching pictures and video and includes posts on everything from animation to art history. Recent entries describe various projects Gran has concocted, like the photography assignment called "Jump!" that uses the work of Phillip Halsman as inspiration to catch students' expressions in midair. 

If you're looking for new ideas in your art classroom or just want an engaging read, head over to the Carrot Revolution at http://carrotrevolution.blogspot.com.

Can Focusing on Student Needs Bring Peace To Ed. Wars?

Last week's most-clicked ASCD SmartBrief story lauds schools who side-step the politics of pedagogy and adapt teaching practices to meet their students' needs.

Career and college preparation, skills and content--education writer Karin Chenoweth editorializes that good schools do both by starting with the clear goal of educating all students, and then doing whatever it takes to make that happen.

It sounds simple: When students don't learn, change your practice based "not on a preset philosophy, or a set of program prescriptions, but on what would best help students learn."

Is this maxim at work in your schools? If not, what complicates curricular decisions?

A New Curriculum for a New Century

ASCD Express is looking for short, 600–1,000-word essays on the theme "A New Curriculum for a New Century." The theme description is below, and guidelines for submissions are here. Send us your submissions by November 9, 2009.

Now a decade into the 21st century, it’s time to stop talking about a new curriculum and start developing and using one. Already under great pressure to educate for a highly technological, fast-changing global economy, schools need to consider how curriculum and its delivery should change to meet the needs of students living in a world undergoing revolutionary changes. Through current examples and provocative expert insights, this issue will offer ways to jumpstart the critical conversations about the school curricula and teaching formats necessary for a new century, including content; assessment; program structure and instruction; and the habits of mind students, teachers, and administrators need to get it all done.

Do the Draft Standards Measure Up?

Wednesday, October 21 the comment period closes on the proposed Career and College Readiness Standards for English / Language Arts and Mathematics. This is your last chance to let the NGA and CCSSO know whether they achieved their objectives of fewer, clearer, higher standards, and whether content and cognitive skills are well matched.

Then at the end of the month, Scroll down after the jump, or check next week's issue of ASCD Express (free to all members) to read the full analysis of the proposed E/LA standards by our guest teacher-blogger, Dina Strasser.

Strasser gives the proposed standards credit for being fewer and clearer, but questions a definition of college and career readiness shaped primarily by corporate sources, with very little use of peer-reviewed education research sources, not to mention the exclusion of stakeholders like the National Council of Teachers of English. Her biggest criticism of the proposed ELA standards goes like this:

" . . . the primary aim of education is holistic. We are supposed to be helping our young people become both aware and expressive of their individuality, their general well-being, their talents and joys, their ethical code, their desire for life-long learning, their sense of place, their local and global communities, and their responsibilities as members of the human race. These are what ensure that students are healthy, functioning members of our society. They are certainly my ultimate goals as a teacher, with language—particularly aesthetic, creative, and reflective language—as the vehicle. Yet beyond cursory mentions of citizenship, no sentiments like these—not a drop—are in the current draft of the standards. Narrative, reflective, and creative communication receive related short-shrift in these standards, if they are included at all. All these things are included, notably, in other international standards of language, such as those of Finland—one of the highest performing nations on the planet." (Full article after the jump)

If you've read them, what's your impression of the draft standards?

What Makes or Breaks a Principal?

Principals often face a paradox, note the October EL authors of "What Makes or Breaks a Principal":

"The bold action needed to improve the school's performance often puts staff relationships at risk."

Complicating matters, typical principal certification programs and professional development often don't educate on professional relationship building. The authors explain how leaders develop three clusters of relational skills and qualities crucial to school leadership:

• Acting as consultants to translate pedagogical knowledge into practice
• Mediating conflict and reaching consensus
• Valuing relationships

Relationship skills can make or break a school leader. How do you stay sharp on these so-called soft skills? How have the relationship skills of school leaders had a positive or negative effect on your school?

Coming Soon: ASCD Scholars

Starting next week, check this space for dispatches from ASCD's newly formed, select group of educators from around the world—the ASCD Scholars. Over the 2009–2010 school year, they'll discuss topics in education leadership through the lens of the education situation in their country or region or germane to their job title, and they'll invite you in on the conversation by posting here on Inservice, tweeting on Twitter, and writing for ASCD Express.

Tackle education leadership theory, research, challenges, and practicalities of implementation with the ASCD Scholars, led by administrator and classroom teacher duo Tom Hoerr and Jennifer Morrison (pictured). Look for new content from the scholars every two weeks on Inservice, help us keep the conversation growing, and share us with your professional learning network.

Check out the ASCD Scholars Web page to learn more about this dynamic new group of leaders.

Weighing Enthusiasm vs. Experience of Alt. Certified Teachers

Transition-to-Teaching, Teach for America, and New Teacher Project Teaching Fellows--in the past few years, the path to the classroom has dramatically changed, particularly in urban districts. In Indianapolis, a city that has long struggled to fill teaching vacancies, school officials are eager to enlist these energetic new recruits, saying the new teachers' enthusiasm offsets their inexperience. Programs like TFA are also highly competitive and select candidates that average higher test scores than their ed. school peers.

As Stephen Sawchuck reports, Indiana is a flashpoint state in the debate over licensure. Notably, the New Teacher Project recently studied human resources policies in Indianapolis Public Schools, and made recommendations that would give principals more autonomy over staffing decisions.

Critics of the trend to prefer alternatively certified teachers over those who take a traditional four-year route to the classroom claim that students pay the price for expediting the teacher training process. Reading instruction, especially, has been identified as a weak spot for alternatively certified teachers. While these programs ratchet up literacy training, the federal government last week stepped in with $43 million in new Teacher Quality partnership grants, money that'll largely go to residency programs at schools of education.

Will one route to the classroom emerge as the new gold standard?

You can bet we're considering these topics as we plan the May issue of Educational Leadership on How the Teaching Profession is Changing. (P.S. the deadline to submit articles for this theme is December 1, 2009.)

The Power of Two

Post submitted by Principals William Sterrett and Matthew Haas.

Because of our frantic schedules, principals often have no meaningful dialogue, in any consistent manner, with a peer. As we describe in our October EL article ("The Power of Two"), the two of us have found a way to make peer-to-peer dialogue happen.

As two young principals from the same school division, we formed a working partnership and meet monthly to discuss issues that confront us and the mechanisms behind our successes. While it took some work and planning to get this tete-a-tete consistently on our calendars, once it was set up, we honored it with care. One of us leads a small elementary school, the other a comprehensive high school, but we've found good instruction in each setting is similar: It involves building positive classroom community, engaging students, tight collaboration, and a sincere desire to see all students succeed. 

Emphasizing cooperation over competition also helps our professional relationship. Charles Warner, a consultant/trainer and active blogger at www.MediaCurmudgeon.com, notes that "if in fact competition brings out the 'beast' in us, then . . . cooperation surely brings out the 'best' in us (see Warner's article on this topic).

We'd like to hear from you: Have you found creative ways to regularly meet with a peer to bolster your leadership?

Teaching Social Justice

Last spring, EL stirred up social justice in its May issue. This fall, Deirdra Grode talks about teaching through a social justice lens as a way to raise student engagement and consciousness.

Read Grode's latest column, "Teaching Social Justice"

In one example, Grode weaves social justice content into reading comprehension and writing practice tests. She finds students eager to show they can handle more complex topics, and the high interest content transforms a fairly dry assignment--practicing for state assessments--into an opportunity for students to do some of their "most thoughtful work."

Grode teaches social justice as both stand alone units, and as themes integrated into lessons across content areas.

How do you approach social justice topics in your classroom?

Deirdra Grode was the 2008 ASCD Outstanding Young Educator Award winner. In August, she assumed the position, co-director/principal K-8 at the Hoboken Charter School in Hoboken, N.J. in August. She previously taught 7th and 8th grade social studies and language arts teacher at the school. Her monthly column appears in Education Update newsletter.