A Good Start, But Let's Keep Moving

With health as an adjunct process to education, we miss out on opportunities to leverage school's major influence (2nd only to the family) in students' lives.

As guest-blogger at Washington Post's The Answer Sheet, Sean Slade, director of ASCD's Healthy School Communities, writes

The Let’s Move! initiative starts the process by seeking changes to nutritional policy and increasing the amount of physical activity time available to students. However, these changes focus primarily on the physical and have the potential to remain solely programmatic.

It's time to make physical, mental, social, and emotional health a real goal of education, not just the purview of physical education, the cafeteria, or a one-off event. Check out Slade's advice for moving toward systemic healthy schools.

(Bonus: Read about the positive link between exercise and academic achievement.)

TeachPaperless

Does the idea of reducing—or even eliminating—paper from your classroom sound intriguing? The blog TeachPaperless is dedicated to helping educators with such a move, for both educational and environmental benefits.

Skeptical? The idea is not without its detractors, as evidenced in a recent post reprinting an angry blog comment that stated, in part, "Unbelievable … if you people really think that this is the successful way to the future, then your [sic] as stupid as the students that cant [sic] spell the word 'future.'" While an easy target because of the misspellings, this critic provoked a variety of interesting responses from readers about how students now relate to information and one another.

In addition to the titular topic, the blog often ventures into broader, more forward-thinking areas, as in the recent post "21 Things That Will Become Obsolete in Education by 2020." For Item 6, "Differentiated Instruction as the Sign of a Distinguished Teacher," lead blogger Shelly Blake-Plock predicts, "In ten years, the teacher who hasn't yet figured out how to use tech to personalize learning will be the teacher out of a job." Differentiated teaching as the norm? Now, that's radical.

The Case for Slow Reading

To "taste" what we're reading, we have to slow down, says Thomas Newkirk in the EL article "The Case for Slow Reading."

In many schools, however, reading has become a "form of fast food to be consumed quickly." Kids race to finish reading comprehension tests, tick off books read or millions of minutes reading, and the link between speed and good reading becomes fixed. "To be quick is to be smart; to be slow is to be stupid."

The article explores what we miss when we define good reading as fast reading.

Inefficient as it may be, the author advocates that some reading deserves to be in-depth. Strategies for slowing down reading—like reading aloud, memorizing passages, annotating a page, and rethinking test time limits—make the act of reading something to savor, and reconnect students to the human voices at work in a text: the author's, subject's, and their own.

How do you slow down reading for your students?

How the Teaching Profession Is Changing

ASCD Express is looking for short, 600 to 1,000-word essays on the theme "How the Teaching Profession Is Changing." The theme description is below, and guidelines for submissions are here. Send us your submissions by March 17, 2010. 

What is being done to bring the best teachers into the classrooms where they are most needed? How are schools helping both new and veteran teachers flourish and grow in their careers? What kinds of incentives spur teachers to improve? What new abilities and expectations are the younger generation of teachers bringing to the profession? This issue will explore teacher recruitment and retention, teacher evaluation, career paths, and other policies that help teachers succeed and encourage professional growth.

Race to the Top: States Turn to Danielson's Framework

ASCD has long recognized that student achievement is intrinsically linked to teacher and principal effectiveness, so we were heartened to see that many Race to the Top applications place a strong focus on establishing standards of excellence for educators. We were even more excited to find quite a few of the states turning to the work of ASCD author Charlotte Danielson to guide their efforts.

To measure effectiveness, states like Arkansas, Idaho, Oregon, Wisconsin, and Wyoming are using Danielson's Framework for Teaching to help develop teacher and principal evaluations. Comprised of 4 "domains"—Planning and Preparation, Classroom Environment, Instruction, and Professional Responsibilities—Danielson’s framework identifies aspect's of teacher's work that empirical and theoretical research shows to improve student learning.  

Danielson is firm that evaluation systems that work drive effective instruction, not just measure it. They do this by

• Being developed by multiple stakeholders (including teachers)
• Using multiple indicators
• Differentiating among teachers
• Aligning with school goals
• Not being solely conducted by the principal
• Giving teachers ample opportunities and resources to improve
• Rewarding effective teaching

With all the buzz surrounding Danielson, consider diving into some of her work. For a video overview of the four domains listed above, visit ASCD’s Meet the Authors page. There you can also explore links to Danielson’s books, articles and Twitter feed. 

Fullan on "Motion Leadership"

We recently caught up with Michael Fullan and asked him his thoughts on positive school leadership, this recent Strategic Learning Initiatives study, and the potential to shift focus away from slash-and-burn school improvement strategies.  

It was encouraging to see the results of AIR's report on the 10 Chicago schools that underwent the focused instruction process. Without radical upheaval and with old-fashioned focus on the instructional core, along with external help, these schools improved significantly compared to other Chicago schools.

The AIR report confirms on a small scale what we have found on a very large scale in Ontario, with 4,900 schools. Namely, that with nonpunitive, focused, instructional intervention that develops specific data-informed teaching practices and builds the collective leadership capacity of principals and teachers, you can get greater results in shorter periods of time across more schools and with less grief. Moreover, it improves the whole system, not just a smattering of schools.

I spell out this strategy (and critique existing school improvement strategies) in more detail in All Systems Go. The value of focusing on collective capacity has also been confirmed in our up close work on Motion Leadership, in which we see school and system leaders doing very specific things to cause positive movement in remarkably short time periods.

Fullan talks more about Motion Leadership (1201) from 1:00–3:00 p.m. on Saturday, March 6, 2010, at ASCD's Annual Conference in San Antonio, Tex.

Despite Budget Cuts, Fla. Ponies Up for Math

In a state system that's making budget cuts in staffing, programming, and even transportation, Florida is spending $200 million to adopt a new math curriculum marked by deeper coverage of fewer skills, in accordance with Florida's recently streamlined math standards.

The Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) is also getting a makeover to match the fewer, deeper standards. The new FCAT debuts in spring 2011. Educators hope the trimmer curriculum will mean students and teachers aren't racing to cover 89 topics (in 7th grade math, for example) in preparation for the FCATs.

This week's most-clicked ASCD SmartBrief article addresses the challenges of an already strapped system making a huge investment in curriculum overhaul. Policymakers quoted in the article give assurances that money will be allotted for new textbooks, because "textbooks are sacred."

Students and teachers need good materials to teach and learn curriculum—but are textbooks sacred? Seems you can't swing an overladen backpack without hitting a story about a school or district eschewing the traditional texts (in Florida, even!) or developing their own teacher-written curriculum.

So what about funding for teacher training to implement the new math curriculum in Florida? How sacred is that?

Making the Most of Face Time

Post submitted by ASCD Scholars facilitator Jen Morrison.

Next week's Annual Conference provides opportunities to meet and speak with educational leaders from all over the world. Who knows who you may meet—that author of your favorite book, that politician, that reporter or educational documentarian, or that guru who has influenced your work for years.

Who would you like to meet and chat with over a margarita (it is Texas after all)? What would you say? Better yet, what do you want to hear? What's the value of face time in the age of virtual access 24/7?

Remembering Rachael Kessler, Whole Child Education Pioneer

Earlier this month, we learned of the passing of ASCD author Rachael Kessler. A pioneer in the field of social and emotional learning, Kessler is remembered here for advocating for schools that support the spiritual and personal growth of the whole child, not just academics in isolation.

For ASCD, Kessler cowrote the book Promoting Social and Emotional Learning: Guidelines for Educators and authored The Soul of Education: Helping Students Find Connection, Compassion, and Character at School and the December 1998/January 1999 Educational Leadership article "Nourishing Students in Secular Schools."

Kessler committed her life to creating caring learning environments where all students can thrive and experience deep connection to self, other, and community. Her work lives on.

Leadership That Counts (1956)

Recent discussions among the ASCD Conference Scholars have focused on the topic of school leadership. For example, Jen Morrison asked, "How Can Educators Take Back the Mic?" recalling an experience of attempting to engage in discussion at a top-down district meeting. In December 1956, Bernard J. Lonsdale covered similar ground in the pages of Educational Leadership.

Read the article: Leadership That Counts

Lonsdale takes pains to emphasize that "educational leadership reaches its greatest height in the classroom teacher," then relates the experience of a first-year teacher named Mary L. at a difficult faculty meeting. Her troubling story is told through a letter she writes to her college advisor. She recalls the nervous smiles shot her way as she entered the room after the principal: "Apparently one doesn't come in after Mr. P., the principal, makes his entrance." At the meeting, dictates are given and reminders are issued, but little conversation takes place.

Race to the Top: States Tout Plans for Collaborative PD

As we look through the many Race to the Top applications submitted by states from around the country, we’re encouraged by the multitude of plans for collaborative professional development. As stated in our Legislative Agenda, ASCD sees "professional development activities—such as study groups, action research, and data analysis—that promote both collaborative and self-directed continuous learning and focus on student needs, results, and best practice" as a key component of supporting highly effective educators.

Examples span from teachers to administrators and from traditional in-person meetings to innovative online gathering places. In Idaho, leaders are planning to expand an existing Superintendents Network; currently, 30 superintendents "meet four times a year to discuss improving student achievement and share challenges and success stories." In California, the state plans to develop a professional learning community that brings together state and local education stakeholders:

" . . . teachers and leaders who have common goals, examine data, and share effective practices, particularly in strategic areas such as use of data to inform instruction, early literacy and mathematics, STEM programs, and strengthening high school graduation and college attendance rates."

And in Washington, DC, educators will have access to an online learning community in which they can share lesson plans and best practices—an idea that will be familiar to members of the ASCD community.

These are just a few examples; in application after application, plans are afoot for educators to collaborate, particularly in the service of interpreting and responding to data effectively. This is great news, but just the beginning. Educators looking to ensure these communities are successful can turn to the pages of Educational Leadership, where Jane L. David has examined the research on "Learning Communities for Administrators," and Shirley M. Hord and Stephanie A. Hirsch have addressed "The Principal’s Role in Supporting Learning Communities."

This is the first in a series of posts examining different aspects of the RTTT state applications of particular interest to the ASCD community; stay tuned for more information over the next few weeks.

Mr. Robbo the PE Geek

The Mr. Robbo—The PE Geek blog, by Jarrod Robinson, brings readers both practical examples of integration and an infectious, genuine excitement about the new tools he's using.

In the post "Watching My Classes' Heart Beat," Robinson shows how he used Google Docs to demonstrate the effect of exercise on his students' heart rates. The students engaged in a number of different exercise routines, then entered their heart rates into a shared Google Spreadsheet after each one. Robinson writes, "the kids simply loved it and with the data being displayed visually, we were able to enter a much deep[er] conversation about how heart rate is affected by physical activity."

Other examples of tech integration are applicable across content areas, such as his introduction of the communications software Skype to his students as a way to increase discussion and community, even after class is over. Online GPS trackers, the Nintendo Wii, and SMS messaging also pop up in helpful, relatable posts.

No Child Left in the Middle

Guest post submitted by ASCD Annual Conference presenter Bobb Darnell.

Is it heresy to talk about really spending more time and/or money on student learning for the "average kids"? 

So much of today’s educational and governmental conversations, funding, programs, and significant concerns are targeted toward at-risk and low-achieving students. Should we spend more time and resources on these students? Absolutely!

What about the students on the honor rolls with parents who have bumper stickers to prove their child’s highest achievement? Should we recognize the potential of these students and spend more time and resources on them? Absolutely! But what about the "kids in the middle"?

We all know the kids who are average, doing OK, making some progress, and yes, maybe even slipping through the cracks. They’re the students who don’t seem to show improvement rates as high as the lowest and highest achievers in the norm-referenced data sets. For example, many standardized test results show a type of "soup-bowl effect" where the average students don’t have as much growth as the students scoring the lowest and the highest scores. Why is this, and how widespread is the soup-bowl effect on other standardized tests and even performance in the classroom? Who will be the advocate for the average students?

"Our Goal Is a Scientifically Capable Society"

Education Week brings us last week's most-clicked ASCD SmartBrief story on recent work to revise national science standards.

A 16-member panel of experts convened by the National Research Council is tasked with identifying and articulating "a small set of 'core ideas' in each of the major science disciplines, as well as those ideas that cut across disciplines." Some of the group's considerations on this rewrite:

• focus on deep, conceptual understanding rooted in thinking and reasoning skills, as opposed to wide coverage of science facts
• compose standards that reflect changes in how students learn, and new developments in science
• better cumulative development of science curriculum articulated across grades, instead of discrete topics given equal weight

After the 16-member panel conceives a framework, teams from three national organizations—the National Science Teachers Association; the American Association for the Advancement of Science; and Achieve, a group formed by governors and business leaders—will use it as a basis for writing a final set of national science standards.

Look for draft science standards available for public comment early summer 2010 and final standards to be released in two years.

RTI in Practice

ASCD Express is looking for short, 600 to 1,000-word essays on the theme "Response to Invervention in Practice." The theme description is below, and guidelines for submissions are here. Send us your submissions by March 3, 2010. 

Response to Intervention (RTI) is a multistep approach to helping struggling students before they fail. RTI combines assessments; researched-based interventions; and continuous troubleshooting that includes supporting the teacher, student, and family. And RTI is catching on in schools as a comprehensive way to deal with both general education and special education populations. How has RTI made a difference in how your school serves struggling students?

Let's Get Critical

Post submitted by ASCD Scholars facilitator Tom Hoerr.

This year's ASCD Annual Conference is all about critical transformations. But before we meet in San Antonio, let's revisit what's important at home.

Previously, we've talked about the change you would like to make happen in your home contexts: increasing parent involvement, enhancing teacher dialogue, developing staff leadership, increasing academic rigor, and bringing in new technology for 21st century learning, among many.

All of these are beneficial, but what is the critical change in your home context? What (or who) are your best resources for accomplishing these transformations, and who do you still need to convince of the critical nature of these changes? How can the ASCD Scholars help push the levers of change?

Reading for Enjoyment and Personal Development (1967)

Turning kids into passionate readers, particularly through less traditional works that speak to their lives and interests, is a hot topic in education these days, as seen in recent books like The Book Whisperer: Awakening the Inner Reader in Every Child and Readicide: How Schools Are Killing Reading and What You Can Do About It.

Back in February 1967, William A. Jenkins, associate dean of education at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, took to the pages of Educational Leadership to address this very subject.

Read the article: Reading for Enjoyment and Personal Development (PDF)

Start Where Your Students Are

Submitted by Robyn Jackson, whose article, "Start Where Your Students Are," appears in the February issue of Educational Leadership.

I recently gave a presentation in which I discussed how crucial the concept of currencies was in helping prepare 21st century learners. Most educators fail to recognize many 21st century skills as viable classroom currency. As a result, they miss valuable opportunities to make school relevant for our students. For some attendees, it was a hard sell. They thought that I gave kids too much credit and that the real reason students aren’t engaged is because they’re just plain lazy.
 
The problem with that argument is that these same lazy, disengaged, apathetic, disruptive students inside our classrooms are highly engaged bloggers, designers, gamers, and builders outside our classrooms. They are also great multitaskers who manage to cram close to 11 hours of content into 7 or 8 hours a day. So they’re clearly not lazy. I think that the real reason so many of our students refuse to use their currencies in the classroom is that many of our classrooms just aren’t relevant.
 
Does that mean that we must rush out and buy SMART Boards, kill classroom discussions in favor of classroom blogs, kit out our computer labs with iPads, and replace the three Rs with video games? Of course not. These lame attempts at relevance for relevance’s sake do little to invite students to invest in school with the same passion they invest in the virtual worlds outside school.

Real relevance is showing students how their currencies are relevant to the classroom and helping them leverage these currencies to better access and customize the curriculum to fit their learning needs.

Leading to Learn, Learning to Lead

Instructional Talk Throughs (ITTs) are a low-fi way to engage teachers in their own professional development. Linda Inglis, who's presenting on ITT at ASCD's Annual Conference next month, gave a snapshot of the ITT process:

Say two teachers are working on planning assessments of student learning. Through the ITT process, they reflect on information from their assessments that they could use to improve instruction and support student learning. They ask colleagues (who observe their classrooms as part of ITT) to provide feedback on student understanding of the writing process and ability to develop their writing skills.

An example question would be, "How are students using criteria to assist them in the revision process?" Capturing student responses and sharing them in professional conversation after the class visit gives insights into student learning and ways to support student skill development in revision.

Teachers then develop more comprehensive and meaningful writing checklists to assist students in developing their writing and to discuss and understand student development. Other staff ask for feedback from their colleagues on their assessment unit plans and the use of a variety of assessments to measure student understanding and learning. The feedback they receive enables them to improve the quality of their assessments, providing them with more variety in how they can assess student learning and give students more opportunities to demonstrate their learning.

Teacher engagement leads to student engagement and enhanced student learning!

Linda Inglis, Mary Michalides, David Morris, and Dean Michalides, of Edmonton Public Schools, Alberta, Canada, present Leading to Learn, Learning to Lead: Instructional Talk Throughs at ASCD's Annual Conference in San Antonio, Tex., 1:00–4:00 p.m., Monday, March 8, 2010.

Full Disclosure?

Post submitted by ASCD Scholars facilitator Jen Morrison.

Last week, we worked from the president’s State of the Union address (the annual speech the president gives to Congress and that is televised nationwide) and asked you to apply the idea of taking stock and sharing important messages with your constituents.

As school leaders, how candid can your messages be?

What things do your school’s faculty need to hear behind closed doors? 

If you were about to get on a plane to New Zealand and could say anything you wanted to your school’s parents—The door is closing!—what would it be?