Educators Advise Fed's Role in Well-Rounded Education

"We should be promoting collaboration among the disciplines, not competition," advised Bronx Prep Arts educator Kate Quarfordt at today's Capitol Hill briefing on consensus recommendations for how the federal government can better support all the disciplines, not just math and language arts.

Although Obama's FY11 budget request includes a $38.9 million (or 17%) increase in funding to support teaching and learning in the arts, history, civics, foreign languages, geography, and economics, the administration proposes to combine eight subject-specific grant programs into a single competitive grant program. 

Disciplines would compete against each other to receive funds from the $265 million pot of money allocated under "A Well-Rounded Education" on the proposed FY11 budget.

In response to this, and opportunities to reinvent ESEA post-NCLB, more than 20 major organizations, from across disciplines have offered consensus recommendations for ensuring student access to a truly well-rounded education.

How to Support Struggling Students

Of all the challenging moments in teaching, it can be one of the most memorable: A student is marooned and bewildered in a lesson. You, the teacher, must find a way—carefully and intentionally—to bring back that student to the path of learning.

Robyn Jackson and Claire Lambert know that pressure and have fought to help those lost students. Both are former teachers and authors of the new tool How to Support Struggling Students, the first in ASCD's new Mastering the Principles of Great Teaching workbook series. Based on Jackson’s bestselling book, Never Work Harder Than Your Students and Other Principles of Great Teaching, each workbook in the new series will delve more deeply into the seven principles Jackson uses to describe mastery teaching.

How to Support Struggling Students examines the principles of supporting students before, during, and after instruction. It isn't all about the content. "We are not only obligated to teach our discipline; we are also obligated to teach students strategies that will make them more successful in our discipline," Jackson says.

Developing a plan for ongoing support in the classroom is not easy, and disruptions can come from all sides. But Jackson and Lambert know that the better prepared a teacher can be to know how to adjust to meet the students' needs, the closer that teacher is to becoming a master. The authors walk the reader through reflective activities and checkpoints to design a proactive plan for student support: 

• Effective support is repeated, focused, systematic, and temporary.
• Effective support provides clear directions and keeps the big picture central to students.
• Effective support makes the path to mastery clear and is progressive.

Read a sample chapter and let us know what you think of the first workbook in this new series.

Redirecting Student Behavior

Has this ever happened to you? You're trying out a pretty levelheaded approach to classroom management, the situation deteriorates, and before you know it, you're in a power struggle with your most challenging student.

Over at Teaching as a Dynamic Activity, 8th grade earth science teacher Jerrid Kruse gives a thoughtful, firsthand account of teacher trial and error, and trial again, with a student who pushes back on every attempt at positive engagement. It's heartening, uncomfortable, and highly relatable. Check out the first installment of the story here.

Along these lines, next Tuesday, August 3, from 3:00 to 4:00 pm (EDT), Brian Mendler (coauthor of Discipline with Dignity, 3rd ed.) will present a free webinar on bringing out the best in student behavior and motivation.

If you're thinking about the coming school year and what challenges may await you, check out Kruse's story, share your own, and bring your classroom management questions and strategies to this ASCD webinar.

RttT Contenders: How Badly Do You Want It?

"Nothing moves people as quickly as the need for more funding," U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said at yesterday's event discussing the Obama education agenda. You can watch Duncan's speech and Q&A at C-SPAN.

The biggest news from this event was the announcement of the round two finalists in Race to the Top:

Arizona, California, Colorado, D.C., Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and South Carolina.

For RttT round two, the Department of Education will award more grants (round one had two winners—Tennessee and Delaware), but the pot of funds for each of the 10–15 winners will be smaller.

ASCD recently launched an interactive map highlighting unemployment rates, projected FY11 budget shortfalls, K–12 and higher education cuts for FY10, and estimates from the Education Commission of the States (ECS) of jobs saved/created in each state.

So, returning to Duncan's quote—which state might have the most motivation to adopt the Obama reform agenda and improve its chances in RttT round two?

Here's the list of RttT finalists in order of greatest to least projected budget shortfalls for FY11, according to data from ASCD's state budget map:

Illinois (-$12,800 million)
California
New Jersey
New York
Florida
North Carolina
Pennsylvania
Georgia
Ohio
Massachusetts
Arizona
Maryland
Colorado
South Carolina
Kentucky
Hawaii
Rhode Island
District of Columbia (-$104 million)
Louisiana (figure not available)

Dear Principal—Chronicling Parent Involvement in Baltimore (1950)

Are parents involved in creating your school's parent-involvement programs? In the February 1950 issue of Educational Leadership, a series of letters between a Baltimore principal and a parent provide a unique, document-based glimpse into how one school got parents involved more deeply and successfully.

Read the article: From a Principal's Files

The principal, Emma Schad, writes that although increased parent involvement is always discussed as a good idea, the talk rarely leads to action. Her letter to parent Eva W. Skinner, who has been elected chair of a parents' committee, describes seeking parent input in the development process: "Working together in such as manner should lay a firmer foundation for any project undertaken."

The letters that follow find Skinner urging the principal to invite parents to the school for a discussion of a new homeroom-focused program before it is implemented and inquiring about the usefulness of field trips. It's gratifying to see their relationship bloom over the course of the letters, as each gains from the other's perspective, and ultimately, kids benefit from the process.

This testament to collaboration leading to success is easy to extrapolate beyond parents—it's a tale that could well inform many education policy debates, past and present.

In "My Back Pages," we look at important issues through the historical lens of the Educational Leadership archives. ASCD members can access EL issues from 1943 to the present by signing in at www.ascd.org.

Pittsburgh Tries Single-Gender Classrooms

Pittsburgh is enlisting the single-gender approach as part of its high school turnaround strategy at some low-performing sites. Supporters say student grades and self-esteem benefit from learning in a single-gender environment, but critics say students should learn in settings that reflect real-world diversity, and that single-gender education does not guarantee academic improvement.

Both sides of the debate acknowledge  that one reform alone cannot turn around chronic, low-performing schools. "The things to focus on are safe schools, good teachers, and mentoring," Pedro Noguera tells the Post-Gazette. "It doesn't matter whether the school is single-gender."

According to the National Association for Single Sex Public Education (NASSPE), there are at least 540 public schools in the United States offering single-sex education opportunities as of June 2010. That's almost 100 more than there were last year.

Turning around high schools is particularly challenging—learning habits become more intractable by the time students reach this level. Proponents of single-gender classrooms say the approach gives teachers more time with each student.

How might single-gender classrooms help Pittsburgh's struggling high schools? What's your experience with single-gender classrooms? As a student, a teacher, or parent, what teaching and learning environment do you prefer and why?

Mr. Ackerman's Blog

The Internet has revolutionized just about every aspect of our lives, and the ways in which educators communicate with parents and the community is no exception. In particular, more and more principals are becoming bloggers, sharing news, and discussing controversial issues in a way that is broader and yet more intimate than traditional methods.

Mr. Ackerman's Blog is a strong example of how a principal can draw the community closer and share a wide variety of information. Written by a Bedford, Mass., elementary school leader, it's full of pictures and video of school activities, bringing to life events such as Walk/Bike to School Day, a class Skype conversation with Croatia, and a gym class hip-hop dance.

The blog doesn't shy away from controversial topics, though; one recent post discusses racist graffiti discovered on a school door. Ackerman posts a picture of the cleaned door, and the comments section shows how blogs can bring people together to discuss a delicate topic. Both parents and teachers talk about the issue and if, or how, it should be addressed in class.

Educators increasingly use social media such as blogs to foster a stronger, more open school dialogue. If you're one of those looking to launch your own school blog, a visit to Mr. Ackerman's Blog should provide plenty of inspiration and ideas.

Teaching Facebook as Part of Career-Readiness

More case-making for schools to teach students how to navigate social networking sites, like Facebook, as part of an overall career-readiness effort (from the NY Times Magazine) . . .

According to a recent survey by Microsoft, 75 percent of U.S. recruiters and human-resource professionals report that their companies require them to do online research about candidates, and many use a range of sites when scrutinizing applicants — including search engines, social-networking sites, photo- and video-sharing sites, personal Web sites and blogs, Twitter and online-gaming sites. Seventy percent of U.S. recruiters report that they have rejected candidates because of information found online, like photos and discussion-board conversations and membership in controversial group.

 . . . Not to mention the benefits of teaching students how to use tools that have become ubiquitous components of professional communication, learning, and coalition building. 

Critical Mass. for Common Core

The Massachusetts State Board of Education has unanimously adopted the Common Core standards.

Massachusetts' decision is significant because the state is widely considered to have the highest academic standards in the country and many were interested in how the Common Core compared to the Bay State's standards and whether its leaders would be willing to replace them. In addition, the state adoption process also featured the only organized and significant pushback against the Common Core, led by the Pioneer Institute, which raised questions about the rigor of the Common Core as well as the interlocking relationships and funding of the proponents of the new standards.

The last minute back and forth between former state leaders typified the public debate around adoption.

Former Commissioners of Education David Driscoll and Robert Antonucci issued a joint statement in support of adoption this week, only to be followed by opposition from former Governor William Weld, who signed the state's landmark education reforms into law in 1993 and called the pending adoption "a retrograde step."

Indeed, while several analyses found the Common Core on par with Massachusetts' standards, the determining factors appear to have been recognition of the state's leadership role in education reform, the college and career-readiness aspects of the standards, as well as an assurance that the state would bolster the standards with even more rigor later this year (up to fifteen percent) and still retain the MCAS (Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System) testing and accountability system.

The emphasis on the MCAS suggests that the public's interest in the Common Core will only be piqued when discussions begin on the assessment and accountability issues that will make the standards truly tangible to parents and students.

Of course, for all of the activity surrounding the analyses, comparisons, and debate over Massachusetts' adoption this week, the matter was essentially preordained as far back as June 1 – even before the standards were officially released – when Massachusetts submitted its round 2 Race to the Top application with the assurance to Education Secretary Arne Duncan that it would adopt the standards by August 2.

Find Educators Based on Location, Title, Etc.

Want to find all the local educators in Austin, Tex.—or Tokyo, Japan? Or find peers you met at one of ASCD's conferences? ASCD has made it easier for you to locate colleagues, find friends, and expand your network on ASCD EDge.

Click on the new "Find a Member" icon located at the top of all ASCD EDge pages. You'll be able to search among our 10,000 members by name, location, interests, and much more. Check it out today!

Time's Up

Chapter 10 of Robert Marzano's The Art & Science of Teaching: What Will I Do to Develop Effective Lessons Organized into a Cohesive Unit?

I don't mind admitting up front that I'm typing this last entry in my local Starbucks, looking out on summer-green trees and grass. Needless to say, my usual approach to these chapters (a.k.a. using my own students as guinea pigs for their recommendations) isn't going to work this time. What I'd like to do in its stead, then, is invite readers into a summertime coreflection.

Knocking around in my brain is the new schedule my building is implementing in the fall. It presents increased instructional time (awesome!) in a block-type schedule (yahoo!), but decreases period length (maybe not so great?) and consequently, knocks down significantly our total, already insufficient, planning time. (Ugh.)

On my mental bulletin board, I am pinning this up next to the recommendations of this chapter (see Summary below), which assumes a bubble in which a teacher has time to consider three dozen daily reflection questions. (Um, yeah—that's actually how many questions Marzano recommends we tackle. Daily, mind you. Page 190.)

Next to that is this shocking statistic: U.S. teachers are in the classroom a whopping 450 hours more than other international school systems—that works out to an 11 hour per week increase in a standard academic year. (Close your eyes and imagine how life would change if your principal announced that you were going to have 11 paid hours per week for nothing but reflection, learning, planning, and collaborating.) 

Now, I don't pretend that giving teachers more time to do their jobs well will solve all our education problems—it won't. But I cannot overemphasize the primacy of this stumbling block for the dozens of smart, caring, committed teachers I am privileged to know. Over and over they tell me this: we don’t have time.

What do we do about this?

(Read on for some backstory on this chapter . . . )

What About Student Accountability?

In college, the military, and the workplace, individuals are responsible for their own learning, but almost nothing in K–12 education prepares students to assume that responsibility, Daniel Willingham opines in an Answer Sheet blog entry.

Instead, accountability debates are preoccupied with the teacher's role, creating a paradox where

Student learning is used to evaluate high school teachers and lower elementary teachers in the same way. But if you believe that students should become more responsible for their learning as they age, shouldn’t teachers become less responsible?

Willingham says we need a different model for teacher accountability—one that gradually releases responsibility for learning to students, while still holding teachers accountable for teaching well. 

In a recent ASCD Summer Conference session, physics teacher Kim Rodriguez discussed how she uses a progressive homework policy to get students thinking about what they need to practice, and how much, to prepare for assessments.

"I'm big on empowering kids to figure out how they learn best," Rodriguez says. "That's a life skill they'll need in college and work."

How is student accountability developed at your school? What are the challenges?

Invest in Innovation, Invest in Teachers

Home computers on their own are not going to benefit kids as educational tools. Particularly, in low-income households, two recent studies (one in Romania and another in North Carolina) claim student test scores drop after getting a home computer, while another (in Texas) finds no conclusive benefits of computer ownership. Students used the computers for games and other leisure activities, at the expense of school work. Researchers hypothesized better parent supervision could mitigate these negative effects.

In a piece for the NY Times, Randall Stross singles out the North Carolina study for suggesting

the disconcerting possibility that home computers and Internet access have such a negative effect only on some groups and end up widening achievement gaps between socioeconomic groups.

Students in these studies did show improvement in one area: computer skills, including, at least in the Texas study, a knack for shimmying over school firewalls. Stross adds:

How disappointing to read in the Texas study that 'there was no evidence linking technology immersion with student self-directed learning or their general satisfaction with schoolwork.' When devising ways to beat school policing software, students showed an exemplary capacity for self-directed learning. Too bad that capacity didn’t expand in academic directions, too.

For in school uses of tech tools, these studies affirm the notion that any investment in innovation needs a corresponding investment in good practitioners guiding and engaging student learning.

Leadership for the Educators, by the Educators

What does a man who once filibustered the Civil Rights Act of 1964 have in common with the man who issued the Emancipation Proclamation? The answer: More than you might think. Both the late Senator Robert Byrd and Abraham Lincoln had stalwart convictions and renowned leadership styles that have made them two of the country’s most celebrated public servants. And both men should be remembered for their commitment to education.

But while Senator Byrd’s long-running contribution to American history and civics education is admirable, Lincoln’s efforts to fortify the nation’s founding democratic principles offer true leadership and guidance for today’s 21st century school leaders.

Authors Harvey Alvy and Pam Robbins have written the upcoming ASCD book Learning from Lincoln: Leadership Practices for School Success, but it is not a history book or a civics lesson tool. Instead, it is a study in modeling leadership for educators. Learning from Lincoln is designed to stir deep thinking by rigorously examining historical events and their implications for today’s educators in their effort to develop literate, caring, and democratic citizens.

Lincoln was a self-educated man, but he knew education was the key to success: “I can only say that I view [education] as the most important subject which we as a people can be engaged in,” he said in his first political address. Lincoln’s legacy highlights the profound clarity and commitment to his vision of equality, which extended to educational rights. He struggled and triumphed with eloquence and humility, realizing that his vision—his mission—would ultimately impact generations to come.

There are no easy solutions in Learning from Lincoln, no silver bullets. Instead, the authors start by exploring Lincoln’s leadership actions and thoughtful words, present practical implications for modern school leaders, and end with engaging activities to help leaders achieve action steps in their schools.

Can we learn how to be better leaders in districts, schools, or classrooms by using the example of one of our most illustrious presidents? 

Kansas City Takes Ability Grouping Districtwide

Instead of grouping students by age and grade, starting this fall, the Kansas City School District (KCSD) will begin grouping students by ability and moving them through curriculum based on content mastery. The news is notable on two levels—KCSD is most likely the largest entity to adopt ability grouping and is also a large, urban district reeling from low performance and enrollment. The Associated Press reports KCSD enrollment is down by half, and the district must close 40 percent of its schools to avoid bankruptcy.

Kansas City desperately needs to boost student achievement and cap the flow of students to private, charter, or suburban schools. This reform will be one to watch, both for whether and/or how the district is able to sidestep some of the common pitfalls of tracking and whether and/or how parents and the school community become partners in the transition process.

Is This the Right Reform for Kansas City Students?

We asked detracking expert Delia Garrity to comment on Kansas City's move to ability grouping. Here's her response:

The model reminds me of Individualized Learning, an approach used in the early '70s where students moved through curriculum at their own pace. Having taught in the model, I would not advocate for it. The problem comes when some students move ahead to another topic or grade level and learning gaps widen for students not ready to progress. In my experience, many students fell dramatically behind in the name of "mastery," and teachers became frustrated by gaps in learning. In the end, it fed the need for separate tracks.

A bigger question might be, why are students bored with the current teaching and learning system in Kansas City?

That indicates to me a flaw in the lesson planning and the curriculum. When teachers truly "level up" and resist teaching to the middle, all students benefit, and no one is bored.

There are probably a multitude of issues in Kansas City. This solution might address the boredom, but it also may create a class of low achievers who will feed off of each other, cause discipline problems, and live out the self-fulfilling prophecy of "I am not good enough" for the best education.

Let us know what you think by leaving a comment.

Setting Up Teachers for Success

ASCD Express is looking for short, 600 to 1,000-word essays on the theme "Setting Up Teachers for Success." The theme description is below, and guidelines for submissions are here. Send us your submissions by August 4, 2010. 

New teachers and struggling teachers seem to have a lot in common, but for different reasons. Nonetheless, schools and districts are duty-bound to support classroom teachers who either lack the experience or haven’t yet seemed to unlock the trade secrets of classroom discipline, curriculum and lesson planning, finding the right resources or effective instructional strategies, or building authentic relationships with students. A teacher who falls short in any one of those areas courts problems. How can teachers get the advice, training, and long-range planning that will keep them and their students satisfied that their hard work in the classroom is paying off? This issue will showcase what administrators, colleagues, and struggling teachers themselves can do to ensure that they are teaching well and serving the needs of all their students.

Appraising New Report Forms (1945)

With added momentum from the demands of the federal Race to the Top competition, new forms of reporting, analyzing, and using student data are sweeping the country. These changes do not come without a predictable and understandable mix of hope and apprehension. But the promise of new technology and knowledge that could improve teaching and learning can offset the natural fear of change and concern that new forms of reporting will be misused, misinterpreted, or simply inaccurate.

In the April 1945 issue of Educational Leadership, the article "Appraising New Report Forms" surveys several education stakeholders about their feelings on a proposed new progress report system that would include a broader measure of student achievement.

Read the article: Appraising New Report Forms (PDF)

The article looks at schools that have used different types of progress reports and asks teachers, parents, and representatives from businesses and the community their opinions about reports that convey students' progress in academic subjects as well as areas such as character and attitude.

Beyond School

The title of Education Week's new blog may sound lofty, even philosophical, but Beyond School covers topics that are grounded, practical, and increasingly recognized as critically important to the success of students.

Written by veteran Ed Week editor and reporter Mary-Ellen Phelps Deily, the blog closely tracks developments in areas such as summer school, after-school programs, extended-day efforts, and basically anything that reaches past the traditional school day. Beyond School offers a valuable lens to such efforts in federal education initiatives. For example, Deily combs through the recent report on stimulus funding to locate expanded learning time and summer school programs that benefited, and documents lobbying efforts by mayors to ensure Congress continues funding 21st Century Community Learning Centers.

Deily also carefully tracks new research and reports, highlighting key findings. Recently, she shined the spotlight on a study of an innovative after-school initiative in Providence, R.I., targeting middle schoolers and lamented a new analysis showing a relatively small number of summer school enrollees.

ASCD Institute Connects the Classroom to the Capitol

The May EL article, "Holding on to Gen Y," presents a common challenge to retaining younger teachers—they want to change the world but find the classroom provides limited access to policymakers.

ASCD recognizes the challenge to include teacher voice and influence in education policy, and to that end, presents ASCD's first-ever Leadership Institute for Legislative Advocacy (LILA), convening January 23–25, 2011, at the Westin Grand in Washington, D.C.

LILA will provide educators with a new opportunity to learn about the intersection between education policy and practice and their role in shaping education reform. LILA replaces ASCD's former LEAP Legislative Institute. Along with a new name, the revamped legislative conference features a new date that now coincides with the beginning of the congressional calendar and ASCD's annual announcement of legislative priorities, and a new location closer to the action on Capitol Hill.

Educators will leave LILA with direction on how to put legislative advocacy into action, and their efforts will be supported with follow-up activities throughout the year. Register for the conference no later than September 1, 2010, to get the early-bird registration rate of $125. 

Connect with other educators interested in policy by joining the LILA group on ASCD EDge. Get breaking education policy news by following ASCD on Twitter (www.twitter.com/ASCD) and looking for tweets tagged with #ascdpolicy. LILA attendees will use the #LILA11 hashtag to mark their tweets.

Six Traits of Successful Learning Teams

Teachers need and want to work in the kinds of collaborative learning environments they are charged with facilitating for students, yet surveys of American teachers show that they continue to spend over 90 percent of professional time alone.

Collaboration not only gives teachers opportunities to learn from each other and grow their skill sets; it also supports retention, with teachers working in collaborative environments reporting greater job satisfaction. 

This week's most-clicked SmartBrief article takes the next step in advocating teacher collaboration, sharing the learning team characteristics that most influence teacher effectiveness and student achievement. In an extensive review of research and reports, the National Commission on Teaching and America's Future identified these core attributes of successful learning teams:

• shared values and goals
• collective responsibility
• authentic assessment
• self-directed reflection
• stable settings
• strong leadership support

Three articles in the Summer issue of Educational Leadership demonstrate these principles in action.

In "How to Be an Education Troubleshooter," Allison Zmuda and Jay McTighe outline the process and benefits of teachers collaboratively creating online troubleshooting guides for common curriculum–based and student learning problems.

Multiple players, including teachers, unions, and policymakers, are responsible for the teacher-designed and -delivered professional development in "Teachers, Learners, Leaders," which profiles peer-to-peer learning in Ontario, Canada.

And in "Demonstrating Teaching in a Lab Classroom," teachers travel to each other's classrooms to observe and discuss best practices in action.