A Change of Plans, Little Else

One of the biggest challenges I face in my practice as a technology integration specialist is changing the teaching and learning culture. In my mind, I have a clear and specific goal: using technology to enhance learning. Yet traditional teaching and learning practices and paradigms sabotage my team's efforts—laptops become glorified typewriters and Wikipedia the new Encyclopedia Britannica (with Google as its table of contents).

What's preventing real change? I believe it's an approach that puts plans and process before the big picture and developing human capital.

Once the need for change is identified, we usually turn to plans. We become immersed in policies and procedures to transform the status quo, yet tend to miss an important step—the big picture. What's the goal and does everyone share it?

Significant change should not start with plans, but with a shared vision and empowerment. Culture is the most important (and hardest) to change, not policies or procedures. To achieve cultural change, we need to develop powerful models of that change within an organization. My team's vision of technology needs to go viral, with infected new members joining the campaign and carrying the momentum for change. (As Derek Sivers notes in this TED talk, the key to starting a movement is finding that first follower with the courage to show others how to follow.) 

As educators, we work with struggling students by changing teaching strategies, meeting with parents, using rubrics to assess and help students individually, and designing IEPs. We help our students see the big picture, empower their development, and believe in their capability to change, yet we find it difficult to apply these practices to transform our profession.

What's preventing real change in your school, district, or the education sector in general?

Post submitted by Alline Sada, a technology integration specialist at the Euroamerican School of Monterrey in Nuevo León, Mexico, and a 2011 Annual Conference Scholar.

How Can We Make Time to Meet Students' Emotional Needs?

My grandmother, Denolis Moore, is a retired teacher. The family recently threw her a 90th birthday party, at which many of her former students talked about instances when my grandmother had helped them get through a personal struggle that was hindering their academic performance. Reflecting on these conversations, I realized that my grandmother seemed to work intentionally to develop students' character and academics while simultaneously meeting their social and emotional needs.

In this different era, teachers face an overwhelming landscape of educational initiatives, and we often find it difficult to strike a balance between academic development and meeting our students' social and emotional needs. How do you make time to support your students emotionally, and how has that helped them academically?

—Michelle Neely, Teacher, Henry B. Gonzales Elementary School, Dallas, Tex.

Measuring Effectiveness: What Will It Take?

Federal policy now focuses on teacher "effectiveness" rather than teacher "quality" as its central policy concern. Rather than measuring inputs, the new focus looks to measure the outcomes of a teacher's work—that is, the extent to which the educator has met crucial student needs, such as improved student achievement. 

In "Measuring Effectiveness: What Will It Take?," Circe Stumbo and Peter McWalters note that as states take a more active role in teacher evaluation, they face seven major challenges, including

• overcoming the limits of what student assessment data can say about teacher performance;
• connecting test scores to teachers who teach untested subjects;
• ensuring evaluator quality; and
• promoting team-based, as opposed to individual, accountability.

Stumbo and McWalters "raise these challenges not to sound an alarm, but to suggest an agenda for cooperative research, design, development, and assessment of state policy and local practices."

Is your school addressing these challenges?

What Students Need to Learn

The pressure to raise test scores and the looming possibility of national standards has educators asking difficult questions about what students need to learn. How do state and national assessments and standards play into curricular decisions? How do schools decide which subjects are essential? And how do they ensure that nontested subjects, such as the arts, foreign languages, and social studies, have a place? This issue will address the standards movement, interdisciplinary learning, the question of curricular breadth or depth, the teaching of essential knowledge and skills, and the need for a well-rounded curriculum.

ASCD Express is looking for short, 600 to 1,000-word essays on the theme "What Students Need to Learn." Guidelines for submissions are here. Please send us your submissions by December 10, 2010.

We welcome international contributions and real-life stories about how schools and districts have reinvigorated their curriculums.

Teacher Effectiveness: The Whole Picture

The December 2010/January 2011 Educational Leadership hits mailboxes this week. Here's just under half of what's in store:

• Measuring Effectiveness: What Will It Take? Looking at potential benefits and challenges—including promoting team-based, as opposed to individual, accountability—of the new emphasis on measuring teacher effectiveness.
• Raising Teacher Quality Around the World: What can nations learn from one another about attracting and retaining talented teachers?
• Notes from an Accidental Teacher: Carol Ann Tomlinson reflects on her journey to become a teacher and the five professional practices that led her home.
• Leadership, Not Magic: A close-up look at the Teach For America teachers who are closing achievement gaps. 
• Evaluations That Help Teachers Learn: Charlotte Danielson talks about the meaningful conversations about practice that must replace peremptory checklists.
• The Flexible Teacher: Good teaching depends on teachers' ability to respond to the classroom context and to adjust instruction to serve student needs.
• Spend Money Like It Matters: Merit pay must be more than a gimmick if it is going to improve the teaching profession.
• Merit Pay Misfires: Why bonuses tied to student test scores will produce measurement, morale, and motivation problems.
• Once a Struggling Student . . . : Forty-six teachers tell what they learned about teaching from having faced difficulties as students.
• Book Review—Teach Like a Champion: 49 Techniques That Put Students on the Path to College by Doug Lemov: Our good friend Dina Strasser says thumbs up for the strategies but is ambivalent about some of the assumptions.
• Digitally Speaking: Using Social Media to Reach Your Community: Pal Bill Ferriter talks about using social media to share news, celebrate victories, and answer questions about your school.
• From Critic to Catalyst: How to reframe supervision as collaborative inquiry.

Look for the issue online at the top of the month. *UPDATE* The issue is now available online.

The Wait Is Over

Post submitted by Sean Slade, director of ASCD's Healthy School Communities.

Back on September 21, 2010, just after the release of Waiting for Superman and immediately following director Davis Guggenheim's appearance on the Oprah Winfrey Show, ASCD's Executive Director, Dr. Gene Carter, wrote an open letter that highlighted the lack of actual teachers involved in the show, film, or subsequent discussions:

As a career educator and the executive director of ASCD, an education association of 160,000 educators worldwide, I was dismayed that your show on education reform excluded a key demographic from the dialogue: teachers. Yet the research—and your high-profile guests—say a child's teacher is the most important factor to determining his or her success.

So what do teachers think of Waiting for Superman? Last week Guggenheim, to his credit, asked teachers to respond and post their thoughts about his film and what many deem as its negative appraisal of teachers. Oakland, Calif., teacher Anthony Cody drew attention to the responses to Guggenheim's post—which as of last Friday (November 19) had 85 comments, of which two were positive and 83 were . . . well, here's a sampling:

• Your film has become another instrument in polarizing the issue of education reform by promoting a corporate takeover of public schools, while blaming hard-working teachers and their unions for all the wrongs with public schools. Instead of trying to bring people together in solving this complex problem, your film had hindered any possibility of real collegiality among stakeholders.
• This film was a wasted opportunity. How could you make an entire film about the problems in so-called "failing" schools, and never actually visit or interview anyone within them? And how could you rely on the "expert" analysis of people who have never taught or studied education, let alone tried to understand the issues facing struggling schools? Several of your "experts" are ideologues who are deeply invested in undermining public education.

Where Should School Leaders Come From?

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's recent appointment of Hearst Magazines executive Cathleen Black as incoming NYC Schools chancellor to replace Joel Klein has the education sector buzzing about who's best qualified to run a school district.

Last week's most-clicked ASCD SmartBrief item from Eduwonk Andrew Rotherham (for Time magazine) takes the opportunity to point out flaws in current preparation and credentialing programs for teachers. He highlights this National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education report for recommendations on fixing teacher training (for example, more focus on actual classroom experience). Education "fetishizes" credentials, though they produce inconsistent results, Rotherham contends. A blend of credentials and past performance would be a better fit for high-stakes hiring decisions in education.

Whether education outsider Cathleen Black's tenure will be favorable for NYC Schools is still anyone's guess. What should be clear, says Rotherham, is "how outmoded—and counterproductive—American education's approach to credentials is in the first place."

School leaders often come from fields outside education—business, politics, or the military, for example. Black, like her predecessor Klein, must be granted a waiver before taking the chancellorship because she has neither a master's degree, a professional certificate as a school district leader, or teaching experience.

What experiences and/or credentials do you think school leaders should possess?

Good Induction Puts the "Ability" Back In Teacher Accountability

Post submitted by Richard Katz, superintendent/principal, Clinton-Glen Gardner School District, Clinton, N.J., and member of ASCD's Emerging Leaders Class of 2010.

The idea of improving teacher quality is among the plethora of educational reforms being pursued by our local and federal governments. While there is no doubt that accountability has its merits for ensuring that our nation's students are in the company of high-quality, effective teachers, few of these measures are focused on actually working to support the development and improvement of teachers' skills and knowledge. It is one thing to impose accountability and demand a standard—it is another to offer teachers the tools and resources necessary for them to reach these standards.

Certainly, there are teachers who reject assistance, suggestions, and change; however, there are many who would find greater success from the beginning if they were given more and better support in their early years of teaching. A major stride in improving teacher quality could be accomplished through a widespread commitment and intense investment in novice teacher induction programs. 

It's been 35 years since Dan Lortie first published his book Schoolteacher and made the following observations that induction in education looks like:

• Formal schooling without a clearly defined, well-developed, and agreed-upon knowledge base occurring in a relatively short period of specialized study when compared to other occupations requiring university-based training. 
• An apprenticeship or student teaching experience with nonuniform experiences that typically last only a few weeks before abruptly transitioning the novice from student to a teacher with full responsibilities. 
• A learning-while-doing component found to occur in mostly private settings that do not foster collaboration and learning from others in meaningful ways.       

Some would argue that this literature could have been published today and serve as an accurate reflection of current practice. 

Improving novice teaching induction programs is essential if new teachers are to be successful in their workplace and live up to the constantly rising demands. Upon entering the profession, new teachers are expected to perform the same full set of responsibilities that their more experienced peers do and are simultaneously forced to learn as they go. 

So as our legislators and education policymakers work to develop teacher evaluation and accountability measures, it is possible that a more significant impact on students and learning could be accomplished not by more rigorous evaluations and standards for teachers, but rather by increased quantity and quality of induction programs. In all likelihood, having them occur simultaneously would be most beneficial.  

What do you believe are the most important factors in supporting new teachers? Should there be common practices for induction and preservice programs? Should new teachers be immediately held to the same standards as their veteran counterparts? Who (the district, teachers, etc.) should be responsible for ensuring new teachers receive the training they require? 

Happy National Day of Blogging for Real Education Reform -- Cooperative Catalyst, a group blog by educators, is compiling all of the links to posts written in honor of today's theme. Visit Cooperative Catalyst, to read these educator perspectives on education reform.

In Case You Missed It

Here's what has been happening at ASCD this week:

• Allison Zmuda talks about the myths that many believe about teaching and what people can do to get away from them. Hear what she has to say about these misconceptions in this month's ASCD Talks With an Author.
• Student teacher Patrick Riley recently wrote about getting his students prepared for midterms by doing a multiday review of important information. He learned through this that he must use his class time wisely so the students can be successful.
• ASCD Conference Scholars have started blogging again, and this week Steven Anderson asks, "What does it take to become a teacher leader?"
• Want to know what educators feel are the most important components to redesigning personal learning? SIIA, in collaboration with ASCD and CCSSO, asked this question and have listed the top 10 answers. 
• Over 15,000 educators are connecting, blogging, and networking on ASCD EDge! If you aren't a member of our free social network, join us now!
• Professional learning communities can be a great resource for educators, but if not properly managed, many times they become dysfunctional, writes Steven Weber.
• Several new blog posts have gone up this week on the Whole Child Blog and ASCD EDge. Make sure you take a look to see what educators are talking about!
• Last week, Thomas Armstrong spoke during a webinar about multiple intelligences in the classroom. If you missed it or want to hear it again, click here.
• Don't forget to register for Heidi Hayes Jacobs's December 7 webinar on 21st century learning.

Add your own highlights in the comments, and check this spot for our regular weekly digest of ASCD activities.

Learn. Teach. Lead. And Find Work.

Looking for work in education? You're not alone. From billion-dollar federal measures to parent-led initiatives, efforts to help stop teacher layoffs have been springing up and launching across the country. While some jobs have been spared, the reality is: the pool of talented, recently out-of-work educators in search of new opportunities is full. Enter ASCD Job Ramp.

Powered by CareerBuilder, ASCD Job Ramp is a free job site that exclusively caters to the needs of educators, administrators, curriculum developers—in essence, anyone looking for a job in education in the United States. The site allows job seekers to explore job postings while taking advantage of CareerBuilder's intuitive, easy-to-navigate interface, résumé services, and personalized alerts. The site is open to anyone looking for work or interested in posting education jobs, and a discount is extended to current ASCD members posting jobs to the site. ASCD Job Ramp can be found online at http://www.ascd.org/ascdjobramp.aspx or through a feed integrated into ASCD EDge, a professional networking community for educators.

Are you finding success with attracting candidates to your job post thanks to ASCD Job Ramp? Have you found the right opportunity on the career site? Share your experience.

Charters: Black Sheep or Golden Sun?

Post submitted by Brie Nelson, director of oversight and governance at the Center for Charter Schools in Missouri and member of the ASCD Emerging Leaders Class of 2010.

School choice has strong legs and is crawling, with charters breaking from the pack as one of the most widespread models. There are varied perceptions regarding charter schools among educational communities. Do charter schools really make a difference? Should they be expanded? Here are some facts we know*:

• Individual state legislators determine the oversight and extent of charter schools. All states vary. For example, some states restrict charter schools to urban areas or areas where the public school system has already failed.
• Charter schools do not receive the same funding as traditional public school district. Funding is less in almost all states (although the formula varies per state).
• The charter school movement was created with the promise to educate students with less funding but better creativity, ingenuity, and increased state test scores.
• Charter school effectiveness varies greatly from school to school. Some schools are very high-performing while others are worse than the traditional public schools in the area.
• Charter schools are public schools. While they can't pick and choose who attends, they can impose stricter behavior and achievement requirements for enrolled students, which reports link to higher attrition rates at charters versus traditional public schools (i.e., in Chicago and Texas).
• To operate, charter schools must have a sponsor (or authorizer), who works with the state and local school board to ensure proper oversight, compliance, and performance. Depending on state statutes, the sponsor can be a university, traditional school district, mayor's office, independent company, etc.
• Most charter schools are evaluated by their sponsor every two to four years. The evaluation reviews their effectiveness in academic achievement, financial responsibility, effective governance and oversight, and other areas determined by state and sponsor.
• Some charter school boards contract a company to manage their schools, some don't, and some are run simply by the board.

With each state requiring varying guidelines and each sponsor supporting charter schools differently, how can we effectively compare and determine "achievement"? Are charter schools given too much freedom, or is the freedom worth the potential gains? Have we bred a field full of black sheep, or are we working toward casting a golden sun?

*References: National Association of Charter School Authorizers, National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, US Charter Schools

The New Faces of Ed Reform

Now that Michelle Rhee and Joel Klein are (at least temporarily) out of the education reform spotlight, who will be the new faces of education reform? Perhaps the same people who've always quietly led their own teaching and learning revolutions.

In advance of next Monday's National Day of Blogging for Real Education Reform, we pulled 10 articles from our EL archives that discuss reforming education with teachers as leaders and partners in meaningful, lasting change:

• "Change From Within": How a school turned itself around, thanks to its on-site experts working together.
• "Short on Power, Long on Responsibility": To upgrade teacher quality, schools need to go beyond just holding teachers more accountable. They need to give teachers more control.
• "Lessons from Leading Models": What can we learn from the three most widely used high school reform models (Talent Development, First Things First, and career academies)?
• "Reform: To What End?": Mike Rose says that we need a different orientation to school reform—one that embodies a richer understanding of teaching and learning.
• "When Teachers Run the School": A Greek high school demonstrates the effectiveness of distributed leadership.
• "How North Carolina Improved Teacher Evaluation": For the last three years, North Carolina has been developing a statewide system to ensure that teachers can perform at their best.
• "To Help and Not Hinder": What school qualities contribute most to teacher growth?
• "Research Says… / Drastic School Turnaround Strategies Are Risky": Successful turnarounds build the skills and knowledge of those responsible for student learning and seriously engage teachers and the community in setting goals and putting them into practice.
• "How to Become a Digital Leader": Bill Ferriter says, "I've never made more enemies than I did while sitting on a panel of teacher leaders at a conference for principals. Our task was to help a room full of administrators understand the role teachers could play in driving change in schools."
• "Moving Beyond Talk": Six conditions helped these urban districts launch—and sustain—strong learning communities.

Participating in the November 22, 2010, Day of Blogging for Real Education Reform? Drop us your link on Twitter @ASCD_Inservice.

Do U.S. Middle Schools Have a Wait Problem?

In a study drawing on Program for International School Assessment (PISA) results and linking closely to the National Assessment of Educational Progress(NAEP), researchers found that the math achievement of 8th and 9th graders in the United States lags far behind that of their peers in 30 other countries. Even when researchers looked at white U.S. students with at least one parent with a college degree, only 10.3 percent of U.S. 8th and 9th graders score at an accomplished level in math on the PISA—compared to 28 percent in Taiwan and at least 20 percent in Hong Kong, South Korea, and Finland. 

Study authors (Hanushek, Peterson, and Woessmann) blame the United States's failure to raise standards for teaching and learning in math and science. In his analysis, Washington Post journalist Jay Mathews points the finger at softened expectations in U.S. middle schools. It's the "muddle in the middle" critique—that middle schools have eschewed challenging academics in favor of tending to students' social, emotional, and physical needs. Citing Tom Loveless, Mathews's column falls just shy of calling for a return to tracking in middle school.

Previous issues of Educational Leadership have also staged the debate over whether the middle school model is broken. Cheri Pierson Yecke wrote about moving to a K–8 model to improve middle school and offered 10 strategies to ease the transition. In a rebuttal to Yecke, Rick Wormeli defended the middle school concept, when it's fully implemented by knowledgeable practitioners.

Mathews claims the Hanushek study as evidence that academic challenge stalls in the middle grades, producing collateral damage stretching into high school. What are your thoughts?

In Case You Missed It

Here's a rundown of some highlights from ASCD this week:

• Take a look at the November sale book, Learning for Keeps: Teaching the Strategies Essential for Creating Independent Learners, which is available to read now on ASCD's Web site.
• Did you miss Fall Conference or just want to get a refresher on some of the sessions? Several of the sessions are now archived for your viewing pleasure. Hear from noted educators such as Pedro Noguera, Harvey Silver, Baruti Kafele and Richard Rothstein.
• Another November sale book, Strengthening and Enriching Your Professional Learning Community: The Art of Learning Together, is also available to read online. Take a look at how educators can attain strong professional development and how to create a professional learning circle.  
• Steven Weber recently posted about school leadership and how educators must "lead with effort and courage." He writes that teachers with concise goals succeed in leading their students to success more often than teachers who lack a cohesive plan or direction in the classroom.
• Mike Fisher lists several ways for teachers to do more with less. Learn how limited resources, time, and space can be overcome to give students a rich and rewarding learning experience.

Add your own highlights in the comments, and check this spot for our regular weekly digest of ASCD activities.

Big Classroom Presence, Little Time for Admin. Duties?

Formerly a teacher, now an administrator-in-training, Chris Canter blogs about his yearlong assistant principal internship at Fulton County Public Schools in Atlanta, Ga.

I'm all settled in at McNair Middle School and have hit the ground running. From the moment I arrived, I've been in awe at how busy this school is. With close to 1,000 students, there is never much downtime. Between handling discipline issues, bus and lunch duty, and teacher walk-throughs, administrators are rarely found in their offices; they are busy about the work of the school. Administrator visibility is not a bad thing—I am constantly in the building interacting with students and faculty, which is just at it should be. Quite honestly, I am loving every minute of it.

My major professor and I have devised my graduate and performance-based leadership license project while at McNair. I will observe at least 10 classrooms weekly during the next eight weeks and collect data on items such as student engagement, teacher use of differentiated instruction, and student achievement. I'll then use those data, along with teacher input and qualitative interviews, to formulate collaborative data-based suggestions to improve and polish instructional practices within the building.

For the most part, teachers here are aware of my project and seem excited to be a part of it. My presence in the hallways and in their classrooms has seemed to be very welcomed, with many teachers providing suggestions about areas where I should focus my study and recommendations for methods and strategies we should use as a school to improve teaching and learning in the building. The camaraderie and respect I've gained from teachers by not spending inordinate amounts of time in my office are proving vital in gaining their support.

Now, the real challenge comes: how do administrators in such busy schools remain actively present in the school and its operations, yet still complete the other administrative duties to which they must also tend (such as answering e-mails, formulating presentations and documents, and completing paperwork)? What are some time management strategies effective, seasoned building leaders rely on?

Burning the Candle at Both Ends

Beating teacher burnout means learning to relax a little and say no when you need to, says this month's installment of "In the Classroom with Bijal Damani."

Damani tries to keep her professional responsibilities manageable by "laying down clear classroom policies and expectations for students, parents, and administrators at the beginning of the year—and sticking to them."

And she asks that administrators support teachers by setting transparent policies, treating all teachers equitably, including teachers in decision making, providing adequate resources (including support groups and tenure), and modeling a healthy balance between work and personal life.

Teaching doesn't always mean instant gratification, but Damani believes student results are worth the wait.

Is it okay to say no at your school? Where do you find support for setting healthy boundaries?

(For more on putting fun and balance into your teaching life, check out our archived webinar by Mike Anderson, author of The Well-Balanced Teacher.) 

Rigor, Better Tests?

In last week's most-clicked ASCD SmartBrief item, Teach for America alum and Harvard business and government fellow Miki Litmanovitz argues for keeping standardized tests as a measure of student learning but calls for better tests that don't require rote recitation of facts from a narrowed curriculum. Litmanovitz writes,

The best way to ensure that our children are actually learning—and that teachers are doing a good job teaching—is to test students to see what knowledge they have retained and what skills they have developed. . . . For reliable results, we need standardized tests.

Throughout her editorial, Litmanovitz drops the R-word (rigor) a bunch. Lately, that word seems either as common as "hello" in certain education circles or a loaded and contentious term.

For an example of the latter: Just last night, my partner came home from administering a 4th grade–level standardized test to her 2nd grade D.C. public school students. "What the heck for?," I asked. "Our administration wants to expose our kids to more rigor," was her reply. How'd it go? "Everyone was crying—they might as well have been reading text written in Wingdings."

What does Litmanovitz mean when she says, "Throwing out the tests isn't the answer; making them more rigorous is"? How's that playing out (or not) at your school? Does that statement resonate differently from parent, teacher, and administrator perspectives?

Developing the Leaders Within

When I started teaching, I had no desire to take on any leadership roles in my school. Yet in my nine years as a classroom teacher and technology integration specialist, I've led as a team leader, grade-level chair, school improvement team chair, and district technology team chair.

How did I get here?

Straight out of school, I started teaching in a classroom with students who had essentially been kicked out of their home school and fallen behind by several grade levels. My lofty goal: get them to take and pass our state assessments, help them enter a program that would allow them to complete two grade levels in one year, and get them back on track to graduate on time.

It was an eye-opening experience. I had student-taught in a very rural area with very few problems like the ones I faced in my classroom that first year. I was ready to walk away from teaching after my second day.

With no mentor, seemingly no one to talk to, I went to my administrator. We talked for a very long time about teaching, classroom management, and my classroom. Eventually, this one conversation turned into a weekly meeting. She became my unofficial mentor.

During the next four years working with her, I learned what it meant to be a leader. These weren't specific lessons but more through the way she led her staff, the way she handled situations, the way she listened. She was firm when she needed to be, but her door was always open and she would always talk about whatever was on your mind, even if it was to criticize a decision she had made.

But what really helped me develop as a leader were the opportunities she gave me to lead.

In Case You Missed It

Here's some ASCD highlights from this past week:

• Erik Palmer posts about how important it is for students to have good speaking abilities if they want to succeed in the classroom and in the workforce. Learn what a well-spoken student should sound like and tips on how they can improve their skills.
• Networking with peers is important in any job and this does not exclude education. This post shares why new teachers must network with others and continually keep expanding their network throughout their careers.
• The upcoming Annual Conference is only a few months away. Check here for updates on sessions, travel information, and how to register for the March conference in San Francisco.
• Join the discussion on the new Facebook page dedicated to respected educator Robyn Jackson's book Mastering the Principles of Great Teaching. Feel free to share your thoughts on what it takes to become a great teacher.
• The latest issue of Education Update is now posted on the Web. Learn about National Board Certified teachers, arts collaboration, and more.
• For those who were at or are interested in the Fall Conference, continue the conversation through social networking!
• Read the November sale book, Raising Black Students' Achievement Through Culturally Responsive Teaching, for free on ASCD's Web site.
• ASCD's Director of Public Policy David Griffith addresses this past week's elections and how some of the anti-Washington fervor is aimed at education. For more elction coverage and how it may affect education, please check out ASCD's special election page.
• Next week, on November 9, don't miss Thomas Armstrong's webinar on multiple intelligences. This webinar offers a chance to interact with Armstrong and improve teaching practices.

Add your own highlights in the comments, and check this spot for our regular weekly digest of ASCD activities.

Editorial: Science & Education Need to Work Together for Boys & Girls

Kelley King, Kathy Stevens, and I were honored to have our article "Gender-Friendly Schools" published in this month's Educational Leadership. Our work follows two decades of field research in the application of gender science to classrooms. In our article, we feature a number of schools that have utilized science-based strategies and pedagogy to close achievement gaps, move off of state watch lists, make AYP, increase teacher effectiveness, and turnaround low-performing schools.
 
If you read the blog post by Professor Lise Eliot (regarding "gender pseudo-science"), you'll notice Eliot attacks me and my colleagues as educators who make "bogus" claims. Seeing students as boys and girls with inherent (and sometimes differentiated) learning needs is problematic for Eliot, and she claims to have "proof" that her opinion is the right one. 
 
It is worth noting: Eliot's opinion that gender science is not a well-developed science is not necessarily shared by every neuroscientist in the field of gender studies. For nearly 100 references to studies in brain science that conclude differently than Eliot, please check out www.michaelgurian.com/about.html. One study you'll see on that reference page is "The Science of Sex Differences in Science and Mathematics," by Halpern et al., in Psychological Science in the Public Interest (August 2007), 8 (I). 
 
Diane Halpern, Camilla Benbow, and their colleagues have studied more than a million individuals, utilizing brain scan technologies, other laboratory measures, and field research. They've been conducting this research for nearly three decades. Their scan, laboratory, and field work is not bogus or "pseudo-science." It is good science that we as educators need.
 
This last point is crucial: We educators are experientially developing wisdom-of-practice research regarding gender science in our schools. I hope you'll read "Gender-Friendly Schools" or the book Boys and Girls Learn Differently. You'll meet educators like yourself who have looked into the eyes of their students, realized boys and girls have some clear, differentiated learning needs, and closed achievement and behavior gaps by innovating scientifically and creatively to meet those needs.  
 
Post submitted by Michael Gurian, cofounder of the Gurian Institute and coauthor of 16 books on gender studies, including Boys and Girls Learn Differently and Strategies for Teaching Boys and Girls.