Changing the Poisonous Narrative

Since the publication of my book, The Death and Life of the Great American School System, I have traveled the nation talking to many thousands of teachers, administrators, parents, researchers, and other members of the public about the future of public education. I explain that the current "reform" program has no evidence behind it; its failed ideas are harming students and the quality of education.

In the current climate of hostility toward teachers and public schools, educators are hungry for affirmation. The general public resists privatization and understands intuitively that our democracy depends on good public schools. 

Teachers are deeply demoralized. Many have told me that they will retire early. The "reformers" blame teachers for low test scores. To "reformers," nothing else matters—not parents, not poverty, not student effort—just teachers. "Reformers" believe that "bad teachers" are entirely responsible for student test scores. They like to say that "three great teachers in a row closes the achievement gap," but they never identify a school or district where this has actually happened.

In state after state, a small number of incredibly wealthy people with no connection to the public schools are supporting campaigns to undermine public education and to tie teachers' jobs to test scores. They have decided that education must be removed from democratic control and handed over to private management or to the mayor, who will side with private funders. At the same time, the budget for public schools is under siege, and the so-called "reformers" issue no protests. Is this a shell game where we argue about "reform" while our public schools are decimated by budget cuts?

Public education, open to all, helped make us a great nation. We can't afford to turn it over to entrepreneurs. Nor can we afford to continue with a flawed, punitive accountability system that narrows the curriculum, incentivizes cheating, and disheartens all those who labor daily to provide good education to our nation's children.

Post submitted by Diane Ravitch, research professor of education at New York University, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, former assistant secretary of education in the first Bush administration, and interviewed in the December Educational Leadership article, "Changing the Poisonous Narrative: A Conversation with Diane Ravitch."

Dollar Sense for Kids

You don't have to look much further than national and international headlines to find justification for teaching even young students the skills to make smart future financial decisions. So how can parents and teachers find good foundations for financial literacy content? Last week's most-clicked ASCD SmartBrief article by Brian Page (for Edutopia) is full of great resources for the elementary school level; his next two posts will focus on middle and high school level financial literacy resources.

Page encourages those passionate about teaching financial literacy to join the next #FinEdChat on Wednesday, December 7th from 8:30-9:00 pm. Until then, you can vote for the chat topic, at the FinEdChat blog, in advance of the chat.

Avoiding Teacher Burnout

How do seasoned teachers surmount the perennial difficulties of their jobs—difficult students, an irritating colleague or parent, less-than-ideal environments, the difficult balance of work and home—and recapture the spark that ignited their passion for teaching long ago? What's the role of the following in renewing teachers in their careers, especially when they're on the point of chucking education; reflection; supportive colleagues and administrators; professional development; and not least of all, innovation and creativity?

ASCD Express is looking for short, 600 to 1,000-word essays on the theme "Avoiding Teacher Burnout." We're looking for practical articles with specific strategies for confronting and overcoming teacher burnout.

Guidelines for submissions are here. Please send us your submissions by December 9, 2011.

Sputnik—Advancing Education Through Innovation and Evidence

Robert Slavin's new Education Week blog, Sputnik: Advancing Education Through Innovation and Evidence, focuses on research and innovation and their effect on education policy. The blog's title is a nod to the Soviet satellite, which he explains galvanized the United States into an era of innovation.

Slavin laments what he perceives as the lack of this spirit in today's education reform landscape:

Instead of investing in research and innovation, as we did in the wake of Sputnik, our leaders today try to solve our educational problems by fiddling with management solutions, governance solutions, and assessment solutions that do not fundamentally change what happens between teachers and students… The reason it was Neil Armstrong and not Nikolai Armstronganoff who landed on the moon was that we invested in targeted, relentless research and development. We did not manage our way to the moon, we invented our way to the moon.

The blog features posts from Slavin, director of the Center for Research and Reform in Education at Johns Hopkins University, and guest bloggers, such as Jim Shelton, assistant deputy secretary of the Office of Innovation and Improvement at the U.S. Department of Education. So far, notable posts have included a skeptical guide to interpreting "education miracles" and a post calling for greater innovation in our education system, which echoes many of ASCD author Yong Zhao's sentiments from his recent book Catching Up or Leading the Way.

The blog is off to a promising start and provides a compelling, big-picture framework for considering the importance of research-based innovation in education.

NCLB Waivers Are No Hall Pass

Eleven states will seek flexibility from various No Child Left Behind Act requirements in the U.S. Department of Education's first round of waiver considerations. In exchange for loosening the George W. Bush-era NCLB mandates, the states—Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Tennessee—have to implement Obama-preferred reform policies. Among them: adopt college and career-readiness standards (i.e., the Common Core State Standards), establish differentiated accountability systems, and institute teacher evaluation systems.

Also this week, the 21 experts who will review the state "waiver" applications have been publicly identified. The peer review panel is a mix of state and local officials, policy experts, and researchers. Interestingly, and unusually, the Education Trust has two representatives (Katie Haycock and Daria Hall) serving on the panel. If you include previous Ed Trust-er Ross Weiner (now head of the Aspen Institute), more than 10 percent of the peer review panel is stocked with Ed Trust reps and alums.

Given their sizable representation on the waiver review panel, it is worth noting the Ed Trust's position on the Obama administration's waiver proposal: 

For years, states have been demanding the kind of flexibility offered today. They've said that the terms of NCLB were unrealistic. They've highlighted the fact that their schools weren't given credit for student growth. And they've pointed out that the law's required interventions in schools that missed their goals created a damaging "one size fits all" approach to school improvement. In short, they've told us that they know how to do it better. In fact, far too many state leaders spent a lot of time and energy over the past decade bashing the law instead of getting all of their students to read and do math at grade level. 

Now, the Obama administration has handed states a responsible framework in which they can exercise the flexibility they said they wanted. It's time for them to stand and deliver—on behalf of all students, but particularly those who are farthest behind. 

Clearly, the state applications will be carefully scrutinized for maintaining stringent accountability requirements and efforts to close achievement gaps.

In Case You Missed It

Here's what's been happening at ASCD:

• Should revealing where students stand relative to their peers be encouraged or shunned?  
• Walter McKenzie channels his inner David Byrne talking about the Occupy movement: "How does the occupy movement create any urgent impetus for elected officials to make necessary change?"
• Middle school is often overlooked during school reforms; however, it has a large impact on their readiness for college by the end of high school.  
• Check out the most recent common core webinar in our archive and see what other webinars are coming up soon.
• Developing a partnership with a local college and encouraging educator participation in professional organizations are just some of the  lessons Fred Crawford learned from his experience at an early college high school.  
• Follow us on Twitter and you might win some great contests.
• To keep you abreast of the latest school health news and resources from Healthy School Communities, sign up for Health and Learning News and Updates a free e-newsletter delivered every other week.
• Be "you," take the long view, and find a tribe of like-minded professionals are a few of the ways to be in it for the long haul. Read all seven from Robyn Jackson.  
• ASCD recently added additional staff to help push our initiatives forward.
• There are tons of educational hashtags, make good use of them, says Steven Anderson. 
• The Common Core is asking all teachers to be Literacy Support Systems for students. Mike has put together some resources for PE Teachers.
• Make sure to use ASCD's Job Ramp when looking for education-related jobs in your area.

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

Reading: The Core Skill

The ability to read skillfully and with comprehension is the foundation of student achievement across the curriculum. Yet many students still come to the upper elementary grades without basic reading proficiency. This issue will look at what students at every grade level need to become strong readers.

ASCD Express is looking for short, 600 to 1,000-word essays on the theme "Reading: The Core Skill." Articles will deal with preschool experiences that help build essential reading readiness skills, primary grades approaches that get early readers off to a solid start, and interventions that are most effective for students who struggle with literacy in both the elementary and secondary grades. We welcome articles on how teachers can connect reading to the content areas, identify struggling adolescent readers and provide effective remediation, develop students' vocabulary, use both fiction and nonfiction texts, help English language learners, use technology to support deep reading, and work with literacy coaches and reading specialists.

Guidelines for submissions are here. Please send us your submissions by December 2, 2011.

What Is a "Good" Report Card? (1947)

Betty Irish, an elementary coordinator from San Diego, Calif., published "What Is a 'Good' Report Card?" in the Parent-Teacher Courier, and it so impressed the editors of Educational Leadership that they broke from customary practice of only featuring original content and republished it in the magazine's April 1947 issue.

Read the article: What Is a "Good" Report Card? (PDF)

In retrospect, it's easy to see how the editors were entranced; who else had thought to talk about report cards through prehistoric allegory? The First Mother, befuddled by the report card brought home by her Son, First Child, puts on "her newest tiger skin" to pay a visit to First Teacher and get more information: is his report card "good"?

Irish then tells of two scenarios, one in which the teacher's explanation leads to First Mother scolding First Child back at the cave, and one in which the outcome is happier for all involved. Although I won't reveal it here, the message this allegory sends is still as relevant today as it was when it was published—perhaps even more so.

In Case You Missed It

Here's what has been happening recently at ASCD:

• How do we address the dropout crisis and shift the goal of the public school system to college and career readiness for all students? 
• ASCD supports the Common Core because we support challenging and improving education, Walter McKenzie says. 
• The brain is like an iPhone, says Melissa Edwards  – we select, download, and delete memories all the time, just like our apps.  
• A five-point list of demands Thom Markham would suggest for the Occupy the Future movement, including insist on a whole child education for the entire nation.
• The difference in popular literacy, academic literacy, and everyday student communication is very transparent. Educators should be able to speak all these languages to be more effective instructors.
• Are you looking for PD? Check out ASCD's professional learning institutes for ASCD's latest offerings.

• Education Update looks at different ways for teachers to effectively manage classrooms.
• How important is exercise at school? Three experts weigh in on the Whole Child blog.
• One of the co-authors of the ASCD book, Teaching English Language Learners Across the Content Areas, comes up with her must-read list on DI for ELLs.  
• Several educators discuss what practices they use for grading effectively in the latest ASCD Express.
• Got Common Core questions? Check out our webinar series on the state standards.

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

Are You One of the #ASCD20K?

@ASCD is quickly approaching its 20,000th follower, and to mark the occasion, they've got two sweet ways to say thanks:

• If you're the lucky 20,000th follower, you'll receive a free Premium Online membership (or renewal). 
• Already an @ASCD follower? Tweet the PD Online® course you’d most like to take, along with the reason why, with the hashtag #ASCD20K. We'll pick a winner to receive the course of their choice. Browse the PD Online course catalog here.

Really, just following @ASCD is a win-win proposition. It's the go-to place for education news, policy updates, trending practitioner topics, live tweeting from national education events, and free educator resources (articles, webinars, book chapters, etc.).

Click follow and become part of the #ASCD20K today!

What Is "Process" Praise and Why Should You Use It?

Last week's most-clicked ASCD SmartBrief story underscored the importance of praising students for effort and the processes they use to learn. This cultivates what Carol Dweck calls a "growth mindset," and helps kids identify the practices that develop their knowledge and skills, and supports their perseverance toward goals, by acknowledging hard work over so-called innate talent.

The idea that being smart means learning comes easy is one of the myths that haunt students. This fixed mindset leads students to avoid challenges for fear of looking stupid. Dweck says teachers can challenge students' fixed mindset beliefs by using effort or "process" praise—for engagement, perseverance, strategies, improvement, and the like. She provides some examples of process praise in her Educational Leadership article, "The Perils and Promises of Praise":

• You really studied for your English test, and your improvement shows it. You read the material over several times, outlined it, and tested yourself on it. That really worked!
• I like the way you tried all kinds of strategies on that math problem until you finally got it.
• It was a long, hard assignment, but you stuck to it and got it done. You stayed at your desk, kept up your concentration, and kept working. That's great!
• I like that you took on that challenging project for your science class. It will take a lot of work—doing the research, designing the machine, buying the parts, and building it. You're going to learn a lot of great things. 
• For the student who gets an A without trying: "All right, that was too easy for you. Let's do something more challenging that you can learn from."
• For the student who works hard and doesn't do well: "I liked the effort you put in. Let's work together some more and figure out what you don't understand."

 How do you praise effort instead of talent in your classroom?

Casey―and ASCD―at Bat for Well-Rounded Ed. Policy

The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act's narrow focus on student achievement in English language arts and mathematics has been a point of contention since the law's enactment, and it has become especially problematic in more recent years with the increased interest in college, career, and citizenship-ready students.

That is why educators were so disappointed that the original Harkin-Enzi ESEA reauthorization bill did not include provisions to support other core academic subjects that result in a more well-rounded education. The exclusion was as disappointing as it was surprising given that the Obama administration's blueprint―upon which the Harkin-Enzi bill's framework was patterned―includes such a section (PDF).

Fortunately, this oversight was corrected thanks to a Senate Education Committee-approved amendment by Senator Robert Casey (D-PA) (with the strong backing of Chairman Tom Harkin [D-IA]) that establishes a grant program for the arts, civics and government, economics, environmental education, financial literacy, foreign languages, geography, health education, history, physical education, and social studies.

The Casey amendment is a crucial first step in greater federal recognition of the importance of all core academic subjects to students' lifelong success. Nevertheless, more needs to be done to assure that the federal K–12 policy expands access, testing, and accountability options to include all subjects. ASCD is grateful to Senator Casey for his support and thank him and Chairman Harkin for their leadership in seeking to create a more well-rounded education for students.

ASCD is part of the college, career, and citizenship-ready coalition of more than 36 national education organizations that is committed to affirming the purpose and vital nature of a well-rounded education. We are advocating for discrete funding streams for each of the subject disciplines as well as promotion of core subjects throughout the bill's assessment, accountability, and public reporting requirements.

Undergirding our recommendations is the belief that any true definition of college, career, and citizenship readiness should not be confined merely to proficiency in reading and math; it must include all core academic subjects and the comprehensive knowledge and abilities required of students after high school graduation.

Collecting and reporting student achievement data in all core academic subjects offers schools, districts, and students the opportunity to demonstrate achievement by using multiple measures of performance and empowers parents to hold schools accountable for a complete education that is, after all, the ultimate goal for our students' and our nation's success.

Stay tuned for more information on the progress of this legislative effort and specifics about how parts of this bill relate to the ASCD Legislative Agenda.

Put Facts First When Teaching History Through Inquiry

Content knowledge, citizenship, and critical-thinking skills—high school history teacher Stephen Lazar uses inquiry to serve these multiple curricular aims. In his most-clicked ASCD SmartBrief story, he describes how he

• Poses questions that can only be answered using factual evidence.
• Exposes students to primary or secondary documents that help them refine and reevaluate their answers.
• Holds more nuanced questions until after students have wrestled with the factual evidence.
• Engages students with multiple perspectives that complicate generalized statements.
• Takes advantage of online curricula that support critical inquiry in history: Stanford's Reading Like a Historian, San Diego State's World History for Us All, and Historical Thinking Matters.

Through inquiry, Lazar's students learn to critically discuss history using factually defensible evidence.

In Case You Missed It

Missed something from ASCD? Here's what has been going on recently:

• Check out the story archive from ASCD's Conference Daily to learn what happened during Fall Conference.
• The founder of edchat says that we espouse lifelong learning, but we don't really support it, particularly when it comes to technology.
• Innovation shouldn't be just for the practicing educator, it should apply to preservice teachers as well.  
• November's Education Update offers ideas on how to manage classrooms effectively.
• "How much confidence do you get from a stunt?" asks Veronica Baciqalupo.
• How many students receive unrealistically high marks in high school, only to discover in college that their high schools might have actually been killing them with kindness? 
• Can schools realistically meet the goals of the National Education Technology Plan?
• See what interesting member books will be sent out soon.
• Need resources relating to common core standards? ASCD has an abundance for your use.

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

Supporting Preservice Teachers

The learning trajectory from college education student to classroom teacher—and "master of her own universe"—is pretty compressed. Inevitably, much about education must be learned on the job. But can universities better prepare future teachers? If so, how? Are education schools so worried about the K–12 accountability landscape that teaching to the test is overemphasized in their programs? Should on-site mentoring partnerships, both preservice and inservice, be restricted? And what strategies can preservice education students (or beginning teachers) use to help them cope with the stress of their first assignments? Tell us about your experiences as a college student, preservice teacher, or beginning educator that helped you best prepare for your highest and lowest moments in the classroom or school.

ASCD Express is looking for short, 600 to 1,000-word essays on the theme "Supporting Preservice Teachers." Guidelines for submissions are here. Please send us your submissions by November 18, 2011.

Some Elite Schools Scaling Back on Homework

Excessive homework is ineffective, and the related stress takes a toll on kids' health and motivation to learn, says last week's most-clicked ASCD SmartBrief article, which profiles a few elite schools in Manhattan that are looking at ways to scale back student workload.

Homework holidays, less nightly homework, and coordinating tests and projects so that they are more spread out are some of the ways these schools are trying for a better work-life balance for students. Experts like Cathy Vatterott and Annie Murphy Paul weigh in with additional tips for reining in the homework beast:

• Five tips for engaging parents in the homework process
• "The Five Hallmarks of Good Homework"
• How to design smarter homework

Which Words Invite Students to Learn?

Teacher langauge can powerfully influence how students see themselves as learners. ASCD author Jenny Edwards shared several tips from her book, Inviting Students to Learn: 100 Tips for Talking Effectively with Your Students, during her Fall Conference session this weekend.

For example, putting challenges in the past by saying things like, "You used to think you couldn't do that," or "You had that problem." Edwards added using "that" instead of "this" puts even more distance between the student and former struggles.

Pointing out growth is another way to recognize effort and help students identify as learners. "Do you remember when you were first learning to write your name? Now look at how you are writing it! Bet you feel good about that."

Even when your language conveys your belief in your students' abilities, they may not always believe you. Edwards recommends citing another source, i.e., "Your math teacher says you're really good with fractions," or "Your coach said you're a really hard worker."

Which words or phrases do you use to invite students to learn?

Get more tips like these in the Conference Daily, where you'll find practical content from several sessions at last week's conference, including habits of mind, teacher leadership, and a student's perspective on engagement.

Another Look at Lesson Planning (1980)

"Another Look at Lesson Planning" (PDF), from the May 1980 issue of Educational Leadership, looks at major schools of thought in curriculum planning and attempts to determine which model successful teachers actually used.

Read the full article: Another Look at Lesson Planning (PDF)

The authors observe that students enrolled in a credential program learn Ralph Tyler's method, developed mid-20th century, which focuses on first identifying the educational objectives they will teach. But the authors are concerned that this method is less realistic than alternatives, such as J. B. MacDonald's method, which less formally separates objectives from activities. MacDonald's method takes into account that teachers often begin planning lessons by "considering the type of learning experience or activity they can provide."

A survey of 56 resident teachers identified as "outstanding" by their colleagues revealed much diversity in their lesson-planning methods. More than half of the teachers used a method other than Tyler's. Some used MacDonald's and others used Hilda Taba's method, which involves beginning with formative assessment.

The authors conclude, "College supervisors must consider the existence of several models and acknowledge that personal preference may determine what is a workable planning model for a given teaching situation."

"Five Best Blogs"

There's no shortage of excellent blogs focused primarily, if not exclusively, on education. But often fascinating and fun education reporting and analysis takes place on blogs that don't claim schools as a regular beat.

One way to keep up with these posts is to read Alexander Russo's daily "Five Best Blogs" entry on his popular site, This Week in Education.

Although big education blogs often make it into the top five, you're just as likely to find a post like "Math and Literacy Are Vocational Skills" from prominent policy blogger Matthew Yglesias. From snarky culture blog Gawker weighing in on Rick Perry's comments on teaching evolution in schools to feminist blogJezebel offering a state-by-state sex education primer, Russo makes it easy to keep up with a wide variety of blogs that periodically weigh in on—or make fun of—the education world.

 

What Five Words Reflect Your School's Values?

If you were asked to chart the ethical barometer of your school, what would it look like? What evidence would you have of a falling ethical barometer? Of a rising one? And how might we keep those readings on the rise?

These were some of the questions that several educators grappled with at last week's Building School Culture Workshop offered by the Institute for Global Ethics. Interested in becoming trainers in their schools, participants learned concrete strategies for building consensus around shared values. One engaging strategy was the school house door activity, in which the educators brainstormed words—such as responsibility, respect, fairness, courage, love, rigor, and so on—that they might want to see inscribed above their school house door. The catch? You had to narrow down a very large list to only five words—remember, they have to fit above the door—and everyone needed to agree on them. From there, participants discussed what those values would look like in school when practiced by both students and teachers.

For example, a school with a high ethical barometer reading would promote critical thinking; focus on growth, not punishment; make a point of cultivating meaningful relationships between students and teachers; and respect and act on student input.

Championing a focus on an ethical dimension in schools can be a tough sell, though, both for teachers and students. Not because people have a problem with the concept, but because of increasing cynicism from the public about ethical conduct in the world at large. "Business ethics"—an oxymoron?

All the more reason, I think, to promote ethical thinking in school. This is about personal responsibility—"obedience to the unenforceable"—and we sure need more of that these days.  

What five words would you inscribe on your school door? Is ethical conduct championed at your school?

Post submitted by Amy Azzam, Senior Associate Editor of Educational Leadership magazine.