By Mark

It's a question I and my teammates get often: "Why don't they do this for all freshmen?"

About seven years ago, some administrators with a clear vision saw a need in our building: far too many tenth graders weren't actually tenth graders. By credits, they were still ninth graders.  Far too many kids were not on track for on-time graduation...or even graduation at all. These administrators had an idea of what they thought would help solve this problem. So, they attended conferences and did some initial research.

Then, those administrators with a clear vision did something that I fear is unfortunately rare, but has made all the difference. 

They identified the problem.

And then they trusted teachers to figure out how to best solve it.

By Guest Blogger Heather

Los huesos son importantes. Tienen cuatro funciones: 1. Estructura 2. Protección 3. Movimiento 4. Producir células sanguineas.

If the above sentences were as clear as mud to you, then you have experienced for a few seconds what English Language Learners (ELLs) experience for extended periods of time during each school day.

Take 10 seconds and reflect on your response to the sentences above before reading on.

Okay, now read the set of possible on the next page and see if any closely match your reaction.  

By Senator Rosemary McAuliffe and Senator Eric Oemig

Redefining the funding formula for Basic Education is the critical catalyst for moving our K-12 educational system into the 21st century. It is our responsibility as Chair and Vice Chair of the Washington State Early Learning & K-12 Committee to identify and implement policies that allow all children the opportunity to learn and to support educators with the resources they need to deliver a quality education for every child.In the 2009 session we redefined Basic Education (House Bill 2261) which sets a pathway for essential improvements needed in our educational  system.

We started work this summer and fall by traveling around the state and conducting listening tours — the sole purpose being to listen to what teachers on the ground have to say and make sure our objectives align with real needs. We realize every classroom and school has unique needs and that one size does not fit all. By speaking with multiple teachers from across the state, we have gained insight into the types of reform that will be meaningful for teachers in different classrooms.

By Tom

I love irony. I live for it. In fact, one of my favorite moments was during the end of the year assembly a few years ago, when the principal was giving out awards for Everything You Can Imagine, including perfect attendance. All the perfect attendees proudly strode to the stage, except one. He was absent. 

So when these three stories came to my attention, all on the same day, I couldn't resist.

The first story is a report from the National Board showing the positive impact National Board Certified Teachers have had on student achievement in Chicago. And it's been huge.

The second story was about Washington Governor Christine Gregoire. Gregoire recently received an award from the National Board for her contributions to education. Specifically, she was able to increase support for National Board Certification even during tough economic times. For all intents and purposes, Gregoire's support for National Board Certification consists of merit pay for those teachers who demonstrate that they've reached the profession's highest standards. For more on the award, check out Mark's post.

The third story was about a series of grants given out by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The grants don't go directly to schools. They're to be used to help states apply for the Race to the Top money. The money that Education Secretary Arne Duncan is giving to states that promote charter schools and merit pay based on student test scores. Gregoire has all but written off Washington's chances for claiming any of this money, since charter schools have been rejected three times by the voters and test-based merit pay is a non-starter with the WEA.

What a weird irony. A Washington governor gets an award for promoting National Board Certification, a process with proven results, recently and specifically in Chicago. That's where Arne Duncan's from. The guy who authored Race to the Top. But his idea of merit pay is based on the use of test scores. An idea that is strongly promoted by the Gate's Foundation, which is based in Washington State.

So Gregoire's state gets none of the money from the guy from Chicago, a place where her idea of merit pay has made a huge impact.

Hmm. 

We want to alert our readers that we'll soon feature a joint post by Senators Rosemary McAuliffe, 1st District; Chair of Early Learning and K-12 Committee and Senator Eric Oemig, 45th District; Vice Chair of Early Learning and K-12 Committee.

  Senators McAuliffe and Oemig were both instrumental in the passage of House Bill 2261, which redefined and restructured education in Washington State. Both senators now sit on the oversight body for 2261 called the Quality Education Council.   Following the passage of this bill in the last legislative session, they embarked on a listening tour through the state to hear what teachers had to say about the bill and education in general.   Stay tuned and check back to read their post this week. We’ve seen it, and we’re confident that it’ll spark some lively debate.

         

News tidbit: Washington's Governor Christine Gregoire has been recognized by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards with a leadership award for her support of educators and NBPTS certification in the state of Washington.  Read here for more details.

Considering the tremendous growth in numbers of NBCTs in Washington, as well as the increased support for NB Certification from OSPI, WEA and CSTP, this recognition of Governor Gregoire ought to also be seen as a recognition of the efforts of many teachers, administrators, and policy makers in cultivating teacher-leadership and even more effective instruction in the state of Washington.

Speaking of policy leaders, make sure to check back later this week to see our guest bloggers, Senator Rosemary McAuliffe (1st District) and Senator Eric Oemig (45th district) Chair and Vice Chair respectively of the Early Learning and K-12 Committee.

By Tom

A recent editorial by Seattle Times columnist Lynne K. Varner caught our attention. She argues for school reform, specifically in the Seattle School District.  I like what she says about teacher evaluation, I agree (to a point) with what she says about firing bad teachers, but I take exception to what she has to say about merit pay.

And as Meatloaf famously told us, "Two out of three ain't bad."

  

By Kristin

I haven't seen "Mike" in class for four days and the online attendance system shows he's skipping most of his classes, so I phone his mother during my prep period to let her know.  Mike and his mom don't have internet, and she's not home when the automatic system calls to report an absence.  This is the third time I've called her in two weeks; she is not happy to hear from me, and I don't really blame her. 

By Mark

Scientific American recently posted an article with mild criticism of education's current focus on prizing right answers over thinking and learning processes.

While we educators know that repetition and practice is one path to learning, this article is a good reminder of something else we ought to be intentionally fostering in our students: thinking.

Learning from "failure" is important, as is learning from wrong answers. This may seem like a silly question, but its an important one in our present climate where snapshot high stakes tests and summative data form critical assessments of both student and teacher success: What do you do as an educator or parent to take advantage of "wrong answers" in order to help children learn to think?

                                                    

by Brian

My wife owns her own business, a home decor shop, and I think I first heard the phrase "value-added" from her.  She talked about finding an article at an estate sale, adding something to it to increase its value, marking up the price, and making some money.  Value-added.

Now the phrase is being used with respect to evaluating teacher performance:  when you get a student in September she knows something.  Measure that and compare it to what she knows in June.  If she knows more in June, value has been added.  If she knows a lot more in June, there is real evidence that effective teaching has occurred.  If there is little improvement from September to June; well there's the rub, because there are a myriad of reasons to keep a student from advancing that are outside of a teacher's control.  So the largest teachers' unions (the National Education Association, and the American Federation of Teachers) have been reluctant to endorse any kind of value-added component for teacher evaluation.  But doesn't this make more sense than measuring last year's class against this year's?  Or this year's against next year's?  The idea that each year the class we are testing should do better than the class we tested last year is so dumb it's not even wrong.

By Mark

It was at a intervention meeting, where her child's teachers (including me) and the grade-level counselor had gathered to strategize how better serve her child, that she said to me from across the table:

"You didn't do your job. You were supposed to fix my child. Why didn't you fix him?"

She said it with steel in her eyes and barbs in her voice. She was simmering near her boiling point and I started wondering if anyone else in the room knew the extension to reach the school resource officer.

Everyone was flabbergasted. She went on about how at the summer orientation I talked about all the things I do in class to help struggling students: extra support to break down complex tasks, face-to-face writing conferences, online resources, peer support, modified texts...the list went on. In truth, I had done all those things for her son. I had offered these to her child, yet her child still was failing.

Isn't it always the case that we think of the right thing to say well after the moment has passed? That moment passed six years ago, but here goes:

"Ma'am, I'd be more than happy to share with you the reason I didn't fix your child...

By Rena

According to the August 2009 Draft of The State of Washington OSPI Committee for Gifted Education, the purpose of gifted programs is to provide all highly capable students, including those at-risk, with differentiated opportunities for learning. Programs shall be designed to identify, nurture and encourage students who posses extraordinary talents and abilities.

By Nancy

This past week I witnessed a teacher meltdown during a staff development workshop; after a day of training on a new curriculum, she asked the presenter how she and her teammates were supposed to assimilate all the new materials when they had only 30 minutes a day to prepare for 6 hours of instruction. The large group training venue was not appropriate for this teachers’ meltdown, but her question was valid. Everyone in the room felt the same stress and frustration.

According to a report by Stanford and the National Staff Development Council, in which they compared the US teacher workload with other top-performing countries, a US teacher on average only gets 3 to 5 hours per week of planning time, compared to 15 to 20 hours per week for teachers in other nations to prepare lessons, meet with parents and students, and work with other educators. US teachers also have far more direct student contact time than any other nation. The report shares some specific examples of what other top-performing nations provide for their teachers. For those of us teaching in the US, the examples from places like Korea and Singapore sound like a fantasy fulfilled by Oprah.

By Tom

By Tom

Since the beginning, Schools have been called upon to fix societal dilemmas. Way back when, schools were supposed to teach kids how to farm. Then they were expected to turn kids into factory workers. In the post-war years, they were charged with directing some kids toward college and others toward the trades. In the sixties, they were told to produce rocket scientists and astronauts. In the seventies, schools were expected to end segregation. In the eighties we were expected to prevent drug abuse, and in the nineties we were told to prevent AIDS.

But now we're being asked to do something truly difficult. There's an Achievement Gap in this country. Children of color and of poverty tend to perform significantly below their white, Asian and more affluent classmates. And schools are expected to fix this dilemma.

In one sense, it's flattering to be asked to solve such a complex problem. It's sort of like the testosterone spike I get when my wife asks me to open the pickle jar.

But this is one tight pickle jar, and I'm not sure how to open it.

Since the beginning, Schools have been called upon to fix societal dilemmas. Way back when, schools were supposed to teach kids how to farm. Then they were expected to turn kids into factory workers. In the post-war years, they were charged with directing some kids toward college and others toward the trades. In the sixties, they were told to produce rocket scientists and astronauts. In the seventies, schools were expected to end segregation. In the eighties we were expected to prevent drug abuse, and in the nineties we were told to prevent AIDS.

But now we're being asked to do something truly difficult. There's an Achievement Gap in this country. Children of color and of poverty tend to perform significantly below their white, Asian and more affluent classmates. And schools are expected to fix this dilemma.

In one sense, it's flattering to be asked to solve such a complex problem. It's sort of like the testosterone spike I get when my wife asks me to open the pickle jar.

But this is one tight pickle jar, and I'm not sure how to open it.

by Brian

I teach high school mathematics, and this year I have 132 students in 5 classes.  That's an average of 26.4 students per class.  Not bad, right?  Except that one of them only has 13 (Pre-calculus)  and one has 33 (Geometry).  So the "average" really doesn't tell the story. 

What about that Geometry class?  I know it would feel better to both me and the students if there were only 25 of them, but would they really do better?  This Saturday I am going to participate in a Policy Symposium of National Board Certified Teachers, and one of the topics we will discuss is class size. Superintendent Randy Dorn has recommended class sizes of 15 in Kindergarten to third grade, and 25 for fourth grade through high school.  So has the Basic Education Funding Task Force, and the Washington Learns Council.  Ample research has shown that reducing class size at the elementary level has a real and lasting impact on student achievement.  But there is little evidence that smaller classes have a noticeable impact at the secondary level.  When my colleagues complain about large classes it is usually about their own workload rather than their students' success.

So given the reality of limited resources, and scant evidence of class size making much difference at the secondary level, shouldn't we concentrate our efforts at the lower elementary grades?

By Tracey

Old Mother Hubbard,

Went to the cupboard,

To get her poor class some dry erase markers and sticky notes.

When she came there,

The cupboard was bare,

And so she ran out and bought some.

I’ve always started the year with trips to the store to purchase supplies, but never have I had to buy so much.  In addition to the regular pens, pencils, paper, notebooks, and folders, many supplies that were for regular classroom maintenance have also fallen into my lap.   I see teachers daily opening up the cupboards in the office that once housed supplies for our classrooms, looking for the basics, such as dry erase markers, index cards, sticky notes, manila folders, envelopes, etc. and there’s nothing to be found.  What a prize to find a Sharpie buried deep in the far corners of the tippy-toe shelves.  But, I still need dry erase markers to write on the board; and I want my students to have post-it notes to mark places in their reading.  So, who picks up tab?  I guess I do.

by Luann

     In November 2006, Washington National Board Certified Teachers took part in the "NBCT Policy Summit: Supporting and Staffing High Needs Schools".  Similar Summits were held in 4 other states, including my former home state, Ohio.  Our state superintendent and many state policy makers listened as 225 accomplished teachers shared suggestions for making education a better place for the students who need it the most. 

    On Saturday, October 17, a sizeable group of accomplished teachers will gather again in Seattle. We've been asked once more by the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI), the Washington Education Association (WEA), and the Center for Strengthening the Teaching Profession (CSTP) to speak as professionals on behalf of our students. This time, our voices will address the utilization of state dollars in the implementation of House Bill 2261 S. E. (caution: it's a rather long read) passed by our state legislature last session.

By Tom

Today was an in-service day. One of the activities on which we worked involved analyzing various assessments that we administered to our students early in the school year. We worked in small groups of four teachers. The first test we discussed was the QRI, which stands for something that involves reading fluency. Our group had mixed opinions; I found the data useful, as did two other teachers, but the fourth thought her kids read much better than the data revealed, so she disregarded it.

Next we talked about the writing assessment. Again, three of us thought the data was useful, but another (different) teacher thought her kids could write much better than the data revealed, so she disregarded it.

Then it was math. Again, we had mixed opinions on the quality of the data, and a conversation ensued. But then I pointed out that it was moot; we were instructed at the math trainings to power through the curriculum regardless of how well the students were learning it. (It's a "spiraled" curriculum.) We had essentially been trained to disregard the data. They all agreed, so we disregarded the data.

So I got to thinking. To what extent are we, as a profession, data driven?

By Mark

In our "Race to the Top," some schools are going to be getting a little bit more help.

The U.S. Department of Education's Investing in Innovation "i3" Fund will provide grants to three tiers of applicants: Development grants of up to $5 million, aimed at unproven but promising innovative start-ups; Validation grants of up to $30 million, which will support existing programs which have a proven track record of success; and Scale-up grants of up to $50 million, aimed at expanding current programs whose past performance suggests expansion will result in greater success (source).

Is there a catch?  Of course.

By Kristin

My district is looking to have full inclusion of our high-incidence special education students at some point in the next few years.  High-incidence kids are the ones with learning disabilities or behavior disorders who, with modifications that fit their 504 or IEP, could be successful in a mainstream classroom.  Of course, as with many things, the news came before the details and mainstream teachers are freaking out.