New Science and Social Studies Standards

The 2017-2018 school year will bring new standards for social studies and science. New standards bring anxiety to teachers. I often hear the teachers saying the students are already not performing at the current level of the standards. The  Georgia Standards of Excellence science standards are aligned with the Next Generation Science Standards. According to the NGSS website, the rigorous standards reflect the content and application reflects how science and engineering are practiced in the real world. So are teachers correct in being worried about implementing these new standards?

Standards do periodically change. When I began to teach high school science, we used the Quality Core Curriculum (QCC), followed by the Georgia Performance Standards (GPS), and now the Georgia Standards of Excellence. Each curriculum was deemed to be more rigorous than its predecessor.

The anxiety that teachers have may not be completely unfounded. Prior research discussing curriculum change issues cited misaligned text and other instructional resources, lack of assessment questions, and insufficient professional development (Wiske and Levinson, 1993). The study also discussed the key roles that federal, state, and local leaders can play in removing some of the instructional barriers that cause anxiety for teachers.

As an instrucitonal leader, I am going to play a more active role in decreasing the anxiety. The science and social studies teachers have reviewed the standards and are now beginning the process of unpacking the standards to ensure they are teaching the correct content. The rigorous curriculum presents problems for more than the student. Teachers need time and resources in order to feel comfortable with the standards before they have to teach it to their students.

Wiske, M. & Levinson, C. (1993). How teachers are implementing the standards. 50(8), 8-12.

30 Second Feedback

            Last week, I spent an entire day shadowing an assistant principal at a school different than my own. We had a very full day, getting to see a little bit of everything. The most beneficial part of the day for me was our time conducting classroom observations. This assistant principal is currently working on her Specialist degree in Educational Leadership and has learned a new strategy for conducting observations and giving feedback. She wanted to try it out in some classrooms.

            She shared that in her class, they have been studying Mike Rutherford and his principles of conducting classroom observations and offering feedback. Mike Rutherford shares seven principles, but we focused on one. You can find all seven principles here. We focused mainly on giving the teachers 30-second feedback.

            Mike Rutherford believes that the 30-second feedback is a powerful learning tool for teachers. This feedback should be positive, short, and linked to a specific piece of the teacher’s practice (Rutherford Learning Group, Inc., 2009). The 30-second feedback should be used as a compliment and can be delivered verbally or in writing (Rutherford Learning Group, Inc., 2009).

            When we were in classrooms, we learned a lot from trying to decide on just 30 seconds of feedback. We went into the rooms for only 5-6 minutes. First, we looked at the big picture, focusing on the classroom as a whole. Then, we zoomed in on a smaller piece of that classroom. We also tried to pick three words to describe the classroom experience. Last, we stepped into the hall and decided what our 30-second feedback would be for that teacher.

            I really enjoyed this method of brief observations. We got to see a lot of rooms in such a short amount of time while still getting a good glimpse into their teaching style. While visiting, the assistant principal shared with me that it is so important to be in the classrooms as frequently as possible. She made a great point I will never forget. She said that teachers always remember how many times an administrator was in their room during the year, not how many minutes. She explained to me that she is going to try to be better at visiting more often instead of longer visits that happen not so often. I hope I will get to visit classrooms frequently when I am a school leader. 

Rutherford Learning Group, Inc. (2009). 7 Tools for developing teachers & teaching. Developing The Artisan teacher. Retrieved from http://www.samsconnect.com/conference2014/Mike%20Rutherford%20-%207%20Tools%20Handouts.pdf

Private versus Public School

As the week of parent teacher conferences have past, I have reflected on the many conversations with parents. The main concern that kept coming up was middle school placement. I am a fifth grade teacher who works in a school that is in a neighborhood of high economic status. The school also has an extremely high population of gifted students. The middle school that our students will feed into is comprised of a very different demographic. In fact, it is a title one school. Parents fear that if their children are not placed in the gifted track they will not be with like- minded students as they currently are at my school. I can sense through conversations they fear diversity and have heard stories of severe discipline issues that are in the “standard” classes. Parents plead with me to place them in higher classes to avoid the discipline issues. I have to continually remind them that there is a list of criteria to be placed in standard, gifted, or accelerated classes.  

When parents realize their child is placed in standard classes, they consider the option of private school. This year alone I have filled out 15 private school applications and they continue to flood in. These parents have the privilege of considering this option for education. I continue to be a supporter of public education and it saddens me that these parents biggest concern, while it is not stated directly, is purely the vast diversity at the school. In my opinion, students need to be exposed to all different environments. This continues to be an issue every year at this time. My school is unique in that it is the only high achieving elementary school in the district. The other 5 elementary schools are title one. 

New principal... how do you deal with the recommendation issue?

What if you don't have your principal's support (not for negative reasons, but she just doesn't know you), but you need her for a strong recommend?  I'm in a situation where my principal is fairly new to her position and my school -- this is her second year in both.  She spent much of the first year getting used to her team of administrators (as she did not know many of them -- and most of them were both new to the school and their job as she was).  This year she seems to have gotten a better feel for her team of administrators as she has moved a few of them around to positions that make more sense with who they are.

As far as teachers go, she does not know many of them that well.  She does not make many classroom visits and rarely walks the building--largely due to meetings, trainings, and operative issues.  She seems to feel most at home handling the operations/management side of her job--as opposed to the instructional leadership side.  In fact, most of the veteran teachers love this about her (someone who "leaves them alone and trusts them to do their job"--as one teacher explained to me). Don't get me wrong, I'm not criticizing her for emphasizing operations over instruction.  No one walks in on day-one able to juggle all of the moving parts within a struggling high school.  It takes time... which is not a luxury for me.

I only mention the instructional leadership part because that's where my strong suit lies, and in a very short time, I will need her recommendation more than ever.  While she knows about a few of my accomplishments at the school, she doesn't know me.  More importantly, I can't tell how she views me.  Our interactions have mostly been polite chit-chat--outside of the few things that she has asked me to do.  While there are several current assistant principals, former principals and a few district personnel who could vouch for me -- I need her, but have no idea where I stand with her.  Trying to figure out my next step without asking her directly "where do I stand with you"???    

     

DACA Teachers & Students

Over the summer, I met a teacher who revealed to me that she was what she calls DACAmented. DACA stands for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, and it is a policy that Obama ushered in to grant temporary deportation reprieves and work permits to people who came to the United States as children. She is one of a group of 100 teachers that Teach For America has placed in the classroom for a two-year teaching commitment, and her story is one that many of my students can relate to as DACA recipients themselves. An article in Education Week speaks to the concerns that many of these teachers are facing in the aftermath of the election.

Jose Gonzalez is a 6^th grade math teacher in Los Angeles who graduated from UPenn and received recognition from the White House for his work with students. Now, he and many other DACA recipients, including teachers who are making these phenomenal gains in the classroom, are at risk. Over 700,000 undocumented immigrants are waiting to see what the future of DACA will be, as 45 promised to repeal the executive order during his campaign. 45 said, “DACA is a very, very difficult subject for me… It’s one of the most difficult subjects I have because you have these incredible kids.” However, this is in stark contrast to the promise to repeal Obama's executive order.

Another pending concern is the increase in immigration enforcement raids across the country. In the Atlanta area alone there have been at least two major raids over the past two weeks in the Buford Highway area. Hundreds of undocumented immigrants were arrested in at least 6 states, and even a DACA recipient was threatened with deportation this past week in spite of his legal protection. 

As an educational leader, what do you think you would do if you had DACAmented teachers on your staff? What kind of support (emotional included) do you think you could provide in order to make your school a safer space for them in light of the threat of executive order and potential repeal of DACA? 

With the positions you have now, what kind of support can you provide to your DACA students right now in light of the ongoing raids and executive orders that are affecting countless families and communities?

Are Prisons Really Built Based on Elemenatry Reading Levels?

I've shared this fun fact on several occasions. It's one we often hear in the field of education but don't really know where it comes from. I heard it first from a professor from the College of Education. Politicians cite this fact, including Hilary Clinton and Colin Powell, and there are many people who will validate this claim because they've heard it so many times as well.

http://www.politifact.com/florida/statements/2013/jul/16/kathleen-ford/kathleen-ford-says-private-prisons-use-third-grade/

Turns out its not that simple. There's no designated official who annually gathers reading data from third graders, and reports to city planners on how much prison space will be needed based on this information alone. I'm not sure it would be much less, effective, however.

Its not new news that education is a very effective tool to predict incarceration rates. Crime rates have been linked to a lack of education for a very long time. One report claims a 5% increase in the graduation of high-school males would save our nation 18.5 billion dollars in crime costs. In addition to saving us money, it would prevent 10's of thousands of cases of assault, larceny, auto theft and burglary each as well as a couple thousand murders, rapes, and robberies.

http://all4ed.org/press/crime-rates-linked-to-educational-attainment-new-alliance-report-finds/

So why is it, when the government needs money to fund Zika research, mad cow disease, or the bird flu, they dip from public education?

I can't help but feel education is being withheld to an extent. I look at the complexity of the district zoning map, and wonder why it is that this diverse nation has so many public schools with over 90% of the students of the same race and socioeconomic background. Why is it that when areas shift in demographics, it creates problems in the schools?

I'm sure there are many theories. One documentary claims that after Jim Crow laws ended, prison was a way to extend slave labor by incarcerating all of the black males and making them work in the prisons for free, or next to nothing. Black males were arrested by the bus load for crimes as small as loitering, destroying the black family, and criminalizing the majority of black males.

Although education and incarceration is more complex than just racial issue, there must be an explanation for why a 10% population has 40% of the nation's expulsions. Why do 1/3 of black men end up being incarcerated in their lifetime? We prepare them with suspensions, expulsions, and even school arrests at a very young age. By the time they have graduated, or decided high school is not worth the time, they are familiar with being in the system of corrections.

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/tavissmiley/tsr/education-under-arrest/school-to-prison-pipeline-fact-sheet/

Merit Pay - Gwinnett's New Pay System (Privatization, here we come)

As GCPS switches to a merit pay system next school year, there is a great deal of trepidation on the part of teachers at Title One schools as to how this will work equitably.  In fact, many of my more experienced colleagues have mentioned this as a reason to switch schools prior to the roll out.  They feel as if those teaching at more affluent schools (such as Millcreek HS and Brookwood HS) will have a natural advantage over Title One schools like Shiloh HS, Meadowcreek HS and Berkmar HS.  As such is the case, whether their opinions are based on facts or hearsay, can this new initiative ultimately cause a brain-drain in weaker schools?  Could we wind up with the best and the brightest teachers dramatically increasing their rate of abandonment of Title One schools as they head to the more secluded 'burbs?

Consider that more affluent schools in Gwinnett have an average of about 33% of their teaching staff with over 20 years experience, while Title One schools have only about 15% of theirs with the same amount of experience. With the numbers already stacked in their favor, merit pay (as it is being formulated in Gwinnett) will only exacerbate this disparity.  Anyone with a half-a-brain will quickly realize that if they teach at an affluent school, their chances of showing growth will increase dramatically--which will now put more money in their pocket.  If districts wanted to remedy this problem, it would seem to me they would incentivize Title One schools to attract the stronger teachers.

As I am not a rocket scientist by any means, I am sure that this issue must have come up somewhere in the preliminary discussions.  This ultimately means we will be knowingly providing the weakest students with the least experienced teachers and vice versa.  Struggling schools will most certainly become failing schools--leading to an increase in the number of failing schools.  Maybe I see race and politics in everything, but this "merit pay" feels like a ploy to move us toward privatization by stripping the best teachers away from needy schools.  When they roll this out to other districts -- Nathan Deal wants this to go statewide, so its not if, but when -- hopefully, we can do it in a way that helps rather than harms struggling schools.

Here's the article I pulled some info from:

http://www.myajc.com/news/local-education/gwinnett-county-proposes-teacher-pay-plan-based-performance/jQBZIMUs7mxcOiD0d1GuKK/    

BTW, that's my fiancee cheesing from ear to ear in the pic

The Stress of Observations

Teaching can be stressful. It’s that time of year when students, teachers, parents, and administration are all gearing up for testing. The stress is high and the workload can be overwhelming.

Last week, I had numerous encounters with teachers who were dissatisfied and feeling overwhelmed. These teachers expressed that they felt unsatisfied and even misrepresented by their observations (walk-throughs and formal). The teachers that were feeling this way are many of our new teachers (not necessarily first year teachers but new to our school). During these conversations they shared that they had received scores that were unsatisfactory to them at the beginning of the year and have not seen any improvements in their TKES evaluations even after following their supervisor's advice. One asked me what she should do. I suggested scheduling a meeting with the administrator so that they could conference about the observation. The teacher said that she did not feel comfortable approaching the administrator with her concerns. One of the teachers even said, “Why did she hire me if she doesn’t think I am a good teacher?”

These conversations really made me question what the real problem was. The administrators at my school are very direct and have high expectations for their employees. I personally appreciate these qualities but after being at this school for four years it is obvious that some people do not work well under this type of direction. Last year we had around 15 employees leave our school. That was a huge turnover and it is not common for our school or county. We had a large group of new teachers and after hearing their discontent last week I worry that we will have more teachers leaving at the end of this year.

Has anyone seen situations similar to this? How did the administration address teachers who were upset about their TKES scores? Is it just the time of year that is making everyone feel so stress?