Saturday, August 14, 2004
Roundup: Coaches, dropouts, community colleges
Hiring math and literacy “coaches” to help teachers improve their practice seems to be following the usual path of change in public education—going from innovation to fad with little interruption and little research. As Alexander Russo describes in the latest Harvard Education Letter, coaching emerged as an alternative to traditional approaches to professional development in New York’s old community school district 2 and in Boston. It then spread to the West Coast when Tony Alvarado went to help Alan Bersin in San Diego, got picked in Los Angeles and then began spreading everywhere. Russo lays out the case in favor of coaches but he also raises questions that haven’t been widely asked. Little attention to this phenomenon, which in many places has been financed by a redirection of Title I money, has been paid in the mainstream press.
Education Week takes a look at ways school districts are rethinking high school promotion policies to avoid holding kids back in the 9th grade, which leads to many of them dropping out. With evidence of the dropout crisis in this country mounting (see the work of Robert Balfanz and his team at Johns Hopkins in which they identify schools that lack “promoting power”), this discussion is timely. As is noted in the Ed Week article, the transition to high school derails many 9th graders. Coddled in middle school, many freshmen arrive in high school without the basic skills, study habits or dispositions necessary to succeed. (One idea for how schools can work on this is here.)Middle schools, of course, ought to be more focused on preparing students academically. But, beyond that, high school counselors should be learning about the incoming class in January or February, instead of waiting until September when they show up on the doorstep. Middle school teachers should recommend courses based on the students' needs. The high school should hold meetings in the spring for parents of incoming middle schoolers, to discuss their options. The middle schoolers should tour the high school. A high school student should be assigned to each middle schooler as a mentor to help them their first weeks. The high school should make a “study skills” class a requirement, to help kids learn to take notes, something many do only for the first time in high school. On and on. If schools were serious about easing this transition, there’s a lot they could do.
A new report out last week from the Education Commission of the States on community colleges deserved more attention. Called Keeping America’s Promise, the report said these institutions are affordable and effective, but are undervalued and underfunded. “The U.S. is currently number one in the global economic race, but mediocre performance on international assessments of educational quality suggest that its preeminent status is living on borrowed time,” writes Anthony Carnevale, a senior fellow with the National Center on Education and the Economy and Donna Desrochers, a director of policy research with the Educational Testing Service. They add, “As economic and demographic changes increase the demand for workers with at least some college, income differentials between the most and least skilled will continue to grow, threatening the egalitarian base at the core of America’s culture.” Half of all community college students are poorly prepared academically and far too many fail to stick around long enough to get an associate’s degree, let alone go on for a four-year degree.
Equity: More Money? Less Algebra?
The Williams adequacy case in California appears headed for a resolution with an agreement between Gov. Schwarzenegger and the plaintiffs to spend roughly $1 billion more on about 2,400, relatively low performing schools in the state. (See Sara's post below) There’s little doubt that the schools involved in the lawsuit and many more are substandard. But it’s less clear that money alone will fix them. I spent many days at one of the schools named in the lawsuit—Fremont High School in South Los Angeles. Teachers and even administrators at the school told me, explicitly, without my asking, that the issue wasn’t that they didn’t have enough money. Indeed, the school had stacks of textbooks that had never been used, mostly because studnets couldn't read them. In classes in which teachers used textbooks students had a copy for their use at home. Another set of books was made available in the classroom. Tens of thousands of dollars had been spent on high security fences. Yet, new batches of computers disappeared before they could be used because the windows on the building where they were installed had not been made secure. Money may certainly help low-performing schools and the physical environment must be conducive to learning. But so must the “learning” environment. Without clear expectations for teaching, and effective management, the money will disappear, like the computers, without a trace. We already know this. Fremont and many other schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District were already receiving extra funds from the settlement of a previous case, known as Rodriguez. At Fremont, what that meant was that teachers received several thousand dollars each year to buy extra supplies or books. They also received a stipend for working in a high-need school. Teachers told me the materials they ordered took months to arrive. The stipend was supposed to compensate them for working harder to stay in contact with parents, through calls or visits after schools. But despite the administration’s beseeching, many of them were too demoralized to do that. Another hefty dose of money had come from state legislation that doled out money to the lowest-performing schools in state. A small group of teachers loyal to the principal decided how to spend the money, cobbling together a last minute wish list. The school also had received extra federal money because it had long been on a state list of poorly performing schools. But that money had gotten caught up in a dispute of some sort and had gone to buy materials and training teachers for a reading program that was never put to use. Since then, the school has gotten a new principal and some of the faculty members who were most resistant have been moved. Still, it’s possible the new money will make a difference at Fremont and elsewhere. The point to remember, though, is that it’s not automatic. It will take strong leadership and management and oversight and a focused instructional plan, as well as more money, to make a difference.
A story by Greg Toppo of USA Today reports on the national push to get more kids to take algebra. ''The average person is going to have to be able to think through things pretty clearly, and a strong argument could be made that the rigors of algebra help,'' says Lynn Arthur Steen, a math professor at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minn., and editor of the 2001 book Mathematics and Democracy. Debate continues on how to teach algebra so that the subject is not diluted to useless activities just to make it more "accessible." That’s a challenge, a big one. Many middle-schoolers have not yet mastered basic calculation let alone problem-solving and have little number sense or capacity for mental math. Also, many middle school teachers took little math themselves beyond arithmetic. Another roadblock is that not all educators even agree that teaching all students algebra makes sense. Some schools have chosen to put so much emphasis on reading and writing that math takes a back seat in the earlier grades. Plus, some folks still adhere to the idea that there's two kinds of people in the world--those who "get" math and those who don't. Here’s a quote from Nel Noddings, the prominent theorist whose most recent book is called Education and Happiness and who thinks it's wrong to ask those not interested or talented in math to learn algebra. “I have come to suspect that teaching everyone algebra and geometry is both wasteful and inconsiderate. The effort required from teachers wastes energy that could be spent on those interested and talented in mathematics. Worse, it wastes a multiplicity of nonmathematical talents that could be nurtured if we were not so insistent on mathematics for everyone. It also frightens people and makes them doubt their own competence.” She says schools would do better to teach kids to be good parents, to "teach them about love," and to teach them to be homemakers, because those are more likely to be universal aspects of adults' lives than is algebra.
Fortunately, there are other voices, such as Hyman Bass of the University of Michigan, who makes a strong argument that math is as important as reading and writing. At a session at the AERA meeting in San Diego last spring, he said the fact that math is learned unequally has to do with the quality of schooling and teaching, not the presence or lack of some math gene. “Suppose someone said that reading and writing are unequally achieved, and that some groups cannot read or write as well as others, and so therefore insisting on reading and writing is discriminatory?” That, of course, would be unthinkable and inequitable.
Don't Look Back
Ed Week reports on a variety of proposals being floated that put more specifics on calls to "reform" or "fix" No Child Left Behind. Some parts of the proposals--like finding ways to incorporate value-added information into AYP--aren't necessarily bad (though the do skirt some of the technical issues involved here). Others, like ditching disaggregated accountability, would allow schools to continue to leave poor and minority children behind. Overall, the discussion around these issues seems to be afflicted with a severe case of amnesia. Lots of people are calling for giving states more flexibility, particularly around AYP. But that's basically what the status quo was before NCLB (remember, AYP and school improvement pre-date NCLB from the 1994 ESEA reauthorization), and those who paid attention to how the states used flexibility then (for example, the Citizens Commission on Civil Rights) are justified in being skeptical as to how poor and minority kids would be served under a looser AYP definition.
Lots going on in California this week: There's still plenty of blowback on a variety of efficiency proposals from the Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's California Performance Review, including replacing county school districts, eliminating the community college board of governors, and changing kindergarten eligibilty rules to prevent children who have not yet turned 5 from enrolling in kindergarten. As a Sacramento Bee editorial points out, there's a case to be made for the latter proposal, but only if the state implements high-quality preschool access for children who aren't ready to enter kindergarten -- an area in which California falls woefully short and which is costly to address.
California also appears to have reached a settlement in the long-running Williams vs. California school finance suit brought by the ACLU, MALDEF and other groups there. The proposed settlement would devote $1 billion over several years to construction and repairs for some 2,400 schools and institute a process for parents and students to bring complaints about school conditions, as well as monitoring issues including textbooks and teacher quality. You can read more here, here, and here.
The Mercury News also weighs in on the California Charter Academy story. Their take: growing and strengthening California's charter schools requires more self-policing and accountability on the part of the charter school community to shut down or improve low-performing charter schools. Again, does this sound familiar?
Speaking of charter accountability, if Californians are looking for a good model, they ought to check out Indianapolis Mayor Bart Peterson's charter authorizing operation. Peterson is the only mayor in the country with authority to authorize charters, and his system has been recognized for both is strong safeguards to ensure quality in charter applicants, and candid reporting and accountability on how existing schools are doing. Now, in an unprecedented move, a school district neighboring Indianapolis has asked the Mayor to take over authorizing a charter school in that district. This seems like a wise move on the district's part to realize it didn't have the resources to effectively oversee charter schools, and turning to a proven authorizer is a creative solution that other states and localities might look into to address similar concerns.
A new study sheds doubts on the impact of Maine's popular laptop program. Number 2 Pencil also weighs in on this.
Despite worries that there wouldn't be enough transfer slots, DC reports few students are signing up to switch to better performing schools under NCLB, in part because there aren't really any better performing high schools or middle schools for older students to transfer to. Interdistrict choice for DC anyone?
Well, at least it looks like DC might finally get a new superintendent. But fixing DC's schools will take more than just a new leader.
The New Republic's Adam Kushner comes out in support of legacy admissions.
Monday's News -- and BONUS Back to School Fashion Tips!
The National AFT has affirmed a highly contested Chicago Federation of Teachers election, ruling that Marilyn Stewart did fairly unseat incumbent Deborah Lynch, who had refused to hand over the office alleging election irregulaties rendered the vote invalid.
This weekend's Washington Post magazine took an interesting look at military recruiters working to attract high school students to the armed forces post-graduation. NCLB requires that schools provide access to military recruiters, an issue that's become contentious in some communities.
Also in this Sunday's Washington Post, John Merrow considers the DC superintendent search.
More school finance action in Texas courts and the Massachusetts legislature.
A federal court has ruled that Americorps members can work as teachers in parochial schools, but only if Americorps puts in place new (potentially burdensome) monitoring procedures to ensure that Americorps supported teachers aren't delivering religious instruction. More than 500 Americorps volunteers now teach in sectarian schools. Americorps, which now requires volunteers to certify only that they haven't provided religious teaching during time counted to their service obligations, is expected to appeal.
A Lexington Herald-Leader article inexplicably criticizes NCLB for holding schools -- rather than parents -- responsible for student learning, while ignoring that the achievement and teacher quality data NCLB generates actually make it possible for parents to play a more informed and active role in their children's education. (Check out this book for more ideas on how parents can use data and make good, informed decisions about their children's schools.)
Ironically, President Bush announced support for ending "legacy" admissions at elite universities. Hmmmm, didn't John Edwards champion that idea in the primaries?
Finally, just in time for back to school shopping, the Arizona Republic takes and interesting look at students' fashion choices, while this article looks at the big business side of back to school retail. And, for those deliberating over first day of school attire, this game is cute.
A battle is shaping up between the teachers union and the school district in Philly. The Philadelphia union is known to be a tough adversary that bargains hard in its members’ interests. That is hardly surprising and should be admired and even applauded. That is, after all, what a union is supposed to do. One of the points of contention in the current negotiations is that the district is proposing that the union members pay part of the cost of their health insurance premium. The union also is outraged that the district wants to abolish seniority rights that let experienced teachers decide where they’ll work. According to an article in the Philadelphia Inquirer, the union leaders believe the district’s proposal violates their “most fundamental rights.” The striking thing about the union’s reaction to the district proposal is how oblivious the leadership seems to be to the situation of most Americans. How many American workers contribute nothing toward the cost of their health insurance? How many workers are able to decide what their work assignment will be, without bowing to the wishes of their superiors or the need of the enterprise to decide how best to make use of their talents? Meanwhile, of course, the rising costs of health benefits are eating up greater and greater shares of local budgets. And there is a growing consensus that poor children and those in greatest need academically are routinely taught by the least experienced, least able teachers.
Fine story in the Orlando Sentinel, examining the effect of poverty on kids’ academic achievement. Richard Rothstein’s new book, Class and Schools examines this link in detail. Accepting that poverty matters, however, shouldn’t let schools off the hook or be used to justify low expectations, poor teaching, weak discipline or substandard conditions. Indeed, the schools serving poor children have to be better in every way than even those serving the middle class and the affluent. Rothstein argues, however, that school reform alone, no matter how robust, cannot close the achievement gap. He calls for efforts to raise wages, stabilize housing, establish school clinics, set up pre-k programs and offer after school and summer programs. The pricetag would be $156 billion annually, a figure he acknowledges is probably not politically viable.
Rudy Crew seems to be off to a fast start in Miami, laying out his plans for a uniform curriculum and other measures to the Miami-Dade County principals. According to a report on the meeting in the Miami Herald, Crew frequently invoked nautical metaphors and said, essentially, that those who are not on board should voluntarily walk a gang plank. “Save yourself the embarrassment and save me the trouble,” he asked them. “You’re going to be good or you’re going to be gone.” He also told them not to expect any more money with which to do the job.