Principal Wanted: No Experience. No Problem.

Administrators and School Boards take plenty of beatings from teachers.   My experience with both has been mixed but I don't have any complaints beyond the norm(their experience with me might be described in much the same way).  Mostly because I understand that even though we have the same goal in mind for students, we see the day to day realities of education differently.  I am sympathetic to their plight and certainly would have much tougher time without their support.  That said there are the more and more individuals entering leadership roles I don't tend to appreciate.

Want to be Principal?  No Teaching Experience?  Not a problem.

They are usually teachers, administrators or other "educrats" who are focused on getting somewhere instead of focusing on doing the job here and now.  They seem to be serving in their position only because it serves a vehicle for self advancement.  We all know the self promoting appearance over substance type who are slicker than a barber shop shave.   The private sector is not immune from the same thing but that doesn't make me feel better.   In education they seem be more disruptive.  The movement of these individuals into administrative with little consequential experience in subordinate  roles brings a cascade of unfortunate consequences for just about everyone else.

They radically change policy to provide a feather in their cap to trumpet in advance of the next move. They forgo the measured approach for the sake of expediency and instead angle and network to ease their ascension to a "higher" job.   Their consistent lack of understanding of why a teacher makes a decision or  frequent miscommunication due to the absence of been there before wisdom becomes troubling.  Simple time proven methods are swept aside as a byproduct of the lack of experience.  The unwillingness to tackle long term chronic problems that might plague schools might be another side effect.    When they do they meet skepticism from teachers concerned about what's behind such measures.  This is only natural given teacher confront too many individuals such as this who devalue their efforts.  And then there is the inability to fully comprehend all that is involved in teaching and learning and inability to provide the necessary support for students and staff.   Instead of looking around for where to help out and make things better , these folks are looking up and where they want to go. One repercussion of this is the "bad" teacher rhetoric.  A get out of accountability card by throwing problems onto teachers.  This is less likely if individuals have taught.   It is just easier to work with someone who understands your job.  Working with people who have reached higher levels because they do a good job makes a huge difference and we ned more of them, not the opposite. 

Which is why I was puzzled the Charlottesville School Board voted to amend the division requirements for becoming a principal.  Essentially they have removed the requirement that a principal have classroom experience.   The Virginia Department of Education still requires that principals have at least 3 years experience as licensed instructional personnel.  Charlottesville's requirement now reads: "The Charlottesville City School Board, upon recommendation of the superintendent, employs principals and assistant principals who hold licenses as prescribed by the Board of Education."  The state changed the wording back in 2007(?) to allow for individuals to be principals without teaching.  Not to say these folks can't accomplish anything or do good, many do both. 

So it is perhaps a stretch to say that this will really change much.  If anything it might even allow for some outstanding guidance counselors, instructional coaches or other staff to serve as principals.  I might say that if those individuals were serious about being great principals they might entertain the idea that they need classroom experience somewhere along the way.   Even so one reality is that when someone leaves the classroom to administration or some other role their view on things instantly changes.  That's OK.  Different perspectives are helpful so long as both sides can understand where they other is coming from.  In the back of most teachers heads they think "We disagree, but this person knows what it is like."   If they haven;t taught, they might think something a little less accommodating. 

I am troubled by the prospect of working with or for someone who has never been an actual teacher at some point.  I could throw out metaphors about car salesman or pyramid schemes but that would miss the point.  Principals serve in a multitude of roles.  They are educators, role models, supervisors, organizers,  problem solvers and the list goes on.  Above all they are leaders.  In the eyes of this teacher those best able to lead in education must work with teachers and those best able to do that have been teachers themselves.  

My Adventure With A MOOC

Overstatement is never a good thing. 

...the budding revolution in global online higher education. Nothing has more potential to lift more people out of poverty — by providing them an affordable education to get a job or improve in the job they have. Nothing has more potential to unlock a billion more brains to solve the world’s biggest problems... more potential to enable us to reimagine higher education than the massive open online course, or MOOC, platforms that are being developed by the likes of Stanford and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and companies like Coursera and Udacity. --Thomas Friedman, NY Times, 1/26/13

He's talking about college professors video recording lectures, superimposing their faces over a digital whiteboard or powerpoint slides, embedding quick quizzes to check for understanding, and giving regular tests for students to demonstrate their learning. NOTHING else has more potential to lift more people out of poverty?

I recently finished my first MOOC, using the Coursera platform mentioned by Friedman in his article.  The course, Drugs and the Brain was offered through Cal Tech. I thought it might give me a little more credibility in writing about the value of MOOCs, and as a Psychology teacher I wanted to learn more about the biology behind the interactions between drugs and the brain.

Overall, I would rate my experience as quite positive.

1)I had an opportunity to learn for free from a very accomplished instructor through a prestigious University.

2) While I could have probably found most of the information shared somewhere on the internet, having an instructor narrow the focus and give it meaningful direction added an efficiency to the process that made it possible.

3) With two jobs, three children, and a terrible writing habit, finding the time to leave home for three to five hours a week to sit in on a class is not an option.  This course was accessible.

4) Related to the third, this course was for personal and professional growth. I wasn't interested in showing full mastery or the capacity to continue a course of study or move forward in a sequence. I was able to casually devote whatever time I wished to sacrifice without the "de-motivator" of no credit or a bad grade.

I accomplished my goal through this course. I can't explain much of what I learned, and truthfully, I still don't understand some of it.  But, when I teach my students about neurons in the brain and how chemicals in the body function, I can do so with a little more clarity and understanding of my own.  I am more confident with the level of material that I'm supposed to know than before I took this class.

But does it really have the potential to "unlock a billion more brains to solve the worlds problems."  My experience wasn't all that.

1) The first two weeks were so far over my head, I learned very little. I was able to take the quizzes a first time and return to the class notes with more focused study for a second or third attempt. This process of quizzing, studying, and requizzing helped me learn a bit more.  From the discussion threads, I gather that many in the course considered this cheating. I considered this, but as a consumer, I took the course with a different purpose than finding out how high I could rank among other students. But this presents a clear problem with the platform-- how will it measure student learning in a fair way considering many of the courses have thousands of students enrolled.

2) Other than accessibility and convenience, there is little difference in the instruction from a traditional college course. It involved lectures and testing. The instructor was good, but even in a room with other humans, lecture without interaction is tedious.  The topics were delivered in 5-15 minute segments, but still accounted to hours a week of lecture. By week three, I resorted to setting the playback speed to 1.5x and 2.0x by week four, slowing down for items of interest or pausing for better understanding.  Week five was the most relevant topic for my learning goals, but other commitments that week led me to skimming over the lecture slides and giving the quiz a shot without watching the lectures. I do plan to go back and watch them, but this doesn't look much different than typical behavior in a traditional setting.

3) The course instructor notes in comments on Friedman's article that they plan to award 4400 statements of completion and remarks that the online community has generated more than 5000 postings. Over a five week course that averages to 1000/week. I considered participating in this community, but the number of people and volume of posts were overwhelming. The serious difference in MOOCs, and other forms of online courses shows itself the most here. In the half-dozen or so other online courses that I've taken, I've been a part of a community of 8-30 people, expected to interact with each other.

4) Finally, I found it easier to "compensate" for what I didn't know than to put the effort into learning it.  I ignored formulas and calculations throughout the course because they involved skills that I either didn't possess or hadn't used in several decades. I knew it would take a little time to brush up and figure out how to do it, but I also knew that the cost of not learning would be minimal and I wouldn't find myself needing it in the future anyway.

I would rather end on a positive note than a negative about my MOOC experience.  The only reason I bring up the negatives is to place a little reality check on the praise.  There is a place for MOOCs in the world of education.  They provide a valuable service that cannot be provided any other way in our current world.  I am enrolled in two more courses through Coursera for this calendar year and look forward to them.

But, they aren't going to save the world.  Maybe they'll make a boot shaped dent that's better than nothing, but they won't replace education as we know it.  And if we think they will, and try to make it happen sooner rather than later by not supporting public preK through college education appropriately, we might find that our adventure in MOOCs could have the opposite of the rosy effect Mr. Friedman predicts.

Moving Past Shallow Accountability

accountable  (əˈkaʊntəb ^ə l)

-adj.

1.	responsible to someone or for some action; answerable
2.	able to be explained

Since the early 1990's (perhaps before, but I wasn't particularly concerned before then) both state and federal politicians have been calling for measures to "hold teachers more accountable." Most of their ideas have lacked creativity and instead of searching for true measures of accountability, have searched for efficient and scaleable ways to sort the good from the bad. Instead of rich, multi-dimensional measures of accountability, we get mechanized testing.

Students corralled into auditoriums, gymnasiums, any available classroom in front of computer screens for several hours a day over a two to three week period taking mostly multiple choice tests. Schools and teachers are then judged on the results. Schools must go through great efforts to make sure that every child sits for a test. If they don't for any reason, it counts against the school. Testing coordinators must track down transfer students who've moved from out of state or who've failed tests in other Virginia districts to take the tests. If they do poorly, the school is accountable even if they haven't provided the instruction. Students only need to pass a set number of tests to graduate. If they've met this requirement, they still must take the additional tests. Their performance doesn't affect them, but again, it will count for the school.

Schools have had informal methods of accountability for decades. Whenever I give a grade to a student, or make a decision about their instruction I am accountable to a student, parents, and administrators at all levels. From A-F, my class policies are clearly defined and in print year after year. From time to time, a student or parent will ask for an explanation while a term is in progress or after a grade is received. I am answerable to them, and on more than one occasion in my career, that answer has not been acceptable. 

Then it moves up a level. Those conversations are difficult and uncomfortable, but usually lead to growth. Sometimes a parent is left dissatisfied and angry.  Sometimes the teacher is left unsupported and frustrated at having to make a change. Usually a compromise is reached, both sides having a chance to dialogue with each other, and future actions informed by the outcome.

Teachers live with accountability.

I can understand that what I described above doesn't always work so well. Some parents are not empowered to advocate so well for their child and some schools are not so inclined to responsiveness. But accountability should belong to the very individuals most influenced and invested in a given action. We're moving in the direction of making teachers accountable to the influence of corporate standard setters, test makers, and data gatherers.

We can create a better system of accountability. It's not as easy as giving a test and applying a score, but the informal systems of accountability like what is outlined above could become more formal through policy. It would also place accountability into the hands of the ones who deserve it the most.

What the Manti Te'o Hoax Teaches Us About Media and Education

In the week that President Obama's announced twenty-three new executive orders regarding gun control in the wake of the Newton school shooting tragedy, the nation is gripped by two news stories of scandal from the world of sports. Lance Armstrong admits (maybe) to using performance enhancing drugs, and news of the touching story of the death of the girlfriend of former Heisman hopeful Manti Te'o of the storied Notre Dame football program turns out to be a hoax.

If you don't know the story, here it is from the news source that broke it, Deadspin.com.

What? Deadspin.com. Since September, this story, crafted into an inspirational story of loss and hope has been perpetrated by media from sports outlets like Sports Illustrated and ESPN to broader outlets such as CBS and CNN. Long story short, Manti Te'o began sharing a story about losing his grandmother and girlfriend within hours of each other, making his team's quest for an undefeated season even more meaningful. It turns out the girlfriend was a fiction. Maybe he knew, maybe he was the victim of a hoax. In either case, the public is a victim of careless media.

We write about education, so what does this story matter?

A piece on the Atlantic analyzed this story and ended with this line "If you want to trick someone, lie to them. If you want to fool someone, tell them what they want to hear." 

How is it possible in the information age, that so many media outlets failed to take the simple step of checking public records or inquiring a little deeper into the veracity of a story? It is troubling that only an largely unrecognized internet outlet would take the trouble to do so.

In trying to research information for this blog, it is increasingly evident that media outlets are "receivers" of the news more than "investigators" of the news. Governments and institutions employ media relations people to create and craft the stories they want to be told. Newspapers and television reporters regurgitate what they're told and sell it to the public as truth, often lacking any depth or critical analysis in their reporting.

This is why even when PBS teams up with TED to "talk education" we get Bill Gates, Ken Robinson, and Geoffrey Canada as the exemplars of what's wrong and what's right in education. They give us a story we want to hear, words we want to be true for everyone. This Teach For America gets exaggerated claims of success without anyone caring about the numerous failures.  It's why the media can call the approach of Khan academy "online learning on steroids" without anyone saying, "what makes it substantially different than a lecture?"

Increasingly, a one-dimensional and inadequate narrative of the story of public education is sold to the public and we lack the strong journalistic media to check all claims and facts to present all sides of a story. Instead of looking for the primary sources and roots of information which is often difficult to find and hard summarize, they take what they're told, pass it along, and move on to the next item.

The misleading story of Manti Te'o's girlfriend is unfortunate, but could have been prevented if news outlets would have simply tried a few searches of public databases and independently verified sources.  Instead, they simply passed on what they'd been told.

How Big is Your Effect Size?

Dr. Strangelove: Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Effect Size

I like that title better.

I’ve been intrigued by the concept of effect size for several years.  I am not a quantitative person, but I’m curious. I try to keep an open mind, but I still can’t shake a lack of faith in numbers.  I try to believe, and sometimes a good quantitative person can move me in their direction just a bit, but I’m still a qualitative guy at heart.

Two weeks ago, our school division hosted its annual “Making Connections” conference and Dr. Matt Haas, assistant Superintendent offered a session titled “You Can Calculate Effect Size.”  The fact that many teachers lack basic literacy in research and statistical methods is a detriment to our profession.  First, we fail to apply the results of research in the classroom and second, we fail to adequately participate in the conversations around educational research that drives decisions in our divisions, states, and nation.

In a perfect world, education research would be carefully vetted and practitioners could refer to current research from time to time in order to refine their skills.  In the world as it is, research on education is often agenda-driven and practitioners too often fall prey to ideas that merely sound good. (Anyone still encouraging students to discover their Learning Styles?)

In the world of the classroom, it would do teachers well to understand at least a little of the methods and language that researchers are using to influence the national conversation on education.  Influence that affects universally, such as the movement to use value-added measurements to teacher evaluations. And, influence that affects the classroom in the form of instructional methods teachers are expected to use.

In the absence of any “authoritative body” to filter and condense the growing body of educational research into something productive for American education, teachers need to develop a better understanding for themselves of how to interpret research.

Ready for your first lesson.

Effect Size= “Mean of Data Set Two minus Mean of Data Set One divided by Standard Deviation of Data Set One.” 

If you give a pre-test and a post-test, data set one is the pre-test.  Data set two is the post-test. Sometime between pre-test and post-test you “apply a treatment.” In the case of education, an instructional strategy.  The effect size measures how much difference the treatment made.

If like me, you’re not a number/stats person it’s easy to stop here and pretend that it’s too confusing to waste your time on.  This is too important for that, if you didn’t get it read it again.  An effect size should tell you how much an instructional strategy facilitated or inhibited student growth.  Yes growth (or value-added if you’d rather.)

Take this tool for what it’s worth.  It’s the primary tool used by researchers such as Marzano and other education “meta-analysts” to determine instructional methods that work, the techniques have the greatest effect size on student achievement.

Still, the greatest power in using effect size is informative, not prescriptive. For example, Marzano’s well-known book “Classroom Instruction that Works” presents strategies that have proven, through meta-analysis, to have a higher than average effect size on student learning.  He does not imply (and even directly states otherwise) that a given strategy WILL work on every student in every situation.

That's likely the greatest flaw with this type of research. What should be informative for our educational practices becomes prescriptive through policies and evaluative methods. I imagine that across the country, more than a few teachers have been evaluated on consistently applying the “strategies that work” without regard to immediate evidence of whether the strategies are working or not, leaving them skeptical and critical of the entire body of work that attempts to isolate the most effective classroom strategies.

This is why all of us, from classroom teachers to legislators enacting policy, should have a better understanding of educational research.

APWATW (A picture is worth a thousand words).

Add your own insightful or humorous caption for the image in the comments section.


"Little Barry already stood out among his peers by the 1st grade"

The kindergartners, angered at more standardized testing,  staged an impromptu sit in.

"This administration is determined to leave No Child Behind, except those already sitting behind me."

Doing Versus Thinking

Which is the more noble task? Generating the idea or carrying it out?  Action without thought is ineffective, but thought without action is useless.  The dichotomy reminds me of James' warning in the Christian Bible's New Testament.  He reminded early Christians that "faith without works is dead." For two millennia, Christians have debated the role of faith and works, but most would agree, they are not mutually exclusive expressions.

Likewise, ideas and execution-- thinking and doing-- cannot exist in isolation.  As teachers, we plan, we do, and after it's over, we think some more and evaluate so that next time we can do it better.  At least that's how it should work.

I'll admit, there are times when I don't see that I have time to think.  I simply "do."  I taught U.S. Government the first six years of my career.  It was my only consistent prep, so every year I had to prepare for a new class in addition to teaching Government.  I didn't have time to plan or think about what to teach so I relied on the previous year's material.  After six years, even I was tired of what I had to teach.  I started throwing away materials after I used them just to prevent myself from going back to them the next year.  But too often as a teacher we get so caught in the busyness of everything that needs to be done that thinking becomes a luxury that our time can't afford.

In regards to education, some people spend more time thinking than doing.  Educational structures facilitate this.  A recent article noted that with the exception of Administration, there is little room for vertical movement of teachers.  Making the choice to move upward in the world of education usually removes one from the classroom.  Many capable teachers do not seek higher level positions because of this, but do we really want to encourage good teachers out of the classroom anyway?

Administrators, guidance counselors, tech support, etc., all have their jobs to do; "Thinkers" don't include everyone that serves our schools outside of the classroom.  But from created positions in individual schools all the way up to our Secretary of Education, too many education professionals spend their day "thinking" without very much "doing."

How do we bridge this divide of "doers" who don't think enough and "thinkers" who don't do enough?

Thinking takes time.  We put quite a bit of thought and time into the Teaching Underground.  Still, we fail to match the depth of content or frequency of posting that so many others manage to handle.  The frequency and quality of the Underground is a product of how much "real" work we have to manage as teachers.  I'm sure most bloggers feel this stretch.  I've often thought "why do I do this, there is not enough time in the day and what do I really accomplish in the end? I'm simply thinking about my profession and sharing those ideas with others."

My answer: because thinking is just as important as doing and I refuse to give up the power of ideas to drive the efforts of my work toward meaningful ends.

To the doers:  Take a break.  Think about what you're doing, why you're doing it, and what you'd like to do next. Learn about what's happening around you and figure out your appropriate place within the context you live and work. If you have to leave somethings "undone" to protect your time and energy for thought, do it.  If you're too busy to stop and think, you're too busy.  You're going to harm someone if you keep going.

To the thinkers: Get your hands dirty. Not a casual drop in or guest appearance in the classroom.  Find a regular consistent way to directly impact a teacher, student or group of students.  Don't overburden the "doers" with good ideas that you can't test out yourself.  Remember that ideas don't have a life of their own, don't treasure them so much that when the doers tell you the ideas aren't working that you don't believe them.  If you don't remember what it's like to miss your lunch or postpone a much needed bathroom break because you're occupied with students, you're not connected with the place where your ideas are carried out. If that's the case, stop thinking so much and do something.  You're going to harm someone if you keep going.

To everyone who can make a difference: Give teachers the power to think and trust them to make good decisions. Provide the space and time for their experience and practice to gel into sound theory and plans for moving forward. Don't make decisions in isolation, but build systems that give teachers the ability to engage in deliberate thought about policy and practice.  Don't provide opportunities to attend after-school forums, complete surveys, or serve on another committee and consider it teacher leadership.  Consider placing certain decision-makers in the classroom more often, and give certain teachers a break from full teaching schedules in exchange for leadership roles.

Effective education requires a proper mix of thinking and doing from everyone, not a cadre of thinkers to direct the activity of the doers. This is education after all, not a beehive.

Education Leadership

Educational Leadership- Part I

RUAN-EDUKSHUNUHL LEDUR?

That’s not German…It’s phonetic for a question more people should ask themselves.  If you couldn't figure it out, you probably shouldn't be in charge.

What could we, the TU, know about Educational Leadership?  Truth be told we know a thing or two.  This post is an adaptation of a presentation the Underground was privileged enough to conduct with members of the student body while they attended a school leadership retreat. It is relevant because the void of true leadership from anyone in a high enough position to make a difference is starting to hurt.   The only thing worse than no leadership is bad leadership.  And that is exectly what the Feds and state legislatures have been giving us the past few years.  In fact I am beginning to think the term Educational Leader is actually an oxymoron. As we grow accustomed to gridlock in DC, the only thing clear is we are lacking enough leaders willing or capable to lead us to a better place. This might also be true in education.

Above the building level what we need systemically is great leadership. Not common in a profession where upward mobility is rather non-existent.   School divisions find leadership even harder to come by because promotion from the classroom is often an escape for some.  Still others see the classroom as a necessary chore to enter educational leadership. It is increasingly easy to hop online and pick their Ed.L.D. with little or no teaching experience and whamo...they are making decisions for us all.  It's not that outsiders shouldn't contribute but Corporate style leadership in education is not too popular with many people in education. 

Many good teachers don't want to leave the kids thus restricting their influence. But they aren't too fond of seagulls either.  New leadership hires usually come with a dizzying list of degrees but potentially absent the insights and experience most needed. When you look even higher, the void is so pronounced that few people in the upper echelons have any connection as to what is actually happening and what is actually needed on the student level.   How frequent and in what context was the word education used in the recent Presidential debate?  That says a lot about where education fits into the public consciousness. Is that an indictment of current education policy makers nationally…yeah…I guess it is.  But they are not all purposefully disconnected.  Some are victims of time and distance from the classroom. 

Defining leadership is simple…defining good leadership…not as easy. Defining Good Educational Leadership even more so.  In its most basic form leadership is the capacity or ability to lead. To lead is to either get in front to show people the way or to go along with them, maybe even push from behind. One thing that becomes immediately clear is those who are the leaders can’t always show the way directly.  

Jobs within education are very different and quite stratified.  So the "lead by Example" motto falls by the wayside. It's hard to provide the example when you have no experience in a specific area from which to draw.  There are currently so many levels of leadership in what some call the bloated education bureaucracy.

We’ve said before that anyone referred to as an "educator" should be required to teach a class.  Just to keep their feet on the ground and their heads out of their rumps. More importantly would be the fact that they would get to deal with kids each day.  A leader takes an active role in making something happen with others. Teachers do this all the time.  The “others” are referred to as followers, so I guess I am a leader and a follower(hey by the way are you an official follower of the TU…if not you can do so on the menu at the right).  Kids are the constant in education and people who wall themselves off from that figuratively or literally impede their ability to lead effectively. 

In reality leaders in education are not only outside of the classroom, they are in it. Principals, Superintendents, and School Board Members all play a key role in the chain of leadership and direction of policy. But the anchor points of that chain are the teachers and the parents. They are both the ones with the most understanding but also often the most disconnected the point of influence.   This disconnect from leadership and students causes or results in an over-reliance on data and numbers.

Too often they operate with suspect understanding and a predetermined outcome devoid of feedback or empathy to those affected. They are too often asked to make decisions absent key information.  Leading by mandate handed down from above alienates followers and often loses sight of the real needs of students. 

The skills of leadership are elusive and fluid.  They take practice.  Some aspects of leadership can be learned and developed and this makes perfect sense.   What is often missing in educational leaders is that they work with people that don't see they have to earn the position. That relationship has grown even more complicated as education has become politicized. The educational, economic and political considerations now seem to overshadow an individual’s ability to make a difference. That is after all what good or bad leadership eventually does…make a difference.

Give some thought to a several important questions. What is the Goal of Educational Leadership? A better way to think about this might be to ask what do good educational leaders do? Think about their impact, their influence on other people, how they spend their time. Why they became a leader in the first place? 

A brief answer would be good leaders make things better. They make it easier and better for kids, teachers, parents…everyone.   Educational leadership should improve our schools thus ultimately the future for our kids.   Such positions should not and cannot be used for personal advancement, promotion or for any other reason but to make things better.  While at the top level this may show as pushing hard for a change to gain a desired national outcome to put a feather in the cap, at my level it would be empowering people to create, develop and improve things all the while forging relationships that move us all forward.  That isn't a lot to ask is it?

We may write a bit more on this topic but in the meantime take a few moments to view this video and see if you can think of how it might apply to educational leadership.

Numerically Speaking, Who is the Best?

It is actually a stupid question.  Most say it is Michael Jordan.  But there are a number of ways to determine the best basketball player of all time.  For some it depends on which number you look at.  Where a player ranks in terms of a particular statistical category is the usual measure.  Scoring, rebounding, assists, simple wins and losses, game winning shots or even number of championship rings.  Some move past this and direct focus on who could change a game or wanted the ball in their hands at the end of the game. 

Kobe, James, Jordan, Russell, Chamberlain and many others enter the conversation at various points.  Experts weigh whether it is even fair to judge players from different eras against each other.  The game changed.  For that matter whether it is even fair to compare players who play different positions as their roles are different.  Guards, centers all perform different jobs.  If a guard leads your team in rebounding, you've probably got issues.   

Student and even teacher excuses  can be more plentiful

Personally while I love college basketball, I've never really enjoyed the NBA and get a bit more into the NFL.  With the advent of Fantasy Football these conversations have taken on a new dimension.  Fantasy teams mean players are valued not for talent, heart or value to the team... but for how they stack up on the tally sheet.   Numbers can mislead you and as you stare at charts of player data.  Participants in fantasy leagues neglect the big picture and only look at stats.   Yards, points per game, supersede all else in a data driven world.  They can make you think a player is good when they are not and vice versa.  Like many the Underground has found enjoyment in this diversion.  We have become especially fond of pointing out the ineptitude of other basement member's fantasy squads.    This is a big week as we play each other.  No worries, I've got him covered. Not sure that's true but what is for certain is that fantasy sports have changed the way we watch the game and how we find enjoyment in sports.  The argument is less about who is the best and more about who had the best fantasy day.  Let's jump from athletics to education. 

As you are likely aware there are significant efforts to place a metric on the effectiveness of teachers.  The "game" has changed.   We worry less about who can teach and instead who has the best scores.  Politicians and reforms are using the obvious impact of teachers have on student performance as a reason to try and rate them using data.   Unable to affect change with what studies say is among the biggest factor, poverty ,they then go to teacher quality by default.   Out of their mouths flow phrases like "every child deserves to have great teachers" and that turns into some bastardized form of accountability.  The next step is to make some metric the measure of whether or not a teacher is effective.   Too often this is connected to some sort of test.   Having a score or number then somehow legitimizes your ability and skill as a teacher.  It quantifies your impact.  For me and the rest of Virginia's teachers, forty percent of my evaluation as a professional is taken from student growth.  I am fortunate it is not directly tied to a statewide test score as this approach seems to be incentivized by Race to the Top Funds,.... yet.  It is that way now.  But I foresee the day when that is not something I will be able to say.   While I've been wrong before concrete numbers matter.

To date, I have created my student goals and begun to plan on how to implement them but I am still not quite certain what or how I will use this to show growth without being too subjective.  I am choosing one measure of student growth related to our lifelong learner standards and their ability to write.  But because I grade this work it is invariably subjective.  Which leads us to the more objective method.  Standardized tests.  Sparing readers the indignity of why they are flawed as a true measure and far from ideal when it comes to telling whether or not someone can teach, I'll just say they are as misleading as fantasy points.   In fantasy football a player's team can build a big lead and that could actually hurt their point total.  Teachers are the most significant in-school piece to student learning and success but they are not the only piece and there is much out of and in school that plays a role. There's the motivational of students, desire to learn, attendance, class size, social incentives, socio-economic level, and school size all of which top a list that researchers constantly study and debate.  

These guys have taught me a lot

Teachers matter.  I know they matter a lot.  But other things matter too.  To attempt to objectively measure why one teacher might be better than another has the potential to prove as fruitful as an argument about who is the best NBA or NFL player.  And conceivably more pointless.  How much authentic learning goes unappreciated or is even replaced with narrow result oriented instruction?  The end result of this effort and energy does little to help me improve as a teacher and frankly I feel less supported.   Am I more inclined to narrow my approach to serve my goal(s)?  I hope not.   But the best way to measure me as a teacher is to be in the room with me while I teach.  Not once, but a lot. Still... improving teachers and learning by measures such as this is just that, a fantasy.  Thus it does little to improve the quality of education for students.  Maybe we should instead focus our attention on working to support all teachers and devote resources in their service, not to figuring out who is the "best".

The Wisdom of Patience

Summer.  A break from teaching.  Routines and schedules cast aside.  The greatest blessing and sometimes curse for families.

There is a reason that neither myself or my wife are stay at home parents.  We wouldn’t be very good at it.  But for six or seven weeks each summer we handle it pretty well.  Usually. 

During our week of vacation my patience was tested early.  Before we even left to give an exact time.  Details aside, I’d lost my patience with my wife and my children.  I wasn’t satisfied with our plans, and the uncertainty rattled me.  That’s anxiety.  Anxiety is rooted in the future.  It’s worry about how things will turn out.  A little anxiety is a good thing.  Otherwise we’d never be motivated to do anything.

Most anxiety is misplaced.  We look to the future with a dread.  Something bad is going to happen.  Usually it’s not as bad as we imagine.  But this persistent anxiety about future events can wreak some pretty serious havoc in the present.  We act out of fear and worry instead of reasoned judgment.

At least that’s how I’m justifying how much I’ve yelled at my children the last few days.  Anxiety erodes the sound practice of patience.  In raising children, patience allows us to properly guide them, and discipline them if necessary toward the behaviors and habits that benefit their growth.  Anxiety leads us to discourage and minimize the behaviors and actions that cause personal stress for the parent.

Even in dealing with our own children as parents, a posture of anxiety  is usually self-serving while the discipline of patience serves the best interest of all.

It makes sense that it would take summer break to teach a teacher the value of patience.

If there is a scarcity of any value in our society, patience is certainly one.  Our tight economy has generated a national anxiety over the future.  We need to stress over this situation if we ever want to get out of it, but we also need to keep a reasoned head and not allow anxiety to guide our decisions at the expense of reason.

Our leaders are anxious and exercise too much top-down control.  From division leaders to the secretary of Education, anxiety about funding, test scores, and the future of education in a digital age pushes the agenda for leading from the front, often at the expense of valuable input from teachers, students, and the general public.  They usually act in what they believe is the best interest of “the system” but often ignore the expressed needs of the very system they serve.

The recent dismissal of University of Virginia President Teresa Sullivan by the Board of Visitors fits this description well.  A Rector anxiety about funding and getting behind in the digital age executed a manipulative and dictatorial decision, made behind closed doors and in the presence of only a few.

Members of our business and commercial world are anxious.  They’ve managed to build successful ventures through the booms of the past two decades and economic growth has stalled.  They fear for the long-term future of their legacies, but also for the short term future of their own welfare in a stagnate economy.  Instead of focusing on the failures that lead us down this road, they look to education to solve their problems by pushing for implementation of the same business models that failed to save our economy already.

Parents and students are anxious.  They’re strapped for time more than any generation before.  They’re concerned about the rising cost of education and its comparative value in an increasingly dim job market. 

Teachers are anxious.  In unionized states, rights are being stripped away, and in states like Virginia, several years of diminishing salaries are now being hit with cuts to benefits.  They’re expected to do more with less.

Vain activity rarely calms anxiety.  It makes it worse.  Perhaps we could use a little patience.  Stop looking to an imagined future of despair and deal rationally with the current reality in which we live.  The opposite of the current wave of reactionary decision-making in education isn’t status quo, it’s reasoned and informed action. 

It is time we stop making decisions out of anxiety, with no other purpose than to alleviate our imagined fears and start patiently making reasonable decisions that will carry us successfully into the future.

What Does a Good Education Look Like?

Ever given any thought to that question?  Both members of the TU  were fortunate to receive a good education during our youth, I think.  This was not an accident.  It took hard work from parents, educators and even us.     Stepping back to gain a wider view might be helpful since we are all trying to provide the best for our young people.   We here at the TU have kids in public school, we teach others kids in school and obviously have what we feel is a well informed opinion.   But the phrase "good education" can be nuanced by people for a variety of reasons.  It can mis-characterized,  exaggerated, twisted, falsified, and fabricated so that other purposes may be served. Still I don't think you "get" a good education, you are given an opportunity and then earn it.

When describing a good education people use many differing phrases.  Many of these fail to frame the subject with any degree of specificity.  Instead the terms used glow with ambiguity and define things in a more general sense.  That's not necessarily a bad thing and allows for flexibility.  Effort by many to quantify and replicate what they see as a good a "good" education has produced the opposite result. This may in part be a symptom of only working towards a defined outcome.  It is OK that that phrase has a different meaning to different people and it is more about a process.  With so many buzzwords in the lexicon of education today a quick dialogue on the subject is worthwhile.   It can't hurt to enumerate some things that characterize what our schools should be about.  So let's do so from the point of view of a parent asking for things from a school for their child.


School: "Hi there!  Welcome to our school.  What can we do for you?"

Parent: "Well I have a 9th grade child starting school here tomorrow and would like to make a few requests for things I want for my child."

School: " Go right ahead."

Parent: "First off, my child is very special and I'd like them treated as such.  Just like when I sent them off to Kindergarten I want them to feel safe, loved and gain a sense of independence.   I want them treated as a unique individual with has access to caring and trusted professionals who have a say in the school.  I 'd like my child provided with a rich varied learning diet that imparts key knowledge and skills needed by any well informed  individual.  Preferably emphasizing the normal core subjects.  They'll need math and science, english and of course, history.  Throw in some other languages for good measure.  I'd like them to develop an active and healthy lifestyle so they'll need some physical education classes and also health.  I'd like to stress that they learn to read and write well.  The approach in all of these classes should be innovative but not too far removed from solid trusted foundations. They should learn to think critically about subjects and get to explore things that interest them.   I want them to view their education as an investment in their future, whatever that may be. 

Learning about all of this should help them gain a sense of their own identity.  I want them to develop curiosity and creativity.  Exposure in the arts and music certainly would help with this.    These pursuits should allow my child to grow in non academic ways and have an appreciation of art and music, even if they themselves do not have an talent for them.  I'd like my child to have access to the types of technology that aid us all in the modern world.   I want them to see technology as a powerful tool and not a shortcut.    The school should be well funded so it is not wanting for what it needs.  My child should be given the opportunity for a rich discourse on subjects and learn more than just about it and instead experience it.   

Beyond academics, my child needs to learn to work with others as part of a group.  Whether that is through cooperative projects, on a sports team, club, or in some other fashion I want them to establish positive relationships.  They'll need the skills to become a good communicator.   I want them to learn about leadership and respect. I'd like my child to be nurtured and supported when they need it and I also want them challenged and learn the value of hard work.  I know it won't all be smooth sailing so they'll need to be able to handle conflict and work through it.    They'll need to learn to persevere through adversity and disappointment and learn how to respond to and learn from to failure.  I'd like the school and teachers to be open in communicating things with me so I may aid in all of this.

I want my child to have an equal chance to pursue excellence.  They should learn about honesty and integrity.  I want them to be proud of their work. I want them to learn about  responsibility, dependability and If they don't thrive as much as others I still want them to be safe, happy and know that people care about them.    I want them to learn to be the best they can be.  Beyond themselves, I'd like them to learn to recognize their role in the school, local community and  develop personal responsibility to themselves and all those those around them.   In the end they will want to contribute positively to their community through what they learn.

These are all things I want.  I know it is a great deal to ask.  I just want my child to have a chance at a good education"




Fact is there are many ways to answer that question.  Love to hear input from others beyond this hastily compiled version.   Please feel free to share in the comments.

Pauper's Wisdom

Knowing your are not smart allows for a keen insight to the world around you.  The time and mental energy wasted in trying to apprehend day to day events and happenings can be focused elsewhere on things like grading or connecting current events to curriculum.   If not there this energy can be used in other pursuits such as watching TV or fishing.  The true benefit of accepting your own ignorance is you are always on the lookout for people who "get it" and are primed to absorb their words to make yourself smarter.  Why beat a path through the woods when you can fall into the slipstream of great minds.

Learning me a book.  Smart People should learn some too.

That involves reading stuff from smart people.  The beneficial side effect is you end up reading a lot which I suppose counteracts the not so smart thing.   When that is not possible reading helps provide a clarity of thought when you are immersed knee deep in what you are thinking about.  In this case, school.    Finding readings that deal with teaching is a constant challenge and usually a further drain on an already depleted mental energy reserve.  They tend to be heavily laden with either speculative conclusions or are far too academic to be of much use.  So instead I sometimes delve into material concerning the state of teaching and education in general.  Seems quite a few of these author's conceal the fact they have little to do with or background in.... wait for it..., education.  A diverse range of views is usually helpful but one realization is that there are an abundance of these smart people out there who don't "get it."  I have found identifying them here in our semi-satirical effort fulfilling and perhaps gratifying in a not so healthy way. 

It is a far simpler effort to find things from people I disagree with.    They are everywhere.  I suppose most people feel this way but I am a remarkably agreeable individual.  This healthy pool of folks that are too smart for their own good are not shy with sharing their views and worse imposing them.  Be it a result of group think, strategic dynamism, or just poor judgement it seems far too easy for smart people to behave in not so intelligent ways when dealing with or directing education.  Think of it as Daniel Snyder running his NFL team.  The results are not always good.   I define this as whenever they do something I disagree by the way.   I like to justify this with my "pauper's wisdom".  Not so much granted by financial depravity(Teachers like to harp on the fact we have this) but by a foundation of understanding granted by remaining "just a teacher," feet firmly planted in the classroom with my students. I am poor in knowledge of the theoretical world of education but rich from time spent face to face with students actually learning.

I am not omniscient and know my views should not always be seen as correct.  I make mistakes and am wrong about plenty of things.   My station in life has taught me listen to help avoid this whenever possible.  I also know decision makers are far too confident in their own actions and don't listen enough.   I don't always like what I hear but the only way a not so smart individual like myself can navigate this landscape is to try and find some humor in it all.   Oh...and read a bunch.

Videos are also good.

Reasons vary as to why people look to misguided interlopers rather than trusted and seasoned professionals. 


So here are some things I liked that made me both smarterer and also smile.

The Disaster Capitalism Curriculum: The High Price of Education Reform (Episode I)

The Education Bubble

The Funny Business of Education

Education: How do You Measure Up?

Photo Credit:M. Hankins

How many kids have you helped?  One hundred?  One thousand?  Ten thousand?  Last week our school lost someone who arguably has done more for kids(and teachers) than anyone else at the TU put together.  A real legend.  His name was Gus.  Um...actually it was Gus 2 but we aren't actually sure if there was a Gus 1 so the number after his name just seems unnecessary.  Like when you talk about the Superbowl people assume it is the one that just happened or the one coming up.

Mr. Hand wasn't such a bad guy.

Speaking of super... You may recall the mimeograph machine of your youth that students adored. Reason being that beloved scent and euphoria when copies came fresh and warm.   It is a lost reference to those too young to remember the scene in Fast Times at Ridigemont High(how'd that get left off our teacher movie list?).  I vaguely remember them but for some odd reason my short term memory has always been weak.

Teaching was hard labor

I do remember doing my student teaching at a tiny rural school here in VA that it would be fair to say was a bit behind cutting edge.  The copy machines there were still hand cranked.  The purple ink they used ruined all of the dress shirts  I owned in college(all 5). The school was built in 1939 and not equipped with the luxury of "conditioned air." That made the prospect of making copies in that 3rd floor copy room  and the amount of effort involved far less appealing.    So when I arrived at AHS I appreciated Gus that much more. 

 While mimeographs historically have captured more attention from generations of ink heads, Gus and his risograph friends were the workhorse of the fleet laboring away with little thanks.  As advertised he provided "productivity and cost-savings"...and was a " fast and reliable printing solution... designed for highspeed production."  Day after day, week after week, year after year.  Gus was a superstar.  To me he rose to almost mythic status and helped me help kids.  His rhythmic cadence was hypnotic and oddly soothing.  He never complained or got grumpy when you need copies five minutes before class.  He never worried about copyrights.  Sure he had breakdowns but he never took a personal day or even a field trip.  He just sat in one place and made the copies.  A lot of copies. 



Gus was around for some time.  He must have been to make 5.1 million copies. (26 tons)(over 900 miles) (1615 feet high: Empire State Building=1473) (950 copies every schoolday for 30 years)

Photo Credit:M. Hankins

Pause this evening and consider if your efforts measure up to that.  So as he moves on to that ...that...well to wherever they take old copy machines, TU pauses to salute Gus 2.  Rest easy old friend.  Well done sir.  Well done. 

Bowling for Test Scores

The white soles slide without effort across the hardwood.  A film of disinfectant spray covers the multi-colored leather uppers.  Left leg bent one-hundred and thirty degrees, right leg tucked neatly into the back of the left knee.  Bend at the waist, as the arm descends like a pendulum, release the ball onto the floor and wait...

                                  wait.......
                                                    wait..................
                                                                                    wait..........................
                                                                                                                         
My students took the AP Psychology Exam yesterday, so we won't find out the end of this story for a few months.  Many of my colleagues have already laced up their rented shoes and selected a ball, but they won't have a turn to bowl for another week or two.  But then, they'll be in the same place as me: waiting.

There are two kinds of bowlers.  Type I releases the ball and either watches its path or simply turns away checking the results after the pins fall.  Type II will stand at the foul line, shaping the balls path with concentrated mental effort and intentional body contortions-- staying active in the process until the last pin falls.

Type II bowlers waste too much energy trying to control what is out of their control-- just release the ball and let it work.

The same is true for teachers in this era of testing.  I know the stakes are not as high for me as for those teaching "core classes" with state mandated testing, but the analogy is true for all of us.  We teach, we release, we wait.  We trust that we've done our best and realize that now our students are sitting in front of the test (and later waiting for scores) it's up to them to finish the job.

It's hard to find good analogies; metaphors that don't break down somewhere.  Here's where the bowling/testing comparisons end, so let's change the story a bit to make it fit.

...release the ball onto the floor and wait...

The ball starts off just right of center, on target to hit between the
one and two pin.  Perfect release.  But the ball looks ahead, those pins look different than in practice-- two red stripes instead of one-- distracted, the ball veers a bit off course, but there's still a chance.  Half-way down the lane, the ball realizes it's off track, trying to get back to center it over-corrects, setting it further off-track than before.  It still has a chance of hitting four or five pins.  As the ball gets closer it sees the extra pins.  They don't count for a final score, but the alley needs to test them out to see how they react in a real game.  The ball doesn't know this and sees the extra row of four pins in the back and realizes it is impossible at this point to even salvage a spare for the next ball.  The ball rolls without effort to the end and manages to knock over five pins-- but only two really count.  The crowd boo's the bowler.

Too many people think this testing game is just like bowling-- teach, release, wait.  Use good technique, practice well, and the outcome should be predictable.  They don't realize the bowling balls have brains.  Not just rational, thinking brains.  Real human brains-- subject to physiology, environment, events of the day, events of the past, emotions, etc.

Rather than a bowler, a teacher is more of a coach-- a coach whose team owner hopefully doesn't insist on keeping a high profile and/or micro-managing the team.  The overall success of the team is largely the responsibility of the coach.  But the coach can only take so much responsibility for a bad decision from a player (like an elbow to the head), bad calls from the refs (remember the fifth down), or a player who doesn't take practice seriously (I mean we're just talkin' 'bout practice).  It is a shared responsibility.

So in honor of National Teacher Appreciation Week (and National Charter Schools Week and the ten year anniversary of Iverson's "Practice" Speech), Happy Testing Season teachers.  May your bowling balls roll straight.


                                   

A Problem of Articulation

Ever tried explaining electricity to a nine year old? I gained another level of respect for Virginia's elementary school teachers tonight.  My daughter has a test tomorrow on electricity. Nothing complicated: open and closed circuits, conductors and insulators, series and parallel circuits, resistance, etc. We used iPod headphones, turned switches on and off in the house, and even made some sparks with jumper cables to see the principles of electricity at work.

She really got it. Then I started quizzing her with the study guide. Maybe she didn't get it after all. She could show me and even explain what all of the terms and concepts were all about while we were moving around the house and looking at electricity at work in our world.  But something about putting it into clearly articulated words, absent the tangible examples, escaped her.

After a little work, she managed to articulate a little better, but when I read the definitions from the page for her to identify, she struggled a little more.  The terms and language used in the review guide didn't quite match the language she had used to understand the concepts. 

Tomorrow, I don't know how her teacher will assess her.  I'm sure that with over twenty other students taking the test at the same time she won't have a chance to just explain it to him, much less show him. If she's asked to write about it her chances are much better. I do know that at least by next year she will have to answer multiple choice questions about it for the fifth grade Virginia Standards of Learning test, the type of test that doesn't value what you know or give you the chance to express what you've learned-- it is the type of test that exposes what you don't know and expects the student to understand the narrow scope pre-determined by the "standard-setters" and "test-makers."

My experience tonight leads me to wonder how many students are harmed because teaching them to truly articulate their learning is no longer valued. We expect to assess learning through an easy and streamlined process.  We define what should be known, how it should be expressed and if students learn to articulate differently than what is prescribed they are punished rather than rewarded.

I don't have a well "articulated" conclusion to my thoughts, but after spending time engaged in learning with my daughter I found myself sad that even though I'm convinced that she understands, I'm not sure how she'll test. And in our world today, the test is all that matters.

(Post-Script- I first wrote this post over a month ago.  My daughter aced the test.  It was fill-in the blank and short answer.)

Art not Science

April Fools Day,  our spring break, Tiger Woods  at Augusta...yep there's a lot going on.  We'll use it to catch our breath.  But for our loyal readers(all 3) we thought we'd put up something of substance, or at least that impersonates that. 

"Miles, just play the solo like its written."

Too many influential individuals methodically and mistakenly work to simplify and streamline approaches to instruction, experienced teachers continue to strive in the fluid environment that is and always will be the classroom.  Most don't pay much attention to things like Common Core until they start hearing it in faculty meetings.  The love affair decision makers have with data continues to push those shaping teaching to view it as a science that can be adjusted in such a way to produce a definite outcome. Below is an excerpt from a post that appeared on the Washington Post's The Answer Sheet by Valerie Strauss.  It comes from an experienced teacher in New York state Jeremiah Chaffee.   His experience with the Common Core Standards and lessons connected to them show this divide.  But first some comments on Common Core.

A quick perusal of the website led me to realize that Roy Romer really likes them.  Roy Romer...that's the featured endorsement?  But watching it becomes clear Roy might not see eye to eye with teachers on everything. He says they are set of tools.  If presented as that I am on board.  But I must admit to caring less about any standards and more about my students.  So read a bit more:

"The Common Core State Standards provide a consistent, clear understanding of what students are expected to learn, so teachers and parents know what they need to do to help them. The standards are designed to be robust and relevant to the real world, reflecting the knowledge and skills that our young people need for success in college and careers. With American students fully prepared for the future, our communities will be best positioned to compete successfully in the global economy."

 That sounds like a bit of an oversell.    That all we were missing in education was this set of standards and presto, we are "positioned successfully" in that global economy thing.  That actually sounds like what I am supposed to be doing.   In the FAQ section of their website many of my questions appear and are answered.  The responses sound sterile, well rehearsed and too scripted.  I am left unsatisfied, especially the part about more tests.  I bet that feeling is a lot like what students would encounter if we reduce things to a homogeneous set of anything.  I think what students, parents and teachers need to succeed is a lot more complex than a list of what to teach.  For my students it means well planned and engaging opportunities to learn.  A goal that I must admit to falling short of providing on occasion.   But I adjust and tinker until I get it right.  When I view that process as complete I should be fired.  Like any quality artist I work to create something unique and valuable that suits the moment all in the name of learning

The romantic view that students just need access to curriculum and knowledge is forged far from the student themselves.  Teachers can't and shouldn't just unbox content and use a script, from common core or anywhere else.  I doubt anyone(other than those full of bad ideas) really expects that.  But it seems some forget the role teachers fill for students.  For certain kids can and do learn on their own.  But wishing for a "better" way to teach and kids to learn doesn't make it so.

These lessons are models, prepackages ones.  Sometimes I find these useful, sometimes not.  The best teachers I had in life never used them.  They scalped from them and did their own thing.    I find the years of experience I've gained are priceless and are far more valuable than resources. Would a pilot reading a manual written by an experienced pilot give you much piece of mind?  I suspect not.  The best things I do are often the result of improvisation and reading the pulse of the class and students. That dynamic is different every period, every day, every year.  As I leave you reading Chaffee's thoughts brought to you by someone I almost always agree with,  Valeria Strauss,  I think about it this way...great concerts and musicians provide much richer experience live than simply listening to a recording.   But if you want it done the same every time for every audience, just plug in the CD player. 

 --------------
Scripting lessons is based on several false assumptions about teaching. They include:

* That anyone who can read a lesson aloud to a class can teach just as well as experienced teachers;
* That teaching is simply the transference of information from one person to another;
* That students should not be trusted to direct any of their own learning;
* That testing is the best measure of learning.

Put together, this presents a narrow and shallow view of teaching and learning.
Most teachers will tell you that there is a difference between having a plan and having a script. Teachers know that in any lesson there needs to be some wiggle room, some space for discovery and spontaneity. But scripted cookie-cutter lessons aren’t interested in that; the idea is that they will help students learn enough to raise their standardized test scores.

I can tell by what Chaffee says he is probably a good teacher.

Teacher Job Satisfaction Low- So What?

Teacher friendly bloggers and websites are all writing this week about the MetLife Survey of the American Teacher.  (See Ed Week , Huffington Post , The Answer Sheet , Larry Ferlazzo for more)  The take away headline is this "Teacher Job Satisfaction At A Low Point."  Interesting headlines usually provide some bit of surprising information.  Not this one.

Look at what is happening across the country: reduced funding, larger class sizes, more initiatives and mandates with less support, legislation to weaken the status of teachers, accountability movements that are detrimental to student learning, the list could go on.

While the headline about teacher satisfaction may fall on a few sympathetic ears, teachers in public education should realize that for many this finding will fall under the category of "who cares?"  Our salaries are paid by the public.  A public which has largely dealt with economic problems for nearly half a decade.  This same public cringes at the gas pump, worries about mortgages going under water, faces uncertainty with employment, and otherwise lives in doubt about the economic future of their household and nation.

To this public, a likely response to the headline may be "Welcome to the club!"  Our current economic situation is not an excuse for teachers to roll over and watch the systematic dismantling of public education, but general surveys of the working public show the same trend.

What is the appropriate reaction to this survey?  Should teachers shout out for change and demand better conditions or is it time we realized that times are hard all around?