Was Obama Right?

I can't speak for the other half of the Teaching Underground (but I'm guessing he agrees), but I am not a fan of the Presidents education policy. The democratic platform's comments on education in general are not very appealing either. Without a Republican plan for education that looks any better, it looks like education may be in for another tough four years regardless of the election.

I used to think that the President didn't matter to public education in America. After all, state and local governments oversee the education of children. But, unless I didn't know any better before the mid-90's it looks like that balance began to shift under the Clinton administration and certainly tipped during the Bush years to the point where today, what the President says (or perhaps more importantly, who he appoints) makes a significant difference in the way we do public education in the fifty states. We've gotten used to the rhetoric.

Obama says repeatedly that we shouldn't over test our children, yet still creates and enforces policy that drives the testing craze. The Administration's words speak highly of public education and educators, but actions increasingly follow the path of corporate reform instead of educator initiated improvements. I know that the words don't always reflect the reality, but one single sentence uttered last night by the President made me think that on some level he gets it:  

Government has a role in this. But teachers must inspire; principals must lead; parents must instill a thirst for learning, and students, you’ve got to do the work.

1) Government has a role- we can't continue to short-change education under the guise that we're throwing money at a failing system.  We can't deny the responsibility, the "rightness" of government to provide for the education of our children and the long term benefits of this investment for our nation.  But Government has a role, and especially the federal government should take care to ensure that states and districts are adequately providing education without encumbering them with excessive regulations that may not apply across the board.

2) Teachers- to inspire must be inspired.  We've heard enough empty thanks and platitudes of how important we are.  It's not just about money, but we are more than a pool of workers.  Evaluation methods should be fair, we need to stop inflating the idea of "bad teachers" ruining education, and teachers need more influence and input in policy and decision-making.

3) Parents- this thirst for learning will look different for different families.  This is the part where government may play a larger role.  I do a good job of working with kids, but add responsibilities with parents and my job gets tougher.  I can't do the job of a parent and I can't make parents do their job.  I'm not talking about laws and punishments.  Most parents are doing exactly what they need to.  Opening schools and creating access often just makes active parents more active.  We need to figure out the best ways to engage the unengaged and that solution might not be found within the wall of the school.

4) Students- do the work.  We need to hear this more often from our leaders.  I take responsibility for the job I do, but I can't take 100% responsibility for the performance of others.  I teach students, I don't "learn" them.  Learning is what you do yourself and what I learn is my responsibility.  Until student responsibility re-enters the national narrative on how to improve schools, schools will not improve. 

Last night Obama set forth a pretty decent rhetorical formula with these words.  I only wish it could translate into effective and reasonable policy.  Unfortunately, based on the record of the last four years, I don't have much hope in that.

The 2012 Teaching Underground State of the Union Response

While the rest of the world is watching a Republican rebuttal to President Obama's 2012 State of the Union Address, the Teaching Underground believes that a teacher response is appropriate.  So as has become our annual custom, (since last year) here's our take on the President's remarks.

The President started off on the "good foot" with his choice of honored guests to join the first Lady in attendance tonight.  Sara Ferguson from the infamous Chester School district in Pennsylvania will join Michelle Obama for tonight's oration.  Ms. Ferguson teaches in a school district where teachers and their union decided to teach without pay.  Yes, the evil union decided that serving children was more important than their own sustenance, by continuing to do their jobs even though state and local government did not have the funds to pay them.  As with most teachers, we certainly will stand for fairness and appropriate working conditions, but the message to the public-- don't confuse our zeal for what's best for the students with self-interest and greed.

On to the speech.  The President's remarks are in italics, my comments follow each section.

Near the beginning of the speech, Obama proclaims that we are "A country that leads the world in educating its children." We don't hear that rhetoric on a national stage very often, I for one appreciate the sentiment.  Here's what followed in the President's speech regarding k-12 education:

At a time when other countries are doubling down on education, tight budgets have forced States to lay off thousands of teachers. We know a good teacher can increase the lifetime income of a classroom by over $250,000. A great teacher can offer an escape from poverty to the child who dreams beyond his circumstance. Every person in this chamber can point to a teacher who changed the trajectory of their lives. Most teachers work tirelessly, with modest pay, sometimes digging into their own pocket for school supplies – just to make a difference. 

1) Mr. Obama, most of us who follow the education news know of this $250,000 of which you speak, but haven't we done enough to discredit this study?  This "fact" would do much greater good if its purpose was to increase the respect and professionalism of teachers, but instead, this study has prompted an attack on the teaching profession.  Instead of promoting the importance of teachers, this study is being used to push for "getting rid of the bad ones."

2) A teacher can indeed offer an escape from poverty, but a good teacher will never be a guarantee of this escape.  How many people can point to a coach, pastor, relative, or other concerned adult in their life who made the difference in motivating them toward greater things?  We need to remember how influential we teachers can be, but our public needs to be aware that education alone is not the solution to poverty.

3) Most teachers do work tirelessly and today, instead of just a pat on the back, we would like "a place at the table."  Our goals are not self-promotion, greed, or an easier job.  We deal with children daily and believe that our expertise can lead American education policy in a positive direction.

Teachers matter. So instead of bashing them, or defending the status quo, let’s offer schools a deal. Give them the resources to keep good teachers on the job, and reward the best ones. In return, grant schools flexibility: To teach with creativity and passion; to stop teaching to the test; and to replace teachers who just aren’t helping kids learn.

So now we get to the real meat of the issue.  What kind of deal do we offer schools?  Give them resources to keep good teachers on the job... and replace the one's who aren't helping kids learn.  How do we find these teachers, that's right, testing.  Isn't that the metric used by the researchers to determine the "good" teachers that increase classroom lifetime income by $250,000?  Rewards and threats of punishment, that's so 20th century Mr. Obama.  How about we give teachers the flexibility to teach with creativity and passion, to stop teaching to the test, BECAUSE "most teachers work tirelessly--just to make a difference." Trying to make a difference is the opposite of "defending the status quo."  

We also know that when students aren’t allowed to walk away from their education, more of them walk the stage to get their diploma. So tonight, I call on every State to require that all students stay in high school until they graduate or turn eighteen.

That’s why my education reform offers more competition, and more control for schools and States.

Just a few words, but that's what President Obama says to the nation about American k-12 education in 2012.  He received a warm response from the crowd for these remarks.  On the whole, they appear rather benign, but in today's political climate, government education policy seems to be driven by one major idea-- identify good teachers and reward them, remove obstacles for getting rid of bad teachers.  Identify those teachers by test scores that provide absolute measures of success regardless of outside factors.


If you think there's more to it than that, I'd love to hear your thoughts, these are just some intial thoughts on the President's comments.

Thanks for reading, that's the 2012 Teaching Underground teacher's response to the annual State of the Union Address.

"They" don't listen because they don't understand.

Do educational leaders know what's happening?
"Ground control to Major Education Leader"

In recent months many of "them" (influential figures affecting education) have become very vocal about the problems with NCLB as the looming 100% pass rate timeline approaches.  Compelled to do so out of fear that their school or division will be labeled as failing.  They've snapped up Race to the Top(RTTP) funds as an alternative but have honestly done little to affect the overall direction reform is headed.   Shame on them! Shame on them for not doing something sooner.

Shame on them for also being very vocal about bad teachers.  They seem either to not have a handle on what is occurring within schools or just don't care to listen.  Early on in my state there were countless warnings about NCLB  that went unheeded.  Many of those calls coming directly from the classroom.  Shame on them for not listening until "they" were affected.  Sure teachers are sometimes the reason a class or school is not as good as it should be.  Listening to many reformers out there it might seem bad teachers are the only reason.  RTTP funds are being used to sell out teachers and educators even more.  This "revision" might be less punitive than NCLB but it is no less harmful.

The call to strengthen and improve performance grows louder day after day.  The pressure to perform is crushing.  That is not a good thing for a learning environment.  Positive pressure is good.  An element of competition is good.  A benchmark for comparison is good.  What we are tolerating is bad.

A single indicator for success is not a sound approach.  How would parents and students respond if a teacher used the same approach to assign a grade?  Any criticism would be warranted.   It is worth remembering as leaders use accountability to justify action that schools and teachers are expected to educate every child regardless of achievement level, motivation, or behavior.   As we press for accountability the teacher and school are saddled increasingly with responsibility to make kids learn.    Lost in the shuffle of responsibility is the role students and parents must play in this partnership.  Sadly many students do not not get much if any support outside of school and do not appreciate the value of their education.  Some schools can't or don't do much to mitigate this reality.  The effects of such an environment are crippling.

Kids can grow into entirely dependent learners and too many lose desire or interest to advance themselves academically.  They just don't like school.    Gone is a love for learning that is present in young wide eyed children.  They'd rather be elsewhere.  But they may pass the test.  So tests don't help. In fact these tests likely do more harm than anyone admits.  To ignore this and place all that burden disproportionately on the education system will never remedy the issue.  Geoffrey Canada has it right in this sense and what I admire most is he actually did something about it rather than just blame people.  Blaming schools, kids, parents or anyone is akin to treating the symptoms and not the illness. 

"The Lottery" is not a great date movie.

I recently watched the film "The Lottery" which chronicles the plight of inner city kids in NYC as they seek to gain admission into one of the Harlem Success schools.  It was excruciating to watch.  Not because I dislike charters.  Because I felt for the kids.  I disliked though how charters were portrayed and how they affect those not in or working in them. Joel Klein, Michelle Rhee, Arne Duncan and other non teaching reformers portray charters, vouchers and school choice as THE answer.   Those in the know more accurately think of them as only one of many potential medicines.  They are just schools afterall.  Schools freed from some of the buckling rules regular schools are forced to weather.  Different in many ways but also treated differently.  Do they work?  Some yes, some no...and that is about as scientific a response as you can find when you Google effectiveness of charter schools.   

Until you sit, immersed in a crowded room of young people unable to get them where they need to be, you'll never really get it.  Teachers do not hold exclusive private membership to good ideas on education but most do have good common sense stemming from time in the trenches.  Lack of complete success is part of the job and forces constant professional improvement. Any given lesson on any given day can be frustrating, inspiring, frightening, demoralizing among other things.  We know this because we work with people.  What we don't need is a bunch of higher ups pounding on us and making things worse.  Their efforts to design systems that will attract and retain the best teachers most of the time make me want to pack my bags. 

The higher up you are the less you see people and the more you see data.  The more you see systems and not people.  The more you think in terms of numbers and not kids.  I'd like to believe educational leaders are well intentioned but the more I read and hear I arrive at the reality they just don't care what teachers think.  Such a frame of mind has led us to where we are.  We are led to believe schools are beyond repair and we should shudder them and start over.  The people most able to functionally affect positive change feel demoralized, ignored and are leaving the teaching profession at an alarming rate.  The time has come to guide reform from the bottom up and not top down.  Anything else will mean a continuation of policy bereft of what is most essential to success,  buy in from teachers. 

What other landscape would generate the following comment?
“I would, if I had the ability – which nobody does really – to just design a system and say, ‘ex cathedra, this is what we’re going to do,’ you would cut the number of teachers in half, but you would double the compensation of them and you would weed out all the bad ones and just have good teachers. And double the class size with a better teacher is a good deal for the students.” -Mayor Michael Bloomberg



Pistols at dawn Mr. Bloomberg?   (We haven't forgotten your Cathie Black appointment) Maybe if we both had figurative pistols(meaning teachers had any real power)  you and all the other "reformers" might listen.  I don't usually reference the UFT but when the Michael Mulgrew says "clearly the mayor has never taught," truer words were never spoken.  So I will count Bloomberg and many others among the "them" I referenced.  "They" are highly skilled at both patting us on the back with one hand and with the other saying and doing things that slap us in the face.  Until people at the top listen to educators opinions, insights and experience little will change for the better.


PS

If you know any of "them" recommend they read the TU.  Or any other frustrated educator's blog.   There are plenty out there.

Bush on NCLB- Ten Years Later

Time Magazine, January 23, 2011.  Andrew J. Rotherham gives us George W. Bush in his own words on the tenth anniversary of "No Child Left Behind."

Bush: "So I'm pleased with the progress and concerned about efforts from people in both parties to weaken it."

Rotherham: "What do you think is driving those efforts?"

Bush: "Some on the right think there is no role for the federal government in education.  Some on the left are saying it's unfair to teachers--basically, union issues.  People don't like to be held to account."

Both parts of Bush's response define a clear divide among first, left and right politics regarding education and second, the yet-to-be-labeled opposing sides in the education reform debate.

First, if we could make policy with all of our biases on the table, perhaps everyone would understand each others goals a little better.  But, I have a hard time accepting policy decisions made by those who have limiting the government role in public education as their primary goal.  What better way to pull the government out of education than to convince the American public that money spent on public education is money wasted?  If successful in this effort, any number of agendas are guaranteed (vouchers, school choice, private/public charters).  I gravitate away from conspiracy theory, but when those who wish to undo the system play a vital role in making policy for the system, bad things are likely to happen.

Second, I do like to be held accountable.  It makes me a better person.  I learned long ago that one of the best ways to avoid bad practice is through openness.  Letting others in on what's happening in the classroom.  Parents, administrators, peers, all serve to hold me accountable for what I do.  I don't like thinking that I've been doing something ineffective, but I do appreciate knowing that I've done it versus continuing to fail without ever realizing it.  This statement indicates that Bush begins with the understanding that I want to teach in the shadows, without any oversight or input into my work.  If you believe that I'm this type of person, then you probably don't respect me enough to listen to my professional opinion.

I don't think Bush or any of the corporate reformers want to be held accountable.  It's like when your zipper is down, or you've got food on your face.  I like a person with the courage to let me know so that I can avoid further embarrassment.  I suppose some people prefer to go through the evening not knowing any better.  Instead of listening to feedback (they'd prefer to call it complaining), corporate reformers prefer to demonize the source of the feedback-- teachers, who stand behind protection of their unions in order to protect themselves from having to do honest work for honest pay.

How have we devolved to this national narrative that teachers who care enough about children to spend hours of time with them for average pay are the one's who are holding our children back while profit driven reformers and corporate educational companies pushing for more testing and accountability are the great hope for our public school system?

(I recommend this great reply from John Spencer's Education Rethink to the Time article that accompanies the interview)

Basic Ideas of Education...I mean democracy

Once upon a time before NCLB, I actually taught government. Then I was told I didn't.  Just that simple(in a related twist Turner was told he did).  The details of why are lost among the recesses of my mind but I was  reassigned and not because of anything I did.  It was a result of NCLB language.   As a younger teacher it takes time to build a library of resources. Thus I relied heavily on the textbook in those days.  So maybe I didn't meet the term "highly qualified" by my degree when I started but what new teacher ever does?   I thought 6 years would have earned me that label.  I was wrong.

Cleaning out the room last summer I came across some of the materials I used teaching government once upon a time.  I recalled working hard to convey to all my senior students key ideas about our great nation.    Liberty, Freedom, Opportunity and all the other cool stuff that makes us who we are as a country.  It reminded me that I struggled with the constantly changing landscape of the politics.  Elections made it hard to keep up with the faces and names.  I learned quickly to steer the focus of my students to the bigger ideas of our democracy.

One thing I constantly stressed with my kids back then was that they mattered.  Once they turned 18, and even before, they could make a difference.  Their voice, their wallet, their time and of course their vote were all ways to make an impact.  I tried very hard to instill in them a sense of political efficacy.  Beyond that I tried to convey that there is a common set of beliefs that somehow weaves us all together as Americans.   As I examined an old notebook of mine and weighed its fate, some of the materials caught me eye.

One section I had written said:
Basic ideas of Democracy
    1. Worth of the individual(respect all people, make sacrifices for group: like taxes)
    2. Equality of all persons(does not mean all have same abilities, all should have an equal chance      and same under law)
   3. Majority rule, minority rights(usually make correct decisions, must listen to minority)
   4. Need for compromise(blending of different views, important to freely express ideas)
   5. Individual Freedom(everyone given freedoms but they must be limited, complete freedom would result in anarchy, democracy balances freedom and authority)

That pretty much sums up a great deal of what this country is about.  Oh and the fact that we are awesome...that part I left out.  As I sat my mind wandered to how I would deal with today's political climate if still teaching government.  What a challenge I thought.  Or is it?  Politics certainly enters my classroom discussion from time to time.  With 9th graders you have to tread a little lighter than with 12th graders.  I'd describe the grasp of politics for most of them as knowing just enough to be confused or dangerous.  But I sense they also share a love of our nation coupled with a growing dislike of the political tensions within the government running it.  Left or Right it doesn't seem to matter. 

These thoughts of our government segway nicely to thoughts about education.  We live in a nation that sees fit to place the important choices in the hands of those farthest from the classroom, farthest from the students, farthest from the parents and farthest from the impact of those decisions.  To paraphrase JFK "the very word secrecy in a free and open society is repugnant."  This approach has come to symbolize our country’s educational management in many ways.  Small numbers of people with a great deal of influence.  Dissent is dismissed or silenced not welcomed.  The idea of questioning things and being able to ask questions and get answer is intertwined with independence is the seed that made this nation strong. Within our many of our nations school systems that idea has been stifled and confined by a desire to control or micromanage, much to the detriment of our children, our schools, our profession and our future.   Top down decision have become the norm.   Nationally there has always been concern about ceding too much control to those at the top and the practice is reserved for extreme crisis.  Existing or manufactured that seems to have been the case in education. 

There are a handful of professional endeavors as noble as to teach the young.  That is not to say teachers are in any way better than any other member of our society.  But is an acknowledgment that they perhaps best understand how to educate. Why is it then the financing, structure, and curriculum of our schools is controlled by those who no longer work in a school?  As flawed a model as there ever  was.  

Our democracy allows for each of us to find his or her own path and pursue it as we see fit.   Pity it does not allow some of these same freedoms within our schools. I guess there's good reasons for this.  But it could be argued that schools are now operated by the ill informed who do not visit, ask or experience before making decisions. Who follow the reform of the hour with no accountability as to the result.  Who make decisions without enough concern or understanding.  Subject to be  misinformed either intentionally or out of ignorance . 

Our schools are not political capital..  They are not an intellectual laboratory.  They are not static.  They are not perfect. They are not all truly failing.  And most certain of all most people in them think they are not currently being well led from the top.   Failure here lies with anyone who does not recognize the value of allowing our schools to create their own identity, community and pursue it to best serve their own kids.  

What all that venting reveals is I have a low sense of educational efficacy.   Surely I make a difference with my kids.  But it grows increasingly more difficult to do so as well as I used to. 
Whether it be new testing, curriculum, value added, compensation practices, treatment of longtime employees, resource allocation, over-reliance on technology, a disconnected leadership structure, poor evaluation systems, promotional practices, privatization of public school funds, reform policies in general, they are woeful when compared to what could and should be done. In short it just seems a lot going on here is contrary to much of what is on the list above.

What Republicans Think About Education

Thursday night's Republican Presidential Debate included a question about education.  Candidates were given thirty seconds each to respond. (Does that say something about the value of education?)  We've included the question below, candidate responses, and a brief commentary from the Teaching Underground for each.  Enjoy.

QUESTION: I've taught in both public and private schools, and now as a substitute teacher I see administrators more focused on satisfying federal mandates, retaining funding, trying not to get sued, while the teachers are jumping through hoops trying to serve up a one-size-fits-all education for their students. What as president would you seriously do about what I consider a massive overreach of big government into the classroom? Thank you.



FORMER GOV. GARY JOHNSON, R-N.M.: I'm promising to submit a balanced budget to Congress in the year 2013. That's a 43 percent reduction in federal spending.

I am going to promise to advocate the abolishment of the federal Department of Education.

The federal Department of Education gives each state 11 cents out of every dollar that every state spends, but it comes with 16 cents worth of strings attached. So what America does not understand is that it's a negative to take federal money. Give it to 50 laboratories of innovation, the states, to improve on, and that's what we'll see:

dramatic improvement.

Abolish the Federal Department of Education?  That sounds pretty Anti-Education to many folks, but maybe not.  If Johnson is right, it's costing more than it's worth.

FORMER SEN. RICK SANTORUM, R-PA.: Yeah, 20 years ago, the federal contribution to education was 3 percent. It's now at 11 percent, and our schools are doing worse, and it's exactly what Gary Johnson just said. It's because the federal government's meddling.

The bottom-line problem with education is that the education system doesn't serve the customer of the education system. And who's the customer? The parents, because it's the parents' responsibility to educate the children.

It's been that responsibility -- from the moment they were born, they began the education of their children. And at some point, we have-- the government has convinced parents that at some point it's no longer their responsibility. And in fact, they force them, in many respects, to turn their children over to the public education system and wrest control from them and block them out of participation of that.

That has to change or education will not improve in this country.

I can't say that I totally disagree, but we have a public trust.  Sometimes parents will not live up to their responsibility and with this attitude I fear the children suffer.  How do we adjust education to make sure we're responsive to parents?  I must say, I don't think the feds can do much for us there.

FORMER SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE, NEWT GINGRICH: I think you need very profound reform of education at the state level. You need to dramatically shrink the federal Department of Education, get rid of virtually all of its regulations.

And the truth is, I believe we'd be far better off if most states adopted a program of the equivalent of Pell Grants for K-through-12, so that parents could choose where their child went to school, whether it was public, or private, or home-schooling, and parents could be involved. Florida has a virtual school program that is worth the entire country studying as an example.

I'm always a little leery of the baggage associated with vouchers and choice talk.  And technology should facilitate education, but this virtual school example sounds too much like technology as a solution to education problems.

REP. RON PAUL, R-TEXAS: If you care about your children, you'll get the federal government out of the business of educating our kids.

In 1980, when the Republican Party ran, part of the platform was to get rid of the Department of Education. By the year 2000, it was eliminated, and we fed on to it. Then (inaudible) Republicans added No Child Left Behind.

So the first thing a president should do is -- the goal should be set to get the government out completely, but don't enforce this law of No Child Left Behind. It's not going to do any good, and nobody likes it. And there's no value to it. The teachers don't like it, and the students don't like it.

But there are other things that the federal government can do, and that is give tax credits for the people who will opt out. We ought to have a right to opt out of the public system if you want.

O.k. Ron, I'm with you on decreasing federal involvement, but you lost me at "business of education."  It's not a business, and we need some form of government guarantee of access to education.

GOV. RICK PERRY, R-TEXAS: There are a lot of good ideas here on the side and whether it is cutting back on the Department of Education, making those types of reductions.

I happen to believe we ought to be promoting school choice all across this country. I think school -- the voucher system, charter schools all across this country. But there is one person on this stage that is for Obama's Race to the Top and that is Governor Romney. He said so just this last week. And I think that is an important difference between the rest of the people on this stage and one person that wants to run for the presidency.

Being in favor of the Obama Race to the Top and that is not conservative.

Tell us what you think about education Mr. Perry, not your opponents.  I'll slam Race to the Top right along with you, but you need to tell us more about what you're for than what you're against.  Once again, the voucher and choice talk can mean many things, and too often on this side of the isle it means harm to public education.

FORMER GOV. MITT ROMNEY, R-MASS.: Nice try.

Let me tell you what I think I would do.

One, education has to be held at the local and state level, not at the federal level. We need get the federal government out of education. And secondly, all the talk about we need smaller classroom size, look that's promoted by the teachers unions to hire more teachers. We looked at what drives good education in our state, what we found is the best thing for education is great teachers, hire the very best and brightest to be teachers, pay them properly, make sure that you have school choice, test your kids to see if they are meeting the standards that need to be met, and make sure that you put the parents in charge.

And as president I will stand up to the National Teachers Unions.

You're dead on about state and local control Mitt, but you've fallen for the teacher union myth.  Do you really think that a group of average income teachers paying dues to a union has more clout than the multi-million dollar multi-national corporations like Pearson and Rupert Murdoch's educational ventures.  I want a president who will encourage governors to work with Teacher's Unions (who represent the folks who deal with students day in and day out) and stand up to the corporate interests who are driving school reform today.

REP. MICHELE BACHMANN, R-MINN.: We need that to do with education what has always worked historically, and that's local control with parents. What doesn't work is what we see happen right now.

I'm a mom five biological kids. We've raised 23 foster children in our home. The reason why I got involved in politics was because of the concern I had about our foster children and the education they were getting. What I would do as president of the United States is pass the mother of all repeal bills on education. I would take the entire federal education law, repeal it. Then I would go over to the Department of Education, I'd turn off the lights, I would lock the door and I would send all the money back to the states and localities.

Maybe not a bad idea, but again, we do need a government to at least guarantee that localities and states are living up to their responsibility to educate the children of America.

HERMAN CAIN, BUSINESSMAN: A lot of good ideas, I won't repeat them.

All of the programs at the federal level where there's strings attached, cut all the strings. We have got to encourage parents to take advantage of choices, but provide those choices and we must find ways to empower the students. This is how we are going to improve education, but primarily get the federal government out of trying to educate our kids at the local level.

Sounds great to me.  I'd like to know more specifics.

FORMER GOVERNOR JON HUNTSMAN, R-UTAH : This is a key question, because it has so much to do with our nation's competitiveness. I feel like I've run my own clinical trial in my home, raising seven kids. We've seen every option. We've experienced everything out there. But as governor I learned some important things. I signed the first -- or the second voucher bill in the United States, Carson-Smith. I've actually done something about this.

We actually worked on early childhood literacy. If you can lock in the pillars of cognitive development around reading and math before age six, you are giving those kids the best gift possible as they then proceed through education.

Finally, you've got to say no to unfunded mandates coming out of Washington. They are totally unacceptable. No one loves their schools more than parents and local school boards, and local elected officials.

Again, not sure about vouchers, but kill the unfunded mandate.

There you have it folks.  The republican take on education in thirty seconds or less (per candidate).  Here's to informed decision-making and an educated electorate.

(thanks to Fox News for transcript details from the debate)

Playing The Education Game

Last year I had 132 students. I was shocked when I had to fail 128 of them after they took their final examination. Only four of my students were good enough according to the standards that I set for my class, so I had not other choice than to fail all of the rest. I hope they learn a lesson and do better this year.

Some of them are very bright, they just didn't master all of the material of the course. Some of them struggle at home and I know they don't have the best support. Most of them would surprise you. You'd never guess they were failures by talking to them. They are articulate and hardworking. I bet they could even succeed in college. Too bad they can't meet the standards of my class.

Does this frustrate you? I find it frustrating. If this scenario were true, there are only two possible interpretations. 1) I am a terrible teacher and need to be removed from the classroom; or 2) The standards and assessments are unreasonable and need to be adjusted. It is that simple. I am either expecting too much or I'm not adequately preparing my students to meet appropriate standards.

The state of Virginia recently released Annual Yearly Progress data for each of its 132 divisions. Only four divisions met AYP. Across the state last week, cities and counties watched their local news to hear about more failure from our public school systems. Politicians and educrats continue to make a mockery of the institution of public education. The only rational reaction to a figure like this (128/132) is to abolish the horrible failure that is public education or get real and admit that our metrics for measuring student, teacher, and school effectiveness are inadequate.

Responding to the media, Albemarle County Public Schools spokesperson Maury Brown said, "we don't think that the worth of a single child or teacher or school system should be measured by a standardized test." Assistant Superintendent Billy Haun said, "we know as a division where we are. I can’t help how the state has chosen to look at success.” As a division, the county achieved 91% pass rates in Reading and Math. Yet for 2010-2011, Albemarle County has failed.

We can't have it both ways, the numbers are meaningless or they're not. As long as administrators hold pass rates up to their teachers and make judgments on teacher effectiveness at the school level it's hard to defend that our divisions shouldn't face consequences from the state and federal government when pass rates don't meet expectations. Individual educators and divisions alike could benefit greatly if testing data could inform decision-making, but data has become the point of education.

Looking back in frustration and ahead with hope, the second part of the quote from Billy Haun might be the most important part of the story.  Can we help how the state (and even the federal government) has chosen to look at success?  I don't know the answer to that question, but I believe that we need to try.  Otherwise we're just spinning our tops and playing games with the students who depend on us.  If these metrics are accurate it's time to stop playing safe and abolish this public education and start all over again.  If they're not, then let's stop pretending and start acknowledging the quality work produced by principals, teachers, and students every day.

We may not believe that that the worth of a single child or teacher or school system should be measured by a standardized test, but how do we uphold that belief with action?

*quotes taken from the Charlottesville Daily Progress, 8/11/2011

Ignorance... Indeed

I sat in a doctor's office recently and overheard a couple sitting nearby in conversation(bad manners I know but you pick up this skill being a teacher). The gentleman reading the paper commented something to the effect "these kids aren't being taught anything about this nation anymore...we are in trouble." I bit my tongue and resisted the temptation to counter his claim with mountains of data that I carry with me on a notecard(not really). When he was called back I picked up the paper he was reading and found the editorial he mentioned. Walter Williams' Op Ed was an indictment of many people on many levels and I started to understand why this fella said what he did.

Liberty 101 references the NAEP(National Assessment of Educational Progress). See how you do on the 4th grade civics questions. or the 12th grade ones. How'd it go? Well from what Williams presents it might seem all the kids in this nation are dummies. But it is Williams who fails in some respect when he carefully selects information to support his points. His opinion piece borders on misinformation and he shamefully tempts the reader to the same conclusions using slight of hand. Referencing some college professor from Stanford who uses unnamed sources then tossing in some unnamed "surveys" to prove we aren't doing a good job teaching our kids. The answers are bad but they are hanging there with absolutely no context. Maybe I'm on the lookout for criticism but this can't all be chalked up to what schools aren't teaching as the gentlemen in the waiting room insinuated. Nevermind the role parents must play in educating their kids about the fundamentals of our history and government.

Williams is an accomplished and distinguished professional. When I read his work and that of other keenly intellectual people I quickly feel like Forrest Gump. But that does not mean Forrest Gump or myself are ignorant.

I disagree with the conclusions he draws here and think this lack of balanced thinking on education is way too common, and not just in opinion pieces. It is a subject where each and every person basically has an opinion and qualifies at some level as an "expert". He loses me when he writes in part "The ignorance about our country is staggering. According to one survey, only 28 percent of students could identify the Constitution as the supreme law of the land. Only 26 percent of students knew that the first 10 amendments to the Constitution are called the Bill of Rights. Fewer than one-quarter of students knew that George Washington was the first president of the United States." Sounds bad right? But is it really that bad?

Pay attention because all that bad news is not from the NAEP, it's from some survey. If you don't have a life you can check out the ACTUAL RESULTS HERE from the NAEP. I didn't need to look them up cause they are on my notecard. For those that actually understood those results I should point out that notecard thing is a joke. Those charts and graphs didn't make much sense to me other than it appears there have been minimal changes in the last 12 years. My measure of what kids know comes from time spent getting to know them in the classroom. But seems like in today's world you can't convince someone of something unless you back it up with some sort of data. Data trumps good old fashioned common sense.

So here's some anecdotal data(I really like that phrase). Earlier in my career I had the chance to teach a few honors sections and before we met the kids a group of us gathered in the summer to read some essays they wrote the previous year. They were some of the worst things I ever read! I literally thought, "wow these kids are all dense.". That year as I got to know those individuals I realized they were some of the most brilliant kids I have ever met. Harvard, MIT, Rice, UVA, William and Mary among the top notch schools from which they have since graduated. But not all went to college or hold steady high paying jobs. The numbers collected from them don't tell their whole story as people. So going back I suspect that since this thing they wrote wasn't the all-important NAEP and didn't matter to them they didn't give much effort. Interesting to note that one change I have observed over the past decade is that the tests have become what is important to these kids. Their value as individuals is measured not by what they learn or know but by what they score. Kids have a funny way of stepping up when something is important to them. I think we need to make sure to stress the right things.

Sure ignorance is out there and schools combat it every day but older generations are never satisfied with the knowledge of the next. There are things every American should know and appreciate. There are roughly 50 million kids in our schools and a lot of them know what they should. Some of those kids don't and too many schools and kids are in trouble. DC, near where Williams works, makes the news a lot but there are some 75,000 kids in DC public schools total. Assessments and ideas based on experience there might not reflect the greater whole beyond the beltway. So yes, kids are kids and often by their very nature are ignorant of things we as adults just know. But sit down and talk to them for spell before calling 76% of them ignorant.

The piece descends towards the end and concludes Barack Obama's election is evidence of the "contempt for American values, civics and history". He and the other supposed "Marxists" he brought in. The only thing missing there was the call for the birth certificate. So Williams throws stones at the brainwashing educational establishment, the President, the media, the educational elite(obviously a group I know nothing about), High-School kids...did I miss anyone? Attacks aside I'll give Williams benefit of the doubt and assume he is asking for a return to pride and appreciation for our nation and the ideas it is predicated on. I think that sentiment might also be valuable if applied towards our schools. A little pride and support aimed at our schools right now would go a long way. I do sometimes ponder how curriculum requires me to teach my kids more about how people survived in Asia, Africa and Europe than in Early America or where we actually live. But I do teach primarily Ancient World History. In no way in my efforts to destroy ignorance towards the rest of the world do I de-emphasize the importance of this great nation. Quite the contrary.

To jump this far suggests a serious lack of judgment. To learn about the world might somehow fuel fears of Williams' and others who perhaps see globalization as the end of American sovereignty and influence. If I was writing this article I might lean towards a greater focus on the economic factors influencing this and the role of multinational corporations. Easy for me to say as this has taken a dramatic toll on many in our nation as jobs and business have globalized their way over to where people are paid far less in an effort to reduce cost. Is this the fault of the schools? Too many including Williams(an economics professor) have narrowed the role of schools as a mere vehicle to train future employees and empower them with the necessary skills to operate in the world and keep our country strong. To me the highly centralized system that we are moving towards where a shrinking number of people control policy has echoes of the old Soviet system. If all we do is continue to toss out facts and figures out about how bad we are doing and how ignorant our kids are...we are in trouble.

So maybe that man in the doctor's office was actually the one who was ignorant, not the kids. He fell victim to Williams' dimly lit view of our kids, our teachers and a more balanced view of what is really going on. I see people every day who suffer from a lack of knowledge, education and awareness. We must remember we can only battle ignorance by avoiding ignorance ourselves.

The Fog of Education

According to Wikipedia the fog of war is a term used to describe the uncertainty in situation awareness experienced by participants in military operations. It describes the uncertainty regarding own capability, adversary capability, and adversary intent during an engagement, operation, or campaign. The term is ascribed to the Prussian military analyst Carl von Clausewitz, who wrote:

"The great uncertainty of all data in war is a peculiar difficulty, because all action must, to a certain extent, be planned in a mere twilight, which in addition not infrequently — like the effect of a fog or moonshine — gives to things exaggerated dimensions and unnatural appearance.".

Fog of War is also the title of an Errol Morris film based on interviews of former Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara. He emerged from the business world to lead another but very different arm of the government(see related post here or here). The film mostly deals with Vietnam and the fundamental misunderstanding of American commanders about what was really happening on the ground.

A parallel can be drawn to the current state of education from a teachers point of view. Those currently directing the course of public education from the top at the federal, state and local level are lost in the fog. They arguably possess a more omniscient point of view than teachers yet continually fail to effectively understand all that is happening in the current landscape at the classroom level. They, like McNamara are applying business concepts and ideas to the world of education. One of the chief impacts of this course might be the slow erosion of valuing of teacher/student interaction. Sacrificed as a result of the focus on testing and measurable results in an AYP world.

What's worse is these individuals lacking clear insight have either accepted or promoted misconceptions about the reality of what needs to happen in education albeit unintentionally. Some of these ideas purposefully pushed by groups and organizations that put ideology or profit ahead of the student. The tragedy of this situation is it means things could potentially grow more challenging for the educators in schools working so hard to help, parents and of course kids. The impact is teachers burn out, get demoralized and even quit. This leaves those really at risk, the kids and parents feeling under-served and the cycle worsens.

In our current economic climate many folks get engaged in the debate on the local level concerning taxes and education funding. Usually things come to a head at a public meeting where all sides speak out. The impact of increases or decreases in funding are usually less than what either side contends. But cuts adds up. The sum total is subtle changes occur that affect the quality what we do.

In focusing on these local budget issues or even on an individual school's improvement we can all get lost in the fog. It is impossible to exist in a public school and avoid the adverse effects of the push for results. We can be complicit in this when we simply "feed them what they eat" ...or talk and report in a way that we think higher-ups either want or that paint us in a favorable light. An ailment common among large bureaucracies and given the division of labor in schools no single level is fully responsible. It is easy to forget what we are actually there to do, teach and help young people develop and grow.

The only effective way to get a sense of what is really taking place is to be as close to these issues as possible. As momentum for change mounts many current efforts coming from the top will in fact will continue to devote energy and resources away from where they are needed, classroom instruction. I cannot name a current reform which to me shows promise of helping increase the time, quality or ability to interact with students. They will likely trade what matters most for what matters now.

Absent the insight of the actual events within a school the fog will simply continue to thicken obscuring the view. Mistakes will continue to be made by well meaning individuals at the top. I have heard it said of military policy that only those who have put their life on the line get to second guess the soldier in the field. I feel much the same with regards to teaching and education policy. A strong suggestion is that anyone entrusted to chart a course for policy be both familiar and in touch with those below the layer where they are unable to see.

How to Make Us All Great

Greatness is a relative term and there is a growing effort focused on making the teachers we have across this country better. But there's a simple solution. Hire more crappy teachers and voila. That will effectively increase the relative quality of those currently employed. Obviously that was a joke but so are some of the suggestions currently gaining favor.

Here's a serious one, actually pay educators for what they do. One way to do that would be to pay higher ups less. Keep the money in the schools with the people who work with kids in them, nowhere else. Don't allow yourself to be naive to the degree that you fail to recognize how influential companies are slowly leeching money away from actual instruction in schools and into management and testing. Let's use that money to do what was suggested in a bad 2008 Time Article reward teachers so that "the most competent, caring and compelling—remain in a profession known for low pay, low status and soul-crushing bureaucracy". If you use student scores and similar measures to rank us some of us are going to be bad. If you must tie this information in use it appropriately and rate, do not rank. Similarly be very careful about how you choose to reward educators. It is pretty important. Why not increase teacher pay across the board?

Great teachers know their subject, they communicate well, they inspire and connect with young people, they motivate, they understand kids and their emotional needs, they have the intangibles, they are creative, dependable, organized, work hard, are patient and resilient(My English teacher would run out of red ink on that sentence). Good luck getting all that from everyone. As some yolk the momentum for change in campaign season the finger can get pointed at teacher preparation. In other professions it seems what you did in college matters, but it seems OK to have graduated and underperformed before you got a job. Each year you work what you did and learned before you were hired matters less. Not so in education. Truth is the best preparation for teaching is actually teaching, the other stuff helps but learning about teaching and actually teaching are very different. Why does this even get pointed out as a big reason our students under-perform? Many kids I know only excel when their performance affects others, when it really maters. Teachers can be much the same. Imagine 25 faces staring back at you wondering what is about to happen when you don't know either. That would suck huh? Thus it'd be great to stop implying what you learned in college makes you a great teacher.

My favorite analogy came from Katy Farber who wrote Why Great Teachers Quit: And How We Might Stop the Exodus . She said that teaching is like treading water and then being handed more and more bricks. I feel that way almost daily. The more bricks we are handed, the less great we are. To offset the increasing demands some propose raising pay but that won't make the day any longer.

Many efforts to increase pay require that increase be tied to student performance on standardized tests(see previous post). Some are calling for experience to play a reduced role compensation or even be removed all together. Would that approach make sense for doctors, pilots, police officers, or any other job? News flash: EXPERIENCE MATTERS IN TEACHING. Tenure allows teachers to take risks and improve. To have piece of mind that they will have a job and focus on developing their craft free of the burdens of probationary supervision. Opponents of tenure argue it serves to keep bad teachers around but there are far more pros to cons.

Other ways to make us all great are to allow and protect the time teachers need for effective and meaningful collaboration. Squeezing it in the schedule here and there with a shoehorn doesn't cut it. That will allow for relevant sharing of resources and ideas along with professional development among peers so they can actually support each other. This enables them to successfully navigate the maelstrom of public education. Collaboration instead of competition.

Force everyone who wants input on educational decisions to sub in schools so they'll gain understanding on how tough this job can be when working with unmotivated or disrespectful kids.

Actually go back to where the kid was the one being held accountable. The are you working to engage johnny and what have you done to reach this kid stuff goes away when a kid acts like an idiot.

Respect the profession of teaching. Foster more autonomy and individual control, allow for advancement and leadership without leaving teaching. Excellence suffers when pressures from efficiency and output are applied to the classroom.

Simplify things. Teachers need time built into the day to settle the chaos. That would allow them to model a much calmer nature and be more understanding. Schedules need to be constructed in a way to allow this. Having full time subs would be a classic example of ways to help teachers be great with simplicity.

Recognize the limitations on digital and online learning, use it to supplement instruction, not just replace it. It has a growing and important role but has limits. Just as virtual human exchanges are useful but fall short of sitting down face to face. One of the lessons of John Henry is that technology is not always better. So much of what teachers do are those more subtle things or actions that have a formative impact of kids. Online classes should maintain similar student teacher ratios to brick and mortar learning. Kids can learn content from a book or a computer but the dynamic between a teacher and student can never be replicated virtually, period.

Keep teaching authentic not out of the box top down. Let teachers use their passion to instruct and do not extinguish that trait with minutia of pupil management.

Understand that teaching is a struggle. Every day is different and presents its own unique challenges. Support teachers accordingly.

Alleviate the student load to a level that allows more one on one attention and focus. This goes for all educators, teachers, counselors on down the list.

Just do what Jeb suggests...I mean he is obviously an education expert.
http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20110401/EDIT05/304019996/1021/EDIT No don't...the seismic shift referenced on that link will be good teachers leaving the job.

Try building teachers up instead of tearing the profession down. It is a human endeavor and the human spirit can accomplish some pretty amazing things when it is cut loose and kept healthy. Ask what they need and work to get it to them. Don't give them stuff then convince them to use it.

Whatever paths chosen locally, statewide and federally to encourage greatness among teachers they should be carefully chosen and well thought out to help us be great, or at least allow us to show that we are when allowed to be.
Just don't hand me more bricks.

Taking a Stand in Virginia and Texas

In the previous post on the Underground, my colleague referred to Superintendent John Kuhn of Texas testifying before the Texas legislature regarding teacher evaluation and "value-added" systems of measuring teacher effectiveness.  Across the nation, we are moving toward systems that measure the effectiveness of students, teachers, schools, and entire districts on the basis of standardized testing.  The push toward common core standards will only lead to more. (See here for a interesting post discussing merit pay and common core standards)

I am convinced that the American public agrees.  I am also convinced that our politicians, educational leaders and all of the media-endorsed experts agree that excessive standardized testing degrades our educational system.  I don't think these same leaders and "experts" understand just how much their ideas and policies that sound great in theory can do so much damage when put into practice.  Let me concede a few things:

1) The idea that every family in America can expect a consistent and quality curriculum for their students is a good idea.

2) The idea that a teacher should be evaluated based on how well they are able to move their student from one level to the next is a good idea.

3) The idea that teachers and schools should be held accountable for what and how they teach is a good idea.

Maybe that is a little common ground that we can all agree on that might help us move toward reducing our differences.  The differences arise in the methods proposed to make these ideas reality.  Organic systems work when they are sensitive to their environment and respond properly.  In the human body, this means the brain receives information from the body and responds accordingly.  Executive functions in a healthy system arise from quality feedback.  For whatever reason, the executive functioning of education policy acts independent of quality feedback.  Perhaps the teachers and students who raise their voices in opposition to the onslaught of standardized testing are seen as too self-serving.  But the survival and maturation of our system requires that decision-makers understand the impact of their decision.

That is why Superintendent Kuhn should be applauded.  Openly testifying to the Legislature that he has considered opting his child out of the testing process and publicly naming a company like Pearson, asserting that we have placed more trust in them than in our local teachers, is not the smartest political move.  Standing out against the grain of public education policy may cost him any hopes he may have had of holding higher position at state or national levels.  Calling out a player in the "industrial-educational" machine may limit his post-education employment options.  But, perhaps for these reasons he will also be taken seriously.

Virginia now stands on the verge of facing an increasing growth in the importance of standardized testing and the resources it will require of schools for administration and reporting.  It is not a secret that the state is on the "value-added" teacher evaluation bandwagon.  The secretary of Education, Gerard Robinson, belongs to the "Chiefs for Change" coalition supported and promoted by former Florida governor Jeb Bush. The group focuses on issues such as creating "value-added" evaluations for teachers and principals, stronger standards and testing, and expanded school choice.

Allowing for the "common sense" thinking that "value-added" is a reasonable method of teacher evaluation, we should consider the serious misgivings of the approach.  Just a few criticisms of the approach can be found on the blog of Harvard Education Publishing, at the National Academy of Sciences, and the Economic Policy Institute.  Full texts of the reports and studies can be found at the links above.

Further bringing Virginia into the realm of "value-added," Governor Bob McDonnell has implemented a pilot merit pay program in the state.  Closer examination of this program reveals that teachers working in "struggling schools" who succeed in raising achievement will be eligible for up to $5000 in additional pay.  The identification of deserving schools in this case does not seem clear to all, but even more problematic is the sublime move toward a value-added model on which to base this reward.  At least 40 percent of a teacher's performance evaluation must be tied to student academic performance. This includes improvements in standardized test scores.   As a "pilot" program, this appears innocuous enough, and framing the terms (a la Race to the Top) in such a carrot and stick fashion might cause  districts to run for the money.

Educators have two choices in situations like this. 1) Take the money and run, don't rock the boat, and accept this as the future and get on board early.  2) Take a stand, speak up for what's good for education, and refuse to play a role in implementation of bad policy.

I am encouraged to hear the news that district leaders in Fairfax and Loudon County are not likely to apply for this program.  I hope they follow through.  I also hope that the school board and administrators in my own county of Albemarle will not accept the advent of value-added as inevitable and take the opportunity to stand against it by refusing to apply for the funding.  To the public, refusal of this funding may appear confusing at first, but it provides an excellent opportunity for school leaders to communicate what responsible reform should look like.  Change is needed in American education, but reform such as this is no reform at all, it is more of the same "carrot and stick" motivation driven by standardization.

We would love to hear other opinions regarding the movement toward "value-added", merit pay, and especially this new Virginia policy even if you disagree.  Click the comment link below to add your thoughts.

Value Added is THAT teacher

I have read quite a bit recently about pay for performance plans in our schools. The Feds continue to push states to tie teacher evaluation and pay to student data. States have struggled to keep up creating suspect standardized tests. Resources continue to flow towards large testing companies like Pearson and away from local schools.

I have yet to read a more appropriate response to the Value Added Model being adopted of rating teachers. It comes from Superintendent John Kuhn of Texas who was testifying in front of Public Education Committee in the Texas House of Representatives. He was asked "teachers give students grades all the time...why shouldn't they be graded?" Below is the response he wishes he had given and it is how many of us feel and I encourage you to read up a bit more on these issues.

Representative, you make a good point. The state has adopted the role of teacher, and teachers are the students. And this is the root of the problem--you are a bad teacher, and that is why we students are getting rowdy now. That is why we are passing notes to one another saying how mean you are. We are not upset that you grade us. We are upset that your grading system is arbitrary and capricious. We are upset at the way you hang our grades on the wall for everyone to see, instead of laying our papers face down on our desks when you pass them back. We are upset because when you treat us unfairly there is no principal we can go to, to report you for being unjust. There is no one but you and us, ruler and ruled. Your assignments are so complicated and sometimes seem so pointless. You never give us a break, never a free day or a curve. And we heard you in the teacher's lounge talking about how lazy we are. You stay behind your desk, only coming out to give us work or gripe at us. You never come to our games; you didn't ask me how I did in the one-act-play.

Representative Hochberg, the problem isn't that Texas wants to grade us; the problem is that Texas is THAT teacher, the one who punishes the whole class for the misbehaviors of a few bad apples, who worries more about control than relationships, who inadvertently treats all kids as if they are the problem kids. This approach has made you the teacher all the kids dread. The one who builds fear instead of trust, who never takes late work or asks how our weekend was. You are the teacher and we are the student, and if you want us to mind, you should create a happy classroom, work with us, relate to us, build trust with us, seek our input, and ask our opinions once in awhile. Give us choices. Give us room to experiment and permission to risk new things in your classroom, permission to try and fail without disappointing you.

I again take the opportunity to remind folks it is not just me who thinks this is a bad idea. I am not an obstructionist, really. I am not afraid of being held accountable. I am just scared of how we are choosing to do it. I wish others would express this opinion more often. Arne Duncan and any other politician getting mileage out of this plan might want to rethink it when all is said and done. Myth and emotion are powerful forces in public debate and sometime truth and accuracy can take a backseat to political will and motivation. In Chicago for example the jury is still out just as it is in Texas, New York, Colorado and elsewhere. This conclusion is not unique and one shared by many. Love to hear other thoughts on such plans.

2012 or 2014?

As the Underground wraps up Spring Break I find my mind wandering and relax watching ALL of the Masters so pardon my lack of focus with this post. But I am reminded the "end" is near.

I recall just last week my classes sped through our unit on Mesoamerica before one of many looming deadlines. We watched one of my favorite videos on the Maya and it included a segment on how the cycle of creation comes to an end and the Mayan Long Count expires on December 21st, 2012. The end of days. It sparked some interesting discussion and we chose to ignore the potential Federal Government Shutdown and its impact. Most people are now familiar with the doomsday predictions for when the Mayan Calendar ends. I found it funny how both political parties are spinning out similar predictions about the effects of a shutdown. What's the connection? Great question(sorry not on the test though).

Flashback 50 years ..."First, I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth. No single space project in this period will be more impressive to mankind..." these words came from President John F. Kennedy in May of 1961. Powerful rhetoric that put the heat on everyone involved to achieve this goal. I spoke recently to man man(who asked to remain anonymous) who after staging moon landings and covering up the JFK assassination said that if we make it to 2013, we might not make it much past 2014. That's the year when the much maligned No Child Left Behind legislation demands that all children be proficient in reading in Math. "Who's the we" I asked. Did he mean schools? He mumbled something about President Obama's proposed revisions to the law and how he and Congress weren't likely to do much better and then pressed a flashy red thing on his pen(did I mention he was dressed in black?).

The 2001 NCLB Act was President George W. Bush's(erroneously referred to in all failing public schools as Bush Jr.) call to action to make our schools better. NO child would be left behind in an ambitious plan reminiscent of the days of the Space Race. Among the authors of this bill were current House Speaker John Boehner and President Kennedy's late brother Ted. The bill did something pretty amazing, it took a well intentioned effort at reform and created a federal act that messed everything up. In fact it makes many of us teachers feel analogous to the Russians during the Space Race. I'll borrow heavily here from Gerald Bracey and his "THE SEVEN DEADLY ABSURDITIES OF NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND"
critique but it went about things the wrong way. Actually many wrong ways...a mistake that continues today. So states and schools have chimed in with their own ominous prediction when most of their schools are deemed "failing" and kids allowed to transfer. While Bracey rants a bit at the end( something I do well myself), pardon him as he illustrates much of what went wrong. Imagine if Kennedy(had he not been killed by the Oswald, the mafia, CIA, Castro, Russians, man on the grassy knoll or all of the above) had punished an entire agency or dept at NASA when one engineer miscalculated something? Somehow we made it to the moon but where is NCLB and now Race to the Top taking us? Another great questions...ask again at the end of class.

As a young teacher in 2001 I paid no attention to the law. Did anyone in schools really? That changed when scores started to matter. Admitting some good has come from the law it is the unintended effects that are frightening. Will it bring the end or at least contribute to the undoing of our public schools as some predict? I am uncertain but I have grave concerns about where we continue to be driven by Federal legislation intended to improve our schools. In my view new reform ideas are even less likely to realize improvement than the old. Where they succeed is making schools focus too much on testing, demoralizing our educators and potentially undoing much of the good we have done educationally the last century. When others ask why I oppose a lot reform they overlook the reality that there are just some things teachers know and understand that others cannot.

Bracey gets this and also talked in a separate post about the "schools suck bloc" and in some small way connects the title of this post, my unfocused rantings and actual events. Schools can only do so much and in that sense they are just like my unit on Mesoamerica. Set some realistic goals, make a plan, and get going. Just don't forget about the people involved. A rocket and a kid are different...though both can go off course without warning sometimes.

I have not fared well in predicting the future but I will say one thing for certain. Kids, schools, teachers, even our federal budget all face an uphill climb at times and we don't need any scary partisan rhetoric or cumbersome legislation making the hill steeper. Is 2012, 2014 or tomorrow the end? Another great question. I have to go back to the last government shutdown and I guess that also depends on what your meaning of is, is.That's for a later post

5 Things to Make You "Smarterer" Than Us

It is hard to believe that what this post's title suggests is even possible, but just a short time ago the Underground had only a limited knowledge of what was happening everywhere across this great country. Then we started a blog. Look at us now. Frightening huh?

In an effort to foster similar growth among our "audience"(both of you) we'd like to recommend a few things worth reading(Thank you Al Gore for inventing the Internet). We will periodically begin sharing links to readings and subjects we feel would be informative or interesting.(everything our own posts are not) Enjoy!

The Answer Sheet- Valerie Strauss is my idol. It won't take long when you read her stuff to realize why.

This article from Dissent Magazine (which is pretty far left)summarizes concerns with those driving reform agendas. Whether it is Michelle Rhee, CNN's Education contributor Steve Perry, NBCs Education Nation, or a simple state mandate beware what lies behind the curtain.

"Tested"-An article that addresses some the issues with over-reliance on standardized testing .

Are Schools Necessary?-Yikes! We obviously feel they are but it helps to listen to those with different viewpoints from your own.

Harlem Children's Zone-The well documented effort in NYC and some less well known insights exploring the efforts of Geoffrey Canada(that deserve to be applauded but maybe not copied eveywhere).

These are just a start. Feel free to share others in the comments section.


In the NBC television series "Cheers", the bar was located underground...coincidence?

When Chuck Talks...Everybody listens.

As we continue our own quest for one million hits we, like the two guys in the commercial, find ourselves on Chuck Norris' radar, a bad place to be.

The difference here is we are not running. So what does Walker Texas Ranger have against public schools? Apparently a lot. In between his late night appearances pushing the total gym and commercials cashing in on his tough guy martial arts past he writes a conservative blog. Though he'd have to admit his pales in its social and cultural impact when judged against the Underground. (After all we feature an award winning writer and one who went 16 for 16 on day 2 of the NCAA tourney)

Mr. Norris recently wrote a series of three posts getting himself on board the school-bashing bandwagon and then he presented some "solutions". If you've seen his movies you know he's good at bashing. The first post titled Stalin Style Public Education begins with "I love teachers. I really do. And I'm certain that, truth be known, most are overworked and underpaid. No one is certainly getting rich from teaching kids. I applaud the hard-working teachers across this land." Such disclaimers are common and usually followed by a bunch of things teachers know are not true. Most of what comes next is a rant about the evil impact of public unions and how competition and charter schools can fix everything.

While the unions are a separate issue, Charter Schools are potentially part of improvement and many do a great job. But growing research points out they are not all they are cracked up to be and anyone who thinks they can be replicated everywhere to educate every child in our nation is a bit naive. Why students aren't getting the knowledge and skills is more complex than "schools are failing" which is at least part of it. Some schools need fixing but skillful selection of facts allows for almost any argument to appear true. This is no different. If I were not so busy in the midst of my coaching season and time allowed I would insert a careful and artfully crafted counter to each point he makes. Please go find this yourself. Its out there you just don't hear it much in the media. What concerns me more is how Mr. Norris points to what he terms the real cause for the suppression of Charters, a Stalin style organized effort to control. Stalin...Really? Good plot in a film, not so good in real life.

In the second post I learned I was an employee at a Progressive Indoctrination Camp. I've seen this one, our hero breaks the guys out of holding cells then blows up the camp. What chaps my rump here is he quotes my idol and neighbor Thomas Jefferson. Pardon me Mr. Norris but I was raised in Albemarle County within sight of Jefferson's home and his legacy belongs to me! I almost got a job at Monticello, even if it was only driving a bus from the parking lot to his house. I agree with you here if you summon the Jeffersonian idea that federal power should be limited, especially when it comes to education reform where the Feds complicated things in a well meaning effort. I almost find it funny how so many throw Jefferson up as a champion for their ideas. I am no expert in his legacy but I'm fairly certain many in Mr Jefferson's time and since would characterize many of his ideas as rather "liberal".

He chose to found a PUBLIC University after all and a darn good one. The use of his words followed by some big vocabulary that I will admit having to look up, in order to argue that schools now indoctrinate our kids with secular and "radical" ideas like tolerance and a more global approach to education went a little far right for me.  I wonder if Chuck would find the recent effort by our state's Attorney General to quiet ideas from one of UVA's professors equally as troubling? I do wish Chuck would go give our AG a figurative kick in the head, or elsewhere. I also wonder if those leaning far right are aware of Jefferson's Bible and would embrace one of the nation's greatest men so publicly on his unorthodox exploration of faith. Teaching kids is funny sometimes since they seem to care more about our political leaning than we as teachers do. When asked if I am democrat or republican I'll respond either by saying "both" or "I am an American". So what about labeling schools progressive? Schools certainly are progressive when they act as a mechanism for social change as they did under the GI Bill or during desegregation. Were those bad things? To view progressivism as contrary to conservative values and then label schools as progressivism indoctrination camps where kids are locked in and reprogrammed is a big leap, even for Chuck Norris.

If I was to pick a Jefferson quote about education I'd take it from his 1796 letter to James Madison "Above all things I hope the education of the common people will be attended to convinced that on their good sense we may rely with the most security for the preservation of the due degree of liberty". I am not sure the approach Mr. Norris supports will really help the common people or just serve as a way for those with enough means to get their money back out of the system. This post is additionally bothersome since it begins with a series of headlines that serve to further bloody the nose of public education, a tactic that no Texas Ranger I know would choose. I am all about giving our kids a strong set of values and morals but will stop short of calling for bible lessons by teachers. I will stick to teaching about it. Jefferson made efforts to try and keep his personal views on God to himself and I'll follow his lead.

The last post Indoctrination Camps Part II shares some ideas on how to make things better and like a lot of Norris sequels, it falls a bit short. To keep him from showing up at my house and punching me I will say I agree with him for the most part here. Much of what he has here sounds good. Parental involvement and increased communication help. But these thoughts show an overt distrust of our schools. I am dismayed at the lack of trust and understanding that teaching is in fact a profession. I am actually capable of navigating the delicate world of teaching others children about things like religion and evolution. I am not perfect and can only do my best. One thing I can promise is that I want what is best for the kids I teach, all of them. To claim that I or others want all kids locked into our walls so we can spin ideas into their heads...really?

"Indoctrination" is a funny concept and one worth exploring later maybe but for now let me state clearly, the schools I know do not seek to promote or discourage any views consistent with those of individuals living in an open and free society. Sure I've heard kids say some pretty outrageous things and usually only respond by reminding them about respect, tolerance and the ideas in our Constitution. This document and a nation were built upon the shoulders and ideas of great men. As maligned as these figures have becomes in recent years for their personal or other flaws(Jefferson as a case in point), they managed to create the greatest nation to ever exist on Earth. In the decades since that time we managed to create a national education system which I think while needing continuous improvement, deserves credit and consideration before being dismantled. It is one of the few things that it can be legitimately argued does indeed serve the common good.

Chuck Norris is a good guy who represents all that makes America great. Standing up for what is right, defending the helpless, and teaching countless people how to roundhouse kick, but he is a bit off base here. I am not a Stalinist. I am a teacher. My hope is that I will never have to fight Chuck Norris or anyone for that matter but if that's what it takes to get people to listen to level headed and moderate voices in education reform, then I am not running.