Friday, May 13, 2011
Blogger Crash, or Consipiracy
Perhaps it was merely conincidence that recent issues with Blogger caused the removal of all recent blog posts and converting blogs to "read-only" status for the last two days. We here at the Underground aren't too sure. It could be that the content of our most recent post "Educational McCarthyism" rocked the boat just a bit too much. No need to worry, we're on the case and if you're looking for the post on "Educational McCarthyism" we hope to repost before the day is done.
Monday, May 9, 2011
Why You Should Care
Bad things are happening in Virginia. As a public institution, our schools are part of a system "for, by, and of" the people. Increasingly, the public has allowed too much distance between themselves and the decision-making that drives policy in our schools. I can't help but feel that political and educational leaders are fine with this. It makes the hard work of having to justify and take responsibilities for making decisions a little easier.
The Virginia State Board of Education recently announced a Pilot Program that was conceived as a plan to earn Federal "Race To The Top" incentive money. The state did not receive the grant, but they've moved ahead with the plan. The plan is easily framed in language such as "performance pay" and "measured by student growth" which sound perfectly sound on the surface. Launching this program as a voluntary pilot also minimized potential backlash, so much so that the real news seems to have been lost.
According to the Virginia Department of Education, the essential elements of this Pilot Program have already been approved for statewide use. Districts are encouraged to adopt them early, but the new Guidelines for Uniform Performance Standards and Evaluation Criteria for Teachers will take effect for the entire state by July 1, 2012. I suppose that since they've adopted the guidelines already, there is no need to evaluate the efficacy of the pilot to determine the guidelines' worth.
Essentially, I see no genuine public discourse of the merit to this system and similar systems across the nation. It is easy to promote such a plan in today's political climate. Teachers have become a target, a scapegoat even for society. A plan that supposedly rewards the good teachers sounds great. The idea that you earn more pay based on better performance is quite an American ideal. To measure performance on how much a student improves over the course of a year instead of a final absolute score sounds pretty fair as well. This is why the public discourse is needed. As good as this plan sounds, it is terrible. We need more public awareness of this plan because I for one would appreciate a better explanation from our leaders about why this plan is good. I would also like for the public to be more aware of the pitfalls of this plan so that leaders would have to address their critics and constituents.
I encourage you to read our previous post "Taking A Stand in Virginia and Texas" if you haven't yet. But don't think that we at the Underground are a couple of lone nuts speaking out agains the system. Mary Tedrow wrote a piece for the Washington Post "Answer Sheet" blog today specifically addressing problems with the Virginia system. She articulates the issues much better than we are able, so we strongly encourage you to read "Virginia's Ill Advised Assessment Experiment." Also on today's Answer Sheet you can find an article by John Ewing, president of Math for America, explaining the pitfalls of Value Added Measures. The article "Leading Mathematician Debunks 'value-added'"is a little longer, but if you're interested in a more academic discussion of the problems with the metrics used for 'value-added' it is worth the read. Both articles do an excellent job of moving beyond the effect on teachers and describe the negative effect on students and learning arising from this movement.
The Virginia State Board of Education recently announced a Pilot Program that was conceived as a plan to earn Federal "Race To The Top" incentive money. The state did not receive the grant, but they've moved ahead with the plan. The plan is easily framed in language such as "performance pay" and "measured by student growth" which sound perfectly sound on the surface. Launching this program as a voluntary pilot also minimized potential backlash, so much so that the real news seems to have been lost.
According to the Virginia Department of Education, the essential elements of this Pilot Program have already been approved for statewide use. Districts are encouraged to adopt them early, but the new Guidelines for Uniform Performance Standards and Evaluation Criteria for Teachers will take effect for the entire state by July 1, 2012. I suppose that since they've adopted the guidelines already, there is no need to evaluate the efficacy of the pilot to determine the guidelines' worth.
Essentially, I see no genuine public discourse of the merit to this system and similar systems across the nation. It is easy to promote such a plan in today's political climate. Teachers have become a target, a scapegoat even for society. A plan that supposedly rewards the good teachers sounds great. The idea that you earn more pay based on better performance is quite an American ideal. To measure performance on how much a student improves over the course of a year instead of a final absolute score sounds pretty fair as well. This is why the public discourse is needed. As good as this plan sounds, it is terrible. We need more public awareness of this plan because I for one would appreciate a better explanation from our leaders about why this plan is good. I would also like for the public to be more aware of the pitfalls of this plan so that leaders would have to address their critics and constituents.
I encourage you to read our previous post "Taking A Stand in Virginia and Texas" if you haven't yet. But don't think that we at the Underground are a couple of lone nuts speaking out agains the system. Mary Tedrow wrote a piece for the Washington Post "Answer Sheet" blog today specifically addressing problems with the Virginia system. She articulates the issues much better than we are able, so we strongly encourage you to read "Virginia's Ill Advised Assessment Experiment." Also on today's Answer Sheet you can find an article by John Ewing, president of Math for America, explaining the pitfalls of Value Added Measures. The article "Leading Mathematician Debunks 'value-added'"is a little longer, but if you're interested in a more academic discussion of the problems with the metrics used for 'value-added' it is worth the read. Both articles do an excellent job of moving beyond the effect on teachers and describe the negative effect on students and learning arising from this movement.
Thursday, May 5, 2011
A Little Appreciation and Dave Eggers on Education
We appreciate all of our followers, whether in Arizona, Michigan, or Florida, but we especially appreciate our colleagues who take the time to read our posts and comment face-to-face. One such colleague (we're not sure if he wants his name used or not, but if you're local, there aren't but so many bike-riding, tie-wearing, Latin teachers in the county) recently shared an article from the New York Times that we liked so much we wanted to share it here. I've included an excerpt below, click the title to read the entire article.
When we don’t get the results we want in our military endeavors, we don’t blame the soldiers. And yet in education we do just that. We have a rare chance now, with many teachers near retirement, to prove we’re serious about education. The first step is to make the teaching profession more attractive to college graduates. This will take some doing.
Monday, May 2, 2011
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 draw
n 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.
"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 draw
n 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.
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