The Resolution

Imagine you're in the middle of a difficult task.  You've exhausted all of your options, finally found a course of action that moves you in the right direction, and someone comes into the picture with a fresh idea.  If you haven't thought of it before you might be grateful for their insight.  But too often they simply suggest something you've already tried or thought of.

It's no problem if they shrug their shoulders and move on, but, you know the type, some people will just stand over your shoulder and criticize your efforts and tell you how they would do it until you finally break and give in.  You try it their way (again, because you already did it once), they observe how difficult the task really is, and move on.  Still, sometimes they insist that you're missing something and perhaps try to get their hands in on the task in another effort.  Finally, they give up, and you start all over, unless you give up and leave them to figure out on their own what you've already figured out... before you had to start all over.

Do I need to make the connection to everyone pushing the test-based accountability movement?

So far, I see no significant mainstream political or media push-back against the building momentum of excessive testing in public education.  The push back exists, and in large numbers, but it hasn't gained enough traction to translate into policy.  Perhaps there is hope.  Texas has generated a great deal of publicity with the 300+ school districts that have passed a resolution opposing the prominent place that high-stakes testing have taken in public education.  Now, 'Time out for Testing' has created a national resolution modeled after the Texas resolution and so far over 3000 individuals have signed on and over 150 organizations.

Read the resolution and decide whether you agree with the ideas presented.  If so, add your name to the list of signatories and encourage others to join you in adding a voice to the movement to restore sanity to public education by placing standardized testing in its proper place. 

National Resolution on High Stakes Testing

A Problem of Articulation

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Saturday Night Massacre

At the close of the state legislative session changes went through that have far reaching impacts on current and future state employees.   If you didn't catch this on the Facebook/Twitter circuit, then here is the link to a letter written in response to recent changes in the VRS(Virginia Retirement System).   It was adressed to Virginia's Public School Teachers(and other state employees) and appeared on the Roanoke Times website.  VRS has been the source of many a "surplus" for more than one administration and has been a political football.  It really is frustrating though since employees end up being the ones getting kicked.  It is never about money for teachers but money matters despite what we say and do.  One would like to think all the state employees matter too.  I guess not.

Read the Story
http://m.roanoke.com/mapp/story.aspx?arcID=307816

This Blog briefly explains some of the impacts.

Be Careful Little Mouths What You Say (or don't)

Depending on the story, a Virginia teacher either removes, deletes, or outright bans the word God from the song “We Are the World” before elementary school students are allowed to perform it in concert.  All of the reports I’ve seen point to this as one more example of the public school system and its employees attempt to indoctrinate and secularize students. (It’s time for the secular social exorcism to stop) Online reports not only attack the system, but single out the teacher for reproach.  Ms. Flaherty is portrayed as intentionally removing this lyric with some type of ulterior motive of subverting the religious belief and identity of her students.

I want to offer a different possibility.  I bet that every public school teacher, k-12, who teaches science, social studies, or the arts has dealt with the tricky situation of allowing matters of faith and belief into the classroom.  Matters of faith and belief are more than just a style of clothes, taste in music, or the sports we like.  For most humans, matters of faith and belief are a part of our identity.  In a school, this is true for the students and also the teachers who teach them.  Outside, it is true of myself and most everyone I interact with daily. 

For this reason, matters of faith and belief cannot be suppressed.  Any misguided attempt by "authorities" to regulate against expressions of faith and belief will fail, and any misguided ideology that assumes faith and belief are systematically squelched is wrong.  Faith and belief walk through the doors of our schoolhouse by the droves every morning with every human body that enters.

That faith and belief are being intentionally removed from school is an inaccurate perception of the fact that any one person’s specific expressions of faith and belief are not given a special place of prominence over others.

In one year, I taught both Ancient and Modern World History.  At the beginning of each course I had to deal with parent complaints.  In ancient World History we began with pre-history and learned about the fossils of Cro-Magnon, Neanderthals, and other early humans.  To the religious parents I was a heretic, forcing kids to learn these things that don’t fit their expression of faith and belief.  In Modern World History we opened with the Reformation.  Once again, I handled parents who didn’t think it was appropriate to present Martin Luther’s view that salvation of the soul comes from the grace of God.

To one set of parents I was a secular humanist indoctrinating their children and to the other I was acting more like an evangelist than teacher.

I sympathize with Ms. Flaherty at Broadus Wood.  Full disclosure, I don’t know her personally, but we work in the same county.  She is also my daughter’s music teacher and I’ve been listening to my daughter sing and practice this song for the last three weeks, long before this story broke. 

I’m guessing she is young.  I’m also guessing that she knows how quickly people jump to the attack when they perceive you are treating their children inappropriately.  I know that she teaches at two schools, each about as far apart in the county as possible, perhaps more than a forty-five minute drive away from each other.  Holding part-time work at two different schools, she probably isn’t sure whether her job is secure for next year; if it is, she has no reason to think she will be at either of the same schools next year.

The kids need to perform for their parents.  She chose a song.  Hoping to avoid criticism and/or parent discontent she made a choice.   

It is not a religious song.  No indication in the song implies that the use of the term God means anything other than a generic, religion neutral god that would not offend the numerous performers involved in the song or the consumers and donors who might give money in response.  Several sources also critique the teacher for choosing the “We Are the World 25” version for Haiti instead of the original including the line “as God has shown us, by turning stone to bread.”

That line stuck out to me the first time that I heard the song in 1985!  As a Christian I appreciate its alteration.  It seems to reference Jesus time of temptation in the wilderness.  During a period of fasting, Satan tempted him.  “If you’re the son of God, turn these stones to bread.  You are hungry after all.”  Jesus refuses, while the allusion in the song would appear to reverse this bold resistance to temptation.

Unfortunately, the temptation to attack a teacher, for making a choice in which right or wrong depends on the particular constituent group you’re asking, was not resisted.

A secular work, not intended to praise or promote any particular faith or faith in general.  A single word, unnoticed by most until a controversy is created.  A teacher made out to be on the frontline of the public school conspiracy to indoctrinate the children of America to a godless liberal ideology.

She's just trying to help a group of children make a joyful noise.  

As for me and my house, our faith is taught in the home.  We participate multiple times a week in a community of faith to instruct and teach our children.  We send them into the world, thankful for their exposure to diversity and differing opinions that they might engage their minds, hearts, soul, and strength.  We play our role as parents and trust that our faith in God, the example we set in our lives, the prayers that we pray over our children, and the instruction they've been provided in our home and church will shine brightly in their hearts as they "work out their faith" growing into adulthood.

What Would Jefferson Do?

The absence of the word "god" from a school choir song will not diminish the presence of God in the life of my daughter any more than its addition would somehow make it stronger.

(What is the role of faith in schools? I've addressed the question from the other side of the schoolhouse door at YouthWorker Journal and Wild Frontier)