Blog

I want every child in this country to head back to school in the fall knowing that education is America’s priority. President Barak Obama

I don’t know about you but when I go to a doctor, an accountant, or a lawyer I want to go to the most experienced professional I can find. I want someone who has had the experiential base of knowledge that only time can provide.

But now I hear that a number of governors have decided that what education needs are the new, least experienced people in the classroom.  We already know that the least trained, least experienced classroom teachers are teaching those with the highest need ““ economically poor, minority students with disastrous results.  But now the governors of Ohio, Wisconsin and New Jersey want to get rid of tenure so that they can hire “newly minted “people coming into education.  While it is true that these young people bring certain skills like the use of technology with them, good teaching comes with years of experience.  Teachers frequently learn on the job what works and what doesn’t work in classrooms.

In this brief video, Matt Damon is quizzed by a reporter who claims that he’s a good actor because he knows he’d be fired if he did a bad job, while teachers, with job security, have no such incentive. He persuasively lambastes the reporter, arguing that the reasons people do things — especially “shitty salary” jobs like teaching (but also arts careers, which have a very low chance of succeeding) — are much more nuanced than a mere job-security-incentive “MBA” model would suggest.

It’s a very illuminating example of a clash of ideologies. Damon, after all, had no “rational” business becoming an actor, since he was almost entirely certain to fail. Now that he is a multi-millionaire, he has no “rational” reason to continue acting, because he’s assured of financial security forever. Clearly, Damon is someone whose lifelong incentives are not about “job security.” Rather, his motivations are vocational — he does this because it fulfills him.

And that’s the case with most of the teachers I know. The important thing about a vocational model of incentives is that it can be undermined by the “rational” model preached by those who accuse teachers of sloth created by their “job security.” That is, when you go around calling teachers featherbedding losers who only do the job because it’s so cushy, you scare away all those people for whom the dignity of the vocation provides the low-cost workforce upon which the educational sector depends.

https://boingboing.net/2011/08/02/matt-damon-explains-non-financial-motivations-and-the-education-sector.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+boingboing%2FiBag+%28Boing+Boing%29

I believe all teachers should see this.  Why not forward it to non-educators as well?

Franklin appeared on Eye on New Mexico on August 21. The interview has been posted on the web @ https://www.kob.com/article/stories/S2249041.shtml?cat=0

Franklin Schargel
Schargel Consulting Group
www.schargel.com
505/823-2339

Phi Delta Kappa (PDK) released its annual survey that found that more Americans today like their kids’ public schools than at any time in the past 36 years.  Although many Americans have soured on America’s schools, nearly eight in 10 give high marks to the school their oldest child attends.  Although many Americans have soured on schools in general, nearly eight in 10 give high marks to the school their oldest child attends, according to a new survey.

Nearly eight in 10 Americans “” 79% “” give an “A or B” grade to the school their oldest child attends.  That’s up from 68% in 2001, and the highest percentage of favorable ratings since PDK began asking the question in 1985. That year, 71% of parents gave their kids’ school top grades.

But since 2001, Americans have soured on schools in general: When 1,002 adults were asked June 4-13 to give a letter grade to “public schools in the nation as a whole,” only 17% gave them an A or B, down from 23% in 2001, and 27% in 1985.

This is not  unusual data.  In the past, Americans indicated that they liked what their child’s school was doing. This contradiction may indicate that Americans are noticing that the quality of schools is slipping compared to those of other nations.

An open letter to Ed Secretary Arne Duncan By Valerie Strauss
This was written by Carol Corbett Burris, the principal of South Side High School in New York.  She was named the 2010 New York State Outstanding Educator by the School Administrators Association of New York State.

Dear Mr. Duncan:

You have never been to my high school, but if you visited, you would be impressed. It is an integrated suburban public high school that meets AYP each year for all groups of children. We are on all of the top 100 lists “” U.S. News & World Report, Newsweek and The Washington Post. Over 80% of our students graduate having passed the state exam in Algebra 2/Trigonometry and over 60% graduate with AP Calculus under their belt. We do a good job by the students we serve, some of whom have difficult life circumstances. I doubt that you will ever visit “” we are not a KIPP or other charter school likely to attract your attention. I think you should know, though, something about the teachers who work with me.

As I walked into my high school the last week of school, I met Thom, arriving early to give one last extra-help session to his physics students. On the previous Saturday, Matt made the trip in to prepare his students for their math exam. He used Saturday because his colleague, Kaitlyn, was coaching some of the same kids for the Global Regents exam after school on Friday. Such generosity on the part of teachers has been part of the school culture for years.

As principal, I am so grateful for the commitment our teachers make to their students. I have seen faculty reach deep into their pockets to help out kids in need, take kids to community college to register, or sit for hours in a hospital emergency room until a parent arrives.

I am certain that you know that there are many educators across this nation who quietly and generously go above and beyond each day for their students. Some work in very difficult circumstances in schools that are overwhelmed by poverty and truly do not have the resources to serve their students well. Others, like me, are lucky enough to work in well-resourced districts with more limited numbers of students who have great need. I know that you would not want to deliberately harm the work that we do.

However, the punitive evaluation policies that New York State has adopted (and that many other states have adopted) due to the Race to the Top competition are doing just that. It is a dangerous gamble that might score political points but it will hinder what you and I and so many others want””better schools for our kids. We already know from research that reforms based on high stakes testing do not improve long-term learning.

This June, New York’s teachers and students felt the first effects of rating teachers by student test scores. Across the state we received a clear message along with our Regents exam packets “” Albany does not trust the people who educate New York’s students. We will now be “˜scored’ based on our students’ Regents exam scores, and because of these new high stakes the state education department is “˜teacher proofing’ students’ answer sheets.

Both students and teachers feel the brunt of this distrust. Here are some examples. Students can no longer use pencils on the new scantrons that must be scanned and then sent to a remote location for scoring. Only ink is allowed. If a student’s pen bleeds through the scan sheet, additional complications arise. Because they cannot erase, students need to follow elaborate procedures of circles and Xs to correct their answers if they decide to change them. The rules for corrections nearly brought one nervous student at my school to tears.

On the back of every student scantron, a teacher must now print her name if she is a rater, and then bubble in a code for each question she grades. Imagine writing your name on 300, 400, or even 500 scantrons (depending upon the number of students taking the exam). While the days when students had to write “I must not cheat” 300 times on the blackboard are gone, their teachers now have to do the equivalent so that the New York State Education Department can monitor how they score student answers. It wasted literally hours of our teachers’ time, and they felt angry and humiliated.

During the early days of No Child Left Behind, the New York State Education Department turned the Regents into high-stakes graduation tests. On exams in math and science, we were required to double grade every student paper in the range slightly above or below a 65. When a student failed the exam, I could tell a parent that many eyes had looked at it. If any doubt remained, another teacher would review the exam. The score rarely changed, but at least I could reassure a distraught parent that we were fair and accurate.

As of this spring, I can no longer give that reassurance. Principals are now forbidden to re-score a paper once a computer assigns the score. An elaborate process involving the district superintendent and the state Education Department is triggered to change a student’s score.

Apparently principals, who will also be evaluated by scores, are assumed to be “˜cheaters’ as well. Angry parents are now insisting that I send their child’s exam to Albany for review. The state Education Department says that the review will take two to three months. Can you imagine being a hopeful graduate waiting that long for a test that you failed by one point to be reviewed?

This is the legacy of the policies that were rushed into place by states to get the federal Race to the Top money. We now have testing systems based on the mistrust of schools and the professionals who work in them. It will severely damage the relationship between students and teachers even as it is destroying the relationship between the state Education Department and educators across New York state. Perhaps all these mistrustful new rules and procedures are necessary if we accept the premise that student tests should also be high stakes for educators.

We’ve started down the slippery slope and we’ll necessarily gather up these unintended consequences along the way ““ unless policymakers restore some sanity to the system.

I am in my final years of a career that I have loved and in which, I believe, I have made a difference. I certainly do not fear for my job security. I do worry for my young teachers and my students. I worry for my grandchildren. I worry, also, for our nation. As John Dewey said so long ago in his Pedagogic Creed:

“I believe that all reforms which rest simply upon the enactment of law, or the threatening of certain penalties, or upon changes in mechanical or outward arrangements, are transitory and futile.”

I hope you are not annoyed that this is an open letter, but it seemed to be the best way to get someone to read it. I took the time last month to write a detailed, four-page letter to President Obama, but I did not get even a boilerplate email in response. Funny thing: during the campaign when I regularly sent contributions I always got a thank you. Now when I get a solicitation from his re-election campaign, I make a contribution to Save our Schools (SOS) instead.

Perhaps I will see you when I march with others in Washington D.C. on July 30. My husband and I will be there, rain or shine. Because we will likely not have an opportunity to speak with you that day, let me leave you with this final thought. After a heartbreaking loss, my friend who coaches was furious with his team. After he had vented, I offered my advice. “You can’t win the game if there is anger and mistrust between you and the kids. You have to work together to build something big.” That coach got it. Right now the ball is in your court, Mr. Duncan.”

-0-

It is always interesting to see politicians, businesspeople and the media lay the blame for poor educational performance at the feet of teachers and school administrators.    While educators should face the consequences for students not reaching educational standards, so should parents.

Parents are the first teachers of their children and should maintain that responsibility as their child(ren) go through the educational system.  Parents are responsible for ensuring their children arrive on school on time, do all of their homework, study for tests, get enough sleep, each breakfast, remember their textbooks, paper, pencils and have a positive attitude toward school and learning.  That responsibility does not diminish or disappear when their child enters middle or high school.  In fact, it should probably increase.

While many parents accept that responsibility, some do not.  As an educator, I can tell you that when we had open school, there were far more parents visitors in the former category than in the latter one.

Yes, teachers and school administrators do have a responsibility to provide a meaningful educational experience, parents share in that responsibility as well.

As the population ages and more retirees look at their shrinking Social Security payments, I expect that educational spending will continue to decrease.  I believe this because seniors have the ability to vote on school budgets while they do not have the ability to vote on politicians’ salaries, prisons, highway building or most everything else on local budgets.