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I just finished Problem Solving 101, by Ken Watanabe. Written as a textbook for Japanese school children, it's a great little book that explains problem solving in very concrete terms. The book is practical and useful. Put this one on your reading list.
Think. Work. Achieve.
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Friday, March 20, 2009
Improving America's Schools - Letter 1, Part 3 (Professional Pay)
The following post is based on thoughts related to:
Letters to the editor that the NY Times has recently received concerning public schools. The link is: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/17/opinion/l17educ.html?emc=eta1
Jacqueline Ancess writes, “In education, research on performance pay shows no substantive gains in student achievement, and all Mr. Obama’s policy will do is reinforce the ill-conceived notion that low-level standardized tests are a valid measure of student achievement. Instead, pay teachers a salary that signals teaching as a profession.”
The above comment has three areas that I want to address, performance pay, measuring student achievement, and professional pay. I discussed performance pay and measuring student achievement in my previous posts. Now I will discuss professional pay.
Ms. Ancess does not believe that teachers are paid as professionals. I have to disagree. Teachers are paid as professionals. Starting salaries are competitive with the starting salaries of a number of professions in both the public and private sector. Obviously, things begin to change after the first couple of years, or do they? Teachers have traded income for security and fringe benefits. Even with districts laying off staff all over the country, right now teachers are at less risk of losing their job than people in other professions. Teacher retirement packages (we still have one) are safer than other professions. And teachers are generally less accountable for their personal performance than other professionals. The removal of these risks has a cost. As for fringe benefits, teachers enjoy more time off, more generous sick leave policies and fewer working hours than most professionals. These too have a cost.
So when you look at the total compensation package, teachers are not as bad off as we are lead to believe. You won’t get rich teaching, but were any of us called to this profession for the pay?
T.W.A – Your turn…
Letters to the editor that the NY Times has recently received concerning public schools. The link is: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/17/opinion/l17educ.html?emc=eta1
Jacqueline Ancess writes, “In education, research on performance pay shows no substantive gains in student achievement, and all Mr. Obama’s policy will do is reinforce the ill-conceived notion that low-level standardized tests are a valid measure of student achievement. Instead, pay teachers a salary that signals teaching as a profession.”
The above comment has three areas that I want to address, performance pay, measuring student achievement, and professional pay. I discussed performance pay and measuring student achievement in my previous posts. Now I will discuss professional pay.
Ms. Ancess does not believe that teachers are paid as professionals. I have to disagree. Teachers are paid as professionals. Starting salaries are competitive with the starting salaries of a number of professions in both the public and private sector. Obviously, things begin to change after the first couple of years, or do they? Teachers have traded income for security and fringe benefits. Even with districts laying off staff all over the country, right now teachers are at less risk of losing their job than people in other professions. Teacher retirement packages (we still have one) are safer than other professions. And teachers are generally less accountable for their personal performance than other professionals. The removal of these risks has a cost. As for fringe benefits, teachers enjoy more time off, more generous sick leave policies and fewer working hours than most professionals. These too have a cost.
So when you look at the total compensation package, teachers are not as bad off as we are lead to believe. You won’t get rich teaching, but were any of us called to this profession for the pay?
T.W.A – Your turn…
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Improving America's Schools - Letter 1, Part 2 (Measuring Student Achievement)
The following post is based on thoughts related to:
Letters to the Editor that the NY Times has recently received concerning public schools. The link is: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/17/opinion/l17educ.html?emc=eta1
Jacqueline Ancess writes, “In education, research on performance pay shows no substantive gains in student achievement, and all Mr. Obama’s policy will do is reinforce the ill-conceived notion that low-level standardized tests are a valid measure of student achievement. Instead, pay teachers a salary that signals teaching as a profession.”
The above comment has three areas that I want to address, performance pay, measuring student achievement, and professional pay. I discussed performance pay in my previous post. Now I will discuss measuring student achievement.
Ms. Ancess does not believe in using standardized tests to measure student achievement. I do, but there are some caveats that must be in place. First, there must be some advanced understanding on what concepts will be tested and at what level of rigor. Without that, the test is a crapshoot. Teachers are left hoping that what they covered is what is being tested. Teachers and students should not be assessed based on how lucky they are.
Second, rankings can not be based on just raw test scores. Data must be disaggregated and comparisons that are made must be based on similar peer groups. Otherwise, the AP calculus teacher at a high SES suburban school gets a free ride and the 9th grade pre-algebra teacher at the low SES urban school will always look inept.
Finally, there should be a value added component. The goal should be to move each student forward. Again, the teacher at the high SES school must be as accountable to demonstrating growth as the teacher at the low SES school.
When these caveats are in place, standardized tests can and should be used to measure student performance. It is good for students, especially poor and minority students, and it is good for the profession.
T.W.A. - Your turn...
Letters to the Editor that the NY Times has recently received concerning public schools. The link is: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/17/opinion/l17educ.html?emc=eta1
Jacqueline Ancess writes, “In education, research on performance pay shows no substantive gains in student achievement, and all Mr. Obama’s policy will do is reinforce the ill-conceived notion that low-level standardized tests are a valid measure of student achievement. Instead, pay teachers a salary that signals teaching as a profession.”
The above comment has three areas that I want to address, performance pay, measuring student achievement, and professional pay. I discussed performance pay in my previous post. Now I will discuss measuring student achievement.
Ms. Ancess does not believe in using standardized tests to measure student achievement. I do, but there are some caveats that must be in place. First, there must be some advanced understanding on what concepts will be tested and at what level of rigor. Without that, the test is a crapshoot. Teachers are left hoping that what they covered is what is being tested. Teachers and students should not be assessed based on how lucky they are.
Second, rankings can not be based on just raw test scores. Data must be disaggregated and comparisons that are made must be based on similar peer groups. Otherwise, the AP calculus teacher at a high SES suburban school gets a free ride and the 9th grade pre-algebra teacher at the low SES urban school will always look inept.
Finally, there should be a value added component. The goal should be to move each student forward. Again, the teacher at the high SES school must be as accountable to demonstrating growth as the teacher at the low SES school.
When these caveats are in place, standardized tests can and should be used to measure student performance. It is good for students, especially poor and minority students, and it is good for the profession.
T.W.A. - Your turn...
Improving America's Schools - Letter 1, Part 1 (Performance Pay)
The following post is based on thoughts related to:
Letters to the Editor that the NY Times has recently received concerning public schools. The link is: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/17/opinion/l17educ.html?emc=eta1
Jacqueline Ancess writes, “In education, research on performance pay shows no substantive gains in student achievement, and all Mr. Obama’s policy will do is reinforce the ill-conceived notion that low-level standardized tests are a valid measure of student achievement. Instead, pay teachers a salary that signals teaching as a profession.”
The above comment has three areas that I want to address, performance pay, measuring student achievement, and professional pay. First, I will discuss performance pay.
When I was a teacher and young administrator I was a proponent and vocal advocate for individual performance pay for teachers. I believed that if my students outperformed your students that I should be paid more. Especially since as a rookie, and the lowest paid teacher on the campus, my students were some of the highest performers on the campus. Then the district I was working for at the time created a pilot program where campuses could create their own incentive programs and my campus choose to participate. We created a very objective and complicated system that rewarded teachers for individualized performance. The program was a smashing success and a dismal failure. It was a success for me personally, because as a big fish in a small pond, I gobbled up most of the incentive pay. It was a failure for the system because overall, campus performance did not change. And here is the reason why, individualized incentive plans create a disincentive to assist your peers. The bigger the financial prize for the individual, the bigger the disincentive to assist the group. So on the whole, I can not disagree with the research that Ms. Ancess references.
Unless…
Performance programs will move the needle on student performance when they are team based. That means that in order to earn the reward, the entire team has to be successful. When this occurs both individual and organizational goals align. If I want to earn the incentive then I have to help and support my peers. To do anything less jeopardizes my potential income. This is the same concept as playoff money in professional sports. Individual salaries may differ, but if the team makes the playoffs everyone gets an equal share of the reward.
My closing comment on performance plans is to point out that incentive plans are not a replacement for leadership. A campus with no plan and great leadership will outperform a campus with a great plan and poor leadership every time.
In my next posts I will discuss measuring student achievement and professional pay.
T.W.A. – Your turn…
Letters to the Editor that the NY Times has recently received concerning public schools. The link is: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/17/opinion/l17educ.html?emc=eta1
Jacqueline Ancess writes, “In education, research on performance pay shows no substantive gains in student achievement, and all Mr. Obama’s policy will do is reinforce the ill-conceived notion that low-level standardized tests are a valid measure of student achievement. Instead, pay teachers a salary that signals teaching as a profession.”
The above comment has three areas that I want to address, performance pay, measuring student achievement, and professional pay. First, I will discuss performance pay.
When I was a teacher and young administrator I was a proponent and vocal advocate for individual performance pay for teachers. I believed that if my students outperformed your students that I should be paid more. Especially since as a rookie, and the lowest paid teacher on the campus, my students were some of the highest performers on the campus. Then the district I was working for at the time created a pilot program where campuses could create their own incentive programs and my campus choose to participate. We created a very objective and complicated system that rewarded teachers for individualized performance. The program was a smashing success and a dismal failure. It was a success for me personally, because as a big fish in a small pond, I gobbled up most of the incentive pay. It was a failure for the system because overall, campus performance did not change. And here is the reason why, individualized incentive plans create a disincentive to assist your peers. The bigger the financial prize for the individual, the bigger the disincentive to assist the group. So on the whole, I can not disagree with the research that Ms. Ancess references.
Unless…
Performance programs will move the needle on student performance when they are team based. That means that in order to earn the reward, the entire team has to be successful. When this occurs both individual and organizational goals align. If I want to earn the incentive then I have to help and support my peers. To do anything less jeopardizes my potential income. This is the same concept as playoff money in professional sports. Individual salaries may differ, but if the team makes the playoffs everyone gets an equal share of the reward.
My closing comment on performance plans is to point out that incentive plans are not a replacement for leadership. A campus with no plan and great leadership will outperform a campus with a great plan and poor leadership every time.
In my next posts I will discuss measuring student achievement and professional pay.
T.W.A. – Your turn…
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
House Calls
Should teachers make house calls? Absolutely!
When I first meet a school leader (teacher leader, AP or principal) in a social setting and they find out what I do, a common question (whispered quietly) is “what can I do to address the needs of the (insert the smallest represented demographic group) students on my campus?”
My first answer is, “you and the staff need to make regular home visits.” The person looks at me and makes some excuse about why that’s not feasible or necessary and asks for another idea.
My second answer is, “you and the staff need to make weekly phone calls to the parent.” Again, more excuses. To which I respond, “You asked what you can do, but you’re right, your situation is probably different.”
But the situation at that school isn’t different. The key to meeting the needs of your academically fragile student populations is to first change adult behaviors. And not the behaviors of their parents, but the behaviors of school personnel. We have to reach out to build relationships and change the status quo. If we’re not willing to do that, are we really serious?
I’ll finish with this example: My first teaching job, I was a 22 year old white teacher at a predominantly African American campus, with some students that were 19 and 20 years old. In the first week, my mentor teacher came to my room and said, “Starting this afternoon, we’re making home visits.”
I asked why and she said, “Because if you don’t reach out to these parents, the kids are going to eat you alive and the parents will dismiss you as a racist.”
So we started making visits, just knocking on the door, introducing ourselves and sitting down and talking to the parents of my students for 10 to 20 minutes over a Coke. I told them who I was (one of their child’s teachers), what I taught (math), what I expected (their child to come to class and work hard everyday) and what I wanted (their child to graduate).
The results from the visits were almost instantaneous. After I visited a home, the student started working harder and started to behave better. When there was an issue and I called home, the parent was responsive and worked with me. With the parents I hadn’t visited, the students were a little more lackadaisical, behaved a little worse and when I called the parent to report an issue, the response was less than enthusiastic. And whenever the defensive “racist” label was thrown out, it was always from a parent whose home I had not yet visited.
Looking back at my days in the classroom, the home visit was the most powerful and best thing I did as a teacher.
Thank you Ms. Campbell.
T.W.A. - Your turn…
When I first meet a school leader (teacher leader, AP or principal) in a social setting and they find out what I do, a common question (whispered quietly) is “what can I do to address the needs of the (insert the smallest represented demographic group) students on my campus?”
My first answer is, “you and the staff need to make regular home visits.” The person looks at me and makes some excuse about why that’s not feasible or necessary and asks for another idea.
My second answer is, “you and the staff need to make weekly phone calls to the parent.” Again, more excuses. To which I respond, “You asked what you can do, but you’re right, your situation is probably different.”
But the situation at that school isn’t different. The key to meeting the needs of your academically fragile student populations is to first change adult behaviors. And not the behaviors of their parents, but the behaviors of school personnel. We have to reach out to build relationships and change the status quo. If we’re not willing to do that, are we really serious?
I’ll finish with this example: My first teaching job, I was a 22 year old white teacher at a predominantly African American campus, with some students that were 19 and 20 years old. In the first week, my mentor teacher came to my room and said, “Starting this afternoon, we’re making home visits.”
I asked why and she said, “Because if you don’t reach out to these parents, the kids are going to eat you alive and the parents will dismiss you as a racist.”
So we started making visits, just knocking on the door, introducing ourselves and sitting down and talking to the parents of my students for 10 to 20 minutes over a Coke. I told them who I was (one of their child’s teachers), what I taught (math), what I expected (their child to come to class and work hard everyday) and what I wanted (their child to graduate).
The results from the visits were almost instantaneous. After I visited a home, the student started working harder and started to behave better. When there was an issue and I called home, the parent was responsive and worked with me. With the parents I hadn’t visited, the students were a little more lackadaisical, behaved a little worse and when I called the parent to report an issue, the response was less than enthusiastic. And whenever the defensive “racist” label was thrown out, it was always from a parent whose home I had not yet visited.
Looking back at my days in the classroom, the home visit was the most powerful and best thing I did as a teacher.
Thank you Ms. Campbell.
T.W.A. - Your turn…
Staff Presentations - Autopsy of a Failure
Recently, I was working with some assistant principals who are in a Principal Development Program. Specifically, they were presenting staff development modules that they would use on their campuses when the need presented itself. The presentation that was the most valuable was the one that was a complete failure. The failure presented an excellent teachable moment and this is the synopsis of the subsequent discussion:
1) Have a point. Know your main idea, and stay focused on that topic.
a. This presentation had four major components. Each which could have comprised a stand alone presentation.
2) Stay within the time constraints.
a. The time frame was 20 to 30 minutes. This presentation had enough material to fill a couple of hours.
3) A PowerPoint slide represents 5 to 10 minutes of discussion.
a. Don’t talk faster, either break the presentation into smaller chunks or edit. I recommend that you edit.
4) One embedded video is ok, 3 back to back to back is not.
5) When the computer freezes (and someday it will), know your material well enough to go on anyway, or end the presentation with an apology.
The AP was of course embarrassed that everything that could go wrong, did. But I told him, and I honestly believe, that this failure was a good thing. First, it was a safe room. Second, to learn to quickly adapt to adversity requires that you deal with some adversity. Third, better this happen now, instead of in front of 100 staff or the Board and Superintendent.
Does anyone out there have any failure lessons they want to share?
T.W.A. - Your turn…
1) Have a point. Know your main idea, and stay focused on that topic.
a. This presentation had four major components. Each which could have comprised a stand alone presentation.
2) Stay within the time constraints.
a. The time frame was 20 to 30 minutes. This presentation had enough material to fill a couple of hours.
3) A PowerPoint slide represents 5 to 10 minutes of discussion.
a. Don’t talk faster, either break the presentation into smaller chunks or edit. I recommend that you edit.
4) One embedded video is ok, 3 back to back to back is not.
5) When the computer freezes (and someday it will), know your material well enough to go on anyway, or end the presentation with an apology.
The AP was of course embarrassed that everything that could go wrong, did. But I told him, and I honestly believe, that this failure was a good thing. First, it was a safe room. Second, to learn to quickly adapt to adversity requires that you deal with some adversity. Third, better this happen now, instead of in front of 100 staff or the Board and Superintendent.
Does anyone out there have any failure lessons they want to share?
T.W.A. - Your turn…
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Dealing With Tragedy
I recently was scheduled to be on a campus first thing in the morning and as I was on the way I got a call. The call was to see if I could come later in the day; the school was dealing with a tragedy.
Of course, I said yes and offered assistance.
The facts were that a very young student had passed away due to a car accident. It was horrible and sad. The only reason why I bring this up is that in the face of this, the students and staff were dealing with it. There was grief, crying and discussions; but there was also real human teaching and learning going on. Life hurts, but we still have to live.
For all the second guessing that schools, teachers and administrators face everyday, I can promise you that the second guessers weren’t there that day.
I did show up later that afternoon. But mostly to hold some hands and give some hugs. It wasn’t much. But it was all I could do.
Here’s hoping that you never have to deal with this at your school, but if you do, you’ll do the right thing.
Your turn…
Of course, I said yes and offered assistance.
The facts were that a very young student had passed away due to a car accident. It was horrible and sad. The only reason why I bring this up is that in the face of this, the students and staff were dealing with it. There was grief, crying and discussions; but there was also real human teaching and learning going on. Life hurts, but we still have to live.
For all the second guessing that schools, teachers and administrators face everyday, I can promise you that the second guessers weren’t there that day.
I did show up later that afternoon. But mostly to hold some hands and give some hugs. It wasn’t much. But it was all I could do.
Here’s hoping that you never have to deal with this at your school, but if you do, you’ll do the right thing.
Your turn…
Get Stuff For Free
I just read, How to Get Free Classroom Supplies: Educators share tips for stocking up - without reaching into their own wallets. By Tamar Snyder.
http://www.edutopia.org/free-school-supplies-fundraising-donation
It’s a quick and timely read. As budgets get tighter, classroom supplies always get squeezed. This article reminds us that showing a little initiative can go a long way in solving the little problems that slow us down.
There were a couple of interesting factoids in the article. One of the example teachers who is well know for his students performance on AP tests, points out his need to copying access due to the considerable amount of formative assessment that he does in his classroom.
The article also provides a number of links to organizations that help supply classrooms.
At the very least, you may want to send the article to some of your more motivated teachers.
T.W.A. – Your turn…
http://www.edutopia.org/free-school-supplies-fundraising-donation
It’s a quick and timely read. As budgets get tighter, classroom supplies always get squeezed. This article reminds us that showing a little initiative can go a long way in solving the little problems that slow us down.
There were a couple of interesting factoids in the article. One of the example teachers who is well know for his students performance on AP tests, points out his need to copying access due to the considerable amount of formative assessment that he does in his classroom.
The article also provides a number of links to organizations that help supply classrooms.
At the very least, you may want to send the article to some of your more motivated teachers.
T.W.A. – Your turn…
Monday, March 16, 2009
Recommended Book - "Outliers"
As I was flying to Utah today, I finished “Outliers” by Malcolm Gladwell. An excellent read, as are his two previous books. This time he is examining the ultra-exceptional. I’ll have some posts in the near future concerning some of his more interesting points. Put this book on your must read list!
T.W.A – Your turn…
T.W.A – Your turn…
Final Exams - Make a Good One
So what would make a good final exam? I suggest going in one of two directions. Option one is the essay version. For essays, I recommend a test that consists of one to three short essay questions based on the major themes of the course. But here’s the catch, give the students the grading rubric and the essay questions prior to the testing date. That way they have time to organize their thoughts and create a product that best reflects the depth of their understanding of the course material.
Option two is the multiple choice test. But here I recommend that the test questions come from the items that were missed by the most students on the short-term, common assessments. That way it is possible to determine if the critical areas of the content that needed to be re-taught, were or not.
This series of posts reflects my general thoughts on final exams. What did I miss?
Your turn…
Option two is the multiple choice test. But here I recommend that the test questions come from the items that were missed by the most students on the short-term, common assessments. That way it is possible to determine if the critical areas of the content that needed to be re-taught, were or not.
This series of posts reflects my general thoughts on final exams. What did I miss?
Your turn…
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