Thursday, June 21, 2012

The Superintendent's Corner - Enemies at the Gate


Below is a submission from a LYS Superintendent:

If you are keeping up with current education trends, you would know there is an insurgency against school reform on the rise.  From conservative Texas to liberal New York, the drumbeat is unmistakably clear.  For the record, I believe in public schools.  I also believe public schools can improve.  In contrast, I also believe the school reform agenda has been hijacked by political hacks and profiteers.  I do think the counter-reform drumbeat will get louder and I also think some of the accountability and its inherent dependence and focus on high stakes testing is about to unwind, thankfully.  However, before we go after school reformers Marie Antoinette style, we should take some time to reflect as we sharpen our guillotines.  

When I began teaching in the 90’s the practices of content mastery and resource classes were common and the word “inclusion” didn’t exist in education’s practicing lexicon.  At face value content mastery and resource sound like great ideas.  Children with special needs get the extra assistance they needed from specialists.  That’s not how it worked in practice, however.  General education teachers would often meet their special education children at the door before class even started.  The children would be handed an assignment and sent to resource or content mastery before the tardy bell had even rang.  Sometimes, toward the end of class, the children would return to the regular classroom and the resource assignment would be graded and miraculously the work would be a perfect 100.  Some general education teachers knew many of these children were hard to teach and avoided the task.  The special education teachers had good intentions, but some tended to focus more on self-esteem than real learning.  As a general education teacher, I hated the model and tried to keep my special needs children in my classroom.  My efforts were met by administrators telling me I had to send them whether I wanted to or not.  Amazingly, the very laws and processes (IEP’s and ARD’s) designed to help and protect these children doomed them!  By the early 2000’s I was an administrator and I witnessed first hand the “instructional” practices in resource and content mastery; the children would sit around a table, working on work a little, talking and socializing a lot.  The teacher would often be on the computer doing whatever or updating the endless amount of special education paperwork required on each child.  Toward the end of the period the teacher would give the children the answer key to the worksheets (it was almost always worksheets in those days) in order for them to check their work.  Check their work indeed.  There was really nothing to worry about, however.  The children felt good about their successes, the general education teachers had rid themselves of a problem, and since there was limited accountability in those days, particularly for special education children, administration was happy.  Those were the days of SDAA and LDAA: State Developed Alternative Assessment and Locally Developed Alternative Assessment.  LDAA was beautiful: the child could take the accountability test, the score would come back, and the IEP passing rate would be set to match the score the child earned.  An elegant, self-fulfilling prophecy of a solution. But in such manner, a generation of children were dramatically under-served.

Of course I am not saying that every special education program was ran as I described above.  Indeed there were some very good programs that served children well.  But the described practices happened often enough that it took legislation, accountability, and regulation to end the practices.  In defense of educators, it was educators who pointed out the problem and wanted it changed. Reformers we called them.  I was one of the people who detested the practices that I saw and once I was in positions to change my school's practices, I did.  So did many other educators.  This is only one example of bad educational practices that were harmful to children that was remedied by school reformers.  I would argue our model of special education is better today than it was 20 years ago.  And I don’t think it is testing that made our model better.

Educators invite accountability and reform when we stubbornly maintain practices that harm children.  Perhaps these harmful practices are not the norm, but they are not rare either. Along the way corporations have realized an opportunity to make money. A lot of money.  Pearson is a global company that is very good at doing what businesses do - making money.  The best interest of our children is not Pearson’s or any other business’ concern.  Another group of people also saw an opportunity to hijack the school reform movement: those with an anti-egalitarian, anti-public education agenda.  The problem now is all three groups sound the same.  Those wanting to truly make public education better, those who want to profiteer, and those wanting to abolish public education, all use the similar language and tools.  The tide is turning on the school reform movement, of that there can be no doubt.  But let us be careful in our application of the guillotine.  We should embrace anyone who wants to make public education better and reject all others. Our students cannot afford the return to bad educational practices.  As we excise the profiteers and abolishers we need to be careful not put the people who truly want to improve schools to the same fate.  We owe restraint and due diligence to sort the grain from the chaff.  After all, we as educators invited these enemies who now stand at our gate.

Mike Seabolt

Think. Work. Achieve.
Your turn...
  • Call Jo at (832) 477-LEAD to order your campus set of “The Fundamental 5: The Formula for Quality Instruction.” Individual copies available on Amazon.com!  http://tinyurl.com/Fundamental5
  • Call Jo at (832) 477-LEAD to order your campus set of “Look at Me: A Cautionary School Leadership Tale” Individual copies available on Amazon.com!  http://tinyurl.com/lookatmebook
  • Now at the Apple App Store: Fun 5 Plans (Fundamental 5 Lesson Plan Tool); PW Lite (Basic PowerWalks Tool); PW Pro (Mid-level PowerWalks Tool)
  • Confirmed 2012 Presentations: Channelview ISD Leadership Team Kickoff, Bushland ISD Staff Kickoff, Canadian ISD Staff Kickoff, Highland Park ISD Staff Kickoff, Sunray ISD Staff Kickoff, Region 10 ESC Fall Leadership Conference (Keynote)
  • Follow Sean Cain and LYS on www.Twitter.com/LYSNation

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

A Reader Writes... If We Could Just Keep Our "Friends" From Helping - Part 3


In response to the 4/10/2012 post, “If We Could Just Keep Our Friends From Helping – Part 1,” a LYS Assistant Superintendent writes:

Dead on reply, Sean!  Accountability is not at fault.  It is the "perverted" manner in which educators have allowed it to take over rather than utilizing it as a means to building relationships and having meaningful conversations not only with students but with fellow educators and communities. 

SC Response
Thank you. I know this comes off like a broken record, but accountability is not the enemy.  Accountability is good for all students, great for underserved students and pushes the profession forward.  The enemies are the ideologues who use accountability to further their anti-public education agenda and those in our profession cling to the belief that just showing up to is the limit of our professional duty.  As a profession, the longer we let the issue be driven by those two camps, the more marginalized we become.

Think. Work. Achieve.
Your turn...
  • Call Jo at (832) 477-LEAD to order your campus set of “The Fundamental 5: The Formula for Quality Instruction.” Individual copies available on Amazon.com!  http://tinyurl.com/Fundamental5
  • Call Jo at (832) 477-LEAD to order your campus set of “Look at Me: A Cautionary School Leadership Tale” Individual copies available on Amazon.com!  http://tinyurl.com/lookatmebook
  • Now at the Apple App Store: Fun 5 Plans (Fundamental 5 Lesson Plan Tool); PW Lite (Basic PowerWalks Tool); PW Pro (Mid-level PowerWalks Tool)
  • Confirmed 2012 Presentations: Channelview ISD Leadership Team Kickoff, Bushland ISD Staff Kickoff, Canadian ISD Staff Kickoff, Highland Park ISD Staff Kickoff, Sunray ISD Staff Kickoff, Region 10 ESC Fall Leadership Conference (Keynote)
  • Follow Sean Cain and LYS on www.Twitter.com/LYSNation

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

A Reader Writes... If We Could Just Keep Our "Friends" From Helping - Part 2


In response to the 4/10/2012 post, “If We Could Just Keep Our Friends From Helping – Part 1,” a LYS Principal writes:

SC,

I agree with all your points on this issue. I see much clearer now how accountability has changed education in a positive manner. I still have concerns about the coming accountability measures and the unknowns, but I do believe that accountability is not the criminal.   What is criminal is the people that use accountability as a club to beat us into efficiency. Or those that measure what was never measured before and then call us on the carpet for manufactured failure. I think that most educators are working as hard as they can; they just are working on the wrong things. The Fundamental 5 clarifies what to work on and how to do it better. Thanks for blazing a path for a clearer understanding of great educational practice with your book and insight.

SC Response
First, thank you for the kind words about our book and our work. Second, we are on the same page with accountability. We have both seen that it is good for students and we have both seen that in the hands of idiots it is a weapon of opportunity.

What is frustrating is that because the majority of our profession is so anti-accountability we have abdicated the issue to those who see it as a tool to dismantle public education.  The answer is not, “No Accountability.” The answer is not, “Punitive Accountability.” The answer is, “Professional Accountability.”  Professional Accountability would impact all of us, in every classroom, and drive increased opportunities for all students.  My dilemma is that I know what it look likes (I see it at LYS campuses across the country), I just can’t figure out how to get every campus there.   

Think. Work. Achieve.
Your turn...
  • Call Jo at (832) 477-LEAD to order your campus set of “The Fundamental 5: The Formula for Quality Instruction.” Individual copies available on Amazon.com!  http://tinyurl.com/Fundamental5
  • Call Jo at (832) 477-LEAD to order your campus set of “Look at Me: A Cautionary School Leadership Tale” Individual copies available on Amazon.com!  http://tinyurl.com/lookatmebook
  • Now at the Apple App Store: Fun 5 Plans (Fundamental 5 Lesson Plan Tool); PW Lite (Basic PowerWalks Tool); PW Pro (Mid-level PowerWalks Tool)
  • Confirmed 2012 Presentations: Channelview ISD Leadership Team Kickoff, Bushland ISD Staff Kickoff, Canadian ISD Staff Kickoff, Highland Park ISD Staff Kickoff, Sunray ISD Staff Kickoff, Region 10 ESC Fall Leadership Conference (Keynote)
  • Follow Sean Cain and LYS on www.Twitter.com/LYSNation

Monday, June 18, 2012

Top LYS Tweets From the Week of June 10, 2012


Here’s some good news on the bootleg technology front.  A recent survey indicates that the use of smart phones by principals and other top school district administrators is up to 30 percentage points higher than that of the general adult population.  The gap is even larger when the use of tablets (ex: I-pad) is considered.  That means that as leaders in the knowledge industry, more and more of us are taking advantage of advances in knowledge tools. Chalk one up for the supposed “lazy, stuck in the past” good guys. 

But good news notwithstanding, why this information is important is because of another trend the survey identified. It seems that school leaders who use bootleg technology are twice as likely, than school administrators who don’t use it, to allow teachers and students to also use bootleg technology on their campuses.  So what does this mean?

A. If you are a principal, or a central office administrator over multiple schools and you have not embraced your own personal use of bootleg technology, get on board now.  By not doing so, YOU are holding your staff and students back.  And for the record, education icons and admitted “old guys,” E. Don Brown and Robert “Bob” Brezina both are daily users of bootleg technology. If you are a principal, embrace your inner “Brown.”  If you are a superintendent, embrace your inner “Brezina.”

B. If you are a subordinate leader (AP, Assistant Superintendent, etc.) and your boss isn’t using bootleg technology it is time to lead up.  Show her the power of the tools.  Get her set up and support her as she learns.  You get valuable, low stress, face time with the boss.  But more importantly, you, your staff and your students may soon reap the benefits of newly inspired, forward thinking leadership.

As the above mentioned survey confirmed, a number of you in the LYS Nation are now using your own bootleg technology devices to follow Twitter.  If you haven’t done so yet, we want you to join us.  To let you see what you are missing, here are the Top 10 LYS Tweets from the week of June 10, 2012.

1. The assessment of a campus without factoring out false positives and factoring in adversity provides a skewed view of excellence.

2. Fundamental 5 is so obvious, yet so amazing! Can't wait to explore more! (By @krista_scott)

3. Dr. Rascoe: "You wanted to be a principal. You must Lead Your School. Every day.” (By @S_Snell)

4. Mr. Montelongo: "Leaders have to have direct and frank conversations with poor teachers." (By @S_Snell)

5. Dr. Seabolt: "The biggest shock to a dysfunctional school system is for administration to actually do what they say they are going to do." (By @S_Snell)

6. Superintendents and their salaries are the result of a market-driven skill set. How much will they be worth if there is a shortage? (By @DrJerryRBurkett)

7. School boards are a terrible way to run schools. Until you consider the alternatives.

8. No coincidence that Cain’s sessions are always packed at TASSP. The Fundamental 5 increases student learning! (By @blitzkrieg607)

9. Was just informed the success of Lead Your School campuses was discussed yesterday in a meeting at the White House!! Go LYS Nation!

10. Just got the news. The Fundamental 5 (Cain & Laird) was the best selling speaker book, by far, at the 2012 TASSP Summer Conference.

Think. Work. Achieve.
Your turn...

LYS is currently conducting a Principal Search.  For more information, click on the link. http://tinyurl.com/LYSSearch

  • Call Jo at (832) 477-LEAD to order your campus set of “The Fundamental 5: The Formula for Quality Instruction.” Individual copies available on Amazon.com!  http://tinyurl.com/Fundamental5
  • Call Jo at (832) 477-LEAD to order your campus set of “Look at Me: A Cautionary School Leadership Tale” Individual copies available on Amazon.com!  http://tinyurl.com/lookatmebook
  • Now at the Apple App Store: Fun 5 Plans (Fundamental 5 Lesson Plan Tool); PW Lite (Basic PowerWalks Tool); PW Pro (Mid-level PowerWalks Tool)
  • Confirmed 2012 Presentations: Channelview ISD Leadership Team Kickoff, Bushland ISD Staff Kickoff, Canadian ISD Staff Kickoff, Highland Park ISD Staff Kickoff, Sunray ISD Staff Kickoff, Region 10 ESC Fall Leadership Conference (Keynote)
  • Follow Sean Cain and LYS on www.Twitter.com/LYSNation