The Superintendent's Corner: The Anti-testing Resolution

A LYS Superintendent shares a concern:

SC,

I know you have seen the TASA resolution opposing high stakes, standardized testing.  They are conducting a big push to get as many districts as possible to join in support of the resolution before the start of school.

I would love to hear your thoughts on the resolution.  I agree that the accountability pendulum needs to swing back.  Yes, we need a fair, balanced and sensible accountability system and we do not have that now.

 Teac

My concern is are we sending the wrong message... That our students and teachers aren't capable of meeting these standards?

SC Response

I think we are occupying the same hill. 

On one side of us are the “reformers.” The reformers have an overt agenda for dismantling public education, as we know it.  Their tools: misinformation, reduction of public education spending, diverting public education revenue, and accountability systems designed to punish and pummel.  By now, it should be obvious to everyone that by their own words and deeds, that neither excellence, nor equity are the goals of the “reformers.”

Springing up on the other side of us are the “anti-reformers.” The anti-reformers too have their agenda. Key to this agenda are the following beliefs:

1. Because of inequities in society, holding schools accountable to performance is not possible.

2. Schools and teachers are already operating at near peak levels of effectiveness and efficiency.  

3. Student performance cannot be objectively measured by testing.

4. Teacher performance cannot be objectively measured by student performance.

     

Which leaves those of us in the middle, who act and lead based on the following belief set:

1. Increasing student performance increases student opportunity.

2. Our understanding of teaching and learning is constantly evolving.  And due to that evolution, we know that we are leaving student performance on the table.

3. The push to evolve practice requires training, focus, reflection and resources.  The required level of expertise required to ensure both excellence and equity in our classrooms is greater than it has ever been previously.  This expertise cannot be retained or secured with the current level of education funding.

4. Social inequities do exist, but to ignore the fact that adult practice drives student performance is to give up on the students that need education the most to change their lot.

5. Performance can be measured.  And even if we are measuring ineffectively, measuring poorly is better than not measuring.

6. If we (educators) do not hold ourselves accountable to the success of our students, we will remain blind to those that we underserve.

Which brings us to the question of joining the resolution.  I would not sign. Like you, I agree that our new system is a shambles and an embarrassing joke.  It has been poorly thought out and is overly intrusive.  On the other hand, I know that absent of an accountability system, those without a voice and/or resources are systematically undereducated and then blamed for their lack of success.  My advice is to chart your own course.  Teach at full speed and work at getting better at it each day. Don’t worry about the district next door. As one LYS Principal at a large inner-city school pointed out to me, “As we keep outscoring schools that are more affluent than we are, the more they point out that there is something wrong with the test. I guess some schools don’t want to have to work like we do.”

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)
• Upcoming 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), Advancing Improvement in Education Conference (Multiple Presentations), American Association of School Administrators Conference (Multiple Presentations)
• Follow Sean Cain and LYS on www.Twitter.com/LYSNation

Come Out and See Us in January!

As we move into the last half of January, the LYS crew will be present at a number of big events. We will have a booth at the Oklahoma Principal’s Mid-Winter Conference and I will present at three sessions. We will also have a booth at the Texas Association of School Administrators Mid-Winter Conference. We don’t present at that conference because we have planning meeting with senior administrative teams from districts across the state. If you haven’t scheduled yours yet, we are almost completely booked. Call Jo (number below) if you want to reserve a slot. If you are new to the blog and are wondering if you should make the effort to stop by the booth or sit in on a presentation, below are some audience comments from our last presentation:

• I thought the Fundamental 5 training did an excellent job of reminding us to not get caught up in all of the hoopla but rather to remember the foundations of teaching and work together in order to become better educators.
• The Fundamental 5 presentation was very informative. I liked the way effective instructional strategies were broken down into an easy to understand and common sense approach.
• Cain was very uplifting and had really interesting ideas about how to focus a lesson and get students to focus on what they are learning.
• The training was relevant to the student population that I work with. I was able to use what I learned in the presentation yesterday in my classroom today.
• I actually enjoyed it! Cain presented information that will actually be helpful in the classroom.
• I thoroughly enjoyed Cain and think his ideas should be implemented everywhere in the district!
• The speaker was very informative about good teaching practices. He was a very engaging speaker.

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/4ydqd4t
• Follow Sean Cain and LYS on www.Twitter.com/LYSNation
• Get the Fundamental 5 Lesson Plan App at the App Store – Fun 5 Plans
• Confirmed 2012 Presentations: Oklahoma Association of Elementary School Principal’s Mid-Winter Conference; Region 16 ESC Leadership Academy (Keynote Address); NASSP Conference; NASB Conference

A Quick TASA/TASB Recap

We wrapped up another great TASA/TASB Conference and once again the LYS Booth was a hub of activity. The vendors in the booth around us asked us more than once, “What exactly are you selling?” The answer, “Nothing. We’re all Texas school leaders. This conference is the chance for all of us to check in and catch up with all our friends and colleagues.” And we got to see a lot of you. I took a couple of pictures to share and a big thank you to the following groups and individuals that stopped by to just say “Hi.”

The Aldine Board, the Beeville Board, Eddie Bland, the Borger Board, Bonny Cain, Ben Carson, James Colbert, Tim Edwards, Robert Duron, the Florence Board, Karen Garza, Lloyd Graham, Richard Griffin, Les Hooper, the Huffman Board, Larry Hutto, the Hutto Board, Marion Jones, Chad Kelly, Wade Labay, the Manor Board, the Midland Board, the Mont Alto Board, Jim Nelson, the Northwest Board, Pete Pape, Andy Peters, Tommy Price, Harold Ramm, Randy Reid, the Royal Board, Elizabeth Saenz, the San Antonio Board, John Sawyer, Mike Seabolt, William Smith, Steve Snell, the Splendora Board, the Tom Bean Board, Chris Trotter, Ed Tweedie, the Vidor Board, the Vernon Board, the Waco Board, Kay Wagner, the West Board, John Wilson, Michael Zolkoski

The list is incomplete and if I missed you, just know that it is do to my sub-par, short-term memory. If you missed us, we’ll present and have a booth at the SIRC Conference latter this month and do the same at the TASA Mid-winter Conference in February.

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/4ydqd4t

Follow Sean Cain and LYS on www.Twitter.com/LYSNation

Come visit us at the LYS Booth at the TASA/TASB Fall Conference on 9/30/11 and 10/1/11

Attend the LYS presentations at the Texas School Improvement Conference on 10/26/11 and 10/27/11

Update from the Field - Texas Charter School Conference and TEPSA Webinar

The Texas Charter School Conference threw another successful conference. Highlights included:

1. Seeing some old friends from my days when I was the State Director of Innovative School Redesign.

2. The official Chef of the LYS Nation, Chef Dwayne, set up another four-star meal for a group of LYS Principals and Central Office Administrators at his restaurant, the Chart House in the Tower of the Americas. As long time readers know, I will put Chef Dwayne and his staff up against any other restaurant in the country.

3. Seeing a different teacher from John Woods Charter every time I turned around.

4. The enthusiastic audience for my presentation and the great discussion pieces that they added.

5. But the biggest surprise came from George Sanders, one of my teachers from my Harris County days. George showed up for my session, without realizing I was the presenter. We were both surprised and when he told me that he is now a principal who led an exemplary school last year, I could not have been more proud and happy.

The TEPSA webinar, my first as a presenter, went as well as I could expect considering that I am a novice. I still have to learn how to talk for 45 minutes without moving and without visual or verbal feedback. It is a strange experience. But the close to 100 attendees stayed logged in for the whole time and the questions that were sent in lead me to believe that they found the information useful and timely.

If you took the time to listen to me at either of these events, thank you. If you didn’t get the chance, in the near future we’ll be at the TASA Mid-Winter Conference, TASB Winter Law Conference, AASA National Conference and NASSP National Conference. Get out and represent your school, your district and the LYS Nation.

Think. Work. Achieve.

Your turn...

TASA/TASB Conference Summary

Another great Fall conference. As usual, the LYS booth was a hub of activity, with old friends and colleagues stopping by to catch up with and/or check up on other members of the LYS Nation. Some notable visitors included Dr. Richard Griffin, Coach Tim Edwards, Dr. Jerry Roy, Dr. Mike Laird, and Dr. Rod Paige.

We also distributed another 1000 world famous Lead Your School koozies, again running out before the conference ended. And as you can see from the picture, there was an extended meeting with roots of the three major branches of the LYS Family Tree – Brezina, Brown and Berry.

If we missed seeing you, we’ll rectify that at the TASA Mid-Winter Conference, the TASB Winter Conference, the AASA National Conference or the NASSP National Conference.

Think. Work. Achieve.

Your turn...

Come See Us at the TASA/TASB Fall Conference

All right LYS Nation, if you are attending the TASA/TASB Fall Conference in Houston, stop by the LYS Booth and say "Howdy."

I’ll be there, E. Don will be there, there’s a chance that Lesa and Dr. Jim will make an appearance. And of course, as some of the new LYSer’s have dubbed him, “The Brezina” will be holding court. As a former president of the Texas Association of School Administrators, it’s his homecoming.

We’ll be looking for you on the convention floor and we’ll have a supply of the world famous Lead Your School koozies.

Think. Work. Achieve.

A Meeting of the LYS Minds

The possibility of having a meeting of the LYS minds was mentioned recently on the blog. Since then, there has been considerable positive response. Not enough for a big conference, but definitely enough for a meet and greet with the chance to network with like-minded educators. Before I reveal what we are thinking, here are a couple of your comments on the idea.

“Sean, I would be glad to attend such a meeting. I think it is always helpful to share ideas and support each other in this tough job we do.”

“Count me in and I will bring some friends along as well!”

“My district is in for such an event. Colleagues need to meet and share how things are going. It's always nice to know that so many of the LYS Nation are working for students. That's our business and our calling.”

And,

“I would be interested even though I am not a member of the LYS Nation, although I'd love to be! I am a first year AP who follows your blog thanks to the suggestion of my former principal.”

For those of you who don’t know, as an entity, LYS is a huge supporter of our professional organizations, such as NAESP, NASSP, AASA, ASCD and all of their state affiliates. E. Don Brown is a former president of both the Texas Association of Secondary School Principals and the National Association of Secondary School Principals. Bob Brezina is a former president of the Texas Association of School Administrators and is the current President of the United States Academic Decathlon. So we think it is only natural to invite the LYS Nation to visit us at our booth at the NASSP Conference in Phoenix on March 11 - 14. But we also plan to host an informal LYS reception in Austin, Texas during the TASSP and TEPSA conferences this summer. I’ll post more details as we firm up the plan. The LYS Nation has spoken so we will make this happen.

As for the reader who is concerned that he or she is not a member of the LYS Nation, I propose the following citizenship test.

1. You read the blog on a regular basis.

2. You agree with at least 25% of what we discuss.

3. You disagree with at least 10% of what we discuss.

4. You recognize that as a profession, an organization, a classroom and as an individual, we are no where near meeting our potential and have a passion to chase that potential down.

Think. Work. Achieve.

Your turn...

TASA Mid-Winter Conference Wrap-up

The TASA Mid-Winter conference was the largest ever, with over 6000 attendees. It was great to touch base with our old friends and colleagues. It was funny, because a neighboring vendor came up to me and asked, "What are you all selling?"

The question confused me and I asked him what he meant. He replied, "There are more people stopping and staying at your booth than any other booth at the conference."

I laughed and said, "We're not selling anything. That is just people coming by to check in and catch up with Brezina and Brown."

So here are a couple of pictures. What you are seeing in the first three pictures are Brezina and Brown tackling a time sensitive problem for a superintendent

The last picture is just two old friends who used to be neighboring high school principals. Our roots run deep.

Think. Work. Achieve.

Live from the Mid-Winter Conference

Brezina, Brown and I are all at the Texas Association of School Administrators Mid-Winter Conference. We have a Lead Your School booth in the exhibit hall. If you are attending the conference or just happen to be close to Austin, stop by and visit. It will give us a chance to say “Hi,” and give you a chance to pick up a world famous Lead Your School koozie.

Think. Work. Achieve.

Your turn...