Of Course You Will Vote, So Who Will You Vote For?

Tuesday, May 29, 2012 in the primary election in Texas (my home state). The primary elections are more important than most voters realize because few people vote in them and they set the ballot in the general election.  One reason why the candidates seemingly become more extreme every year is that the only voters who get fired up to vote in the primaries are extremists and old people. If this is ever going to change, the reasonable, young and middle-aged people have to get to the polls.  I’ll admit that up to this point, my primary election participation leaves much to be desired. But as I get older (uh-oh) this will no longer be the case.

As regular readers know, though I have always abhorred the use of candidate litmus tests, for now and the immediate future public education and public education funding are my sole candidate litmus tests.  With that being the case, I submit to you the members of the Texas House and Senate who orchestrated and supported the gutting of public education funding in 2011, who are on the 2012 primary ballots. 

Whether this information enters into your decision making or not, as a reasonable, thinking LYSer, make sure you get out and VOTE.  

The Texas Senate – Voted For Slashed Education Budgets

Name	Party	Running For
David Dewhurst	Republican	U.S. Senate
Brian Birdwell	Republican	Texas Senate
John Carona	Republican	Texas Senate
Bob Deuell	Republican	Texas Senate
Robert L. Duncan	Republican	Texas Senate
Kevin Eltife	Republican	Texas Senate
Craig Estes	Republican	Texas Senate
Troy Fraser	Republican	Texas Senate
Glenn Hegar	Republican	Texas Senate
Joan Huffman	Republican	Texas Senate
Jane Nelson	Republican	Texas Senate
Robert Nichols	Republican	Texas Senate
Dan Patrick	Republican	Texas Senate
Kel Seliger	Republican	Texas Senate
Jeff Wentworth	Republican	Texas Senate
Tommy Williams	Republican	Texas Senate
Juan Hinojosa	Democrat	Texas Senate
Royce West	Democrat	Texas Senate

The Texas House – Voted for Slashed Education Budgets

Name	Party	Running For
Allan  B.  Ritter	Republican	Texas House
Allen  Fletcher	Republican	Texas House
Angie Chen  Button	Republican	Texas House
Barbara  Nash	Republican	Texas House
Brandon  Creighton	Republican	Texas House
Bryan  Hughes	Republican	Texas House
Byron  Cook	Republican	Texas House
Charles  'Doc'  Anderson	Republican	Texas House
Charles  J.  Schwertner	Republican	Texas House
Charles  Lee  Perry	Republican	Texas House
Charlie  L.  Geren	Republican	Texas House
Cindy  Burkett	Republican	Texas House
Connie  Scott	Republican	Texas House
Dan  Flynn	Republican	Texas House
Daniel  G.  'Dan'  Huberty	Republican	Texas House
Daniel  H.  'Dan'  Branch	Republican	Texas House
Dee  R.  'Donald'  Margo	Republican	Texas House
Diane  Patrick	Republican	Texas House
Doug  Miller	Republican	Texas House
Drew  Darby	Republican	Texas House
Four  Price  IV	Republican	Texas House
Gary  Elkins	Republican	Texas House
George Edward  Lavender	Republican	Texas House
Harvey  Hilderbran	Republican	Texas House
James  Lloyd  'Jim'  Keffer	Republican	Texas House
Jason  Isaac	Republican	Texas House
Jim  Murphy	Republican	Texas House
Jim  Pitts	Republican	Texas House
Jimmie Don  'JD'  Aycock	Republican	Texas House
Jodie  Anne  Laubenberg	Republican	Texas House
John  C.  Otto	Republican	Texas House
John  E.  Davis	Republican	Texas House
John  L.  Kuempel	Republican	Texas House
John  M.  Frullo	Republican	Texas House
John  T.  Smithee	Republican	Texas House
John  V.  Garza	Republican	Texas House
John  Zerwas	Republican	Texas House
Kelly  Hancock	Republican	Texas State Senate
Ken  Paxton  Jr.	Republican	Texas House
Kenneth  Sheets	Republican	Texas House
Lance  Gooden	Republican	Texas House
Larry  Gonzales	Republican	Texas House
Larry  Phillips	Republican	Texas House
Larry  Taylor	Republican	Texas House
Leo  Berman	Republican	Texas House
Linda  Harper-Brown	Republican	Texas House
Lois  W.  Kolkhorst	Republican	Texas House
Lyle  T.  Larson	Republican	Texas House
Mark  M.  Shelton	Republican	Texas State Senate
Marva  Beck	Republican	Texas House
Myra  Crownover	Republican	Texas House
Paul  D.  Workman	Republican	Texas House
Phil  S.  King	Republican	Texas House
Ralph  Sheffield	Republican	Texas House
Randy  Weber	Republican	U.S.  Congress
Raul  Torres	Republican	Texas State Senate
Rob  Eissler	Republican	Texas House
Rob  Orr	Republican	Texas House
Sarah  Davis	Republican	Texas House
Tan  Parker	Republican	Texas House
Thomas  R.  'Tom'  Craddick	Republican	Texas House
Tim  Kleinschmidt	Republican	Texas House
Todd  Ames  Hunter	Republican	Texas House
Todd  Smith	Republican	Texas State Senate
Tryon  D.  Lewis	Republican	Texas House
Warren  D.  Chisum	Republican	Texas Railroad Commissioner
Wayne  Christian	Republican	Texas House
Wayne  Smith	Republican	Texas House
William  'Bill'  Zedler	Republican	Texas House
William  A.  'Bill'  Callegari	Republican	Texas House

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
• 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: TASSP Conference (multiple sessions); Region 10 ESC Fall Leadership Conference (Keynote)

A LYS Principal Shares... Make the Last Month Count - Part 1

In response to the 5/1/2012 post, “Make the Last Month Count,” a veteran LYS Principal writes:

SC,

In response to your May 1^st post entitled “Make the Last Month Count,” I wanted to share our year-end cross-curricular culminating project with you.  I believe the culminating project correlates with many of your aforementioned points.  Our K-12 aligned curriculum (C-SCOPE) calls for a culminating project in ELA for the last few weeks in school.  Our teacher teams worked together to include all four core curriculums in a school-wide Holocaust Project & Community-wide Program (i.e. Capstone Project and  Lesson Frame). 

Students researched and wrote critically in all classes with the ELA and Social Studies classes heading up the final drafts of the research papers (Critical Writing).  Students built scale models of cattle cars, concentration camps, and various historical artifacts, sites, and locations through the math and science classes (Ample Power Zone Time & FSGPT).  In addition to writing research papers and presenting to their peers, our students presented their projects to the community during an evening showcase through various forms of multimedia presentations (Recognition & Reinforcement from the community). I have included articles and a link from local news stations that showcase the capstone projects. 

I am very proud of our teachers for kick starting the 2012-2013 school year with such an emphasis on facilitating student lead, project-based learning.  Linear capacity (Fullan, 2007) continues to be built as a result of a dedicated group of teachers that believe that high-level teaching and learning does not happen in isolation—it happens through organizational and curricular unity.  Thanks for sharing your thoughts, end-of-year encouragement, and article with our staff and the LYS Nation. Stay focused on the Fundamentals….

K10 News Article:

http://www.kten.com/story/18430921/tom-bean-students-study-holocaust

DS

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
• 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: TASSP Conference (multiple sessions); Region 10 ESC Fall Leadership Conference (Keynote)

A Principal Asks... EOCs, Credits and Transfers

A LYS Principal asks the following:

SC

I need your help (and the rest of the LYS Nation) in making sure that our EOC policy is reasonable and fair, as it relates to students who transfer to our district. As most of the districts around us are doing, we are waving the use of the EOC in the determination of a student’s final grade. But for some strange reason, not every district is doing this.  Which creates the following problem. 

We are seeing some students transfer to us prior to the sending district applying the 15% EOC score to the student’s final grade in the class.  The transcript states the final grade in the class, WITHOUT granting credit, because the district has not received the EOC score.  In addition, after a student transfers to the new district, the sending district will no longer receive the score for the student since he/she is no longer a student. 

How would you handle this situation?

SC Response

This is yet another case of students suffering from, and schools dealing with, the unintended consequences that occur when we continue to elect anti-educators to office. VOTE.  But all posturing aside, we still have your issue to reason through.  My analysis is that the issue is moot. Consider the following four cases of a student transfering from a district that uses the EOC in the determination of granting credit in a course.

Case 1. A student transfers to your school with a passing grade, but no EOC. 

1.     You enroll the student,

2.     Accept his grades,

3.     Include the grades he earned on your campus,

4.     Determine a final average based on your weighting system,

5.     Grant or deny credit based on your weighted average. 

Case 2. A student transfers to your school with a failing grade, but no EOC.

1.     You enroll the student,

2.     Accept his grades,

3.     Include the grades he earned on your campus,

4.     Determine a final average based on your weighting system,

5.     Grant or deny credit based on your weighted average. 

Case 3. A student transfers to you school with a credit earned, solely due to the EOC result.

1.     As before, once a sending district has determined if credit will be granted or not, the receiving districts honors that decision.

2.     For the student who earned credit, even if by your system he would have failed,  enroll him in the next course.

Case 4. A student transfers to your school with a credit denied, solely due to the EOC result.

1.     As before, once a sending district has determined if credit will be granted or not, the receiving districts honors that decision.

2.     For the student who did not earn credit, even if by your system he would have passed, enroll him the same course.

I think I have covered all the possible scenarios. LYS Nation, let us know if I missed something or if you are handling one of the above cases in a different manner

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
• 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: TASSP Conference (multiple sessions); Region 10 ESC Fall Leadership Conference (Keynote)

A Principal Shares... Staff PowerWalks

A LYS Principal shares:

SC,

I wanted to let you know that the staff members enjoyed the PowerWalks classroom observations they did with you today.  After you left, we continued the discussion at our staff meeting. The conversations were great.

Thanks again for your time and assistance.  See you in a few weeks.

SC Response

I'm glad that your teachers found the visits be a positive and valuable learning experience, as many do.  Continue the practice by having you and your administrative team include teachers during your regular classroom visits. For your teachers that that really enjoy visiting other classrooms on a regular basis (a number significantly greater than what most people would assume) you can give them a PowerWalks log-in and they too can enter their data into the system.

I am a big believer that we learn much more by observing actual teacher practice than by talking about hypothetical teacher practice.

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
• 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: TASSP Conference (multiple sessions); Region 10 ESC Fall Leadership Conference (Keynote)

Top LYS Tweets From the Week of May 13, 2012

As you are wrapping this year up and beginning preparations for next year, hopefully bootleg technology is on your agenda.  If not, let's put it there.  Below, I have created the first draft of a bootleg technology checklist.  Hopefully, this will aid in your planning.  If I missed anything (and I know I have), send me your inclusions.

_____ Review and revise district / campus policies relating to student owned, internet capable devises.

_____ Increase Wi-Fi access, speed and coverage.

_____ Provide an internet filter for student / guest Wi-Fi access. Set filtering at a reasonable level.

_____ Identify and remove damaged and outdated computers from campus.

_____ Increase student access to school owned computers.

_____ Create a technology device loan program for students (limited time, check-out system).

_____ Schedule a regular time and place where teachers can share their bootleg technology knowledge, practices, success and failures with each other.

_____ Create a bootleg technology support system.  This could be a dedicated staff member, a staff member with expertise, a specific class, a student club, etc.

_____ Create a campus PLN.  PLNs can be campus-wide, or can be organized be grade-level, content, or specific interest.

_____ Connect the school with students, families and the community through social media.

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 May 13, 2012.

1. What if parents and society in Texas were as passionate and willing to spend as much money on education as they do on athletics? (private account)

2. Our "Me First" society has forgotten that prior generations paid for the schools that they went to and now it's their turn to pay it forward.

3. I'm OK with removing barriers for innovation. I'm not OK when you handcuff me and then blame me for being handcuffed.

4. When your Internet filters block everything, you reduce connectivity back to zero.

5. Saying that a Principal shouldn't be evaluated based on student performance is like saying that a head coach shouldn't be evaluated based on wins

6. The art of Principal Performance Evaluation is the understanding that 9 wins at UT is subpar, when 9 wins at Rice is exceptional.  All campuses are not equal.

7. I know it sounds crazy, but the Fundamental 5 solves your differentiated instruction dilemma. Trust the process and implement at full speed.

8. There's a reason why veteran teachers are cynical. Years of blame, criticism and negligible support will do that to you.

9. If you are already collecting textbooks and library books, why are you surprised that teachers and students are shutting down?

10. In the long run, system issues are always at some level, leadership issues.

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
• 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: TASSP Conference (multiple sessions); Region 10 ESC Fall Leadership Conference (Keynote)