Regular School Closing Updates

I’ve made a change to the “School News” ticker that has been on the left column of this page. Until the flu has burned out, of the end of school this year, whichever comes first, I have set the ticker to pick up any new stories relating to school closings. I hope that you find it useful. At least you can stay up to date and intelligently respond to the rumors that are running rampant.

There is one small piece of good news that has come from all the flu attention. It seems that a group of University of South Carolina researchers have discovered that a chemical found in red wine can protect you from the flu. So is the new saying, “A glass a day keeps the doctor away?”

Think. Work. Achieve.

Your turn…

A Reader Writes... (DAEP - Part 4)

In response to the post, “And Your Point Is,” a reader writes:

“I recently had a student in a bad situation. The student had a long term placement due to an ARD decision. The long term placement was not working. We were on the verge of having a real failure to meet FAPE with no defense. I finally (read: much too late, I should have intervened much earlier) reviewed the case in detail. The descriptions adults gave me of the boy approached those of Hannibal Lecter from Silence of Lambs. When I mentioned bringing this student back I even had a staff member tell me he would resign if I did.

So I brought the kid back. To my surprise they presented me a frail 16 year old who stood up straight and said sir when I spoke to him. Punchline: The kid has been back in school for a week and so far is highly successful. I wish I could say it is because of the good his previous placement did reforming him, but from what I know that is not the case.

The difference you ask? I meet with him personally several times a day for a few SECONDS each time. Never underestimate the power of relationships. I do not consider what I do for the kid a relationship (less than 2 minutes a day total), but he does. My question is how much education did this youth miss so that adults could be comfortable?

Question two: is this kid worth two minutes a day (rhetorical)?”

SC Response:
I am not a Pollyanna. I live and work in the real world (actually, for those of you who know me, my real world begins where the typical educator thinks it ends). I know we can’t save every kid. On the other hand, we have to break the mindset that there is an “acceptable” number of failures.

Here are three secrets that most educators can’t seem to comprehend.

1. Adult practice drives student performance .

2. Behind every failed student is a line of educators that didn’t step up.

3. Educating tough kids is what we get paid for. The easy kids can be taught by computers and aides.

Think. Work. Achieve

Your turn…

A Reader Writes... (Leading Change)

In response to the post, “DAEP – Part 3,” a reader writes:

“I don’t think the poster demonized unions too much. Unions are about adults, by design and membership, not kids. I think that to some extent we have to get out of the "buy in" mentality. Buy into what? Doing the job you have been contracted and paid to do? Ridiculous.

Leadership has a duty to adhere to best practices and to lead from the front, not the rear. That leaves teachers fighting best practices, which is common. I cannot count the number of teachers who have told me they disagree with Marzano and Bloom. Forget the fact they never heard of Marzano before I introduced them to it; they disagree with him none the less.

Teachers in poor performing schools deeply desire autonomy. The same is true in good performing schools; teachers desire autonomy. This desire for autonomy is often so great that teachers (and administrators) isolate themselves from the best practices of their own profession.

The boot camp approach is interesting (yes, I have experienced it). The military understands that people are drawn together by common experiences. The military then develops a "boot camp" that exposes people to common experiences and draws them together. The problem with this model in public schools is that the military model of boot camp is contrived. The experience is very difficult to reproduce in the civilian world. That is I why I suggest that you let no major event go by without being utilized.

When situations come up that have the potential to have the faculty going through a common experience, capitalize on it quick. It can be as simple as celebrating success or mourning together. The point is, common ground is not found just on the battlefield, it can be a simple event such as learning how to hold a rifle and march. In education, common ground does not have to be built initially on curriculum and instruction; don’t hesitate to capitalize on simple events that bring people together.

By the way, I am passing on knowledge that I have learned the hardest way possible.”

SC Note:
When this reader writes, “I am passing on knowledge that I have learned the hardest way possible,” even he doesn’t appreciate how true that is. He is now in the midst of turning around his third unacceptable campus in his relatively brief career as an administrator. He isn’t the principal who drives the school into the ditch. He is the principal they hire to get the school out of the ditch. In the course of doing this, he can count on one hand the people in his districts who have publicly supported him during his tenures – his superintendents (kind of), his wife, and his dog.

In schools, doing the right thing for kids, all the time, is hard and lonely work.

Think. Work. Achieve.

Your turn…

What Now Texas?

Those who know me, know that I am a strong proponent of school accountability and long time data geek. I bring that up, because with what I am about to suggest, I don’t do so lightly.

I don’t believe that the results from this years TAKS test should be used for anything, other than informational purposes. I write this, because a reasonable educator could destroy any argument supporting the validity of the tests this year. As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, I know that accountability is good for students; but here is my case against the test, for this year only…

Let’s start with the hurricanes. Gustav interrupted schools. Ike shut schools down. On the Gulf Coast, if you were lucky you only lost 5 to 10 days of instruction. If you were unlucky, you lost your school, your home and your community.

Then there is the on-going recession. In Texas, we’re “lucky?” The recession is only significantly impacting the poor, the under-educated and minorities. I’m sure that the added stress and disruption in those households probably has no impact on their children.

If the hurricanes weren’t enough, then came the floods this week. More lost instructional time, disrupted schedules and added stress during the most stressful week of the school year.

Finally, to complete the royal flush of bad luck, now the schools are dealing with the flu threat. At any given time on a campus, 5% to 10% of the people at school have some sort of cough, sniffles, aches, etc. Now, each cough is a potential life and death issue. But that’s okay - ignore the media onslaught; panicked parents; and your own mortality; and demonstrate on a one-shot test, what you have learned.

With all of these disasters occurring this year, here is the insidious truth. Everyone is not effected equally. The schools and students with the smallest margins of error and the least amount of available resiliency will be impacted the most. The impact that all of these tribulations have had on teaching and learning has an economic analogy:

If I have had a high paying job for a while, I have probably saved a little money that I can use and have some assets I can liquidate, if I lose my job. I can survive a temporary set-back. If I have a low paying job and live paycheck to paycheck just to survive, losing my job is devastating. Our most fragile students and campuses have been running full speed just to try to keep up. They can and expect to deal with one or two hurdles, but this year is all together another matter.

So, State of Texas, as our schools are fighting the good fight, in the face of near biblical, Old Testament ordeals, throw them a lifeline. Next year, they’ll cowboy up and get back on the accountability horse.

Think. Work. Achieve.

Your turn…

A Reader Writes... (DAEP - Part 3)

In response to the post, “And Your Point Is,” a reader writes:

“Outstanding Statement! The Brown/Brezina/Cain systems do one thing unique from the rest of the weak and feeble intervention programs that schools try to implement: They work. Their systems produce accelerated growth and results campus wide in every area that data can reach. The trick is getting a buy in from a majority of the staff.

Public education has been looked at for so long as a ministry and not a job. Those days have gone the way of the Dodo Bird. Campus staff need a great awakening into the world of "hard work." This is where the buy in is tough. Many teachers want to do the bare minimum, no thanks to worthless, liberal unions. Not on my watch! I am already planning next year's professional development and teacher orientation, and it will be nothing short of a bootcamp. They are going to learn from the word "go" that there is never an off day of teaching.

We cannot relax. If I relaxed on firewatch I would wake up with my throat cut. This is a serious business we are in. Lives are at stake. Education needs to be addressed and framed in this way. Complainers can take a hike. I have a hidden agenda as a new administrator; it is to eradicate any cancerous, complaining adult on my campus.”

SC Response
I would be lying if I didn’t say that this reader is one of my favorite guys. He was an outstanding teacher who taught in a tough, urban high school, and as you can tell, he is an aggressive, young administrator. A former Marine non-com, he only has two speeds: full sprint and sleep. In the course of throwing gas on the fire, he touches on a couple of key points.

1. Education is a serious profession. Those of us who don’t take it seriously, do a grave disservice to our students and discredit the profession.

2. Teaching done correctly is work. If you’re not tired at the end of the day, you are cutting corners that shouldn’t be cut.

3. The time to plan next year’s staff development is now.

4. If as a leader, you are not clear on what you want to achieve, then at best, all you will get is more of the same. At worst, you will be replaced.

I do think he demonizes unions a little too much. It is my experience and belief that leaders who are clear in their expectations and walk the walk, don’t have union issues. “Leaders” who don’t communicate and play the “do as I say, not as I do” game deserve every bit of hell that unions give them.

Think. Work. Achieve.

Your turn…

A Reader Writes... (DAEP's - Part 2)

In response to the post, “And Your Point Is,” a reader writes:

“I live and work in a boarding environment at a private school, so our program is quite a bit different. However, we sometimes remove students from the classroom to do something similar to DAEP. It is all about remediation and behavioral change, rather than academic instruction. As one who's worked in that DAEP environment from time to time, though, I have to say that teaching remediation is not like working with a positive and interested class at first. It's very much about resetting long-standing behaviors, and engaging disengaged kids. They lose a lot of time in that kind of environment, and I mourn the loss of focus and direction that those kids have during that window they're away from a functional classroom.”

SC Response:
A voice of reason, a teacher who understands that the longer a student is out of his class the further behind that student is getting, every day!

In the early 2000’s, I was working with a district that decided to track student performance on the state accountability tests vs. discipline interventions. I don’t have the data anymore so don’t hold me to specific numbers, but the trend is accurate.

What the district found is that students who had two or fewer office referrals had about a 98% passing rate on the TAAS test (an older Texas accountability test).

Student who were referred to In School Suspension once had about an 88% passing rate.

Students who were referred to In School Suspension more than once had about a 68% passing rate.

Students who were referred to the DAEP had about a 48% passing rate.

The deeper we push kids into the hole, the less chance they have of getting out. And yes, we push kids. Until, we can get the majority of staff to understand that our job is to coach kids to success, not sort them into "easy to work with," and "easy to get rid of columns," we are systematically destroying futures.

Think. Work. Achieve.

Your turn…