Fewer? School Days

Maine's Legislature is considering reducing the required number of school days to make up for budget shortfalls of $66 million at last check. The Kennebec Journal ran a story last week reporting the legislature's Education Committee estimates the statewide savings would be $7 million per day closed. My first reaction was a sarcastic great- let's just close the schools for 10 days and the budget will be flush. That was my first reaction. I then reflected on Maine's Education Commissioner Susan Gendron's comment of taking a "nickel and dime approach" to saving money. I came up with a few, perhaps controversial suggestions.

• It seems we could cut back on printing and photocopying. Paper, toner, and ink are all expensive; not to mention repair of overworked photocopiers.
• I have cleaned out the classrooms left by two different retirees; I have paperclips for life but still have the instinct to hoard. (I've actually returned the paper clips to the supply closet.)
• Redesign the school's athletic schedule; many states are cutting back on the number of games played and the distance traveled to games. Some schools have initiated a "pay to play" fee. Both of my children participate in activities and I would manage to come up with the money. Athletic booster clubs could offer scholarships to students in financial need.
• Stop the subsidy of Advanced Placement exams. It appears the exam cost $86; I pay $25 for my children to take these exams. If the college they attend will allow the credits I'll save hundreds of dollars so why don't I have to pay the full price for the test?
• Reduce busing costs by having 7-12 students who live within 1/2 to 1mile of the school walk.

Presently, as we've heard from a classmate, Georgia is the only state that has used furlough days to reduce costs. North Carolina however held back 10 hours pay to all state employees including teachers. The teachers have to take the time off by December 31st and only on workshop days. Maine's option would avoid controversial furloughs that require dealing with teachers unions and keep professional develop intact. It is frustrating that Maine would even consider a shorter school year an option.

I realize we have all faced hard budget cuts but we must be realistic; if we don't reduce spending someone ( the government) will. I challenge all of you to think of one way you could save $1.00 a day without adversely affecting your teaching.

I have nothing to wear!

Dress codes may not be the first thought in educational reform but the dress code has been a topic of debate for a generation. Since the start of the 2009 school year a south Dakota Sioux tribe has initiated and withdrawn a lawsuit over their district's newly enacted dress code. The code specifies the color of both shirts and pants/skirts. Parents in this poverty stricken area protested the dress code as a financial hardship. Opponents also claim the code violates student's rights of self-expression. The school district is hoping the dress code will decrease gang-related violence in school.

Dress codes are necessary at school to prevent inappropriately short skirts, pants that reveal boxer shorts, and t-shirts with explicit or degrading messages. But what about taking the step to school uniforms? Proponents believe school uniforms put everyone on an even playng field, reduce violence, and keep students from being distracted by clothing choices. Approximately 3% of New Jersey school districts require school uniforms of khaki bottoms and school color shirts. Administrators feel uniforms take the focus off designer labels and aid in school security by making intruders stand out. Bill clinton supported school uniforms as a way to reduce violence in his 1996 State of the Union address. "And if it means that teenagers will stop killing each other over dsigner jackets, then our public schools should be able to require their students to wear school uniforms."

The Department of Education published a manual covering school uniforms, also dated 1996. It opens with a list of how school uniforms improve a school. The manual provides multiple examples of schools that attribute an overall better climate and decreased incidents of violence and theft in part to their uniform policy. I have searched for statistics on school uniforms and come up with nothing more recent than 1994. My question is this; if something as simple as khaki pants and a white shirt can improve the school environment and increase academic achievement, why don't we adpot a national school uniform?

Now, before I receive letters from the ACLU let me say I have been unable to form a strong opinion either for or against uniforms. Reliable research in the area has escaped my attention or doesn't exist. I would very much like to hear from anyone who works in a public school district with a uniform policy.

Bullying in the 21st Century

The school yard bully is a personality we all remember from our childhood. We may not have ever been a target but we knew who the bullies were. We may even have been guilty of bullying ourselves. According to a 2007 Safe Youth report, one-third of our students report being bullied. http://www.safeyouth.org/scripts/faq/bullying.asp The Legislature addressed the issue in 2009 by amending the safe Schools Improvement Act to include harassment and bullying. The Act requires States collect data and develop programs to track, prevent, and eliminate bullying. All but four states have enacted such laws but there are questions about both the laws' effectiveness and enforceability. Parents of victims are concerned that bullying is under reported by local schools and the punishment is too light. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/14/AR2009091400607.html My school takes bullying and harassment very seriously; all parties involved are referred to guidance and administration to evaluate the situation. In many cases the school's liaison officer will get involved. We have a mentoring program and a very active civil rights team that proactively tries to prevent bullying. I think it is very hard for schools to prevent bullying. We are told that before a bully can receive punishment that fits the "crime" we must have proof. Proof is hard to come by. Parents of bullies don't want to see their child punished so they advocate for the child if they become involved at all.

Bullying today has 21st century skills. As the social order is beginning to take shape at school, I have begun overhearing the usual gossip of who said what about whom on MySpace or did you see what so and so posted on Facebook. Conflict at school is often a result from online activity generated outside of school the night before. Teachers and administrators have no authority over these activities but we are expected to clean up the mess. A recent editorial i the NY Times discusses the vagueness of cyber bullying as a criminal act. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/08/opinion/08tue2.html The focus of the editorial was the Court's inability to convict Lori drew, the mother who impersonated a 16 year old boy on MySpace to bully her daughter's classmate. The victim committed suicide. If the court has no ability to stop this type of bullying , how can schools?

As we bring more technology into the classroom, I can see this as a potential liability for teachers and schools. If a teacher creates a classroom MySpace it may be protected from uninvited friends but we have no control over what a student posts. When one reads the safe Schools Act you'll see the threat only has to be perceived by the victim. Before I endorse these modes of communication in my classroom I will need assurance that I will not be held responsible if the communication goes awry.

Last One Standing

As I considered a topic for this week's blog I stumbled across, 12,000 Teacher reports, but what to do?, an article published by the New york Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/09/nyregion/09teachers.html?_r=l&ref=education
the article takes a look at how New York State is creating reports on teacher performance. The NYDOE tracks student progress for each teacher and compares them to other teacher's in the State. The reports are distributed to school administrators to use as the deem appropriate. One principal interviewed gave his teachers the option of viewing the reports, some teachers chose to, others not. What really bothered me about this practice is that the reports are not necessarily shared with the teacher. Teacher evaluation is expected, just as any other professional should expect scrutiny of their performance. But, and I feel it is a big but, aren't we as teachers expected to inform our students what to expect for assessments and use the results of those assessments to improve learning? How can a mid or low performing teacher access this data in order to improve performance if they are unaware of the assessment's results? It definitely feels like a double standard.

The article reports on President Obama's desire to tie federal dollars to teacher evaluation coupled to student assessment. However when I followed the link, http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/o/_obama/index.html?inline=nyt-per
the only news on education focused on last week's debate over his speech to school children. A second link, http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/17/education/17educ.html , directs you to Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. Here you find the cover article focuses on how to spend stimulus money. He did make it clear that he would not "reward" low achieving schools with any of this windfall. I followed a few more links and still did not find any suggestions on how to best evaluate teachers. This all led me back to the feeling that something could be going on behind my back. Scary.

It is not that I think teachers should not be held accountable for student performance. I just feel we should have the same provisions we give students. a system needs to be developed where teachers are openly and fairly evaluated on more than student achievement tests. Included in evaluation must be a mechanism for providing professional development and support for low performing teachers who want to improve their skills.

Standardized Testing of ELL Students

I work in a historically homogeneous Caucasian state. Approximately 10 years ago a steady stream of immigrants from Somalia began moving into the district. The children enrolled in school and the challenges began to mount. English Language Learner (ELL) classrooms filled up rapidly. We responded by recruiting or training new faculty to meet the needs of these students. Today we have a well established ELL program and well qualified staff to run it.

When the children of immigrants come to school they have all the expected challenges. In addition to limited English, students may or may not have ever attended formal school. Is it fair then to hold ELL students to the same standardized testing and grade level expectations as students whose native language is English? No.

The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) was designed to close the achievement gap between minority and socioeconomically disadvantaged students and middle to upper class students. Sounds good on the surface but, the law expects ELL students to take state assessments after a maximum of 5 years of school. Even 5 years of focused language instruction is not enough time to acclimate to a new culture, learn a new language and meet grade level expectations. Many school, mine included, face failing Annual Yearly Progress (AYP) due to the ELL subgroup.

So, what are we teachers- ELL and mainstream- supposed to do? Donald Orlich and company describe the transition from child orientated elementary schools to content orientated high schools that takes place in middle school. The role of the middle school teacher is to incorporate content through hands-on activities such as experimentation and developing timelines. (Orlich, Harder, Callahan, Trevisan, Brown. p.18) Content teachers work hard to incorporate activities that are less dependent on English proficiency while maintaining the integrity of the subject matter. My curriculum is designed to do just that; take scientific concepts related to new technology, reinforce that with math, and physically engineer a product to solve a problem. Where on the standardized tests do we find hands-on activities? Nowhere. The organization, Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) recommended prior to reauthorization of ESEA that the Department of Education "Allow the use of multiple measures to assess and report on the progress of English language learners for AYP such as curriculum based, rubric, and holistic assessments." TESOL also recommends that individual students be tracked for progress and local bodies be allowed to determine readiness for standardized testing. To my knowledge this is not happening.

It is frustrating to see an immigrant student work hard to achieve their goals only to see disappointment when they are told they "do not meet the standard." It is time to reexamine NCLB and implement changes in the ELL regulations to give ELL students a better chance at realizing the American Dream.

Orlich, D., Harder, R., Callahan, R. Trevisan, M. & Brown, A. (2010). Teaching strategies: A
guide to effective instruction. Boston: Wadsworth CENGAGE Learning.

(October 2007) Statement of principles and Preliminary Recommendations for the
Reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). TESOL
Journal, retrieved 09/01/2009, from:
http://www.tesol.org/s_tesol/seccss.asp?CID=239&DID=1711

Testing Limited English proficiency Students. Retrieved September 1, 2009, from National School Boards Association Web site:
http://www.nsba.org/MainMenu/SchoolLaw/FederalRegulations/TestingLimitedEnglishProficiencyStudents.aspx