Worth the Tears?

I’ve been thinking a lot about grades, report cards, and “honor role” lately.  Our report cards came out today and that makes me think of our upcoming transition to standards based reporting.  Teachers of younger students in my K-8 school use standards based report cards while teachers of older students use traditional grades.  I know we will soon be facing a transition to standards based report cards for all of our students and I wonder how we will make this change.   The move to standards based report cards will come up against our long tradition of having an honor role.  How does a child get high honors if many of his or her classmates can be “secure” in their learning?  Frankly, I am looking forward to this discussion about honor role.  Especially today as I watched a middle school student lead to the school bus by his friend while he was crying.  Why was he crying?  He didn’t make high honors.  Is the pressure to get that honor role ribbon worth sending some students home crying?

For what it’s worth, here is what I put in my school newsletter today:

As our first marking period comes to a close and we look forward to parent conferences, it causes me to think about the grades we give our students.  First and foremost, I want our students to be recognized for what they have learned over the past few months. But that brings us a really good question, what have they learned?  If a child in first grade can read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone while another first grader is reading Henry and Mudge, should they both be graded as “secure” in their learning?  It depends on what they are actually learning.  Our teachers would say that both of these children must grow as readers and that is what we would speak to on a child’s report card.  Since being “secure” in one’s learning can mean different things, so does being “developing” in one’s learning.  I was speaking with a parent in another town who was very disappointed that her daughter’s report card stated that she was “developing” in some subjects.  If we, as adults, looked at our own learning, let’s say with something like playing guitar, could we get to the point where we are so secure that we have nothing else to learn?  I don’t think so.  So I encourage parents to look at the report cards that will come home next week through the lens of what their child has learned. Our upcoming parent conferences are an excellent time to ask your child’s teacher about the growth that he or she has made.

Teach Students or Skip Them Ahead?

I was almost ready to rant when I read an article by Marty Nemko in the recent issue of Principal magazine entitled “Don’t Overlook Grade Skipping.”  Nemko set the scenario that we all have experienced at one time or another as teachers or principals – the child who has great potential and is bored in class.  Nemko points to a body of research that supports the use of grade acceleration (i.e. skipping a grade) in the case of gifted students who are placed in a heterogeneous class.  I have to say that I found this really hard to believe as I recently looked at research that overwhelmingly condemned the practice of holding children back.  Research into grade retention shows that there almost always are negative social and emotional outcomes when children are held back.  One article I read showed that being held back in school is a childhood fear on the level of losing one’s parents or becoming blind – it is that traumatic.  So what about moving up a grade?  Some of the research that I reviewed showed that while there was a slight negative social/emotional effect to being advanced a grade, there was a highly significant academic effect to the positive.  Gifted students that we keep in heterogenous classes out of the fear that they will lose friendships or “miss out” on school experiences are actually more likely to do poorly by neglecting to turn in work that is too easy.  Some of these students end up dropping out of schools that can’t or won’t meet their needs.  On the other hand, gifted students who are moved up a grade often react positively to new academic challenges and even report better friendships from classmates who “finally get them.”

All this being said, I still have some questions about having children “skip a grade.”  You might have noticed that I used the word “gifted” when I spoke about the positive effects of grade advancement.  I read a research study by Miraca Gross which spoke about the positive effects of accelerating students who had an IQ of 160 or above.  An IQ of 160 or above!  You certainly would not find a child that gifted in every class and you most likely would not find many children this gifted in your whole school.  But how would you know?  We typically give IQ tests to students who we think might have a learning disability but not for students who we think might be gifted.  I don’t have an answer here, especially when ordering an evaluation to look into a child’s IQ can cost over $1,000.  We must find a way to identify our truly gifted students.

I still have a rant.  What about differentiated instruction?  My school and our district has been paying a lot of attention into the practice of differentiated instruction lately.  I think it has a lot of promise – teaching with your student’s readiness and interests in mind.  I certainly beats “Let’s all turn to workbook page 57″ type instruction.  My rant is against Marty Nemko’s assertion that “today’s cohort of teachers contains fewer teachers who are as capable of and motivated to help high ability students live up to their potential.”  Sounds a like teacher bashing to me – we should have children skip a grade because few teachers want or are able to teach high ability students.  I know that my teachers are committed to teaching all of their students.  They have rolled up their sleeves and are building differentiation into their teaching.   I’d like to hear how differentiation is working in your school.  How are we meeting the needs of all of our students?

One Size Does Not Fit All

Part of a principal’s job is to make decisions, many decisions over the course of each day.  I’ve been thinking about a decision to suspend a 6-year old boy in Delaware for bringing a Boy Scout camping knife to school to eat his lunch.  It was one of those knives that fascinate kids with the fork and spoon that fold out along with a knife. Zachary Christie was given a 45 day suspension for his actions and faced reform school – a one size fits all punishment.  Well, one-size-fits-all almost never works.  My first principals’ job was at a small school in northern Vermont, the part of the state we called the Northeast Kingdom for its isolation and distinctiveness.  Like all schools, we had a weapons policy – but what do you do when a 4th grade girl keeps forgetting to take the shotgun shells out of her one and only jacket when she went hunting with her father on the weekends.  Did she bring ammunition to school, yes.  Was she going to hurt anybody with a shotgun shell, no.  I talked to the girl and her father and she remembered to leave the shells at home.  So what does this have to do with 21st Century education?  One size does not fit all there either.  Before we take what works for one school and apply it to all schools,  we need to look at what a school really needs.  Talk to the teachers, students, community.  As we write policy and curriculum with 21st Century teaching in mind, we need to remember that rules need to consider the individual.  Just like poor fitting clothing, one size policies do not fit all situations, or students.

It All Comes Down to Civility

School Bus by redjar on Flickr

Cyber safety has been a trending topic at my school this week.  Our 7th & 8th graders heard a presentation by a local law enforcement agency on cyber-safety.  Coincidentally, my technology integrator came to talk to be about a section of the Broadband Data Improvement Act which requires schools that receive e-rate funding to teach children about on-line safety.  We discussed a few options for the grade clusters at my school:  K-2, 3rd & 4th, 5th & 6th, 7th & 8th.  I was assuming that students in the older grades would need more information about Internet safety than the younger grades.   But as we got thinking, we realized how important it was for children to get this information while they are younger – while they are just beginning to create their digital footprints.  Now as a second coincidence a totally different type of wireless safety came to light through an incident on one of my school buses.  We almost had a case of cyber bullying on our hands….which is very unusual since we live in such a rural part of the state where cell phones almost never get a good signal.  But this wasn’t a cell phone issue and it didn’t involve our teenagers – it involved 7 and 8 year olds sending mean notes to each other with the wireless capacity of their Nintendo DS handhelds.  It all comes down to plain safety and civility, whether it be the cyber type or the face to fact type.  For the youngsters on the bus, the main message was about how important it is to be civil – the same message we give all our students each day.  We don’t need the Broadband Data Improvement Act to tell us that!

Enhancing or Transforming

I was in Burlington today with a team from my district.  We were attending a presentation by Ruben R. Puentedura, Ph.D. , the founder of Hippasus, a consulting firm that promotes trans formative use of technology in education.  I hadn’t heard of Dr. Puentedura before, but I have to say that I enjoyed his presentation as it was a departure from the ususal “Intro to Web 2.0″ type of presentation that one hears so often.  Dr. Puentedura talked about the distinction between using technololgy to enhance education and using technology to transform education (SAMR).  One example given was of Google Earth.  If a teacher simply replaces their roll down maps with Google Earth they are using technology to enhance education at a very basic level.  But, if a teacher uses Google Earth to create a map with his or her class and then shares that map with an on-line community so that the map evloves as it is built and re-built, you have transformed education.  As I bring more and more technology to my school, I think a lot about whether I am helping my teachers transform education or merly enhance it.  I have been thinking about 1:1 computing a lot.  I knew Dr. Puentedura had worked with Maine’s 1:1 Laptop program, which is why I attended today’s presentation.  Sure enough, the topic of 1:1 programs came up with our team over lunch.  It would be pretty easy for me to buy another 25 netbooks, bringing our 5th and 6th grades close to 1:1.  Well, filling out the purchase order would be easy.  I plan to use some of Dr. Puentedura’s ideas to start a conversation with my teachers about why we would want a 1:1 program and how it would transform teaching and learning at our school.  This will be harder than filling out that paperwork!

Brick and Mortar Schools a Thing of the Past?

Quite a day at NECC for me!  Things started off attending the keynote debate on the statement “Bricks and Mortar Schools are Detrimental to the Future of Education.”  The ISTE folks were looking for a few live attendees to ask questions of the panel after the debate and I was lucky to be the first one to put my name in.  So there I was sitting front and center at the debate.  In my opinion, the team in favor of the statement (i.e., against brick and mortar schools) won.  They argued that we need to change our mindset and free schools from their brick and mortar boundaries.  Surprisingly, when the audience of thousands voted, they felt this group lost and the team against the statement (i.e. brick and mortar schools are valuable) won.  Who would have thunk it.  I have been thinking about this question since I’ve worked in Second Life (Lupin Writer).  I always found it interesting that groups would build buildings for their meetings but end up standing outside to communicate with others.  In a virtual world where you could learn on a cloud or inside a volcano, people still feel the need to construct buildings they do not need! Getting back to the debate, the real highlight for me was that I was picked to ask the first live question of the panel.  I asked Michael Horn, co-author of Disrupting Class, how we can better support teachers whether they teach on-line or in a school.  Michael’s answer is to provide better professional development where we actually speak to the different needs of teachers rather than provide on-size fits all lectures.  Agreed!

NECC09 Big Picture

I’ve been thinking a lot about my overall impressions of NECC this year.  I attended my first NECC in 2003.  I must have looked like a boy who had come to the city for the first time!  Almost everything was new to me.  Well, I’ve been to a few NECCs since then.  One of the things that is making this NECC different for me is how connected I am- both in real life and via the blogosphere and Twitter. But there can be a negative affect to all of this connectedness.  I was checking my Twitter during Malcolm Gladwell’s keynote and was surprised to read all of the negative comments.  Some of the people I have been reading all year were making comments in the “Who does he think he is” and “What does he know” categories.  For example, when Gladwell mentioned the rigorous programs in the KIPP schools, he was immediately slammed for endorsing their program.  Keep the big picture in mind folks.  My take away from Gladwell is that programs that help children focus and sustain learning are good.  Take KIPP or leave it, because there are many good schools out there, sustained effort is good.  Gladwell was talking about math programs in particular.  I can apply his point to my school right now.  How often do we take a child out of a pre-algebra or algebra program because she or he is struggling?  Too often.  Instead of moving the student to an easier track, how about helping the student with algebra.   Another one of Gladwell’s points – persistence.  A little struggle is a good thing, as long as there are skilled educators to support the student.  So as I move into day two of the NECC sessions, I will keep the big pictures in mind and take my Twitter with a grain of salt.

When the U.S. Secretary of Education Visits Your School

Now that the dust has settled since U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan visited my school, I wanted to take some time in this blog post to write about this experience.  It all came out of the blue one Monday morning when I saw the message light on my phone blinking.  It was a voice mail from this guy named Tim from the U.S. Department of Education.  To be honest, my first thought was that I might have forgotten to fill out some form or survey.  But after a brief introduction, Tim went on to say that the Secretary of Education was coming to Vermont that Thursday and wanted to visit some schools, including my school.  I had no idea that Arne Duncan was even coming to Vermont.  As it turns out, he was going to give the commencement address at St. Michael’s College in Colchester.  It also turns out that U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy’s wife was receiving an honorary degree at the ceremony.  When Arne Duncan visits a state, he likes to get in a few school visits.  His staff planned for him to visit a school in the city of Burlington and a rural school, my school, Westford Elementary.

Tim told me that he would be visiting my school on Tuesday to meet with me and talk about the possible visit.  By two o’clock the next day I was visiting with Arne Duncan’s advance man Tim, another Education Department staffer, and a member of Senator Leahy’s staff.  I told them about my school and gave them a brief tour.  Arne Duncan’s visit would be part of his Listening Tour.  The plan was for him to visit my school for one hour, from 2:30 – 3:30 PM – right in the middle of dismissal.  Oh well, I guess you don’t ask the Secretary of Education if he can change his schedule. Tim asked a lot of questions, but mainly he wanted to know if my staff would be comfortable and honest during the visit.  Tim told me that sometimes people are afraid of embarrassing their bosses and just say say “Everything is fine, thanks for asking” when Arne Duncan comes to visit.  I told Tim not to worry, Vermonters are known for saying what was on their minds.

I got a call the next day that it was definite, Arne Duncan would be visiting my school.  Tim came out again that Thursday morning to go over how he would enter the building, who he would meet with, which rooms he would use and how they would be set up.  I assured Tim that everything would be fine and we were all ready for the visit.  As the time drew near, we had more visitors – a security detail, a photographer, and a videographer.  Tim came back to double check our room arrangements and put up banners from the Department of Education.  Finally, Arne Duncan came, my students greeted him at the door and escorted him to his meetings.  The visit went wonderfully as you may have read in my previous blog post.

I want to take this opportunity to thank all of my staff for helping this visit go so well.  So, who’s next?  The Governor, a Senator?  We’re ready, bring them on, we know how to handle VIPs!

Who is this Arne Duncan?

It’s been a few days now since U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan visited my school so I’ve had some time to process his visit.  So…was his visit a good thing?  Did I like what Arne Duncan had to say?  What did Arne Duncan say?  I’ll have to preface this by saying that it was a whirlwind of a visit.  Arne Duncan came for one hour and that hour was broken up into a thirty minute meeting with some of my school’s stake holders (School Board, District Administrators, Parents) and a thirty minute meeting with me and my staff.  So really, my window into the world of Arne Duncan was pretty small.  To tell you the truth, I had not given the U.S. Education Secretary much thought.  I certainly never thought he would visit my school.

From Arne Duncan’s short visit, and the preparations for that visit that I will blog about later, I did get some definite impressions about the man in charge of education policy for our country.  Even before his visited, I learned that he sincerely wanted to hear from people in the field.  In fact, his advance team wanted to make sure my staff was comfortable with the idea of his visiting and that they would speak freely.  I guess some of the teachers he visits feel the pressure to say “Everything’s fine, thanks for asking!” in front of their administration.  I found that Arne Duncan is interested in keeping the best and brightest in the teaching field and told my young music teacher with many school loans to pay back that his administration was looking into loan forgiveness for educators.  When the topic of NCLB came up, Arne Duncan said that he favored the idea of a global achievement measures over the patchwork of standards and assessments that schools wrestle with today.  I was also glad to hear that Arne Duncan spoke about the importance of measuring academic growth rather thanpenalizing students who have seen real gains but haven’t yet met the high bar of state standards.  I had heard in the news that President Obama and Secretary Duncan favor the idea of incentive pay for teachers.  One of my teachers who had lived with such a system spoke of her concern that teacher by teacher incentive pay had resulted in divisions among educators.  Arne Duncan acknowledged that and spoke about his desire to provide incentives to schools where teachers have worked as a team to raise student achievement.

I still have to say that I have a lot to learn about United States education policy and the forces that will shape the kind of learning experiences we provide for our students.  But if you ask me if I liked meeting U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan, I’d say yes.  He came across as a sincere man who truly wants to improve education in our nation’s schools.

Big Day for My School

It’s been a busy week, and I’ll post much more about this later……U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan visited my school yesterday!

U.S. Education Secretary Delivers Commencement Address at St. Michael’s College and Continues “Listening And Learning” Tour in Vermont
Duncan emphasizes commitment to service for graduates, discusses Administration’s strong reform agenda

FOR RELEASE: May 14, 2009

Contact: Sandra Abrevaya (202) 401-1576

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan traveled to Vermont today to deliver the commencement address at St. Michael’s College in Burlington and then continued his “Listening and Learning: A Conversation About Education Reform” tour at two schools in Burlington and Westford.

Duncan was welcomed at St. Michael’s by Gov. Jim Douglas, St. Michael’s President John Neuhauser, its Board of Trustees, and many faculty members.

In his address, Duncan called education the civil rights issue of our time and said, “All of the anti-poverty programs in the world will never do as much as an education to make people successful.” He commended St Michael’s graduating class for its commitment to service and challenged them to choose the classroom to continue their service, noting that more than a million teachers from the baby-boom generation are expected to retire in the next five years.

“I believe that access to a high-quality education is the difference between a life lived on the margins and a life lived in fulfillment of the American dream,” Duncan said.

After the commencement address, Duncan visited Barnes Elementary School in Burlington. Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, Burlington Mayor Bob Kiss and Education Commissioner Armando Vilaseca joined Duncan on a tour of the school led by Principal Paula Bowen. Duncan ate lunch with students, teachers and parents, learned about Barnes’ unique partnership with local farmers—many of whom are parents of children at the school—to provide healthy lunches made with locally grown ingredients, and held a discussion on the topic of quality nutrition and quality learning.

Duncan’s final stop was Westford Elementary School, where he was greeted by principal David Wells and other school leaders. He met with teachers to hear their ideas about education reform and how the federal government can help provide incentives for good teachers to work in schools where they’re most needed.

For more information, see the U.S. Department of Education’s Web site, www.ed.gov.