The feel good post of the day?

A NYC school kicking butt, on tests. The school in the article is successful on state wide exams, but another principal disagrees with this approach. Excerpt below.

"Not all principals embrace the exams in the same way. Brian DeVale, the principal of P.S. 257 in East Williamsburg, is more skeptical, saying he doesn’t believe they accurately measure achievement. He worries that if the tests are harder this year, scores will drop, and schools that earned A’s and B’s on their report cards this year— some 97 percent of elementary and middle schools — will come under scrutiny. “They’ve come up with a capricious, arbitrary system,” he said.

But Mr. Spatola (principal of P.S. 172) defended his laser-beam approach, noting that his school still had art, music and dance instruction. “They are not asking us to teach skills that the children don’t need to know,” he said. “It’s not a test,” he added. “It’s learning.” "

Who is right on the testing issue? If the exams are of high quality, is it okay to teach to the test? Are we setting up kids for failure if we use a "laser-beam approach" to focus students on preparing for testing?

Seniority Rules?

New York City schools Chancellor Joel Klein is asking for new rules when it comes to firing teachers. This article details the discussion in NYC, California, and the already passed legislation in Arizona eliminating seniority as the primary factor in deciding who is fired. Here is an excerpt:

"This month city officials persuaded lawmakers in Albany to introduce a bill that would allow the city to decide which teachers to let go, although its chances of passing are slim. Similar legislation in California, where thousands of young teachers have received letters saying they could be out of work, moved forward last week, backed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Arizona abolished seniority rules last year, and this month its Legislature banned the use of seniority if teachers are rehired."

What do you think? Should decisions to hire or fire teachers take seniority into account? If so, to what degree? If not, what should drive that decision making?

Everyone is making something rock.

Here are two music videos. One produced by EL Haynes, the high achieving charter school founded by Jennie Niles and located in NW Washington DC. The second video is produced by Young Money Entertainment, the high dollar earning record label founded by Lil Wayne and based in New Orleans, LA. What do you think about this as a way to motivate students to perform on the DC CAS? The first video that is.

Thanks to V-Rah for sharing this, and props to TFA DC '03 alum Brigham Kiplinger featured in the video. The CAS Rock video that is.

"He believes in kids."

I'm sure you have all heard about the tragic death of Shaw principal Brian Betts. I didn't know how to honor his legacy, but I feel that this story, in his own words, does as good a job as anything else has. And in the words of the students and staff he worked for.

RIP NYC rubber rooms

I'm sure many of you heard of the demise of the rubber rooms in New York City. I've heard of them before, but I found this New Yorker article from last year fascinating because of the level of detail it offers about what is happening with teachers, students, and money in NYC. I'm also including a link to the NYTimes article about the end of the rooms, or the shorter AP article posted on NPR and the NPR story about it. Enjoy!

New posts, response requested!!

So, I have been working this blog as if I have a union contract. I resolve to be better, and I have a few topics I want to address, and really want to hear from others about. Here we go...

Rethinking Schools recently published an article about Teach For America. Sidebar, I directly asked a TFA staff member why they always capitalize the "For" in TFA considering that doesn't happen in other circumstances, and they were strident that the "For" needs to be capitalized. There was no specific reasoning behind it, but nevertheless it should be capitalized. Back to the topic at hand. The article has been getting a lot of play. I got it from three different people, and another blogger wrote a very extensive post about it at the Education Policy Blog. Incidently, that blog, from what I have read thus far, is vastly superior to mine, so check it out. The blogger quotes a ton of verbiage from the Rethinking Schools article, so a lot of it is redundant, but the comments were pretty interesting.

I HIGHLY ENCOURAGE YOU TO READ THE ARTICLE AND REACT TO IT HERE. I'm very interested in other people's response to the article, and I will reserve my own opinion until I hear from some of you.

Learning Matters; worth checking out

Thanks go out to Andy Davis for sharing the Learning Matters website with me. LM is a non-profit production company focused on education which produces programs for the NewsHour and documentaries for PBS. The site also includes a blog by John Merrow, LM president and executive producer. His most recent post talks about the new contract in DCPS and the broader impact it may have, as well as changes in the Detroit Public Schools system. The changes are being pushed by none other than Robert Bobb, whom you may remember as the president of the DC School Board and former Deputy Mayor of DC under Anthony Williams. He is now the Emergency Financial Manager at DPS. Small world!

Detroit Public Schools Emergency Financial Manager
Robert Bobb, with a $425,000 smile.

Irony at its utmost.

I took a class this weekend on programming from Jeff C. He and Cary S. told me about the recent firing of a teacher, David Krakow, at Cesar Chavez. PCHS. Why was this social studies teacher, who reportedly received positive evaluations and was promoted to the role of faculty mentor fired?

Incompetence? No.
Absenteeism? Nope.
Lack of professionalism? Not even close.

You got to read it to believe it. See the City Paper write up here or this more brief article from the DC Metro Council of the AFL-CIO (hint, hint). Truly a slap in the face to the legacy of Cesar Chavez.

Excited about some new reading

I'm excited because Doug Lemov's book Teach Like a Champion just arrived on my doorstep. Doug Lemov is an amazing instructor, school leader, and author working with Uncommon Schools. He was recently featured in an article in the New York Times Magazine entitled "Building a Better Teacher." I encourage you to read the article if you haven't already. The Times also includes video clips from Doug's workshops. I was fortunate enough to participate in a three day training with Uncommon Schools lead by Doug in the summer of 2009. The practices he shares are very applicable and lead to real results for children and schools. I'll share more once I've had a chance to read the book.

The article also features Deborah Loewenberg Ball, a University of Michigan Dean of the School of Education and professor. She has developed a taxonomy she calls the Mathematical Knowledge for Teaching, or M.K.T. The M.K.T. includes a multiple choice test for teachers of mathematics that examines a teacher's content knowledge as well as skills that make strong math teachers. It's a very interesting idea.
I also picked up Teaching As Leadership; The Highly Effective Teacher's Guide to Closing the Achievement Gap. I believe this is TFA's first book, and it's written by Steven Farr, with a forward by Jason Kamras and afterword by Wendy Kopp. I got a great deal on both online at Barnes and Noble. I paid under $35 for both books including shipping, and it arrived on my doorstep in two days. If you buy the ebook(s) version it's even cheaper, and Amazon.com has it for about $1 less than B&N. TFA also has a website specifically detailing the TAL framerwork. Good stuff as always! Sorry for the hyper-use of hyperlinks.

More good news from DCPS

This article tells about 7 students from DCPS who earned Gates Millenium Scholarships. It includes a brief update on Isiah West, the student featured in the story "A New Ballou." Go kids go!

Like sands through the hourglass...

The drama continues in the story of the $34 million surplus and whether or not it actually exists. Thank you to Elke for sharing this article from the City Paper. According to what I've read Chancellor Rhee's office claims that the surplus was present and was to be used to fund the new union contract, but the DC CFO claims that the surplus was never confirmed, and that he was "incredulous" to learn that Rhee claimed the $34 million was there. Mayor Fenty asserts that the money was certified as present and is needed to fund the new contract.

Both the letter from DC CFO Gandhi revealing that funding is not present, and a response from Chancellor Rhee can be linked to through the article. The letter from Gandhi is worth reading. Chancellor Rhee ends her letter saying that with a combination of $5 million in the budget and $29 million that has been identified by Rhee and her staff, the contract can still go forward. More is sure to come, and it will be interesting to see how this all unfolds. Stay tuned...

Corporal Punishment

I haven't thought about corporal punishment much, but this article from the Post surprised me a lot. A few pieces from the article are below:

• In the US an estimated 225,000 students received corporal punishment in 2006
• Nearly a quarter of cases occurred in Texas
• Corporal punishment remains legal in 20 states, mostly in the South, but its use is diminishing
• Ohio ended it last year
  
• A movement for a federal ban is afoot
• A report last year found that students with disabilities were disproportionately subjected to corporal punishment, sometimes in direct response to behavioral problems that were a result of their disabilities
• Many educators and psychologists say that positive tools are far more effective for discouraging misbehavior

The new Ballou

This will get your weekend off to a great start.

Big ups to Elke, Alisa, and all the other folks who have worked to make Ballou what it is today.

TFA DC and random stuff

Teach for America-DC is holding an alumni reception on April 29th at the Phillips Collection to discuss their experiences and talk about ways to continue their commitment. I have registered, and I think Andy Davis has too. I hope to see you there.
A small cool thing in this months One Day. DC Prep has an ad on page 41 with a picture I took at last years graduation. They also feature a picture of mine on one of their banners for recruitment. You can see one of the pictures are below. Plus Brigham Kipplinger is featured in an ad for EL Haynes. Nicely done DC '03. I think Jeff and Meg, Joanne and Roger, Phil and Veronica, Sarah and Chris, and Paul and Marella should send in pictures from their weddings to show how DC '03 reps like no other.

It's my lucky day, I just found $34 miliion!

If you're following the teacher contract negotiations in Washington DC, you've heard of the 'newly' discovered surplus of $34 million. I place newly in quotes because the surplus was discovered in February, but only shared with the city council, the WTU and the public this week. Needless to say many are not too happy about this. Do you think Chancellor Rhee should have disclosed this discovery in February? She has stated that the teachers who were fired in September, as the result of a projected $43 million budget shortfall, will not be reinstated. Is that fair? Should the teachers be reinstated? Did Chancellor Rhee handle this situation appropriately? Another Post perspective can be found here.

Bribing students?

I read this Time magazine article about a program used in Chicago, NYC, Dallas, and DC in which students get paid for various achievements in school. It's an interesting article, and the program has had varying levels of success in different cities. What do you think about programs like these? Do you support paying students for achievement or do you believe strongly that learning is incentive enough in itself? Is this any different than other incentive systems that schools use with pencils, dress down days, or trips? Would you support a program like this in your school, and would you support a program like this in your child's school?

Let's get started.

To start off the Edworks DC page, give us an update on yourself. Share with everyone where you are, what you're doing, whats in your future, etc. It can be anything from a phrase to a page. I'll start things off.

Jamie-I left DC Prep in the fall to work at a brand new school, Building for the Future Academy (BFTFA). The school is in southeast, and it's a full time special education placement school for students in DC. We have between 30-40 students on the roster and a teaching staff of 4 full time special education teachers, and me, a part time teacher/program developer. I work specifically with the National External Diploma Program (EDP). EDP consists of a group for 10 students who have earned benchmark scores on the CASAS exam in reading and math. Students attend class three days a week and work in an internship two days a week. While in class they work on basic skills in math, reading, writing, financial literacy, and life skills. The remainder of their time they work on a portfolio of modules from the National External Diploma Program. The exciting thing about our program is that in every other state participants must be at least 24 years old, so they can demonstrate work experience. Our program accepts students as young as 17 because they participate in an internship, which allows students to gain real world work experience. Once students complete the portfolio they can work with a program called Living Wages that gives them a 5 week assessment that requires students to demonstrate mastery of the skills they worked on in their portfolio. Upon successful completion of this five week class, students have earned a high school diploma. Students from our program will graduate with a diploma through the Ballou STAY program and have the choice of walking with the graduating class from their home school, and/or walking in a graduation at BFTFA. I really like the work, the students, and the staff, my only concern is that the position has not developed into a full time role for me as we don't have enough students enrolled to make it full time. I'm hoping that it will develop into something more full time so I can continue to grow the program.