Maine ASCD Weblog

Merit Pay

The Philadelphia Inquirer reported today on a visit from U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings who “touted a $100 million federal fund to reward teachers and principals who raise student achievement in high-need schools." While Philadelphia’s school chief, Paul Vallas expressed interest in applying for a share, the “Philadelphia Federation of Teachers isn't eager,” the paper reported.

"I don't think that merit pay works," said Jerry Jordan, vice president of the teachers' union, who attended yesterday's session. "If we want to get highly qualified teachers in these locations, we have to improve the working conditions for teachers."

The money should be used to lower class size, he said. Philadelphia caps class size at 30 in the primary grades and 33 in upper-level classes.

The paper further reported:

Spellings said the fund could be used for "merit pay" plans for teachers and principals who improve performance in the schools.

The Education Department next week will solicit funding applications from school districts and other interested parties. This strategy is part of the federal government's attempt to offer incentives, rather than sanctions, to spur change.

"We're going to pay additional resources to people who work in more challenging environments and get better results with kids," Spellings said during an early-afternoon news conference at the Philadelphia School District's administration building.

This idea sounds familiar and vaguely similar to some of the recommendations made in a Brookings Institute/Hamilton Project discussed a few days ago. I fully expect that Ted Hershberg will have something to say about this when he comes to Maine in a few weeks. You may want to make sure you are there – there’s still room.

~John Brandt

PLC @ MPA – Part II

I was awake in time to find the sun cresting over Penobscot Bay. The chilled, crystal clear April air and the windless sky evoked a bay deep blue and gray. And, quite a sight I might add.

Being an exhibitor, I was not able to attend the session with Rick and Becky DuFour. But I did listen in enough to take a few notes.

Central to the notion of Professional Learning Communities is the idea that it requires a major cultural shift. As Rick points out, schools were not design for staffs to collaborate. While this is possible within elementary buildings where faculties generally “get along” with each other, he comments that secondary schools are a different animal altogether. “High School teachers tend to think of themselves as self-employed,” he quipped much to the delight of the audience. It was one of those statements that drew a large initial laugh but I quickly noticed a sublet sub-tone that followed as the reality of the statement sunk in. “It’s true,” could be heard coming from dozens of voices around the room.

Sadly, this fact is true. Despite efforts at reforming public high schools, a major stumbling block stiffling change comes from teachers and the insular and isolated world they live in. It's not their fault; it's the culture.

Dufour identifies seven necessary elements to changing school culture. Not surprisingly the first is collaboration. Collaboration; developing mission, vision, values and goals; leadership; focusing on learning; celebration; and persistence are the seven. But collaboration is the biggie.

In the 2002 book authored by Robert Eaker, Rick DuFour and Becky DuFour, “Getting Started: Reculturing Schools to Become Professional Learning Communities” (available for sale at our Maine ASCD Affiliate Bookstore), Eaker writes:

Traditional schools are characterized, to a great degree, by teacher isolation. It has been said that traditional school often functions as a collecting of independent contractors united by a common parking lot. Here, then is a fundamental shift: professional learning communities strive to create a culture of collaboration. Collaboration by invitation will not work. It is never enough. This is a key point. In a professional learning community, collaboration is embedded in every aspect of the school culture. Every major decision related to the learning mission is made through a collaborative process.

“PLCs are not about looking at research together,” Rick states today, “...it’s about student learning, it’s teachers learning from each other, about how to teach students so they can learn…”

~John Brandt

PLC @ MPA

I am blogging from the Maine Principals' Association Spring Conference at the Samoset. Maine ASCD has paid for a table and we'll have the always-popular, never-duplicated Maine ASCD Affiliate Bookstore open at 7:00 am Thursday morning for all those early birds.

I have no idea how many books I have for sale, but suffice it to say the car trunk was full. There are lots of different titles including some about professional learning communities. We do have a problem in that the table in the exhibit hall is very small. Sales will need to be brisk.

MPA is presenting Rick and Becky DuFour who are doing "Professional Learning Communities: Best Practices for Enhancing Student Achievement." [pdf]

Since the Samoset has wireless internet throughout the complex, I'll likely be blogging from the exhibit hall when I get a break.

Hey, if you are coming to the MPA, stop by and buy a book - better yet, buy a dozen!

~John Brandt

Teacher Effectiveness

In a new white paper just released by The Hamilton Project of the Brookings Institute, authors Robert Gordon of The Center for American Progress, Thomas J. Kane, of Harvard, and Douglas O. Staiger, of Dartmouth argue that, “A key determinant in how much students learn is the quality of their teachers.”

They go on to state:

“To get real results, America needs a dramatic shift in how teachers are hired and evaluated. Moving our focus from teacher credentialing to teacher effectiveness on the job would bring more people into the profession and increase teacher quality”

The white paper and accompanying policy brief should prove controversial as they call for in their recommendations:

1. Reduce the barriers to entry into teaching for those without traditional teacher certification.
2. Make it harder to promote the least effective teachers to tenured positions.
3. Provide bonuses to highly effective teachers willing to teach in schools with a high proportion of low income students.
4. Evaluate individual teachers using various measures of teacher performance on the job.
5. Provide federal grants to help states that link student performance with the effectiveness of individual teachers over time.

A central part of these recommendations are for the use value-added assessment.

Here is a link to the White Paper [pdf] and the Policy Brief [pdf]

Make sure you attend our Spring Conference with Ted Hershberg. I’m sure he will have something to say about this report and its implications.

~John Brandt

School Violence

Rush Kidder of the Camden, Maine based Institute for Global Ethics has another great commentary this week that all educators should take a look at.

He describes the recent wave of Columbine-like plots by students around the U.S. and their relationship to bullying and general threatening behavior on the part of students. It is a provocative and thoughtful piece that deserves attention.

Please read: Countering School Violence by Rushworth M. Kidder

~John Brandt

Toodle-doo

I find myself reading the obituary columns in the daily paper a little more than in year’s past. Like a test subject in a Skinner Box, I keep reading and every once and a while a familiar name providing me with intermittent positive reinforcement and a few minutes of stark, often sad reality. These days it seems there are more names to recognize and Wednesday’s Portland Press Herald was no exception. But instead of feeling sad or shocked in learning about the death of a friend or colleague, I was filled with delightful memories of happy and festive times, of a woman who was full of life.

Her name was Flora Jones and she was a teacher (4th Grade, I think) at the Josiah Bartlett Elementary School in Bartlett, New Hampshire. Yes, Josiah Bartlett is the famous – and real - colonial patriot, and ancestor of the fictional Josiah “Jed” Bartlet of West Wing fame. Yes, I know his name is spelled differently; blame it on Aaron Sorkin.

Flora was one of those rare creatures who filled the room with her presence. She was in many ways bigger than life, arousing those around her with wonder and the delight of living. Kids immediately sensed her spirit and her classroom was almost always a place of festivity and animation.

You could never be a stranger for long when Flora Jones was around. She either knew everything about before she met you, or quizzed you mercilessly until she was satisfied that she had enough information to judge you accordingly. That is what I remember about our first encounter. I’m not sure Flora liked everyone. She loved the kids, but adults, well; she might have been a little fussy with adults. But Flora told me she liked me and that’s all that mattered. I was always welcome in her room and would always take the opportunity to check in, to say hello and find out what mysteries of the universe were being discovered.

I have many pleasant memories of my times in that school but I think I’ll remember Flora best for the annual Bartlett staff parties around Christmas. The annual party was always held in the basement of Flora’s house, located just down the road from the school. Decorated in a nautical theme complete with fishing paraphernalia, old nets and lobster buoys, the basement – Davy Jones’ Locker - named after her late husband, was always full of people having a great time. I seem to recall that when first I saw the lobster buoys lining the walls of The Locker, Flora and I had our first conversation about the coast of Maine. Flora, you see, was from Boothbay Harbor and was soon regaled us with story after story of her younger days, hitchhiking to the Gorham Teachers College, and the summer dances at the old Boothbay Dance Hall. I remember thinking this grey haired lady must have been a force to be reckoned with in her bygone years.

It was to Boothbay Harbor that Flora Jones was to return after her 42 year teaching career was complete. And it was there in Boothbay Harbor that she would continue her enthusiasm for life, engaged in civic activities and community service.

I’ve had no contact with Flora since those days, many years ago in Bartlett. But ironically I recently met a teacher from Boothbay and out of the blue I thought of Flora. I asked this young woman if she had ever heard of Flora Jones and after a hesitant few moments, the woman announced that she “thought” the name was familiar. I knew immediately that this woman didn’t know Flora, because anyone who her met her - NEVER forgot her. You can’t just be "familiar" with a spirit like Flora.

Then this obituary appeared in Wednesday’s paper and I thought again about my old friend Flora. I read the standard lines describing highlights of life, career and family. It was very straight and proper, but it just didn’t seem to fit. This was a person so full of life, funny, sometimes a bit wild. This plain column of names and places was not, in my mind the way I wanted to remember this grand lady.

I read past the information about the funeral services and the requests for donations to be made to this and that charity; even the details about the funeral home. And there I saw it; a simple two word sentence that was the epitome of Flora Jones. There at the bottom of the page was the essence of this free sprit. There, once again, Flora Jones got in the last word.

“Toodle-doo”

~John Brandt

The Other Side of NCLB

The Associated Press has been running series this week about No Child Left Behind and Friday’s was particularly noteworthy. The piece, “For contractors, new law is a windfall” (also posted on the Boston.com) describes some of the lesser known aspects of NCLB, specifically the requirements to offer tutorial services and additional training for teachers.

The article notes that the government “estimates $2.5 billion was available for school to hire tutoring companies this year” and showcases one such company in Florida called “Club Z! In Home Tutoring Services.” One other company, PLATO Learning is reported to have revenues of $3.7 million last year alone and Baltimore-based Catapult Learning estimates districts will spend $500 million this year nationwide.

Even former Education Secretary Rod Paige has gotten into the action. The article reports Paige leads a consulting firm Chartwell Education Group with a team of former aides. Among other things, Chartwell provides consultation services to governors and state education chiefs.

Those bucks sure could have purchased a lot of teachers’ supplies.

~John Brandt

Growth Models – Part II

I first wrote about "growth models" - also known as "value-added assessment" - in this blog back in December. Recently, there has been more information about the US Department of Education’s plan to allow states to pilot growth models as part of the NCLB program. According to the ASCD ED Policy Update (April, 2006), nine states have been selected by the DOE in the pilot program.

According to the ASCD report:

The proposals from those states—Alaska, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, North Carolina, Oregon, and Tennessee—detail how each state plans to measure the growth that individual students make from year to year. Many of the state proposals cite similar reasons for their interest in growth models, including believing that the new strategy will:

• Raise expectations.
• Encourage more aggressive support for children who are further from reaching proficiency.
• Avoid false negative identifications of schools and districts.
• Better meet the ultimate goal of NCLB by literally measuring each individual child.
• Provide improved information that makes it possible for the achievement gap to be closed more quickly.

The use of growth models will be a central part of the our Maine ASCD Spring Conference – Assessment and Accountability Systems to Transform America’s Schools with Ted Hershberg on May 12, 2006 in Portland. This will be an excellent opportunity to hear about what is happening nationally on this topic allowing us to use this information to shape policy in Maine. Representatives from all of the major stakeholders groups will be in attendance at our conference and you won't want to miss it.

Ted Hershberg and Barbara Lea-Kruger were the authors of a recent commentary in Education Week entitled: Aligning the System: The Case for Linking Teacher Pay to Student Learning. Again, growth models, or value-added assessment play a central role in this analysis.

There is still room left to sign up for the Maine ASCD Spring Conference. Register Today!

~John Brandt

“No Boy Left Behind” or “The Gender War?”

A recent series in the Portland Press Herald (PPH), a cover story by Newsweek, reports on NBC’s Today Show, a PBS documentary (Raising Cain) and a statewide conference (Boys to Men) have all been stating a similar theme regarding concerns that boys are falling behind academically.

As reported in the PPH,

Maine's boys are lagging behind girls in the classroom, and there are signs that the gap is widening…By many measures, Maine's boys are struggling compared to girls.

• They score lower on standardized tests in reading and writing: just 40 percent of 11th-grade boys met or exceeded state standards compared with 57 percent of girls in 2003-2004.
• Twice as many boys than girls receive special education services.
• Men earn about 38 percent of the bachelor's degrees awarded by Maine's public universities.
• High school girls outnumber boys by almost a 2-1 ratio in top-10 senior rankings.

The achievement gap between boys and girls emerges before kindergarten, continues through elementary, middle and high schools, and becomes most acute at the college level.

It is found in Maine's poorer north and richer south. It affects educated families and households where neither parent has a college degree.

Not surprisingly, there have been several commentaries posted which contradict these statements. In the April 17, 2006 PPH, Kimberly Simmons disputed the findings of the newspaper:

Are all boys suffering in school while all girls perform above expectations? No. White middle-class boys are doing quite well academically.

The real issue can be better understood by focusing on the challenges facing poor children and children living in poor school districts. Poverty dramatically reduces high school graduation rates and plans for attending college.

For example, 78.8 percent of graduates in Cumberland County plan to attend college, compared to 57.9 percent of those living in Franklin County. This is the gap we should be talking about.

The framing of the "new" gender gap series relies on pitting girls against boys. But we must ask, do girls' successes really equal boys' failures? Moreover, are girls and women in Maine truly thriving? Are Maine schools serving all children in the best possible way?

We call on Maine people to work toward increased opportunities for all Maine families, toward increased funding for Maine schools and early childhood opportunities, and toward freedom from harmful stereotypes for all Maine people.

In the April 9th Washington Post, Caryl Rivers and Rosalind Chait Barnett also challenged the reports of struggling boys nationally. Caryl Rivers is a professor of journalism at Boston University. Rosalind Chait Barnett is a senior scientist at the Women's Studies Research Center at Brandeis University.

From the Washington Post

There's actually not much evidence that most boys lack verbal skills. In 2005, University of Wisconsin psychologist Janet Hyde synthesized data from 165 studies on verbal ability and gender. They revealed a female superiority so slight as to be meaningless. And psychologist Diane Halpern of Claremont McKenna College looked at many studies of verbal and math abilities and found that, overall, the gender differences were remarkably small.

Could it be we are seeing the first salvos of a new Gender War?

Here is more food for thought from the American Psychological Association's Psychology Matters, Men and Women: No Big Difference

I have my own personal opinion of all of this, but what is yours?

~John Brandt

Flickering Minds

I attended a workshop given by Carl Glickman at ASCD Chicago earlier in the month. This was a short version of the presentation that Carl will be giving in Maine at our Fall Conference, so it was a good warm up.

If Carl’s presentation in Maine is anything like the one in Chicago, expect a packed house and lots of fireworks. Indeed, the house was so packed in Chicago that I was only able to “hear” the presentation from an overflow room. Unfortunately, I got there late and missed part of the presentation, but I was there long enough to hear him describe some of the assumptions common in the educational trade these days. The one that got my attention was a reference to two “studies” which criticized the wasteful spending on technology at a time diminished resources. The two studies cited were one called The Flickering Mind by Todd Oppenheimer published in 2003, and a report from the Royal Economic Society in 2005.

Somehow I had missed the Oppenheimer book but see that many others have taken him on. Without having read the book, my quick review of the commentaries I’ve read suggest that he has some valid points. But, I’m not sure I agree with his conclusions. The book review by the New York Times has the best analysis:

Books about education tend to fall into predictable patterns. Their authors define what the problem ''really'' is, and use some combination of statistics and stories about individual schools or districts to prove their theses: their version of the trouble is right, other people's assumptions are wrong, so other proposed fixes miss the point. Finally, they offer their solutions, which are usually much less persuasive than their analyses. Three books this year fit the pattern: superb analyses, followed by comparatively little in the way of useful solutions. Even so, the stories they tell combine in a portrait worth examining.

As this book has been out there for a few years, it may be old news to some, but if you are passionate about integrating technology in schools, you may want to at least review The Flickering Mind website.

The second report was a bit harder to find. I searched the RES website for a 2005 reference on this topic but found only two studies on the topic; one, critical of the use of technology, was published in 2002 and a more recent one,  published in October 2004, was actually somewhat supportive of the use of technology. Both studies, by the way, were on schools outside of the U.S.

“New Evidence on Classroom Computers and Pupil Learning” [PDF] looks at survey data from a group of Israeli teachers using classroom computers for computer-aided instruction (CAI). This one I have scanned and it looks like they are studying a particular use of computers in the classroom which I hope no one is now using. As the report clearly notes, B.F. Skinner pronouncement of the value of “teaching machines” has never materialized. In fact, there is years of evidence to suggest that CAI is a total waste of time and money. I could have told you that without having read the study.

The more recently report on the RES website was published in October 2004 and is entitled: “Computers and Student Learning: Bivariate and Multivariate Evidence on the Availability and Use of Computers at Home and at School.” This study concluded that students who had computers and internet available at school and home, actually performed better than students who had no access to technology. But they quickly noted that students who came from environments where there was technology in the home were typically more affluent and thus probably attended schools that were overall better. When the affluence factor was controlled for, the effect technology availability had on student performance was not significant. Of more interest was the finding that, under certain conditions, the use of technology had a negative impact on student performance. The researchers describe an “inverted U-shaped relationship” (see figure one below) showing the relationship between technology use and student performance. Simply put, kids who perhaps spend a great deal of time hanging out on the internet tended to perform poorer that those who used the internet in more moderate amounts; another conclusion that seems pretty predictable.

View Figure One

In any case, if Carl tries to use these studies to condemn the use of technology, I’ll be ready for him.

~John Brandt