Talk Priority Schools

By Jim Meadows, Ph.D., Washington Education Association

The Center for Reinventing Public Education (CRPE), based at the University of Washington, recently released a paper encouraging questions about the state’s investment in National Board Certification – specifically for our most challenging schools. With state revenue forecasts down and K-12 education budget cuts looming, the CRPE report uses contradictory, limited, and flawed data to undermine one Washington State’s most successful ongoing education reform efforts.

The paper does its best to raise uncertainty about investing in accomplished teaching in high-poverty schools at a time when all things education are on the chopping block, but the attempt is built on a foundation of limited and incomplete research and there are fundamental flaws in the work when viewed alongside more comprehensive studies.

A Washington State Board of Education study from June of 2010 used a high-quality analysis of comprehensive data sets over three years (2007-8, 2008-9, & 2009-10), and included comparison groups. The study found:

• Retention rates of NBCTs working in challenging schools are the same or higher than NBCTs statewide and higher than the other teachers in challenging schools.
• NBCTs in challenging schools have stayed in their school from one year to the next at rates greater than other teachers in challenging schools, and greater than or equal to NBCTs statewide. The challenging schools bonus appears to be a significant factor in retaining NBCTs in challenging schools .
• When asked about factors contributing to staying at their school, more than three quarters (79 percent) indicated the challenging schools bonus significantly or moderately contributed to their decision to stay.
• In Year One, 89 percent of the NBCTs were already located in a challenging school, while 10 percent moved from a non-challenging school to a challenging school. In Years Two and Three, an even larger proportion of NBCTs in challenging schools stayed in the same challenging school from one year to the next (92 and 94 percent, respectively).
• The percentage of NBCTs from non-challenging schools who transferred into challenging schools in year 1, 2 and 3 was, respectively: 10.2%, 7.2% and 4.2%)

CRPE did not consider other important factors affecting teacher decisions about transferring to challenging schools, including the impact of the weakened economy, limited open teaching positions amidst massive budget cuts, and uncertainty tied to new federal and state school improvement initiatives. read more »

By Lara Searcy, National Board Certified Teacher

S p r i n g  B r e a k. There should be respite in that phrase… unless, of course, you are working on National Boards. The deadline is March 31st, and I can feel the weight of my four entry binders on my shoulders (or in the classic “teacher bag” I carry everywhere I go) and the carpal tunnel settling into my typing fingers. However, I am content knowing that I am not alone in this process.

There are thousands of other teachers working over the break to document and show how their teaching positively affects student learning. This is the purpose, the goal, and the accomplishment… and I have never been so challenged, affirmed, or mentally exhausted in my career! During this process, I have been so fortunate to have the support and help from so many teachers in my district who have already accomplished this feat; therefore, it is because of them that I can truly respect the process because they are accomplished teachers and mentors. When I put my “box” in the mail at the end of this month, I will do so with the biggest sense of accomplishment, knowing that hundreds of hours of my life are contained in it.

But overall, in hindsight, I know it will be worth the time and effort because in showing how I impacted students, the process greatly impacted me.

So today, when my students asked me, “Mrs. Searcy, what are you doing for Spring Break?” I said “spending time with you” and laughed. Because students understand that teachers don’t go home “empty handed” at the end of the school day or before a break. They understand that the teacher will always be the student and that their homework eventually becomes my homework… and for that, my students give me respect, even when other professionals and politicians do not.

Teachers are their own unique brand and community. We immediately have empathy and stories to share. We wear our red pens like “red badges of courage.” You can spot us in a crowd by the books we carry, the hugs we receive, and the number of students who shyly approach us, asking, “Remember me?” five to twenty years later. Though I am still “young” in the profession (this is my fifth year teaching), I know that teaching is the “road less traveled,” but I like what I do and I do what I like, which has indeed “made all the difference.”

This post is part of a series from National Board Certified Teachers (NBCT) who have been invited to blog about their experiences working in a priority school.

By Greg Johnson, NEA Executive Committee

At the end of February, I visited several schools in Montgomery, Alabama, that all had one thing in common: All of the schools had received School Improvement Grants (SIG), which means they were identified as needing improvement, corrective action, or restructuring, as to enable them to make adequate yearly progress.

What struck me, however, was not one school was like another.

The schools were at various stages of transformation efforts, with varying degrees of success. Some school staff told me with pride about their efforts to collaborate with other stakeholders, while in other places, collaboration was not yet a shared value. Staff members at one school were facing the dreaded final step of school closure.  But, I’m getting ahead of myself….

My first school visit took me to a place where educators and parents were communicating well and parental involvement was up.  Prior to SIG, the Parent Teachers Association was all but dead – but now the PTA was back, and school leaders are seeing a high level of participation from parents.
read more »

By Peggy Saunders, National Board Certified Teacher

In my job as a Literacy Coach, the topic of student behavior comes up frequently.  One area of behavior that we discuss is homework – not doing it – usually on a regular basis.  Here are some of the questions we had.  They may sound familiar to you:

• Why don’t all our students do it?
• When do we grade it all?
• What do parents think about it?
• Does it help our students learn the math?

I started by thinking about math homework, and more questions came:

• How much class time do we spend checking it?
• Does everyone understand the problems after we check?
• How can we individualize for students that need more or less practice?

One of the resources I used to help me think about this topic is Rethinking Homework (2009) by Cathy Vatterott. The PDF linked here, Designing Quality Homework Tasks, can help with creating tasks to improve learning, motivation, and student ownership of learning.

The Homework Partners is an idea I had about using student partnering to help students learn math.  The correct answers for the assigned homework would be displayed on an overhead, and students would work in partners (or later, small groups) to check and repair their own understanding.  Days could be alternated for helping with or help from, or two short sessions could be used.  Choice is used to support motivation and student ownership of learning.

This post is part of a series from National Board Certified Teachers (NBCT) who have been invited to blog about their experiences working in a priority school.

By Shellie Sallas, National Board Certified Teacher

Every year, on the first day of school I asked my students what the goal of reading is…with great enthusiasm they always respond, “To read FAST!” This breaks my heart.

How can students reach 5th grade and not understand that reading was about so much more than speed? If my students have this perception, then other students probably have the same thoughts on reading. Certain reading programs place significant emphasis on reading with great speed and fluency, and funding was based heavily on students’ fluency rates. This results in 5th graders who are reading 230 words in one minute, but comprehend little to none of what they read.

In this age of teacher accountability, many teachers are afraid of losing their jobs so they are abandoning their best practices and shifting their focus to preparation for the state tests and away from developing thoughtful learners.  The instructional focus needs to shift back.

If we are simply teaching reading, math, science, etc. to students instead of teaching students to become thinkers, innovators, and problem solvers, we are truly doing our future generations a disservice. If we want students to achieve success and be prepared to solve the problems of tomorrow, we must teach them how to think and support them as they learn how to explain their thinking. If students can think well, they WILL achieve success in a variety of contexts, including the state tests.

This post is part of a series from National Board Certified Teachers (NBCT) who have been invited to blog about their experiences working in a priority school.

By Christy Levings, NEA Executive Committee

The morning of March 2, 2011 rocked with excitement as hundreds of second and third graders put on red and white Dr Seuss Cat in the Hat hats!   They filled a theater in downtown High Point, North Carolina, where they cheered over stories and a huge Cat in the Hat that made them giggle and shout.

I followed, with my team of great NEA staff, the students at Oak Hill Elementary back to their school that afternoon.  We came to see the work at this SIG school that choose a turnaround model to work with its hugely diverse student group.   Oak Hill serves a student population that is roughly 80% minority students and nearly 40% of the students are English Language Learners.  Although Spanish is the most common first language, they come to school with 14 languages in their homes.

This school has been rated as one of the lowest performing elementary schools in North Carolina and has made AYP only once in the last five years.  In reading all of that you might expect to find a staff that felt the burden of their work or at least seemed daunted by the task at hand to get these students up to grade level on tests designed for learners with fewer challenges. read more »

Portland, OR teachers and the school board have agreed to a new contract, fresh evidence that educators and districts across the country are pushing forward on collaborative reforms, despite political attacks and a difficult economy. The work of the Portland Association of Teachers and legislation supported by the Arkansas Education Association just this week stands in contrast to the so-called nuclear option exercised by Republican pols in Madison, WI Wednesday night and today that appeared to advance Gov. Walker’s union-stripping plan close to law.

While political opponents continue attacks on the rights of working men and women in some states, elsewhere the story is one of success for agreement-based approaches to advance education reform and budget savings. In the Portland contract, teachers agreed to small pay increases, additional workloads and adoption of a new evaluation system next year. PAT President Rebecca Levison told Oregon Public Broadcasting the new system is being piloted this year at a Priority School in Portland – Roosevelt High School – as part of its federal School Improvement Grant, “led by the teachers with the help of the union and also the leaders in the building…so we’re utilizing what they’re working on this year to inform what we’re going to do next year.” read more »

By Jennifer Skellett, National Board Certified Teacher

I heard the other day on the news that teachers are bad, greedy, and bringing down the country’s economy. Such harsh words for what we actually do. More importantly, not true.

Quality teachers on average work beyond their contract hours, donate food for snacks and school supplies because the schools or families can’t afford to buy them. Teachers who work in high-needs schools tend to carry serious emotional bricks home with them due to the fact that their students couldn’t do their homework because their dad was deported the night before.

Teachers also help to counsel students like the one who witnessed her mom’s roommate’s murder. Yes, both true stories from where I teach.

The work we do in and out of the classroom will never add up to what we get paid. I have never complained about how much money I make. I knew going in to my profession I wasn’t going to be a millionaire. On the other hand, I knew that the job would have security and a pension; both of which are now being attacked in various states around the country.

Teaching is a profession that is incredibly challenging. The reward is not in the meager paycheck we take home, but in the smiles on the faces of our students when they feel successful that day. I suppose if this is what the news media sees as bad, I don’t want to be good.

This post is part of a series from National Board Certified Teachers (NBCT) who have been invited to blog about their experiences working in a priority school.

Last week, NEA Executive Committee Members Greg Johnson and Len Paolillo visited four priority schools in Des Moines, Iowa. Melissa Spencer, President of the Des Moines Education Association organized the tours at Hoyt Middle School, North High School, Edmunds Elementary School and Nathan Weeks Middle School, in addition to a meeting with Dr. Nancy Sebring, Superintendent of Des Moines Public Schools.

Professional development has been a big focus in the district with the School Improvement Grant funds. read more »

By Christy Levings, NEA Executive Committee

In North Carolina last week, I visited two alternative high schools that have received SIG dollars with fellow Executive Committee member Paula Monroe. We met hard working teachers and educational support professionals who educate students in danger of dropping out or who are failing in the system to move towards graduation.  After visiting their schools and observing their work, I am convinced we need to answer tough questions like this one: How do you support those who work with students who are the toughest to teach?

The resources from the SIG grant should fill in some of the financial holes in these programs but there are bigger issues to address.  In both sites, the folks on the ground who make magic happen in those classrooms each day were not the folks who put the applications together.  The educators had little input about the grants or the programs the grants would fund.  At one site, a major concept of the grant was to replace most teacher instruction and face-to-face interactions with students with more time on computer.  This proved to be a disaster for students already at risk in less than one semester and they are changing the students’ school day.

I left with more questions than answers.  How will we support programs for the students we are most at risk to lose? read more »