Seeking Shared Learning

Standards again . . .

2009-11-12T16:38:00.000-08:00

I found this article on Education Week. It is about the common core standards and states slowing work on their own standards while waiting for the release early next year. I found some of the information interesting and informative. It also raised additional questions about the future plans for our state.

I can understand why states would want to not engage in standard’s work if they are planning on adopting these national standards following their release, but where are we as a state. We have been told that we will not adopt them for at least two years so we continue to work on alignment and assessments that may change again in two years. The article shares the following information.

Mr. Montgomery said that, based on a CCSSO survey, he expects that at least a dozen states will adopt the common standards within six months of their release. He said 16 participating states have the capacity to adopt them within six months and another 15 within a year; the rest would likely need more time.

I wonder if we responded to the survey request and, if yes, how. This would be important information for us to have. It could certainly influence how we choose to use our time and resources. Early in 2010 we are required to submit a timeline and process for adoption of the language arts and mathematics standards since we have already signed on indicating our agreement. All indications point to adoption by our state, we just don’t know when at this time.

The following comment in the slow down article is troubling for me because of concerns I have previously shared. It speaks to the use of federal dollars as the carrot to entice states to move in this direction. Will money be the primary motivation for this significant change?

"The delay would be very pragmatic because, as someone said to me, ‘Why should I spend my money if I can get Race to the Top money to do exactly the same thing?’ ” Mr. Kamil said.

Is there anyone out there with a direct pipeline to our governor or to Randy Dorn? If yes, next time you talk with them you might want to find out the timeline for adoption by our state. Once released, I look forward to OSPI’s review of the alignment of our standards with the common core standards. That will be important information that will influence how we respond to the anticipated change. At this time, we can only hope for high alignment to our own.

Wordle time . . .

2009-11-09T16:58:00.000-08:00

I decided it was time to do a Wordle of my blog to get some sense of what I have been sharing. It certainly shows the emphasis in my recent posts with national standards, the Gates Foundation, and the need for support. Teachers and teacher are fairly prominent so I feel pretty good with the focus. I know most are not as interested as I am in RttT and core common standards, but I do believe that they will have significant short and long term influence on our profession.

The President says . . .

2009-11-08T20:37:00.000-08:00

In this article in last week’s Los Angeles Times President Obama once again speaks to the need to judge teachers by how well their students do on some type of assessment.

Obama called for the abolition of "firewall" rules, which prevent many schools from judging teacher performance based on student performance.

I believe that we should be held accountable for the learning of all students, but for me the operative word is we. Teachers work in schools, that are in school districts, that operate within state guidelines and funding mechanisms. Yes, the research is quite clear that the teacher is the single most important variable in this equation, but we can’t ignore the system within which teachers and students engage.

I believe that there can and should be a point in time when we will be able to link student achievement with teacher performance. That time, however, will come after we work collaboratively to identify the support that is necessary over time to achieve a “teaching standard” that results in teacher accountability for student achievement. The support is the responsibility of the system to provide under the guidance of the building leadership of which the principal is the key player. Then there will be the issue of what assessment(s), in what content areas, and over what period of time

I wonder if the President and others pushing this agenda are seeing this accountability only for what we traditionally call the core content areas or for teachers in all content areas. Is the accountability standard the same for the first year teacher and for those in the profession for longer periods of time? Will states be allowed to identify the standards and determine the cut scores for assessing success or will they be national standards? There are many questions that need answers before we can successfully implement this change.

It was interesting that the President made these remarks in a charter middle school. He and the education department have made their support of charters quite clear. I also found the following statement quite interesting.

"If a state wants to increase its chances of actually winning a grant, it will have to do more," Obama said. "It will have to collect information about how students are doing in a particular year -- and over the course of an academic career -- and make this information available to teachers so they can use it to improve the way they teach. That's how teachers can determine what they should be doing differently in the classroom. That's how principals can determine what changes need to be made in our schools."

If only it were that easy. It will take much more than simply making achievement data available to teachers to achieve the President’s vision. The data is only one critical component of a very complex system. Forcing change on this system through grants is not the key to successful change that sustains over time. Yes, we need to change and we must ensure that all young people experience K-12 success and are prepared for continued success in post high school learning and work. That is what we are working to achieve for the students in our school system.

More national standards, opportunity or . . .

2009-11-05T21:38:00.000-08:00

It would appear from this short article in Education Week that there is now a new movement to add common core standards in K-12 science and social studies to those being developed for math and language arts. The title of the article is a little misleading as the math standards are currently being developed and are supported by 49 states including Washington.

This could add an additional layer of complexity to our work that would involve two additional content areas with once again needing to go through a possible alignment process. The state science standards have undergone multiple revisions over time and I do not look forward to revisiting this process once again with national standards. I anticipate that there will be significant pressure for our state to adopt these standards when and if they are developed. If this is the direction of the future it would be good to have this knowledge now so that we can discuss options on how to proceed.

It will be a welcome relief when we can put the alignment and curriculum process behind us so that we can focus on and support instructional practice? I believe that there are some valid arguments for moving towards national standards, but I am frustrated with the timing and the continued emphasis on NCLB that includes nonsensical requirements for adequate yearly progress. What do teachers think about this potential for additional national standards in science and social studies? If the pattern continues in these content areas, national assessments will follow.

Could it be?

2009-11-01T16:19:00.000-08:00

Did you happen to see this post on Blogger King about Bill Gates? I first saw it here on change.org. Certainly, spending $200 million dollars per year and having foundation staff end up on Duncan’s staff results in having an influence on public education, but Duncan has far more than that to spend through Race to the Top in a short period of time. The foundation’s positions on education especially support for charters and improving teacher evaluation systems are resulting in a closer alignment with the department. This, together with their support of states’ efforts to secure federal stimulus funds may be moving them into a position to have significant influence on future education policy.

In an earlier post I shared the Gates Foundation’s original support of 15 states in positioning for stimulus funds. After complaints from other states and organizations the foundation recently made the decision to support the remaining 35 states in this effort. This doesn’t satisfy the critics concerned with what they see as a partnership between this private foundation and the federal education department. Gates sees it differently.

"It's no secret the U.S. education system is failing," Gates said. "We're doing all kinds of experiments that are different. The Race To The Top is going to do many different ones. There's no group-think."

To receive support from the foundation in the competitive proposal process the state must first sign off on the foundation's education reform platform. Does signing off mean agreement? If yes, than I would suggest that they are in position to have significant influence on public policy as states race to them for support in writing their proposals. In an e-mail from OSPI in October we were told that our state is in the process of developing a proposal for round 1 of these funds. That is interesting considering the governor’s comments in this July article when she shares that we would not be in consideration for round 1. I wonder if the foundation is involved in this change. I am told that soon we should be seeing updates on the proposal at this site.

A communication focus for learning . . .

2009-10-29T19:42:00.000-07:00

I can’t leave this COMMUNICATION theme without a follow-up to last week and last evening’s learning opportunity. In a meeting this week with one of the same people from last week’s conversation, the ill-advised statement I made was returned in an answer he gave to a question I asked. My concern was reinforced when I asked him if it was from what I said last week and he confirmed that it was. This poorly timed comment had an impact on what he heard and on what he took away from last week’s conversation and it was not the intent or outcome that was intended. Ethan hit it on the head in his comment when he said:

Unasked for advice, regardless of our relationship with the advisee, is perceived as criticism.

My statement led to the assumption that I was being critical of the listener’s behavior when that was not the case. It was instead an attempt to be more supportive of the initiative being discussed and the person’s important leadership role in the initiative.

Communication is an essential component of my work and as demonstrated above, I find myself continually learning how difficult it is. It seems to be a topic of concern for me with the many difficult issues we are currently facing in our Classroom 10 journey, our continuing struggle with budgets, and in identifying a comprehensive capital improvement package that meets the short and long term housing needs of our school system. It reinforces for me the need for a solid foundation of knowledge and skills that intentionally drive my behavior. I should bring my SPACE tent, my ladder reference, my advocacy/inquiry balance, and my private/public reminder to all my conversations.

Last night I attended a Diversity Forum at Tahoma Junior High and was surprised by the number of students, staff, parents, and community members that were present. My guess would be about 125 people with a representative sample of adults and students. Once again, COMMUNICATION was a critical component of the message that we were given. Young people shared their experiences in our schools; the words and behaviors that adults and their peers use to communicate in ways that are supportive and in ways that are demeaning and critical. We have much to learn and much to do to make our school environments conducive to learning every day, for every child, in every classroom. The committee will take the feedback that was given to identify strategies for continuing this crucial conversation and plans for influencing the culture young people experience in our schools.

Please thank your building’s representative to the Diversity Committee for their effort and support of this work and the board for the direction and focus on eliminating non-academic barriers to student success.

Seeking skillful conversations . . .

2009-10-25T22:17:00.000-07:00

Last week I had conversations with two separate people at the high school that I find myself revisiting because of a comment that was made toward the end of one conversation and the next day in a phone call with the second person. In both cases, the comment referred to something I said that stuck with the other person and influenced their ability to maintain focus. It troubles me because these were important conversations and my intent was to create energy, reflection, and support, not questioning or concern on the part of the listener.

This experience once again reinforces the need for me to use SPACE effectively and to be more intentional about the questions that I ask and how they are asked. I know that my questioning at times can feel like interrogation that is not supportive of skillful conversations. When you leave a conversation with a colleague that is energizing, what did the other person do that leaves you feeling this way and wanting to continue the conversation?

Reflection, not always easy . . .

2009-10-22T19:11:00.000-07:00

The comments to the post on James Paul Gee on Edutopia identified two of the areas causing me dissonance. Ethan’s comment about can we transform schools into cool places is making me think about the upcoming bond measure and the importance of thinking carefully about the new spaces we want to create. Will they be places where students want to be? Will they have flexibility of use to accommodate a variety of approaches to learning and teaching?
Mike’s comment focused on what Gee labeled professionalism and yes, it made me revisit the journey we have been on to create a documented Classroom 10 curriculum. Mike captured it with these comments.

I see the later content of the segment as a cautionary tale to a prescribed, scripted curriculum with no flexibility for teacher ingenuity (his comments on professionalism).When revisiting the posts about implementing the curriculum with fidelity from a year ago and processing the information provided in the video I can see where it may cause some questions not about our curriculum work but about the level of professionalism allowed the teacher in implementing (and being involved in creating) new curricular pieces.

Early in our work our practice would not be aligned with what Gee describes as professionalism. We were prescriptive and “teaching with fidelity” meant losing autonomy over what was taught and how it was presented. As we have responded to feedback and have adapted our model to increase the rate of unit development, we are aligning more closely to Gee’s proposal. As we expand the content areas doing this work there will be opportunity for teachers to influence the content and focus through the development of the curriculum framework. Unit and lesson development will follow with authors coming from the team of teachers in each department. Revision and changes to lessons will also come from a process involving teachers responsible for implementing the curriculum. More flexibility is being built into the design as well as more opportunity to influence as materials are created.

Dissonance is a good thing as it makes me reflect on our practice and on my beliefs. I continue to be supportive of a documented curriculum that ensures all young people have the opportunity to learn and to acquire the knowledge, skills, and attitudes necessary for success in our learning journey and in post high school learning and work. At the same time I am influenced by the need to find balance between a common curriculum and a teacher’s capacity to influence the delivery in his or her classroom. This balance is not always easy to find as some have shared on comments to past posts and in my words and behavior over time.

Thanks guys for labeling my dissonance and putting it out there. I strive to continually learn and to be open to being influenced. This is especially the case in our Classroom 10 journey where we are creating the road map as we go and where the itinerary has been influenced thus far by a small number of people. I believe that most successful initiatives that sustain in change over time begin this way, but are ultimately successful only when all engaged in the change are heard and we answer the two critical questions; is it worth it and can I do it? Today, we are engaged in answering these questions and finding that balance that leads to reenergizing the system as opposed to the energy drain we experience when out of balance.

Football and education reform . . .

2009-10-18T21:00:00.000-07:00

Two days of football on three levels each ending in defeat for my teams. It was good that I made the Bear’s cross country and volleyball games last week both ending on a more positive note. It doesn’t ease this weekend’s losses, but it does reconfirm that it isn’t my allegiance to the Bears, Huskies, and Seahawks that are causing the defeats.

Here is a video interview of James Paul Gee on Edutopia that I learned about on Daniel Pink’s blog. The title Grading With Games is misleading as he shares in about 12 minutes many more thoughts than just those related to games. His comments on professionalizing teaching and school reform have left me with some dissonance. I have viewed it two times now and it is causing me to reflect on my thinking and on our work.

Blog Action Day 2009, my small contribution . . .

2009-10-15T08:57:00.000-07:00

Today is Blog Action Day 2009 that I first learned about from thehurt at Edumacation. It is an annual event where bloggers from around the world share their thoughts on an identified topic. The theme this year is climate change. If you follow my blog, you may know that I have shared some of my experiences with sustainability and the importance of engaging our young people in understanding the importance of this work, how we have arrived at this place in our history where global warming is an important issue, and how we will move forward with implementing changed practices that do less damage to our commons.

Though I am no expert on climate change or sustainability, I am concerned and believe that it is an issue that must be addressed with a sense of urgency and collaboration not yet seen in our world. Regardless of how we got here and who is to blame we will not successfully meet this challenge unless we can embrace it across this world of ours. Our country must play a significant role in this effort by acknowledging our historical contribution to climate change, by honoring the need for those in other countries to improve their quality of life, and by taking a leadership role in changing practices. We must unleash our creativity, our technological prowess, and our competitiveness to invent, implement, and sustain clean energy practices that first slows and then reverses the rate of global warming.

Can we do it? I struggle with saying yes when I read this piece by Thomas Friedman where he shares the Applied Materials story. This is the story of an American firm, Applied Materials, the world’s biggest solar equipment manufacturer that has built 14 solar panel factories in the last two years with none of them being built in our country. Why? Friedman suggests that it is because our government has not created the incentives that others have for businesses and homeowners to switch to this power source.

Then I read about this EPA document that was suppressed by the Bush administration citing global warming as a serious risk to the U.S. By suppressing it what was gained? The science hasn’t changed since then, there is only additional data to support the link between our behavior and changes to climate. Add to this the issues that are emerging between countries as they prepare for the December Copenhagen Climate Conference and it makes me doubt that we will see significant change in a short period of time. It feels sort of like health insurance reform on a global platform.

So what am I doing? I am trying to change my personal behavior beginning with recycling and practices to use less energy at work and at home. I am doing much better, but I must admit it is not easy and transferring these practices to others in my family has proven more difficult than I anticipated. It is not much, but I see it like the starfish story. If each of us committed to similar behavior across this planet we would have a significant impact on our commons. I’m not real proud of this meager beginning, but it is where I am.

I also believe that it is essential that we engage our youth in this work. They must have factual information, they must understand the story of how we arrived at this place, and they must be positioned for making decisions that influence how we will live in the future across this planet. They must have Classroom 10 capabilities to embrace the challenge, to understand the importance of global cooperation, and to discover new ways of living and sharing the resources of this world. I have confidence that this is possible if the world leaders of today can create the environment that unleashes this capacity.

Much better weekend of . . .

2009-10-11T19:31:00.000-07:00

Well, a much better football weekend with two wins and one loss. The Bears suffered the loss to Kentridge, but played well. Other than the first play of the game where Kentridge scored on about a 65 yard touchdown run the Bear’s defense was superb. They gave up only two first downs the entire game. We just couldn’t get going offensively in the second half.

The Husky game was unbelievable, I guess. I decided to sword fight with my grandson with about four minutes left thinking they wouldn’t come back. By the time I quit after being smacked on the hand the game was over and I had missed the comeback. Upset with myself, but they won.

The Seahawks were stellar in all phases of the game winning with a shutout. I’m still going to take LoomDog’s advise and try to get in some other Bear athletes this week; volleyball, cross country, and soccer. Go BEARS!

Speaking of LoomDog, did you see his comment to the last post where he shared part of a conversation with a teacher from North Carolina? I share his concern with the potential unintended consequences of our state possibly adopting the standards after two years. How many more years will that mean of aligning new standards to our developed curriculum? More time and energy to do curriculum and assessment work at a time when we are intentionally shifting our energy to instruction. Another shift that contributes to the frustration that many of us feel with constantly changing targets ending in some adopting negative attitudes to change and the don’t worry this too shall pass syndrome. Some stability in targets would be welcome and appreciated.

There are some positives to this potential alignment with national standards including the fact that that they are currently written for only the content areas of Reading/Language Arts and Mathematics. This means that the majority of our work will not be interrupted unless and until other content areas become worthy of national attention.

NCLB assessment comparisons . . .

2009-10-08T16:42:00.000-07:00

I thought that Flypaper post sharing the comparison of state NCLB assessments was interesting enough to share. It compares the difficulty of these assessments in reading and mathematics and ranks them by difficulty for each of the twenty-six states in the comparison based on cut scores across all grade levels.

The point being made in the article is that the wide range of results is evidence for the need for common standards; a movement I have referenced in several previous posts. Though there is currently no agreement across states on standards, one would have to take acceptance of the standards one step further to agreement by states to use the same assessment and same cut scores. That might become more difficult to achieve as many states may not want to see the rankings based on common standards and cut scores. Politically, it is much easier to publicize state results when the cut scores are determined at the state level.

As of today, there are forty-eight states that have signed on to the common standard initiative with one being our state. OSPI is monitoring this process that includes K-12 standards in English/Language Arts and Mathematics and College and Career Ready standards. It was a wise political move to indicate interest as this is certainly a high priority for the Education Department and the current administration. Adopting the standards, however, will be a more difficult decision. Agreement on common assessments and cuts scores, the larger goal, will be even more difficult to achieve. There are so many obstacles to achieving this; imposing of federal authority on state’s rights; loss of local control over the content of what is taught, and the potential adverse publicity and political upheaval for states whose students will score at or near the bottom of the rankings where under state control students are meeting standard at a much higher level.

Rankings in this study suggest that our students would fare well as we are 16 out 26 in the reading assessment and 21 out of 26 in the mathematics assessment comparison. Of course this comparison does not include about half the states, but over time we have been led to believe that our standards and assessment are among the more difficult in the country. The study can be found here. It is lengthy and I have only looked at the information for our state. In general, our cut scores range from the middle to the upper third in the comparison except for grades 3 and 4 reading that are lower in comparison.

Of interest was the comment in the report referring to a “walk to the middle” by states with high standards who are concerned with meeting the 2014 NCLB requirement to have 100% of students at standard in reading and mathematics. There is a tendency to lower the cut score so that the requirement can be more readily achieved.

I'd post the comparison charts for you to see like the Flypaper post, but I still have not learned how to get them into my posts. The same for files I would like to refer to and PDF's, and . . . So much to learn - I guess I need help.

Sharing our leadership journey . . .

2009-10-04T18:14:00.000-07:00

The first zero wins, three loss weekend of football. The Bears, Huskies, and Seahawks all lost. Three straight days of agony. I’ve got to find another sport; these guys are driving me crazy.

On Friday Connie and I are making a presentation at the fall WSASCD on our teacher leadership learning model. When we responded last spring to the request for proposals we were engaged in the training with teams from all of our schools and also from the Riverview and Snoqualmie School Districts. After we were informed that our proposal was accepted we ran headlong into the budget adjustment process with teacher leadership being one of those programs that was placed on hold. It was a difficult decision for me, but given the circumstances the appropriate one to make.

As I began to think about preparing for our Friday presentation it bothered me that we would be sharing a model and experiences that are not in place this year. I shared my concerns with Connie and she made me understand that it was my call. I decided that it would still be important to share so we will be there on Friday. Amy has agreed to join us to share the Tahoma Middle School experience.

Why did I decide to share? Because I believe that the foundation that we have created to support our Classroom 10 initiative was made possible through this work. As a system, we have put in place mental models and skill sets that support communication and learning environments that engage in change and embrace a focus on the needs of young people. Planning templates, influencer strategies, system thinking, and the capacity to engage in skillful conversations have assisted in this work. We are also transferring much of what we learned to our work with our Ten Tech Teacher Leaders and I was also asked to work with Rock Creek’s leadership team last week and for one additional day. So, we are still doing the work, but in a different context.

Our success with the Classroom 10 initiative will be influenced by our ability to distribute leadership across our system. We need teacher leaders to support their colleagues in this change effort that have the communication skills and the capacities to develop, implement, and assess adult learning opportunities. In many cases they are better positioned to do this work than are those in formal leadership positions. Yes, I’ll share our journey because I believe that others might gain a better understanding of the importance of teacher leaders in ensuring that change sustains over time.

Is it cheating?

2009-10-01T19:47:00.000-07:00

I found this article from a post on Cool Cat Teacher Blog September 19th about student cheating and their attitudes towards cheating. The article identifies the top five ways that students cheat electronically and goes on to discuss that many of today’s students do not see this as cheating.

They quote a survey by Common Sense Media that states:"35% of teens use their cell phones to cheat by:
*26% store info on their phone and look at it while taking a test
*25% send text messages to friends, asking for answers
*17% take pictures of a test – and then send it to their friends
*20% use their phones to search for answers on the Internet
*48% warn friends about a pop quiz with a phone call or text message"

I am wondering how prevalent this is in our district. I don’t have any data and I am not aware of conversations where administrators are seeing this as a significant issue. Are our students not engaging in this behavior in similar percentages or perhaps they are more adept and avoid being caught? I would be interested in your experiences. Is this just a high school and college issue or are similar behaviors and attitudes seen in younger students?

Another football weekend . . .

2009-09-27T19:03:00.000-07:00

I just got home from the Seahawk game to close another not so successful football weekend. Thanks to the Bears it wasn’t winless, but certainly “my” teams did not all do well. The Huskies came back down to earth with a thud and the Seahawks continue to drive me crazy. I don’t consider myself one of those fanatics, but it does cause me some grief when they could or should have won and this was one of those games.

I hope this season will not continue to be win one, lose two, but that has been the case in each of the last two weeks. Last week it was the Huskies that won, this week the Bears, and next week I still have hope for all three.

My growing concern . . .

2009-09-24T18:46:00.000-07:00

At the system level, the proposed national core standards are bothering me for many reasons, one of them being what Ethan and Jonathan share in their comments about mixed messages and the potential for more years of alignment to changing standards, curriculum development, gap lessons, and adjusting assessments. Energy expended on this work is energy and time not focused on the how of implementing Classroom 10 and the heart of learning, the interactions between adult and student in the classroom. We have been engaged in this alignment and development work with the many revisions to state standards for too many years.

The thought of spending two more years on state standards with the potential for federal math and English standards to follow simply frightens and upsets me. If at that time we must or will officially “adopt” them at the state level than why not just bite the bullet and do so now? Please understand, I am not endorsing adoption, but I would like to get a better sense from state level officials about the potential for adoption in two years. Information in the OSPI press release does not provide me with a comfort level or the necessary direction to identify how our system should respond to the potential for these changes in a relatively short period of time.

I am also concerned with the pressure from the federal level to adopt them in order to qualify for billions of dollars in innovation funding. Yes, I know the likelihood of our state qualifying in round 1 or future rounds may not be great because of the other equally disturbing criteria that must be met to qualify, but I don’t like being placed in the position of potentially adopting simply to qualify for enhanced funding. And, isn’t it sad that the Gates Education Foundation or here, located in our back yard, is supporting the work of 15 other states with their proposals. They have recently made the decision to support any additional states that can answer eight questions affirmatively with question two requiring adoption of the national core standards by June 2010. Reading the OSPI press release, the earliest we would do that is in two years leaving us out of any support from the foundation, seen as a critical component of any successful proposal.

I think that there are some good arguments for having a set of national core standards, but NCLB created mandates giving states autonomy over content that should not be expected to change as rapidly as I feel we are being pressured to do with this proposed set of standards. Perhaps this change should be embedded in long needed changes to NCLB legislation that makes sense and provides direction and support that we can all get behind. From information in this article, however, it doesn’t appear that this administration is in any hurry to take on that challenge. It does appear, however, that they are willing to share with us through RttT funding criteria what we should be doing without supporting us or showing us how to do it.

I will continue to follow these developments and periodically share updates and my thinking. I fear that this has the potential to pit state against state at the federal level, to be disruptive and divisive at the state level, to reinforce the perception that all teacher associations are against change, and to make the work at the local level more difficult to maintain focus and use diminishing resources efficiently and effectively. Who knows, maybe this is what “they” want. We certainly know that many in powerful positions see charters as the savior to all our public school problems. Too bad they don’t know about the Tahoma School District and the many others whose teachers are just as committed and successful as those in the charter schools being portrayed as saviors for our youth.

National standards released . . .

2009-09-23T19:52:00.000-07:00

The national standards in mathematics and English were released this week with little fanfare. There was some mention in blogs I follow, but not as much as I had anticipated. There was also an OSPI press release found here and one in the Washington Post here. Our state is one of the 48 that have joined the initiative. Included in the release is the following statement by Superintendent Dorn.

“I’m pleased to be part of the new standards team,” said Randy Dorn, state superintendent of public instruction. “A common benchmark of standards for all states will make our education system more efficient and cost-effective, and it will give our kids a better chance at competing in a global economy.”

Superintendent Dorn’s comment would lead one to believe that as a member of the team we would be adopting the standards, yet later in the press release we find the following.

. . . The common standards created by the NGO and CCSSO will be examined thoroughly and transparently. Any changes to the state’s standards would not occur for at least two years, and then only after an ample opportunity for public review and comment.

This is good to know because we are in the first year of implementing revised mathematics standards. This means that most school systems are engaged in the alignment process once again and it is good to know that this work will be necessary for at least two years. We have already had to adjust to too many revisions to standards in mathematics and science over the years.

We also know that at the federal level the education department has endorsed the standards and is recommending that all states adopt them. Adoption could also become a requirement or criteria used to qualify for Race to the Top and other federal grant opportunities. This will certainly place our state in a difficult position in the short term if the standards are not adopted for at least two years. It will be interesting to watch how this unfolds over time. There could be pressure to adopt from outside the school community and pressure to preserve autonomy from inside. What advice would you give the superintendent and governor?

Learning styles - BUNK?

2009-09-20T20:11:00.000-07:00

I found this article by Daniel Willingham in an entry on the Change.org blog. He is the author of "Why Don't Students Like School?," a book I started, but have still not finished. In this article he makes the claim that learning styles theory is bunk and that districts that force teachers to include multiple strategies focused on learning styles are actually making teacher jobs more difficult with no benefit to students and without research to prove its effectiveness.

In the article he takes exception to the D.C. school district’s learning framework that focuses on learning styles. He suggests that what influences learning are . . .

Some lessons click with one child and not with another, but not because of an enduring bias or predisposition in the way the child learns. The lesson clicks or doesn’t because of the knowledge the child brought to the lesson, his interests, or other factors.

Your thoughts?

Did You Know 4.0

2009-09-17T19:29:00.000-07:00

Most adults in our system have had one or more opportunities to view the Did You Know video first done by Scott McLeod and Karl Fisch. Last week a new version, Did You Know 4.0, was unveiled in the blogosphere with mention of it on multiple blogs that I follow. Here you can find copies of all the versions. If you are not registered on Teacher Tube and want to see just this latest version you can find it here.

I have used various versions of the video with community groups to start conversations about the need for change if we are to prepare young people for the world described in these videos. It always results first in adults being surprised and awed by the information followed by questions on what this means for our students and how we are responding as a system. I believe at one time that the video was shown to high school students, but I don't know how it was received. If you have used it, I would be interested in knowing how students responded.

Implementing the vision . . .

2009-09-15T15:08:00.000-07:00

On our journey to Classroom 10, one of the highest priorities is the development of curriculum units across all content areas and all grade levels. At the district level this has meant that the Teaching and Learning Department has focused on providing direction and support to this effort in three of the core content areas, language arts, science, and social studies. We are at different places in each of these areas based upon a variety of factors with department capacity to write and support the authors of the curriculum being a significant contributor to the timeline. The work began at the middle school level and at present there are projects in each grade level band.

You may recall that last year there was a series of blog entries about this process with many comments from teachers with concerns about the process. Since that time the process has evolved to increase the level of teacher engagement and to provide opportunities for teachers other than those authoring lessons to have influence on the product. As we know from our Classroom 10 initiative, we are creating our own road map with this work being one of the most critical components of ensuring that all students have opportunity to learn and to acquire the knowledge and skills necessary for success in post high school learning and work. Since there is no template for the journey we must learn and adapt along the way.

Already this school year we have experienced a need to monitor and adjust based on teacher feedback from the Junior High language arts department. Through feedback and sharing of private thoughts a variety of issues emerged concerning implementation of the first unit of the year and the level of staff engagement in the development of future units. As was the case last year, the concerns resulted in reflection on the process and openness to being influenced by the thinking of those in the department. Through the efforts of the teacher leaders at the building level suggestions were made to adapt to the need for a revised timeline for implementation with fidelity and for a more collaborative lesson development effort. So, we now have Teaching and Learning staff, building administrators, and teacher leaders refining a process that will result in quality products endorsed by those responsible for using them with students.

What was once perceived accurately as completely top down has evolved and I believe will continue to change based on the situation and the need at any given time. What will not change is the focus on Classroom 10, the need to work collaboratively, and the importance of teacher empowerment to generate energy and commitment around the work. We started the initiative believing we needed to be directive and prescriptive as we were concerned with alignment to the vision and perceived need for Classroom 10 changes. Today, we are not experiencing teachers questioning the need for these changes, but are instead being asked important questions about the what and the how of the initiative. We are continuing to learn and to reflect on our practice that is resulting in positive change and increased collaboration. We are doing what professional learning communities do as they struggle with finding and implementing structures that support teachers and students in classrooms.

I thank those teachers and teacher leaders for the manner in which they are identifying and sharing concerns and for the suggestions that will increase engagement and result in quality products. This is certainly the case in conversations this last week between grade nine language arts teachers, building administrators, and the T&L department. I also thank Nancy and the department for their work, for understanding the need for teachers to feel empowered, and for their unwavering commitment to this initiative. I am also appreciative of the opportunity to engage with the department on this work and for influencing my thinking and behavior by forcing me to reflect on the ladders I bring to the work table. I am so blessed to work with committed, competent people doing important work.

Thank you!

A personal story . . .

2009-09-13T20:55:00.001-07:00

The first full weekend of football and the Bears, Huskies, and Seahawks all won. I can’t remember when that last happened. Next week will be a bigger test as they face Kentwood, USC, and the 49 er’s, but for now it feels really good!

I’ll share a short personal story to follow up on Chris Feist’s comment to the last post. It once again demonstrates the importance of relationship to success in school. The president enjoys the respect of most youth because of his position and as Chris suggests, his speech had a positive influence on the students he works with and many others. I also believe that teachers have the opportunity for this same respect, but once given it must be earned to sustain over time. This respect opens the door to a positive relationship or, once lost, closes the door and lessens the potential for student attachment to the teacher and to the learning.

The story involves my granddaughter who attends school in a neighboring district. Ciara is a fifth grader who enjoys school and works hard. School is not easy for her and she is most successful with teachers that she perceives as caring and supportive of her. This weekend she asked me a lot of questions about when I was a teacher and then asked how you transfer out of a teacher’s class. She said her best friend had transferred and would be in a different class on Monday because the teacher was strict. This means she yells, doesn’t let them have the snacks they want, and doesn’t care about how they feel. With her friend gone she was not feeling good about returning.

The part that is really telling is when she told me that she was really looking forward to school starting this year, that she had missed it. And now, all she wants to do is transfer classes or not go at all. She asked if it was possible to go to Rock Creek where I work. This change in attitude and quite possibly effort took place after just one week in her new fifth grade classroom. It doesn’t take very long to lose that opportunity.

The President's speech . . .

2009-09-10T20:31:00.000-07:00

Well, all the furor over the President’s speech to students proved to be wasted energy as the message was not political or any of the other words used by some to suggest that it was inappropriate for him to use valuable learning time in this way. Telling students that they need to set personal goals, work hard to achieve those goals, be responsible for their own learning, and not make excuses is a message that any educator would welcome from someone in his position. They hear this same message from their teachers and other adults in their lives on a regular basis. I don’t know how much influence this additional voice will have over time, but it is welcome.

Though overall I was pleased with the message, I thought that he lost a wonderful opportunity to reach out to public school teachers with words such as the following.
*I want to reach out today to form a partnership with your teachers who work tirelessly to . .
*I want to thank your teachers and work with them to . . .
*Every day at school there are dedicated teachers that . . . and I want to . . .

I shared this private thought with our administrative team Tuesday afternoon and received no verbal feedback, but the nonverbals were loud and clear; we should be thankful for what he said, how can you be critical. That response could have, however, been influenced by my comments related to level five leadership as described by Collins in Good to Great, see slides 9-10. I wonder if level five leadership characteristics are aligned with being successful as a president.

Can they do it?

2009-09-06T20:25:00.000-07:00

Thanks Rick for sharing your thoughts to the last post on relationship. I too encourage you to visit Crystal’s post on maybecrystal where she shares similar experiences as the school year starts. The survey that the high school gives each spring is also given at some of our other schools and all of our schools provide students with the opportunity to share their perceptions on similar topics. Is the data from students in our other schools similar to the results of the high school survey? Are many students bored and do they believe that teachers don’t care, or is this simply a high school issue? Are you aware of the data and has your school focused on these same or similar concerns?

If you wanted to see every teacher in our system do one thing to promote relationship in their classroom what would that be? What one thing would students do regularly that would demonstrate to teachers that they cared about the learning? What one thing would students do to demonstrate that they appreciate their teachers? These last questions are related to the commitments that will emerge from the teacher/student conversations that started at the high school on August 28th.

It will be interesting to see if they are able to identify a commitment that every student can commit to and what the commitment(s) will be that the adults determine will influence student perceptions about their school. Behavior will determine the success of this initiative and as we know behavior change is personal and not always easy, especially on a scale this large, about 100 adults and 1600 students. Answers to our Influencer questions will be important as they continue this process.
*Can I do it?
*Is it worth it?

Revisiting relationship with Terry Duty . . .

2009-09-02T13:39:00.000-07:00

On August 9th I shared a post about relationship and asked you to consider sharing what you thought the students on the New York trip told us about what teachers do that demonstrates that they care. Crystal shared the following in response to my question.

*The teachers treated the students with respect and talked to them like adults

*The teachers made an effort to get to know the students on a personal basis: what do they like, what do they do outside of school

*The teachers shared their lives with the students as well: showed them pictures, talked about their weekend adventures, etc

*The teachers created a 'safe environment' where it's ok to be wrong as long as you're trying; everyone is learning together

Her response accurately mirrored what the kids told us. Interesting how we know this information, yet as Terry describes below it is so very difficult to change the perceptions.
What follows is Terry Duty our high school principal sharing some of his thinking and reflection during and after the trip to New York and how this resulted in teachers and students coming together last week around the issue of relationship. I was able to participate in the meeting on August 28th that he refers to and was impressed by the skillful conversation that resulted around the need for relationship and the focus on it being seen not as one way, but that what students say and do also communicates to teachers a message about the importance of school. They are in the process of identifying commitments that all students and staff can make to influence the perceptions currently held by many at the high school that I believe have the potential to finally influence student and staff perceptions.

My recent trip to New York, with 4 students, 2 teachers and Mike to attend the Society for Organizational Learning (SOL) conference gave me the opportunity to learn more about systems thinking. Systems thinking sounds deep and complex, which it is, but it’s also a simple way to look at a system, organization, or in our case a school. What I’m learning now is that true change requires interdependency; it’s not linear, or a simple tweak. Sustainable change in organizations’ requirements is much like an ecosystem; a complex, living systems.

Over the past 5 years our school has tried to gain insight into whether our students perceive Tahoma as a place in which they are known, supported, challenged, and inspired. We’ve surveyed our students for 5 years using the Quaglia Institute “My Voice Student Aspirations Survey.” We have asked our teachers to focus on positive student-teacher relationships, tried an advisory model, shared personal stories, set school goals, and still over half our students are bored at school and don’t feel like our teachers care about them. Yet despite vision, motivation, and considerable effort we can’t seem to close the gap between our students and teachers.

Some say; ”who cares” your test scores are very good, your school is recognized as one of the best in the country, kids aren’t even supposed to like school or their teachers, that’s just part of being a kid! Wouldn’t that be an easy answer, that’s just how it should be, simply focus on what teachers do; teaching, and ignore the soft data, the touchy feely relationship stuff.

So, at the SOL conference, we were talking with our students about school, and the conversation came up about “teachers just don’t care” if they did they wouldn’t give us tests on the same day, big assignments that are all due all at once. Pretty harsh data but honest and coming from some very mature, academic students…I asked them, “What do students do to show their teachers that they care about their learning?” (multiple absences, tardies, not turning in homework, not preparing for class, let alone paying attention during class.) We had two very different mental models and ladders of inferences that stretched up to the sky.

It finally occurred to me! Our ability to achieve the relationship results we truly desired were being eroded by two groups; students and staff, with very different perceptions about each other, walking up two separate ladders of inference one rung at a time:
* Our beliefs are the truth.
* The truth is obvious.
* Our beliefs are based on real data.
* The data we select are the real data.

As educators we were trying to address an important aspect of our school; teacher/student relationships as well as our larger school culture, without establishing a mutual vision or a sharing responsibility within our school community. Put simply, we never asked our students to take any responsibility, to help, or to even sit with us and address the problem. To use a systems approach analogy; we were trying to solve world hunger, without addressing the system needs of; world poverty, education, water resources, healthcare…we can make small gains but will never solve the problem unless we look at the larger system needs.

It sounds so simple, so obvious, yet for the past five years we would look at what our students would say on the surveys and then try to solve the problem alone. After all, what more could they tell us? We’re the teachers, the adults; it’s our job to have the answers.

On August 28th we are a hosting an event called “One School.” We are bringing in our ASB officers, and 90 students, and teaming them with our entire teaching staff to build new ladders, new feedback loops asking new questions and putting more responsibility on the students for outcomes as well as the teacher to look at our school as a community, a system. 14 Focus groups will establish a vision, make commitments, and set measurable long and short-term goals around relationships, respect, and our school culture. We will use techniques like dialogue and skillful discussion, we hope these teacher/student focus groups can team to transform their collective thinking, and learning about our current state and mobilize energies and abilities greater than the sum of individual members’ talents.

Through this journey I have come to believe that enhancing teacher/student relationships can’t merely be an add-on, but rather it is fundamental to education for this generation of learners. I think kids are starving for real, authentic, human relationships, not virtual relationships found in; Facebook, My Space, texting, IM… I call them “e-relationships.” And our teachers are the real heroes, the guides of learning and they too need the support to allow authentic learning relationships to be cultivated and grow. Understanding the role of relationship in the classroom will help our school be more effective, achievement will increase, particularly with challenging students and our students will reach a greater potential. As we continue to ratchet up state and national standards, raise accountability measures, and increase expectations for both students and teachers, we can’t just ignore that student achievement increases with improved student/teacher relationships. Just ask anyone who their favorite teacher was and why; because they cared about me, inspired me, challenged me, saw me as a complete person, not just a “math student.”

We don’t need surveys to tell us that authentic relationships are important to learning and increasing student achievement.

Blog and table . . .

2009-08-30T20:49:00.000-07:00

I usually do my post in word and transfer to Blogger, but tonight I was just about finished and the computer crashed and word will not open, you know the routine Windows checking for problems, the blue circle,and Microsoft Office has stopped working. It really ticks me off when this happens and I lose my work. I don't like trying to redo, because it never sounds as good, but here goes.

I was pleased to see the comments to my last post. They certainly provide us with differing views on what Classroom 10 might look and sound like in our classrooms. Though the sample is small, it does capture the difference of opinion and the need for continued conversation and learning opportunities as we continue our journey.

It is good to see that there is no disagreement on the need for the 10 characteristics. The disagreement lies in what a targeted thinking skill means when included in every lesson. We still have much work to do as we move toward a common understanding of this work in progress. It is an initiative unique to our school district and one that will continue to undergo refinement as we broaden the scope of those involved in decision making. Sharing private thoughts is important and can influence the decisions we will make on the what and how of Classroom 10. I believe that the sharing over the last few posts has already had a small influence on the thinking of some of us as it relates to a targeted thinking skill in every lesson.

I also received an e-mail about this post from someone who shared that this should be a skillful discussion at a table not on a blog. This is from someone who uses technology effectively and who will engage and influence the decisions made when the discussion moves to the table. I do not disagree that the discussion needs to be at the table, however, I think this becomes the venue when it is time to make decisions. While we are simply sharing thoughts and asking questions the blog and other less formal contexts serve to enhance the conversation. It provides opportunities for some to share in a safer environment and can promote dialogue as we read the thoughts of others and reflect on our own.

I believe that using the blog is one way of balancing advocacy and inquiry. In the comments to the previous post people share their thinking and beliefs about the work, but they also ask many questions. It feels different than being in the same room where many of these comments would be perceived as advocating for a particular position. In the blog I don't get the same feeling because I can only read what is being said; I am not influenced by the nonverbal behaviors, the timing of the comments, and the other human factors that influence my behavior. I think it is important to include the thinking of as many of us as possible before we reach conclusions and make decisions and this blog, other blogs, and social networking sites are one way to achieve this. Of course, I also encourage you to share your thinking with your colleagues at work, especially with building administrators as they prepare for the skillful discussions that will soon take place at the table.