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Welcome to the HML POST - For the busy leaders of public education.
December 14, 2015
(Editorials and research articles are selected by
Jack McKay, Executive director of the HML.
Topics are selected to provoke discussions about the importance of strong public schools. Feedback is always appreciated.
The HML website, Click
here.
The HML Flipboard magazine, Click
here to read and follow more articles.
The HML Leadership Pinterest
Board. Click
here.
The HML Horace Mann Quotes on Pinterest, Click
here.
The HML Facebook page, Click here. (Includes past issues of the HML POST)
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 A recent article in U.S. News concurs with this assessment, claiming that "
gentrification is leaving public schools behind." Likewise, a report on underperforming San Francisco public schools from earlier this summer in The Atlantic notes that many if not most urban institutions are "
left to flounder," remaining segregated, low-quality "Apartheid schools," even while gentrification changes other aspects of the neighborhoods around them.
 Elementary- and middle-school teachers who help raise their students' standardized-test scores seem to have a wide-ranging, lasting positive effect on those students' lives beyond academics, including lower teenage-pregnancy rates and greater college matriculation and adult earnings, according to a new study that tracked 2.5 million students over 20 years.
The paper, by
Raj Chetty
and
John N. Friedman
of Harvard and
Jonah E. Rockoff
of Columbia, all economists, examines a larger number of students over a longer period of time with more in-depth data than many earlier studies, allowing for a deeper look at how much the quality of individual teachers matters over the long term. (Read more.)
 Picture wriggly, shrieky, busy 5-year-olds exploring the kindergarten play yard's treasures. The sandbox brims with budding builders, diggers, landscape designers. Some kids need mostly to run and scream. Others settle into swinging, climbing and kicking balls to each other. The luckiest kids have a bit a nature where they can make fairy houses for a community of imaginary beings living through dramatic, magical adventures. They learn the arts of taking turns, helping one another on projects and solving their own problems. Maria Montessori said that
"Play is the work of childhood."
(
Read more
.)
Abigail Fisher, the white student who is challenging the use of race in admissions at the university which rejected her application in 2008, is here again, as she was for the first round of arguments in her case in October 2012.
Fisher, now a twenty-five-year-old financial analyst in Austin, ended up graduating from Louisiana State University, which will figure in the arguments a little later. Her lawyer, Bert Rein of Washington, will tell the Court that the consequences of her "nonadmission" to UT-Austin, where her sister and father had attended, including having to go to "an alternative university."
"There is certainly good information that within the state of Texas, a degree from the University of Texas has consequences and earnings down the road, and that's measurable," Rein will say. "And she doesn't have that benefit." (
Read more.)
The effectiveness of affirmative action has never been the focus of the plaintiffs in Fisher v. University of Texas, but after Justice Antonin Scalia's comments at Wednesday's oral argument, it is likely to be a significant part of the debate leading up to the Court's decision next spring. It is thus a good time to revisit the mismatch debate, and I will be writing several posts about it over the coming days.
The "mismatch hypothesis" contends that any person (certainly not just minorities) can be adversely affected if she attends a school where her level of academic preparation is substantially lower than that of her typical classmate. The idea was advanced in the mid-1960s, not in the context of affirmative action; it has been a subject of empirical research for about 20 years, with a sharp uptick in the sophistication of that research just in the last five.
This morning, the Supreme Court heard oral argument in Fisher v. University of Texas II, an important case addressing the constitutionality of racial preferences in public university admissions. Based on the argument, I see little reason to revise my prediction that the most likely outcome is that the justices will strike down the University of Texas affirmative action program, and forcefully reiterate the requirement that courts must strictly scrutinize such programs without giving any deference to university officials. But the victory of the anti-preference side may be a pyrhhic one, if it comes at the cost of giving a blank check to "race-neutral" admissions policies that aren't really race-neutral at all.
 Neither will we address the teacher quality gap until we tackle the rhinoceros in the room, corporate school reformers who have adopted their weird vision of "teacher quality" as a silver bullet for reversing the effects of generational poverty and discrimination. Ironically, just a few days later,
the TNTP's Dan Weisberg
illustrated the reality-free nature of accountability-driven reform. He cited the opening of high-challenge schools with large numbers of substitutes as "low hanging fruit," which could be easily solved by central offices speeding up their hiring process. Although Weisberg later contradicted himself when he acknowledged that there are rational reasons for top teachers fleeing inner city schools, he made it sound like it would be easy to recruit and retain teachers in the most challenging schools. In other words, rhinoceroses like Weisberg who still support test, sort, reward, and punishment, are still ignoring the complex truth Emma Brown chronicles. (Read more.)
 According to a report from the US Department of Commerce, employment in STEM fields is growing at a rate of
17% per year, nearly twice that of most others.
But professional opportunities aren't the only selling points. Many who see coding lessons firsthand say kids often develop stronger characters and critical-thinking skills as a result.
In Karen Mensing's 1st and 2nd grade classes at Fireside Elementary School in Phoenix, Arizona, those shifts in perception are already starting to reveal themselves. Mensing's class has 22 students, all of whom are taking coding lessons as part of the school's daily curriculum.
"My students learn to take chances and not to fear failure," Mensing explains. She says they learn "to persevere" - the same language Michelle Martin uses to describe Joseph's experiences. Kids learn how to collaborate on problems and use logic to break big tasks into smaller ones.
"Coding is a new literacy and also ties nicely into Common Core Standards," Mensing says. "So while students are coding, they are also learning essential Math and English Language Arts skills, as well." (
Read more.)
If who you are isn't what you'd like it to be, here are some helpful, worthwhile things to steer yourself towards what is important. When you care, you want to do your very best--and that commitment and energy are a powerful force. If you want to be successful in your confidence, business, leadership entrepreneurship, and creativity, be thoughtful about what you're giving your care to.
Here are ten areas that are well worth caring about if you want to truly succeed.
1. Care about how you treat others.
2. Care about your personal growth.
3. Care about your goals.
4. Care about scaring yourself.
5. Care about how you spend your time.
6. Care about your thoughts.
7. Care about doing your best.
8. Care about those who have helped you along the way.
9. Care about your own happiness.
- A substantial share of public expenditure intended for the delivery of direct educational services to children is being extracted inadvertently or intentionally for personal or business financial gain, creating substantial inefficiencies;
- Public assets are being unnecessarily transferred to private hands, at public expense, risking the future provision of 'public' education;
- Charter school operators are growing highly endogenous, self-serving private entities built on funds derived from lucrative management fees and rent extraction which further compromise the future provision of 'public' education; and
- Current disclosure requirements make it unlikely that any related legal violations, ethical concerns, or merely bad policies and practices are not realized until clever investigative reporting, whistleblowers or litigation brings them to light. (Read more.)
1) They have gone from calling the issue a "glitch" to saying:
Washington's public charter schools are narrowing in on a stopgap solution that would keep eight of the state's voter-approved charter schools open and public for the remainder of the school year while advocates work with the legislature on a permanent fix that reflects the will of the voters.
Oh, so now it's a "stopgap" measure until there is a "permanent fix." Then they go right back to calling it a "glitch." (Read more.)
 While the 2010 study was replete with indicators, the 2015 mid-decade study attempted to consolidate into a single item the problems facing superintendents in their present position.
Ranking high are job stress, time commitment, and lack of adequate funding. Little significant variation in this list was in evidence when responses were arrayed by student enrollment. Looming in the background is an emerging dissatisfaction with the imposition of federal regulations and requirements.
Regardless of student enrollment size, approximately one-third of superintendents plan to be retired five years from now. The implications for preparation of a new cadre of superintendents is striking. Late entry and gender difference in career paths further defines the pipeline challenge. (
Read more.)
The 2015 Winter HLM Notes:
Includes registration form for the HML Annual Meeting, Friday, February, 12th, 11:45 to 1:30 pm, Sheraton Downtown Hotel, Phoenix.
 Any child can play at a McDonald's Play Pen. Does that make these "public" playgrounds? Lockheed Martin received over
$44 billion in government dollars in the year 2013. Does that make it a "public" company and its workers whose salaries were paid with that money "public" employees? Disney received billions in "
special loans, land grants, credits and investments." Does that make Disney World a "public" park?
We all have a sense that there is something qualitatively different between a McDonald's Play Pen and a playground in Central Park, between Lockheed Martin and NASA, between Disney World and Yellowstone.
A public organization is one that must be open to the public, funded by public dollars, and managed by public institutions. (
Read more.)
 There has been more than one mass shooting a day in the United States in 2015. While there has been a great deal attention paid to the shooters and their victims, less attention has been focused on how the constant violence affects children and the schools that they attend. In this piece, an educator looks at how violence over the past few years, starting with the December 2012 mass shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, affected her classes and schools at large. It was written by Elizabeth Skoski, who was a high school English teacher in the Bronx and Brooklyn until recently moving to a non-profit. Her writing has been published in McSweeny's Internet Tendency, Bartleby Snopes Literary Magazine
, and other publications. (Read more.)
 We've known since 1964 that cigarette smoking is harmful to your health. We've known for more than 40 years that alcohol damages the developing brain of a child. We've known since the mid-70s that asbestos causes cancer and other serious diseases. Knowing what we know now, we do not smoke in enclosed public spaces like airplanes; we have passed laws to keep children from smoking or drinking alcohol; and we do not use asbestos as an industrial product.
Over the past two decades it has become clear that repetitive blows to the head in high-impact contact sports like football, ice hockey, mixed martial arts and boxing place athletes at risk of permanent brain damage. There is even a Hollywood movie, "Concussion," due out this Christmas Day, that dramatizes the story of my discoveries in this area of research. Why, then, do we continue to intentionally expose our children to this risk? (Read more.)
 The data come from student and teacher surveys given alongside international exams known as the Program for International Student Assessment (
PISA), given to 15-year-olds around the world. Along with the exam questions, they were asked how frequently they are given standardized tests, for example.
More than a third of 15-year-olds in the Netherlands said they took a standardized test at least once a month. In Israel, more than a fifth said they took a monthly standardized test. In the United States, only 2 percent of students said they took standardized tests this frequently, well below the OECD average of 8 percent. (
Read more.)
"Education myth: American students are over-tested," says the title in the Hechinger Report on 7 December 2015. That story covers the frustration of OECD's education chief Andreas Schleicher after he attended recent education summit held at the White House. Schleicher concluded that the United States is not a country of heavy testing and that standardized testing is not the bottleneck for improvement.
Wait a minute. So, standardized testing is not an issue in the U.S. education? My experience based on school visits and many discussions with parents and teachers around the U.S. suggest quite the opposite. It is clear to me that one of the main obstacles in focusing more on real learning, giving more room to music and arts in American schools, building learning in schools around curiosity, creativity and exploration of interesting issues, is standardized testing.
I have been in school districts where principals told me that they spend up to one third of annual instructional time to testing and related activities. I have seen tens of schools and hundreds of teachers who tell how there is no more recess or physical education or music in their schools because time is needed to do well in obligatory tests. (
Read more.)
Upcoming Event:
The 94rd Annual Meeting of the Horace Mann League will be held on Friday, February, 12, 2016, at the Phoenix Downtown Sheraton Hotel, starting at 11:45 am. Registration information, click here.
Special awards will be presented to the following at the annual meeting.
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| Dr. Andy Hargreaves Outstanding Friend of Public Education. Professor and Author, Boston College |
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Dr. Gene Glass
Outstanding Public
Education. Professor and Author, National Education Policy Center
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Gary Marx
Outstanding Friend of the League. Author and Past President of the HML, President of Public Outreach
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Sponsor a Professional Colleague for membership in the Horace Mann League.
Click here to download the "Sponsor a Colleague" form.
Starting the week off with a cartoon.
A gift for your Community Leaders: On the Art of Teaching
by Horace Mann.
The book,
On The Art of Teaching by Horace Mann has been presented to new teachers as a welcome gift by a number of schools district. For orders of 50 or more, the district's name is printed on the front cover.
Ordering Information
Cost per copy: $12.50
Orders of 50 to 99: $11.00
Orders of 100 or more: $10.00
Send orders to: (include name of district, P.O. #, and address)
The Horace Mann League of the USA
560 Rainier Lane
Port Ludlow, WA 98365
FAX (866) 389 0740
To
download the full or summary report,
To
view in an electronic magazine format,
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A Few Political Cartoons for the Week
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Horace Mann Prints
The 11 * 18 inch print is available for individual or bulk purchase. Individual prints are $4.00. Discount with orders of 50 or more.
For additional information about this or other prints, please
check here
.
 In 1840 Mann wrote On the Art of Teaching. Some of HML members present
On the Art of Teaching to new teachers as part of their orientation program. On the inside cover, some write a personal welcome message to the recipient. Other HML members present the book to school board members and parental organizations as a token of appreciation for becoming involved in their schools. The book cover can be designed with the organization's name. For more information, contact the HML (
Jack McKay)
All the past issues of the HML Posts are available for review and search purposes.
Finally, 7 links that may be of interest to you.
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About Us
The
Horace Mann League
of the USA is an honorary society that promotes the ideals of Horace Mann by advocating for public education as the cornerstone of our democracy.
Officers:
President: Dr. Charles Fowler, Exec. Director, Suburban School Administrators, Exeter, HN
President-elect: Dr. Christine Johns-Haines, Superintendent, Utica Community Schools, MI
Vice President: Dr. Martha Bruckner, Superintendent, Council Bluffs Community Schools, IA
1st Past President: Mr. Gary Marx, President for Public Outreach, Vienna, VA
2nd Past President: Dr. Joe Hairston, President, Vision Unlimited, Reisterstown, MD
Directors:
Dr. Laurie Barron, Supt. of Schools, Evergreen School District, Kalispell , MT
Dr. Evelyn Blose-Holman, (ret.) Superintendent, Bay Shore Schools, NY
Mr. Jeffery Charbonneau, Science Coordinator, ESD 105 and Zillah HS, WA
Dr. Carol Choye, Instructor, (ret.) Superintendent, Scotch Plains Schools, NJ
Dr. Brent Clark, Executive Director, Illinois Assoc. of School Admin. IL
Dr. Linda Darling Hammond, Professor of Education, Stanford U. CA
Dr. James Harvey, Exec. Dir., Superintendents Roundtable, WA
Dr. Eric King, Superintendent, (ret.) Muncie Public Schools, IN
Dr. Steven Ladd, Superintendent, (ret.) Elk Grove Unified School District, Elk Grove, CA
Dr. Barry Lynn, Exec. Dir., Americans United, Washington, DC
Dr. Kevin Maxwell, CEO, Prince George's County Schools, Upper Marlboro, MD
Dr. Stan Olson, President, Silverback Learning, (former supt. of Boise Schools, ID)
Dr. Steven Webb, Supt. of Schools, Vancouver School District, WA
Executive Director:
Dr. Jack McKay, Professor Emeritus, University of Nebraska at Omaha,
560 Rainier Lane, Port Ludlow, WA 98365 (360) 821 9877
To become a member of the HML, click here to download an application.
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Anticipation is high for the last argument before the holiday break, and one of the biggest cases of the term,
