Welcome to the HML POST - For busy leaders of public education.
September 28. 2015
(Editorials and research articles are selected by
Jack McKay, Executive director of the HML.
Topics are selected to provoke a discussion about the importance of strong public schools. McKay is Professor Emeritus from the University of Nebraska-Omaha in the Department of Educational Administration and a former superintendent in Washington state.) Feedback is always appreciated.
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Tom Sobal Memorial Service At Teachers College
A memorial service for Tom Sobol, recipient of the 2007 HML "Outstanding Friend of Public Education," is the former New York State Commissioner of Education, and Christian A. Johnson Professor of Education at Teachers College, Columbia University, will be held on
Saturday, October 24, 2015 in the Cowin Auditorium on the campus of Teachers College, Columbia University, Broadway and 120 St. in New York City.
Guests will assemble at 10:15 a.m. and the program will begin at 11am.
With up to 80 percent of students refusing to take federally mandated tests in some districts, politicians and education policymakers are paying attention to the national opt-out movement.
A survey conducted this month by the consulting firm Whiteboard Advisors revealed that education policy and political "insiders" think that the opt-out movement will likely sway many state legislatures, but will struggle to change things in Washington.
Only 47 percent of those surveyed, including current and former U.S. Department of Education leaders, Congressional staffers, state school chiefs and experts at think tanks, expect to see any change to federal law. (
Read more.)
This year,
one in five New York state students in grades three through eight did not take the state's standardized test. In Washington state
53 percent of 11th-graders opted out of the new Smarter Balanced Common Core exams. If this trend continues - and the coming election year will certainly fuel the fire around Common Core and testing - the future of recent school reforms will be called into question.
As much as I can understand some of the motivations behind opting out of standardized tests, I think it complicates the goal of helping all students to achieve at higher levels and close long standing academic achievement gaps.
So how did we get here and what can we do to lower the pressure around the issue and focus on improving student learning?
There are trainers, presenters and keynote speakers available to talk about any topic for every business. I know. I represent speakers at WeSpeak Worldwide as the CEO. There are presenters whose charisma will charm you while they speak, phenomenal speakers who will leave you in awe and then there are speakers who can put you to sleep within their first paragraph. Most speakers fall somewhere in between. How do good speakers become great presenters, and how do great presenters become effective speakers?
5 Attention Getters:
- Ask a question or series of questions. i.e., "How many of you . . .?"
- State something startling. i.e., "Do you realize . . . ?"
- Use a powerful quote.
- Tell a story.
- Use an analogy or an example. (Read more.)
What Liv Finne and the Washington Policy Center (ALEC related) wrote about me was rambling, off topic, filled with assertions lacking evidence, and so poorly argued that I actually don't think it warrants a point-by-point rebuttal. However, I do believe it does warrant some kind of response. Readers, please take a moment to read my original commentary on the charter school constitutionality ruling, and then check out the attack on me for a more full understanding of this conversation. What follows is a rolling update of responses after the attack. (Read more.)
Watch Linda present a special webinar sponsored by the Wallace Foundation that discusses how principals and school leaders can work directly with teachers and staff to improve instruction and student achievement.
Learn strategies to: * Shape a vision for academic success * Create a hospitable climate * Cultivate leadership * Manage staff data and processes.
The Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) joined NPBEA
in 2014 to lead an effort
to refresh the standards. The refreshed standards will reflect research-based evidence and experience gained since the last update of the standards in 2008, as well as insights from education leaders on what good practice looks like today. The standards detail the leadership skills and knowledge effective district and school leaders need in order to influence teaching and student learning.
"The ISLLC standards are widely regarded as the touchstone for high-quality and relevant principal development," said JoAnn Bartoletti, National Association of Secondary School Principals executive director and NPBEA chair. "I enthusiastically look forward to NPBEA's collaboration with CCSSO to craft and formally adopt this fall a revised set of standards that both reflect the challenges of contemporary school leadership and encourage leaders to transcend those challenges," Bartoletti said. (Read more.)
Despite the state Supreme Court's ruling earlier this month that charter schools aren't eligible to receive public money, the state plans to send at least $770,000 to the state's nine charters early next week, the first in a series of payments they were expecting this school year.
The reason? The justice's 6-3 decision isn't final until the court has dealt with requests to reconsider its ruling - and there likely will be at least two of those.
Until then, the state's education department intends to keep funding the charter schools. (
Read more.)
Simply put, many people - from the unscrupulous folks who wrote this law to those overseeing charter schools to those running charter schools - made a deliberate choice to gamble with children's academic lives. And they lost.
The people who wrote this law should get the lion's share of blame. The wording of the law very much mirrors what the ALEC group's
template charter law
looks like. It appears that almost no attempt was made to mold this law to fall within the boundaries of the Washington State Constitution. I'm certain that many well-paid lawyers reviewed the initiative and may have even warned the proponents of the initiative that there could be constitutional issue but no matter - the initiative went forward. (Read more.)
This weekend a select group of
philanthropists will gather at Stanford University for an "Innovation Summit," where they will hear from Melinda Gates and Laura Arrillaga-Andreessen, and other experts in giving money away. The event is hosted by the Stanford Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society, but no civilians will be present - it is by invitation only. Only those wealthy enough to give away millions may attend.
Over the past decade, philanthropic organizations have played an increasing role in public schools. Now is a good time to take stock on the impact philanthropies are having. Will this weekend include time for some sober reflection? If so, I would offer some food for thought, with a focus on the Gates Foundation. (For an in-depth look at the Gates Foundation's work in education, please see my book, The Educator and the Oligarch, a Teacher Challenges the Gates Foundation.) (
Read more.)
Let's do a thought experiment. Suppose that only the public schools where less than 10% of its children are in poverty were used to judge a nation's system of education. That would have the potential of being a maximal test of the public schools, a test of their quality when things are likely to be working well both in the schools, families, and the communities served by those schools. It would not be an examination of the typical or overall performance of a nation's schools, many of which are trying to teach poor children from less well-educated families, in underresourced schools, and in neighborhoods that are not always wholesome. In the case of the United States this new score is likely to be close to other nations' scores, since PISA reveals that the public schools for the wealthy, across nations, are much more similar than are the public schools of the poor, across nations. These new rankings might very well tell us that American schools are performing quite well when school and family resources are at maximum. If that were the case, and it appears that it is, conclusions drawn from the scores would be different than those now drawn from using the entire sample of schools. In the case of assessing the schools with the least poverty we are less likely to think the curriculum needs changing, less likely to think that teacher quality is deficient, less likely to blame the teacher unions, or to blame any of the other favorite objects of discontent that are suggested to explain why the United States has a school system that is of purportedly poor quality. (Read more.)
High rates of teacher turnover likely mean greater school instability, disruption of curricular cohesiveness, and a continual need to hire inexperienced teachers, who typically are less effective, as replacements for teachers who leave. Unfortunately, research consistently finds that teachers who work in schools with large numbers of poor students and students of color feel less satisfied and are more likely to turn over, meaning that turnover is concentrated in the very schools that would benefit most from a stable staff of experienced teachers. Despite the potential challenge that this turnover disparity poses for equity of educational opportunity and student performance gaps across schools, little research has examined the reasons for elevated teacher turnover in schools with large numbers of traditionally disadvantaged students.
Conclusions: Descriptive analyses confirm that observable measures of teachers' work environments, including ratings of the effectiveness of the principal, are generally less positive in schools with large numbers of disadvantaged students. Regression results show that principal effectiveness is associated with greater teacher satisfaction and a lower probability that the teacher leaves the school within a year. Moreover, the positive impacts of principal effectiveness on these teacher outcomes are even greater in disadvantaged schools. These findings suggest that policies focused on getting the best principals into the most challenging school environments may be effective strategies for lowering perpetually high teacher turnover rates in those schools. (
Read more.)
In New Orleans, as elsewhere, the struggles of black and brown kids are the direct result of racist policies, according to this educator.
Despite the various narratives of progress, black and brown kids across our city--almost regardless of school, age, neighborhood, or income--are punished, threatened, failing, and producing predictable, vilified, low test scores. This is no surprise to any of us--not a one.
These results are not a mistake.
No, these are the predictable, consistent results of a system in precise balance. These are the oppressive results of structural racism in both our schools and our city and country at-large.
(Read more.)
These results are not a mistake.
No, these are the predictable, consistent results of a system in precise balance. These are the oppressive results of structural racism in both our schools and our city and country at-large.
With the implementation of state standards and assessments to measure student and school performance under the 2001 No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), many public schools have wound up with their curricula painfully narrowed. In too many schools, the focus on testing in language arts and math has led to the erasure of art, physical education and music programs, as schools, particularly in poorer districts, scramble to keep their heads above water to avoid being labeled "failing," which puts them at risk of incurring
devastating sanctions
. (Read more.)
T
he recent ruling by the Supreme Court of Washington state that charter schools are unconstitutional because they aren't really public schools has sent advocates for these schools into a fit. But their often over-the-top criticisms of the decision are reflective of what is most often misunderstood about the charter school sector and what that industry has come to represent in the political debate about public schools.
First, about the ruling: As Emma Brown of
the Washington Post
reports, "Washington state's Supreme Court has become the first in the nation to decide that taxpayer-funded charter schools are unconstitutional, reasoning that charters are not truly public schools because they aren't governed by elected boards and therefore not accountable to voters."
(
Read more
.)
Yet, in some peaceful corners of the country, life moves at a slower pace. Work hours are reasonable,
traffic isn't too bad
and people smile at each other on the sidewalk. Where are these low-stress sanctuaries, you ask?
(
Read more
.)
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. Part of Larry Cuban's favorites.
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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