Blog Posts

The most powerful words from the State of the Union? “Teachers Matter” and “teach with creativity and passion.” The creativity and passion in teaching has been leached out over the years by increasing emphasis on high-stakes testing.  Everything seems to hinge on a single assessment.  Though we talk in my district about viewing the whole child and analyzing more than one source of data, we find that people are attached to certain results almost to the exclusion of common sense.

In the State of the Union address, President Obama spoke about teaching with “creativity and passion.”  Teachers need to once again feel confident in their approach to subject matter.  The teachers I know are passionate about teaching.  They love to see the light bulb go on when students “get it”.  They are driven by the need to teach students.  They crave that interaction.  Currently, teachers swim through red tape that serves as an educational obstacle.

As teachers, we agree that we want data about student abilities.  We need to understand how much a child knows so that we can take him beyond that knowledge into enriching possibilities.  When children are struggling, assessments can help in determining an action plan to meet their needs.  And high-achieving students must be challenged to continue to grow.

Also, teachers welcome an opportunity to be evaluated as a professional when those assessments result in feedback that can help them grow.  We as teachers hope for evaluation systems that not only provide feedback but are connected to professional development to help us improve. Even our best teachers still seek knowledge and training for improvement. That should be a goal for every teacher in the profession.

The President called for an end to teacher bashing.  Too often society is driven by sensational news that clings to a controversial topic in order to sell headlines.  We need to look for the positive events in education.  We need to celebrate the triumphs.  We need to recognize teachers as a major element in a child’s life and respect them as such.

What does this mean for teachers?

Teachers must live up to this respect.  Educators must put concerted effort into planning for student instruction.  Professionals need to act and dress the part as well.  

Teachers need to feel confident again to teach standards creatively.  Common Core State Standards provide a framework for WHAT needs to be taught, but teachers are the driving force for HOW those standards are taught.  This is where, though the same standards are taught, educational strategies for students may differ.

Teachers need to voice their thoughts.  Educators must participate in discussions about the ways that student growth and achievement are measured.  Teacher voices are also needed to determine fair and consistent ways to measure teacher performance. Teachers can look for ways to get involved in important conversations about education.   Look for opportunities within your district and your state.  Teachers can look to non-profits to amplify their voices.  Hope Street Group provides a platform for discussions like this.

What does this mean for Policymakers?

Policymakers need to listen to the “in-the-trenches” voices of teachers.  Policymakers (and the public) cannot just assume that teachers are trying to protect their jobs in these discussions of student achievement and teacher evaluation.  Policymakers must recognize that educators represent a valuable steering element for these discussions.  These teachers serve as necessary resource.

Policymakers can look to other states that are working with teachers to gather their voices in meaningful ways.  Delaware, for instance, is working toward involving the work of state teachers when developing the teacher evaluation system that will be put into place.  I participated in a workgroup that created assessments to measure student growth.  During these work sessions, I had access to the people working for the department who are making decisions. I have voiced my concerns and the concerns of my colleagues.  In addition, I have suggested possible solutions.  I have found the ears of my policymakers to be open.

Final Thoughts

President Obama’s remarks about Teachers and Education lead us down the path of transforming our educational systems and re-thinking some strongly held beliefs about the methods we use to educate students.  A step further contributes to the conversations about ensuring that our children receive an education from the best teachers available.  While our paradigm is shifting, we must remember to share our voices together in this important conversation.

Standardized testing has become a hot topic of conversation everywhere from the teachers lounge to local P.T.A. meetings.  The news is filled with articles about teachers “teaching to the test” (see a few examples here, here and here).  But are standardized assessments the best and only way to measure student learning?

Teachers use many tools to assess and measure student growth and learning, which then guide future teaching. A formalized test is one of the tools we as teachers use to assess a student’s knowledge. We then discern the best possible way to move forward and what to teach from that point. However, testing has turned into a dreaded monster.

The word “test” has become the new four-letter word to both students and to teachers. You say  “test” to any teacher these days, and they stare at you with a look of regret and sadness in their eyes.  The bubble over their head says, “Oh…remember the days when testing truly evaluated what students could do and what they learned.”

The end goal is now making sure that, no matter what, students perform well on standardized tests.   We have developed a culture of teaching to the test.  What happened to teaching to the students?

What is the purpose of standardized tests?

Standardized tests were initially put into place to gather a large amount of data on student achievement. As a nation, we are expected to raise student achievement and yet, we haven’t asked ourselves the most fundamental of all questions: how are we defining student achievement?  We, as teachers, parents, and collectively as a country, need to ask ourselves, do we want our kids to be able to fill in a bubble or do we want our children to be productive citizens in our country and in our world for today and the future? Are we “testing’ them to see if they can critically think, problem solve and have the skills necessary for the workforce?

How do standardized tests affect teachers?

I hear more and more teachers talk every day, telling me, in hushed whispers that they “miss teaching” and “all we do is teach to the test. It’s not fun for the students or us. “

Recently, a teacher showed me a file cabinet in her room, chock full of creative lessons to teach percentages in her math class.  “I can’t use these anymore. I used to have a “shopping day” and the kids would understand the real life implications of learning percentages.  It was great.”  When asked why she couldn’t do it anymore, she explained that she was told it “wasted” time and took away from the skill sheets that would help prepare her students for upcoming standardized tests.

Albert Einstein said, “Everything that can be counted does not necessarily count; everything that counts cannot necessarily be counted.” Just because standardized tests can measure large amounts of student growth, doesn’t mean they can/should measure every aspect of student learning. In fact, we need to remember they should not be used to assess everything.

We must have accountability in our schools and classrooms and there is a place for formalized testing but not at the expense of creative teaching methods.  Teachers need to be able to use their creativity in teaching, to be able to teach critical thinking and problem solving while teaching the necessary academic skills.

Consider the following story problem and how you would respond:

You have a file cabinet in your room, full of creative lessons plans you have used and have found to be successful in teaching your students. Your principal and district leaders have asked that you not use these lessons because they do not prepare your students for the standardized tests.  What do you do?

a. Meet the requirements of your principal and district and teach to the test

b. Find an alternative school that promotes the learning and teaching that fits your ideals

c. Go rogue and teach your students using the methods you know

d. Go into early retirement

The Background

I was selected to testify at an Illinois State House hearing on the Basic Skills test on December 14. The Basic Skills test is a test that all potential teachers must take if they want to be certified in the state of Illinois.   Here is some basic information, the cut score on the sub-sections of the Illinois Test of Basic Skills was raised in September of 2010 to require teacher preparation candidates to score 240 or above (out of 300 possible) in all four sub-sections in order to pass.

The Data

As soon as the new cut score was put in place, passing rates dropped from over 80% to around 30%.

In a March 2011 publication, the Coalition for Effective Teaching posted the following data:

The results of the February 2011 administration of the Basic Skills Test have come in.  Nearly 2000 people took the test and less than 600 passed! The low pass rates are even more striking when you look at the racial and ethnic breakdown:

Out of 1,484 White students, only 490 passed all four subtests.

Out of 234 African-American students, only 25 passed.

Out of 212 Hispanic students, only 28 passed.

Out of 66 Asian students, only 16 passed.

My Voice

Analyzing this data, it is clear that the bar is definitely higher to become a teacher in Illinois and the data shows that minorities are passing the test at an abysmal rate on their first attempts.  Here is the conundrum that I faced with analyzing this data and with writing a post about my experience.  As an African-American woman, I would love to see more professionals of color in the profession.  I teach in Chicago Public Schools where the majority of our students are the minority.  I know that for many years there have been talks of reforms to be considered as it relates to standardized testing to remove cultural biases to make assessments equal across all cultural lines.  I know that passing a standardized test does not take into consideration pedagogical knowledge and cannot fully equate to the success of a teacher.  However, I also know that in the state of our education across this nation, we cannot afford to lower the academic rigor required to be a teacher.  It is an oxymoron to require so much from the student but not so much from the teacher.  Does that make sense?  Should test change based on race or ethnicity?  When I was asked to testify about this issue, I really wasn’t prepared for the all out race war that I entered on speaking up for keeping the standards high.

As a mother of a Chicago Public School student, I expect the best teacher, regardless of race, that our district can provide.  I want her to have someone who stands in front of her everyday who is knowledgeable about the content he or she is teaching and is able to answer my daughter’s questions with proficiency and accuracy.  Don’t get me wrong, I will never lie and say that I have known all the answers to every question my students have posed, but I can say that what I didn’t know, I let them know and found the answers for them.  I say that to say that I am not so naïve to think that all teachers must be a walking encyclopedia but we as teachers need to strive to be continuous learners and stay abreast on all aspects of our profession and not being able to grasp basic content knowledge is unacceptable to me.

I was prepared with my speech about keeping the bar high and on the advent of Common Core State Standards being implemented; it is more evident that our students are being challenged to know so much more.   As I finished my testimony, I felt secure with my speech and how I articulated my points.  It was after my speech that the knot began churning in my stomach when state representatives called people who had testified to come back to the microphone and answer questions about remediation plans for candidates.  State representatives declared the test as a case of the haves and have not’s and one representative mentioned how this test was used to keep minorities out of the profession as a means of modern day racism.  I remember one Latino representative who stated that he didn’t believe in lowering the bar because he didn’t feel that just because he was Latino; it should be viewed that he cannot pass the test therefore lower the bar.  I shared his sentiment and wondered why more minorities did not feel this way.  Although the pass rate was higher in the pass, I wonder if the low pass rates now highlight the true value of a teacher.  As pompous as it may sound, I will go on record saying that some people need a wakeup call to see that teaching is not as easy as people think and just maybe this new test will help to professionalize the profession and show the world that not just anyone can join our profession!  We hear how other countries take the best of the best, why shouldn’t we?  When I look at it, my first lens focuses on recruiting talent, but race and politics seems to run the same gait as talent for many other individuals.  I then step away again and think of my 6 year old daughter and what I want for her and talent is the answer wrapped in whatever color of the rainbow that God made her teacher.

I left the testimony more disheartened than ever when I passed an African-American representative on my way out during a break when she said, “Don’t forget where you came from and don’t let them use you.”  As if I needed her to remind me of who I was or where I come from.  I have lived in this skin and with my experiences in this skin for 32 years but my race is not the only thing that makes me who I am. The words from the state representative continue to echo in my ear a month later and have caused me to discuss this issue in depth with other African-American educators and parents.  Most everyone says this is a touchy issue but that’s the problem…no one wants to touch it and in the process, our education system is still not up to par.  I felt like the representative was questioning my allegiance to my race as opposed to separating race from the issue at hand.  I love who I am and what I stand for as an African American, as a teacher and a mother.  Looking at the data, I know things need to change; there is a part of me that believes that people who really want to teach will rise to meet the standard regardless of race.  As I told the representative after her comment, I want the best for my daughter, how can anyone in good conscience say that the bar needs to be lower?

Is Alternative Certification Enough?

A generation ago, teachers became teachers by the same path that nurses became nurses- they attended colleges, majored in their subject area, received teacher training, and entered the classroom.

Within the past 15 years or so, this landscape changed, largely with the formation and rapid expansion of Teach For America, and today there are more paths to the classroom than ever before. While I am not a “TFA Corps Alum,” I became a teacher through a similar group called teachNOLA, run by the New Teacher Project.

After a infinitely brief summer training and a couple weeks of summer school assistant teaching, I found myself in the second worst performing high school in the district, attempting a reclamation of a classroom two other teachers had walked out of by October.  I am still in the classroom 5 years later, but in retrospect realize that I was grossly unprepared to meet the needs of the population I was supposed to serve.

Each year, thousands of well-meaning, enthusiastic college graduates enter TFA, teachNOLA, or a similar “fast track program” and find themselves faced with the worst schools, most deplorable school conditions, and greatest academic deficits. They attend “alternative certification classes” while teaching and receive their teaching certification at the end of the year.  We ask them to roll up their sleeves, work hard, have high expectations, and “close the achievement gap.”

And they do roll up their sleeves – they work hard, they do the best they can with the tools they have, and some of them stay… but not nearly enough. Often, the experience of alternative certification routes becomes a “stepping stone” to another career – in education or otherwise.

While Teach For America offers up statistics that more than 60% of their cohorts end up staying in “some form of educational work” after their two year commitment is at an end, many of these promising teachers leave the classroom before they have had a chance to fully develop their craft.

All of this leaves me with several questions. Where should these skills actually be developed? Is a “summer training institute” enough? How are these programs, or colleges for that matter, held accountable for providing high quality training for their cohorts and students? I have a 15-year-old sister – would I trust her education to a 22 year-old Yale grad armed with an English degree and three-months of training? In his recent blog, Doug Clark makes some excellent suggestions, and we as a nation need to begin to consider this as a national, not simply an educational, issue.

How are schools and training programs held accountable to excellence?

I went back to college, while teaching fulltime, and spent three years and thousands of dollars attending the graduate level education courses in order to become certified and – I thought – learn more about becoming a teacher. I was shocked at the lack of attention and rigor brought to these courses. Of all of the classes I attended, only two of them were of any quality.

There is absolutely no alignment between colleges on what it means to prepare a teacher for a classroom.  Standards for excellence among teaching programs differ from college to college. Imagine if this were true for doctors and their preparation for the surgery room wildly varied depending on the university they attend!

I strongly believe that standardization for teacher certification is needed to establish consistency, credibility, and a level of accountability for excellence. How can we possibly expect to prepare prospective teachers for the classroom if the curriculum is not vetted and prepared by experts who are in communication and are constantly pushing their programs to be up to date?

Moreover, once teachers have come through these rigorous programs, they need to continue to develop their skills. In the United States, we have barely begun the process of teacher evaluation. In countries that have high performing educational systems, teachers begin excellently and are expected to continue to be so. In Singapore, teachers complete 100 hours of professional development annually. A similar program is true in South Korea, and while high school is not compulsory I that country, 97% of its population finishes.

Preparing teachers for the challenges they will face, demanding that the programs that prepare them are effective, and continuing a teacher’s education throughout their career. These are the qualities of an educational system that works and we will continue spinning our wheels with new initiatives until we truly begin to value the teacher as the integral part of the system, and prepare them effectively for the job.

The views expressed are the writer's own.

Ed Nation Blog Post, Doug Clark, Teacher Fellow, The Hope Street Group

What a wonderful experience to attend the 2^nd Education Nation produced by NBC News in New York. I am very grateful to the Hope Street Group for obtaining invitations for several of the Hope Street Teacher Fellows to attend the event. NBC did an outstanding job of providing relevant and thought-provoking discussions, presentations and interviews with many of the top players in the education arena. I was especially interested in the presentation on Monday, “Brain Power: Why Early Learning Matters.” This presentation was given by several leading academics from leading universities who presented real and solid research, followed by discussions on how to apply the findings in our work as teachers. There was lots of “meat” and very little “fluff.”

My experience with Education Nation began before I left for New York. I received a call from the Austin, Texas NBC affiliate requesting an interview to talk about why I was attending, the role of Hope Street Group and what I hoped would happen as a result of the event. I was truly humbled by the request, as classroom teachers do not usually get offers from the media to do interviews. I included my heart-felt thoughts on the recent firestorms in Bastrop, Texas and the significant role that teachers played in volunteering at shelters, food banks, etc., even though over 200 teacher families had lost their homes as well. My “pre-education nation” experience told me this was going to be a special event and well worth the time and effort to attend.

As I reflect on the many presentations, interviews and networking opportunities available to us, I realize the potential for this and similar events to effect real and systemic change is significant. Clearly, the conversations and activities that I have been involved in with the Hope Street Group throughout the past months and years are matched very closely with last week’s Education Nation dialogue. The challenge for all education reformers is to now take this great information and make something happen in a real and sustainable way.

One of the many highlights of the event was when New Haven Conn. Teacher Matt Presser, one of the winners of the Education Nation essay contest, told Brian Williams, “Too often school reform is something that is happening to our students as opposed to with them or for them, and so many decisions are being made by people in board rooms, people in the White House, when the real people who know what our students need are the people here today, the people in our classroom every day”. The work of Hope Street Group and NBC Education Nation supports the notion of “teacher voice” in the discussion.

I believe the key is for teachers to move this agenda along by taking the energy and information created by this event to create real change at the local level. The feedback I have received from the general public in my home town regarding education reform is outstanding and has shown me that, with a local contact or facilitator, local educational reform can occur.

For those of you who were unable to attend, I hope you will take some time and check out the videos on NBC of the activities from last week. I can’t wait to see what’s next!

Much has been written about how effective communication in the workplace can yield desired outcomes. If we accept the fact that better communication skills yield better results, then we should question the choice of education policymakers when they use the words, “teacher evaluation” as a  buzz word.

I assume this word selection was meant to reflect the measure of teacher effectiveness for student achievement.  The problem though, which many educators understand, is that teacher effectiveness is often only realized when there is effective leadership at every level.

Other well-known education advocates would agree…

“It’s not about fixing the teachers, it’s about fixing the system.”  Wendy Kopp, CEO and founder, Teach For America; CEO and cofounder, Teach For All is quoted at a recent summit, Opportunity Nation.

“It all gets back leadership… I’ve been shocked by the inadequate training of principals….negative things in a school can change overnight just with a change in the principals.” John Pepper, Chairman of Board, The Walt Disney Company is quoted at a recent summit, Opportunity Nation.

There is also plenty of research to back up these opinions.  The article,   “How Leadership Influences Student Learning”, details the importance of leadership in schools.

In my own personal experience working as a school-based Speech Language Pathologist over the past 15 years in various schools across the country in big/small, urban/rural districts, I’ve seen leadership ranging from incompetent to outstanding with every degree in between.  I have seen the same with educators.  On one hand I find myself frustrated with the inability to get rid of bad teachers and on the other I am untrusting of leadership to make fair unbiased decisions or  take responsibility for providing the teacher support necessary to maximize student achievement.

As a result of the research and teacher perceptions, I see two main obstacles for policymakers to address:

1. Effective leadership is necessary for effective teaching and student achievement and should be a key part of the implementation of a teacher evaluation tool.  Therefore, education policy around teacher evaluation should reflect this instead of overemphasizing teacher accountability.
2. In addition, if you want to engage teachers in the evaluation process, they must take ownership and accept it as positive change towards elevating their profession and maximizing student achievement.

How can policymakers improve education policy, so that it is more effective for improving student learning and doesn’t raise teacher hackles?

Answer:  The first step is to start using language that includes accountability for all participants in the system, including the leadership.  Second, mean what you say by structuring the policy in a way that equally emphasizes accountability for all participants.

As an educator, I support an accountability system that maximizes student achievement and elevates teaching to an iconic level.  However, this will only be achieved if all elements are in place and all participants are held accountable.  As an educator volunteer and team leader for Hope Street Group, I worked with teachers around the country to use ideas backed up by much research to come up with 8 recommendations that we deemed necessary for an effective school-wide accountability system.  These 8 recommendations were detailed in the report, Policy 2.0: Using Open Innovation to Improve Teacher Evaluation Systems, and are summarized below on the left side of the chart. The right side of the chart lists who is held responsible for facilitating and implementing those recommendations:

How often do you see the word “teacher” vs. “administrator”?  Therefore, does the term “teacher evaluation system” fully capture who should be evaluated?

If state and district policymakers are looking to implement new evaluation policies, as an educator, I am looking for the elements on the left of this column to be in place before it gets my vote of support.

To teachers who are skeptical about a new evaluation system, I would say: Look at these recommendations and encourage your leaders to make positive changes in the system. This is our chance to do great things for student learning and to elevate our profession. It’s the chance to improve economic opportunity for our youth, which improves the economics of our country. It’s the chance to be our best, show our best and to be valued and rewarded for all of our vast knowledge and excellent practice.

So instead of saying, “I don’t want any part of that teacher evaluation system,” how about saying, “I am in favor of a new school-wide accountability system that includes the previously listed elements.”

Hopefully with the combined efforts of policymakers, school leaders, and teachers, we will change the emphasis of “teacher evaluation” systems to “school-wide accountability” systems that include an emphasis on the evaluation of school leaders.

How important is it to have an effective principal?

Much has been said lately about the importance of having an effective teacher at the helm of every classroom.  However, an often overlooked piece of research around effectiveness is how important it is for every school to have an effective principal.

After all, what good is it to have a building filled with effective and dedicated teachers if the person in charge of designing and managing the school’s systems actually impairs the degree to which his/her teachers can be effective?

It’s already an impressive task to get an effective teacher in front of every student.  The additional challenge of finding effective principals to lead these effective teachers can begin to feel like we’re waiting for a rare alignment of stars.  However, the expectation that each of our classrooms be in the hands of an effective teacher and that each of our schools be in the hands of an effective principal is a crucial one to which we must hold firm.

There are some school models that address this challenge by empowering the teachers within a school to take on the decision-making responsibilities usually held by principals in more traditional models.  However, every school needs someone managing the school-wide logistics because they greatly impact the degree to which a teacher can be effective.

In most traditional school models, it is imperative that the principal also be an effective and inspiring leader.  Teachers must see him/her as an expert worthy of respect and a leader worthy of trust.  There will be times, and many of them, when teachers don’t fully understand all of the variables that impact decisions made.  There will be other times when a principal must push and motivate teachers to grow as professionals. It’s in these times where the respect and trust teachers have in an effective principal become the lifeblood of a school.

How should a principal’s effectiveness be evaluated?

While many districts and states debate about how teachers should be evaluated, it is imperative that we also discuss how principals should be evaluated.  While student outcomes around student achievement and graduation rates seem like obvious data points to include in such an evaluation, equally important are the observation and teacher interview tools that must be designed to extrapolate the extent to which teachers respect and trust their principal.  When creating these observation and teacher interview tools, there are a few questions to consider.

How could interview and/or survey questions be designed for teachers to describe, among other effective practices:

• what their principals do to build trusting relationships with staff
  
• what their principals do to earn respect and faith in their expertise
  
• what their principals do to maintain a staff’s trust and respect even after making decisions that teachers don’t immediately understand
  

How could evaluative observation rubrics be designed to capture, among other effective practices:

• how clearly a principal communicates his/her expectations to staff
  
• how inspiring  a principal is when addressing his/her staff
  
• how much rigor a principal promotes in the professional development at his/her school
  

It is my hope that policymakers, along with state and district officials, will pass legislation and design evaluation systems which pay tribute to the crucial role principals play in any effort to improve the effectiveness of our classrooms and schools.  If not, legions of effective teachers in our nation will remain at the mercy of ineffective principals until more and more evaluation systems ensure otherwise.

As professionals, teachers want to be involved in conversations about education reform, whether at the federal, state, or local level.  Unfortunately, the opportunities for engagement are often limited or even non-existent.  As a Hope Street Group Teacher Fellow, I am presented opportunities to be part of policy conversations and even help facilitate them for other teachers.  In an effort to connect teachers with policymakers, Hope Street Group hosted a webinar with Delaware’s U.S. Senator Chris Coons.  This experience was exciting.  I was able to research current education issues within my state, help promote the event to my colleagues, and pose thoughtful questions for the Senator to answer.

As a group, the other Delaware Teacher Fellows and I began with research into educational topics that are held dear to the Senator and we also researched topics of which we would like to inform the Senator.  For instance, I researched Delaware’s Race to the Top grant to determine what had been promised with regards to teacher evaluation.  This exercise was wonderful.  I read more deeply into the grant because of this focus and I was therefore better able to formulate questions and to generate conversations – not just with the Senator, but also with my fellow educators.

According to the Race to the Top grant application, Delaware will have an evaluation system that takes into account student growth.  Although we have always considered student growth, measuring that growth will now be critical to a teacher’s rating.  Student growth will be measured in three components.  The first will be determined according to success on the state test for Reading or Math.  In the second component, teachers will select a cohort, or group of students and a portion of the teacher’s evaluation will be based upon the growth of this cohort as measured by the state assessment.  In the third component, student growth will be measured through both external and internal assessments.  The external measures, standards based evaluations, are currently being approved by the Department of Education.  The internal measures are being developed by educators from various districts across the state.  These internal measures will be used by teachers to measure other areas of growth that are not assessed on the state test.

Another interesting aspect of the webinar was posting questions to be asked of the Senator.  At the same time, I could read other questions that had been posted and I could vote on them.  Through voting, questions would rise in priority and teachers had a voice in the questions eventually asked of the Senator.

Overall the webinar was a success. Teachers were able to connect to a policymaker, Senator Coons, in a way that made him accessible across distances.  As a Teacher Fellow, I was able to learn more about what was happening in my state through research and through reading questions that my fellow teachers were asking.  This experience has helped me grow and to understand relationships that can be built between teachers and policymakers.