Grading policies, part 1

Many years ago, when I averaged grades for progress reports, (we did it manually back then. At least i had the benefit of a calculator.) I realized that one of my middle school students had a very low average. I think it was a 17. He had turned in almost no work, and all I had to work with were two papers. I think one was classwork and the other was a quiz. Poor dear, this was my first encounter with the I-don't-give-a-shit attitude. I went right to my principal and asked for feedback. She asked only one question: Has the student had the opportunity to succeed?(her emphasis, not mine) Well, of course he'd had the opportunity; he hadn't missed a day of school, he'd had the same opportunity as his classmates. More, actually, since he was repeating the grade. So he was getting a SECOND opportunity to show what he was learning. But, he refused to lift a finger. I was confused by the principal's question, until she followed up with a barely veiled directive to record a grade no lower than, I think, 60.
I was stunned. Literally could not form words. Here was a kid not doing a thing for himself, and I should had him a grade. That bothered me. It bothered me even more when I sat down to finish progress reports, and saw that some of my struggling students had done their bery best and were earning.... (wait for it)....
63. or less. This seemed to me a slap in the face of students who had actually done something for themselves, were at least making an effort, and here was their 'reward'. Almost the same grade they could get by doing aboslutely nothing.
Well, here we are, many years later, and a school district in the southern part of this state has codified a grading policy (now they describe it as a proposal, but that's not what a lot of their teachers and parents understood last week) that requires students not receive zeros, and failed tests must be re-taken. So, I don't have to do the work till I'm damn well good and ready, and I don't have to study for the test until I've seen what's on it, then go home and study for the 'retake'. The newspaper item is below, followed by  many, many comments. Read 'em all. It ain't pretty. Also a couple of news links from the community in question:
http://blogs.ajc.com/get-schooled-blog/2012/02/03/no-zeros-in-school-any-longer-but-arent-there-well-deserved-zeros/
http://valdostadailytimes.com/local/x2009900343/School-system-grades-policy-gets-national-exposure
http://valdostadailytimes.com/opinion/x1669710198/School-policy-fails-expectations

Am I being overly sensitive?

After being out for one day, I returned to my classroom to find it's been completely rearranged by the substitute, who also did not give my quiz. This was apparently sanctioned by the powers that be. I'm confused. Who gets to decide seating in my classroom, and why bother leaving assignments if they are considered optional? What the hell?

Update: apparently the written assignment (current in my curriculum, per the district map) was also treated as optional. Now I'm really confused. What is the purpose of spending time preparing assignments if they can be ignored?And don't let me get started on how the kids are behaving about this. I feel completely stomped on right now.

It's like a murder investigation on TV. Follow the money. Who benefits most from the crime?

http://www.educationnews.org/education-policy-and-politics/millions-of-dollars-made-from-teacher-evaluation-programs/

teacher "autonomy"

http://blog.masteryconnect.com/?p=330

So, where does this "autonomy" exist? I haven't seen the like in several years. And with parent trigger laws corpping up all over, there will soon be no autonomy. Getting an education will be more like ordering fast food. You know where that's gotten us.

Way to go, Matt Damon!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFHJkvEwyhk.

Love it he pulls no punches and tells the 'journalists' exactly what he thinks. Didn't accomplish much, unfortunately

TIME Magazine's 12 for '12

Ugh
More like 0 for 12, if this is the best we've got.
Sad that the focus is on education activists, rather than educators. There really is a difference. There is only one practicing educator in the group. John Hunter's global game is wonderful, but won't be scalable, because it's not testable. Matt Damon, though I appreciate his passion in speaking up for us, is not offereing anything new. And we all know that state supes don't have to have any ed chops. In my state, it's an elected position, so whoever gets the most attention is likely to get the votes.

http://ideas.time.com/2012/01/13/school-of-thought-12-education-activists-for-2012/?iid=op-article-morephotos

Dear Michelle Rhee

Valerie Strauss' response to Rhee's commentary on the Harvard value-added study

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/dear-michelle-rhee-about-that-teacher-evaluation-study/2012/01/20/gIQA0iVSGQ_blog.html?wprss=ans

My response:
Dear Michelle Rhee:
What are you thinking?

Value-Added, Again

Here are some points from the Shanker Blog about 'performance incentives' for teachers (because, you know, they worked so well for Wall Street):

Unlike uniform salary increases, financial incentives are:

• based on an economic model that assumes teachers make career decisions in response to money;
• not guaranteed from one year to the next, unless they are awarded as permanent raises, and thus may not appeal to teachers if they are risk-adverse;
• potentially insulting to teachers (particularly incentives that are performance-based) because they can be taken to imply that teachers are withholding improvements to student learning and performance for higher pay;
• possibly ineffective (particularly those that are performance-based) if teachers don’t know what more they can do to increase student performance or meet other outcomes to which incentives are attached;
• and bound to raise delicate questions of fairness between teachers and of trust between teachers and districts.  

(emphasis added)

it's a Brave New World in Arizona

In addition to pulling the plug on a well-repsected ethnic studies curriculum, they are now banning books. BANNING BOOKS! I personally hope every family in Tucson goes out and buys/reads each of the horribly dangerous books that TUSD is removing from schools, at the insistence of a state government afraid of its own shadow. Some of the banned titles include: The Tempest and Rethinking Columbus.
Salon has the article here: http://www.salon.com/2012/01/13/whos_afraid_of_the_tempest/singleton/
And the Tucson Citizen: http://tucsoncitizen.com/three-sonorans/2012/01/13/did-you-know-even-shakespeare-got-banned-from-tusd-with-mas-ruling/
Here's another article: http://rt.com/usa/news/arizona-history-mexican-studies-845/


BANNED BOOKS WEEK 2012:  September 30 through October 6

Huffington Post piece on book banning: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/roberta-stevens/yes-there-is-still-book-b_b_738679.html
For a little background on book banning in education, start here:  http://712educators.about.com/cs/bannedbooks/a/bookbanning.htm

Justice Brennan's comments in the case of Texas v Johnson, 1989:

"Recognizing that the right to differ is the centerpiece of our First Amendment freedoms, a government cannot mandate by fiat a feeling of unity in its citizens."

“If there is a bedrock principle underlying the First Amendment, it is that the Government may not prohibit the expression of an idea simply because society finds the idea itself offensive or disagreeable.”

You remember the kids with those names...

I've seen the apostraphe used as a naming accessory in every conceivable position (D'Lexus, anyone?). I've taught Shitavia, Jontavia, Tikeria, Bubba (no, NOT a nickname), Antarious, and Jawosky, along with all their friends. I've learned to pronounce names whose spelling bore no resemblance to the spoken word.I've marveled at parents who give the child a name, and then call him/her by the middle name exclusively, as well as those who call their child something that isn't even on the birth certificate. Fortunately, the lady named Marijuana Pepsi was never in my class; it would have been too much.
Here's a study on the effects of "difficult" names:  http://motherjones.com/mixed-media/2012/01/new-study-bad-baby-name-choices-destroy-lives

Have you read these articles?

The first is about the lovely study last fall which concluded that teachers are overpaid. Since I'm having significant difficulty these days keeping my head above water (never mind building up savings), I just don't understand how they reached their conclusion. But then, as a teacher, it's well established that I'm not very bright, so it must be WAY over my head. Here's the link:  http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2012/01/11/17richwine.h31.html?tkn=WZQFDKeM7aBYfNlR9oUH6TYmsAoXCQk0u%2FiS&cmp=ENL-TU-NEWS2

The second is about the recent study which shows that students who have an excellent teacher in 4th grade are a whole 1.25% more likely to attend college and less likely to get pregnant as a teenager, by the same percentage. The study also concluded that the future salary impact of just one excellent teacher during grades 4-8 is a whopping 1% at.... age 28. So, I guess the take-home lesson here is that I can blame my financial situation on NOT having had one of those great teachers. Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/12/opinion/kristof-the-value-of-teachers.html

So, now, the question is: Am I a teacher because I'm a dummy, or because I had dummies for teachers?

MONDAY UPDATE 1/16/12: It turns out that all is not as clear as it seemed. Not a surprise. The data used for this earth=shattering study is over 10 years old. In other words, pre-NCLB, Will it hold true in he madness of AYP, RTTT, EOCT, HSGT, ABC123? Read more here: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/16/education/study-on-teacher-value-uses-data-from-before-teach-to-test-era.html?src=recg

The arithmetic of Duncan-style school "turnaround"

They used to call it "reconstitution". You know, the one where they fire all the teachers and make them reapply for their jobs, but rehire no more than half of them anyway, leaving the rest to twist in the wind. So, this is the story of a Chicago school that was closed and then reinvented as a "turnaround". Look carefully at the numbers used to justify first the closing of this school, and then the status change from unaccaptable to improving:  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/matt-farmer/chicago-collins-academy-turnaround_b_1159465.html

So, how do you make schools "better"?

Apparently, not by setting arbitrary targets and using a system of carrots and sticks to reach them.
Incentives and Test-Based Accountability in Education
Valerie Strauss discussed it back in May. The report is downloadable from the NAP site. Two sentences from the summary:

Test-based incentive programs, as designed and

implemented in the programs that have been carefully studied,

have not increased student achievement enough to bring the

United States close to the levels of the highest achieving countries.

When evaluated using relevant low-stakes tests, which

are less likely to be inflated by the incentives themselves, the

overall effects on achievement tend to be small and are effectively

zero for a number of programs.

Wonder if any of our brave leaders will take note of this report from the National Research Council? Or, will the beatings will continue till morale improves!

Where does someone like this come from?

Vermont fraternity surveys members. Among the questions: who would you like to rape?

Umm, REALLY? Is this the best thing you could think of when you had too much time on your hands? What, TP'ing somebody's yard too much effort for you? Someone suggested bringing back the paddle. It's too late for this group of idiots. http://blogs.ajc.com/get-schooled-blog/2011/12/15/a-frat-asks-its-members-who-would-you-like-to-rape-now-its-suspended/

"Evidence" of TFA effectiveness

Check Valerie Strauss's column: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/teach-for-america-research-questioned/2011/12/12/gIQANb40rO_blog.html#pagebreak

It's quite an eye-opener. These folks who live and die by the 'data' who can't offer up any useful data to justify their program.

Somehow, this isn't surprising...

Ed Sec Duncan has heard about a new report indicating that about half of schools will not make AYP this year. Wow, what a shocker. Not.
http://www.ajc.com/news/nation-world/report-half-of-schools-1260580.html

Almost Christmas

And not a minute too soon. I'm so pooped I may fall on my face.The kids are so wired we could light up the entire east coast.

NCLB's other meaning

I whole-heartedly agree. My district has retained the services of a 'guru' whose specialty seems to be repackaging Marzano's research. So far as I can find, he has published nothing of his own, and we don't even know how long he's been out of the classroom. He surely never taught anyone like my kids. Can you guess where our stimulus $$$ went?

http://trib.com/opinion/letters/no-consultants-left-behind/article_e69a950c-f5de-500f-a669-abbea7cec0cf.html 

Nation's race to the bottom

Here's some interesting political/economic analysis: share

Here's one for all the 'experts' out there

Here's a rap on Accountable Talk that just might begin to offer a view into the world of a teacher: http://www.accountabletalk.com/2011/11/im-public-school-teacher.html

Those who can't imagine all of this, or wouldn't want to experience it, should get the hell out of the way and let the rest of us do our jobs. Quit interfering.