Don’t Believe the Hype About “Excellent” Teachers; There’s a Lot of Snake Oil Out There Right Now

I just watched the second half of Fareed Zakaria’s CNN special on fixing American education, and I read his long piece in Time last week on the same topic. In his defense, he’s not an educator, and he’s a bit awestruck by famous faces. In the special, Bill Gates gets the most face time, and while he’s got good intentions , his foundation continues to spread a false gospel that poverty can be fully surmounted for all children through good teaching, and that closing the minority achievement gaps is easily in our reach, also through good teaching. This gospel originates from Michelle Rhee, former Washington, D.C., superintendent of schools and current media talking head. I just want to analyze one little piece of what she’s spouting, so you can see how unquestioning the media have become of education “reformers.”

When it comes to the “achievement gap” that exists between white test scores and those of African-Americans and other minorities (though, curiously, not Asians), Rhee believes that the gap can be erased in about five years of excellent teaching. Here’s her evidence: The top 20% of teachers (as judged by student test scores, a very unreliable way to grade teachers) take their students a few months more than one full year’s worth of achievement in one school year. On the other hand, the bottom 20% only take their kids ahead 7 or 8 months in a full school year. Therefore, she extrapolates, over about 5 years, the crippling gap between whites and most minorities can be completely erased if we just ensure that the minority students have excellent teachers. For you who don’t do math, don’t get glossy-eyed and give up here.  That’s as hard as the math gets.

First, understand that the “excellent” teachers Rhee likes to talk about are a very fluid group. The teachers whose students score in the top 20% one year are very likely to not be in that group next year, I guess meaning they’re no longer “excellent.” Meanwhile, among the dregs this year whose kids score in the bottom 20%, lots and lots of them won’t be in that category next year, and some will even magically become “excellent!”

But more importantly, though, let’s give Rhee the benefit of the doubt, and let’s agree that her analysis of the teachers is correct.  So, with good teaching, if a student can move ahead five extra months per year than they would have with poor teaching, can we really assume they’ll continue that same rate over five years? I play golf, and when I get on a hot streak and shoot 95 instead of my customary 100 (an improvement rate of 5 strokes per round), can I then assume I’m just five rounds away from shooting 70, and one more round beyond that from joining the PGA tour? If I can sprint 40 yards in 6 seconds (120 feet per second), is it fair then to assume that my time in the mile will be just 76 seconds, if I were to bother to actually try it?  Or intellectually, if I read an extra book per month, and my IQ score improves by a point, am I just a few hundred books away from making Stephen Hawking look a bit dim? I’ll challenge Michelle Rhee right now: Show me one kid, just one, who has made that journey and closed the gap in five school years, using just good teachers in a regular classroom in a regular school day, and I’ll write an apology to her.

So what’s the takeaway for parents with kids in the schools? The reformers make a lot of noise and get lots of media, but then frontier towns were captivated by snake-oil salesmen with their traveling wagons full of miracle cures!  There is, right now, a ton of money to be made in being a critic of the schools, because it plays on parents’ most basic fears for their children. Don’t give in to the panic.  In most schools, there is a good education to be had for those who want it. There are teachers who don’t give in to the pressure to pass kids on no matter what, teachers who bring their unique creative energy to their class every day and help their kids understand the world. Seek them out, make some noise, get your kid in their classes.  And then watch them achieve!

For those who wish to learn more, see Diane Ravitch’s book The Death and Life of the Great American School System. Much of the basic data I used here is found in the book.

 

The “Knockout King” Game and Teaching Your Child Empathy

Is it possible a teenager could proudly say on September 12th "I don't care"?

Recently here in St. Louis, the mayor witnessed an attack that kids call “The Knockout King” game. For those that don’t know, basically a teen (usually encouraged by a group of friends) walks up to a completely unsuspecting adult (often much older and less physically able than the teen) and takes a haymaker swing at them. Our mayor, Francis Slay, helped the man who was attacked get help, and he has since had some harsh words for these kids.

In interviews with local media, the kids who will admit to having knowledge of these attacks will claim “boredom” as their number one reason such things happen. Many sociologists and child psychologists will chime in to agree with that, and they’ll speak of the need to create more recreational opportunities for the youth of our city. I suppose it’s an “idle hands” response to the problem: if the kids are busy at other “positive” things, they won’t have time to get into this kind of trouble.

I’m here to say that’s a load of garbage, and I’m pleased to say Mayor Slay is with me. He called these attacks what they are: felonious assaults that are almost sociopathic. Right you are, Mr. Mayor, but let me just add a consideration for all parents, not just those who would seem to be at risk of raising kids that would get involved in such a thing. What sociopaths lack is empathy, the ability to put yourself in someone else’s shoes and imagine how they would react in a certain situation. Let me give you a quick story about a teen without such empathy. On the day after the September 11th attacks, I wanted to hear what my students were thinking, but I was off first period. So I went into a colleague’s room and sat in on the discussion for the period. After a lot of the typical responses, a sullen boy in the back was called on by the teacher. “I don’t care. I didn’t know any of the people that were killed. It wasn’t my family.” Certainly I was shocked, not so much that he felt that way, but that he felt it was socially acceptable to say that out loud. It struck me as not just insensitive, but incredibly stupid, as if he and his family wouldn’t have been attacked that day, even if they’d been on the 100th floor of the trade center. To not understand that all Americans were targets that day was dense beyond my belief.

More interesting for us today, though, is his absolute lack of empathy. Everything I’ve read about empathy suggests that it is not a natural human emotion, and that we must be taught to have it. Raising my own children has confirmed this unfortunate truth. While lots of schools now have “character education” programs, their effectiveness is under much scholarly debate. I’ve taught two of them in my teaching days, and I find them to be useless, like teaching kids to get ready for college by studying the mascots. That leaves it to us, the parents. We must be the ones to teach our children this crucial requirement for civilization.

How can we do this, teach our kids to care for others as they care about themselves? There’s no prescription, but I would advise all of us to spend time with our kids talking about how our actions and attitudes affect those around us. Did your child get sent to the office today? Ask him how the teacher or the principal probably felt during these situations. Did you two walk or drive past a beggar on the street? Ask her what state her life would have to be in to be willing to beg like that. Do they watch of lot superhero-type movies and TV shows, with clear-cut good and evil? Get them to watch the occasional drama with nuanced characters, and then discuss their reaction to it.  The big idea here is that we don’t have to wait until our child does something that seems thoughtless or cruel to try to teach them empathy; in fact, when we have to punish them for such behavior, it’s probably not the best time to teach. Empathy is something we can teach all the time, just by what’s around us constantly in our daily lives.

 

Being an Advocate for Your Child

This principal wants what you want: whatever is best for your child. Be sure all the adults in your child's life are informed of problems, and maintain a united front with these professionals.

By Lisa Hummel

As parents, we’ve probably all found ourselves in situations where we were concerned about something going on at school (or something our children have told us was going on at school) and been unsure about whether and how to speak up about it.  Having had this occur often lately with my own children, I’ve been mulling over the most effective way to be an advocate for my children.  I’ve found that there can be a fine line between being an advocate and being a pest.  I do try not to be a pest or to micro-manage my kids’ education, yet it is my responsibility to see to it that their educational needs are being met as well as possible.

The worst example I can think of when a parent  did not advocate for her child was when I was teaching high school science .  A freshman girl in the English teacher’s room next to mine said she didn’t feel very well.  Thinking she was nauseous, he sent her down the hall to the bathroom.  What she meant, though, was that she had a seizure coming on.  She left as she was told and had that seizure on the hard stone stairs on her way down to the nurse, unaccompanied by anyone.  This could have resulted in a severe injury, but luckily it did not.  It turns out that this girl, new to the school like every other freshman student, was subject to frequent violent seizures and nobody informed the teachers.  This was a dangerous situation in which her parents should have made sure that all the adults who were responsible for her knew about this problem.  In a case as serious as this, parents needed to make sure all the teachers were made aware.  Don’t assume that school personnel have passed on information, especially if your child is in a new school or class.

An excellent example of parent advocacy for a child with special health needs happened when I was teaching at a summer camp.  The mom knew that we had no nurse, and she made sure we knew her child had a severe food allergy.  She was apologetic about it, but she asked for a meeting with me and the camp director to discuss the allergy, including the child’s use of an epi-pen if needed.  This mom actually took the time to show us how to use the pen, letting us practice stabbing it into an apple to get the feel for it.  It may sound silly, but as a teacher who is not a trained health professional, I was very appreciative of this mother’s proactive efforts.  Happily, we never needed the epi-pen, but I was very comfortable having this student in my class, knowing I was prepared for a possible emergency.

Of course, if we’re lucky, it is not about severe health problems that we worry when it comes to our kids at school.  Rather, we find ourselves concerned with academics, discipline, and social issues.  We may think our child has too much homework, or not enough, or is being teased or distracted.  Maybe the curriculum in our children’s school is inadequate or the discipline is too lax.  Whatever the case, I’ve met many parents who have concerns like these but are afraid to say anything about them.  Maybe they feel that if they “rock the boat,” their child will be retaliated against for it.  I suppose that’s not impossible, but I have found that when I bring up a concern, school administrators and teachers are generally receptive and interested in improving the situation.  They want good outcomes for their students, and constructive feedback parents give them is usually appreciated, especially when it is given in a respectful manner.

When I have an issue with a teacher or principal, I of course try to keep it just between the adults, not involving my child in any way that would sow seeds of discord or disrespect in the classroom.  As far as the kids know, the school and their parents are a united front.  Kids need to show respect for people in authority and to understand that even decisions they don’t like may not be theirs to make.  Before I had kids of my own, I remember a student telling me what her wise parents told her and her siblings: “You do what the teacher says, and if there’s a problem, you come home and tell me, and I’ll deal with it.”  So while these parents knew teachers weren’t infallible, they also wanted their kids to learn in no uncertain terms that it was not their role to argue with their teachers.  Those students got the message that they were to be respectful, but also that their parents would stand up for their interests.  Parents like these were mature enough to get both sides of the story and make their objections in a constructive manner.  Parents who don’t get good results from this should follow the chain of command, starting with the teacher but moving on to the principal, superintendent, and school board if necessary.

Finally, being an advocate for our children doesn’t stop at the individual needs of each child.  As a society, we must advocate for effective education for all the children in our collective care.  If something happening in your school or district (even if your own children go to a private school) seems detrimental to the kids’ education, pay attention.  Go to a school board meeting, write an e-mail, make a phone call, and make your voice heard.  I think sometimes the school board only hears the voices of the central office administrators, but when these people are making decisions that harm the students, such as taking away recess or a treasured music program, parents and community members need to speak up.  We are the taxpayers and the voters who put the school boards in place, and we need to be watchdogs for our children.  Let the school board and others know when you like what they’re doing, thanking them for their public service, and also let them know when their decisions harm kids.  Ignoring problems when they don’t directly affect your own child doesn’t help.  As a society, especially in our struggling economy, we need the best-educated people we can get.

 

The Role of Sports in Educating a Young Person

How likely is your child to ever play in front of paying fans?

I’m not just a teacher, parent of a student-athlete, and a sports fan, but I’m also a high school referee for soccer, so I’ve got lots of competing perspectives on this topic. I’m going to focus here on what parents should know about student athletics, and a few do’s and don’ts. In a later post, I’ll give my referee’s perspective on parent behavior at the games, as that’s not a commonly-heard view. But for today, let’s stick to the athletes themselves.

First, do NOT plan on your little athlete making money playing sports for a living, or even for attaining a college scholarship. I read somewhere (if anyone knows where I can find this stat, please let me know, as I’ve looked in vain) that only about 1% of high school athletes go on to play at college, and of those only 1% will ever get paid a single dollar to play in a professional sport, even semi-pro small-town baseball, much less in the majors! And for those who do have the talent to possibly go further, lots can get in the way. Injuries, of course, but also academics, loss of passion for their sport, even the development of poor character and judgment. By way of example, I did the math one time for my students at Riverview Gardens High School, and showed that they could expect a professional athlete to come out of their school about every 10-15 years. And, I pointed out, when I was new, two football players were there who eventually made it to the NFL for a while, so the odds were even more against them! In short, if your kid likes sports, great. If s/he’s good at it, even better. Enjoy it for what it is.

Second, along those lines, do NOT think that better coaching, officiating, etc., is going to turn your kid into a professional athlete. Different sports look for different things in their players: size, quickness, toughness, strength, agility, passion, and other unquantifiable qualities that we have no control over. To take the classic “Michael-Jordan-got-cut-from-his-high-school-basketball-team” story and reverse it, Michael Jordan was so good that better judges of raw talent found him; I believe he was destined to be a professional basketball player, no matter what his high school basketball program did to him.

Third, and this goes for all parents of all athletes of any age, use the sport to teach about commitment. I’m sure there doesn’t exist an athlete who hasn’t dreaded the occasional practice, made a game when they really wanted to be somewhere else, or even had a team they wanted to quit. Even at the youngest levels, be sure your child understands what commitment to a team means BEFORE you sign them up for a sport, and then expect them to follow through on that commitment. Obviously, commitment grows more serious as your child gets older, and there are often good reasons to miss practices and even games, but don’t let them out of a practice or a team activity “just because.” Otherwise, they won’t really get the lessons of team sports–sign them up for tennis or golf, instead.

Fourth, GO TO THE GAMES AS THEY GET OLDER (sorry for yelling). First, the action gets much better, and it’s a lot more entertaining to be a fan. But second, if your kid is playing ball in middle or high school, they’re doing it because they love it. How many other things does your tween and teen allow you to watch them do that they love, and that they do with their friends? Also, seeing 20-30 high school kids give their all on the field in front of five fans (I see that a lot in soccer) is just sad. They’ll be gone sooner than you know–wouldn’t it be great to talk about that awesome play they made over dinner that evening? I know, a lot of high school game times are inconvenient for working adults; make the ones you can. Make it a priority.

Finally, and this goes back to point one, keep your perspective about it all. Our kids (even the teens) do look to us for guidance on attitudes and behavior, so if you keep the sport in its proper place (behind homework and academics, ahead of video games), it’ll help them do so as well.

 

The Original Cheater Under No Child Left Behind: Secretary of Education Rod Paige

Any dropouts in Houston, Secretary Paige? "I see nut-sing! Nut-sing at all!""

We all know that No Child Left Behind is extremely unpopular with teachers and administrators, particularly in schools that serve lower socio-economic students. These schools fell victim to the draconian “corrections” NCLB  mandates more quickly than those with stable middle-class and upper middle-class families, and the pressure on them has been intense. For those who don’t know, NCLB required a continual increase in the test scores of groups and sub-groups (income levels, races, special education status, etc.), until 2014, at which point every school in the land would have all of its sub-groups performing proficiently, at least. This comical goal, reminiscent of Lake Woebegone’s promises of nothing but above-average children, was nevertheless embraced by the poorest and (surprise, surprise) lowest-performing schools in the country. Much of this embrace was based on belief in the so-called “Houston Miracle.”

Rod Paige served as superintendent of Houston’s public schools, overseeing the miracle. What exactly was this miracle? In some of the poorest high schools in the city, with a heavily transient population (including kids who would head back to their native Mexico, never to be heard from again), for several years there were ZERO dropouts reported. Most urban high schools have a dropout rate of 20-40%, and heading higher all the time, and in these Houston schools freshman classes of 1000 were graduating 300, but still there were NO dropouts. Amazing! In Houston at the time, those leaving school were coded, and the “unknown” (dropout) code was essentially forbidden. So every student that left school “officially” transferred to another high school, moved on to community college, was pursuing a GED, or … or … well, I don’t know, but I’m sure they had a good explanation for where that student had gone.

So how do you get educators, people who chose to forego economic rewards and social status and dedicate their lives to helping kids, to falsify data like this? You scare the living hell out of them! (I’ll discuss how that fear has infected the entire system, and cost schools great teachers, and some great teachers their jobs, in a later posting)

Now, all of this would just be a sad little story of one man’s over-zealous abuse of power in one school system, but for this important fact. Rod Paige, superintendent of Houston public schools during the falsifying of most of this data, and during most of George W. Bush’s governership of Texas, was President Bush’s selection for Education Secretary! He planned to bring the “Houston Miracle” to poor schools across the country. He sold himself to the president and to Senator Ted Kennedy, co-authors of NCLB, as a butt-kicking CEO that brought needed focus and discipline to those lazy teachers and principals in Houston schools, and convinced them that a new law doing the same would turn urban education around. For those paying attention to urban education, how’s it all working out?

What kills me is that when this dropout scandal was reported in the mainstream media, it didn’t really enter the educational discussion. Paige survived in his job (he later retired under no evident pressure), and NCLB survived as well, to terrorize an entire generation of educators, and making liars and cheaters out of a huge number of them. Meanwhile, the kids in those schools continue to suffer from the rapid turnover of staff and “reforms” NCLB has forced on them.

For more specifics, check out this article from “Rethinking Schools”: http://www.rethinkingschools.org/special_reports/bushplan/drop181.shtml