Education Week 1/12/2011 issue

Simulations Help Novices Hone Skills, p. 1

Classroom simulation programs are being used to provide teacher candidates with opportunities to work in virtual classrooms with different groups of students and to develop their classroom management skills.  TeachMe is one such program, which is being used at the University of Central Florida.  Another program is simSchool, which features the ability to define up to 18 individual students with different emotional characteristics and response patterns, so that the teacher candidate will have to adapt his/her methods to these different individual students during the classroom simulation.  The idea behind these programs is not to replace actual student teaching but rather to build their skills in a virtual environment where mistakes will not have actual consequences on a child’s education.

The TeachMe program uses an actual actor for each lesson, who plays five roles based on different student personalities and profiles.  The actor has a copy of the day’s lesson plan and plays each character in turn in response to the teacher candidate’s classroom instruction.  They have no script, only a knowledge of the background of the characters they are to play.  TeachMe may appeal to more youthful teacher candidates who have grown up in a world of computer-simulated reality.

The simSchool program is quite sophisticated.  It looks at the complexity of the tasks assigned by the user, the different personalities of the students (which can be customized in advance), and the students’ level of involvement in each activity.  It tracks student performance based on the actions of the teacher candidate.  The virtual students may pay attention, or they may decide to distract their peers.  They may understand the lesson, or it may be too difficult for them and they become frustrated.  They will reflect different emotional factors (including openness to learning and conscientiousness), different perceptual abilities, and different cognitive abilities such as the general capacity to learn.  Results have been encouraging for users of simSchool.  Those who have used it report higher levels of “instructional self-efficacy.”  They were more resilient in the face of instructional setbacks, which could improve retention rates among new teachers.

[My thoughts:  I cannot help but think either of these programs would be a great tool for prospective teachers.  They could be used to help them hone their skills prior to their actual practice teaching.  I particularly like the capability of the simSchool program for customizing different types of students that the teacher candidate might encounter.  It could provide some challenges that might not be present during actual practice teaching, depending on the venue involved.]

Gates Analysis Offers Clues to Identification of Teacher Effectiveness, p. 11

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has financed a Measure of Teaching Effectiveness study.  In its December preliminary report it identified two components of teacher effectiveness:  teachers’ value-added histories, which were strong predictors of how they would perform in other classrooms or in other school years, and students’ perceptions of their teachers’ abilities to maintain order in the classroom and provide challenging lessons.  “Value-added” modeling controls factors such as a student’s past performance in order to attribute learning gains to a specific teacher.  Students’ perceptions of their teachers’ abilities included their perceptions that the teachers made the point of their lessons clear, were considerate of their students, and were able to explain the material presented in different ways understandable to students. 

The study found that, in every grade and subject, teachers’ value-added histories were strongly predictive of their performance in other classrooms, although there was some volatility in the estimates from year to year.  It also found that students’ perceptions of their teacher were consistent across his/her classes, and that the teachers that they gave high ratings to, especially in the areas of classroom management and providing a challenging academic environment, were teachers whose classes consistently made learning gains.  Value-added measures of teacher effectiveness held up even when students were given supplemental tests requiring harder tasks such as conceptual questions and open-ended writing (which are more difficult to prepare for).  Although there was a positive correlation between test preparation and value-added estimates of teacher effectiveness, this was weaker than other factors.

Some states have moved toward including value-added estimates in teacher evaluations.  Few are considering including student perceptions.  The study seems to suggest that both factors should be included, as well as other factors such as teachers’ content knowledge and working conditions.  Further studies will try to measure student performance when students are randomly assigned to teachers identified as more effective or less effective.

[My thoughts:  There have been a number of methodological issues raised by some who question using value-added estimates to measure teacher effectiveness, but these are only hinted at in this brief overview.  The article mentions “volatility” in value-added estimates for specific teachers from year to year, for example, without giving statistics to indicate how seriously this volatility could undermine the reliability of value-added estimates.  Nor does it talk about how value-added estimates could be skewed by social selection factors such as parents (of good students) wanting to locate near good schools, good teachers wanting to get jobs in good schools, and good students seeking to take classes with teachers who are known to be good teachers.  Further studies using students who are randomly assigned to teachers, mentioned in the article, could control for some of these social factors and also yield more reliable results.]

Education Week 12/01/2010 issue

Class-Size Limits Targeted for Cuts, p. 1

As schools cope with budget shortfalls, some are considering increasing class sizes.  This would be a step in the opposite direction from the long-term national trend.  Nationally, average class size has gone from  17.6 in 1980 to 15.8 in 2008.  These figures may be deceptive, however, in that they include special education classes and other specialized classes, the number of which have increased since 1980 and which typically have small classes.  The U.S. Department of Education estimates actual class size to be closer to 25 students.

Those who push for smaller class sizes argue it is the simplest way to increase student achievement.  A 1984 study in Tennessee that tracked over 7,000 K-3 students over four years compared students who were placed in classes of 13-17 students vs. those in classes of 22-25.  It showed higher student performance in the smaller classes, including poor and minority students.  Follow up studies years later indicated that the small-class students went to college, got married, and bought houses at higher rates than their large-class peers.  Results like this make small classes a popular idea with teachers and parents.

When other states have tried to replicate Tennessee’s experiment, however, there have been mixed results, leading to skepticism on the part of some researchers and policy makers.  Some critics contend that small class sizes are too expensive for the minimal improvement in achievement.  Japan and South Korea both have higher average class sizes than the U.S., although their students out-perform American students.   Federal funding for reducing class sizes, common in the 1990’s, was left out of the 2002 No Child Left Behind Act.  Secretary of Education Arne Duncan has proposed that targeted increases in class sizes could be combined with programs such as varying class sizes by teacher expertise, or bringing in part-time staff to help with larger classes.  Some school districts have experimented with different approaches.  One of the more interesting approaches is the one tried at New York’s Generation Schools Network, where instructors where hired to fill some administrative positions.  Each morning, almost everyone jumps in to help teach 90-minute blocks of basic courses, keeping the class sizes small.  In the afternoon, the regular teachers concentrate on electives, with larger class sizes.  Overall, teacher loads are smaller than at other New York schools, while operating costs are slightly cheaper.

Some school districts have accepted larger class sizes simply to maintain existing programs in tight times, such as music programs.  Some schools have willingly traded smaller class sizes to find funding for other reforms.  In the Nogales school district in Arizona, for example, they have added more math and reading specialists as class sizes rose, and test scores have risen each year in spite of larger classes.

[My thoughts:  tight budgets may require us to become more experimental and innovative, which can be a good thing in itself.  But how much better to have both small classes and innovative programs.  I cannot help but think that, although the public has to re-think its priorities in tough times, education has got to be at the top of anyone’s priority list.  Our children’s futures are at stake.]

Education Week 11/17/2010 issue

New Tack on NCLB: Regulatory Relief, p. 1

School districts struggling under the mandatory provisions of the No Child Left Behind Act are hoping for a reprieve from the Department of Education.  They argue that financially-strapped school districts should not spend money to meet the requirements of a law that may be re-written by a new Congress.  The DOE is pushing for renewal of the law, while saying that it is taking these concerns “into consideration.”  Looming on the horizon is the 2013-2014 deadline for bringing all students up to proficiency in reading and math.  Schools will be hit by sanctions for not meeting these targets, which will impact school district and state finances.

The school districts are calling for “regulatory relief” in this matter, which may resonate with the incoming Republican majority in the House of Representatives, many of whom ran on a platform of “slimmed-down” government.  Civil rights groups who are focused on improving education for disadvantaged students are leery of watering down the law’s core principles, however.  They do not want to abandon accountability goals at the heart of NCLB.  And the Obama administration may conclude that it too wants to avoid the prospect of Republican criticism that it has caved in on accountability.

Education groups (the AASA and the NSBA, for example) are pushing for concessions, such as suspending sanctions for schools that do not meet NCLB achievement targets until a new law is in place.  Some have proposed two-year testing of students as opposed to annual testing.  Others point out that we need annual testing to track students’ progress, and giving flexibility to the states will only allow them to “game” the system one more time.  Those wanting changes hope that this will come in a reauthorization of the bill in 2011.  The Obama administration is hoping for a renewal, but the Republican House may want to look at it all over again.  There could be a full-blown renewal, or a targeted “patch,” which might make targeted changes but without changing the basic structure of NCLB.

[My thoughts: “Regulatory relief” is the perfect term to present to a Republican House of Representatives if you want to circumvent government mandates, in education or any other area.  The question should be whether or not it is in the students’ best interests that schools be held to these standards.  Are these NCLB standards appropriate and meaningful, or are they arbitrary and possibly counterproductive?  These are the questions we ought to be debating.  There should be no Republican view of education vs. a Democratic view of education.  Yes, teachers typically support Democrats, who typically are willing to spend more money on education.  Political coalitions aside, we should all want what is best for our kids and we should be willing to pay for it.]

Education Week 11/10/2010 issue

Public Schools Taking Lessons from Charters, p. 1

Proponents of charter schools view the role of these schools as promising research-and-development sites for traditional public schools.  But so far there has not been much cooperation between charter schools and public schools.  In 2009 the U.S. Department of Education spent $6.7 million on grants to encourage charter schools to share what they’ve learned with other schools, and it is hoping to promote the spread of promising charter school practices.  There seems to be some disagreement over how much charter schools have to share, however.  Some of the charter school ionnovations, such as extended school schedules and small school size, had already been introduced in some public schools, for example.

There have been some examples of charter school-public school collaboration.  In a troubled school district in Rhode Island, for example, the district contracted with the charter school to provide professional development for some of its reading teachers.  This collaboration was credited with improved student reading scores for the district.  And a school district in Tacoma, Washington, has borrowed some charter-school practices, resulting in improved test scores.  At one of its high schools, almost one-fourth of its students attend a special school-within-a-school (Lincoln Center) modeled after specific charter schools and incorporating some of their practices.  Lincoln Center is open from 7:30am-5:00pm Monday through Friday, plus two Saturdays a month.  Its academic standards for  students are more rigorous than state standards.  It also is selective in its choice of teachers, picking those with successful classroom experience.  Teachers work extra hours as needed, but they are also compensated for this above and beyond their union contract.

The Tacoma district is working with Harvard University economist Roland Fryer.  Fryer has identified five tenets of successful schools:  investing in human capital, providing extensive tutoring, extending time for learning, creating a culture of high expectations, and using results-based instruction.  The district is working in competition with charter schools, however, not in collaboration with them.  Whether public schools will be able to benefit from charter school innovations seems to depend on whether conditions in a particular district are ripe for collaboration.

[My thoughts:  the bottom line ought to be what practices are most beneficial to students’ learning, not where did they come from.  There should be a free exchange of ideas and an open dialog about what works best.  Students in all schools, charter or traditional, should benefit from successful experimentation.]

Education Week 11/03/2010 issue

Funds Fuel Graduation Initiatives, p.1

The U.S. Department of Education is providing almost $50 million in grants to states and school districts to fund a high school graduation initiative.  This was the first installment, with hopefully more to come in five-year grants.  The current overall high school graduation rate is 70%, but this figure drops to 50% in poor communities.  This high school completion strategy ties in with one of President Obama’s goals, to make the U.S. the leader in college completion.

The funding is aimed at both helping schools keep students from dropping out and bringing back students who had already dropped out.  The new emphasis is on monitoring student attendance, behavior, and coursework in middle school, looking for warning signs.  The focus will be on helping individual students rather than demographic groups of students.  The program will enlist the aid of social service groups and community groups to help returning dropouts make up lost ground, using school “acceleration institutes” and community-based “re-engagement specialists” such as social workers.

The new initiative provides a welcome focus on improvement in high school graduation rates as part of the push to increase college graduation rates.  The future of the initiative is uncertain, however, given funding uncertainties due to the financial crisis.

City’s Black Males Stay in School, p. 1

Baltimore school leaders have been working with a program over the past three years to keep more students in school and on track to graduation.  One result:  Black male students’ graduation rate has increased from 51% in 2006-2007 to 57.3% in 2009-2010.  Overall graduation rates went from 60% to 66% over the same time span.  Blacks make up 87.8% of enrollment in city schools.  Comparable national figures for 2006-2007:  46.7% of African American males graduated versus 73.7% of white males.  The district has also scored higher on National Assessments (83.6%) than would be expected in a high-poverty area.  The emphasis of the program has been on reducing absenteeism and suspensions, providing students with more public school choice options, and enlisting community partnerships.  One strategy has been the “Great Kids Come Back Campaign,” with volunteer s knocking on doors to try to bring back dropouts.

One key has been to change the expectations of adults—it was always assumed that a certain percentage of students would be lost, based on practices such as showing the door to students who came infrequently, who had discipline problems, or who were old but had too few credits.  Instead, an “intervention period” was created for such students while efforts were made to help get them back on track.

Student mindsets had to change as well.  Community group leaders, who “speak a language the community understands,” have been used to help bring defiant and disruptive students into the program.

Education Week 10/27/2010 issue

Turnaround Team Picks Up the Pace in Kentucky, p. 1

The new principal and the teachers (half of whom are new) at one of Kentucky’s worst schools (ranking among the bottom ten in performance) are feeling  pressure to turn things around.  Their effort is part of a national $3.5 billion effort by the Secretary of Education to fix the nation’s most chronically underperforming schools.  In Spring 2010, before the turnaround effort began at the high school, just 4.7% scored proficient or better in math and under ¼ of students scored proficient or better in reading.  Faculty efforts to turn things around have emphasized both the academic and the personal, showing students that teachers are passionate (critical to motivating teenagers), but also caring and patient.  The faculty are asking students to do new and different things, with high expectations in all classes and  a stress on literacy regardless of subject matter.  The teachers have been aided by a trio of turnaround staff from the state education department, each of whom spends 3-4 hours a day in classrooms or meeting with staff.

There was some initial resistance on the part of students, especially seniors, but they soon got used to things.  Attendance has improved.  There have been efforts to communicate and build relationships with students as a well as among teaching staff.  A “data wall” accessible to teachers in the classroom and only visible to them holds information about each student, including their faces and test scores.  In what is called a “name and claim” intervention, teachers each take on two or three failing students and give them extra attention, including a series of specific interventions.  There is a concern that moving too quickly as they step up the pace of curriculum and instruction will leave some kids behind.  Teachers try to balance the faster pace by pulling students aside if they don’t master concepts and by giving them needed extra help.  Teachers feel that there is a new sense of community at the school, with departments working together for the first time in years.

Education Week 10/20/2010 issue

Early-Years Absenteeism Seen as Critical, p. 1

While most of us think of absenteeism as a secondary-school problem,  absenteeism rates in kindergarten and first grade can rival those of high school.  One in ten K-12 students nationwide miss 10% or more of school.  Reducing this figure is important because studies show that absenteeism is especially acute among students from low-income families and it is related to poor academic performance, disengagement from school, and behavior problems.  High absenteeism in kindergarten is associated with poorer test scores at the end of first grade and with continued absenteeism in later grades.

Addressing kindergarten absenteeism requires a different approach than secondary-school truancy intervention.  For one thing, kindergarten is not mandatory in many states.  Parents often don’t realize the implications of pulling their child out of school—students are now learning to read in kindergarten, and absenteeism can be disruptive to their learning.  Home issues like the child or his siblings being ill or a parent of parents who work nights and who are too tired to get their child off to school can be factors in this absenteeism.  One school in the Bronx has taken a proactive approach to absenteeism.  They interviewed parents of high-absenteeism students to determine what the sources of the problem were.  In exchange for a commitment by parents to get their kids to school, school staff performed duties such as taking children to doctors’ appointments and providing before and after school child care.

[My thoughts:  Reducing absenteeism is certainly a worthy goal.  Students cannot learn as well if they are not in class, obviously.  The correlation between absenteeism and other factors such as poor performance on tests or behavior problems could result in part from the relationship of all of these factors to more primary factors, such as support of the child’s education by parent s (whether they read to them, help them with their homework, expect them to do well in school, etc.).  Supportive parents are more likely to make sure that their kids gets to school, behave properly, and do well.  Absenteeism may not be the direct cause of poor academic performance (although it could certainly be a contributing factor), but rather it could be the result of particular students having parents who do not value school attendance or doing well in school.  A more direct approach to the primary problem would be to work with parents to convince them of the importance of their child’s education and encourage them to become actively involved in this by helping with homework and monitoring the student’s progress in school.  Success in these efforts would improve absenteeism rates and academic performance.]