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What's Working (and not) in Education
In the last few years, a number of Oregon educators have been recognized on the national stage, including a principal, a superintendent and a teacher. Cathy Carnahan is the principal at Duniway Middle School in McMinnville. She'll be receiving her Middle School Principal of the Year award this week in Washington D.C. Carnahan is credited with focusing on teacher development, helping struggling students improve and boosting overall student attendance and achievement during her time at the school. The last Oregon middle school principal to win the award was Patti Kinney, who was principal at Talent Middle School in southern Oregon when she was recognized in 2003.
Krista Parent is the superintendent of the South Lane District in Oregon. In nominating her for the 2007 Superintendent of the Year award, University of Oregon professor Gerald Tindal hailed her as "an instructional leader of the highest caliber." The award also recognized her role in improving math, reading and writing among students in her district. She says she fought hard to avoid being just an administrator, and to stay connected to students and teachers. That, she says, is what the job is all about.
Michael Geisen's innovative approach to teaching science is what earned him the 2008 Teacher of the Year award. He says one of the most rewarding things about his teaching has been not just to see his students get excited about his class, but to get connected to an overall love of learning.
We invited these award-winning leaders onto the show to discuss what they think is working and not working in education today. What are the kinds of policies and trends that support educators as they try to do the best job they can for Oregon's students? What hinders them?
Did you attend public school? Do you have children enrolled in school now? Are you a school teacher or administrator? What do you see working and not working in the classroom? What questions do you have for these nationally recognized Oregon educators?
GUESTS:
- Patti Kinney: 2003 Middle School Principal of the Year, now with the National Association of Secondary School Principals
- Michael Geisen: 2008 Teacher of the Year
- Krista Parent: 2007 Superintendent of the Year
Photo credit: alex.ragone / Creative Commons
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College does seem to be going towards a rich-limited token poor student system. What can be done to equalize higher ed and even more apparent, K-12, opportunity? I see a economic system that rewards people most willing to do what it takes - not necessarily educated or uneducated. What are we preparing people for through school? Is that apparent? Not to me.
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Traditional "stand and deliver" instructional strategies are boring for students who have been raised with technology. What kinds of teaching strategies do you recommend that engage students in learning and increases student achievement, especially for lower performing students?
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I went to a big box home improvement store. I asked the lumberman to cut a 2x4x8 piece of wood into thirds. He cut the it and handed me three unequal lengths of wood. I asked him about the discrepancy and he blamed the last user of the machine mucking with the settings and blamed the saw and blamed the blade dullness and finally blamed the piece of lumber( Grade A Oregon Douglas Fir).
The kid did not know fractions or how to do division. But he also could not man up to his mistake. So I left with my three unequal lengths of wood. And this is the cost of miseducation.
There is enough blame to go around. The Children are poorly motivated and care more about their video games and electronic gadgets. Homework is optional. They watch far more TV/Internet than any other waking activity.
The Parents are not parenting. Too permissive and failing to raise children to become independent. And surprise, 20, 30 and 40 year old children are still living in their childhood bedrooms sleeping in their Aeroplane, Racecar or My Little Pony Beds.
The Teachers are not professionals, but rather union members interested in job security rather than teaching young minds. They want more and more funding and less and less accountabilty.
Teacher Unions who fight tooth and nail to prevent the layoff of a 20 year veteran, who is depressed, lethargic and lousy teacher.
School districts who look to after sports, football and cheerleading and really do not care about academic standards. They care about overtime games but not a fig about improper fractions, essay writting, or textbook reading.
School boards who think the whole problem can be solved if the State Treasury allocated 90% of the Oregon Budget to schools, neglecting welfare, Police, Fire, and Highways. More Money and Less Scrutiny.
University students who are so ambitious, they cram a 4 year education into 10 years. They take a decade to get a 4 year degree.
Students who enroll but are not counseled long term for careers. They graduate with a worthless degree in a brutal economy and are set up to default their student loans. Move back home for a few decades.
What is Right....Post To Follow
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With a list like that of what's wrong, jacob, I'll not be holding my breath waiting for the list of what's right.
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The economy is leading parents and children to question the need for college reguarding ultimate career and ambitions. Students are being more realistic about the prospects for jobs, and are seeking more realistic and market bound majors.
Community colleges and other technical and trade schools are bursting with enrollment. They seem responsive to the need for new and newly demanded skills.
There is huge potential for lifelong education due in part to our information age. We have unlimited information 24/7 world wide and virtual access to any publication in the history of the world. Any question ever conceived has an answer or part answer or a way to collaborate with the best minds in the world to seek and answer on the web. But questions have to be asked, and this is the beginning of knowledge. We are more smug than curious.
And the power of the internet fails to be fully utilized. We all carry pocket sized hand held smart phone computer devices that can serve the Library of Congress to any user. However most choose to seek mindless gossip, papparazi photos of Paris Hilton, and porno of the mind. Information is not wisdom.
If we used 10% of our cummulated brains intelligently, we would be unbeatable.
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What works:
We have the best university system in the world. The best students still are very bright. And poorly taught students from k-12 somehow 'catch up' and excel in a rigorous collegiate setting. And the worse one could say, is there are brilliant and curious minds in this nation that our education system and universities cannot suppress and discourage.
But being on top is no gurrantee of future success. We once said the same thing about American manufacturing, car makers, electronics, telecommunications, banking, and finance. And they went bankrupt and now lag the world.
The collaspe of investment banking and Wall street has lead our best minds to more public service like education. The biggest employer of 2010 graduates from Yale, Duke, and Univ of Michigan is Teach for America. A program that places the best college graduates directly into high risk inner city schools.
Children show glimmers of excellence when they are so moved. In the history of world, never had we seen such dominant, skilled skateboarders, wakeboarders and snowboarders--anything with a board. And first person shooter video games--any video games--are mastered by 12 year old Americans. Unfortunately that can't do algebra, write a coherrent essay, or add improper fractions-- let alone calculus, engineering or craftsmanship. They all want to be rappers, point guard for the Bulls, or quarterback for the Dolphins. And there is no plan B. If these skills added up to something, we would be very well off. But an X game gold medal and $3.73 will buy you a latte at Starbucks. Some of the more fortunate will be a barrista.
The kids despite the economy and the state of education are blindly unaware of their situation. Some are unware that there is a Recession! Therefore their self esteem is largely intact. It is both good and bad, they do not feel bad about themselves but they will not take steps to correct the problems. They think their math and science skills are world class and they love science fiction which is a form of science. The Force Be with You. But F=MA brings quizzical faces.
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We don't need so damned many clogs that most adminstrators tend to be in order to reach high standards, to hold students and teachers accountable, to help kids see their tremendous gifts and potential each and every day! We need experienced teachers who KNOW intimately the valleys and mountains of being in the classroom daily as facilitators and connetors. We don't need these highly paid "walk through pretenders" who assume they know literacy, pedagogy and what helps students learn and understand. Put in veteran teachers, English teachers, who grade and assess, who make literature and writing, listening, speaking and understanding the strong foundations every student must have in order to be able to achieve their potential and dreams. We know how to manage time, we know what works and doesn't and we know from EXPERIENCE that administrators rarely support and help because they ran from the classroom after a few years and decided they had "more important work to do": inflict as much chaos on teachers as they could.
What doesn't work? People who think leadership is only in the domain of administrators, who think they deserve the big bucks and year-round contracts for making a few decisions that classroom teachers effectively, compently and creatively make hundreds of times a day!
If you want to "lead" stay in the classroom and do the hard work each day. Then maybe, teachers will be supported and not blocked, be listened to and not merely tolerated and then too, administrators will have some credibilty as educators. We have more than we need of roadblockers and incompetent meddlers; what we don't have are folks who know intimately the struggles and succcesses of being classroom teachers and who knowhow to be servants of the educational process: supporters of kids and teachers! Stop sending in former coaches as educational leaders--it's an oxymoron!
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I am a classroom teacher who loves working with my students. daily, yearly. What limits, frustrates and undermines the dynamics of the classroom are all the administrators who put in their required three years or so of classroom "teaching" and then become the major obstacles to classroom teachers. For 35 years now I have yet to find one administrator who understood and made a commitmnt to students and teachers. They are the highly paid middle-managers who CYA so they can climb up the ladder. Their loyalities are never with the teachers but rather with the "good old boys/and girls" whose major purpose is to maintain control, to limit and undermine teachers. It's power and control that they want, not working with students and teachers.
If the system would focus on getting rid of ineffective, power-hungry and incompetent administrators not only would we save bilions of dollars nationally, we would have the resources to give directly to studets. Adminstrators always say "it's for the good of the kids" but that's bunk. Their focus again is on not making waves, not making supportive and educated decisions and sitting in meetings denouncing teachers. If they were so "dedicated" they would be in the classroom, not the office or central or on the golf course scoring points with other like-minded jocs who couldn' stand being in classroom and doing the day-to-day work of motivating, teaching, preparing, planning, reflecting, grading/assessing and the myriad of hours such dedication to students requires. They could not take the stress that being a great teacher demands, could not accept the limited financial pay for the long, long days,months and years, and they could not find purpose in being a classroom teacher--the very heart of a school. Instead, they don the cloak of "leading teachers and students" into what?
DebbieL, Ph.D. (high school classroom teacher for 35 years, and I hope 30 more!)
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I would like to hold out Michael Becker at Hood River Middle School as an example of what, or rather who, is working in education. I won't try to confine his approach to a short comment, but the centerpiece is an outdoor classroom paired with respect for each student's unique capabilities.
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I'm curious as to what solutions are available to administrators for firing teachers with poor performance (What works?). From listening to my friends who are teachers, often times years of service is the dominate factor in establishing the "ranking" of teachers within the school. Consequently, when times are tough and cuts must be made younger (and less expensive) eager teachers are cut first ( last-in-first-out system) when perhaps it would serve our students better (and our budgets) to make cuts based on some performance factors.
I'm not saying I know what those performance factors should be, and I am cognizant of the difficulty in establishing such factors, but there must be something that is better than just seniority. What works here?
Thanks!
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My now 7th grade son was initially identified as a TAG student in first grade. With the exception of his 5th and to some extent his 2nd grade teachers, he did not get any sort of extra challenge which resulted in his being bored and having some behavioural issues, fidgeting and etc. As he finished his work well ahead of his classmates. What steps ate being taken to account for children identified early as TAG students?
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I'd get him that book that I wrote about below and get him to read it at home. I think a 7th grade TAG would be able to fully understand it and hopefully grab the reins of his own wagon and drive himself into his own future.
Or get in contact with your local community college or college instructor of special needs students and ask for help and advice. I was a 5th grade TAG and became a MENSA and I would have greatly benefitted from a book like that when I was in grade and middle school, because I got away with a lot by grasping concepts immediately but I did not drill them in with homework and the practice that it takes to really learn a subject. I think TAGs are special needs kids just as much as the blind kid I was in class with whose mom took his notes, and the other remedial learners.
"The text book was "How To Study In College" Fourth Edition, 1989, by Walter Pauk".
If you want to give him another challenge, I recommend a book about what it takes to become good and or great in a physical sport, "The Mental Edge for Alpine Ski Racing" by Jim Taylor PhD. The techniques can be generalized to nearly any sport and life in general.
In sport, you have to practice and embed in muscle memory the physical techniques to win and the other ninety percent is mental, learning to control your mind. And that mind control applies to just about everything in life, like facing fears, and just bypassing distractions on your way to your goals.
Teach him how to learn and then get out of his way, because if he takes to it like I did, it's going to be a wild ride for you.
Hmm, contact MENSA too and ask them for help. They have wide experience in this kind of stuff.
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To the speakers, Patti, Michael and Krista:
With many teachers motivated to address the learning differences and needs of kids, how much do you consider reforming the teaching model? I know this is a very tall order that would take place over time, but other methodologies such as Montessori or project-based education allow such flexibility more easily. And, these methods, like many you've already touched on, are developmentally appropriate to how kids really learn, as shown in the last many years among neuroscientists.
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Around 1991 I was living in Eugene, and I took an interesting course at KLCC about how to learn. The text book was "How To Study In College" Fourth Edition, 1989, by Walter Pauk. I had stumbled into some of it all through my schooling through college but it was the first time I had ever "learned how to learn". And it was stuff that works all the way through school from preschool on.
It teaches the kids the "why" of homework and the other practice drills like math problems, to create and reinforce the neural pathways in their brains so that later on in life it just seems to come naturally to their work and everyday lives
This stuff is well researched and available and I think that it should be taught to kids over and over from very early on. It is the most basic subject and is the solid pillar that all other subjects stand on.
So. Before you teach other subjects like math, english, civics, etc, teach the children how to learn, how to study, those other subjects.
And that helps put the responsibility for learning in the hands of and under the control of the students, where it belongs.
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Now math. Does anybody like to have "problems"? Like problems with their parents, or friends, math, or anything else. No!
But people sure like to solve "questions" don't they? Who doesn't like "Jeopardy" or "who wants to be a millionaire"? Most people like mysteries like Sherlock Holmes, or the CSI series, or Dr Who and they get very mentally involved in the solving of the mysteries. And isn't math really solving what is initially a mystery to the kids (or adults), finding the answer to the question?
So why not change the language of math from working on "problems" to solving "questions" or solving "question-mysteries", or just solving "math mysteries"?.
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Per Tom's comment -- There are education models that do this from the very beginning, like Montessori schools. There are models out there that are very effective, but our country is still struggling with enriching our traditional model. In case it's of interest, Dr. Steve Hughes is a pediatric neuroscientist who specializes in learning issues and has fascinating content on his site: http://www.goodatdoingthings.com
The comment from middle school and high school students, "How does this relate to my life?" could be hugely minimized if teachers could teach in more broad ways, such as what Michael Geisen tries to do with his middle schoolers.
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From the speakers I hear that we don't know how to effectively evaluate students or teachers. Well, how can we begin to talk about what works?
How were these speakers given their awards in the absence of a validated system for evaluation?
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I recently graduated with my MEd. There are no jobs. I get frustrated when I hear Arne Duncan claiming we need millions of teachers when there are so many new teachers who can barely get sub work, let alone jobs. On top of that there are experienced teachers who continue to be laid off, yet he is calling for more teachers? (http://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/us-department-education-launches-national-teacher-recruitment-campaign) It is frustrating to apply for jobs that pay less than what I was making before I received my master's degree.
Assessment: I believe often we look at assessing students in a very broad, general way, when in fact it needs to be more contextual. I think more schools need to partake in Action Research. This way schools can learn how to best serve their kids.
The kids are the most important part of education. I think because it is such a complicated career that sometimes the whole reason that teachers are there, which is to serve the kids, gets forgotten.
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I valued the comments of the guests on the show today--thoughtful, insightful - well qualified to speak on the subject.
I turned the program off when I could no longer tolerate the interruptions, overtalking and useless comments and added verbiage from the hostess and the "ers" which prolonged those comments.
Sorry to be so harsh but the program's topics are usually very good- good choice of guests but I will not listen because the hostess is too annoying.
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Emily Harris is usually a thought-provoking, interesting and intelligent host. Today, though, I have to agree with your assessment: instead of addressing the original questions, she persisted in trying to follow the idea of "getting rid of bad teachers". A couple of particularly annoying misconceptions she perpetuated are:
1) We can fix the schools by splitting up teachers into good and bad
FALSE: Teachers need time to learn too. In no other industry are you expected to perform at your best game days after your hire date. With more than 50% of teachers leaving in their first five years, the problem is not about getting rid of teachers, but rather about improving all teachers. Administrators that support and take part in their teaching communities can do this, administrators and support staff that get caught up in paperwork cannot.
2) Everything teachers do should lead to scientific evidence of improvement.
Somewhat false: New teachers are being taught to look at existing evidence to inform their practice, and good teachers are contributing to this body of evidence. How, though, are teachers with no budget and 60 hour work weeks (of which they get paid for 40 if they are lucky) supposed to do a full case study? Should we hire evaluators out of our negative state budget, ask administrators who already work 80 hours a week to take up the slack, or blame institutions of higher education who actually are collecting this data to the best of their ability?
Perhaps the reward for being an effective teacher should not be extra pay (speaking of science, a recent study shows that merit pay only increases performance to a point and even then with rapidly diminishing returns) but a year off of teaching students where instead the teacher gets to work one-on-one with other teachers to inform and improve practice across the board.
Also, I object to the hypocrisy of this assumption. Do reporters ask business owners to back their claims with scientific evidence collected on their business? Do reporters ask writers to produce facts on why people like their books? I support efforts to look for scientific goals (and agree to their necessity) but teachers and administrators look to others for research simply because of time and workload, just as many other professionals do, and this is more than reasonable on their part.
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3) We can fix schools without spending more on them
FALSE: I'm not advocating for merit pay but the teachers I know don't get paid as well as other professionals with similar or lesser educational backgrounds and responsibility (bluntly, many earn less than city bus drivers). Whether it is right that teachers accept this, it's certainly not right that we also so readily put them down, and more so, continually reduce their resources. The expectation that every teacher be able to create an advanced lab with a bit of string and a lens, be able to know and meet every possible individual need of every child, and be morally beyond reproach is a very high bar, and instead of dividing our teachers, we should recognize them for -all- the incredible job they do by making their work environments as pleasant as possible, and providing a support structure that allows teachers to ask, guilt free and without outside superiority, for advice and guidance when they need it.
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I think you are too harsh. Emily has a large listenership, and tends to ask the questions on the minds of that diversity of listeners. That is her job, and she does it well. You may think the people that would ask such questions are a waste of your time....., so be it. But, the real issue is whether we need more time on the topic to help sort things out.
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I think Michael Geisen may have misspoke when he referenced kids with learning disabilities as not smart. I think he was probably thinking of development disabilities..... Even that generalization seems hard to swallow. I went to High School in the 1960s with a kid that got put in the special ed classes. He later became a successful business man, and, out of a class of over two hundred is one of the wealthiest.
Another classmate confided in me once that he got through med school, not because he necessarily understood the material he read, but because he could remember what he read even if he didn't understand it.
Education has always favored memory over visualization because it is easier to measure.
It take the experience of some years to see who actually managed to solve the problems life handed them and who was only gifted at jumping through hoops.
Most people are somewhere in the middle. Some are on the extremes. A few lucky ones have both good memories, and good visualization skills.
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My appologies to Mechael Geisen!!! I relistened to the show and the comment he made was to illustrate a point of view he did not agree with.
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Emily Harris misrepresented a question from a caller. I would have liked to hear the answer to the question about teacher training IN BEHAVIORAL METHODS. She just generalized it to the guests as teacher training. Too bad. Was very annoying, too.
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Comments are now closed.
I'll tell you one thing that's NOT WORKING in education, and that's HUGE tuition hikes at state (public) universities when the economy is still in the toilet! (Need I remind you of the nearly 10% hike imposed at UO this year, just a year or two after a previous 7.5% hike?)
This is probably the single most common reason for students not being able to finish their degrees. In the case of non-traditional students like myself, we sometimes have to take "fundamental" math courses (algebra and the like) in order to work our way up to classes that are so obscure and theoretical (calculus) that we will never use them, which we then have to repeat in order to pass that it eats up all of our student loan funds. I have 'capped out' in my eligibility for Federal Student loans as a result, and am thus unable to finish my degree. (In consideration of all the CRAP that has gone on over the last 10 years, beginning with Enron, et al., I'm not sure I even want to be an accountant anymore.
Why can't the Government help the PEOPLE, instead of bailing out irresponsible bankers and greedy Wall-Streeters to the tune of Billions of dollars?