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Don’t Wait for the Summer, Start Dreaming Big for Your Students Now

“Being forward-looking—envisioning exciting possibilities and enlisting others in a shared view of the future—is the attribute that most distinguishes leaders from non-leaders.”

That’s what Harvard Business Review concluded, after asking thousands of employees around the world about what they look for in a leader. While other qualities—like honesty—matter, what really sets someone apart as a leader, including school leaders focused on school improvement, is their ability to envision the future, plan for it and bring their people along with them.

When you envision your students’ futures, what do they look like? What do your students know and what are they able to do in this rapidly changing society and world of work? What character traits and dispositions do they have? Will the skills they developed at your school lead them to high-opportunity jobs? What roles do stakeholders like industry representatives and community members play in defining these skills and competencies? How do you bring your staff along with you in this vision?

As a school leader, you have the ability—and responsibility—to lead in creating a shared vision of a career-ready graduate that will guide your school in deliberately and strategically improving student outcomes.

It’s OK if you haven’t yet determined this vision. The article from Harvard Business Review cited above found that only 3% of a typical leader’s time is spent vision-setting. But now is the time to get started.

David Bramlett, a senior director at America Achieves and former school principal, reflects on the vision-setting experience he had with his staff.

“This time of year is especially ideal,” he says. “It’s easier to engage your community now in the process of vision setting because they are actively processing and considering what students need and what could be better. Often school leaders wait until summer or the start of the new school year to reflect and vision set with their staffs, but the teams have forgotten the substance of what needed to improve in the school—and by then, it’s generally too late to operationalize your vision in new systems and supports.”

Start with Small, Focused Groups and Give Them Tools to Dream Big

Bramlett suggests that school leaders leverage their grade-level or department teams as a way to engage the entire staff in the process. Starting in smaller, focused groups and then moving into a whole-school conversation helps to cascade the ideas and ensure everyone has a voice.

America Achieves Educator Networks has created several tools to help you get started in setting a vision for what a career-ready graduate looks like and engaging your stakeholders around this vision: a white paper to give you a more in-depth look into what cross-sector competencies are and why they matter, a short video to provide you with an overview and the initial questions to ask and an infographic to guide the process.

It’s time to dream big. What is your school’s vision of a career-ready graduate?

Photo by Alliance for Excellent Education, CC-licensed.

Don’t Wait for the Summer, Start Dreaming Big for Your Students Now syndicated from https://sapsnkraguide.wordpress.com

[ixvyupdates]

Don’t Wait for the Summer, Start Dreaming Big for Your Students Now

“Being forward-looking—envisioning exciting possibilities and enlisting others in a shared view of the future—is the attribute that most distinguishes leaders from non-leaders.”

That’s what Harvard Business Review concluded, after asking thousands of employees around the world about what they look for in a leader. While other qualities—like honesty—matter, what really sets someone apart as a leader, including school leaders focused on school improvement, is their ability to envision the future, plan for it and bring their people along with them.

When you envision your students’ futures, what do they look like? What do your students know and what are they able to do in this rapidly changing society and world of work? What character traits and dispositions do they have? Will the skills they developed at your school lead them to high-opportunity jobs? What roles do stakeholders like industry representatives and community members play in defining these skills and competencies? How do you bring your staff along with you in this vision?

As a school leader, you have the ability—and responsibility—to lead in creating a shared vision of a career-ready graduate that will guide your school in deliberately and strategically improving student outcomes.

It’s OK if you haven’t yet determined this vision. The article from Harvard Business Review cited above found that only 3% of a typical leader’s time is spent vision-setting. But now is the time to get started.

David Bramlett, a senior director at America Achieves and former school principal, reflects on the vision-setting experience he had with his staff.

“This time of year is especially ideal,” he says. “It’s easier to engage your community now in the process of vision setting because they are actively processing and considering what students need and what could be better. Often school leaders wait until summer or the start of the new school year to reflect and vision set with their staffs, but the teams have forgotten the substance of what needed to improve in the school—and by then, it’s generally too late to operationalize your vision in new systems and supports.”

Start with Small, Focused Groups and Give Them Tools to Dream Big

Bramlett suggests that school leaders leverage their grade-level or department teams as a way to engage the entire staff in the process. Starting in smaller, focused groups and then moving into a whole-school conversation helps to cascade the ideas and ensure everyone has a voice.

America Achieves Educator Networks has created several tools to help you get started in setting a vision for what a career-ready graduate looks like and engaging your stakeholders around this vision: a white paper to give you a more in-depth look into what cross-sector competencies are and why they matter, a short video to provide you with an overview and the initial questions to ask and an infographic to guide the process.

It’s time to dream big. What is your school’s vision of a career-ready graduate?

Photo by Alliance for Excellent Education, CC-licensed.

Don’t Wait for the Summer, Start Dreaming Big for Your Students Now syndicated from https://sapsnkraguide.wordpress.com

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Illinois Has Fixed Its School Funding Formula, But That Didn’t Help My Student

Kylie, now an eighth-grader, came to our school in second grade. In her six years with us, she came to think of our school as a safe place where she had beloved friends and inspiring teachers. She grew to become an honor roll student and a three-sport athlete.

But last fall, Kylie’s school trajectory changed abruptly. Our school district is required to act on residency issues and Kylie’s family was unable to prove that they lived in our district. Kylie actually lives out of our district and was sent to her underfunded, underperforming neighborhood school. It was tough for me to see Kylie go simply because she did not live in our neighborhood. And Kylie was not alone. When our district took action, our small school, with an enrollment of just over 400 students, lost nearly 20 students to residency issues.

Kylie’s family, like many others, recognized the disparities between their neighborhood school and other schools nearby. Kylie’s neighborhood school suffers from low test scores and high staff turnover. It is no wonder parents take the risk of sending their children to schools out-of-district. For many, it may be the only way to give their child a better educational future.

Parents should not have to send their children to an out-of-district school in order to receive a quality education. Research has shown that when school funding reforms put more money into schools and districts,low-income children benefit significantly, both in educational attainment and in life outcomes like higher wages. As a teacher, I can tell you why.

You Can’t Get Results Without Adequate Funding

Without adequate funding, schools can’t provide the resources their students need: more staff to reduce student-teacher ratio, more special education and English language teachers to help students who need those services and more sports and arts to challenge students in non-academic activities.

Here in Illinois, thanks to our new school funding formula and new state investment in schools, districts are making big strides toward full funding for all schools. In 2017, 183 Illinois school districts were receiving less than 60% of funds deemed adequate to educate students. Now, two years later, only 14 districts in the state are still funded below the 60% level. That’s real progress.

Illinois—traditionally one of the worst states in the nation for school funding disparities—is on a path to become a national leader in school funding equity. But it’s not happening fast enough for kids like Kylie. When our legislators return from spring break this week, we need to ask them to continue funding this formula so no school is inadequately funded.

Illinois could also reduce the gap in funding sooner with an increase in the funding model from $300 million annually to $450 million annually. As a state, if we really believe in giving all students a quality education, we should take the steps necessary to ensure that no school is underfunded.

Kylie probably doesn’t realize that it was her neighborhood school’s inadequate funding that led her parents to move her to an out-of-district school. What she does know is that she will have to graduate with a different group of students from the ones she got to know so well during the last six years. She will not be able to learn in the building among her classmates and teachers, and she will have to trade in her blue and gold basketball uniform.

I know that Kylie’s family will help her through this adjustment, and that she will succeed wherever she goes. I just wish that she and her parents didn’t have to choose between a good school and a low-performing one. Kylie and all our students deserve better.

Photo by ANGELIQUE RADEMAKERS, Twenty20-licensed.

Illinois Has Fixed Its School Funding Formula, But That Didn’t Help My Student syndicated from https://sapsnkraguide.wordpress.com

[ixvyupdates]

Illinois Has Fixed Its School Funding Formula, But That Didn’t Help My Student

Kylie, now an eighth-grader, came to our school in second grade. In her six years with us, she came to think of our school as a safe place where she had beloved friends and inspiring teachers. She grew to become an honor roll student and a three-sport athlete.

But last fall, Kylie’s school trajectory changed abruptly. Our school district is required to act on residency issues and Kylie’s family was unable to prove that they lived in our district. Kylie actually lives out of our district and was sent to her underfunded, underperforming neighborhood school. It was tough for me to see Kylie go simply because she did not live in our neighborhood. And Kylie was not alone. When our district took action, our small school, with an enrollment of just over 400 students, lost nearly 20 students to residency issues.

Kylie’s family, like many others, recognized the disparities between their neighborhood school and other schools nearby. Kylie’s neighborhood school suffers from low test scores and high staff turnover. It is no wonder parents take the risk of sending their children to schools out-of-district. For many, it may be the only way to give their child a better educational future.

Parents should not have to send their children to an out-of-district school in order to receive a quality education. Research has shown that when school funding reforms put more money into schools and districts,low-income children benefit significantly, both in educational attainment and in life outcomes like higher wages. As a teacher, I can tell you why.

You Can’t Get Results Without Adequate Funding

Without adequate funding, schools can’t provide the resources their students need: more staff to reduce student-teacher ratio, more special education and English language teachers to help students who need those services and more sports and arts to challenge students in non-academic activities.

Here in Illinois, thanks to our new school funding formula and new state investment in schools, districts are making big strides toward full funding for all schools. In 2017, 183 Illinois school districts were receiving less than 60% of funds deemed adequate to educate students. Now, two years later, only 14 districts in the state are still funded below the 60% level. That’s real progress.

Illinois—traditionally one of the worst states in the nation for school funding disparities—is on a path to become a national leader in school funding equity. But it’s not happening fast enough for kids like Kylie. When our legislators return from spring break this week, we need to ask them to continue funding this formula so no school is inadequately funded.

Illinois could also reduce the gap in funding sooner with an increase in the funding model from $300 million annually to $450 million annually. As a state, if we really believe in giving all students a quality education, we should take the steps necessary to ensure that no school is underfunded.

Kylie probably doesn’t realize that it was her neighborhood school’s inadequate funding that led her parents to move her to an out-of-district school. What she does know is that she will have to graduate with a different group of students from the ones she got to know so well during the last six years. She will not be able to learn in the building among her classmates and teachers, and she will have to trade in her blue and gold basketball uniform.

I know that Kylie’s family will help her through this adjustment, and that she will succeed wherever she goes. I just wish that she and her parents didn’t have to choose between a good school and a low-performing one. Kylie and all our students deserve better.

Photo by ANGELIQUE RADEMAKERS, Twenty20-licensed.

Illinois Has Fixed Its School Funding Formula, But That Didn’t Help My Student syndicated from https://sapsnkraguide.wordpress.com

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Green blog spotlight: Brenda Cuby, The Green Familia

We caught up with Brenda to find out how everyone can make changes to make a difference, climate change starting to get the attention it needs and how she works with PR. Green blog spotlight: Brenda Cuby, The Green Familia syndicated from https://sapsnkraguide.wordpress.com

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Green blog spotlight: Brenda Cuby, The Green Familia

We caught up with Brenda to find out how everyone can make changes to make a difference, climate change starting to get the attention it needs and how she works with PR. Green blog spotlight: Brenda Cuby, The Green Familia syndicated from https://sapsnkraguide.wordpress.com

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Political Headlines – Williamson sacked and Mordaunt appointed

Today’s political headlines includes Williamson’s sacking, Mordaunt’s appointment and Johnson claiming to fight the Heathrow expansion.  Political Headlines – Williamson sacked and Mordaunt appointed syndicated from https://sapsnkraguide.wordpress.com

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Political Headlines – Williamson sacked and Mordaunt appointed

Today’s political headlines includes Williamson’s sacking, Mordaunt’s appointment and Johnson claiming to fight the Heathrow expansion.  Political Headlines – Williamson sacked and Mordaunt appointed syndicated from https://sapsnkraguide.wordpress.com

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Parents and School Counselors Warned Netflix’s ‘13 Reasons Why’ Could Increase Youth Suicide Rates and That’s Exactly What Happened

Last year mental health experts, school counselors and parents were sounding the alarm on the wildly popular Netflix series, “13 Reasons Why,” because of concerns over graphic rape and suicide scenes. While the  show is rated for a mature audience, it directly targets middle schoolers.

Parents and educators were blindsided by the captivating series’ existence, let alone the fact that their seventh-graders were watching it on phones and tablets, totally cut off from the grown ups who love them. Many parents did not even know their children had watched the series until after receiving warning emails from their school districts or reading articles and blogs written by concerned mental health experts and parents. School counselors found themselves inundated with students who became anxious and reported being “terrified about going to high school.”

In anticipation of the series’ season three release, there is now compelling evidence that those early alarm bells were warranted. According to a study published Monday in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, there was a 28.9% increase in suicide among Americans aged 10-17 in the month following the show’s debut in March 2017.“The number of suicides was greater than that seen in any single month over the five-year period researchers examined.”

A staggering—and scary—example of “we told you so.”

Lead author Jeff Bridge said an additional analysis found the April 2017 suicide rate was higher than in the previous 19 years and that “the creators of the series intentionally portrayed the suicide of the main character. It was a very graphic depiction of the suicide death.” This, he noted, can lead to suicidal behavior.

“The results of this study should raise awareness that young people are particularly vulnerable to the media,” the study’s co-author, Lisa Horowitz, said in a statement. “All disciplines, including the media, need to take good care to be constructive and thoughtful about topics that intersect with public health crises.”

And this is where Netflix has failed. I say that as someone who found the series absolutely captivating. But I’m 45. It haunts me to think of vulnerable tweens and teens watching episode after episode that glamorizes suicide in a way that we know is extremely dangerous for some kids.

Suicide contagion is real, teen suicide rates are climbing, and Netflix and other entertainment providers need to own the role they may be playing in that. They will likely claim they have tried by adding warnings, suicide hotline information, and post-show discussions but we need to ask ourselves if that’s enough. But let’s be honest—who is going to pause the binge to watch a panel discussion when every episode leaves you hanging, desperate to know what happens next? Simple answer is nobody. And Netflix knows that.

Netflix obviously did not embark on the TV adaptation of Jay Asher’s book with the goal or intention of making parenting and running schools harder. But that’s what happened. They did not set out to cause alarm throughout the mental health community. But that’s what they did. And they certainly did not hope to see a spike in teen suicide the month after the series’ release—but that is precisely what happened.

The media giant’s CEO Reed Hastings has shrugged off criticism from advocacy groups, including the Parents Television Council, about the series renewal for a third season but it’s hard to see how his dismissive statement in front of shareholders last year can possible suffice in light of this suicide study. His statement was that “13 Reasons Why has been enormously popular and successful. It’s engaging content. It is controversial. But nobody has to watch it.” That is not good enough, Mr. Hastings. Not even close.

Perhaps Marc Porter Magee of the education advocacy organization 50-Can said it best, on Twitter, of all places.

Say what you want about the old system of broadcast TV, they wouldn’t have released a show like this. We somehow need to grapple with what happens to our kids when the companies targeting them seemingly have no guardrails other than engagement metrics. https://t.co/oE3zyUpGsn

— Marc Porter Magee (@marcportermagee) May 1, 2019

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

In a series of tweets Marc shared his thoughts, “We somehow need to grapple with what happens to our kids when the companies targeting them seemingly have no guardrails other than engagement metrics. Hopefully the era of tech companies adopting a devil-may-care attitude towards the impact of their decisions on kids and communities is giving way to something more responsible. We’ll see. And the response “It’s engaging content. It is controversial. But nobody has to watch it” doesn’t cut it when we are talking about people’s kids.”

Photo courtesy of Facebook.

Parents and School Counselors Warned Netflix’s ‘13 Reasons Why’ Could Increase Youth Suicide Rates and That’s Exactly What Happened syndicated from https://sapsnkraguide.wordpress.com

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Without Family Support, I Wouldn’t Be on Track to Become the First in My Family to Graduate College

Unfortunately, school districts that primarily serve non-White students receive less funding than school districts that primarily serve White students. A report by EdBuild found that predominantly non-White school districts get $23 billion less than predominantly White school districts despite serving the same number of students.

That funding gap can be a big obstacle to overcome. But that funding gap doesn’t mean that non-White kids are never going to college and are never going to have a great career. Students in underfunded school districts somehow have to make up for the extra resources their school district is lacking. I believe that family support is the most important thing a kid can have when it comes to their education.

I was fortunate enough to go to a school that was decently funded and didn’t have a lot of overworked, underpaid teachers. I acknowledge that I was (and am) privileged. While the quality of my school didn’t hurt my chances to go to college, there was something even more fundamental which I found to be far more helpful than anything my teachers ever did.

What really mattered was the support of my parents. Early on, they instilled in me the importance of school. My mom went to college but never graduated. My dad never went to college. They wanted me to be the first in my family to graduate from college.

They would always push me to learn as much as I could. I remember my mom taking me to the library as often as she could when I was a kid. My love of reading, and by extension my love of learning, has never gone away. In fact, it’s gotten stronger. I wholeheartedly attribute my educational success to my parents’ support. Their support was the most valuable thing I had in high school, and it didn’t even cost a penny.

I’m in college right now, attending both the University of Saskatchewan (in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada; for chemical engineering) and the University of the People (online, based in Pasadena, CA; for business administration). I’m going on an internship with an oil and gas company next month. I’m so very fortunate to have had the chance to study at these universities and to have gotten the opportunities I have. I owe all my educational success to my parents, who supported me no matter what.

I encourage everyone with children still in school, particularly those in underfunded school districts, to support their children in their education as best as you can. Take them to the library. Make sure they’re doing their homework. Be there to listen when they tell you about what they learned that day at school. Doing so will go a long way to helping them succeed in their education.

Without Family Support, I Wouldn’t Be on Track to Become the First in My Family to Graduate College syndicated from https://sapsnkraguide.wordpress.com

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When I Thought I Was Dreaming Too Big, My Teachers Reminded Me That College Was Going to Be a Reality

I am the Latina daughter of two immigrants. My parents instilled in me from an early age that education was important. When I got older, I realized that a college education would be essential to any dream. I grew up in a community where affordable quality health care was not an option. I witnessed medical providers give subpar medical care to those I love. My passion for medicine combined with my lived experiences inspired me to become a doctor and serve low-income, Spanish-speaking communities.

So I studied hard, pushing myself to succeed in the AP and honors classes that my teachers recommended and that prestigious colleges required. I was heavily involved in extracurriculars, participating on my school’s soccer, cross-country and basketball teams while also becoming president of our National Honor Society chapter. I stayed up late working on college applications, writing and refining my statement and working to complete the FAFSA.

I worked hard, and in the end, it paid off. I got accepted to Williams College with a scholarship that covered 98 percent of my tuition. And my experience on campus was life-changing. I won a national fellowship that funded two years of faculty-mentored research and I’m currently studying to take the MCAT.

However, last month, the nation’s largest admissions scandal was a frustrating reminder that the college admissions system is far from the meritocracy it should be. I’m frustrated that a few extremely wealthy celebrities and individuals were willing to cheat and bribe their children’s way into college. And I’m frustrated that the college admissions system is inherently set up to benefit those from means.

But it isn’t just money that is the cause of the economic and racial disparities we see in college admissions. There’s another component in successfully navigating the path to college: whether someone in your family has done it before.

For students from these families, college is an expectation. They have someone to show them the path to an acceptance letter. Without a mentor during the process, it is difficult to know what hoops you need to jump through. You don’t even know what the hoops are. But luckily, this college-ready culture is something that we can bring to first-generation students who don’t have a college-background in their family. I’m an example of it.

Teachers and Staff Are Committed

I attended Alliance Marc & Eva Stern Math and Science School, or Stern MASS, a charter high school in the University Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles. When most students come to Stern MASS, they are four grade levels behind. Across the network of Alliance schools, 85% of students are the first in their family to attend college and 17% are English language learners, making college seem more like a dream than an option. However, it’s clear from day one that the teachers and staff are committed to getting each student college-ready.

Our classes were small, meaning I got the personal attention I needed to succeed in AP and honors courses. And if I needed extra help outside of class, all Stern MASS teachers host office hours after school for homework help, tutoring or whatever else I might need.

As freshmen, I was placed in a 45-minute advisory class led by a teacher who I had for all four years of high school. It was in these classes that the college admissions process was demystified. Spending those years together, my teacher learned about my goals and dreams after high school, and we developed a deep trust of each other. We discussed what colleges would be within my reach, match and safety schools, what test scores I would need and how many years of math, science, and English I should take.

But more importantly, when I began to doubt myself and wonder if I was dreaming too big, my teachers at Stern MASS were there to remind me that I was on the right path and that college was going to be a reality. They helped me find my confidence and realize that I was qualified, intelligent and would belong and thrive at a prestigious liberal arts school.

This is why it’s hard to hear about the anti-charter legislation moving forward in California’s state capitol. Charter schools like Stern MASS serve low-income students of color—communities who often can’t afford the private schools, SAT tutors and college coaches that help so many other students get into prestigious colleges.

California needs access to high-quality public charter schools so that every child, regardless of zip code or background, can attend a school that offers the time and personal attention they need to truly learn and succeed. Let’s make sure all students have access to educational options that make the pathway to college possible.

Photo courtesy of author.

When I Thought I Was Dreaming Too Big, My Teachers Reminded Me That College Was Going to Be a Reality syndicated from https://sapsnkraguide.wordpress.com

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I’m Celebrating Teachers But I’m Not Celebrating Their Unions

When I was a teenager, the greatest honor my dad bestowed was the chance to help him grade multiple-choice questions. Up in his bedroom on a Sunday afternoon, he’d sit at his desk preparing lesson plans, fingers clattering on our manual Smith Corona typewriter. Meanwhile, I’d lie on the floor with an answer sheet, carefully making check marks and X’s on the papers he brought home from his social studies classes at John Bowne High School in Flushing, Queens.

Dad always worked on Sundays. Over the years, as his school’s enrollment shifted due to the arrival of many newly immigrated students from China, he worked even harder, because his principal recognized his ability to reach these academically ambitious English-language learners. When Dad died unexpectedly, we received many laboriously written consolation cards from his new students emanating sorrow and appreciation.

This is all to say that I’m fully aware of the intense dedication and hard work required of good teachers and of the pride my parents took in their union. They took particular pride in their union president, Albert Shanker, who led the United Federation of Teachers (the New York City arm of the AFT, the American Federation of Teachers) until 1985. They admired him not only for championing members’ rights, but also for protecting students and families.

And it was UFT’s successful battle for higher wages that allowed our family to exercise school choice and move from a tiny Bronx apartment with mediocre schools to a real house in Queens, zoned for an excellent K-6 school.

Those were good years to be a teachers union member. I don’t think it’s so good now.

My Dad Would Be Horrified

On May 1, we celebrate May Day, also known as International Workers Day, which commemorates labor movements. Honestly, if they were here today, I don’t think my parents would celebrate.

Instead, I think they’d be horrified by the Rhode Island teachers unions’ efforts to beat back a bill that would criminalize teachers having sex with students, as reported here by my friend and colleague Erika Sanzi.

I think they’d be sickened by the California Teachers Association’s top brass lobbying for a “downright vicious” set of bills that, according to the L.A. Times, include a “ham-fisted” attempt to “squash the formation of potentially great charter schools in an effort to please the teachers union.”

I think they’d oppose leaders like Michael Mulgrew, current president of their beloved UFT, who in 2014 convinced then-Chancellor Carmen Fariña to force principals to hire bad teachers.

I think they’d be embarrassed by the $2.6 million in compensation gifted to New Jersey Education Association’s (NJEA) top leaders. And I think they’d be mortified by Newark Teachers Union President John Abeigon’s antics, which include condoning blackface and defending indefensible teachers.

What has happened over the past few decades? How have teachers union leaders become so disconnected from those they represent?

This hasn’t happened in all unions. Last weekend Tom Moran of the New Jersey Star-Ledger contrasted Hetty Rosenstein, head of our state’s branch of the Communication Workers of America, with NJEA President Ed Richardson. While Rosenstein understands the need for pension reform and takes a salary of $115,000 a year, Richardson refuses to discuss pension reform, even though his members desperately need him to engage. In 2015, Richardson took home a compensation package of $1.2 million.

Union Leaders Must Embrace Accountability

It’s still possible for union leaders to ethically and smartly represent members. What keeps teachers union leaders from doing this?

First, almost everyone I know in the education world understands the importance of raising the prestige of the teaching profession and increasing salaries. After all, most teachers have graduate degrees, just like doctors and lawyers, so why is the average salary only about $60,000, even when you factor in summers off?

One reason is that good teachers are treated like widgets, interchangeable cogs in a machine. That’s because union leaders are adamantly opposed to differentiating pay based on classroom effectiveness and subject matter.

Instead, they insist on “step and lane” salary guides, where teachers get annual raises automatically, regardless of student outcomes or supply and demand. Most also get job security after three or four years.

This system, free of accountability and merit, is a primary reason for the prestige gap. How can a profession be highly regarded when less than 1% of members are judged ineffective? How can a profession be prestigious when it’s almost impossible to get fired?

Prestige and accountability are a package deal. As long as union leaders resist this reality, they’ll continue failing their members.

The second reason that teachers union leaders represent their members poorly, I think, is the excessive political power they wield. As Lord Acton said, absolute power corrupts absolutely. Without accountability to their membership, they lose touch with reality.

Think back to the 2016 presidential elections when the country’s two major teachers unions, the National Education Association (NEA) and the AFT, prematurely endorsed Hillary Clinton. The feedback was, well, less than enthusiastic. Said one reporter, “Though the AFT Executive Board voted to endorse Clinton, there is little evidence it did so after adequately gauging members’ opinions… The move caused an uproar and claims the AFT endorsed too early and without rank and file support.”

In fact, more teachers favored Bernie Sanders over Clinton, and 20% of teachers ended up voting for Trump. But AFT and NEA leaders don’t even pretend to represent member preferences.

Right here in New Jersey, teachers I’ve spoken with support pension reform because they know that without major shifts the whole system will implode in 2027. But their union’s leaders refuse to budge. (Little known fact: NJEA office staff have access to a different deferred compensation system, including 401Ks, so their retirement funds are just fine.) And many of our teachers were appalled to see their leaders spitefully spending $5 million of their union dues in a failed attempt to oust Senate President Steve Sweeney, a ironworker’s union official himself, in favor of a climate change-denying, Trump-loving, immigration foe.

In my parents’ day, there was little disconnect between teachers union leaders and their members because union leaders respected their membership. I know Albert Shanker is long gone, but surely teachers deserve leaders more like him and less like those they have now.

Until today’s teachers union leaders repair these breaches of trust, teachers who value integrity and student growth—people like my parents—will regard their union leaders as guided by self-interest and power, rather than by what’s best for their members and the students they educate.

Photo by Twitter Trends 2019, CC-licensed.

I’m Celebrating Teachers But I’m Not Celebrating Their Unions syndicated from https://sapsnkraguide.wordpress.com

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When I Walk Into a School I See Kids Who Remind Me of Myself, Waiting for an Opportunity

Recently I have been thinking about what it means to be in the “education reform” space and reflecting on how I got here. Many of the people in my life and in my professional circles know me for my work with charter schools, first as an authorizer, then as an advocate and now as the founder of my own charter school support organization.

But I’m fairly certain if you checked the statistics on my life—I came from a low-income family, didn’t live in the “right” ZIP code, pregnant at 19—you’d fall over. How did I get here? From casualty of the system to someone trying to make it better?

Twenty years ago, when one of the earliest charters to open in Albany began making news, I was paying attention to what the school was promoting—it was founded on the premise any child could learn and be successful in life.

That hit very close to home for me. As a child, I attended Albany City Schools, and at the time I was in high school, my parents didn’t have the means to send us all to college. To make matters worse, there was no one at school telling me I could succeed or telling me college was an option. In fact, I was told I had only a few options. I’ll never forget my guidance counselor telling me: “Your parents had too many children they can’t afford to send you to college.” We were even discouraged from taking the SATs.

My guidance counselor went on to relay my options, telling me I could become a hairdresser, nurse’s aid or could enroll in the military. Now, there is absolutely nothing wrong with these careers—but as I look back it makes me both sad and angry that a so-called “educator” put up artificial barriers to my and so many other kids’ success and achievements, simply based on how much money our parents made and our ZIP code.

A school shouldn’t limit your options or tell you what you can and cannot do.

It wasn’t until I was a mom that I realized I my child deserved more. I was going to ensure my child would receive a better education with no limitations. And I also realized I was capable of more than the limitations my guidance counselor and others put on me.

No one would ever have the same conversation with him that my guidance counselor had with me. Having kids of my own, and seeing what charter schools promised—those were the catalysts for what would become my life’s work.

I started my research. I read the Charter Schools Act. I called the guy in charge of the SUNY Charter Schools Institute and got a meeting with him the very next morning for an interview. I knew I wanted to work with charters, and it must have been clear right away because seven minutes into that meeting, I was offered a job as the office manager, and I took it promptly, to get my foot in the door. Within six months I was promoted to director of operations and within a year, I had become the director of charter school accountability. I stayed in that role for eight years, working directly with counsel on compliance and oversight of our schools.

Eventually I knew in my heart, my time would be better served stepping in to help schools improve and expand. The truth was there were not enough high-quality schools for the number of families who wanted them for their children. But I was told at work, “You’re a regulator, not an advocate.”

At that very moment, I thought, “Oh, I should become an advocate.” So that was my next move and I spent many years advocating and providing guidance to schools directly.

I finally gained the courage last year to leave a comfortable role and do something scary: Launch my own firm that supports schools with services they need to succeed. In my day-to-day, I do the work I am truly passionate about. My colleagues and I provide intensive supports to independent charter schools and small charter management organizations, specifically those with authentic community roots.

When I walk into a school, I see me. I see the kid sitting in class bored to tears. Or I see the kid struggling to understand the math on the board but the lessons keep going ahead despite the fact that the child doesn’t understand. I see the kid who has read every book in the class and needs more but more doesn’t exist. I see the kid who doesn’t fit in. I see the kid who feels less than. 

And that is why I work so hard with charter schools to ensure they are high performing, they are accountable and they always remember it’s not about the adults in the room. It’s about the kids.

I also think about how many of those students would have the same conversation I had with my guidance counselor if they were in a different kind of school, one that doesn’t recognize their potential, their talents or their gifts?

That’s why charters mean so much to me. They’ve changed the way we educate, and the way we value children and their potential, and nurture them in a way I did not experience in school.

I may not be the traditional education reform person, but have no doubt, that’s what I am.

When I Walk Into a School I See Kids Who Remind Me of Myself, Waiting for an Opportunity syndicated from https://sapsnkraguide.wordpress.com

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How John Singleton’s ‘Boyz n the Hood’ Changed the Way I Teach

I am not a movie person. I don’t go to the movies much and when I do, I often forget them rapidly.

That’s not what happened back in 1991, when I saw John Singleton’s breakout debut film “Boyz n the Hood.” The movie rightly earned much critical acclaim for its sensitive and responsible portrayal of young Black men and their paths through the dangers of adolescence in South Central Los Angeles.

In fact, its portrayal of the survivors’ reactions in the wake of a gang-related shooting was so accurate I found myself having a panic attack in the movie theater.

How would I, a White woman who grew up in the suburbs, know it was accurate? You see, only months before I had lived through the loss of one of my students, and had taken part in an effort to prevent a revenge killing.

It was a June Saturday in 1990, the day after my student Sharon had been shot dead at Montrose Harbor in Chicago. My first year of teaching was nearly over; I had never lost a student to gun violence before. I spent the day at home in a daze of shock and grief. Around dinner time my housemates persuaded me to go with them to Moody’s, a beer-and-burger joint with an outdoor patio.

I pulled myself together and joined the group. We arrived at Moody’s just as the sun was setting. We hadn’t been seated for long at a picnic table on the patio when a colleague from school, Ellen, ran in looking for me. “Maureen, I need you to come outside. Homer’s here but he doesn’t want to come in.”

Homer was Sharon’s boyfriend. Ellen and Sharon’s mom had spent the day driving through the neighborhood, in and out of the alleys, looking for him. They wanted to keep him in sight and occupied in hopes he wouldn’t go off in search of Sharon’s killer to take revenge.

I sprang to my feet and raced outside. “Homer, come on in! We’ve got burgers for you,” I said. Homer looked down and didn’t answer. I slowed myself down and looked at him intently. “What’s the problem?”

“It’s all White people inside,” Homer said, looking utterly uncomfortable.

Sometimes, when you don’t know what to say, the dumbest things come out. “Homer, it’s dark,” I said. “No one is going to see you.”

And sometimes, if you’re really lucky, somehow the dumbest thing you say actually works. Homer came in. We bought him burgers. As I remember, he ate three. I think we sneaked him some beer. (Homer was 18 or 19 then, and these were the days when people still remembered the drinking age had been 18 not that long ago.)

All of us spent a couple of hours together, eating and drinking and talking. Homer didn’t say much but after a while he seemed to relax a bit. Afterwards, Ellen took him to Sharon’s family’s house. He stayed out of trouble. He did not end up in jail or dead—not that night, and not years later, when I ran into him by surprise on the street.

But just a few months later, in the movie theater, when Tre defied his father and ran off to join his friends in avenging Ricky’s death, the thought that Homer could have gone down that road set my heart racing. I had to stop watching and fight back tears.

Through the Particulars of South Central LA, Singleton Wove a Universal Tale

In a 2013 guest column for the Hollywood Reporter, Singleton wrote a thoughtful critique of studio executives’ decisions to tell Black stories without significant Black creative input. “Audiences can smell what’s real and what isn’t,” he wrote. “What Hollywood execs need to realize is that Black-themed stories appeal to the mainstream because they are uniquely American. Our story reminds audiences of struggles and triumphs, dreams and aspirations we all share. And it is only by conveying the particulars of African-American life that our narrative become universal.”

With “Boyz n the Hood,” Singleton conveyed the particulars of South Central Los Angeles in a coming-of-age tale that quickly became universal for a generation of Americans. This became real for me in 1993, while teaching in a diverse suburban high school. I had a sophomore English class in the school’s “basic” track—i.e. the least academically challenging level. We were reading a short story about a teenage boy whose mother sends him across the country to live with his dad. The story does not make the mother’s motives obvious.

The students were moderately interested in the story but clearly struggled to understand why the mom made that decision. At one point I said, “How many of you have seen ‘Boyz n the Hood’?”

The classroom exploded. Hands went up everywhere. Students burst out spontaneously talking about how great the movie was. After the rush of enthusiasm subsided, I asked, “So, in the movie, why does Tre’s mom send him to live with his dad?”

“To teach him how to be a man,” a student answered. The others nodded. It was easy from there to make the link to the story we were reading.

If I were teaching high school English today, “Boyz n the Hood” would surely be a film worth working into a literature unit. Legendary film critic Roger Ebert described it as “not simply a brilliant directorial debut, but an American film of enormous importance.”

In a 2016 Vanity Fair piece about the making of the movie, actress Nia Long (Brandi) said, “We could have made “Boyz n the Hood” yesterday. It was as if John Singleton cut a hole in the wall and filmed my own life…We’ve been having the same conversation about race for 40 years. It hurts my soul that we are still having these conversations.”

Maybe one day it will be possible to view Singleton’s film as a brilliant depiction of an historical experience. One can only hope so, and be grateful to the passionate, determined director whose guts and creativity brought this story to light against all odds.

Photo of John Singleton.

How John Singleton’s ‘Boyz n the Hood’ Changed the Way I Teach syndicated from https://sapsnkraguide.wordpress.com

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My Child With Autism Doesn’t Need or Want Your Pity

After attending an informational session for families about autism, Asperger’s and the difficulties of navigating being disabled and supporting your “differently wired” family member (their term, not ours), my husband, my older daughter and I came home to our youngest family member full of sympathy and sadness. We thought we were ready to fully embrace her with unconditional love.

My older daughter immediately picked up her little sister, held her like a baby and said in a baby voice, “Sissy is here for you, baby girl. I will always be here and you are so perfect.”

My 6-year-old responded in a baby voice, echoing her big sis, and said, “Waaa, I want to use your cell phone and can I have some of your candy?”

Big sis, full of sympathy for her “special-needs” sister, gave her some of her hidden stash of candy, from a jar labeled “My Candy. DO NOT TOUCH!”

Our baby girl didn’t stop there.

“Dada,” she said, still in baby talk, “I need to sleep with all my babies tonight.” Because she has about 30 dolls she calls “her babies,” the rule is she can only sleep with five dolls a night. She knows these are the rules. But because my husband was still caught up in “sympathy” for our “special needs” child, he reluctantly allowed her to break the only-five-babies-in-the-bed rule.

Within an hour, our wily youngest daughter had obtained her sister’s secret candy and a bed full of all her babies, had talked herself into wearing her swimsuit to bed and was quickly on her way to full Dawson Household Domination. She was only stopped by her greed, when she asked her dad to put the Playstation in her bedroom, with a new television, so she could play her favorite Marvel video game whenever she wanted.

Our Brilliant, Perceptive, Neurodiverse Daughter Does It Her Way

We quickly realized that our neurodiverse family member was playing us all. She didn’t know why all of sudden we were treating her differently, as someone who should be pitied and needed special treatment, but she saw an opportunity and seized her moment. She was the same person before we went to the workshop—we were the ones who were different.

Honestly, I can’t remember much of what we learned at that “autism for families workshop,” but I know my daughter taught us the most important lesson. There is nothing to be pitied about my daughter. She is not weak. She is brilliant, perceptive and fully capable of seizing opportunities to reach her goals. Before we went to this family workshop, we already knew all about her strong-willed personality and her get-what-she-wants-ness.

All her life, my neurodiverse daughter has been functioning in our neurotypical world. She has already developed an inner resilience to make sure she is successful. She has overcome more obstacles than almost anyone in our family. And she did it all before she lost her baby teeth.

Here’s How Our Daughter Taught Us Who She Really Is

Communication: She was largely non-verbal until she was 4, yet, she figured out how to communicate, clearly, with us. We knew her favorite toys, what foods she liked and didn’t like and even her sensory preferences. Some of the communication was crying, but the majority of the communication was figuring out how to communicate with facial expressions, some signing (not formally taught, she taught us what her signs meant) and by studying the verbal communications of her family, classmates and obsessively watching these annoying “Come Play With Me” videos of kids playing with dolls in different social scenarios.

Sensory Needs: My younger daughter has both autism and Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD), which means she responds strongly to different textures and bright lights. Her body needs a certain amount of sensory input to regulate. We were lucky to get an occupational therapist who was fantastic in helping us navigate what SPD was, but our daughter was the one who let us know what her specific sensory needs were. She turned off lights, picked out her own clothes (which were largely all made from the same fabric) and protested if we offered her others. The occupational therapist suggested tools for sensory input, but our daughter let us know what worked for her. For example, we were told the sensory table full of pasta noodles would be great, but after the third time she spilled the pasta on the floor and tried to throw it in the garbage, we realized that was not one of her preferred sensory tools.

Academic: Because she was largely non-verbal, almost all of our parental attention went towards speech and occupational therapy for her. We did read books, but we weren’t actively trying to push the “pre-reading” skills that we had encouraged for our neurotypical daughter. I think our younger one realized that academics were important, and that she was going to have to navigate academic knowledge on her own. And she did. Mostly by herself, and sometimes with help from her Nana, who never saw anything lacking in her younger granddaughter’s ability to function.

Ironically, the most important lesson from our “autism family workshop” was that no one could teach us about our younger daughter, but our daughter. Every child, including every child on the autism spectrum, is the best teacher of who they are. Take the lesson my family learned: Don’t pity or underestimate them. Otherwise, you will end up losing your candy, with 30 dolls in the bed and a 6-year-old dictator of bedtime. If you pity children with autism, know you will do it at your own risk.

Photo by CASATERRON, Twenty20-licensed.

My Child With Autism Doesn’t Need or Want Your Pity syndicated from https://sapsnkraguide.wordpress.com

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A Dress Code for Parents Has to Be at the Bottom of the List of Education Priorities

Some of these school administrators have their priorities messed up!

Just last week, two students were expelled from their Christian school 30 days before the end of the year because the pastor claimed their mother was living in sin and committing adultery—specifically, her daughters have two different fathers.

Shocking! Christian school expels two black students 30 days before the end of the school year because they have different fathers.https://t.co/k8G49qFKjV

— BET News (@BETNews) April 20, 2019

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I’m not well versed in religious text so don’t get me quoting the Bible to defend why I think this expulsion is wrong. What the mother does in the privacy of her home is no business of the school, especially if it isn’t detrimental to the well-being of her daughters—but, taking away their education is. And if this is a strict policy of the school, why accept the girls in the first place?

But my biggest thing is, to be a Christian school, their actions don’t seem very Christlike in kicking these girls out because of something their mother did. I guess Pastor John Wilson didn’t even bother to ask himself “What would Jesus do?”

Yea because this is definitely something Jesus would have done

https://t.co/rLfqmjvivG

— Hundred Band$ (@AnimalBeatz) April 24, 2019

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And this week, Carlotta Outley Brown, the principal of James Madison High School in Houston, has decided to enforce a dress code for parents.

James Madison High School will turn away parents if they show up at the school wearing bonnets, pajamas, hair rollers or leggings. https://t.co/oUM9MxAd9f

— Houston Chronicle (@HoustonChron) April 23, 2019

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Now the expulsion from the Christian school is completely absurd to me but, I understand Principal Brown’s madness. I also agree with what Jan Taylor says in her tweet about parents and educators being the example and setting standards for students.

Standards for students, teachers, administrators and parents. We are all in this together. It takes a village. I stand with Carlotta Outley Brown the principal with regards to a dress code. https://t.co/2uvWFsy8u3

— Jan Taylor (@jazzyjst) April 24, 2019

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But, this is where my empathy ends. Sis. Brown’s method, timing and priorities are all wrong. Most importantly, it reinforces an already glaring message that parents aren’t allowed in schools.

Let me talk to Principal Brown real quick.

Ma’am, you’re the fourth newly enacted principal—within a five-year period—at a school where the academic performance has been subpar.

Since Houston ISD's Madison High School is getting national attention for this…https://t.co/bLPrBJ1GTT

A good time to talk about Madison's academic outcomes last year…

Math/science/English AP exams passed: 0 Four-year graduation rate: 72% College enrollment rate: 40%

— Jacob Carpenter (@ChronJacob) April 24, 2019

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Your student population is 99% Black and Latino, 75% low-income and in a non-White district—surely your school is one of the ones that receives $23 billion less in funding.

Your Black and Brown, low-income students are also subject to the belief gap and explicit bias. Did you happen to read TNTP’s Opportunity Myth report that confirms students of color are less likely to receive rigorous or grade-level coursework because of the color of their skin?

"Students of color consistently receive less challenging instruction and schoolwork than do their white and more affluent classmates." Read more from this @The74 article about @TNTP's new report, The Opportunity Myth: https://t.co/0aug8IK5Bm

— CAP K-12 Education (@EdProgress) October 2, 2018

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Madison students are walking out of class because of hostilities between students and school staff.

And finally, instead of promoting engagement and fostering relationships by meeting parents where they are, you’ve angered, isolated and made it that much more difficult for students’ teachers to connect with them. It sends a message to the parents that they aren’t allowed in your school and exacerbates the struggle of parent-school collaboration, ultimately weakening student support systems.

Dress-coding parents is: (1) ridiculous (2) illogical (3) ill conceived

And it appears likely to have the reverse effect from what’s intended. Parents won’t dress better. They’ll stop showing up. And I thought we had issues with parent engagement.

— Capitalize the B in Black (@DrRondreaMathis) April 24, 2019

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All of these battles you could’ve chosen to fight but you’re focused on how parents dress? It’s a disservice to the students and families.

The dress code for parents as James Madison High is funny (in a bad way). The school is consistently at or near the bottom of success metrics in HISD, including service to low-income and disabled students, but this is the hill the principal chose to die on.

— flesh-colored (@haitreason) April 24, 2019

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I don’t know what you’ve accomplished in your career or at this school thus far but I hope that from this point on, you choose your battles wisely.

Because at a time when data validates something we’ve already known—that the struggle for Black and Brown and low-income students in schools is real—we need you to work diligently to alleviate some of those struggles. We need you to prioritize the needs of students and work with parents to accommodate them. And finally, we need you to not fan the flame of division within the Black community with policies that have stereotypical, discriminatory and racist undertones.

Photo by Quentin Keller, Unsplash-licensed.

A Dress Code for Parents Has to Be at the Bottom of the List of Education Priorities syndicated from https://sapsnkraguide.wordpress.com

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You Can’t Have Quality Educational Opportunities and Cap School Choice

I’ll just come out and say it: You can’t be for expanding access to quality educational opportunities and be in favor of capping charter schools. You can’t malign the supposed cherry-picking tendencies of charter schools while at the same time extolling the virtues of selective “public” magnet schools. And you can’t fight against access to school choice while at the same time buying or renting a home at least in part due to its ZIP-code aligned school district.

But very often, this is exactly what we progressives do.

As someone who unabashedly understands himself as progressive, if not downright socialist, I am chagrined to the point of insanity with the ways other progressives and so-called supporters of public education toe the party line proclaiming charter schools enemies of meritocracy, agents of segregation and conspiring union busters allied with money-grubbing profiteers seeking to make quick profits on the backs of children.

The latest in the calls for so-called equitable access to education is the leveling of access to elite public schools like Stuyvesant in New York, while at the same time capping the growth of charter schools.

The ideas, so they would seem, are that by eliminating entrance tests, and in doing so eliminating all of the problematic injustices that come with such a test, access to high-quality education would be more equitable.

This idea has already garnered its fair share of detractors.

According to the Wall Street Journal:

Bill de Blasio, New York’s progressive mayor, wants the elite schools to be more racially balanced and has called for replacing the entrance exam with what amounts to a racial quota system. This year, as usual, Asian-Americans were awarded more than half of all slots, even though they comprise only about 16% of the city’s public-school students. Understandably, Asian parents oppose the mayor’s proposal.

Meanwhile, Robert Pondiscio has argued that,

A sane and equity-minded public policy would seek to maximize elite educational opportunities and increase their number, not to ration them or water them down, and would seek to extend them to every qualified low-income student who can do the work.

To me, the arguments over Stuyvesant, entrance tests and charter schools all tend to boil down to an educational McGuffin: a fraudulent low-hanging fruit of progressive opportunism that catches our eye, while doing nothing to address the root causes of the rot that continues to infest the larger system, namely the corallative nature of one’s wealth with one’s access to quality educational opportunity.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again.

We all, if we can, buy access to quality education. Some of us pay school tuition. Others pay for test prep to access elite “public” schools like Stuyvesant. Many of us, myself included, pay rent or mortgages for houses located in ZIP codes with access to quality neighborhood schools. Not for nothing do real estate agents often name a houses’ local elementary school alongside its square footage.

If we really want to work for equitable access to quality education, rather than just react to the latest scandal, we need to get serious and look at our own neighborhoods.

Why is it that a student zoned to a school in West Philadelphia is apportioned $14,000 for her education, while another student just over the city line is apportioned $28,000?  

Because we’ve made it so.

With state budgeters failing oftentimes to meet what they spent before the Great Recession in 2008, it has fallen on local towns and cities to fill their educational coffers.

So, what happens when local education budgets are driven by local taxes and wealth?

Easy.

The rich get to ride the school-to-college pipeline, and the poor get trained for prison.

The game is rigged.

My fellow progressives, charter schools are not the enemy. Magnet schools are not the enemy. The enemy is our continued perpetuation in a system that largely requires wealth in order to access quality education.

While I wait for us to blow that whole system apart, let’s not stand in the way of families trying to give for their children what we have so guiltlessly purchased for our own.

Photo by LELIA MILAYA, Twenty20-licensed.

You Can’t Have Quality Educational Opportunities and Cap School Choice syndicated from https://sapsnkraguide.wordpress.com