The nation's school children and their families are well
into the time of year we know as "back to school," filled with
excitement and anxiety that accompany a new school year. Summer is also over
for teachers and school leaders, who face controversies over testing, teacher
evaluation, fundraising, and even the academic standards used to guide their
work. Add to this a presidential campaign that's bound to stir up the politics
of what we teach our kids and how we teach it, and you've got fuel to burn.
Let's try to shed some light on a few of the issues that seem to generate the
most heat to Rink Rats.
1).
There is too much testing in U.S. classrooms.
There is no question that education is enamored with data,
inching closer to its own version of Moneyball every day. Much of those data
come from student assessments, including those that are state-mandated, plus an
assortment of local tests and demographic indicators. Much of the debate over
Federal education legislation involving education centers on reducing testing
in public schools. But the clamor over too much testing obfuscates and masks
three more important questions: Are the tests we are giving the right ones? How
are educators using test results? What aren't we assessing that we should? The
argument over too much testing is not the right one. If we care about outcomes
and dollars spent, and about ensuring all American schoolchildren learn, then
we need data that is visible to the public and to educators. We need multiple,
valid indicators of the quality of classroom teaching and children's learning.
We need data, but most importantly we need to know how to use it.
2). The
“Reply All” mentality
An email storm (also called a Reply Allpocalypse) is a
sudden spike of Reply All messages on an email distribution list, usually
caused by a controversial, misdirected or worthless message. Such storms start
when multiple members of the distribution list reply to the entire list at the
same time in response to the instigating message. Other members soon respond,
usually adding vitriol to the discussion, asking to be removed from the list,
or pleading for the cessation of messages. If enough members reply to these
unwanted messages this triggers a chain reaction of email messages. The sheer
load of traffic generated by these storms can render the email servers
inoperative, similar to a DDoS attack. But, more importantly, fellow
colleagues, I do not care what you
think!!! Keep me out of it.
3). All
teachers in this school are terrific.
This is the "back to school night" mantra of every
principal/school leader in the country. And as the leader of an organization
with responsibilities for morale and the public face of a school, it is
understandably the right thing for leaders to say. It's also not true and everyone
knows it. A more nuanced version could be, "Every teacher in this school
is prepared to teach your child and participates in this school's continuous
improvement plan through which teachers will receive critical feedback and
supervision to ensure they are not only prepared but performing at the level
your child needs to be a successful learner." See #1 about data and
measurement because to make this statement true, we have to be smarter about
collecting the right data and using it well. We have a long way to go to make
the more nuanced version of this mantra the reality in American schools.
Unfortunately, by some estimates, including observations of almost ten thousand
U.S. classrooms, 25 percent of teachers (across public, private, and charter schools)
are not all that effective in fostering students' engagement and learning. The
responsibility for this lies with unions that have stonewalled efforts to put
metrics into teacher evaluation, reformers who have dogmatically stuck by
narrow and controversial assessments of student learning and effective
teaching, policies more focused on firing bad teachers rather than improving
everyone, and teacher preparation programs that are more accountable to state
bureaucrats than to learners. It's sad, but this is where we have landed 15
years after No Child Left Behind and dozens of reports calling for
improvements. Shame on everyone; we all own this one.
4). Territorial
world of Higher Education
The constant “ego” and territorial management of higher
education departments; time to grow up people the students are the only ones
who get hurt here: the lack of communication, cooperation, planning between
departments/programs/colleges is inefficient and expensive.
5).
Common Core is a federal takeover of a state role; winner or loser.
Educational standards describe what students should know and
be able to do in each subject in each grade. In California, the State Board of
Education decides on the standards for all students, from kindergarten through
high school.
Since 2010, a number of states across the nation have
adopted the same standards for English and math. These standards are called the
Common Core State Standards (CCSS). Having the same standards helps all
students get a good education, even if they change schools or move to a
different state. Teachers, parents, and education experts designed the
standards to prepare students for success in college and the workplace. This
canard is being perpetrated actively by every Republican candidate for U.S.
president except Jeb Bush, and even he is waffling his way through the
questions. The Common Core State Standards Initiative was launched by
governors, including many Republicans, and at one time was supported by 46 of
them. The reason Common Core was so popular among governors was that they saw
it as a way to raise standards for students and boost economic productivity and
community well-being. And much of the impetus for higher standards came from
the business community. Federal dollars were used to articulate standards and
build assessments. Teachers' unions were supportive at first because these new
standards required a way of teaching that wasn't the reviled "drill and
kill" that was driven by the first wave of accountability testing. But
once teachers' evaluations were tied to student performance, and it was looking
like students might not perform so well on these new, higher standards, the
unions joined forces with ideology on the right to undermine political will in
statehouses across the country. The federal government also shares blame here.
Had they developed and deployed the assessments for Common Core at a faster
pace, we would now be focused on students' performance on skills far more
relevant for their success now and into the future. And don't forget that the assessments
for Common Core would also allow comparisons of how states' systems performed
against one another on the same test, enabling the states to really be a
laboratory of experimentation. And with similar tests and standards across
states, the 30% of students who move across state lines would not have not start
fresh every year.
6).
Education still the most rewarding profession.
Try working in investments these days, Education is a
wonderful profession: Students, colleagues, parents, administrators truly care
about their work and outcomes. We just ask one and all to relax, lighten the
load, and use common sense now and then.
Welcome back to school. It may be a new year, but it hardly
feels like a fresh start.
BACK TO
SCHOOL IN D.C. - Stay tuned for a busy fall in D.C. and
beyond. The Education Department will be issuing a new round of School
Improvement Grant data, a final rule that aims to improve teacher preparation
programs and a comprehensive report about the Obama administration's signature
Race to the Top program, among other things. And the agency is finally supposed
to unveil its new consumer tool - the one that started out as a plan to rate
colleges. In addition, the department's "special master" says he will
continue to oversee the thousands of claims coming in from former Corinthian
Colleges students seeking to have their student loan debt forgiven. Already,
the department has wiped away $40 million in such debt, with the ultimate price
tag potentially in the billions.
- Then, there's the impending demise of the Perkins loan
program: The clock is running out on a $1 billion, 57-year-old student loan
program that helps the very poor. Perkins, a relatively small, campus-based
federal loan program has survived threats before. But with a Sept. 30
expiration looming, key Republicans lawmakers showing no inclination to act,
and the Education Department advising institutions not to enroll new borrowers,
this could finally be the end of the road for the federal government's oldest
student loan program - even in the midst of a presidential campaign focused on
college costs. "Extending the Perkins loan program comes at a significant
cost to taxpayers and provides little benefit to students," Senate
education committee Chairman Lamar Alexander said. Higher education officials
say the loans are critical to a student who’s other federal grants and loans
don't quite cover costs.
BACK TO
SCHOOL BY THE NUMBERS: Based on Census data from 2012, 2013 and 2014:
http://1.usa.gov/1JNSrzY.
- $8.2 billion: The estimated amount spent at family
clothing stores in August.
- 78 million: The number of children and adults enrolled in
school.
- 75 percent: The percentage of 3 to 6 year olds enrolled in
school.
- 25 percent: Percentage of K-12 students with at least one
foreign born parent.
- $82,720: Average earnings of full-time workers with a
bachelor's degree or higher.
BACK TO
SCHOOL FOR CONGRESS - WELCOME
BACK! SHUTDOWN AHEAD? - Washington really didn't need to make it tougher to
avoid a government shutdown when the new fiscal year begins on October 1. But
the prospects that no deal would happen, which we estimated at 60 percent at
the beginning of August, got worse last week when it became clear the White
House would have the votes it needed to prevent Congress from stopping the deal
it negotiated with Iran.
The Obama administration's impending win on Iran complicates
the already problematical CR debate even further. Because of that, I'm
increasing my estimate of the chance of a government shutdown to 67 percent.
... The Iran deal worsens the outlook for a shutdown for two reasons. The first
is the amount of time it will take for Congress to debate the issue. ... The
second reason for the increasing odds of a shutdown: the continuing resolution
will provide those senators and representatives against the deal with a second
bite of the disapproval apple.
COLLEGE
CHRONICLES - The gap in wealth and income between rich and poor is the
worst since the Great Depression, and the gap between the rich and the middle
class is at its highest since the government began keeping such statistics 30
years ago. After more than three decades of income growth for the wealthiest 10
percent and stagnation for everybody else, the top 3 percent now has more wealth
than the bottom 90 percent.
Meanwhile, Yale University increasingly resembles a large corporation
rather than the quiet, if haughty, academic institution that Horowitz and
Gillette attended. With an endowment of nearly $24 billion, administrators are
constantly expanding their hospital complex and real-estate holdings in New
Haven. Recently they awarded the departing President Richard Levin, who had
swelled the treasury, a whopping bonus of $8.5 million. As the university
grows, its "officials seek to contain unionism and, if possible, shrink
its base," writes Jennifer Klein, a history professor at Yale. When
"full-time employees retire or leave, they are often not replaced. New
corporate vice presidents (from companies such as PepsiCo) work to de-skill
jobs as well as to downsize staff."
Whether ivory tower or big business or a fusion of both,
Yale continues to provide its chosen ones with the same self-confidence and
cultural capital it did during the 1960s. Whatever a student’s race, gender, or
sexual identity, she or he has an excellent chance to win a race that most
other citizens can barely afford to enter. Unless that begins to change, both
Yale and the society its graduates help to rule will stay much as they are.
THE
BEST JOBS FOR YOUNG ADULTS: High school seniors and college students
might want to consider a career as a physician's assistant, an actuary, a
statistician or a biomedical engineer, according to a new report from Young
Invincibles. Those jobs are considered the best ones for young adults based on
their salaries, projected future growth and access to the positions. About half
of the top 25 jobs are in the STEM fields and more than half of the top 25
employ more men than women. Most of the top jobs require an associate's degree
or a bachelor's degree, but one notable outlier on the list is elevator
installer and repairer. It's a job that requires no postsecondary degree, but
is highly in demand, offers significant growth and a competitive salary. While
no degree is necessary, the Bureau of Labor Statistics says that job candidates
often need an apprenticeship under their belt to be considered, "which
highlights the importance and potential of the Registered Apprenticeship
program as an option for young adults seeking a productive career without
attending college," the report says.
ADJUNCT
JUNCTURE: Carolina Frederickson of the liberal American Constitution
Society writes in the Washington Monthly about university adjuncts, concluding
that American universities are enriching administrators at the expense of
teachers. Adjuncts, Frederickson explains, have been gradually displacing
tenured faculty. "In 1969," she writes, "almost 80 percent of
college faculty members were tenured or tenure track. Today, the numbers have
essentially flipped, with two-thirds of faculty now non-tenure and half of
those working only part-time, often with several different teaching jobs."
Meanwhile, "universities increased the number of administrator positions
by 60 percent between 1993 and 2009, ten times the rate at which they added
tenured positions." By 2013, Frederickson writes, less than one third of
college and university revenue was being spent on instruction.
EVEN
PRESIDENTS CRY- If first day of school goodbyes left you with
tears, you're not alone. President Barack Obama admitted Wednesday to crying as
his daughter Malia started the first day of her senior year of high school
Tuesday. "You know, I was sitting in her room because I was going to see
her off ... her first day of school. She puts her head on my shoulder and she
says, 'Daddy, you know, you realize this is probably going to be the last time
that you ever send me off for my first day of school ... And I started - I had
to look away. I didn't want to just be such a crybaby," Obama said from
his speech at Macomb Community College in Michigan.
BIRTHDAYS
THIS WEEK – Birthday wishes and thoughts this weekend to: Maria Bartiromo (48) New York, NY, Carly Fiorina (61) Palo Alto, CA, Hugh Grant (55) London, England, Bob Newhart (86) Beverly Hills, CA, Raquel Welch (75) Carmel, CA
HAPPY
RETURN TO FOOTBALL!! - The National Football League's 32 teams
received an especially pleasant bonus at the end of its recently completed
fiscal year - some $226 million apiece from league headquarters, or nearly $40
million more than each team got the previous year. ... Those funds, from
revenue produced mainly by national media and sponsorship deals, are set to
rise once again, pushing the NFL's annual take for the new season that kicked
off last Thursday in Foxborough, Mass., to more than $12 billion.
COLLEGE
FOOTBALL PICK OF THE WEEK – Saturday 9/19, 12:30 PM ET, ABC: #14
Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (2-0) at #8 Notre Dame Fighting Irish (2-0). Best
Irish team we have seen in the Brian Kelly era, Irish 35 Jackets 28. Season
to date (1-1)
SMALL
COLLEGE FOOTBALL PICK OF THE WEEK – Saturday 9/19, 1:00 PM ET,
HGTV: #15 Hobart Statesmen (2-0) visit Ithaca College Bombers (1-0), Hobart is
the best of the Liberty League, 24 – 21.
Season to date (2-0)
THE
SWAMI’S WEEK TOP PICKS –
(NCAA, Sept. 19) #18 Auburn Tigers (2-0) at #13 LSU Tigers:
The Swami likes LSU in a close one; 38 –
35.
(NCAA-SCIAC, Sept. 19) University of La Verne Leopards (1-0)
at Whitworth Pirates (1-0): We predicted a 6-3 season for the Leos, this is one
of the loses; 35 – 24.
(MLB, Sept. 19) St. Louis Cardinals (89-54) at Chicago Cubs
(82-60): the Cubbies are for real; Cubs win 5 – 3.
(Solheim Cup-LPGA Sept. 18-20) LPGA vs. European LPGA: a
route in Germany, American women professional golf is in trouble, Europe wins 19 – 9.
Season
to date (70-35)
MARKET
WEEK
– China continues to shake the world. In recent weeks, stocks, currencies and
commodities have swung dramatically on signs of a slowdown in Chinese growth.
Disappointing economic data out of the world’s second-largest economy, as well
as the devaluation of its currency, have exacerbated concerns. Oil prices
resumed their downward trajectory today and global stock markets steadied, as
investors remain wary. Meanwhile, China is imposing new controls to prevent too
much money from leaving the country, with lenders beefing up internal checks on
foreign-exchange conversions and regulators aiming to rein in illegal
money-transfer agents.
DRIVING
THE WEEK - The Fed announcement Thursday is the biggest game in town
followed by the GOP debate Wednesday ... President Obama is in Iowa today to
talk college access and affordability ... Retail sales Tuesday at 8:30 a.m.
expected to rise 0.3 percent headline and 0.2 percent ex-autos ... FOMC makes
its announcement at 2:00 p.m. Thursday followed by Yellen presser. Narrow
consensus is no change but a stronger hint that labor conditions mean a rate
hike is close ... Leading indicators on Friday at 10:00 a.m. expected to rise
0.2 percent.
Next
week: Words of the month and Dear Rink Rats.
Until Next Monday, Happy
Rosh Hashanah.
Claremont, CA
September 14, 2015
#VI-14-276
CARTOON
OF THE WEEK – Reply
All
