Arne Duncan's morale building:

[Are_grits_groceries]

You too, Rhee.

[donco6]

1. Oh yeah.

We just found out our state raised the bar again on accreditation cutoff scores for high school. Now we have to get everyone to 75% proficient/advanced or be placed on The List.

We worked our butts off to get our scores up to where they are, only to be batted down yet again. What's the point?

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

2. Are you fucking kidding me? What's the point?!

TO GET KIDS PROFICIENT! That's the fucking point! You're not building widgets, you're teaching kids! For fuck's sake, what is wrong with you?

[donco6]

3. LOL! You don't really know me, do you?

It certainly isn't for lack of trying. And, no, we don't treat any of our kids like widgets. But there are a lot of obstacles to success here in this very low-income district. That's why it's so disheartening to have the bar raised yet again, just when we were starting to see some signs of hope.

Let's talk about the 75% proficient figure. Out of our 100%, 12% of our kids are special ed (and yes they do count). So there's that. Then over 50% of them arrive not speaking any English at all. So there's that. Then 80% are free lunch. So there's that. And there's a 45% turnover rate each year in some schools. So there's that.

But we'll get right on it. And as soon as we begin to approach the new goal, they'll raise it again and we'll still be on the shit list. There's no recognition for the incredible work we've done or the amount of improvement we've made. The finish line just gets further and further away no matter how fast we run.

Check out our book Against the Odds: http://www.hepg.org/hep/book/112/AgainstTheOdds

[zazen]

4. tick, tock. . . Wolfwood, please serve as a model for DU and apologize

Donco6, you tell that story very eloquently and succinctly, and thanks for sending the link to that book.

I can't believe you were just attacked like that, but I'm impressed that you clearly didn't react.

I wish Duncan and the army of NCLB "reformers" were forced to address your specific points every time they got up to speak somewhere.

[donco6]

7. People just don't know what we do.

I don't react because, generally, people have been so bombarded with RW propaganda about public schools, they have no idea what we're doing anymore. At least HERE - I can't speak for or defend other schools, because I don't know for sure what they're doing.

We've participated in a Stanford U. cohort with Linda Darling-Hammond for five years, working on how to better improve our instruction, our processes, our budgeting, . . . even our marketing and public relations. We've implemented a new reading program districtwide, a new math program districtwide, a new writing program goes out next year, a new Response to Intervention structure. We're applying for a Promise Neighborhoods grant through Mile High United Way to try to replicate some of Goeffrey Canada's work in Harlem. Then - we get a 6.5% cut in funding for next year, we can't pass a bond three years in a row, and the state insists on placing us in the lowest accreditation category because our kids can't reach reading proficiency by 3rd grade.

Any wonder we get dispirited? :)

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

9. Uh, no, I'm not apologizing for anything.

It's shocking that it would be acceptable to not want to keep getting more kids to proficiency.

[donco6]

16. We have higher proficiency goals each year.

So we're always trying, of course. Growth is great, but we'd love to see our status scores increase, too. So we create goals that are higher than the previous year and implement new programs to improve what we're doing. Then we see our poverty rate increase by 5%, our ELL population increase by 10%, and then we have a huge influx of gang activity. So we're battling all that at the same time, while implementing a new reading program at elementary. All I'm saying is, from a morale perspective, changing the bar just as someone is getting close to actually, solidly, for the first time in years being able to MEET THE GOAL . . . well, it's really deflating.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

18. I get that. I really do.

We need to have data systems in place that demonstrate student gains from one year to the next. It's asinine to say "we hit 75% this year, but with a totally different group of kids, we have to hit 80% next year, even though circumstances are no where near the same." With a longitudinal data system, you can instead say, "Our goal is to take these specific kids and improve them by 25% (whatever that would mean in real terms) over what these specific kids did last year." That's a reasonable ask. What we're asking is not reasonable - I completely agree with that.

[donco6]

21. THAT we can do - we DO do that.

We can make growth from year to year - we regularly make more than 1 year in a year. We far outshine many other districts in this area. But that's only one of the measures, and it's not even the most critical one.

Our accreditation plan creates four quadrants. Imagine a sheet of paper divided into four sections. Along the bottom is Growth, along the side Y axis is Status. The further to the right - the more growth you see. The further up the sheet, the more kids are at proficient/advanced. Depending on where your scores coincide, you occupy a quadrant on the paper. On the bottom left, you've got the Sorry Slackers - no performance, no growth. Nothing good at all happening there. On the top left you have the Lucky Lightweights. These are the schools who would see performance no matter what they did. They're not contributing to growth, but the kids still perform. Lots of wealthy white schools there. On the bottom right is where we are - the Frantic Failures. We work hard and see good to great growth, but the kids still don't perform as well as others on the test. And then you've got the Superstars - the upper right quadrant where everyone should be. Good growth and high performance. We have one school in there.

I can tell you our teachers, principals, central admin - we all want to see our schools in the Superstar quadrant. But we jump and jump and almost make it - and then they raise it again. We just NEED TO FEEL SUCCESSFUL just ONCE! One time! I've been here 15 years and have never been closer! And now it's being ripped away and it's just so damn unfair.

[Angry Dragon]

22. You are not listening

The teachers do not get to pick the students they get to teach.
It is ones making the rules that do not care about learning, they only care about numbers.
The students are just numbers to them.
The students are people to the teachers and each student is different.
How can you put a quota on a mind??

[madrchsod]

14. they won`t because .....

as long as the richest ultra consevative families in the america are behind obama`s/duncan
"separate and unequal" education policies they don`t have to answer anyone

[Starry Messenger]

5. +1000

[Jefferson23]

6. +100, and this scam is a disgrace, they are not acting in the best

interests of the children.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

8. So you got a book written about you... and you still need more recognition? Really?

Further, goals should continue to move forward. It is phenomenal that you hit your goals and keep improving the number of kids that reach proficiency, but you should keep striving forward. Unreasonable as it may be, we should be striving for universal proficiency - at least when taking into account special ed students (without repercussions for not hitting 100% ala NCLB, of course). As far as being on "the shit list", I'd have to defer to you on that, but I'd sure like to know what that entails.

[Admiral Loinpresser]

11. The obsession with standardized testing is bullshit.

"Back to basics" was also bullshit. Teachers need more freedom, not less, to truly educate children.

[donco6]

12. No, not at all.

It's not recognition. It's a matter of staying off the "unaccredited" list put out by the state.

Here in Colorado, as a district, we are accredited by the state. The district then accredits the schools. For the district, it's obviously imperative we stay accredited. So we study the accreditation factors and develop plans to make sure we improve in the areas they measure so that we can make the grade. And we do that. Our student growth scores are among the top in the state. But our status scores - the sheer number of "profient" students - still suffers. We can get the kids to grow 1.5 to 2 years in 1 year, but they STILL don't always reach proficiency because of the issues raised above.

All year, we watch our MAPS scores - scores on quarterly tests that measure the students progress against standards in various areas. This year we saw some great progress and we were really excited . . . until yesterday when the state reissued it's new standards for accreditation. We may not make it. After all that work and time and effort and change, and because they've changed the bar, we may fall under. You just can't comprehend how hard that is to take - 8 years of work to create small schools, change curriculum, hire the right people, see growth and change and then . . . THIS?

Motivation is an important factor in any profession. The structures in place right now seem designed to CRUSH motivation. It certainly hasn't helped mine.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

17. I can definitely understand being frustrated by that.

At the same time, it's not like they're singling you guys out or doing it because they want you to fail. It's the perennial dilemma of education: If you don't raise the bar, you risk not only complacency but being passed by other states and nations (which is basically what's happened). You also risk devaluing the meaning of an education to the point where handing out diplomas essentially becomes a total lie. If you do raise the bar, people that were passing start failing and people that have put in a lot of very hard work become dispirited. It completely sucks, but neither choice is great.

I think the solution to the problem is putting a sensible plan for improvement in place - one which would clearly recognize the work you've already done - as part of obtaining accreditation status. It allows for the fact that raising standards isn't a quick fix, but that's exactly and unfortunately what everyone's looking for. Adequate yearly progress under NCLB was supposed to be that, but NCLB on many, many levels didn't account for states and districts to take the most back-asswards route possible to implement the law and became a perversion of the intent. Colorado, as I understand it, does have a capable data system that would be able to do exactly this, in a reasonable way, so that's a good thing.

[donco6]

19. Well, here's my fear.

When they raise the bar, we'll be one of maybe two or three districts that will fall under. When that happens, the state basically comes in and creates a plan for you. It's not organic or built upon the work that's already been done. It's a cookie-cutter that nukes all your existing structures and implements charter schools. Now, we already have all of our schools set up as schools of choice. Anyone can enroll in any school they want and we transport. We have a variety to choose from - International Baccalaureate, School of the Arts, Expeditionary Learning, Montessori. But they're not charters. So because the federal law calls for chartering, we would be forced down that path - like it's some magic formula for improvement. It's not.

Further, the law calls for the principals to be fired, as well as half the staff. Our staff is already relatively young - in fact, that's one of our problems, because young teachers are often in that life segment where they are getting married and moving away, getting married and having babies, having a second baby - we have tons of teachers on maternity leave at any time. Which means they're replaced with long-term subs. All of which leads to a lower experience level than districts with an older staff. The point being, so they fire half the young, inexperienced staff and replace them with . . . younger and even more inexperienced staff? WTF? When we get newbies out of college, we have to train them in EVERYTHING. They have no idea how to teach reading to kids who can't speak English. They are terrified of math. And that's what's going to "turnaround" the school?

As of right now, AYP is still on this ridiculous "straight line" curve, where ALL kids (even sped) have to be proficient by YEAR XX. That hasn't changed. And my district, which I'd put up there as working harder and smarter and more diligently than most others in this state to truly improve student achievement, is going to be the one to go down the toilet. It's unfair, unjust and wrongheaded. And it has nothing to do with a lack of desire to see kids succeed.

[madrchsod]

13. arne`s kid robot policies have worked so well in chicago....not

the point is the state education depts and the local school boards have to start telling arne to stick his bribes up his ass. his policies did`t work in chicago and they won`t work across the country.

unfortunately our president believes it`s the teachers fault....

[Dappleganger]

20. Moving goal posts is a favorite past time of administrators...

didn't you get that memo??

[Admiral Loinpresser]

10. K & R!

Education in America needs almost as much reform as health care. Repeal NCLB & HCR and enact real reform.

[Starry Messenger]

15. k & r