Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Monday, January 30, 2012
Do roads matter more than students?
Recently Governor Ric Snyder stated that Michigan roads are in terrible shape. His solution was to suggest that taxes and fees should be raised and that more money should be given to help remedy the situation.
Governor Snyder has also said that schools are not doing the job and that only 17% of Michigan high school graduates are ready for college. (As an aside that is a highly dubious statistic and is not at all consistent with what actually happens when the graduates from my district go to college. That discussion will be saved for another time.) His solution for this "problem" has been to cut education funding $470 per student.
Are roads that much more important than students to our governor?
I am sure that our governor would say that students are more important. I would suggest that he thinks that schools can cut their budgets and not experience any hardship.
Yet the state-mandated retirement rate will increase for my district next year over 2%. While that sounds like a small increase it will raise the cost of doing business in my district by over 1.3 million dollars.
I want my school district to be as efficient as possible. I also know that "throwing money" at a problem rarely fixes it.
I just wish the governor thought that students were as important as roads.
Governor Snyder has also said that schools are not doing the job and that only 17% of Michigan high school graduates are ready for college. (As an aside that is a highly dubious statistic and is not at all consistent with what actually happens when the graduates from my district go to college. That discussion will be saved for another time.) His solution for this "problem" has been to cut education funding $470 per student.
Are roads that much more important than students to our governor?
I am sure that our governor would say that students are more important. I would suggest that he thinks that schools can cut their budgets and not experience any hardship.
Yet the state-mandated retirement rate will increase for my district next year over 2%. While that sounds like a small increase it will raise the cost of doing business in my district by over 1.3 million dollars.
I want my school district to be as efficient as possible. I also know that "throwing money" at a problem rarely fixes it.
I just wish the governor thought that students were as important as roads.
The Leader in Me
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Novi HS Dance Concert
Novi HS Boys Swim Meet
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Monday, January 23, 2012
Bridge Stress Tests
A Favorite Story at Parkview
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Learning, assessment, and what matters in school
There was a National Data Summit today (January 18,2012) in Washington DC. The website announcing this one-day event boasts, "The Data Quality Campaign (DQC) will host a national summit of local, state, and national leaders to address the power of data to improve student achievement."
Some are not all impressed with the data summit.
Governor Jerry Brown of California is not all that impressed with the focus on data, as noted in his letter vetoing a bill that would have changed the California school accountability system. He makes a good point when he says, "Adding more speedometers to a broken car won't turn it into a high performance machine."
Yet, data is important. Being able to demonstrate that students are learning is important. At some point we do need a speedometer to show us how fast we are going. Arguing that we don't need any assessment or any measurement doesn't seem very helpful.
I believe that the parents in my community expect our school district to be able to show that students are learning.
I believe that reading, writing, math, science, history, and government are subjects that my parents expect their children to learn about in the schools in my district. We should be able to show that students are learning these subjects in some meaningful and appropriate way.
However, I also think that my parents expect that our students will learn how to think, create, communicate, and plan. Working together, developing skills in leadership, being able to reflect and solve problems, and a host of other skills are also important for us to help students learn. Can and should we measure these skills on a test? Those skills and attributes seem like they would be harder skills to assess in meaningful and appropriate ways with a paper and pencil test.
But art, music, choir, drama are important. How about learning to use technology? What about health? Can and should we try to find a way to assess everything we do in schools?
I believe my responsibility is to ensure that our district has a robust system to measure learning and communicate the results with students and parents. I also need to help students, parents, and our community understand what good assessment looks like and to know what can and what can't be measured. But I also need students and parents to see that some of the things we do in school help students develop, engage them in meaningful ways, and can't - and shouldn't - be assessed with a paper and pencil test.
Students come to school to learn. Parents send their children to us to learn. My responsibility is to make sure that our district - our teachers and administrators - know what can and should be measured and what appropriate measurement should look like. I also need to ensure that the things that can't be measured are not forgotten.
Some are not all impressed with the data summit.
Governor Jerry Brown of California is not all that impressed with the focus on data, as noted in his letter vetoing a bill that would have changed the California school accountability system. He makes a good point when he says, "Adding more speedometers to a broken car won't turn it into a high performance machine."
Yet, data is important. Being able to demonstrate that students are learning is important. At some point we do need a speedometer to show us how fast we are going. Arguing that we don't need any assessment or any measurement doesn't seem very helpful.
I believe that the parents in my community expect our school district to be able to show that students are learning.
I believe that reading, writing, math, science, history, and government are subjects that my parents expect their children to learn about in the schools in my district. We should be able to show that students are learning these subjects in some meaningful and appropriate way.
However, I also think that my parents expect that our students will learn how to think, create, communicate, and plan. Working together, developing skills in leadership, being able to reflect and solve problems, and a host of other skills are also important for us to help students learn. Can and should we measure these skills on a test? Those skills and attributes seem like they would be harder skills to assess in meaningful and appropriate ways with a paper and pencil test.
But art, music, choir, drama are important. How about learning to use technology? What about health? Can and should we try to find a way to assess everything we do in schools?
I believe my responsibility is to ensure that our district has a robust system to measure learning and communicate the results with students and parents. I also need to help students, parents, and our community understand what good assessment looks like and to know what can and what can't be measured. But I also need students and parents to see that some of the things we do in school help students develop, engage them in meaningful ways, and can't - and shouldn't - be assessed with a paper and pencil test.
Students come to school to learn. Parents send their children to us to learn. My responsibility is to make sure that our district - our teachers and administrators - know what can and should be measured and what appropriate measurement should look like. I also need to ensure that the things that can't be measured are not forgotten.
Novi Middle School Boys Choir
Novi Middle School Math
Novi Middle School Video Production
Friday, January 13, 2012
Novi Middle School Science Fair
Thursday, January 12, 2012
Orchard Hills Writers' Workshop
Friday, January 6, 2012
The Village Oaks Climbing Wall
Village Oaks and the Seven Habits
