The end of the world! But we will survive!

The rivers have frozen!

Snow is piled higher than a person is tall.

The roads are two snow covered ruts.

The wind whips snow across roads and makes it feel like the temperature is well below zero.

Yet, dogs are happy!

I am happy!

Why?

Because it is winter in Michigan. We know that it is cold and icy and snowy.

We also come to work every day and teach great students, work with great colleagues, and work in a wonderful community.

Life is good, almost great!

Although I would like it to warm up just a little!

The MEAP fails the "timeliness" test

Four months ago the students in grades 3-8 in my school district were given the state MEAP assessment. Students in grade 9 were given the Social Studies MEAP assessment. 

Results are still unknown.

The state of Michigan has not released the results and I have been given no indication of when they will release the results.

This is unacceptable.

The MEAP assessments, along with the state MME assessments, form the basis of our accountability system. 

The system lacks accountability.

In my school district we have an accountability system. The MEAP is not a significant part of it because it is not timely.

The results from the MEAP assessment, taken in October, have little to say about the performance of the students in my district today. My teachers and students have moved on. The results of the MEAP will not shed any light on the performance of my students in January (or February or March or whenever we receive the results.)  

Assessments are an important part of teaching and learning. They help us measure student growth. Assessments give us a perspective on whether or not students are learning the lessons that we are trying to teach. They give insight into the relative strengths or weaknesses of a student.

But the MEAP with its lack of timeliness does not help us. 

In Novi, we are attempting to create what we call a “robust internal accountability system.” We believe that parents want a system that gives them accurate information on the progress of their children. 

Parents will point to the MEAP but we say to them that is not who your child is today. That may have been who your child was but they have had four months of instruction since that assessment was given. The child is different now.

Perhaps some would argue that the MEAP is not about individual student accountability. They might say that the MEAP is about school accountability. Are schools teaching the standards that the state has identified as important? Schools can look at strengths and weaknesses and identify what they are doing right and what they can do better. The MEAP reflects the relative position of the school not the student.

If that is true then why give individual results at all. By giving individual results the state is saying that the MEAP has important information to give to students, parents, and teachers. 

But the information is now at least four months old. My teachers know their students. The MEAP will not shed any more light.

We are required to give the MEAP but I do not believe that it provides much insight. Novi's good teachers know their students. Test results that are four months old will not give them additional insight.

Football, student engagement, and success

Today, I read this:

"One thing Tony Dungy told me is that, if you can make individual players better, then they're going to listen," Kelly told me. "So I think when you're dealing with anybody, no matter what business it is, if people understand that you care about them and you want to help them, then I think they're going to take to it." (http://espn.go.com/nfl/playoffs/2013/story/_/id/10286019/2013-nfl-playoffs-leaders-not-gurus-achieve-most-success-league)

       

What do I learn from this?

Whether it's football or school, people need to know you care. Part of caring about people is working to help them improve.

In schools, we don't work with people who make millions of dollars. I am not giving direction to someone who has signed a contract that ends in lots of zeros.

Instead, I work with students. Students who on occasion may not be all that interested in school. But if I can connect with that student - if I can get that student to understand that I want them to be successful - then I have a shot.

And that's all I need. I just need a chance.

I get that chance when I convince that 1st grader or that 8th grader or that senior in high school that I care about them.

Let's honor what's important this year

A new year started today.

Even though it's a new year, priorities that have been set will continue to drive us forward.

No doubt there will be distractions. Much like years gone by, people and projects will pull at us.

We will get frustrated and overwhelmed. We will wonder how we can get it all done.

As we survey the horizon and chart our course, we need to remember that work is not our life. Even though our work is important and what we do matters, we need to remember that we have other priorities that we cannot ignore.

My hope is that we can find our balance this year and lead the life that honors both our family and our work.

Sacred work

During this holiday season I have begun to wonder if the the work of educators - teachers, administrators, school secretaries, school bus drivers, preschool teachers, school food service employees, the tech staff  - is sacred?

Sacred not in the religious sense obviously. But sacred in the sense that the work is highly valued and worthy of respect.

I would say that the work is sacred.

Those that choose to work in schools have chosen to a life that will influence children and young adults. In a school, the job does not matter. Students look at all the adults in the building to pick up cues on how to live their life, how to treat other people, and, most importantly, the value that education plays in their still developing world.

Schools are more than just places that children and young adults go to be safe for seven hours a day. Schools are more than just places that children and young adults go to be with their friends so that their parents can be about the important work of the world.

Schools are communities. As in any community, children and young adults learn the values of that community. Values such as the importance of hard work and working with and for others. Values such as not giving up and finding different ways to solve problems. Values such as supporting each other and not walking away when someone struggles.

Within the school community students learn the values associated with learning. These are the values that help students find their passion, develop their sense of their place in the world, and understand that they have something to contribute.

Everyone in a school helps students learn these valuable lessons.

It could be the bus driver who, as the first person most students see from the school each day, communicates, through their words and deeds, the importance of each student. The drivers recognize their responsibility to keep students safe but also their responsibility to help students learn to navigate life on a school bus.

One might say that the school bus driver is just a school bus driver. But, to me, that is not the case. School bus drivers understand that the twenty or thirty minutes a student spends on the bus can impact that student's day. The school bus is not just a mode of transportation. It is also, or it should also be, a place where students apply lessons they are learning about being proactive, solving problems, resolving differences, and looking out for each other.

It could be the food service worker - the lunch "lady" - who sees that a student is not eating and inquires why. Food service workers are busy, yet many take time to notice students, say hello, ask about brothers and sisters. These school employees are not just serving food, they are part of the culture that schools build that communicates to the students that they matter and that there are adults who will mentor and model how to navigate the world.

The secretaries often see and hear students at their most vulnerable - when they are sick or when they are hurt. The way the secretary treats those students in those times of stress teaches those students lessons that they will not forget.

The work that occurs in schools is more than just important. It is a sacred trust between parents, the community, and the school. The community and parents agree to support schools with the understanding that those who work in schools will honor the children who attend. Those that work in schools understand that we must help students learn the knowledge and skills that they will need to live in a world that we will not. The future that our children live into will be lived without us.

So the job that those of us who work in schools accept is the job of preparation. We know that our job is to prepare our students with knowledge, skills, and attitudes that will help them continue to improve the world.

While those of us who work in schools know that the future does not depend on us, it does anticipate that we will not fail. Parents, the community, aunts, uncles, grandparents, and friends all play a huge part in the development of our students. But the work that goes on in schools is essential.

Those that work in schools understand that we cannot afford to let down those who come through our doors every day.

Does that make our work sacred?

I believe that it does!

Exurberant Skipping: Managing my own happiness

I walk my dog Kaya several times a week. Most of the time my wife and I walk together.

Last Sunday, however, I walked Kaya by myself. As I walked along I suddenly had a irresistible urge to skip. So I did.

Now before you laugh skipping has a rich history as a great exercise. It benefits your heart, your brain, and battles osteoporosis. (Granted most of the benefits of skipping talk about skipping rope and not just skipping but I digress.)

So last Sunday I occasionally skipped as I walked Kaya. Now I am not saying that people were surprised, but even Kaya, our blind dog, wondered what I was doing.

So I asked myself, "What am I doing?"

After considering this for a few moments I decided I was trying to combat negativity.

Let me explain. As I have reviewed some of my recent entries here I noticed a pattern. It seemed like I was starting to become a complainer, a whiner, a "negative Nellie" if you will.

Not that there isn't a lot to complain about. Our state legislature has been debating legislation that would require 3rd graders to be retained if they failed the state reading assessment. They were also debating a new school accountability system that would force 5% of the schools in the state to be failed - regardless of performance.

In the spring the legislature passed legislation that allowed any student in grades 5-12 to take two online courses a year - paid for by the local school district. No evidence was presented that this was a good idea but still it is state law. We have to publish the new online catalog starting January 2014.

Then last week the new PISA results were released. The United States education system took another pounding.

So overall the last couple of weeks have given me plenty of reasons to look at the world through dark lenses instead of rose colored lenses.

So Sunday I decided to fight back. Step one - skipping.

Happiness is a choice. No matter how bad the world gets I still have the choice. I can choose to be happy or not.

Sunday I decided that I wanted to be happy. Skipping seemed like a good way to start.

Happiness, for me, is a hot topic. What has been most appealing to me in these discussions about happiness is the idea that I can control my own happiness.

As an example, having a purpose in life tends to make your happier. The greater the sense of purpose, the happier we feel. The belief that I need to reserve my energy for me instead of reaching out to others will probably work to reduce my happiness. The thing that is most likely to help increase my happiness is reaching out.

So Sunday I decided, as I was skipping, that I would become more intentional about focusing on my purpose in life and less focused on the things that work against me.

And I'll skip occasionally.

The Apple Newton, Nehru Suits, and Online Learning

Not to sound like a curmudgeon but what is the fascination with the new?

Before this discussion begins I must confess that I drive a Saturn Ion, a car that is not even made any more. It is 9 years old and has 213,498 miles on it. So it may be possible that I am not the best person to be speaking about the concept of new.

However, to certify my "new" chops, so to speak, and to demonstrate that I am not necessarily anti-new, I am also the person who has owned an Apple Newton (the first PDA that had limited success), a Palm PDA, and a Palm Pilot phone. I am on my third iPhone.

I download books using the Kindle app on my iPad. I'm an Amazon Prime member.

Once upon time in the 1970's I tried to talk my parents into buying me a Nehru suit (James Bond had one - come on).



I got my hair permed once or twice.

So I am not necessarily anti-new.

Still, in the grand scheme of things, it seems that something new is typically valued and the "old," the "reliable," the "tired and true," or the "traditional" is not valued.

This seems to be especially true with public school. There has been a rush of late to suggest that the "traditional" public school is an anachronism - outdated, a relic, fit for another time and place.

What we need, we are told, is something new. Virtual schools are the new thing. Learn online.

The state of Michigan has been on this bandwagon for some time. In 2006 the then new Michigan Merit Curriculum required on online learning experience. While somewhat ground breaking at the time, it seems relatively tame today.

To be clear, I am not opposed to expectations that students can and should be expected to learn online. In fact, much of the learning that I do is done using online materials.

However, the state legislature pushed the requirement for online forward with section 21f of the FY2013 School Aid Act (see page 2 number 2 - Online learning). As a follow-up, on August 1, 2013, each school Superintendent in Michigan received a letter informing them that the state legislature in the State School Aid Act 2013 approved a provision that would allow "any pupil in grades 5 to 12 to enroll in up to two online courses during an academic term, semester, or trimester." Schools are required to publicize the online offerings beginning January 1, 2014.

Again, I am not opposed to new. I am just wondering why.

Opening this up creates a whole series of additional questions. Now that 25% of each teacher's evaluation is comprised of student data, what happens to the data for an online student? If a student takes a math class online, the student growth math data for that student should be assigned to the online company - but will it? The MEAP/MME test scores for a student who receives their content online should have to be eliminated from a school's or a teacher's evaluation - but will it?.

If a student wants to take an online class during the school day, who monitors that student? If  the student is assigned to the computer lab is the school required to staff the lab?

Will students in my district have an online experience? I believe that they will. But I believe it makes more sense to let the district and the school figure out how to implement it rather than mandating it from the state.

It seems to me that passing legislation like this is akin to mandating that everyone must wear a Nehru jacket.