A Policy to Promote Parental Involvement

In 2008 Presidential Candidate Barack Obama stated that parents have to step up. Parents have to turn off the television and make sure the home work is done. He challenged African American parents to value education for their children. He has done little to if anything to create policy that would move parents in this direction.

Below is a plan to do just what President Obama called for, create involved parents.
Individual College Account Plans (ICAs) will treat all families the same regardless of zip codes. It rewards those who achieve by helping pay for college. It treats all families equally, but those who most need funding for college benefit the most. ICAs return taxpayer money to taxpayers and benefit all of society.

Here is how ICAs work. When a child is born, $5000 is placed one time into an Individual College Account (ICA) in the child’s name. The ICA matures as a 401K or 403 B would. When the child enters first grade, assuming the child is reading ready, the parents receive $2000. If the child is not reading ready, the $2000 goes right to the district the child is enrolled in to help pay for the extra costs associated with enabling this child to be at grade level reading by grade 3.
The remaining money in the account continues to mature until the child enters college or technical training school. At that time, a percentage of the matured funds based on grades, behavior, and parental involvement, are sent to the college or trade school the child will be attending.

ICAs reward taxpayers. According to national statistics, a high school graduate earns $392,000 more than a non-high school graduate. Children who read at grade level are more likely than those who do not read at grade level to finish high school. Assuming a 40 year working career at a conservative 20% income tax rate, the high school graduate will pay more than $75,000 in taxes to the federal government than a non-high school graduate. The payback to society from this investment in our public well-being is huge.
The difference in earnings between a college graduate and a non-college graduate nationwide is approximately $1.1 million. Assuming the same conservative tax rate a college grad pays more than $135,000 in taxes over the course of a career than a non-college grad.

Clearly ICAs pay for themselves!
And with a high school drop rate in many cities approaching 50% and greater, the returns from the ICA program between a college graduate and a high school graduate are even greater. This is just looking at the numbers without counting the reduction in crime and the increase in family stability which strongly correlate to high quality early education.
This program is win win for all involved. At the beginning levels of education incentives are offered to improve the raw materials. Parents are rewarded for doing their job as parents, and college becomes more affordable as the matured amount of money available is likely to be between 10 and $15,000.
Schools will be serving their clients: families and students, the people for whom school exists. Families and children will be rewarded according to their own success. Employers will have a greater selection of qualified employees. Neighborhoods will benefit from reduced crime. The family unit will be cherished, encouraged, and promoted.
Recently, Kalamazoo Mi. introduced a program similar to ICAs. An anonymous donor made a contribution promising all students who qualify a free college education. What happened after just two years is so promising the Governor of Michigan is trying to spread the program statewide.

In two years enrollment in Kalamazoo Public Schools increased by 900 students. Property values rose by 7% and 10% increasing city revenues.

No doubt these were already interested, concerned, effective parents taking advantage of an opportunity. A similar program years back in an inner city school in Philadelphia known as the Belmont 112 did not produce similar results. The challenge in education is to create interested, effective parents. It takes more than money: It takes educating parents as to how to educate their

ICAs require no experimental or expensive charter schools. ICAs eliminate the controversy involved with unproven, indeterminable concepts such as merit pay for teachers.

While standardized tests can be part of determining the percentage of the ICA sent to the college or trade school of the child’s choice, grades, behavior, and effort can be taken into account to obtain a more accurate and complete picture of the child. The ICA is all carrot and no stick. It eliminates the fraud so prevalent in Charter Schools, Voucher Programs, Merit Pay for Teachers, and with Educational Management Organizations.

We can create parental involvement with policies that demonstrate government can be effective in solving complex problems. Individual College Accounts nurture families, something politicians of both parties can stand behind. Let’s hope it gets done.

 

Washington DC Merit Pay, the Shape of Things to Come?

I can’t help but holler hooray for DC special-education teacher Tiffany Johnson, whose annual pay jumped from $63,000 to $87,000 because she was found to be a “highly effective” teacher.

Districts around the nation have been trying variations on merit pay, according to a recent NY Times article.

The article points out that teachers are evaluated mostly on improved test scores, although visits to the classroom bolster the highly-effective rating.

This brings up the unheard voice of the electives teachers–like me! I’m a wonderful art teacher. My principal knows it, and some folks in my district know it, and it’s “proven” because my junior-high students’ art is chosen for state-wide exhibits and wins other competitions.

But there are no test scores in art class. I welcome any and all visitors, but only my principal ever comes around, and I always enjoy his feedback and participation, but I doubt that his kind encouragement will determine that I am a highly-effective teacher.

I love it when my administrators acknowledge that I’m a splendid art teacher. I’d love it even more in the shape of merit pay.

Merit Pay. Is it worth it?

The question of merit pay and whether or not it has a role in today’s teacher contracts is constantly being brought up in the news and in educational policy. 

Lawmakers and school districts seem to think that offering teachers a monetary incentive for their students to do well in the classroom and on standardized tests is the ticket to turning around failing schools.

I see a number of problems with this theory:

1. The theory is that students will be successful if they have a motivated teacher who is willing to do anything (like accept bribe money, er. . . merit pay) to make his/her students learn. Last I checked, I am motivated and I am willing to do anything to get my kids to learn. Am I getting extra money for doing the job I was hired to do? Absolutely not. (Sure, I won’t turn down more money.) Teachers are hired for the job because they are motivated individuals who are willing to do whatever it takes to get their kids to learn. Merit pay or not. That’s the calling of the profession.

2. Getting kids to do well on standardized tests is so much more than making sure the kids know the content. If the students come to school without a good breakfast or with too little sleep, then it is likely that they will do poorly on that test that determines the merit pay given to a teacher. Is that really fair?

3. Students in inner-city areas come to the classroom with a whole host of problems that teachers are constantly addressing. Poverty, single-parent households, lack of childcare options forcing older siblings to take care of younger siblings, no parental support for homework and studying, etc. Inner-city students struggle to stay alert and focused in the classroom. Is it fair to reward teachers who students do well on standardized tests because they get 3 square meals a day, parental support, and basic necessities provided while our inner-city kids struggle to receive all of those things?

4. We assume teachers are the only factor in testing. If students do well on a standardized test, shouldn’t some of that reward be bestowed on the student. Didn’t the student study hard, pay attention in class, put in good effort on the test, use her critical thinking skills, etc.? Why is only the teacher we are choosing to reward with merit pay? 

5. What about the fact that we shouldn’t be rewarded for what we are supposed to be doing. We are supposed to educate students to be successful. Why should we  get a reward for that. We bemoan the fact that today’s youth get rewarded for every little thing they do and the things they are expected to do, at that! Merit pay is going to turn into the “giving every kid a trophy at the end of the soccer season ritual.” Is that what we want?

 

I think the key to remember here is that we are called to be educators. We are called to guide our students through a successful educational experience. That is the calling of the profession and we should not be willing to give anything less than our best to help students achieve.

Merit Pay is Based on Whose Performance?

Education news is filled today with the uninformed calling for merit pay. A blogger here in Philly writes in what other profession is performance not a facet of pay?

I answer this way. In what other vocation is a person’s pay based on someone else’s performance? Let me explain. I had breakfast today with friends of mine, their son and his fiancée. She graduated from one Philly’s best high schools and was accepted at both Drexel and Temple; two prestigious universities.

She explained that when taking the PSSA she just became tired and bored with it and just began filling in the circles. Now this is a good student and my pay is based on her performance! I don’t think so.

“No Snitchin”

Classroom management in my opinion is the key to effective teaching. Some classes require more of it than others. It is this phenomenon that makes merit pay a fictional fantasy foolishly forwarded.

I have two 8^th grade classes back to back. In one class we generally complete our work and have great conversations. In another I have to be short in my introduction and constantly on the prowl. Interestingly the difficult class is ½ the size of the better class.

The difficult class has great students. The two highest GPAs are in that class, but they are quiet. Serious disruptions can occur and my standards for behavior are frequently probed. Recently a male student arrived late for class and someone was sitting in his usual place. He told her to move and she resisted. He replied “I ought to put a _ _ _ _ in your _ _ _.

Of course I wrote him up, but the girl didn’t want to see him get in trouble. “No Snitchin.”

Without confirming the incident to the principal no action could be taken. The principal then came down on me.

My other students advised me I should write up incidents only when students complain. After all, the girls who are good students, who demonstrate self respect, are generally not abused in this way. And boys, if they can’t fight back what good are they. For the one or two openly gay youth at this age who suffer tremendous abuse, should our educational time be wasted in feeble efforts to protect them?

I guess when only standardized tests matter and social expectations have no place in a school the students are probably right.

The next day, while teaching about the constitution as prescribed, I worked in a lesson as to how when one violates individual rights, the case is not about the perpetrator, it’s about you and your rights. In both classes, everyone but one person seemed to get it.

The Future of Public Education is up to us, and Them

Science tells us for every action there is an opposite and equal reaction. I believe the same law applies to History. In recent years we have seen an increase overseas in radical Islam, met with an increase here in Christian fundamentalism. In 2000 President Bush took office with a record surplus, now we have a record deficit.

After having seen record spending by Pennsylvania’s Governor Rendell on education, a new governor has been elected pledging to cut education spending.  After much national attention to education by President Obama and  his “Race to the Top” Agenda for improving academic achievement, the nation has elected many Tea Party candidates who wish to dissolve the Department of Education. Perhaps opposites bring themselves about.

If so, then Pennsylvania’s Governor Elect Corbett’s call for Vouchers will be met with loud choruses of discontent. We all know the squeaky wheel gets the grease. I believe those in the education field will unite to promote policies which make sense, and vouchers do not make any sense at all. To unite and create that squeaky wheel administrators must:

1.      Park their egos before entering a building dedicated to promote children’s well being.

2.       Abandon the craze of testing which teaches to the lowest common denominator and interrupts the educational process

3.      End the call for merit pay which we know doesn’t work

4.      Engage in practices where teachers can serve the needs of children and not primarily the needs of administrators.

5.      Stop blaming the teacher for a seemingly inadequate human resources office which seems unable to hire and keep quality teachers. If we’re no good, how is it you persistently unable to find better ones, yet you claim to know what you’re doing.

To be squeaky we must be united. The policies delineated above are the prerequisites which must be in place to create a unified squeaky wheel. Teachers and administrators need each other. It took this upcoming crisis for all to recognize that need and truly create a synergy which can move public education forward.

Listen to Your Teachers

Last week an article appeared in the Washington Post authored by several large city superintendents including Michelle Rhee, Paul Vallas, and Arlene Ackerman. In reading comments from readers in regards to this article, not one individual agreed with the ideas for improving education listed by the superintendents.

Why should they? Research shows they don’t work.

They called for merit pay despite the fact research shows merit pay for teachers has no effect on student performance. It hasn’t worked in Chicago and history shows it won’t work period.

The second item on the agenda of those who get paid absurd amounts of money, is to find someone else to do the job they can’t. Now they favor portfolio management, a concept identical to the diverse provider model which in Philadelphia showed no promise for school improvement.

Educational Policy today reminds me of my childhood, specifically when I dove off the high board for the first time. It took a lot of guts, and in the end, I was just as wet as I was when I went off the lower board. Only thing different was the splash.
The Diverse Provider Model in Philadelphia made a big splash. In the end the concept was proved all wet.
Merit pay has made a big splash, but as Vanderbilt University recently demonstrated, it’s all wet.
When this nation begins to listen to its teachers, then we’ll find our way out of the deep water, and we’ll save lots of money by not hiring a multitude of people to the job the pretenders have failed in.

Americans need to follow the advice of their parents: Listen to your teachers.

Merit Pay Debunked!

No spin: merit pay doesn’t work.

A five-year study in Tennesse (with BIG incentives, up to $15,000 per teacher per year!) shows that merit pay doesn’t bring up test scores.

According to the study, ”The Project on Incentives in Teaching, called the POINT Experiment, took place over the 2007 – 2009 school years with participation by mathematics teachers in grades 5 through 8 in Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools. Nearly 300 teachers, approximately 70 percent of all middle-school math teachers in Nashville’s public schools, volunteered to participate. The complete study, including setup and analysis, began in 2005 and ended in 2010.

“POINT tested no other types of incentives or systems of support for the teachers, such as professional development or guidance on instructional practices – many of which have evolved over the five years since POINT began.”

So topples one of the great pillars of the badly-conceived Race to the Top.

There is one great positive to be learned from this study: teachers are generally well-intentioned, hard-working folks who would do a great job whether given incentives or not.

There is also one problem pointed up by this study: No Child Left Behind is so structured that as we get closer to 2012, where theoretically all students will score 100% (teachers will have to stop reading here so they can control their hysterical laughter), it becomes harder and harder to achieve AYP. This is because there will always  students who don’t pass the test, no matter what pedagogical calisthenics we engage in.

We only wish that Congress would remove No Child Left Behind. Then our well-trained, well-intentioned teachers can get back to their excellent instruction instead of being forced, compelled, coerced, and bribed (all to no avail) to teach to the test.

Go Ahead: Make me a politician

We, the People…

Deserve a government that responds to our needs.  We deserve a government that cares about the issues facing our neighborhoods – facing our children – facing our future.  We deserve a government that knows its job is serving the people.  And how do we get the government we deserve?  We get it by electing people who also know what should be done to make our lives and the lives of our children better.  We need a government made up of competent and dedicated professionals; people that know how to fix problems, not just point them out and use them to make others look bad.

The challenges facing our schools…

Are real.  They did not just appear, but developed over time; despite the efforts of innovative teachers and dedicated professionals.  These problems – the enduring and worsening gap in classroom achievement between urban and suburban students and between students from different economic classes; government mandates that squelch creativity and innovation in the classroom; an education system that coldly equates students with numbers and education with test scores – continue to get worse, despite the efforts of our elected politicians.  Why?  Because politicians are in the politics business.  They do not understand how to solve these very real challenges.

It’s time to take back our government…

From the career politicians.  Our schools are our most important means to shape our society’s future.  Our schools should provide safe, creative, dynamic learning environments that challenge our young people to think and to grow, and to understand their world.  We need to stop relying on the career politicians to fix these problems and turn instead to the career educators.  We need someone who has been successful in the classroom to reform our education policies.  We need someone who has been on the front lines of education to bring a sense of realism and a real urgency to this debate.  We need Keith Newman.

Keith Newman knows our schools.

As an award-winning educator, Keith has real experience with what works and what doesn’t work in the classroom.  He has real experience with proven educational strategies like innovative learning communities, creative assessment tools, and “whole student” approaches to education.  Keith has been forced to accept the unfunded and underfunded mandates imposed on our education system by career politicians whose goal is only re-election.  Our schools don’t need any more politicians trying to help; instead, we need competent and dedicated professionals who know what needs to be done.  Our schools need Keith Newman.

We need your help…

Keith is running for the vacant seat representing the 194^th District in Pennsylvania.  He needs your help to win this seat and to bring to the government the perspective of the teacher.  It’s time we stopped hoping that career politicians will somehow figure out how to fix our schools.  It’s time we elected a teacher leader who knows the problems, has dealt with the problems, and who has practical and proven ideas of how to fix the problems.  We ask for your support in electing Keith Newman representative of the 194^th District. Please visit his website at http://www.electkeithnewman.com and consider making a small donation so we can educate our politicians and our children.

Teachers are the Key

Here is a pretty shocking statistic.

More than 40% of teachers today are disheartened and disappointed in their jobs according to a study just released by Learning Points Associates.   It is hard to be an inspirational caring teacher if you don’t want to be there.

The study showed that seven in 10 teachers cited testing as major drawback and 61 percent also  cited lack of support from administrators and nearly 75% cited “discipline and behavior issues” in the classroom.

This is a very challenging situation for policy makers because the solution to the education crisis in our country is the teacher.  Last week Michelle Obama wrote an article in US News and World Report that was titled “Teachers are Key to a Successful Economy.” I couldn’t agree more.

The Gates Foundation also came to the same conclusion after spending years focusing on small schools.   They are now focusing on teacher effectiveness.

As a long time teacher at Palo Alto High and someone who has seen multiple education fads come and go, I think thought leaders have finally come to the right focus —  the teacher is the key.  No matter what books are provided, no matter what curriculum is required …  the key is how the teacher feels about what she is teaching and how she treats her students.

I am sure everyone can remember a teacher they liked, but they can also remember a teacher they disliked because the teacher seemed to dislike students. Students know when a teacher doesn’t want to be there; they know it just by being in the classroom.  It’s not fun. At one point these teachers probably liked students and teaching, but they now somehow feel trapped in a job that no longer provides the same pleasures it once did. These teachers actually don’t dislike students; they dislike what they are required to do– teach to a test, like NCLB tests, year after year and work with ineffective administrators.

Over the past eight years teachers nationwide have been teaching to the NCLB test which is why many of them are disheartened and burned out.

No matter what the administration dictates, when a teacher closes the door and is the classroom alone with the students, he/she is in charge.   If the teacher is well-trained, then the students will learn more.  If the teacher is happy to be there, then the students will be more content in the classroom.   The teacher sets the tone; the teacher provides the activities; the teacher plans the day. Happy students work harder.  Happy teachers teach better.

It sounds like an old adage, but what we need to do as a nation is to support teachers in the classroom and modify the NCLB Act which is now up for Congressional renewal.  Supporting teachers is key to our success as a nation. Support means supporting increases in teachers salaries, respecting  the role of teachers in society, donating money to school foundations, volunteering to work in the classroom, and modifying the NCLB Act to so tha teachers are not motivated to teach to the test.