I wanted to start off tonight with a few quotes by people I greatly admire. I found them in a blog I read forwarded to me by a friend. Charles Spurgeon was a great thinker as well a great theologian of yesteryear, however much of what he says applies today. "The lesson of wisdom is, be not dismayed by soul trouble." What is soul trouble? Without waxing philosophical I'll say it's the emotional state we find ourselves in when we face various problems, situations and / or dynamics we can't fix or alter.
Public School, free and equal across the board to all, will not be fixed by the government, a person, many people or entities. It will be addressed by you the consumer. The parent, the tax payer who pays for the schools that don't do their job. The problem is how do you measure "doing their job"especially if the school has achieved "Recongized" or "Exemplary" status? It's easy to see the schools that are falling on their face. It's not hard to walk through a school and see that kids don't have books or that the kids, not the teachers are running the show. The harder part is finding the failure within what is suppose to be beyond reproach.
Last night I talked about the gulf that separtes those WITH opportunity and those WITHOUT opportunity. If you have a moment, google YES charter school Houston. Read through the website and jot down a few thoughts. Pretty compelling evidence. This started with parents and a teacher willing to do something to make it so the kids had a chance. They travel around the country looking at colleges, have computers and do community service. Yes, I know they get grants and are an attractive place to shower gifts on but the bottom line is the consumers got fed up with the deliverable. It became unacceptable to be unacceptable. Good for them. Now, let's talk about my state Texas and the city I taught in Richardson. Actually, my school is in Dallas but falls in the Richardson ISD school zone. My school reached "Exemplary" status last year. IF a school is Exemplary you should be able to find what within those walls?
1. Children reading on or above grade level in each grade.
2. Children doing math at or above grade level in each grade.
3. Challenging curriculum because most if not all students should be on or above grade level meaning
the school has the option of offering more enrichment and less remediation.
4. Excellent teachers. The cream of the crop, the innovators, the creative types that come up with
crazy plans. I have a friend whose name starts with A. She teaches at my former school. She's the
best. Innovative as hell, fun, caring and driven. She accepts nothing but the best from her kids.
5. A lot of community support from various places.
6. Large or big PTA / parent volunteer corps.
7. Variety of field trips made possible through creative grants.
I can go on but you get the picture. The truth is that only #4 is true. A is the best of the best teachers around. NONE of the others are true. NONE. That means this school must start again with remediation for the kids that fell below grade level over the summer and didn't make grade level cut off on their reading evaluation. No enrichment for lots of kids. What does a teacher do if half her/his class is on grade level and the other below and therefore requires remediation? That's disaster in the making, unless you are my friend C. who is the master organizer. She left the classroom after last year to do something else within the district. Too bad for the kids coming up. They missed out on an outstanding teacher, but good for the kids she's helping now.
I mentioned A New Vision: Making a Mark and setting a course. I have begun a program housed in one of the apartment complexes surounding my former school called Out of The Box Opportunities
It will provide after school tutoring / homework help / enrichment such as history, geography, research and hopefully field trips. It will also provide parents ESL every day of the week so that they can learn English and participate more fully in our society or advocate for their child. Across the club house is an empty shell of a former preschool. We are cleaning it up, painting it and turning it into a preschool where 3 year olds can come for 1/2 a day and parents can participate and learn parenting and education skills. So far it's just a vision, a dream in my mind. However, with a little help from some friends, we can pull this off. So, it looks like I've found my new job. Heading up this little project. I tutored for the first time yesterday and had two kids. It felt great!! Hopefully when I come tomorrow afternoon, I'll have more. The numbers don't matter. The kids do.
If you want to check out some interesting HBO documentaries try these two: I am Promise: The Children of Stanton Elementary made in the 1990's as an assessment of the No Child Left Behind Law and Hard Times at Douglas High. Both are excellent and chronicle the plight of Urban schools.
I'm off to bed tonight a little earlier than the night before. Still hoping to hear from someone who is reading.
Good Night and Make YOUR mark tomorrow!
Hugs,
Adrienne
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
School Climate, does it make a difference?
Wow, I can't believe I haven't written in FOUR days, but being unemployed makes you a very busy lady. I decided to put in my substitute application at various private Dallas schools just to see the difference between public and private. It has been years since I taught in a private school and things change, so I figured, why not. I decided the best way to do this was to go in person, dressed professionally. I went to the first school, which I fell in love with by the way and had to walk around a bit to find the office of the Upper School Dean. In my little "walk about" I entered the cafeteria area where there were students and teachers discussing school or life or both. The atmosphere was calm, confident and secure. The school itself is known for high academic standards and getting accepted is no walk in the park, yet these kids were smiling, relaxed and happy. The teachers that I saw interacting with the kids all seemed to genuinely care about the student they were engaged with and it was so refreshing to see children calmly going about their day. No chaos, no screaming children, no children in the hallway calling mom or dad to tell them why they got into trouble. I am not going to go out on a limb and say this is a perfect campus but the other two schools I visited gave me the very same feeling. Warmth, support and a lot of caring going on in those buildings. Our public schools have dedicated and caring teachers as well. They do a wonderful job of making sure their kids feel supported and cared for, at least that was my experience over the last eight years. The problem begins at home. The gulf between the haves and the have nots is huge. Nancy had to get up at 5:30 after going to bed past midnight because there was too much noise in the apartment her family shares with 8 other people. His mom has to be at work early so she must drop her off at 6:15 in front of the school in order to get to work on time and keep her job. Nancy is in 3rd grade and the school doors won't open until 7:30. Until then she waits outside with the other kids whose parents have to go to work early as well. Naturally, there is no teacher out there at that time so the kids are pretty much alone until the school doors open. That's a long time to wait outside in the cold, the rain or the heat. Now, she and the others must go to school, pay attention and do their work all the while probably trying to stay awake.
For some kids this doesn't present a problem. They can function or have learned to function on very little sleep. For others, it can ruin their day and everyone else's day in their class. So what Nancy has to face every day BEFORE she even goes to school is huge. Let's compare Nancy's morning with Peter's morning. Peter's mother wakes him up at 7 a.m. so that he can get ready for school, have time for a good breakfast and be ready for the carpool when it comes at 7:45. He's lucky to be the last stop for the carpool mom because he lives the closest to his private school. Once he arrives, he's greated by door openers that smile and great him by name. He jumps out, sees his friends and in a minute is whisked into school with all the other children. Laughter and giggles can be heard as they settle in for a day of learning. Most of these kids were in bed by 8:30 or 9:00 so they are well rested. No one had to wait an hour and fifteen minutes alone outside in the dark.
What's my point? My point is that kids from vastly different backgrounds are starting off the day either one step ahead or one step backwards. Even in the "upper middle class" public schools you would never see children dropped off an hour or more in front of school with no supervision. Most of the kids attending these schools get to bed early, eat a good breakfast and are looking forward to the day. So what about school climate or ambiance? It really does make a difference when you walk into a school and are greeted by name. Kids can tell when you are there because you want to be and that you are welcome to go to class, not shuffled into the gym to wait for your teacher. It feels different when you don't hear screaming children being carried to the office by two staff members because they are out of control. Kids have a hard time focusing when a child is rolling around on the floor singing la, la, la to himself while the teacher tries to teach. That is called a MAJOR DISTRACTION. There are laws and rules that exist to try and prevent that from happening but in too many cases either the office is too full of students that have misbehaved or the administration can't really take any concrete steps to make the child and his/her parents feel the natural consequences of his/her behavior due to restrictions place on them from higher up. How DO you learn in an environment of chaos? I couldn't, could you?
It's a sad day when I can look around and see different color faces in schools all across this great nation and know that no child will be segregated by color anymore. It's also a sad day when I look around my little corner of the world and realize that although children are no longer segregated by color, they are by economic status. You tell me, is there a difference? School climate matters. It most certainly makes Peter's day completely different than Nancy's. How can we change that? How can we make it better for the Nancys of this world? As teachers and administrators and school districts, we have to meet the kids where they are. If that means teachers taking turns to come early and provide enrichment or early breakfast for kids who didn't ask to be dropped off early, then let's do it. Go the extra mile and sacrifice a bit more for kids who need you. Doing things the same old way time and time again is not working. We must make a change to see growth and development in those who need it the most.
Wish me luck, I'm dropping off more resumes and substitute applications today. I'll let you know how it goes. Today I start my free tutoring/ homework help at the apartments next to my old school. I wonder how many kids will show up? I miss the hugs and smiles of my students. Can't wait to report back.
Hugs,
Adrienne
For some kids this doesn't present a problem. They can function or have learned to function on very little sleep. For others, it can ruin their day and everyone else's day in their class. So what Nancy has to face every day BEFORE she even goes to school is huge. Let's compare Nancy's morning with Peter's morning. Peter's mother wakes him up at 7 a.m. so that he can get ready for school, have time for a good breakfast and be ready for the carpool when it comes at 7:45. He's lucky to be the last stop for the carpool mom because he lives the closest to his private school. Once he arrives, he's greated by door openers that smile and great him by name. He jumps out, sees his friends and in a minute is whisked into school with all the other children. Laughter and giggles can be heard as they settle in for a day of learning. Most of these kids were in bed by 8:30 or 9:00 so they are well rested. No one had to wait an hour and fifteen minutes alone outside in the dark.
What's my point? My point is that kids from vastly different backgrounds are starting off the day either one step ahead or one step backwards. Even in the "upper middle class" public schools you would never see children dropped off an hour or more in front of school with no supervision. Most of the kids attending these schools get to bed early, eat a good breakfast and are looking forward to the day. So what about school climate or ambiance? It really does make a difference when you walk into a school and are greeted by name. Kids can tell when you are there because you want to be and that you are welcome to go to class, not shuffled into the gym to wait for your teacher. It feels different when you don't hear screaming children being carried to the office by two staff members because they are out of control. Kids have a hard time focusing when a child is rolling around on the floor singing la, la, la to himself while the teacher tries to teach. That is called a MAJOR DISTRACTION. There are laws and rules that exist to try and prevent that from happening but in too many cases either the office is too full of students that have misbehaved or the administration can't really take any concrete steps to make the child and his/her parents feel the natural consequences of his/her behavior due to restrictions place on them from higher up. How DO you learn in an environment of chaos? I couldn't, could you?
It's a sad day when I can look around and see different color faces in schools all across this great nation and know that no child will be segregated by color anymore. It's also a sad day when I look around my little corner of the world and realize that although children are no longer segregated by color, they are by economic status. You tell me, is there a difference? School climate matters. It most certainly makes Peter's day completely different than Nancy's. How can we change that? How can we make it better for the Nancys of this world? As teachers and administrators and school districts, we have to meet the kids where they are. If that means teachers taking turns to come early and provide enrichment or early breakfast for kids who didn't ask to be dropped off early, then let's do it. Go the extra mile and sacrifice a bit more for kids who need you. Doing things the same old way time and time again is not working. We must make a change to see growth and development in those who need it the most.
Wish me luck, I'm dropping off more resumes and substitute applications today. I'll let you know how it goes. Today I start my free tutoring/ homework help at the apartments next to my old school. I wonder how many kids will show up? I miss the hugs and smiles of my students. Can't wait to report back.
Hugs,
Adrienne
Saturday, October 3, 2009
News for those who live in Texas from Chm. Eissler
Just some food for thought. I got this from the Texas State Legislature home page.
Current projections indicate that Texas will have lower levels of educational attainment by 2040 than we do today. The fastest growing group is those without a high school diploma. (Texas State Data Center and Office of the State Demographer)
Texas ranks 36th out of 50 states for the percent of population age 25 to 64 with a bachelor's degree, 47th out of 50 states for associate's degrees, and 50th for high school diplomas. (Report of the Select Commission on Higher Education and Global Competitiveness, p. 11•
Out of 100 Texas ninth graders, fewer than 14 graduate from high school on time and complete an associate's degree within three years or a bachelor's degree within six years. (Report of the Select Commission on Higher Education and Global Competitiveness, p. 16)
From the Texas high school graduating class of 2007, 10% of distinguished program graduates and 33% of recommended program graduates were not college-ready in at least one subject area. (Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, 2009)
Nationally, employers estimate that 45% of recent high school graduates are not adequately prepared for the skills and abilities they need to advance beyond entry level. (Achieve's Rising to the Challenge: Are High School Graduates Prepared for College and Work?, p. 4)
85% of newly created U.S. jobs will require education beyond high school. (The Jobs Revolution: Changing How America Works)
College Readiness Opportunities
• 90 percent of white Texas high school graduates attended high schools where more than ten percent of white students were college ready. (Presentation by Michael Marder Associate Dean for Science and Mathematics Education, UT Austin)
• In contrast, 86 percent of African American and Hispanic Texas students graduate from high schools where fewer than ten percent of the African American or Hispanic students are college ready. (Presentation by Michael Marder Associate Dean for Science and Mathematics Education, UT Austin)
Anyone wish to comment?
Current projections indicate that Texas will have lower levels of educational attainment by 2040 than we do today. The fastest growing group is those without a high school diploma. (Texas State Data Center and Office of the State Demographer)
Texas ranks 36th out of 50 states for the percent of population age 25 to 64 with a bachelor's degree, 47th out of 50 states for associate's degrees, and 50th for high school diplomas. (Report of the Select Commission on Higher Education and Global Competitiveness, p. 11•
Out of 100 Texas ninth graders, fewer than 14 graduate from high school on time and complete an associate's degree within three years or a bachelor's degree within six years. (Report of the Select Commission on Higher Education and Global Competitiveness, p. 16)
From the Texas high school graduating class of 2007, 10% of distinguished program graduates and 33% of recommended program graduates were not college-ready in at least one subject area. (Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, 2009)
Nationally, employers estimate that 45% of recent high school graduates are not adequately prepared for the skills and abilities they need to advance beyond entry level. (Achieve's Rising to the Challenge: Are High School Graduates Prepared for College and Work?, p. 4)
85% of newly created U.S. jobs will require education beyond high school. (The Jobs Revolution: Changing How America Works)
College Readiness Opportunities
• 90 percent of white Texas high school graduates attended high schools where more than ten percent of white students were college ready. (Presentation by Michael Marder Associate Dean for Science and Mathematics Education, UT Austin)
• In contrast, 86 percent of African American and Hispanic Texas students graduate from high schools where fewer than ten percent of the African American or Hispanic students are college ready. (Presentation by Michael Marder Associate Dean for Science and Mathematics Education, UT Austin)
Anyone wish to comment?
Parental support, the missing KEY ingredient to success
I spent much of last night searching various periodicals, reading bills passed by the Texas Legislature on Education and watching youtube videos on Education. I did this all to prepare for my blog about parental involvement. I came up with the following:
1. The State seems to understand that parents need to be educated in the need for their child to graduate, but not to the extent that if they don't graduate they really don't have much of a chance at living at or above the poverty line. I read HB 3 passed by a Rep. Eisseler, a Republican from the Woodlands and some other folks, that kids need to graduate, we need them out of our schools and schools need to get better at helping them graduate. Provisions for this help included being able to use stimulus money for extra tutoring, parenting classes etc. At least there is an awareness that kids ARE dropping out at alarming rates and nobody seems to know how to stop it. Naturally, districts now have to report how they are going to stem the tide and that becomes another part of their "accountability" or money received from the state for complience. Sounds very Soviet Russian to me brrrrrrr.
2. No one in any report besides one I read that specifically targeted ELL's (English Language Learners), and was written by people that are truly experts, such as Stephen Crashen, mention anything about how to keep non-anglo's in school, help with parental education and help teachers with this dilemma. Nothing I read from any school district in Texas or from the State mentioned the ethnicity of the dropouts the legislators wrote the bill to try and help. I wonder why? Is it a secret? Must be. I've written to Rep. Eissler and will post his response or the response I get from his office here.
3. School Districts are trying the best they can to march as fast as they can to the beat of the legislature's drum. That being said and in fairness to School Districts, I must add that not too many on the Texas Education Committee are full time or were full time educators in oh, the last 10 years. Some never taught a class in their lives, but see fit to tell your school district how to go about educating your kids. SCARRRRYYYYYY. There is a provision in HB 3 that says that if a 3,4,5, 6,7,8 grade student fails to meet the criteria set out by the District benchmarks or assessments, the district must come up with a plan for EVERY child that fails to meet the standards laid out in each Campus Improvement Plan for each subject area. Do you realize the man power it will take to actually comply with that ONE request? Let's say 30 kids in a school of 466 don't make the cut on one of the assessments. That means that each ONE of those 30 kids will have to have an individualized plan based again on that school's campus improvement plan that will "assure" the district and the State of his/her ability to pass the next assessment. I asked about that in my email as well. Man, if the Administrators and teachers were busy before, just think of the stack of stuff they have to take home, fill out, turn in and pray is filled out and filed correctly and on time
.
SO, this brings me to parents. I can't say anything about parents without talking about personal responsibility. That means you take care of you and if you make a mistake you fix it, make it right and don't do it again. You have a baby YOU take care of it, not the state, not your grandma, not your uncle. YOU. Yikes, harsh but if we don't have natural consequences for behaviors good AND bad we will continue to have what we have. LOW STANDARDS for conduct, literature etc.
I must mention Ruby Payne at this juncture. She is a formidable authority on poverty. Wrote an excellent, excellent book I recommend everyone read just to UNDERSTAND poverty and how people living in it think. It's title is : A Framework for Understanding Poverty. In it she outlines the basic structure of people in poverty. Since I taught in a high poverty, low income, mostly free or reduced lunch school I will discuss Parental involvement from that point of view then come around to the more affluent schools.
Schools in poor neighborhoods get overlooked by everyone but the police. You drive by as fast as you can and you don't linger. You listen to the crime reports and if you live there you leave...fast. Robberies, murders, assaults are all part of the daily grind. Most of the parents whose children I had the pleasure of teaching where from Mexico or other parts of Central America. Most parents never finished the 3rd grade in Mexico and some can't even read in Spanish. Their experience in the Mexican school system, which averages 50-60 kids in a class, was not very good for the most part, so because they either couldn't afford to buy the supplies, uniforms and /or books to go to school or just needed to work, they dropped out in 3rd grade. Some never even went at ALL, to school that is. These people came here looking for a better life. I'm not touching the subject of should they or shouldn't they be here. Other blogs deal with that, I'm just focused on their kids who for the most part were born right here in the U.S.A., thus making them U.S. citizens. As a citizen you really need to know how to read, write do math and contribute to the GNP so that we can continue to expand our economy and do all the things the economists talk about in their very important meetings with our President. FACT #1: These parents are just getting by economically. They live in the shadows, operate everyday in fear of Immigration Services, and hope they don't get killed going to their home after work. FACT #2: They don't speak English or read it and the truth is they can't hardly read Spanish so how can they learn English with nothing to transfer from? (That's the reading teacher in me talking.) In order to be able to learn a language, any language you first have to know how to speak, read and write your own native tongue. Naturally, there are ways around it, but they are long and difficult to overcome. FACT #3: Education in their families may just not be important. Having a job and paying the bills may be MORE important so parents indirectly make their children feel like getting a job is about helping the family. The more you work the more you earn.... education didn't get them anywhere, what will a college degree do for their kid? After all he/she can start earning money NOW. Naturally, this is NOT the case in every family. This is a generalization based on MY experiences. So, even though parents SAY they care about their kid staying in school the truth is that after 6th grade, they can't or won't do much to encourage them. THAT IS NOT ALL PARENTS. Naturally, there a wonderful parents that would walk through glaciers barefoot to make sure their child is well educated and we should offer them and others the assistance to be able to help their child with school and school work.
FACT #4: Parents often cannot communicate with their child's teacher. In many buildings, because we do have wonderful people that operate as translators, they do at least feel like they have a voice. However, parents aren't often sure that what they say is being correctly conveyed to the teacher or vice versa. Hence, an element of mistrust develops in pre-k and continues to grow a little by little, both between parent and teacher and teacher and parent.
If you have all these FOUR obstacles in your way, how are you going to reach the parents? Some suggest offering ESL classes at night. GREAT, but how many parents can realistically come? Some suggest not allowing kids in school that don't speak English. Wow, I can't believe we have people in this country from the stone age, but we do. The real truth is NO ONE has an answer because the variables keep changing. Most of my former kids will be in 5-6 schools before they get to Junior High, if not more. To keep parents involved means students and parents need to stay in the school, the area or the neighborhood for AT LEAST SIX YEARS. If they don't, you just have a revolving door of kids and parents all needing to be retrained. Parents on the poverty line are afraid of or angry at their child's school. Scared because they don't understand the language and don't understand what is or isn't going on in their child's school and angry because the school did something to make their son/daughter behave badly.
How many of the high risk, Title 1 , low income schools have a very active PTA? VERY FEW, if ANY. My former school had the beginning of one because of a highly dedicated teacher who saw the need, but even she couldn't get the teachers to join. That's right they wouldn't put up $5 to join the PTA, much less serve on the committee to lead it. So, if teachers aren't involved and parents aren't involved you don't have a PTA. Am I right?
What's the answer? I DO NOT KNOW. I have tried educating parents, sending "kits" home, calling, meeting and even showing parents how they can help. In the end, in my humble opinion they are too tired, too stressed and just too confused by what the child brings home in English, the language they can't read to help them or encourage them. Homework clubs don't spring up by themselves, kids can't go next door for help. Daddy doesn't always know the answer or Mommy because maybe they don't live with their parents. It's a HUGE problem. Way bigger than little 'ole me. I AM going to do something about it though. I'm starting a homework club so kids can come and get help, parents can seek and receive answers and maybe just maybe I'll make a dent. It's going to be called Out of The Box Tutoring. Anyone can be a regular box, but something out of the box, now you're talking someone really special. Let's see what happens. I don't know if anyone reads this or not, but I'm still going to write because it makes me feel like I'm helping others understand the stakes we are up against.
Now, the affluent schools. None of the above apply. Most parents join the PTA and show up for meetings. Lots of volunteers for events. Lots of events due to the high involvement of parents. Some schools have many stay-at-home moms, some don't but they seem to still have an active PTA. Teachers notice the parental involvement in the students grades and behavior and life is good. To quote a former collegue who left my former district for another one: Adrienne, this has been the best six weeks I have ever had." He left my former high risk school for an affluent school in the suburbs. He wanted to see what the difference was and now he knows. Parental involvement.
Good night and I hope you'll comment.
Adrienne
1. The State seems to understand that parents need to be educated in the need for their child to graduate, but not to the extent that if they don't graduate they really don't have much of a chance at living at or above the poverty line. I read HB 3 passed by a Rep. Eisseler, a Republican from the Woodlands and some other folks, that kids need to graduate, we need them out of our schools and schools need to get better at helping them graduate. Provisions for this help included being able to use stimulus money for extra tutoring, parenting classes etc. At least there is an awareness that kids ARE dropping out at alarming rates and nobody seems to know how to stop it. Naturally, districts now have to report how they are going to stem the tide and that becomes another part of their "accountability" or money received from the state for complience. Sounds very Soviet Russian to me brrrrrrr.
2. No one in any report besides one I read that specifically targeted ELL's (English Language Learners), and was written by people that are truly experts, such as Stephen Crashen, mention anything about how to keep non-anglo's in school, help with parental education and help teachers with this dilemma. Nothing I read from any school district in Texas or from the State mentioned the ethnicity of the dropouts the legislators wrote the bill to try and help. I wonder why? Is it a secret? Must be. I've written to Rep. Eissler and will post his response or the response I get from his office here.
3. School Districts are trying the best they can to march as fast as they can to the beat of the legislature's drum. That being said and in fairness to School Districts, I must add that not too many on the Texas Education Committee are full time or were full time educators in oh, the last 10 years. Some never taught a class in their lives, but see fit to tell your school district how to go about educating your kids. SCARRRRYYYYYY. There is a provision in HB 3 that says that if a 3,4,5, 6,7,8 grade student fails to meet the criteria set out by the District benchmarks or assessments, the district must come up with a plan for EVERY child that fails to meet the standards laid out in each Campus Improvement Plan for each subject area. Do you realize the man power it will take to actually comply with that ONE request? Let's say 30 kids in a school of 466 don't make the cut on one of the assessments. That means that each ONE of those 30 kids will have to have an individualized plan based again on that school's campus improvement plan that will "assure" the district and the State of his/her ability to pass the next assessment. I asked about that in my email as well. Man, if the Administrators and teachers were busy before, just think of the stack of stuff they have to take home, fill out, turn in and pray is filled out and filed correctly and on time
.
SO, this brings me to parents. I can't say anything about parents without talking about personal responsibility. That means you take care of you and if you make a mistake you fix it, make it right and don't do it again. You have a baby YOU take care of it, not the state, not your grandma, not your uncle. YOU. Yikes, harsh but if we don't have natural consequences for behaviors good AND bad we will continue to have what we have. LOW STANDARDS for conduct, literature etc.
I must mention Ruby Payne at this juncture. She is a formidable authority on poverty. Wrote an excellent, excellent book I recommend everyone read just to UNDERSTAND poverty and how people living in it think. It's title is : A Framework for Understanding Poverty. In it she outlines the basic structure of people in poverty. Since I taught in a high poverty, low income, mostly free or reduced lunch school I will discuss Parental involvement from that point of view then come around to the more affluent schools.
Schools in poor neighborhoods get overlooked by everyone but the police. You drive by as fast as you can and you don't linger. You listen to the crime reports and if you live there you leave...fast. Robberies, murders, assaults are all part of the daily grind. Most of the parents whose children I had the pleasure of teaching where from Mexico or other parts of Central America. Most parents never finished the 3rd grade in Mexico and some can't even read in Spanish. Their experience in the Mexican school system, which averages 50-60 kids in a class, was not very good for the most part, so because they either couldn't afford to buy the supplies, uniforms and /or books to go to school or just needed to work, they dropped out in 3rd grade. Some never even went at ALL, to school that is. These people came here looking for a better life. I'm not touching the subject of should they or shouldn't they be here. Other blogs deal with that, I'm just focused on their kids who for the most part were born right here in the U.S.A., thus making them U.S. citizens. As a citizen you really need to know how to read, write do math and contribute to the GNP so that we can continue to expand our economy and do all the things the economists talk about in their very important meetings with our President. FACT #1: These parents are just getting by economically. They live in the shadows, operate everyday in fear of Immigration Services, and hope they don't get killed going to their home after work. FACT #2: They don't speak English or read it and the truth is they can't hardly read Spanish so how can they learn English with nothing to transfer from? (That's the reading teacher in me talking.) In order to be able to learn a language, any language you first have to know how to speak, read and write your own native tongue. Naturally, there are ways around it, but they are long and difficult to overcome. FACT #3: Education in their families may just not be important. Having a job and paying the bills may be MORE important so parents indirectly make their children feel like getting a job is about helping the family. The more you work the more you earn.... education didn't get them anywhere, what will a college degree do for their kid? After all he/she can start earning money NOW. Naturally, this is NOT the case in every family. This is a generalization based on MY experiences. So, even though parents SAY they care about their kid staying in school the truth is that after 6th grade, they can't or won't do much to encourage them. THAT IS NOT ALL PARENTS. Naturally, there a wonderful parents that would walk through glaciers barefoot to make sure their child is well educated and we should offer them and others the assistance to be able to help their child with school and school work.
FACT #4: Parents often cannot communicate with their child's teacher. In many buildings, because we do have wonderful people that operate as translators, they do at least feel like they have a voice. However, parents aren't often sure that what they say is being correctly conveyed to the teacher or vice versa. Hence, an element of mistrust develops in pre-k and continues to grow a little by little, both between parent and teacher and teacher and parent.
If you have all these FOUR obstacles in your way, how are you going to reach the parents? Some suggest offering ESL classes at night. GREAT, but how many parents can realistically come? Some suggest not allowing kids in school that don't speak English. Wow, I can't believe we have people in this country from the stone age, but we do. The real truth is NO ONE has an answer because the variables keep changing. Most of my former kids will be in 5-6 schools before they get to Junior High, if not more. To keep parents involved means students and parents need to stay in the school, the area or the neighborhood for AT LEAST SIX YEARS. If they don't, you just have a revolving door of kids and parents all needing to be retrained. Parents on the poverty line are afraid of or angry at their child's school. Scared because they don't understand the language and don't understand what is or isn't going on in their child's school and angry because the school did something to make their son/daughter behave badly.
How many of the high risk, Title 1 , low income schools have a very active PTA? VERY FEW, if ANY. My former school had the beginning of one because of a highly dedicated teacher who saw the need, but even she couldn't get the teachers to join. That's right they wouldn't put up $5 to join the PTA, much less serve on the committee to lead it. So, if teachers aren't involved and parents aren't involved you don't have a PTA. Am I right?
What's the answer? I DO NOT KNOW. I have tried educating parents, sending "kits" home, calling, meeting and even showing parents how they can help. In the end, in my humble opinion they are too tired, too stressed and just too confused by what the child brings home in English, the language they can't read to help them or encourage them. Homework clubs don't spring up by themselves, kids can't go next door for help. Daddy doesn't always know the answer or Mommy because maybe they don't live with their parents. It's a HUGE problem. Way bigger than little 'ole me. I AM going to do something about it though. I'm starting a homework club so kids can come and get help, parents can seek and receive answers and maybe just maybe I'll make a dent. It's going to be called Out of The Box Tutoring. Anyone can be a regular box, but something out of the box, now you're talking someone really special. Let's see what happens. I don't know if anyone reads this or not, but I'm still going to write because it makes me feel like I'm helping others understand the stakes we are up against.
Now, the affluent schools. None of the above apply. Most parents join the PTA and show up for meetings. Lots of volunteers for events. Lots of events due to the high involvement of parents. Some schools have many stay-at-home moms, some don't but they seem to still have an active PTA. Teachers notice the parental involvement in the students grades and behavior and life is good. To quote a former collegue who left my former district for another one: Adrienne, this has been the best six weeks I have ever had." He left my former high risk school for an affluent school in the suburbs. He wanted to see what the difference was and now he knows. Parental involvement.
Good night and I hope you'll comment.
Adrienne
Friday, October 2, 2009
breaking down the system for those who aren't in Public Education
When many of you attended school, your parents sent you off with the expectation that you would actually learn to read, if you didn't already know how, your math would be developed as well as your crictical thinking skills. In between you would learn geography and current events etc. In the era of No Child Left Behind or NCLB all that vanished. Although I agree that all children should be able to read on grade level if we want them to succeed in our country's high education system or just get a job, the how to implement this new mandate was left completely up to the states. Since I live in Texas, I'll speak to the system here.
When I started teaching elementary school after my years of teaching high school, we had balanced literacy. Kids read with me, they made progress, they moved up in their reading ability and books etc. This was a bilingual class which means I started off with some who could read and some who couldn't. My first year in elementary school was the first year of THE TAKS, or the high stakes state assessment. It seemed relaxed, no administrative freak outs, not unreasonable oaths to sign, just give the test, be honest and wait for the results.
As the years went on, teachers were asked / told how to teach, gearing everything to THE TEST, while somehow fitting in science and social studies. Administrators started looking at data, breaking it down by English Language Learners or in those days Limited English Speakers or LEP, kids on free or reduced lunch, low socio economic status or SES, ethnicity and a few other criteria. We as teachers were to analyze our data and come up with a reason for the failure of these "at risk' populations and how to correct it. Each teacher's class was examined in front of his or her collegues and suggestions made for how to better improve test scores. Not how to best teach the kids so they can actually get an education, but how to pass the test. What strategies to use, who will take the lower ones and work closely with them, again the means to the end was 90% of the kids passing the test the first time it's administered.
Let's talk now about what that really means in layman's terms. It means frankly, that your poorer children who have had less opportunity to "see the world" and experience things like going to the beach, will have to be "given" experiences so they can relate to stories about traveling cross country to visit relatives at the beach house, or archeolgical digs to find fossils etc. None of the kids that I worked with even knew that Spanish was spoken in Central and South America much less where these places were and they were in 3rd grade. So we work with them in after school, during school, and in Saturday school to help them with their reading, writing and math. Yes, to give them the knowledge to carry over into their next grade but mostly to pass THE TEST.
You are now wondering so, what about THE TEST? Why all this heartburn over a single test? Well, if they don't pass after THREE tries they fail the grade. IF they don't pass after the second try it becomes a black mark on the school's accountability record and the school's rating and money is then affected.
If the school has a vast majority of students of all races on free or reduced lunch they become a Title 1 school and more funds are available to them to help educate these at risk kids. If they don't preform though, guess what, yup no money and possible state intervention, district freak out, pressure on teachers and administration changes. The higher the passing rate for the district and especially in what they call sub populations, the more money and with it more recognition like Exemplary, Recongnized, Academically Acceptable ( no one wants that one) or Underperforming ( no one REALLY likes that one.)
This is just in Texas as I mentioned. So, you ask what does that have to do with teaching? EVERYTHING. The districts will deny they teach to the test but at the beginning of the year all data is disclosed to the teachers , areas of concern are noted and words like " we really need to make sure we are reaching thus and such population in order for them to pass on the first try." Teachers are given lessons to use that use old test questions to sprinkle through out their lessons, they must pull their lowest readers several times a day and on and on. If a school, like the one I worked in is determined high risk because it has almost all kids on free and reduced lunch, the district sends out teams of "specialists" to work with kids all over the building to ensure they understand how questions will be asked on THE TEST. No history, no geography and some grammar in passing. Science is covered but that's a hard one to actually dive into given the limited amount of time.
What do the administrators do with all this information? They go to meetings that tell them which schools are struggling and how to fix it. I think those are called district directives. Mind you, very few of these handing down the directives have been teaching in a classroom in the last say, 5 years. Most have been out of the classroom 10+ years so they really have a no idea how this actually works in a regular class. Administrators come back from their meetings, meet with teachers and give them more things they need to include on lesson plans or do in their classroom or hand on their walls. My heroes, the teachers all meet or exceed these expectations leading to frustration, lack of personal lives and long hours at school after school. So the hierarchy goes like this: district says thus= administrators inform and require thus from teachers,= teachers rewrite plans to reflect new directives or implement new lessons
Some of you are thinking, who care, the kids are in school and they are learning...good job. Not so fast my friends. What are they learning? Are they learning material that will help them succeed in our society and become productive members that go on to get degrees from Univesities or are we teaching them the barest mininum to be able to pass "THE TEST?"
In districts all over our country you will hear administrators, teachers and others say " we are doing what is best for children." Pardon me, but when 3rd graders reach my class having been in the SAME SCHOOL for three years and aren't even reading on 1st grade level, I think we have a problem. Remember how fun Charlotte's Web was to read? None of my students can read it. Thus, they are deprived of fabulous literature, excieting characters and good books. Houston, I think we have a problem.
I pose to you, my readers, what do you think is best for children? Give it some thought and leave me a comment. I would love to hear what you have to say. If you child is in a public school go to that state's educational website and click on accountability rates or rankings. You'll see things broken down by ethnicity, free and reduced lunch etc. Check it out. If you live in a rather middle class district you won't see dramatic numbers between ethnicities. If you know of a school your area that is struggling, take a look at their break down. VERY INTERESTING.
Tonight I will tackle the thorny issue of Parental / Personal Responsibility when it comes to educating children. Stay tuned, it only gets better.
Hugs,
Adrienne
When I started teaching elementary school after my years of teaching high school, we had balanced literacy. Kids read with me, they made progress, they moved up in their reading ability and books etc. This was a bilingual class which means I started off with some who could read and some who couldn't. My first year in elementary school was the first year of THE TAKS, or the high stakes state assessment. It seemed relaxed, no administrative freak outs, not unreasonable oaths to sign, just give the test, be honest and wait for the results.
As the years went on, teachers were asked / told how to teach, gearing everything to THE TEST, while somehow fitting in science and social studies. Administrators started looking at data, breaking it down by English Language Learners or in those days Limited English Speakers or LEP, kids on free or reduced lunch, low socio economic status or SES, ethnicity and a few other criteria. We as teachers were to analyze our data and come up with a reason for the failure of these "at risk' populations and how to correct it. Each teacher's class was examined in front of his or her collegues and suggestions made for how to better improve test scores. Not how to best teach the kids so they can actually get an education, but how to pass the test. What strategies to use, who will take the lower ones and work closely with them, again the means to the end was 90% of the kids passing the test the first time it's administered.
Let's talk now about what that really means in layman's terms. It means frankly, that your poorer children who have had less opportunity to "see the world" and experience things like going to the beach, will have to be "given" experiences so they can relate to stories about traveling cross country to visit relatives at the beach house, or archeolgical digs to find fossils etc. None of the kids that I worked with even knew that Spanish was spoken in Central and South America much less where these places were and they were in 3rd grade. So we work with them in after school, during school, and in Saturday school to help them with their reading, writing and math. Yes, to give them the knowledge to carry over into their next grade but mostly to pass THE TEST.
You are now wondering so, what about THE TEST? Why all this heartburn over a single test? Well, if they don't pass after THREE tries they fail the grade. IF they don't pass after the second try it becomes a black mark on the school's accountability record and the school's rating and money is then affected.
If the school has a vast majority of students of all races on free or reduced lunch they become a Title 1 school and more funds are available to them to help educate these at risk kids. If they don't preform though, guess what, yup no money and possible state intervention, district freak out, pressure on teachers and administration changes. The higher the passing rate for the district and especially in what they call sub populations, the more money and with it more recognition like Exemplary, Recongnized, Academically Acceptable ( no one wants that one) or Underperforming ( no one REALLY likes that one.)
This is just in Texas as I mentioned. So, you ask what does that have to do with teaching? EVERYTHING. The districts will deny they teach to the test but at the beginning of the year all data is disclosed to the teachers , areas of concern are noted and words like " we really need to make sure we are reaching thus and such population in order for them to pass on the first try." Teachers are given lessons to use that use old test questions to sprinkle through out their lessons, they must pull their lowest readers several times a day and on and on. If a school, like the one I worked in is determined high risk because it has almost all kids on free and reduced lunch, the district sends out teams of "specialists" to work with kids all over the building to ensure they understand how questions will be asked on THE TEST. No history, no geography and some grammar in passing. Science is covered but that's a hard one to actually dive into given the limited amount of time.
What do the administrators do with all this information? They go to meetings that tell them which schools are struggling and how to fix it. I think those are called district directives. Mind you, very few of these handing down the directives have been teaching in a classroom in the last say, 5 years. Most have been out of the classroom 10+ years so they really have a no idea how this actually works in a regular class. Administrators come back from their meetings, meet with teachers and give them more things they need to include on lesson plans or do in their classroom or hand on their walls. My heroes, the teachers all meet or exceed these expectations leading to frustration, lack of personal lives and long hours at school after school. So the hierarchy goes like this: district says thus= administrators inform and require thus from teachers,= teachers rewrite plans to reflect new directives or implement new lessons
Some of you are thinking, who care, the kids are in school and they are learning...good job. Not so fast my friends. What are they learning? Are they learning material that will help them succeed in our society and become productive members that go on to get degrees from Univesities or are we teaching them the barest mininum to be able to pass "THE TEST?"
In districts all over our country you will hear administrators, teachers and others say " we are doing what is best for children." Pardon me, but when 3rd graders reach my class having been in the SAME SCHOOL for three years and aren't even reading on 1st grade level, I think we have a problem. Remember how fun Charlotte's Web was to read? None of my students can read it. Thus, they are deprived of fabulous literature, excieting characters and good books. Houston, I think we have a problem.
I pose to you, my readers, what do you think is best for children? Give it some thought and leave me a comment. I would love to hear what you have to say. If you child is in a public school go to that state's educational website and click on accountability rates or rankings. You'll see things broken down by ethnicity, free and reduced lunch etc. Check it out. If you live in a rather middle class district you won't see dramatic numbers between ethnicities. If you know of a school your area that is struggling, take a look at their break down. VERY INTERESTING.
Tonight I will tackle the thorny issue of Parental / Personal Responsibility when it comes to educating children. Stay tuned, it only gets better.
Hugs,
Adrienne
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
I quit my job
Yes, you heard right. I quit my job in THIS economy with THIS recession. I had a job and I quit it. Simple. Wow, pretty gutsy you're thinking, huh? Especially since I'm bilingual and I probably could get a job anywhere, right? Not so fast. Let me take you back, keep going, yup a little further...STOP! It's 1968-69 my room in Venezuela, ( country currently controlled by a madman in South America,) and I'm hard at work. I had a class full of girls and they were silent. Either I was captivating or they were mute. I'll go with mute since they were dolls. Each of them, however, was getting a brilliant lesson on whatever it was that I had learned that day. Complete with teacher imitations I might add. O.K., so, what's the big deal? The big deal is that I always knew I wanted to become a teacher and through moves, coups, deaths and yes, even college I never wavered in my determination. Hold on we are moving again.......it's now 2000 and I hear rumors of what the NCLB No Child Left Behind is going to mean for the lowly but all important classroom teacher. State accountability standards, funding cuts or increases, incentive pay etc., but really, what did that mean to my little 3rd graders? Nothing THEN, but scoot up to 2008-09 school year. I changed schools within my fabulous district wanting to become more involved with the neediest of the needy English Language Learners, from now to be referred to as ELLs.
I felt that having grown up in Latin America and learning English as a second language I could possibly have something to offer. The door opens to a brand new year of possibilites. I feel like Mary Poppins. Aretha Franklin's R.E.S.P.E.C.T is blaring in my head. I meet my babies, I fall in love and then I get sick. They can't read, they can't write and they sure can't do math. What??? No way, I do some digging. Most, not all had been at the school since kindergarten and some since pre kinder. You do the math, yeah that's right 3 years. Hmmm, what were they doing in those lower grades? No time for that, gotta get 'em ready to pass THE TEST. You know, if you don't pass you don't pass, but really what it means is that the school gets a little red mark for too many non passers. Ok, I'm game, let's get going. So we do. Early morning school (7a.m.-7:45), lunch group so they can learn geography, after school, Saturday school I mean we schooled them. All of us as a collective unit at my school did a great job. THEY PASSED THE TEST!!!! YIPPEE!!!! Oh, but they can barely read, I mean I taught them HOW to pass the test but I didn't really teach them HOW to READ. So in comes this year and guess what????? They can't read, again. Well, they ARE better than last year but not where they "should" be.
My quittin' reason. Evidently lesson plans and their forms are way more important than teaching kids how to read, write and to arithmitic. Not too many want to hear that out there, but it's true. Why else would a veteran teacher with 100% of her students passing THE TESTS quit on Sept. 15th? I'll tell you why. Teachers care about their kids, but after that no one else does. Oh they say they do, but they are a statistic and if they are ELL kiddos they become well, money in the districts pockets. So, saute all that up and what do you get? A receipe for FAILURE TO EDUCATE THE TOTAL CHILD. Don't get me wrong, I have friends that are excellent teachers still hard at work, laboring long into the night over lesson plans and various other things they have to do like grade papers, enter grades, attend meeting after meeting after meeting. They are the heroes of this story. They stuck it out. I got out to tell the rest of you what is actually happening during a school day and what my heroes have to do all day every day to earn a living. My principal told me on my way out, "I look forward to reading your first book." I wonder, did she realize what she was asking?
So, yes, I quit to become a writer, a blogger, an activist and a voice for my kids, soon to be someone else's kids. I'll never stop fighting. Won't you join me on this ride? It'll be full of adventure I can assure you of that. A collossal fight worth fighting, pure and unadultarated education. I have a question for you my dear friends? Is that too much to ask?
Until tomorrow, when we really dig deep into the bowls of la-la land school.
I felt that having grown up in Latin America and learning English as a second language I could possibly have something to offer. The door opens to a brand new year of possibilites. I feel like Mary Poppins. Aretha Franklin's R.E.S.P.E.C.T is blaring in my head. I meet my babies, I fall in love and then I get sick. They can't read, they can't write and they sure can't do math. What??? No way, I do some digging. Most, not all had been at the school since kindergarten and some since pre kinder. You do the math, yeah that's right 3 years. Hmmm, what were they doing in those lower grades? No time for that, gotta get 'em ready to pass THE TEST. You know, if you don't pass you don't pass, but really what it means is that the school gets a little red mark for too many non passers. Ok, I'm game, let's get going. So we do. Early morning school (7a.m.-7:45), lunch group so they can learn geography, after school, Saturday school I mean we schooled them. All of us as a collective unit at my school did a great job. THEY PASSED THE TEST!!!! YIPPEE!!!! Oh, but they can barely read, I mean I taught them HOW to pass the test but I didn't really teach them HOW to READ. So in comes this year and guess what????? They can't read, again. Well, they ARE better than last year but not where they "should" be.
My quittin' reason. Evidently lesson plans and their forms are way more important than teaching kids how to read, write and to arithmitic. Not too many want to hear that out there, but it's true. Why else would a veteran teacher with 100% of her students passing THE TESTS quit on Sept. 15th? I'll tell you why. Teachers care about their kids, but after that no one else does. Oh they say they do, but they are a statistic and if they are ELL kiddos they become well, money in the districts pockets. So, saute all that up and what do you get? A receipe for FAILURE TO EDUCATE THE TOTAL CHILD. Don't get me wrong, I have friends that are excellent teachers still hard at work, laboring long into the night over lesson plans and various other things they have to do like grade papers, enter grades, attend meeting after meeting after meeting. They are the heroes of this story. They stuck it out. I got out to tell the rest of you what is actually happening during a school day and what my heroes have to do all day every day to earn a living. My principal told me on my way out, "I look forward to reading your first book." I wonder, did she realize what she was asking?
So, yes, I quit to become a writer, a blogger, an activist and a voice for my kids, soon to be someone else's kids. I'll never stop fighting. Won't you join me on this ride? It'll be full of adventure I can assure you of that. A collossal fight worth fighting, pure and unadultarated education. I have a question for you my dear friends? Is that too much to ask?
Until tomorrow, when we really dig deep into the bowls of la-la land school.
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