Commentary

In a recent Washington Post editorial titled "Why Great Teachers Matter to Low-Income Students," Joel Klein, Michael Lomax, and Janet Murgua take issue with those who believe that "schools alone cannot overcome the impact that economic disadvantage has on a child, [and] that life outcomes are fixed by poverty and family circumstances."   Citing recent NAEP data showing very different achievement results for students in different urban districts, the authors assert the importance of looking closely "at those whom we attract and retain to teach, with regard to their quality and to ensuring that they are distributed equally across our school districts." Read the full article here.

Universities have long piloted Blackboard web technology to engage students outside the classroom.  Now, with advances in technology and much cooler, more robust tools, Blackboard needs a good look from the K-12 market.  Click here for more information

Scott Van Beck, executive director of Houston A+ Challenge, knows a thing or two about student engagement—enough to say, "Student engagement is the holy grail.  We’ve got to figure this out."

As a regional superintendent of Houston ISD’s West Region, Van Beck and his executive staff visited campuses to collect data on school performance using a unique protocol titled, "ARE we there yet?"  Van Beck, his team, and school personnel would visit three classrooms to assess performance in three areas: A-Alignment, R-Rigor, and E-Engagement.  After almost 1,000 classroom visits over three years for this purpose, the findings were clear and obvious.  "Even in high scoring classrooms with what would be considered highly effective teachers, we found that engagement scores were usually the lowest. In fact, they were usually 50% of the alignment scores," Van Beck concludes.

The data also showed that elementary teachers generally had higher scores in engagement than secondary teachers did.  Van Beck suggests that one of the reasons for this disparity has to do with the  issue of skills versus content.  "Elementary schools tend to spend more time building skills," says Van Beck, "whereas secondary schools expect kids to know the 'how' as opposed to the 'what.'" 

At Houston A+ Challenge, Van Beck keeps coming back to a key finding from this earlier work: "with student engagement, you have to begin with the learner in mind. You can't look at content or teaching practice—you must focus on learners' needs and interests, and that's tough in an environment of accountability based on standardized tests.  Accountability is built around curriculum and teacher practice, not around learners’ behaviors and needs."

An oldie but goodie still flies off the shelves at Houston A+ Challenge on a regular basis: Phil Schlechty's Working on the Work from 2002.  It still circulates among staff and those A+ works with because it remains the best resource on student engagement that educators can lay their hands on. 

Building on his previous work, Shaking Up the Schoolhouse, Schlechty begins by categorizing student engagement in the classroom into five behavioral responses: authentic engagement, ritual engagement, passive compliance, retreatism, and rebellion.  These responses underscore the book’s strategic intent, which is to transform classroom practice into meaningful, engaged instruction.  The remainder of the book examines the ways in which leaders at all levels in a district can transform schools, and the thread through all of this is student engagement. 

When asked what is different about his new Apple class, Michael Shea of Reagan High School responds in all seriousness (and with not the least bit of arrogance):  "This is the chance to see education in a way that’s not all paint-by-numbers."

Shea, a veteran teacher, became interested in making instructional videos for his ESL classes a few years ago, and this interest has blossomed into a passion.  With support from Houston ISD, Shea and his students have created two highly successful video series, English with Sound & Lights, that are now used throughout the district.  It would be enough to discuss how the production and use of this video series engages students in meaningful work, but even beyond this is the story of student engagement in the new Apple Final Cut Pro lab in Shea’s classroom — one of only seven such labs in the nation. 

Dr. Michon Benson is a member of the inaugural cohort of Houston A+ Challenge’s Regional Principal Leadership Academy (RPLA).  After completing her internship with middle school principal Earnest Washington, Jr. at Charles R. Drew Academy in Aldine ISD, Benson decided to remain at Drew to complete the first year of her residency. Taking what might be perceived as an unconventional route to the principalship, she has assumed the role of Response to Intervention (RtI) Team Leader – a role that is honing her craft and developing her repertoire as an instructional leader. "I work with the administrative team to build human capital in every member of the learning community," Benson says.

Evan Thomas and Pat Wingert, Newsweek, February 19, 2010

“For the first time in American history, there is the risk that the rising generation will be less well educated than the previous one... Studies show that more and more poor and nonwhite students aspire to graduate from college—but their graduation rates fall far short of their dreams. The graduation rates for blacks, Latinos, and Native Americans lag far behind the graduation rates for whites and Asians. As the minority population grows in the United States, low college graduation rates become a threat to national prosperity.”

To read the full article, click here.

Kate Alexander, Austin American-Statesman, March 19, 2010

Texas has earned widespread recognition for being the first state to adopt college readiness standards – but according to Leticia Van de Putte (D-San Antonio), a member of the Senate Education Committee, ideological battles have overshadowed college readiness in the recent debate over the state’s social studies standards.  An analysis conducted by the Austin American-Statesman indicates that while the existing standards for U.S. government, U.S. history and world history give insufficient emphasis to the higher-level thinking skills that students will need to succeed in college, fewer than 5 percent of the revisions proposed to these standards increase the emphasis on higher-order skills or address other concerns pertaining to college readiness.  

In the fall of 2009, MetLife asked 1,003 K-12 public school teachers, 500 K-12 public school principals and 1,018 public school students in grades 3-12 to share their views on their respective roles and responsibilities, current practice, and priorities for the future. The effort marked a continuation of MetLife’s Annual Survey of the American Teacher, which it has been conducting since 1984. The first report on the survey findings, Effective Teaching and Leadership, compares teachers’, principals’, and students’ perspectives on responsibility and accountability and explores the nature and extent of collaboration in schools today.

Among the key survey findings:

Houston Independent School District has been the focus of considerable national attention lately as a result of the school board’s bold decision to link student achievement data to teacher evaluations as well as the superintendent’s announcement of a pilot program that will allow struggling schools to adopt an extended-year calendar beginning this fall. 

Regardless of whether or not one agrees that longer school days are the right approach, or whether the evaluation system currently being used to measure teachers' effectiveness is ideal, the conversations about doing what's needed to ensure that all students have access to the high-quality education they deserve are vital and healthy.