Milestones provide us with
a time for reflection and an opportunity to collect ourselves as we move
forward. This 200th edition of
"Open Forward Thinking" has gotten me to do just that. What began as a "more efficient"
way to share information with colleagues about the events and actions during
the 2011 Wisconsin Uprising has evolved over the years. It has changed from a summary of meetings,
protests and actions and become a place where I can share my ideas and the
ideas of others about the issues and events that are impacting all of us. In some ways it is my "online
therapy" where I can express some of my frustration with the current
climate around public education and beyond.
The things that I share are things that are constantly on my mind, and
the mind of many other concerned citizens.
At the same time, I have
always tried to provide hope for the future and share opportunities to have a
positive impact on issues of importance.
I believe this combination of information along with potential positive
actions is critical as we seek to make positive change happen in a world that
often seems filled with pessimism and hopelessness.
It is in this climate of
negativity that this edition opens. We
know that we don't have to look very far to see the major problems that exist
around us. Some of them are "big
picture" societal ones.
America
is a nation bound together by moral panics; in the absence of an actual moral
center or a compass of justice, we find power in collective outrage in the...
empathyeducates.org
This climate of constant fear,
anger and "isms" gives some individuals an opportunity to gain and
maintain power in many ways. Wisconsin has become a
"poster state" for the divide and conquer way of doing politics and
policy making. Add in the ability to
corrupt the system with huge sums of money and we have a recipe for
disaster.
I was both surprised and bewildered last week when I saw a
news clip of you stumping in Iowa
about Megan Sampson, whom you called “The [2010] Outstanding Teacher of the
Year in my State.” This was baffling to me since in 2010, I was named Wisconsin
High School Teacher of the Year (Maureen Look-Ainsw…
marquetteeducator.wordpress.com
There’s more than 2 million reasons why Walker is backing school vouchers, as you’ll
notice when you...
newiprogressive.com|By Wisconsin
Democracy Campaign
The negative climate and
opportunistic "leadership" leads to policies that are
counterproductive, ineffective and divisive.
Prepare to be floored.
mic.com|By Mic
The implications of this
toxic climate are far reaching, but the impacts are very real for all of us. These effects can be seen very clearly in the
area that is of primary concern to me, public education. I strongly believe that a thriving and
vibrant public education system is vital to the long term success of our
nation. Public schools have the
potential to provide opportunities for all students, no matter what their
demographic or personal situation.
Public schools can provide a framework that gives everyone access to
skills and knowledge that do more than build our economy, they build our
national identity and create a foundation for future growth and success.
Yet, these institutions
are under attack in a number of ways.
One of the most obvious is the fiscal assault on our public
schools. This was a two pronged attack
that hit employees through Act 10 and decimated school budgets by slashing
state aid in the bi-annual budgets that have been proposed by the Walker administration.
Facing a hit of about $900,000 under Gov. Scott Walker's
proposed state budget, Wauwatosa
School District officials
are planning meetings with lawmakers to...
wauwatosanow.com
The governor's budget bill was released last week. If the
education-related items within the proposal prevail, it will be a crushing blow
to public education in several ways. I will touch upon just two of those...
hosted.verticalresponse.com
The district reduced salaries for three teachers based on
performance.
www.postcrescent.com
Public support is essential for the University of Wisconsin
to be both good and affordable,
wausaudailyherald.com
This isn't just a Wisconsin phenomenon.
Today, Jeb Bush and wealthy special interests will gather in
Tallahassee for a self-congratulatory conference
about how they have turned Florida’s
education system into a profit-making machine for out-of-state corporations.
(Of course,...
floridadems.org
At the same time our
schools have been weakened financially, we have also seen an ongoing effort to
change the way we provide education to students, and even a fundamental shift
in the way we define what education is.
Instead of providing a well-rounded education (one that so many of our
founders valued) we are seeing a movement to narrow the definition of education
to include only things that make an individual more economically
desirable.
New education standards emphasize technical reading skills
over an appreciation for literature and the deeper values it can instill.
theatlantic.com|By Michael Godsey
Common Core continues to place greater demands on our
youngest students with little to no regard to years of research on child
development. For example,...
lacetothetop.wordpress.com
LETTERS
www.detroitnews.com
"Asking kids to meet target on standardized tests is
like making them meet a sales quota. Our kids are not commodities." ~K.L.
Nielson In many nations...
creativesystemsthinking.wordpress.com
The harm that has been
done to our students is measurable, and public educators have also been
negatively impacted in so many ways.
While there are some who would discount the impact that undermining
educator morale has on students, the reality is that students learning
conditions really are educators working conditions. The stresses placed on all parts of our
educational system result in real, tangible and negative outcomes.
By Kathryn Doyle The more depressive symptoms third grade teachers
had in a new study, the less progress in math their struggling students made
during the school year. Teacher depression may be one of many factors that
determine...
news.yahoo.com|By Kathryn Doyle
We know that our public
schools are not perfect places. We have
achievement gaps, opportunity gaps and many other struggles that are all too
well documented. We can recognize the
flaws in our public schools, while still holding out hope for the future, and
also realizing that the alternatives of privatization and standardization
currently being offered don't come anywhere close to solving the existing
inequities and struggles of our public school systems. Instead of "throwing the baby out with
the bathwater" we need to look for ways to retool, reconfigure and
revitalize public education for the good of all citizens.
We have to recognize that
we can't continue with the status quo, and certainly can't continue on the path
laid out for us by educational profiteers pretending to be reformers of the
system. The stress and animosity that
exists is unsustainable and destructive.
We see groups that should be united, being divided and in conflict while
a small number of people profit from the ensuing chaos.
By Jonathan Stith | Originally Published at Huffington Post
Black Voices. February 11, 2015 12:44 PM EST | Photographic Credit; Getty
Images There is a war...
empathyeducates.org
A federal report says students attack or threaten to injure Wisconsin teachers at high rates.
postcrescent.com
'Almost every day, I slip food to one of my students. Both
of his parents are in prison. Or, one of his parents is in prison and the other
is dead. We can’t quite...
washingtonpost.com
As Gov. Scott Walker calls for scrapping a new state
achievement test after just one year, the exam is coming in over budget and
lacking key functionality.
jsonline.com|By Erin Richards
The British publishing giant Pearson had made few inroads in
the United States
— aside from distributing the TV game show “Family Feud” — when it announced
plans in the summer of 2000 to spend $2.5 billion on an American testing...
politico.com|By Stephanie Simon
One other aspect of the
educational challenges we face can't be ignored and that is the self interest
and basic human nature that we all share.
No matter what ideological beliefs we have, and no matter our social and
economic demographics, there is an immediacy to education that causes us to
look out for our own children, school and community before considering the larger
picture. For many of us that means that
we struggle to make our voices heard and have a say in policies at the most
immediate, local level. Yet, there are a
larger number of people with time and money whose influence impacts policies
and legislation in ways that help expand our existing gaps of all types. Unless this demographic is
"educated" on the impact of their policies they will continue to
believe that they are doing no harm when they support "reforms" that
sound good, but create divisions and inequities. In other words, the world is filled with
people who want a level playing field, just as long as it tilts in their
favor.
I first encountered the upper middle class when I attended a
big magnet high school in Manhattan
that attracted a decent number of brainy, better-off kids...
slate.com
It is in this too real and
demonstrably bleak educational landscape that we find ourselves looking for
ways to address our challenges while at the same time maintaining our vision of
equity and social justice. We struggle
to find ways to get our message out and to unite the diverse groups who share a
common interest in preserving and promoting a strong public education system. We are facing an uphill struggle against a
combination of well funded and well connected opponents who see benefits in
promoting the privatization of our schools.
We know that our vision of public education provides a strong and
equitable way of providing a valuable resource to all citizens, but we also
know that the message isn't being received by enough people.
What exactly is this
vision of public education that would close gaps, unite communities and provide
opportunities for a more sustainable future for our society? While there may be many versions of this
vision, here is what I would like to see become the focus of discussion as we
work to truly reform our public schools.
Stop living, working and educating in fear. Right
now everyone in education is operating under the specter of failure and
fear. Whether it is educators fearing
the next cut, the next initiative or the next media story about failing
schools, families wondering how their child is being disadvantaged or
underserved, administrators looking over their shoulders or politicians using
all this to garner votes the fear in public education is tangible. Education is supposed to be about hope and
opportunity, yet we have turned it into a quagmire of fear, anger and divisive
dialog. Instead of preaching about
accountability and looking for ways to find problems, our leaders need to begin
talking about a common vision for education that unites us. This won't come at the higher levels of
leadership, but rather must begin at the local and individual level. We need to have conversations with neighbors,
friends and families to change the climate around education and public
schooling.
Truly share decision making power with employees
and those knowledgeable about education at the classroom and school level. Few,
if any, of the major decisions about education are made by educators who are
directly connected to classrooms. This
is true at all levels of the system and simply put, needs to change. Once again, this needs to happen at the local
school and district level. Instead of
having decisions made by administrative groups in isolation, educators need to
be consulted, and need to be a part of the decision making processes from start
to finish. This will not only result in
better policies, but also will eliminate some of the barriers that come with
the existing mistrust that exists between educators and administrators. There is a long history of adversarial
relationships here, and it needs to change.
Everyone in a school system should be united and supportive of each other
for the system to work. This doesn't
mean lock-step agreement, but rather mechanisms for productive dialog to
occur.
We also need to build on
the existing strengths that exist within every school and every district. Too many times we see decision makers looking
outside of their own staffs to find answers to the challenges that exist. Yet, the professionals who were hired to work
in schools are where the answers can be found.
Whether curricular or policy decisions, the professionals who work in
schools, with students are the best resource for potential solutions. This doesn't mean we ignore the expertise and
resources that exist outside our schools, but we start our conversations
internally first.
Make things relevant and important, not easier. As
an educator I am constantly hearing about how this policy, this curriculum or
this resource was chosen to make my job easier, or to take something "off
my plate." I can tell you that I am
not alone when I say that I knew I was getting a "full plate" when I
decided to become an educator. I knew I
would be putting in long hours and spending sleepless nights trying to address
the needs of my students. I don't want
an empty plate, nor do I want a plate filled with desserts and
"fluff." I want to tackle the
"meat" of the challenges that exist and am fully prepared to do so on
all levels.
This means that I don't
want to spend my time figuring out how to fill out a form, administer an
assessment, learn how to teach a standardized curriculum, or gain knowledge
about another initiative that doesn't really help my students or improve my
teaching. Too much of my time is spent
doing these things and creating a system that makes this easier isn't in my or
my students best interest. We are
overwhelming educators with non-essential tasks masked as "vitally important"
and then giving them "relief" in the form of more efficient
bureaucratic procedures, or standardized curriculums. It is no wonder that educators who worked in
the time when we could develop our own integrated curriculums and teach
students based on their individual needs are leaving the profession in droves.
Dismiss the myths of rigor and elevated standards. Part
of the fear and apprehension around education exists in the myth that somehow
our students are not being challenged and our educators are not being held
accountable. Yet, most non-educators I
talk to who come into a school are amazed at what students are learning and
what we are expecting them to do on a daily basis. Our students are being exposed to a variety
of challenging tasks and concepts every day, and are being assessed beyond any
reasonable expectation. In fact, in many
ways they are being asked to do things beyond what is developmentally
appropriate and then labeled as "at-risk" or "behind" when
they fail to achieve the set benchmark.
The new standards and
increased "rigor" that we are experiencing in education isn't a
reality. After spending a half day of
professional development exploring new rubrics for writing, several veteran
teachers I was with looked at each other and shrugged off the idea that the
"bar had been raised" for our students. Instead, we had new words and more concrete
ways to express what we were already telling our students.
It is also true that
"raising expectations" such as knowing math facts, applying
algorithms and reading more non-fiction text at earlier grade levels doesn't
close achievement gaps. Instead we see
our students who were already "successful" maintaining their status,
while our at-risk students fall further behind.
In part this is due to the disconnect between applying culturally and
linguistically relevant practices in classroom activities and then assessing
students in more traditional, individualized ways. It is also a product of the fact that not
every student will learn in the same ways and forcing traditional methods of
problem solving on them won't change this reality.
Finally, rigor and high
expectations already exist in classrooms in ways that our new assessments and
curriculums don't demonstrate. Take for
example the skills involved in opinion writing.
In my classroom students are expected to use multiple sources to develop
an informed opinion and then work to express this in written and verbal
formats. Using this type of instruction
we have had discussions about achievement gaps, affirmative action and how to
get more time to eat in the cafeteria (and better lunch selections as
well). Many of our current assessments
and curriculum require students to rely on only one or two sources for
information. In our effort to expose
students to a wide variety of types of writing we restrict our ability to
explore any genre in greater depth.
Give real opportunity and flexibility to our
students. In this day and age of "unlimited
opportunity" we are seeing many policies enacted that actually limit our
students choices. By testing and
tracking student progress from the moment they enter school, we force them into
programs that "intervene" and remediate when they really want to
explore other options for learning. By
the time they reach the upper elementary level they have established a view of
themselves as learners that restricts their vision of what they can explore,
learn and become.
Students become pieces of
data very quickly as the numbers of assessments that are required and performed
on them increases.
In our effort to give
students a sense of purpose, or pathways, in their educational careers we also
constrict their opportunities. My son's,
a freshman in high school, course selection sheet included a career pathway
section that would guide him towards a vocational or technical track. If he wanted to take more AP or broader
liberal arts classes this wasn't a real option.
In other words, we are tracking our students away from a diversified
learning experience in order to guarantee a sense of concrete purpose. Of course few, if any of us, really know at
the age of 14 what we want to be when we grow up and need to have a wide range
of experiences in order to fully develop our potential.
At the same time we know that
the more traditional methods of instruction haven't reached a significant
number of students. Many groups of
students are simply dropping out before graduation because they don't see the
connection between school and success, or are unable to fulfill the educational
demands placed on them. However, instead
of turning their high-school experience into a tech school it would be
worthwhile to explore some of the strategies used in alternative educational
settings and apply them in all of our schools.
Identify what we value in education. Education
needs to be more than simply a pathway to prosperity. Education is valuable simply for the role
that it plays in developing complete, happy and engaged humans. Yet, it also needs to prepare students for employment
and citizenship. These two purposes are
not mutually exclusive. However, for us
to blend them together we need to be able and ready to talk about our
collective vision for our schools.
This means having
difficult conversations, forging alliances and compromising for the good of the
greater collective whole. It also means
accepting that education will occupy different roles for different people. For one person a concrete, technical
education serves their purposes well.
For another a liberal arts education with more ambiguity is more
desirable. Our systems need to be able
to fulfill the needs of all our students and our community as a whole.
It also means that our
educators need to have a voice, and need to make sure that their voice focuses
on social justice and representing the needs of all our students, families and
the communities we serve. Often
educators are the only people at the table who are able, or willing to give
voice to those who need it the most. In
order to be most effective in this role our educators need their unions, and
their unions need to be focused on social justice issues that extend beyond
simple contractually bargained items.
Accept, embrace and guide change as it
happens. Education isn't a static field. New concepts, information and techniques are
constantly being developed and implemented in our effort to best meet the
changing needs of our students and society.
Change is difficult, but also a sign of societal health. Some of the angst that surrounds education
today is a symptom of the growing awareness that our society needs to do a
better job of addressing the needs of all citizens. We can no longer simply do things the way
they've always been done. Yet, we must
also realize that our public education systems have never been fully supported
in ways that would make them equitable and accessible to all.
There are many positive
things happening in education today and we need to build off of our successes
while effectively communicating about the reality that currently exists. At the same time we must also pressure our
political and economic leaders to fully support real educational reforms that
benefit all students. Public education
deserves the full support of our entire society. With all of the resources our nation enjoys,
there is no reason why our public education system shouldn't be of the highest
quality possible for every child and every community.
The
Good, The Bad and
The
Ugly. . .
The Good . . . We are seeing more and more educators becoming active politically in
recent years. This should translate into
more political power for educators and a more positive political climate around
education in the future.
An unusually high number of teachers are running for Chicago
City Council seats, propelled by Karen Lewis and financial support from the Chicago Teachers...
www.wbez.org
A “Stop the Cuts – Save UW” protest will gather at noon
Saturday at the Library Mall and march to the state Capitol.
host.madison.com|By Pat Schneider
AN INVITATION FOR CONCERNED CITIZENS TO SPEAK AND LISTEN
When: February 16th; 6:00 -
9:00 pm
Where: Edgewood College, Madison (Anderson Auditorium, main building)
Where: Edgewood College, Madison (Anderson Auditorium, main building)
Leaders from the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s teaching
assistance union say there is a possibility they would walk off the job in
response to Gov. Scott...
channel3000.com
The Bad . . . We know that economic inequality is not healthy for our society, and
extreme inequality is extremely unhealthy.
Your portal for news, analysis & facts on economic
inequality.
inequality.org
The Ugly . . . Costs for health care continue to rise, health insurance costs are
increasing, and MMSD employees may soon be asked to foot the bill. At the same time we are hearing about how
public educators need to tighten their belts top executives in local health
care are drawing hefty salaries.
Something needs to be done to correct this imbalance and alter this
unsustainable trend.
Hospital leaders in Madison
earn more than the national average of roughly $630,000, and compensation last
year for the top executives at Dean Health...
host.madison.com|By DAVID WAHLBERG |
dwahlberg@madison.com | 608-252-6125 | @DavidKWahlberg
The Madison School Board discussed the 2015-16...
host.madison.com|By Molly Beck |
Wisconsin State Journal
Following is MTI Executive Director John Matthews’ response
to the State Journal, as regards the discussion of the proposed 2015-16, by the
Board of Education Monday evening.
madisonteachers.org
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