Peace on Earth, Good Will Toward...Education / Teachers!

Seeing that it's the holiday season, I wanted to do somewhat of a light-hearted post to close out the year.

It's the end of the calendar year.  Students are out of school.  Educators are getting a break.  Education is probably the best gift anyone can give.  Teachers give that gift on a daily basis (the gift that keeps on giving).  Please make sure you thank all those in education who dedicate their lives to ensuring that children receive the education they deserve. 

It seems like a lot of people in education agree that they want the best for students, but certainly a lot of details get in the way.  It's my New Year's hope that we, in the state of Tennessee, can continue to really work together--AS A COMMUNITY--to ensure that students get the services they need in order to secure their education.  Anything that gets in the way of that goal should get out of the way.  We have a New Year on the horizon...a chance to start fresh, without bias, and with passion for the children of the State of Tennessee.

There you go...that's my holiday "mushy" post.

Of course, I can't leave you hanging without a few NEWS LINKS:

- Great Schools Partnerships starts to step up in helping find a way to make the L&N Building a site for the regional STEM Academy.
- How will the new Congress impact education funding? Interesting thing mentioned in this article: a court in October ruled the "high quality teacher" designation was too broad because it left room for alternative-path teachers into the classroom.  The bickering continues.  Peace is all I ask for!
- Northeast Tennessee continues to get assistance from Niswonger Foundation.  Great that this is getting coverage!
- CTE and STEM are linked! That is, "Career and Technical Education" and "Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math."  Some people don't speak education-wonk-alphabet...
- Education is tied to the economy, and Chattanooga understands that.
- Tennessee principals now have more notes than EVER on teachers.  This is all part of getting a better picture of teachers in the classroom. 
- TSU's new president tries to save the school from losing its accreditation.
- Should students have input into their teacher's evaluation? Some are building a case.  It's worth considering. 

The "Career" part of "College and Career Ready" Can't Be Forgotten

This past snowy Monday morning when schools were canceled, I attended a meeting in a Knox County Schools facility that still had people in it: Lincoln Park Technology and Trade Center--the home of Career/Tech Education in Knox County Schools. 

Those of you who have spoken with me lately know that I've been meeting with people in the "Career Technology Education" arena. 

There's a lot of talk about "College and Career Readiness" lately.  However, many I've spoken with (in an outside of the CTE world) feel like most of the emphasis has been on the COLLEGE readiness part.  And while I believe that's great in one regard (being someone who used to work at UTK), I think that doesn't apply to everyone.  It seems like there's a lot of tip-toeing around some key things.  One thing being: Just because a traditional 4-year college doesn't fit for some students, it doesn't mean that these students aren't as bright as the 4-year college students.  It only means they're smart in different ways!

One of United Way's 10 Year Goals that we're focusing on is, "Young adults making a successful transition from high school to work life and/or continued educational opportunities."  This includes CTE...

In fact, when you break down CTE, you'll find a variety of topics you may not have realized where included in this umbrella.
- Business Technology (including accounting and finance)
- Early Childhood Education
- Health Science
- Marketing
- Technology education (including engineering)
- Trade and indistry (including CAD-design skills, plumbing, networking systems, and carpentry)

THESE GO HAND IN HAND WITH PRESTIGIOUS CAREERS, such as marketing professionals, bankers, doctors, teachers, and engineers!

Yesterday, I did a tour of the local IBEW group's training facilities.  They require rigorous math requirements.  Once completing the apprentice program, the American Council on Education recommends that students receive 50 credit hours to college (see HERE).  How is that not "College and Career Ready?"

I also met with people in Knox County Schools who are working to engage businesses in offering hands-on experiences for students (CTE Partnerships).  This is a way to ensure that education works with business to prepare students for entering the workforce.

How do you get this information in the hands of those who can use it?

IN THE NEWS:
- Tennessee's school report card information will be released in January. It's been delayed by 6 months...
-  For those looking to stay informed about the STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION...
- Russian educators visit Oak Ridge to learn about special education instruction.  This speaks to the great special education teachers in Oak Ridge!
- Knox County Schools offers information to parents about practical things they can do to reinforce class concepts at home.
- UTK professor is involved with Race to the Top.  She's the "Biology in a Box" famous professor!
- Value-added: It's not perfect, but it might be worth considering...
- Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math professionals needed for Knox County and Oak Ridge Schools!
- Collaboration: An out-of-town perspective.
- Sullivan County schools offer more distance learning courses! Roane County is doing something similar...
- Bradley County talks to the public about "Race to the Top." 
- The IB program in Knoxville requires students to APPLY!
- Students might be able to tell us something about effective teachers.

Who will drive TN's education system?

As most reading this know, the state of Tennessee has recently elected a new governor, Bill Haslam.  While I try to stay out of making formal political statements (and I'll keep to that here), I've been doing a lot of talking and thinking about what is ahead for Tennessee's education system.  From the TEA, local Chambers, local philanthropists, college faculty members, and non-profit leaders in education, there seems to be a question on every one's mind:

Who will be the next Education Commissioner?

I'm not going to speculate on who will be selected, mainly because the person doesn't matter as much as what's in the person's mind.  Here's what I'm hoping a new Education Commissioner:

- Vision: S/he knows where the education system should be in the future.  A vision that in some way incorporates of raising the quality (high standards) of education in Tennessee for all children would be great!
- Leadership: Follow the vision.  Empower others around you to do the work they need to do to help that vision to be realized.  Be willing to know when you don't know the answer and surround yourself with competent practitioners who can help you get to a good, collaborative solution.
- Collaboration: Tennessee's education can't improve without the help of multiple parties, from education advocates to businesses to teachers to non-profits.  Great leaders are great collaborators in that they are willing to work with others to accomplish their vision.
- Not entrenched with the "way things have worked in the past": The last thing we need is someone who wants to relive the past.  Tennessee is moving in a new direction with education, and it'd be great to have someone who can come in with a fresh set of eyes.  DISCLAIMER: For those who like to read into things, this isn't me saying that I don't think someone who has experience in education for 10+ years is disqualified.  It would just be nice to have someone who is willing to think creatively and try something new. 

I'm not as worried about a "big name."  I'm not as worried about "credentials." Get someone in there who can do the job and will surround themselves with competent people who won't let the children of Tennessee down.

I'm not speculating on who will likely be chosen, or what names are floating around.  You all can do that on your own :-)

IN THE NEWS:

- When teachers unions and school districts work together: What can TN learn from FL?
- Kingsport gets national recognition for career-technical education collaborative initiative.
- Blogger breaks down the recent "Teacher Prep Program Report Card."
- Knox County Schools continues to find a place for the STEM school.
- United Way of Tennessee tries to give teachers, parents, and students a voice in education reform.
- Nashville, TN is chosen as a model city for school-community-charter partnerships.  A former United Way "Teacher Effectiveness Project" employee is working with this project.  Props to Carol Swann!
- Niswonger Foundation in Northeast Tennessee gets recognized for trying to build a more "college and career ready" culture in their area.
- Sullivan County experiments with performance pay this year. 
- Report on thinking of teachers as TALENT. 
- The Junior League gives out annual teacher mini-grants.  Community groups doing things like this really matters to teachers!
- Blount Education Initiative will close its doors.  Thanks to Bonny for all her advocacy!
- Jobs lost in the recession in Tennessee were lower-skilled jobs.  Education matters to the economy. 
- Bredesen pushes to make college transfers easier. 
- What teachers are first to be laid off when there are budget troubles?
- Why do some school systems keep getting better, regardless of some factors? Some of it is because of collaboration. 

Graduation rates go up: Take a second to celebrate

America's Promise released a report earlier this week that showcases that the national graduation rate INCREASED.  In fact, we made the LARGEST GAIN IN THE NATION! GOOD FOR US!

Knoxville, Nashville, West Tennessee, Chattanooga, and Memphis all ran stories about this great statistic!

Why do I feel like no one took time to actually say, "Job well done?"  If you got a better grade on a test, you would hope an effective teacher would take a second to say, "Good work!" 

So, United Way wants to say, "Great job, Tennessee!"
Take time to say THANK YOU! to...
1. TEACHERS
2. PARENTS
3. STUDENTS
4. SCHOOL ADMINISTRATORS
5. PEOPLE IN THE COMMUNITY WHO VOLUNTEER WITH AND SUPPORT SCHOOLS
6. YOUR LEGISLATORS
See where I'm going?

It's really easy to get caught up in how far we have to go, what still needs to be fixed, etc.  It's also easy to be slightly cynical and write off small gains like this.  Is there a long way to go? Sure.  Is the work done in Tennessee's education system? Heck no!

Remember that it'll take us all working together to actually get something done. 
The "Grad Nation" report cites "...strong leadership, multi-sector collaboration, innovation, and support and technical assistance for research-based solutions are increasing graduation rates" (Executive Summary, p.5). 

To me, this sounds like COMMUNITY SUPPORT FOR EDUCATION WORKS.  Hopefully you'll join in. 

Congratulations, Tennessee!

UNITED WAY TEACHER EFFECTIVENESS EFFORT UPDATE:
The United Ways of Tennessee recently released their report about "Listening to the Community about Effective Teahcers."  Learn more about what happened at the summit HERE and from the NASHVILLE NEWS REPORT.

2 schools of thought: Why should we have to choose?

For all the education geeks out there, you may have picked up on some bantering back and forth (in articles and over the internet, of course--never face-to-face) between 2 major voices in education reform lately:
Bill Gates and Diane Ravitch.
If you check out the links above, you'll see some of the accusatory questions asked by Gates followed by scathing remarks by Ravitch.

It seems like there are 2 schools of thought coming out of their remarks.  (Sorry if I'm repeating stuff you already know)
(1) Corporate-style, results-oriented reform (often affiliated are high-stakes testing, teacher accountability, metrics, etc.)
(2) Wrap-around, community-support-driven reform (often affilaited with this are parent/community engagement, shared responsibility for student learning, concerns about poverty and other non-curricular barriers to learning, etc.)
If you know a lot about education, these are generalizations that don't exactly capture everything, but you get the picture.

Depending on who you are, you may be more sympathetic to one side or the other.  My point for writing this entry is this:
THEY ARE BOTH RIGHT and WE DON'T NEED TO CHOOSE SIDES.

Should teachers be accountable for their jobs? Yes.
Does poverty impact student learning? Yes.
Should school systems take a close look at how they're spending money to ensure that they eliminate waste? Yes.
Should parents be involved in a student's education? Of course!
Should value-added scores be used as one dimension of a teacher's evaluation? Yes.
Should the community be there to support schools? Yes.

Take the United Way's project here in East Tennessee to build community support for effective teachers in the classroom.

While subscribing to the idea that every child deserves and effective teacher in the classroom every year, we also understand that effective teachers don't exist in a silo. 

We've been able to skate between these 2 schools of thought.  Here are a few examples of work we've undertaken:

1. Spreading communications about the "Expect More, Achieve More" campaign: Working with people like the PTA, the Knoxville Chamber, Project GRAD, local school systems to talk about the importance of having higher standards in the classroom.  We helped to prepare the community for lower test scores and encouraged a variety of community entities to be there to provide extra support services for children who will have a tougher time meeting expectations.

2. Business and Education Partnerships: Working through the Knoxville-area regional coalition, we've put together a business/education subcommittee that's building a document that can be used with area Chambers of Commerce to show examples of how businesses and schools have worked together to achieve mutually-beneficial results.  We're presenting at the regional "Partners in Education" conference in February. 

3. Giving teachers and the community a voice in the changes coming to schools: We have gone around and held "listening sessions" to hear teachers' and communities' concerns about the teacher effectiveness movement.  We will present some of these "ground-level" insights to a group of Department of Education and statewide education reform partners on Friday in Nashville.  Additionally, we work with the Knox County Education Association to process through and learn from these listening sessions. 

4. Inviting community patners to hold a professional development session with teachers about the hardest-to-reach students and their families: Working with a broad group of community leaders (YWCA, Project GRAD, KCDC, Boys and Girls Club, PTA, Lenoir City Schools Family Resource Center, etc.) and the Knox County School system to have a dialogue about strategies to use IN and OUT of the classroom that helps to overcome some of the challenges associated with poverty and educational attainment.

5. Convening human service providers and school systems to ensure alignment with services provided and school system priorities in Knoxville: The school system is working with the United Way to create a consistent conversation ("critical friendship") with human service and after-school providers so that they can try to get them to align programs and services with strategic goals and objectives within Knox County Schools.  At the same time, we're trying to work with the school system to break down bureaucratic barriers that prohibit children from getting the services they need.

6. Working with the media to showcase stories about effective teachers and their practices: Let's show the public that there are a lot of teachers out there that take their jobs VERY SERIOUSLY and work tirelessly to ensure student achievement and success.  We've worked with WUOT, WATE, WBIR, and the Knoxville News Sentinel to run stories showcase efforts underway to give teachers the supports they need to be successful. 

Some of the work United Way has done "on the ground" through this project has showcased the necessity of both of these paradigms: High Standards / Accountability and Community Support.  We're trying not to get mired in the politics of the situation.  We're trying to focus on workable community solutions.  That's been the "United Way" for a long time.

Let's put politics aside and get some work done on behalf of our children.