Despair to Hope

      

Despair and hope. Two sides of the same coin, part of the daily life of a teacher who cares deeply…or is it?

Despair is a heavy-duty word. I never felt despair in the classroom. I DID fee frustration, irritation, confusion. I did feel bewilderment, sadness, and yes, anger.

#oklaed challenged us all to write about despair and hope as we face 2016, and the Legislative Session of 2016. I’m finally ready to face that task. Other bloggers jumped right onto that challenge, as I lagged behind. Rob Miller offered the original challenge.  Scott Haselwood, Meghan Loyd, Rick Cobb, Mindy Dennison, Michelle Waters,  John Thompson, and then Rob answered his own challenge. I told you I was late to this party. So many great ideas here. My take is a bit different, and I hope it adds to the conversation.

Frustration/Despair – Our policy makers do not seem to work for us. They seem to align themselves with other interests, not schools and children. That’s not my frustration…or at least it’s not my whole frustration.  One would think that would inspire educators to get out and vote for pro-education candidates, to search out office-seekers who have ideas for strengthening our schools, for partnering with educators, for working together for our students. Instead, educators have abdicated their civic responsibility, and I’ll say their ethical responsibility to be active in public life. We, as a group, don’t vote. 18% -30% of us show up at the polls. Is it no wonder we are considered irrelevant by lawmakers? Why should they listen to us when we rally at the Capitol? When we send frustrated emails and letters? We are irrelevant because we don’t vote. And when we do vote, many of us do not vote education as our top issue. I’ve heard the excuses: I’m so busy with school (I get that! Teaching is exhausting if you do it right), I don’t know the candidates (You know, teachers read and study for a living…I think we could do some research), I always vote for this social issue or that social issue (Look closely at the politicians espousing those issues and ask yourself if they might be using your concerns for their own purposes and manipulating you), I forgot to register to vote in time (NO EXCUSE!).  

Being an informed education voter does take some time, but there is help. You are not alone. League of Women Voters Oklahoma  is a good source of information about elections, including dates, registration details, and candidate-supplied information about issues. Check out their site…bookmark it. I’m a co-founder of a Facebook page called Oklahoma Education Voters. We surveyed our members and found their top education issues, and we try to find articles and research to inform our members about those issues. There are regional Parent Legislative Action Committees around the state, two in the Metro area. They regularly share information about education issues, and once ‘graded’ legislators’ commitment to public education. There’s an app for that. OAEC 55^th Legislature works on iPhones and Androids. It updates after elections, and it gives us information about the Legislature, the leadership, the members. It includes photos, which are invaluable when I sit in the Chambers and watch debates. Addresses, emails, and office numbers are all there on one app. I rely on it throughout the Session. The OK Legislature page is kind of clunky, but it’s worth investigating. You can find your legislators, search for bills, find committee schedules…and track bills. You can follow #oklaed bloggers, Rick Cobb, Rob Miller, and BlueCereal are especially vigilant about following legislation and legislators. You can follow #oklaed on Twitter and join the Sunday evening chats…all stakeholders are welcome. Many local politicians have Facebook pages and Twitter accounts. You can follow them and see what’s up on their feed. Join your PTA and attend meetings. Become active in your support of public schools. Don’t find yourself on the BadVoter list.

Hope – My example of hope begins in frustration. Oklahoma was once a top-five leader in the number of National Board Certified Teachers in the classroom. Our support program was probably the best in the nation. Scholarships, support meetings, networking, and a sizable stipend if we stayed in the classroom. I know for a fact that inspired me to stay put in my class, contributing more to my family’s finances than I could have otherwise. The stipend was a mini-stimulus package every year as we spent our funds in Oklahoma. Recently, though, that support from policy makers has eroded. Scholarships were stopped, then the amount was dropped, then the number of scholarships to be offered was cut, and most devastatingly, the stipend was drastically cut from $5000 to a $1000 salary bump, with strings. Our program has suffered as a result. Whereas we used to certify 100-200 National Board Certified Teachers every year, last year we celebrated only 13 new NBCTs. During “The Troubles,” it was even bleaker than that. But that is NOT my example of hope.

Yesterday, Education Leadership Oklahoma, the office charged with NBCT support, held its statewide meeting for new candidates just beginning their NBC journey. It was a considerably smaller group than in years past, but we were there…candidates, trainers, Regional Coordinators. Early on a snowy Saturday, ready to commit ourselves to become better teachers for ourselves and for our students. Teachers who could have been sleeping in chose to meet and wrestle with the intricacies of National Board. Teachers who told their stories with pride…with humility. Teachers who are ready to hold their practice up to the highest Standards in the profession. Teachers who are already accomplished, but want to become even better. The energy was palpable. Teachers committed themselves yesterday to do everything they can for their students, to become the best—for their students. Certainly not for the potential of $70 more in their monthly paycheck. I was so proud to be an Oklahoma educator, surrounded with people ready to do the hard work of analyzing and reflecting on their work, to be brutally honest about what works and what doesn’t work in their classrooms.

Is National Board back to its glory days, when I held support meetings of up to 50 teachers? Not yet. But Oklahoma’s teachers are still answering the challenge to improve and learn. They are working on their own time for their students. They are still striving to be the best teachers they can be.

In the face of a revenue failure, in the face of lowest per-pupil expenditure in the region, in the face of funding cuts this semester, in the face of neglect and distain from some policy makers…teachers showed up Saturday. They worked together. They committed themselves and their whole hearts to their students.

It made me so proud to be a teacher in Oklahoma as I saw the enthusiasm.

Thank a teacher tomorrow, and tell them we appreciate their devotion to our students. They are my hope.

Sonder -- My Word for 2016

Sonder – As I searched for ‘my’ word, I searched a site that promised beautiful words…and I found sonder: 

“...the realization that each random passerby is living a life as vivid and complex as your own—populated with their own ambitions, friends, routines, worries and inherited craziness”

Immediately I thought back to my childhood and the train trips I took with my grandmother to and from Kansas City and Los Angeles…wonderful trips through towns I’d visit as an adult. Every time the train would slow going through a town, I’d smash my face up against the window to look at all those people I’d never meet…people walking out of shops, riding their bikes home, eating dinner, doing homework. I was deeply aware of a connection ‘through a glass darkly.’ We were all terribly human, but we knew nothing about each other. Our lives only intersected for that moment as a child making a blurry mess on a train window searched…for what, she didn’t know. It was sonder I was experiencing…that feeling that we were all alike and all unknowable.

If I choose sonder as my word, what will that impel me to do, think, say? How will that drive me through 2016? How does that matter?

I want to recapture that feeling of wonder as I work with others, remembering they are rich, complex people whose lives are unknowable…I want to respect and honor their lives as important. I want to work with others, knowing much of their lives and hearts are and always be secret and hidden. I can appreciate them without understanding. I can work with them, without agreeing on every facet of our lives. I can give them their separateness.

I don’t have to feel slighted or frustrated when others don’t respond the way I think they should…they are living their complex lives…as the stars of their story. I’m rightfully a bit player in their story. And that’s the way it should be.

I will face my year with wills and won’ts

I will

• Respect
• Listen
• Honor
• Appreciate
• Look for commonalities
• Find the intersections in our lives
• Find patience for others
• Assume positive intent
• Look for ways to contribute
• Step back and breathe

I won’t

• Take things personally
• Assume others understand me
• Brood
• Feel hurt
• Assume others are ignoring me, meaning to slight me
• Assign motives to others’ behavior or words

Focusing on sonder will allow me to find my own truth and let others find the same.

The children who visit the elementary library where I volunteer have rich, complex lives…they need me to stop and listen. Their insights are keen. Their feelings are real. Stopping to visit and really visit will show them I care about them. That I want to hear a bit of their story and spend a moment or so with them.

Adults deserve the same respect…my silent acknowledgment of their truth and their stories will help me keep a balance, and help me focus on our common goals. I don’t have to be a main character in their story. It’s fine to be a walk-on. I can still contribute.

Some policy makers may present a challenge. And I think I need to face that challenge. A person who disagrees with me on policy is not an evil person…he or she works from a different story, a different complex life. I cannot begin to know or understand, but I don’t have to in order to look for that connection.

Even now as an adult I people-watch, making up imaginary lives for strangers I see on the street. Even now, I love reading fiction because I am allowed to participate in rich, complex lives of totally fictional characters.

And then I learned it’s a totally made-up word with no etymology. It was invented, as Shakespeare invented words he needed, by the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows. I love that title as much as I love the word ‘sonder’.

But I’m sticking with my made-up word, because I so deeply identify with the concept. I’ve felt it my whole life…feeling separate and apart, and yet knowing others felt the same.

So, wish me luck as I face my year with sonder and respect and patience and trust.

OK Capitol Christmas Carol

My first year of teaching was in a tiny elementary school, where I was one of the two sixth-grade teachers. My shiny English teaching license didn’t get me a job, so I taught my first of four years with an emergency certificate…but that’s a story for another time.

I was not a very good math and science teacher (read woefully unprepared! If only I could have related them to Irish playwrights of the 20^th century!), I could have been a good social studies teacher if the textbooks actually referred to countries currently on the map. But I rocked reading and grammar.

In December I decided to share A Christmas Carol as my after-recess read-aloud. My little Indiana farm kids didn’t have Mr. Dickens’ vocabulary, so I revised a lot as I read. The last day before Break was a quiet one, with kids finishing their crafty presents to their parents, and I read nearly all day. When we finished the book, and I read, “And so, as Tiny Tim observed, God Bless Us, Every One!” There was a silence, and then, to a child, they clapped. I was permanently hooked on kids from that moment as we shared that universal moment of being moved by literature.

I’ve been thinking a lot about Scrooge recently, as we learn how the economic policies of our state leaders are playing out. Rick Cobb has analyzed the situation better than I ever could here and here. Rob Miller adds his own insights here and here. We in #oklaed are so lucky these two educators are on our side.

A Twitter conversation with a new blogger, @ marvelsagentedu, and a Facebook conversation with a former student, now teacher, brought me back to this classic, and one scene in particular.

The Spirit of Christmas Present lets Scrooge peek into the homes of people enjoying their Christmas Eve, without his wealth, but without his angry heart. He marvels, but is not yet touched. But he also shows Scrooge strangers who struggle. Then he puts faces onto that struggle as he reveals two innocent children.

He pulls his robes back and there are Ignorance and Want, “… a boy and girl. Yellow, meagre, ragged, scowling, wolfish; but prostrate, too, in their humility…” Looking into their eyes, their tired, old eyes, Scrooge recoils. The Spirit’s words warn us all: “This boy is Ignorance. This girl is Want. Beware them both, and all of their degree, but most of all beware this boy, for on his brow I see that written which is Doom, unless the writing be erased. “

We have seen the work of modern-day Scrooge and Marley – yes, I know. “Marley was dead: to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about that.” But we have at the Oklahoma Capitol Speaker Bingman and Senator Jolley and finance secretary Preston Doerflinger. Spinning our troubles with maniacal fervor.

They spoke about our $900 million hole, on its way to being a $1 Billion…yes, Billion.  Mr. Doerflinger called it ‘an opportunity.’ Said it’s not as bad as other years, and blamed OPEC, not the failed policies of his own party. Brushing off any sense of responsibility to the people of Oklahoma.  

Speaker Hickman talked about our schools…He again asserted they ‘…have more money to spend than they ever had..” And, more students – he ignored that fact. Those Ignorance and Want students who need so much from us. He told us our teacher shortage is just a reflection of a national trend, hinting that the abysmal teacher salaries are not the problem. He swiped at districts for not putting all that money into teacher salaries. “…those dollars haven’t gotten to where they needed to go.” He must not have paid a bill recently…prices are going up. Maybe because schools were required to pay utility bills and buy new computers and band width to support the mandated testing, and the tests. His disingenuous posturing does so remind me of Scrooge: “Are there no prisons? Are there no work houses?”

Senator Jolley piled on with the same message – districts have more money than they’ve ever,had…and tried to brush off the evidence that Oklahoma leads the nation in cuts to education. He ignored evidence that Oklahoma has the second highest enrollment among regional states, and we spend the very least pupil. More kids, fewer dollars. Facts.

Scrooge and Marley and Friend…blaming their policies on OPEC and teacher insurance.  Steadfastly ignoring our children, Want and Ignorance and all their classmates.

Scrooge and Marley and Friend, brushing deep cuts to  schools and other services to children off with a dismissive gesture…”are there no work houses?”  They seem to want their tax cuts and their tax credits. They want their ESAs and our vouchers. They want our for-profit charters. Our children will have to wait.

Our Governor is planning to let the tax cut in January occur on schedule, costing the state another $147 million dollars…”Once the price of oil rebounds, I am confident this tax cut will prove its worth in the long term.” And Want can languish with Ignorance until that time comes, I guess.

Scrooge can blithely ignore the effects of poverty and ignorance when it’s abstract. But, like most of us, when face-to-face with “…wretched, abject, frightful, hideous, miserable..” children who suffer, not because of their own actions, but because of the actions and neglect and abuse of others…adults, policy makers, decision-makers, he cracks.

Our Scrooge and Marley and Friend doubled down and looked Oklahoma in the eye and told us our kids and their futures are not as important as a tax cut for the rich, and tax credits for the oil industry. The tax cuts will go forward. Want will continue to want. The attacks on our public schools will continue. Ignorance will continue to threaten us all. Will our policy makers listen?

In the novel, Marley learns…in death, but he learns. He saves Scrooge before it’s too late.

"Mankind was my business. The common welfare was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence, were, all, my business. The dealings of my trade were but a drop of water in the comprehensive ocean of my business!''

Our children cannot vote; they cannot advocate. We must vote and we must advocate for them. We must push back against lies and half-truths told with numbers. We must push back against starving agencies that assist children and their families, and strangle our schools.

Mankind is our business. The common welfare, charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence…care of our youngest and most vulnerable. Not because we can score political points, but because they need us.

Our children are our business. The well fed children, and Want. The bright and warm and Ignorance. They are all ours and it’s past time for us to act like it.

Merry Christmas…and God bless us, every one.

Fund Us. Support Us. Or STF(flip)U

The decidedly rude title for this blog piece was inspired by a dear friend who will go nameless. I’ve changed one word to give it a PG-13 rating, but  I want my frustration to be easily understood, and sometimes strong language makes a point more quickly…so forgive my crudeness. And remember…I changed ‘the’ word.

Every time I talk to a lawmaker…well, probably not every time, but close…I’m told with a smile that said lawmaker has a mom or an aunt or a grandmother who was (operative word) a teacher. Then I’m told how much said lawmaker loves and respects teachers. I sit with a stiff smile, thinking about my family…I’m fourth-generation educator; my son and his wife are fifth. So is their cousin. We are and were teachers.

I’m not feeling the love from these lawmakers who drag out their relatives who USED to be teachers as evidence of their respect for my profession. I watch their actions. I watch their votes. I listen to their speeches on the floor of the House and Senate.

I’ve written about our teacher shortage and teacher pay before, here and here and here

So, we are loved and respected and valued? Then explain these facts:

• Oklahoma has cut funding to education more drastically than any other state in the nation, long before the current oil crisis hit. 23.6% for those of us keeping score.
• Oklahoma teachers are currently paid some of the lowest salaries in the nation.
• The relatively low cost of living does NOT help teachers’ buying power. Salaries are even lower
• Oklahoma has a teacher shortage which demands over 900 emergency certificates be issued, to get a warm body in classrooms with kids.
• Oklahoma policy maker continue to fast-track alternatively certified teachers into the classroom, leaving many with no support and dooming them to short careers.
• Oklahoma teachers qualify for SNAP benefits for their children

I’ve asked teachers to talk about their struggles to support their families and continue to work as teachers. The stories are heart-rending. We ask so much of our educators. Demand so much. And we pay them so little.

“I just hit $40,000 with my bachelor's and master's degrees and 16 years of experience. That is less than half the national average for people with the same education and years of experience”

Ironically, the figures will tell us that $44,000 is the average teacher’s salary in Oklahoma. Believe me when I say, a teacher with 16 years experience and a master’s degree is NOT the average.

“My contract before taxes is $29,908 with a bachelor's degree in education. I'm a single mom of two young boys…. None of us went into teaching for the money, but we still need a reasonable pay for the amount of work we actually do.”

And this post that started our conversation:

“My salary after taxes is $27,800. That’s with a college degree and a graduate certification. I could make more at Chipotle. I am paid less than what is considered a liveable income for Oklahoma's already low cost of living. I have student loans. I have bills. I will never own a home. I will always live paycheck to paycheck. I'm glad I don't have to raise a family on this. I deserve better.”

Throughout my entire career I said my salary would cover the mortgage and some of the bills one month, and the mortgage and some other of the bills the next. I could not have supported my family of four on what I earned. I would have been forced to leave teaching, or leave the state. This is the reality for far too many of our educators now…get out of teaching, or leave the state.

So, to review…Lawmakers love and respect us. They proudly tout family members who used to be teachers. They think the world of us…

They just will not pay us a living wage, support our classrooms, fund our schools. They won’t work to strengthen the profession. They won’t work for equitable education for all students in Oklahoma. They still want to play ‘choice’ games by starving the public schools and then giving wealthy parents tax dollars to take to private schools.  They won’t be courageous leaders and commit to raising taxes, cutting loopholes, ending tax credits. They apparently won’t stop plans for a new arch and reflecting pool on Capitol grounds.

To these policy makers, I saw, with all the fatigue of an old woman with a 39-year-career in the classroom, “Fund us. Support us. Or STF (flip) U.” 

FINNISH LESSONS by Pasi Sahlberg

“…John Dewey dreamed of the teacher as a guide helping students formulate questions and devise solutions. Dewey saw the pupil’s own experience, not information imparted by the teacher, as the critical path to understanding. Dewey also contended that democracy must be the main value in each school just as it is in any free society. The education system in Finland is…shaped by these ideas of Dewey and flavored with the Finnish principles of practicality, creativity, and common sense. What the world can learn from educational change in Finland is that accomplishing the dream of a good and equitable education system for all children is possible. But it takes the right mix of ingenuity, time, patience, and determination”

                        Pasi Sahlberg, Finnish Lessons

Two professional books in a row have raised my blood pressure…two books that showed us what we should be doing in education, and aren’t. Two books highlight the fact our American educational research has been systematically ignored by reformers in our country. Instead, this research has been instrumental in creating the Finnish Way, a school system that aims to educate each child, and has resulted in extremely high test scores. Funny thing about Finland's reform: those test scores were never the goal. 

Lawrence Baines’ The Teachers We Need vs. The Teachers We Have ignited my frustration with its focus on alternative certification in our country…the only nation that has loosened the rigor of teacher preparation, as it imposes more and more controls and mandates.

Pasi Sahlberg’s Finnish Lessons blew a crack in the top of my head. Finland built their education system, not to get high scores on international tests, but to create equity of access and opportunity for all students. And high test scores followed. Their commitment was, and continues to be the students in their charge. They built this system with highly-trained, independent teachers leading the way.

Finland started with solid educational research. They didn’t generate that research; instead, they searched out the best thinkers and incorporated their ideas. Who were these educational thinkers, you ask? Americans! John Dewey. David Berliner, Linda Darling Hammond, and a new name for me, Andy Hargreaves. Our own thinkers and researchers. The ones ignored, ridiculed, passed over for the job of Secretary of Education. Ours. The research that should be informing the work in American schools.

Sahlberg is very honest about several issues that make their success hard to emulate – yes, Finland is not as ethnically diverse as other countries (read ‘the US), but diversity is growing. Yes, poverty rates are extremely low, but they’re growing too. Yes, Finland is a smallish country where consensus would be easier to build around truly improving education.  Those Finnish students who have such high graduation rates? Because of the Finnish system of upper secondary school, they’re only 16 years old.  I wonder how that would compare (or contrast) with US students. And the elephant in the room we’re all tip-toeing around? Finland’s strong welfare state, where every child comes to school healthy, well-fed and well-housed. A state where families are supported in their child-rearing efforts.   

So, what is it that makes Finnish schools great? “…improving the teaching force, limiting student testing to a necessary minimum, placing responsibility and trust before accountability, and handing over school- and district-level leadership to education professionals.”

“That’s all”…she said in a voice dripping with sarcasm. “That’s all.”

I was lucky enough hear Salhberg speak to a room full of educators. He’s approachable and confident in his message; passionate about the fact there is another way to create great schools…and not just schools that score well on tests. His energy lit up the room. This book sets out to explain the Finnish education system, not to convince us to follow slavishly, but to show…there is another way.

In this book, he gives us a history lesson, grounding the book in the realities of Finland after WWII, and the schools that needed reforming. In the 1970’s, they launched the great experiment, to provide equal access to a quality education for all youngsters, and to help develop every student’s potential.  “This philosophy included the beliefs that all pupils can learn if they are given proper opportunities and support, that understanding and learning through human diversity is an important educational goal, and that schools should function as small-scale democracies, just as John Dewey (OUR John Dewey) had insisted…” Finland didn’t decide it wanted to ‘compete’ with the world, and raise scores on international tests. Finland wanted to create a system where each child could learn and grow, and each secondary student had options for post-secondary learning. They wanted to teach each child, and teach the whole child. Their initial goals were lofty and sincere.

That meant changing the curriculum and structure of the schools, revamping teacher preparation, making it one of the most competitive (one of the only times I read that word in relation to anything about education in Finland) systems in the world.  It meant putting the power of decision-making in schools into the hands of these highly-trained professional educators, and doing all this with minimal standardized testing, and only one high-stakes test.

He is honest about the push back, from politicians and from the business community, to the new reforms: rigorous teacher education, special education for whoever needs a temporary boost, complete reworking of the secondary school landscape, municipal (yes, schools are run by cities) schools, a climate of collaboration and trust, and a philosophy that less is more…less homework, less time in class, but more responsibility. There was push back…until the first PISA test results showed Finland at the top of the world in test scores…test scores they had not chased in their reforms.

I am intrigued…and intimidated…by Finland’s teacher preparation programs. From The Smartest Kids in the World, I learned that only about 1 in 10 applicants out of high school are accepted into teacher education programs. But, applicants can work on identified weaknesses and reapply. One of the teachers interviewed in that book worked as a substitute teacher for several years, and was finally accepted into college. Sahlberg told us that his own niece had not been accepted the first time she applied. He talked with her about where in the process she derailed, and they decided it was in the interview portion of the interview.  She prepared more specifically for the interview, and was successful the second time she applied.

So, it’s not ‘one and done,’ as I feared. It’s extremely hard to get into school, but you have more than one opportunity if that is your goal. To be accepted in teacher preparation, a graduate must have high grades, high Matriculation Test scores, “…positive personalities, interpersonal skills, and a commitment to work as a teacher.” Previous experience in teaching working with young people is a requirement. After an applicant fulfills those requirements, there is a tough interview. Only then is an applicant accepted into a teacher preparation program.

Teacher preparation culminates in a master’s degree, with a rigorous course load, original research, and concentrations in at least two multidisciplinary fields. There are field experiences where students are given more and more responsibility for student work. Where did they find the research and development to create their teacher preparation system? American universities. While the US is trying to churn out as many alternatively-certified teachers as possible, Finland went in the opposite direction, using American research to craft their programs. “There are no alternative ways to earn a teacher’s diploma in Finland; only the university degree constitutes a license to teach.”

Oh, and did I mention, higher education is free? Teachers graduate, ready for the classroom, well-prepared and well-challenged, and debt-free.

And what kind of world do these new teachers join once they’re employed? One where teachers have the respect and trust of parents, the community, and the nation. One where teachers have autonomy in their schools and classrooms. One where they are expected to collaborate. One for which they are paid a professional salary. “The true Finnish difference is that teachers in Finland may exercise their professional knowledge and judgment both widely and freely in their schools. They control curriculum, student assessment, school improvement, and community involvement….Finnish teachers…have…latitude and power…”

Teachers are chosen carefully, trained rigorously, because they will be entering a prestigious profession that has the trust of the nation. Sahlberg asked Finnish teachers ‘what would prompt you to leave teaching?’ That question is especially pertinent right now in Oklahoma and the US. Why would Finnish teachers choose to turn their backs on their profession? “If they were to lose autonomy... [if] an outside inspector were to judge the quality of their work, or a merit-based compensation policy influenced by external measures were imposed…Many Finnish teachers have told me that if they encountered similar external pressure regarding standardized testing and high-stakes accountability as do their peers in…the US, they would seek other jobs.” Once again, the US is on the wrong side of a policy to truly improve schools.

But our wrong-headed reforms hardly end with teacher preparation and the perception of the profession.

Sahlberg has coined the term GERM to describe education systems that contrast with the Finnish Way: Global Educational Reform Movement. He describes GERM’s symptoms: standardization, setting goals, increased focus on core subjects (reading and math), prescribed curriculum, transfer to the corporate model of education, and adoption of high stakes. Ugh…we’ve been infected.  The US gave up constructivism, conceptual understanding, multiple intelligence, emotional intelligence, interpersonal skills in schools, according to Sahlberg, when we were infected. Again…the US in on the wrong side of this issue. We have been forced by corporate reformers to turn our backs on our own research and chase test scores. Can you see the steam rising from my ears? We generated the research and our reformers systematically ignore it in their quest to wring public education dry.

For those of us keeping score at home, we in the US, desperately chasing Finland’s international test scores are ignoring our own research, ignoring our own teachers, ignoring our own students. How wrong-headed can we be?

Well, the answer is EVEN more wrong-headed. Finland has accomplished this education reform with no charter schools, nonexistent private schools, no vouchers, no ESAs, and nearly all public funding. No phony competition (remember, the only time Sahlberg speaks of competition it's in relation to getting into teacher college), no phony choice. PUBLIC SCHOOLS. Funded with PUBLIC MONEY. As #oklaed gears up to fight ESAs and vouchers again, it would be good to note the country we're chasing sees equitable education of all children as its mission.

Instead of "trust the parent" when the parent wants to leave the public school and take the public tax funds raised to educate the child in the public schools and use it in a private school, Finland takes another view of what's important in their schools: "networking...decentralization...self-regulation...capacity...autonomy...school identity...shared responsibility...personalization...collaborative efforts...sharing ideas...solving problems together. Equal education opportunities." How ironic that Finland is living out the dream of equal opportunity that our country gives lip service to. 

Can we, even if we could convince reformers to emulate the Finnish Way? It would take completely changing teacher preparation…making the profession highly respected, so there would be competition for spots in teacher prep programs. How do we stop the toxic spiral we’re in, with the demonizing of educators, with veterans leaving the classroom, with youngsters choosing other professions? This is not a rhetorical question for me. It’s the core of this book, and Baines’ book. Raising the standards without attending to the profession will accomplish nothing but more alternatively certified teachers, with quality being a huge issue.

What’s the Finnish Way? Research-based teacher prep, comprehensive schools for all, special education for all who need an extra boost, small schools, teacher leaders, assessment in the hands of those teacher leaders…it’s also the Finnish “…welfare system [which] guarantees all children the safety, health, nutrition, and moral support they need to learn well in school.”

Salhberg is clear:

 “We should reconsider those education policies that advocate choice, competition, and privatization as the key drivers of sustained educational improvement. None of the best-performing education systems currently rely primarily on them…Finnish experience shows that a consistent focus of equity and shared responsibility – not choice and competition – can lead to an education system in which all children learn better than they did before.”

He also sees challenges ahead for Finland, challenges that resemble our own – more second-language students, more students in poverty. More immigrant. One of the hallmarks of Finnish education is there is the fact there’s only a little achievement gap between their highest and lowest students. That is changing. “The challenge for Finland is not to try to maintain high student performance but to strive to keep the country an equal society and maintain its leading position as having the most equitable education system in the world.” His big dream? “…create a community of learners that provides the conditions that allow all young people to discover their talents.” Test scores be damned. Attend to the student, teach the student. Create a system of personalized learning for each child. Build a teaching force that is trusted to make decisions about students’ learning.

Two calls to action. Two dire warnings about everything education in the US seems to revere and value. Two courses that could make a difference.

My profession has been hijacked by non-educators who want to make a quick buck. By non-educators who have no patience for the kind of sustained change it will take to right our course. By non-educators who will abandon us all, and then blame us for their failures.

How can we wrestle control back to educators and students and parents? And is it too late for us?

On to Finnish Lessons 2.0, as soon as my blood pressure goes down a bit.

THE TEACHERS WE NEED vs THE TEACHERS WE HAVE--a Review

“If police officers were trained like teachers, cadets would take a test one day and be out walking the streets with a loaded weapon the next.”

If you haven’t heard, there’s a teacher shortage right now…caused by a perfect storm of disrespect, poor salaries, lousy support for public schools, legislative mandates, and a drop in enrollment at teacher preparation colleges and universities.

Instead of addressing any of these needs and issues, reformers and policy makers have doubled down on the attacks, marginalizing our concerns and opening up the floodgates to alternatively-certified teachers. NO other country in the industrialized world has gone in this direction. In fact, high-test-scoring countries have no alternate routes to teaching. So…all those countries who kick our butts on those tests than mean so much to policy makers have chosen to go a totally different direction in teacher preparation and certification. Maybe they don’t want the improvement they say they want.

In Oklahoma this school year, there are 1,000 teachers teaching with emergency certificates. A large number of them are probably alternatively-certified: people who decided to take the tests and pay the fee, and  become a teacher. Some will be very successful. Most will not. These teachers will teach students whose educational lives will be ruled by high-stakes tests. We give kids teachers with little to no preparation for their jobs, and then we fail the student or refuse to give her a diploma. Takes the breath away if you think about it for too long.

Here is where Lawrence Baines’ book, The Teachers We Need vs. The Teachers We Have comes into the conversation. I used to think Teach for America, with its five weeks of ‘boot camp’ was about as dismal a way to get into the classroom there was. Baines shows us the folly of that thinking. Compared to other fly-by-night programs, TFA is downright rigorous. Because “Increasingly in the United States today, the sole requirement for entering the teaching profession has become a passing score on a content-area exam.”

He begins with a discussion of testing for teachers…tests designed to predict a candidate’s effectiveness in the classroom, as measured by tests kids take. He states, “In fact, what a teacher scores on a test has little correlation to their effectiveness in the classroom.” Two testing giants have a lot riding on states continuing these tests, whether they’re useful or not. ETS and Pearson are sitting pretty. Again. Still.

Baines investigates programs from around the country and categorizes them according to the levels of quality of preparation. He looks at course work (if any), duration and rigor, and uses four descriptions: Zilch, Cram, Minimal, and Adequate.

A Zilch program is “… little to no preparation (may include a test required by the state).”  Just that test. “…more and more states are replacing high expectations for teacher preparation with nothing more than a passing score on content-area tests – tests that have shown no correlation to student performance.”

The American Board for Certification of Teacher Excellence provides an example of a zilch program. What a high-sounding name, huh? They’re a business, not a Board. They sell candidates CD-ROMs to prepare for the certification test, that they prepared, and they grade. Sweet deal for candidates. Not so sweet for their students. In Idaho, ABCTE candidates are exempt from other teacher testing. In New Hampshire, ABCTE candidates are placed in the same category as teachers who are National Board Certified Teachers. Because, you know, “Board.”

Cram Level programs provide course work for candidates. Most course work is in content areas, not in pedagogy. Usually no field experience or intern teaching is required. In fact, one program, iteachTEXAS, counts a teacher’s first year of experience, with pay, as his or her internship.

Minimal Level is just that…minimal coursework and minimal (but at least some) field experiences. Baines points out in New Jersey, their alternative program undercuts the ‘rigor’ of TFA, making TFA look unattractive. What the heck? TFA is too hard??

In my mind, there is a disquieting trend in all these programs…the eager support of state departments of education and state lawmakers. Everyone, it seems, is happy to fast-track unprepared candidates into the classroom with no preparation, no support, and no experience. I wonder is it because these teachers cost less, since they have no experience, and will probably never invest enough in teacher retirement to draw a pension? s it because they’re easier to intimidate, evaluate with test scores, demand long hours, keep their mouths shut about harmful reforms? Do what they’re told and shut up?

Why the eagerness to marginalize traditionally-prepared teachers? Why take a completely different direction than those countries whose scores we are chasing? I am perplexed. And reading of all the programs and businesses trying to cash in, I get frustrated for my profession.

Back to Baines’ descriptions of programs. The last level is Adequate – course, different field experiences, and student teaching. They are out there. And they are…adequate.

In self defense, many universities and colleges are offering a hybrid alternative certification program, and my home state of Indiana, actually has a law on the books that requires all higher education institutions to provide alternative certification programs, because, “..with the surge of alternative certification, many universities now educate fewer teachers than do businesses, school districts, and governmental agencies.”

Baines makes the connection to alternative programs and new laws about mentoring, putting the burden of supporting poorly-prepared novice teachers on the shoulders of already-burdened veterans for little or no compensation.

Exactly the opposite of high-scoring countries. Baines describes teacher preparation in Singapore and in Finland, and the US suffers in comparison. High standards, tests to be admitted into school, and interviews are all part of the admissions programs. In Singapore, only 20% of applicants are admitted, and in Finland, only about 13% are. Teacher preparation is centralized in both countries, as is certification. In Singapore, there is only one teacher preparation university…granted, it’s tiny a tiny country, but still. Only one. Both countries have rigorous expectations for their candidates, but with support. Singapore actually pays tuition for students, with the understanding that if they drop the program, or quit teaching within 5 years, they will be required to pay back the country’s investment. In Finland, teacher preparation programs result in a master’s degree with extensive course work and field experiences. Quality is controlled because quality is planned from the beginning, and conditions are created for success.

Contrast that commitment to teacher preparation with the US – where “more than 1,200 institutions prepare teachers….Add to this number the burgeoning industries in alternative certification represented by businesses, state agencies, and K-12 schools, and the number of places where a teacher might be prepared approaches 2,000.”

Where other countries -- high-scoring countries -- approached education reform by revolutionizing teacher preparation, centralizing the process to control the quality, the US ignored teacher quality, and in fact undermined teacher quality by encouraging the alternative certification industry to thrive. The US chose to make everything rise or fall on student test scores, “certifying teachers willing to play by these rules.” A revolving door of ill-prepared teachers teaching our children.

Baines concludes his book by comparing teaching with other professions – he gives a fascinating history of the American Medical Association and its work to promote the profession. He describes the preparation, both academic and practical, for lawyers, plumbers, and funeral directors. There are no short cuts, no fast tracks for these professions, nor should there be. But for teaching? He’s written this book showing us how little regard (my words) our policy makers feel for educators and education.

I must ask ‘why?’ Why do our kids mean so little to our policy makers that they send unprepared teachers into the classroom? Why are our children being compared with students in these high-scoring countries whose teachers have been nurtured and supported and respected…and paid a living wage? What are our policy makers telling us about their values?

Yes, we have a teacher shortage…so that probably means  more, not fewer, alternatively-certified teachers. But if we want to be great, we must wean ourselves off the quick fix and elevate my profession – my family’s business.

This book begins the conversation. We NEED better-prepared teacher. We deserve better-prepared teachers.

If you care about teaching and education, this short book is one you need to read. I think I’ll buy copies for my own Legislators. Maybe the words of a respected professor will mean more than mine do.

I hope so.

Rhonda Harlow Drops the Mic

I attended a Senate Interim Study on the teacher shortage in OK...Superintendent Hofmeister and Shawn Hime spoke and added to the conversation.

Senator Patrick Anderson introduced one of his constituents, Rhonda Harlow, to address the group, and Rhonda, a teacher and instructional coach in Enid, was magnificent. Here is what she said.

My name is Rhonda Harlow and I am a district-wide instructional coach at Enid Public Schools.  I have previously worked as a Title I Reading Specialist at the elementary and middle school levels and as a Literacy Coach.  I’d like to thank my legislator, Senator Patrick Anderson, for inviting me to speak at this interim study.  Decisions made here at our Capitol impact every classroom and every student across the state, and no discussion of our public schools is complete without the inclusion of an educator’s voice.  So thank you for providing me the opportunity to give a teacher’s perspective on the Oklahoma High5 plan.  

I am honored to share my time today with Oklahoma’s State Superintendent Joy Hofmeister.  As an Oklahoma teacher, I know that Superintendent Hofmeister values my voice, my perspective, and my experience.  The collaborative spirit of her administration is greatly appreciated by Oklahoma’s public school employees, and I believe it will translate into positive outcomes for our students, teachers, and schools.  I would also like to applaud former-Enid Superintendent Shawn Hime for his outstanding work as the Executive Director of the OSSBA.  Their For the People campaign is highlighting the positive things taking place in Oklahoma public education – and there are so many good things to highlight.  Oklahoma educators and administrators make incredible things happen on a daily basis despite our limited resources, dismal pay, and the crushing pressure of state and federal mandates.  While we are always thinking of ways we can improve education for our students, it’s important we take the time to recognize those things that are going on in our schools, too. 

As an instructional coach for Enid Public Schools, I work with teachers and administrators on implementing effective teaching practices in the classroom.  Along with the other coaches in our district, I also research, design, and deliver professional development to teachers and administrators covering a variety of topics such as effective instructional strategies, classroom management, lesson planning, curriculum design, differentiated instruction … well, the list goes on and on as does my job description!   This position affords me the opportunity to get to know, work with, and interact with nearly every teacher in our district each year, and I’ve heard from many of them regarding the various pay raise plans that have been promoted since the end of the legislative session. 

One of the first things Oklahoma educators would like you to consider and to appreciate in discussions about a pay increase is this –  additional pay for additional days worked does not equate to a pay increase.  That’s just pay.  To be considered an increase, educators need to see their daily pay rate actually go up.   If increasing instructional time is your priority, I urge you to consider the significant instructional time lost each year preparing and administering state and federally mandated testing.  If state mandated testing was eliminated or reduced, those days could be spent teaching rather than testing, and the state would save millions of dollars in the process.  Testing does not equate to teaching or learning.  Exchanging End of Instruction exams that provide no real-world value to our students, for the ACT- a test score that employers and colleges actually do look at- would be a tremendous step toward getting the most for our students out of those 180 days we currently have in the classroom. 

While the OKhigh5 plan would add instructional days to the calendar, I commend the plan for compensating teachers for those additional days worked as well as providing a desperately needed pay increase in the five years AFTER its passage.  But unfortunately for Oklahoma, surrounding states are offering better salaries and more classroom resources NOW – not over the next 5 years.  While Oklahoma has spent the years since 2008 making the largest cuts to per pupil expenditures in the country – over 22 percent- surrounding states have continued to invest in their classrooms and in their teachers. 

Some say the cost of living in Oklahoma is low, therefore Oklahoma teachers shouldn’t complain about receiving the worst pay in the country.   But Oklahoma’s pay lags behind – even when you account for a lower cost of living.  Whereas it costs about 90 cents on the dollar to live here compared with the national average cost of living, Oklahoma teachers are paid less than 80 cents on the dollar compared to the national average teacher pay.  The Oklahoma Policy Institute reports that to bring Oklahoma’s teacher pay and cost of living into balance, our average teacher would need a raise of $6,500 today.  The reality is … phasing in a pay increase of less than $5,000 over five years will not balance this cost of living discrepancy to begin with, and in the five years it takes to implement this plan that gap will continue to increase. 

Here’s what our state’s long-term education underfunding looks like in my hometown.  The shortage of teachers has led to the hiring of people who have never been in a classroom or who have never taken education classes to prepare them for the current realities.  As an instructional coach, I work with those teachers and together with their mentor teacher and their administrators, we strive to “grow our own” but growth takes time – expertise takes experience.  Oklahoma’s children deserve the best and they deserve it sooner rather than later.  One of those education realities is growing class sizes.  Each year they get bigger and bigger.  This makes it impossible to give students the one-on-one or small group instruction needed.  For example, one veteran middle school Science teacher in our district has a class of 35, and 16 of those students are special ed.  She is not able to pace her lessons to meet the needs of all her students.  It’s just not possible for her to offer that many students with their unique needs the individual instruction required for them to succeed in this subject. Also, this year, the district purchased Science curriculum for grades 3 and up.  Yet a classroom set is only 30 textbooks.  That means 5 students in her class of 35 must share textbooks.  And might I add this is a tested subject!  This is not what Oklahoma parents want for their students – and it’s not the education our students deserve. 

Then there is the Kindergarten teacher in a high-poverty school in our district with a high English language learner population.  Of her 24 students, 22 students are on Reading Sufficiency academic progress plans and 19 of those students are English Language Learners that require an additional language instruction educational plan.  All of those must be written and maintained by the teacher.  Because there are not enough teachers, Title I and Title III services – federal programs for high poverty and English Language Learners –  are not offered for Kindergarten in her building.  So interventions and small groups must take place within the classroom.  The district purchases little or no curriculum for Science or Social Studies at this level, so she supplements her class reading with resources and materials she purchases because she realizes a quality education for her students requires it.  This veteran teacher was offered a position outside of the field of education last year and struggled tremendously with her decision to stay.  She wants to teach, but so much of her time is spent inundated with bureaucratic requirements rather than helping her students, and the personal financial strain of providing them what they need on her salary is enormous.  Thankfully this excellent educator did decide to stay this time. Unfortunately, her situation isn’t unique.  Another veteran high school teacher told me, “I love my students, but I hate my job.  There is too much to be done, and not enough time, resources, or staff to do it effectively.” He went on to tell me how he is no longer teaching a love of learning but rather managing numbers and data.  And with the volume of students, his opportunity to design and implement creative, rigorous lessons is next to impossible.  After all, how can he incorporate technology into his classroom of 40 when he only has 25 working laptops, iPads, or Chromebooks?  And classroom space to get up and move around … well, it is next to impossible.  Unfortunately many excellent veteran teachers are leaving our profession for retirement or higher paying jobs. 

Large class sizes are not happening in just Kindergarten or middle school Science.  At the high school level, teachers who see over 180 students a day have difficulty providing meaningful commentary and feedback about student learning.  Grading becomes an after-hours job that takes up to four to five nights a week and too often, weekends become grading marathons to get work back to students in a timely fashion.  All grade levels deal with a variety of reports, meetings, paperwork, lack of resources, and lack of time. Teachers often do not have time during the day for the lesson planning and classroom preparation that are integral parts to a quality education for our students.  Drive by any Enid school parking lot after 5:00 p.m. on any given day and you will see teachers there – working well into the evening and on weekends.  This is unpaid overtime!  It drains our energy and robs us of time with our families.  We do it for our love of our students.  But our students deserve the best from their teachers, and right now Oklahoma is not providing its teachers with what they need to be their best.    

Oklahoma teachers work more than 10 months a year, well beyond 8 hours a day, and many still have to work 2^nd jobs in order to make ends meet.  Those who devote their lives to teaching our children should not have to depend on food stamps or free and reduced lunches in order to feed their own children, but many do.  The education climate has become foggy and difficult to navigate for all involved.  Teacher morale is rapidly diminishing; they are losing their passion and feeling pressured to meet homogenous requirements after being told to differentiate their instruction.  This is exacerbating our teacher shortage and there is no silver bullet to fix the problem.  More than 840 emergency certificates have been granted so far this year.  Too many of Oklahoma’s children are being taught by those who no doubt want to help children, but are NOT quite ready for the classroom. They are doing their best but the stakes are too high – especially in tested subjects.  How does that impact a 3^rd grade student shackled by RSA mandates?  How does this shortage impact a high school freshman facing high-stakes testing with an Algebra I and Biology I EOI?  What about our English Language Learners? 

Our teacher shortage includes every level of teaching.  Once upon a time, schools received stacks of resumes for elementary jobs, but now they are getting so few applicants principals are hiring people they would not have considered just five years ago.  Who would want to be an educator today in Oklahoma?  We are 48^th in teacher pay, have not received a pay raise since 2007, are 49^th in per pupil spending, and have cut education funding 23.6% since 2008 – almost 6 percentage points more than any other state. We MUST make the teaching profession more attractive by paying better salaries and by recognizing the worth and importance of teachers.

Schools cannot prepare students for informed productive futures without safe buildings, quality materials, AND well-prepared staff – all of which require the fiscal commitment of publicly elected officials.  The state of Oklahoma continues to practice corporate welfare at the expense of our children and the future of our democratic society.  We cannot continue to cut taxes and expect our state’s vital services to continue.  Do we want to attract more businesses and grow the economy?  Of course!  But let’s invest in vibrant, well-funded public schools that offer an educated work force for businesses. This problem did not happen overnight, so it will not be fixed overnight.  We absolutely must plan today for the future of our children. 

 I am glad that this interim study is taking place and that lawmakers are talking about ways to improve our schools and attract our best and brightest into this profession.  But the fact is, for two years Oklahoma teachers have rallied in record numbers asking our legislators to adopt a long-term funding solution to increase funding to our classrooms and increase our pay to the regional average, and for two years we’ve been answered with resounding silence when it comes to real solutions.  And because outlook for the upcoming fiscal year is even worse, there isn’t much for us in public education to be optimistic about these days.  We must look long-term and ask ourselves – What do we want Oklahoma education to look like?  What do we want for the future of our state – our teachers – our children?  I cannot fathom nor can I accept this is Oklahoma’s dream for its children.

It is obvious educators do their jobs regardless of the pay.  When comparing the state’s average ACT scores to those within our region, it is competitive to those states.  It is true that Oklahoma teachers do more with less each and every day as a result of their “Can Do” spirit.  However, that does not make it right.  I hope you will invite your own teachers to speak with you about this issue.  Please continue to invite your teaching professionals, administrators, education support professionals, and even students to the table so we can all work together to develop a long-term plan to properly fund our public schools.  

One of my favorite music groups is Mumford and Sons.  There is a line from their song, “Awake my Soul”, that states, “where you invest your love, you invest your life.”  Often, I reflect on that line in my own life.  I believe Oklahoma needs to reflect and to realize, it is time to show its love for public education and invest in its future.

Addition...Rob Miller, of  AView from the Edge fame, suggested a bat flip would be a good sports metaphor for Rhonda's performance.