2012: What's In, What's Out

Predictions for 2012 by ASCD

IN	OUT
NCLB Waivers	ESEA Reauthorization
Bake Sales	ARRA Stimulus Funds
Race to the Top Losers	Race to the Top Winners
Finland	China
48%	82%
Local Control	Federal Requirements
Harkin-Enzi	Kline-Miller
STEAM	STEM
Common Core State Standards Implementation	Common Core State Standards Adoption
Potatoes	Leafy Greens
Student Growth	AYP
Early Learning	High School Reform
Brinksmanship	Partisanship
Multiple Measures Teacher Evaluation	Value Add Teacher Evaluation

ASCD's public policy team wishes you a happy new year!

5 Tips for School Administrators in 2012

Posted by James Brauer 

While each educator and school administrator will certainly have their own respective list of goals to guide their practices in 2012, here are five (5) that may be of particular interest to you.

1.    Family First, Work Second: I have no shame admitting to any past, current, or future employer that my family is my priority. Jobs and employment may come-and-go, but my family is a permanent fixture in my life. However, without proper maintenance on relationship-fostering and memory-building with your own family, your family becomes unstable and could lead to many negative consequences. Of course, employment and your work performance is vital, but my belief is a happy “family man/woman” is also a “happy worker.” Dave Ramsey, financial guru, once warned people to never have affairs on their spouses, for it will tear the marriage to its core. Over-dedication toward one’s career creates a dominant relationship with an entity other than your spouse. Not healthy at all. So be proud and bold–tell everybody you place family first. Lead by example.

2.    Brand Yourself, You Are an Expert: Because public education is so vastly different than the “business world,” branding is definitely not a component of educators’ professional practices. I’m not sure why this is–fear of exposure and attention at a large-scale? Fear of judgement or scrutiny by colleagues and supervisors? Fear of a public identity that is accessible to colleagues, students, parents, and neighbors? Fear of appearing to be self-absorbed and/or a braggart? Regardless, school leaders need to tap into the social media tools available and brand themselves appropriately. By doing so, educators can repurpose their identity toward being an expert, or trusted resource, in their respective discipline. By strategically branding one’s self, it also has the strong potential of building credibility to others. Lastly, branding is an awesome tool to network and connect with others. Such digital networking and connecting leads to digital collaboration, self-regulated learning, and autonomy. Build a website, use social media, publish whitepapers and ebooks, or record podcasts and YouTube videos. Don’t be afraid–you’re an expert. Brand yourself as such!

3.    Pause, Listen to Others: I’ll lead-off by saying that I should have probably listed this tip at #1, as I’m definitely an “emerging-learner” in this category. School leaders and educators need to pause and start listening more. Don’t be confused with my preceding tip about believing that branding one’s self means incessant self-promotion and alienating others’ perspectives. You can still successfully brand yourself, while partnering and collaborating with others. There is so much knowledge that can be gained from others, it would be foolish to not draw upon the wisdom and advice of others. From a leadership standpoint, listening to others’ perspectives helps conveys just how important others truly are. When others know they are being listened to, it increases trust, relationships, rapport, collaboration, and motivation…just to name a few.

4.    Being Untraditional is NOT Bad: This tip “hits home” for me, since I am a school administrator at an alternative school. It didn’t take me long to notice that some individuals do not “succeed” or “prosper” in “traditional” environments. And why would we ever think this to be the case? People are so unique, with extremely-specialized talents, skills, and knowledge. But all of these characteristics could be severely stifled if people are not able to perform in their ideal environments. Therefore, we need to quickly abandon the idea that educators and students can ONLY succeed using “traditional” methods and cookie-cutter, prescribed approaches. School leaders MUST allow colleagues and teachers time to reach, stretch, experiment, create, imagine, and innovate…without punitive responses. Our students deserve better. And they definitely deserve better than the “same old song-and-dance!”

5.    Empower Others: One of the biggest mistakes people make, particularly school administrators, is believing that others cannot be trusted and they must do EVERYTHING. What a big, big mistake! Effective leaders should be constantly thinking about the future; pondering how to improve and how to adapt. But, effective leaders need to also strategically align an organization’s efforts toward its goals. No single person could, or should, be able to achieve the organization’s goals alone. Principals and central office administrators must develop capacity-building within each of its teachers and support staff, empowering EVERYBODY to maximize their contributions. For school leaders, it is essential to believe, and trust, that teachers are totally skilled and eager to perform. By doing so, school leaders can delegate responsibilities to others and lessen the burden that was previously-imposed on a single individual.

 Source:  

Connected Principals

Sharing. Learning. Leading.

The Quiz: Test yourself on education in 2011

By Valerie Strauss

The year 2011 was monumental in education — monumentally good or monumentally bad, depending on your view.

School reformers who believe in using business principles to run public schools had a banner year. More states expanded the number of charter schools, promoted vouchers and moved toward using student test scores to evaluate teachers.

It was a tough year for those who believe that school reform cannot happen without taking into account the social context in which students live. Yet, toward the end of 2011 there were real signs that educators, parents and even students were pushing back.

Test yourself on 2011 issues that will continue to play out in 2012.

1) “Corporate education reform” refers to a set of proposals currently driving education policy at the state and federal level. What is not one of those proposals:

a) increased test-based evaluation of students, teachers, and schools of education
b) eliminating or weakening teacher tenure
c) paying teachers for experience and advanced degrees
d) replacing governance by local school boards with various forms of mayoral and state takeover or private management

2) Teach for America recruits top college graduates, trains them and then places them in high-poverty schools. How much training do the recruits get before they start teaching on their own?

a) one year as a student teacher while earning a masters
b) six months as a student teacher
c) three months in a summer institute
d) five weeks in a summer institute

3) Because Congress failed to rewrite No Child Left Behind, what did the Obama administration say it would do to help schools dealing with the law’s onerous requirements?

a) issue waivers that would release all public schools from the onerous requirements
b) issue waivers to states that promised to institute approved school reforms
c) put pressure on congressional Republicans to reach an NCLB deal in 2012
d) nothing

4) Why did the Charlotte-Mecklenburg School District field-test on students 52 different standardized tests?

a) to detect patterns of cheating
b) to find the single best test for the district’s new accountability program
c) to pick standardized tests in every subject so teachers can be evaluated by the scores
d) it didn’t field-test that many exams because that would be preposterous

5) What percentage of American children live in poverty, according to new Census Bureau data?

a) 22 percent
b) 18 percent
c) 13 percent
d) 9 percent

6) Who said this: “We’ve lost our competitive spirit. We’ve become so obsessed with making kids feel good about themselves that we’ve lost sight of building the skills they need to actually be good at things.”

a) Bill Gates
b) Steve Jobs
c) Michelle Rhee, former D.C. schools chancellor
d) Amy Chua, author of “Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother”

7) What did President Obama do on Friday, March 4?

a) went to Wisconsin to support teachers protesting efforts to restrict collective-bargaining rights
b) went to Ohio to support teachers protesting efforts to restrict bargaining rights
c) started a three-day weekend
d) appeared in Miami with Jeb Bush, a leader of corporate education reform

8) President Obama disagrees with Republicans on:

a) the importance of increasing charter schools
b) whether students should get taxpayer-funded vouchers to pay for private school
c) evaluating educators by student test scores
d) encouraging private sector help for public schools

9) Who said, “I’m beginning to think we are living in a moment of national insanity?”

a) Rep. Ron Paul
b) New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie
c) education historian Diane Ravitch
d) Bill Gates

10) What is the Opt-Out Movement?

a) opting out of high-stakes standardized tests
b) opting out of sex education classes
c) opting out of physical education classes
d) opting out of school-required vaccines

BONUS QUESTIONS:

11) True or false: In July actor and social activist Matt Damon addressed a rally in Washington D.C. to oppose the Obama administration education policies. Education Secretary Arne Duncan wanted to meet with Damon before the rally so much that he offered to pick him up at the airport and speak with him en route to the protest.

12) The Obama administration’s key education initiative, Race to the Top, had a competition for states to compete for federal dollars for early learning initiatives. What was not included as a top priority listed in the Education Department’s criteria for applicants?

a) making sure kids have ample opportunity to learn through play
b) encouraging private sector support
c) using kindergarten entry assessments to promote school readiness

ANSWERS:

1) c
2) d
3) b
4) c
5) a
6) c
7) d
8) b
9) c
10) a

BONUS:

11) True
12) a

Follow The Answer Sheet every day by bookmarkinghttp://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet. And for admissions advice, college news and links to campus papers, please check out our Higher Education page. Bookmark it!

By Valerie Strauss  |  08:00 AM ET, 12/26/2011 

The Quiz: Test yourself on education in 2011

By Valerie Strauss

The year 2011 was monumental in education — monumentally good or monumentally bad, depending on your view.

School reformers who believe in using business principles to run public schools had a banner year. More states expanded the number of charter schools, promoted vouchers and moved toward using student test scores to evaluate teachers.

It was a tough year for those who believe that school reform cannot happen without taking into account the social context in which students live. Yet, toward the end of 2011 there were real signs that educators, parents and even students were pushing back.

Test yourself on 2011 issues that will continue to play out in 2012.

1) “Corporate education reform” refers to a set of proposals currently driving education policy at the state and federal level. What is not one of those proposals:

a) increased test-based evaluation of students, teachers, and schools of education

b) eliminating or weakening teacher tenure

c) paying teachers for experience and advanced degrees

d) replacing governance by local school boards with various forms of mayoral and state takeover or private management

2) Teach for America recruits top college graduates, trains them and then places them in high-poverty schools. How much training do the recruits get before they start teaching on their own?

a) one year as a student teacher while earning a masters

b) six months as a student teacher

c) three months in a summer institute

d) five weeks in a summer institute

3) Because Congress failed to rewrite No Child Left Behind, what did the Obama administration say it would do to help schoolsdealing with the law’s onerous requirements?

a) issue waivers that would release all public schools from the onerous requirements

b) issue waivers to states that promised to institute approved school reforms

c) put pressure on congressional Republicans to reach an NCLB deal in 2012

d) nothing

4) Why did the Charlotte-Mecklenburg School District field-test on students 52 different standardized tests?

a) to detect patterns of cheating

b) to find the single best test for the district’s new accountability program

c) to pick standardized tests in every subject so teachers can be evaluated by the scores

d) it didn’t field-test that many exams because that would be preposterous

5) What percentage of American children live in poverty, according to new Census Bureau data?

a) 22 percent

b) 18 percent

c) 13 percent

d) 9 percent

6) Who said this: “We’ve lost our competitive spirit. We’ve become so obsessed with making kids feel good about themselves that we’ve lost sight of building the skills they need to actually be good at things.”

a) Bill Gates

b) Steve Jobs

c) Michelle Rhee, former D.C. schools chancellor

d) Amy Chua, author of “Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother”

7) What did President Obama do on Friday, March 4?

a) went to Wisconsin to support teachers protesting efforts to restrict collective-bargaining rights

b) went to Ohio to support teachers protesting efforts to restrict bargaining rights

c) started a three-day weekend

d) appeared in Miami with Jeb Bush, a leader of corporate education reform

8) President Obama disagrees with Republicans on:

a) the importance of increasing charter schools

b) whether students should get taxpayer-funded vouchers to pay for private school

c) evaluating educators by student test scores

d) encouraging private sector help for public schools

9) Who said, “I’m beginning to think we are living in a moment of national insanity?”

a) Rep. Ron Paul

b) New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie

c) education historian Diane Ravitch

d) Bill Gates

10) What is the Opt-Out Movement?

a) opting out of high-stakes standardized tests

b) opting out of sex education classes

c) opting out of physical education classes

d) opting out of school-required vaccines

BONUS QUESTIONS:

11) True or false: In July actor and social activist Matt Damon addressed a rally in Washington D.C. to oppose the Obama administration education policies. Education Secretary Arne Duncan wanted to meet with Damon before the rally so much that he offered to pick him up at the airport and speak with him en route to the protest.

12) The Obama administration’s key education initiative, Race to the Top, had a competition for states to compete for federal dollars for early learning initiatives. What was not included as a top priority listed in the Education Department’s criteria for applicants?

a) making sure kids have ample opportunity to learn through play

b) encouraging private sector support

c) using kindergarten entry assessments to promote school readiness

ANSWERS:

1) c

2) d

3) b

4) c

5) a

6) c

7) d

8) b

9) c

10) a

BONUS:

11) True

12) a

-0-

Follow The Answer Sheet every day by bookmarkinghttp://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet. And for admissions advice, college news and links to campus papers, please check out our Higher Education page. Bookmark it!

By Valerie Strauss  |  08:00 AM ET, 12/26/2011 

The (Twelve) Beliefs and Behaviors of Star Teachers

by Martin Haberman — August 05, 2011

The beliefs of star teachers are compared with those of quitter/failures. Twelve of these beliefs are explained, and examples are given of how they are demonstrated in terms of actual teacher practices. The argument is presented that the strength of these belief systems makes teacher selection more important than training. 
Click here to read the complete article.

1. Stars recognize that school bureaucracies inevitably have rules and procedures which make the teachers' work more difficult; paper work, time limitations and lack of access to copiers, computers and smart boards are just a few of these.

2. Stars expect to deal with problem students and special needs students in their daily work; quitter/failures believe problems should be handled by others so they can just teach and not have to deal with "distractions."

3. Stars believe that the goals of the school are several and varied; quitter/failures believe a school is successful if it teaches the "basics."

4. Stars persist in trying to teach subject matter that is connected and becomes more complex through the grades; quitter/failures dumb down the curriculum and teach disconnected lessons.

5. Stars are committed to the scientific method in every subject matter they teach; quitter/failures do not view the scientific method as the pervasive method of analysis to be used throughout the school curriculum.

6. Stars believe that motivating students is part of their daily work; quitter/failures do not believe that persistent attempts at motivation are part of their job and write off students who are not self-motivated. ("I can only teach those who want to learn.")

7. Stars are extremely knowledgeable regarding human development and are able to distinguish between student misbehaviors that result from children going through the stages of child and teenage development; quitter/failures are prone to attribute student misbehaviors to some sort of student deficiency or failing. 

8. Stars look for explanations of inadequate student learning in the curriculum, teacher methods and themselves; quitter/failure teachers explain inadequate learning in terms of inadequacies in the students, their families and ethnicity. 

9. Star teachers are willing to admit mistakes and even make apologies; quitter/failures regard admitting mistakes to students as a sign of weakness. 

10. Stars believe that success in school is a function of effort; quitter/failures believe success in school is a function of innate ability.

11. Stars believe the relationship between students and teachers is built on respect; quitter/failures believe teachers and students need to love each other. 

12. Stars believe that being successful in school is a matter of life and death for many students; quitter/ failures believe teaching is a secure job.

Source:

http://www.tcrecord.org/Content.asp?ContentID=16504