Testing Tornados

It’s testing time here in the sunny, warm south. That means it’s time for the memos to begin a-flyin’ regarding “the test” and those ever so important ….insert fake echo effect here…”TESTING PROCEDURES”.

I do not think it is any coincidence whatsoever that the testing window in Georgia opens about the same time as our tornado season begins. It can certainly add a little more confusion to the chaos that CAN be created because it’s testing time.

While the follow is a good piece of satire regarding the atmosphere surrounding “the test” it isn’t too far off the mark regarding just how serious….and I mean ser-ri-ous things have become.

Hang on….here we go:

Please do not look out the window to watch for approaching tornadoes. You must monitor the students at all times. To do otherwise would be a testing irregularity and must be reported.

Should students notice an approaching tornado and begin to cry, please make every effort to protect their testing materials from the flow of tears and sinus drainage.

Should a flying object come through your window during testing, please make every effort to ensure that it does not land on a testing booklet or an answer sheet. Please make sure to soften the landing of the flying object so that it will not disturb the students while testing.

Should shards of glass from a broken window come flying into the room, have the students use their bodies to shield their testing materials so that they will not be damaged. Have plenty of gauze on hand to ensure that no one accidentally bleeds on the answer
documents. Damaged answer sheets will not scan properly.

Should gale force winds ensue, please have everyone stuff their test booklets and answer sheets into their shirts being very careful not to bend them because bent answer documents will not scan properly.

If any student gets sucked into the vortex of the funnel cloud, please make sure they mark at least one answer before departing and of course make sure they leave their answer sheets and test booklets behind. You will have to account for those.

Should a funnel cloud pick you, the test administrator, up and take you flying over the rainbow, you will still be required to account for all of your testing materials when you land so please take extra precautions. Remember, once you have checked them out, they should
never leave our hands.

When rescue workers arrive to dig you out of the rubble, please make sure that they do not, at any time, look at or handle the testing materials. Once you have been treated for your injuries, you will still be responsible for checking your materials back in. Search dogs will not be allowed to sift through the rubble for lost tests. Unless of course they have been through standardized test training.

Please do not pray should a severe weather situation arise. Your priority is to actively monitor the test and a student might mark in the wrong section if you are praying instead of monitoring. I'm sure God will put war, world hunger, crime, and the piracy on hold until
testing is over. He knows how important this test is.

Yes, testing time is important. Yes, testing time is serious. So serious you have to laugh sometimes to keep from crying.

The sound you hear now is me……heavily sighing.

It's the Teachers, Stupid!

As many of you know I began another blog sometime ago that is focused solely on my homestate of Georgia and blogs authored by folks from the Peach State. Recently the 38th Carnival for Georgia Bloggers posted at Georgia on My Mind, and one post in particular stood out for me on a personal level.

Ethan over at Never Clever Whatsoever has just completed the 8th grade and has just survived Georgia’s mandated CRCT testing. While many education-types have opined their opinion regarding why approximately 70% of Georgia’s sixth and seventh graders failed the social studies section Ethan has articulated in his words another rant about Georgia's CRCT Scores that is in strong contrast to the same educrat excuse of, “Well, we rolled out these new standards…..”

I left two rather long comments for Ethan, and he decided others should see our conversation, so he posted replies to my first and second comments where he recreates my comments and his responses.

I strongly encourage educators to take a moment and head over there and let Ethan know what you think.

While I have never been one to outwardly criticize a colleague regarding his or her teaching style I cannot fathom an 8th grade student taking the CRCT and not knowing why the names Hartsfield and Maynard Jackson are attached to one of the busiest airports in the world!

Yes, as I mentioned in my comments there are many, many reasons why students would do poorly on an assessment, but Ethan doesn’t appear to be the kind of student we would dread to have in our classrooms.

The 8th grade Georgia standards that were in effect during Ethan’s school year can be found here. Standard number SS8H10 states the student will evaluate key post-WWII development of Georgia from 1945 through 1970 with element b. going a bit futher to state explain how the development of Atlanta, including the roles of mayors William B. Hartsfield and Ivan Allen, Jr., and major league sports, contributed to the growth of Georgia. State standard SS8H11 states the student will evaluate the role of Georgia in the modern civil rights era with element b mentioning the election of Maynard Jackson as mayor of Atlanta. Gee, isn’t that clear as a bell? Wouldn’t these men and their actions be at the forefront of your lessons regarding this time period?

There it is…..current standards every 8th teacher should have in their possession and mentioned by name are two individuals students should know. If that’s not enough to convince a teacher to mention these two men state standard SS8G2 mentions the role of the Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport and its impact on the state’s economy. Wouldn't this standard be a great opportunity to reinforce who Hartsfield and Jackson were?

Since the 1960s and 70s are usually taught later in the year it would be easy to say that Ethan’s teacher just simply ran out of time. We all do that, and we all say that’s the reason students did poorly on a state test, but Ethan also brought up the name Mary Musgrove in Georgia history, and she would have been taught early in the year and yes…..the standard involved (SS8H2a) mentions her by name and asks the student to explain her importance.

Ethan’s experience bothers me greatly. While we as educators can sit around the table and plan units and lessons, while we state we have an understanding of the standards and have included all of them in our plans, and while we have the standards clearly referenced in our plan books for any observer to check off when they stop by the classroom clearly some of us are walking the walk, but not talking the talk. Now I can understand a colleague blowing off things like various required teaching strategies from time to time, but blowing off the standards where it is very clear what students need to know for that grade level I can't even fathom. Aren't the standards the foundation of every lesson? Don't we start with the standards?

Clearly…when the door is closed something else is going on, and it’s not teaching the standards. What’s it going to take? Weekly visits to the classroom to listen to lessons, to interview the students, to actually hand some teachers a scripted lesson plan to make sure the standards are taught?

My title is a bit harsh. I know there are a myriad number of reasons why the damn tests don't work, but here we have a student who knows he wasn't taught specific key material to the subject matter, and there simply is no excuse.

Education Stance...Education Dance

First and foremost I’m a taxpayer, so how my tax dollar is used to provide our nation’s children the best possible public education is important to me. Next, I’m a parent. I want the best education I can get for my child. Finally, I’m an educator. Decisions made at the Federal and State level effects my job and my students.

While there are many issues being discussed between the presidential candidates, education is one the more important issues for me. The thing that gets me hot under the collar the most is the dance that is played out during each and every election cycle be it a presidential election, an election involving lawmakers, or my local school board.

It seems like they will promise you the Moon for your vote, doesn’t it?

I thought I’d take a few minutes to investigate what Barack Obama and John McCain are saying about the issue of education.

What are they promising us?

From an ESchool News article published this week, Jeanne Century, director of science research at the University of Chicago's Center for Elementary Mathematics and Science Education, said Illinois Sen. Obama would push for school systems to bring broadband internet access into all K-12 schools. Obama would oppose any system that tied "teacher bonuses to student scores," Century said, but would back programs that rewarded educators for becoming highly qualified educators.

Century [also] said Obama would support more class time for social studies, art, physical education, and science—four areas that have been greatly reduced or eliminated at K-12 schools since NCLB was enacted in 2002. The law requires every school in the country to be 100-percent proficient in math and reading by the 2013-14 academic year—a goal some educators say is unlikely, if not impossible.

Over at BarackObama.com you can find information stating Obama believes that we must equip poor and struggling districts, both rural and urban, with the support and resources they need to provide disadvantaged students with an opportunity to reach their full potential. Too often, our leaders present this issue as an either - or debate, divided between giving our schools more funding, or demanding more accountability. Obama believes that we have to do both, and has offered innovative ideas to break through the political stalemate in Washington.

Obama’s plan for education provides critical support for young children and their parents in a plan titled “Zero to Five”. The plan will be promoted by Early Learning Challenge Grants to help all states move toward voluntary, universal pre-school. Early Head Start would quadruple under an Obama administration, and he promises affordable and high-quality child care to ease the burden on working families.

Obama’s biggest problem with No Child Left Behind was the funding mess it caused, and he promises reforms that will fully fund the requirements of the law. He’s against the current “teach the test” culture found in many school systems, and promises to improve the assessments. NCLB’s accountability system would also be reformed under an Obama administration so that we are supporting schools that need improvement, rather than punishing them.

Obama calls for more qualified teachers who are proficient in math and science. He wants to provide funding for school districts to come up with intervention strategies to address the drop-out crisis, fund more afterschool programs, and summer learning opportunities. Let’s not forget College Outreach Programs, more support for English Language Learners, the creation of Teacher Service Scholarships and all schools of education must be accredited. The website also mentions Teacher Residency Programs, teacher mentoring programs, and incentives to provide more common planning time for teachers. He wants new and innovative ways to increase teacher pay that are developed with teachers, not imposed on them.

Over at the NEA's blog, EdNotes, Cynthia Kopkowski confirms what is said in the EschoolNews article regarding teacher pay. Kopkowski advises when asked about merit pay, Century said Obama is "against traditional merit pay that ties individual teacher pay to student outcome." He wants to collaborate with teacher organizations and school districts to come up with alternatives, such as paying teachers for being leaders or mentors, or attaining additional education that displays deeper knowledge of their subject area.

There’s much, much more outlined over at Obama’s site. So much more it boggles the mind, and make me wonder…..how could we possibly pay for all of it?

A November USA Today article advises Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama [has] laid out a plan to spend $18 billion on early childhood education, dropout prevention and teacher incentives. His plan also touches on a hot-button pay issue on which he differs with education unions.To pay for his education program, Obama would eliminate tax-deductibility of CEO pay by corporations and delay NASA's program to return to the moon and then journey to Mars."We're not going to have the engineers and the scientists to continue space exploration if we don't have kids who are able to read, write and compute," Obama said.

The same ESchoolNews.org article I referred to above also mentions John McCain’s views on education. Lisa Graham Keegan, a former lawmaker and superintendent of public instruction in Sen. McCain's home state of Arizona, said that while school leaders struggle with shrinking operating budgets and teacher shortages, technology could supplement educators' daily lessons. She added that qualified teachers could never be replaced by advanced classroom technology. We could potentially have a perfect storm of success here," said Graham Keegan, who has worked with McCain since his 2000 presidential bid. "You can enhance what a teacher does with technology." Has not yet released his stance on classroom technology Century said school officials should encourage students at all grade levels to use the web to research and supplement reading assignments and daily homework "These are skills about problem solving," she said.

Regarding pay for educators McCain supports a pay-for-performance inventive model per Graham Keegan, but feels paying teachers extra according to data from test results would be the only reliable method to reward educators who stood out among their peers. Graham Keegan continues by stating McCain's education stances would "violate existing policies and will offend certain groups," adding that he was skeptical of teacher unions' "one-size-fits-all" contracts that provided little flexibility for school districts.

Over at the NEA's blog, EdNotes, Cynthia Kopkowski states Keegan Graham advised McCain favors an "innovative compensation system" that rewards teachers "for classroom excellence." But she would not specify if that meant student test scores. Stakeholders would have to define what classroom excellence meant, she said.

From JohnMcCain.com, McCain states that Public education should be defined as one in which our public support for a child's education follows that child into the school the parent chooses. The school is charged with the responsibility of educating the child, and must have the resources and management authority to deliver on that responsibility. They must also report to the parents and the public on their progress. The deplorable status of preparation for our children, particularly in comparison with the rest of the industrialized world, does not allow us the luxury of eliminating options in our educational repertoire. John McCain will fight for the ability of all students to have access to all schools of demonstrated excellence, including their own homes.

With regards to standards, McCain believes that we can longer accept low standards for some students and high standards for others. John McCain believes our schools can and should compete to be the most innovative, flexible and student-centered - not safe havens for the uninspired and unaccountable. He believes we should let them compete for the most effective, character-building teachers, hire them, and reward them.If a school will not change, the students should be able to change schools. John McCain believes parents should be empowered with school choice to send their children to the school that can best educate them just as many members of Congress do with their own children. He finds it beyond hypocritical that many of those who would refuse to allow public school parents to choose their child's school would never agree to force their own children into a school that did not work or was unsafe. They can make another choice. John McCain believes that is a fundamental and essential right we should honor for all parents.

John McCain will place parents and children at the center of the education process, empowering parents by greatly expanding the ability of parents to choose among schools for their children. He believes all federal financial support must be predicated on providing parents the ability to move their children, and the dollars associated with them, from failing schools. Plainly stated…McCain supports vouchers.

At OntheIssues.org John McCain states he is not in favor of nationally imposed standards or federal funding strings. Rather than have Federal mandates McCain would rather see state and local education authorities in charge of developing and enforcing high academic standards. By linking Federal education dollars to testing McCain argues we are in fact penalizing students and causing states to spend more money on federally imposed bureaucratic requirements – money that would be better spent in the classroom. McCain would like to see education funding money sent directly to the classroom rather than having it siphoned off by the Feds and state agencies.

No matter the outcome of the election each candidate will receive some of their “wants” for education, but not all of them. No matter the outcome of the election changes are in the wind...changes that will necessitate planning, rolling out, buying in, and don't forget the complaining and naysayers. No matter the outcome of the election classroom educators and students will be caught in the middle.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again……as long as education remains a political football, we tax payers, we parents, we educators will continue to be victims of the “stance dance," and quite frankly my toes have already been stepped on enough.

Is History Important? A Reprise

Polski3 has reviewed an article concerning the large numbers of higher learning centers that are no longer requiring any history for graduation.

As Dorothy Parker would say, “What fresh hell is this?”

Go read the rest of Polki3’s post here (Aren’t we glad he’s back to blogging!?) His observations regarding less emphasis on history at the elementary and middle levels is correct from what I can see, and my main comment to the source of this silliness is BALDERDASH!

I agree with Polski3 that we all need to make our voices heard. As NCLB is up for reauthorization we should make a plea to Congress to make sure Social Studies and Science are added to the requirements of the No Child Left Behind legislation.

One of Polski3’s commenters mentioned Richard Dreyfuss, the actor, who gave “dire predictions” in a recent interview regarding the teaching of Civics. This issue took a particular turn over at Dennis Fermoyle’s blog From the Trenches of Public Ed. Where he garnered a whopping 29 comments regarding teaching the Constitution and what some perceive as a lack of teaching in the area of Civics. You can see his post here.

So, is history important? I asked this question last January on my seventh day of blogging. I’m running it here again as I think it’s appropriate to do in light of recent events.

One reason why history is important it that the past has value to our society. Thousands of people throughout history have gone to great lengths to record history through newspapers, diaries, journals, saved letters, family Bibles, and oral traditions. It is believed that Aborigines of Australia actually managed to hang onto their history for 40,000 years by word of mouth.

History is the narrative of mankind. It provides answers as to how people lived as well as provide for us the roots to certain ideas concerning laws, customs, and political ideas. Have you ever wondered where the rude gesture of pointing your middle finger at people you are annoyed at came from? One origin story states it reportedly began at the Battle of Agincourt where the French demanded the surrender of the English longbow men. The French demand was very simple. The bowmen had to surrender immediately or upon capture they would have their middle fingers cut off. This finger was sacred to the men since it was the finger used in firing the longbow. The English response to the French demands was to raise their middle finger and raise their hands high in the air in unison for the French to view. This enraged the French who attacked immediately but were promptly obliterated by the plucky English. Think about their bravery the next time you are tempted to raise that finger.

The age-old adage, “you can’t know where you are going unless you know where you have been” is actually very true. A true scholar of history realizes history does repeat itself. This repetition has importance in society. It teaches the value of certain social changes and governmental policies. Ideas that were presented in the 1960s can be found in the writings of William Godwin in the 1790s. The Ancient Greeks redistributed wealth which was clearly repeated during the Communist regimes. It didn’t work for the Greeks and it certainly did not work for Communist Russia.Though the Greeks had strange ideas about wealth they were firm believers that history was something that people could learn from.

I began my love affair with history as an elementary student who read each and every biography my media center possessed. I was fascinated with the famous people I was learning about since they had a childhood like me and I was intrigued at the twists and turns their life took on their journey to achieve their goals. I remember particularly the biography I read about Woodrow Wilson. He held my interest because he was born in my home state of Georgia. He provided a character education lesson because he showed great tenacity as he never gave up even after several failed businesses that resulted in a bankruptcy. History provides a wealth of material to teach character education, both positive and negative.

History teaches a wide range of material. It isn’t simply a litany of dead people, places, and dates. I am amazed all the time as I discover links to science curriculum and the arts in the units I teach. You can’t teach United States regions without mentioning that each region has its own ecosystem made up of specific food chains, climates, and physical features. A study of history clearly shows man’s love of the arts and it cannot be denied that once a civilization was able to maintain a steady food supply their creative ideas flowed whether on rock walls, papyrus, or cedar bark. These links provide relevance for students. It assists them to take small chunks of history squares and weave them into a knowledge quilt.The links that students can discover between history, science, and the arts provides a well constructed framework that bond national and regional past events. This allows for comparisons with contemporary events to provide context for understanding. The American Revolution was basically our first national event. The powers that be in my home state of Georgia like for students to learn the significance of historical events as they relate to our state. Before we get into Georgia’s participation in the Revolution I have introduced the events leading to the war up to the Battle of Bunker Hill. When they realize we are going to talk about Georgia’s participation they get real excited and quickly get really upset. They are very disappointed to learn that Georgia fell very early in the war to the British. They learn that we have some war heroes but the majority of colonists in Georgia were Tories. Georgia was not the hotbed of revolution that Massachusetts or Virginia was. We then embark on a mission to understand why Georgia was not heavily involved in the independence movement.

History when presented properly lends itself to critical analysis. Even young students are capable of reviewing a series of primary and secondary resources and independently determine what happened during an event and why. This independence is a goal we have for all students throughout all disciplines of education. History is a perfect curriculum tool to practice analysis, generalizing, and inference. In fact, the Bradley Commission Report on History in the Schools (1988) states, “…history is the only avenue we have to reach an understanding of ourselves and our society. Without such understanding the two foremost aims of American education will not be achieved---the preparation of all our people for private lives of personal integrity and fulfillment, and their preparation for public life as democratic citizens.

"The question I pose in the title is a no brainer to someone like me. You see, I am one of those people who can be totally consumed by large twenty pound history tomes. I love the intrigue, story-twists, coincidences, and repetition of themes involved in history. I’ll read the history of anything. The history of butter, word histories, Mandarin Chinese, buttermilk, famous cats in history, the history of knitting, obscure African tribal histories, and yes…..American history.I strongly identify with a character in the Kingsley Amis novel, Lucky Jim, who works in the history department of a fictitious English university when he answers the department telephone by stating, “History speaking!” We are all history every minute of every day. We participate in the history of our families, we add to the history of the corporations and businesses we serve each day at work, and we participate in history as we vote, compose a letter to our congressman or a newspaper editor or attend a demonstration or memorial.

Recently I was looking at a website attached to the University of Utah where a history professor was reporting that he had asked one of his history classes of two hundred students, “Why is history important?” A student spoke up and honestly answered very matter of factly, “It’s not important. It’s about dead people, not about me.” The professor stood his ground during a deafening round of applause from the other students and countered, “Well, I see dead people. I hear dead people and ……so will you!”

Is learning history important? You bet it is!

If you agree with me and think history is important contact your Congressman and encourage him or her to include Social Studies and Science in the requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act.