10. Reflect

How is it that I already feel behind in 2009 and I have yet to celebrate the new year? Maybe because I've neglected to blog for so long.  Maybe because it's time to plan for the summer, which is still 5 months away. Maybe because my professors have already sent out book lists. Regardless, time forges on, and a lot has happened education-wise that I haven't had the time to reflect on:

Biden, Obama, Duncan NYTimes

- Obama picked Arne Duncan to serve as Secretary of Education. As Chicago schools' superintendent, Duncan's style falls somewhere in between tradition and reform - supporting teachers' unions, while ousting ineffective teachers when necessary and implementing new reform platforms. Duncan, like most who have experience working in low-income school systems, believes that the achievement gap is the civil rights movement of our generation. He no doubt has a huge undertaking ahead of him, like reworking No Child Left Behind and ensuring that we begin quality education for the littlest students and continue placing the most effective teachers in classrooms. It's no surprise Obama picked Duncan, who appears to have the capability of mediating between different education camps rather than alienating one group and fostering division.

- Louisiana was called out for something POSITIVE related to education! The New Teacher Project, a certification program utilized heavily by Teach For America teachers, was commended for supporting educators who, in turn, prove more effective in classrooms (in Math, Reading and Language Arts) than teachers from traditional avenues with two or more years experience. Go TFA SLA!

the talented Dan Kahn, TFA South Louisiana '05

- A good friend, Dan Kahn, is shaking up Baton Rouge's youth community. Just named to Baton Rouge Business Report's Forty Under 40 list, he's gotten the recognition he deserves for beginning the Baton Rouge Youth Coalition (along with teaching and coaching and slamming poetry). BRYC is an incredibly innovative, yet totally necessary, movement to help the community's young people lead each other to financial literacy and stability so that their goals can be articulated and met. Alongside Kahn are '06 TFA alumni Sam Joel and Andy Gray. Their dedication to the Baton Rouge community is incredibly commendable.

- And because the beginning of a new year always spurs more personal reflection, I wonder how my former students are. I miss them. I love getting reports on A.H., a young man who had a rocky start to middle school and who is now thriving as an 8th grader and on the verge of being exited from special ed. I love knowing that A.K., a once slipping 6th grader, is walking confidently through the hallways of the very best magnet high school in Baton Rouge, no longer in need of special ed. services. I will keep my fingers and toes crossed for those taking the 8th grade LEAP this spring!

Obama and TFA

Wendy Kopp is apparently in the running for U.S. Education Secretary in the Obama administration.  What do you think?

See the news here.

I heard the tail end of an interview with Nilaja' Sun on NPR today.  Sun, who taught in the Bronx for nine years, wrote and stars in the production NO CHILD, which embodies all facets of public school education (from teachers to students to janitors) and comments on the effects of NCLB.  See the trailer below...

On Monday, Jay Mathews from the Washington Post facilitated a live online discussion about D.C. Schools Chancellor, Michelle Rhee, who is also a TFA alum.  Check it out here.

Palin in Pittsburgh

Sarah Palin was just outside of Pittsburgh this morning and spoke to an audience of invite-only guests about how a McCain/Palin administration would influence families with special needs children (her first policy-oriented speech so far).  She apparently didn't get the memo that a Pittsburgh-based writer (yours truly) is writing a book about Special Education and, thus, didn't put said writer on the invitation list.  I'll get over it.  Maybe.  But, clearly my phantom-book-that-might-take-yeeears-longer-than-this- MFA-program-to-finish is beside the point...

Palin promises to fully fund the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and redirect wasteful earmark spending to special needs funding.  The Washington Post noted that Palin's charge is inconsistent with McCain's past record in which he voted against fully funding IDEA among most other Special Education programs.  Salon.com pointed out that Palin's promise to fully fund IDEA contradicts McCain's latest and vigorously stated response to the current economic crisis: an "across-the-board spending freeze". Um, I'm confused.  Read the entire 20 minute talk here.

The New York Times also covered Palin's talk and included that her special needs funding would be exempt from McCain's spending freeze and that disabled students would be allowed (using state money) to choose to attend the private/parochial school of their choice when "our public school system fails..."  Others, including the current case law, argue that we must allow the public school system to attempt to educate these students, and if that education is deemed inappropriate the public-school-in-question must pay for student to attend private school.  Approx. 7 million students receive special education services, and according to Palin's plan, all of them could switch over to private/parochial schools if the public schools "fail".  Palin, I hate to break it to you, but our public schools have failed - all students.  What happens when "regular" education students and parents demand to switch to a private school?  Are we promoting the abandonment and eradication of the public school system instead of fixing it?  What are private schools doing better than public schools in terms of educating special needs students?  Why don't we adopt those strategies in our public schools and keep our children there?  I have so many questions.  I think I'll hold my breath until Nov. 4 to decide whether or not I need to air them and demand clearer answers...

9. Resist Immunity to Standardized Tests...

  

The College Board has invented yet another standardized test. It is the younger sibling of the SAT - a so-called "low stakes" assessment for 8th graders that will spit out a number. In turn, this number will inform parents and teachers whether or not students are "on track" with the skills necessary to graduate high school and competitively enter college (i.e. Is your student on track to produce an appropriate number which, in turn, will qualify him or her for higher education?). (Read the entire article from the NYTimes here) Don't get me wrong - I think diagnostic/benchmark testing is incredibly useful for strategic lesson planning and for informing necessary remediation.  But, what happens when teachers don't know how or just don't use these tests to better their instruction?  What happens when the medicine we're administering isn't being swallowed or followed up by a professional?

I'm starting to think the administering of standardized tests is becoming a lot like the administering of antibiotics.  A lot of antibiotics.  All the time.  What happens when a child continuously takes Penicillin for ear infections and the infection is never quite killed?  The infection starts to grow stronger and the body become resistant to the medicine.  What happens when a child week after week fills in bubbles with his number 2 pencil on his Scantron sheet?  What happens when we prescribe standardized tests to heal our broken school system (please see No Child Left Behind)?  Our students start to resist them, resent them and become immune to them.  So, when a sixth grader takes a standardized test weekly rather than yearly (because her school is in decline and forced to show adequate yearly progress), she freezes and/or becomes conditioned to the sheet of bubbles and her number 2 pencil.  And, when "high stakes" tests finally arrive (see Louisiana's 4th/8th grade LEAP exam that prevents students from promotion to the next grade and the SAT, ACT and all other high school exit exams...) she fills in bubbles and puts her head down because that's how she's learned to handle this medicine that is tiring her and not healing her.

I have a question.  And, I'm proposing that those interested in answering this question respond directly here...

HOW DO/HAVE YOUR STUDENTS PHYSICALLY RESPONDED TO STANDARDIZED TESTS?

Michelle Obama in Pittsburgh

Today, in an auditorium on Pitt's campus, I was present for my first political rally during this 2008 Presidential Election season. And in that auditorium, the atmosphere was upbeat, positive - electric, even. Not once did someone boo (not once) or shout "kill him" or "terrorist" in reference to Senator McCain. There was no hostility present in the room whatsoever. And, I think that says tremendous things about the overall demeanor of Obama's campaign. Michelle Obama gave a speech that clearly articulated her husband's plan, his background and his vision. She didn't slam McCain. She didn't rile up the crowd with negative energy. She didn't have to. Her words dripped with depth and positivity and sincerity. And I so very much appreciated being a part of the invigorating yet calm environment she created at today's rally.

And just for fun, here are some notable fashion statements at today's rally...

 

And, just because this blows my mind...

We wonder why people believe these things:


And are reminded that people like this man exist in our radios:

Obama & McCain: On Education...

For some reason, I occasionally receive emails from the NEA.  Usually, I just delete them.  But, I thought I'd take a gander at the research they've pulled together to differentiate Obama and McCain on issues related to education.

Here are some of the biggies:

 - Increase Student Aid 

for college (Pell Grants)

Obama Supports

McCain Opposes

- Increase Federal

Education Funding  

Obama Supports  

McCain Opposed bills to 

increase funding - says he supports adequate funding

- No Child Left Behind  

Obama - Overhaul  

McCain - Tweak

- Reduce class sizes  

Obama Supports  

McCain Opposes

- Expand early childhood

education  

Obama Supports  

McCain Opposes expansion,  

supports better coordination

Sex Education

"You can't get pregnant unless you like both go at the same time..."  

This was a phrase Charles heard frequently as a teacher in an all girls high school.  Word of mouth became the primary source of sex education for his students.  Their public-schooling had preached to them nothing but abstinence.  So, they turned to each other, believed their boyfriends and operated under completely ridiculous assumptions.  It was no wonder he watched his young freshmen drop out to raise the children they never planned to conceive.  Frequently, he'd confiscate a pregnant student's liter of soda and explain that large amounts of caffeine is unhealthy during pregnancy.  Most of his students did not behave out of rebellion - they were literally never educated, given alternative contraceptive options (besides abstinence), and once they did become pregnant they were never taught the safest and healthiest ways to carry a child to term.

Ann Fessler, author of The Girls Who Went Away, compiles dozens and dozens of interviews with women who conceived during the 50s and 60s - the pre-Roe v. Wade era.  It was startling how similar their stories were to one another - although most were raised in nice, suburban, affluent homes, these girls were never given access to contraception or vital sex education.  They were told to resist their boyfriends' passes, yet when he wouldn't relent and she wound up pregnant, she was the one that carried the massive shame, was ushered in secrecy to a home for unwed mothers (or forced to marry) and strongly encouraged to surrender her baby to adoption.  Most of these women were traumatized for the remainder of their lives, having relinquished a child, as they were told they were unfit for motherhood and would bring even more shame to their family if they kept their baby.  

Fessler (an adoptee) is currently working on a documentary film version of her book and spoke on Pitt's campus Monday.  She also visited my literature class yesterday, and I so very much admire and applaud her efforts to give these women voice, as most have felt forced to keep their "shameful" past a secret.  

However, while Fessler reports on a different era - an era that made birth control virtually impossible to receive and watered down sex education - she emphasizes the fact that we (as a nation) still have a long way to go.  Abstinence only sex education is centered around a myth that young people will follow this suggestion.  Some do.  But 45% of teens under 18 have already had sex - and what happens when they don't know their options? Unplanned pregnancies.  The current administration is proposing a bill that would allow any health care provider, pharmacist, nurse, etc. to refuse to assist with any medical service he or she finds objectionable (see Hillary Clinton and Cecile Richard's Op-Ed).  This ranges from prescribing a monthly packet of birth control pills to performing an abortion.  It is already standard that a doctor can choose not to perform an abortion.  This law would take women's choices and stigmatize them further - equating birth control with abortion.  And, because not all "objectionable" services are clearly defined under this law, any medical professional would have the ability to deny any form of treatment or medication that went against their personal morals or beliefs.  Where do you draw the line?

Having witnessed the consequences of what happens when young girls (and boys for that matter) are not properly educated and given choices (whether that be abstinence or birth control), I'm fearful of reverting even further back toward the days of pre-Roe v. Wade.  In my opinion, we still have quite a long way to go and stepping backwards by allowing women to feel shameful and stigmatized for asking for birth control pills seems to move us in the wrong direction.  Unplanned pregnancy is clearly a traumatic experience (whether the next step involves abortion, adoption or early motherhood) - so why aren't we equipping our young people with education and contraceptive options that would no doubt help parents enter into parenthood when they plan to?