No official word from the Worcester Public Schools on Inauguration Day activities, but you can bet that any teacher with a minute to spare is not going to let tomorrow pass without something to say or teach about history being made. Here are some of the reports from around the country:
Witcha, Kansas has a number of teachers incorporating the inauguration, including a suggestion to use King's Letter from a Birmingham Jail with Obama's Philadelphia speech on race. At least one teacher has used Obama as an example in character education.
The Milwaukee School Board was considering urging suspension of regular curricular activities in light of the inauguration.
Fort Worth was forced to reverse a stance they'd taken against children watching the inauguration in class after an outcry from the community.
Howard County in Maryland will be working to make up for the loss of many teachers and students who will be heading to Washington to see the inauguration in person, but nonetheless plan to "make the most of the teachable moment."
Schools in Florida are using it to teach "everything from vocabulary to economics"!
Both the New York Times and the Chicago Tribune have reports from across the nation.
Enjoy tomorrow!
Monday, January 19, 2009
Thursday, January 15, 2009
State cuts, continued
Yesterday, as expected, the state legislature gave the Governor the power to cut the FY09 state budget, aka, money we thought we already had.
IF, as expected, there is a significant drop in local aid, the city MAY cut the school budget. A significant point:
When state aid drops, so does the local responsibility under the foundation formula.
Remember all the wrangling about 102%? Those numbers all go DOWN if the state gives Worcester less money! Plus, of course, the city could look at the amount OVER foundation and decide to cut that.
The ultimate nightmare? Midyear layoffs. Yes, that would mean that possibly your child's teacher would no longer be teaching that class anymore.
SPEAK UP, PEOPLE!
IF, as expected, there is a significant drop in local aid, the city MAY cut the school budget. A significant point:
When state aid drops, so does the local responsibility under the foundation formula.
Remember all the wrangling about 102%? Those numbers all go DOWN if the state gives Worcester less money! Plus, of course, the city could look at the amount OVER foundation and decide to cut that.
The ultimate nightmare? Midyear layoffs. Yes, that would mean that possibly your child's teacher would no longer be teaching that class anymore.
SPEAK UP, PEOPLE!
Here's the list
The list of the schools projects (which is in addition to the projects that would fall under the mention below of 50+ public buildings) is on the later pages of the City Manager's memo to the City Council this week. Remember, this is proposed uses for money that doesn't exist yet. For those who would rather not fight your way through Laserfiche to page 5, here's the list:
The requirements included that the projects be "shovel ready."
- Belmont, interior renovation $1 million
- Burncoat High, roof, window replacement, interior renovation $6 million
- Burncoat Middle, interior renovation including auditorium $3 million
- Burncoat Prep, interior renovation $.5 million
- Canterbury, roof replacement, interior renovation $1 million
- Chandler Elementary, interior renovation $.5 million
- Chandler Magnet, window replacment, int & ext rehabilitation $4 million
- City View, interior renovation $.5 million
- Claremont/Woodland Academies, chiller/boiler replacement $1 million
- Clark, window replacement, interior renovation $1.5 million
- Columbus Park, window replacement, int & ext rehabilitation $3 million
- Foley Stadium, Phase II Field Replacement $2.5 million
- Doherty High, window replacement, interior renovation $6 million
- New Citizen Center, boiler replacement, interior renovation $1 million
- Durkin Admin Building, window replacement $1 million
- Elm Park, HVAC upgrade, interior renovation $2.5 million
- Fanning, int & ext renovation $1 million
- Flagg, window replacement, interior renovation $3 million
- Gerald Creamer Center, interior renovation $.5 million
- Goddard Street, window & roof replacement, interior rehab $5 million
- Grafton Street, (it says #1 and #2)? $1 million
- Harlow, roof replacement, interior renovation $1 million
- Heard, int & ext renovation $1 million
- Jacob Hiatt, HVAC upgrade, interior renovation $2 million
- Lake View, window replacement, interior renovation $2 million
- Lincoln, window & boiler replacement, interior rehabilitation $1 million
- May, window, roof replacement, interior rehabilitation $3 million
- McGrath, interior renovation $2 million
- Midland, interior renovation $.5 million
- Mill Swan Head Start, HVAC, roof replacement, interior renovation $6 million
- Millbury Head Start, window replacement, interior renovation $2 million
- Nelson Place, window replacement, interior renovation $1 million
- Norrback, Chiller/boiler replacement $1.5 million
- Parent Info Center, int & ext renovation $.5 million
- Quinsigamond, chiller/boiler replacement $1.5 million
- Rice Square, interior renovation $1 million
- Roosevelt, chiller/boiler replacement $1.5 million
- South High, interior rehabilitation, classroom consol, electric service $7 million
- Sullivan Middle, HVAC upgrade, interior renovation $3 million
- Tatnuck Magnet, window & roof replacement, interior rehabilitation $4 million
- Thorndyke, window & boiler replacement, interior rehabilitation $3 million
- Union Hill, window & boiler replacement, roof replacement, interior rehab $6 million
- University Park Campus, interior renovation $.5 million
- Vernon Hill, interior renovation $2 million
- Wawecus, window replacement, interior renovation $2 million
- West Tatnuck, window replacement, interior renovation $2 million
- Worcester Arts Magnet, window & boiler & roof replacement, int rehab $4 million
- Worcester East Middle, window & boiler & roof replacement, int rehab $ 10 million
The requirements included that the projects be "shovel ready."
The reality in the confirmation room...and the reality on the ground
There was a lot of press yesterday about Arne Duncan's confirmation hearing. A favorite quote from the Chicago Tribune coverage: "as much of a kumbaya moment as any appointee to Barack Obama's Cabinet is likely to see..." The Trib went on to mention the lack of details the nominee offered on changes he'd make in federal education policy, particularly to NCLB (beyond letting more special ed kids take a modified version of the tests, something which will, I'm guessing, send any parent of a special ed kid who has every wrangled their way through the inanities of dealing with NCLB right into the stratosphere).
Meanwhile, back in the district that Duncan was running, Peabody Elementary School is among 20 Chicago schools facing closure under the city's Renaissance 2010 program. The district is citing low enrollment for the closure, but the school, unlike many schools facing closure, actually passed NCLB's requirements for student achievement. According to the district, such scores were going to be used to determine which schools were staying open. Students will be forced to move elsewhere, and the school will reopen as either a charter or magnet school.
How success has been rewarded in Chicago...coming soon to the entire federal department of education.
Meanwhile, back in the district that Duncan was running, Peabody Elementary School is among 20 Chicago schools facing closure under the city's Renaissance 2010 program. The district is citing low enrollment for the closure, but the school, unlike many schools facing closure, actually passed NCLB's requirements for student achievement. According to the district, such scores were going to be used to determine which schools were staying open. Students will be forced to move elsewhere, and the school will reopen as either a charter or magnet school.
How success has been rewarded in Chicago...coming soon to the entire federal department of education.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
January money questions
- If you saw last night's City Council meeting or read today's Telegram and Gazette coverage, you know that the City Manager was very carefully explicit in excluding school money from the discussion of the 10% cut to this year's state aid money. School aid comes in from the state separately from "local aid," and so far, the school aid money is safe. That means that we won't be laying off teachers midway through this school year so far (no such luck with other departments). Keep a very close eye on this one.
- And, of course, this is shaping up to be a very bleak spring for the fiscal year 2010 budget.
- The stimulus money that is much talked about on the federal and state level also had some discussion last night. The memo that the City Manager forwarded to the City Council included (as you'll see here) $20 million for 50+ public buildings for energy conservation. Word has it that's schools; I'm seeing if I can discover what projects that would include.
- I just caught this from last night's Daily Worcesteria coverage of the City Council meeting: Rushton is saying a lot, but the most relevant point is that the schools need to be involved as much as possible about potential cuts as they will be most effected.
Lost Lessons from 8YS
Gerald Bracey has a book coming out in March titled Getting Out of Education Hell: Moving Past 50 Years of failed Punish-the-Schools Reforms. In it, he writes of the eight year study done by the Progressive Education Association, and how the lessons pulled from it have been lost. To summarize:
1. Like politics, all education is local. Forget state and federal mandates.
2. Education in this nation is, or should be, more about living in a democracy, than about academic achievement.
3. Testing should be a means of learning about individuals, not separating and sorting them.
4. Evaluation should lead to improved curriculum, instruction and decision making, not to the punishment of teachers and administrators.
5. Teachers should teach students, not subjects or, at the very least, not subjects alone.
6. Principals must be democratically-oriented colleagues of teachers, not "bosses." [Principals who have been stupid enough to sign contracts requiring annual increases in test scores should renegotiate them immediately or find another job].
7. Students need to and enjoy taking some responsibility (being accountable) for what they learn (next).
8. Scientifically based education is an oxymoron. (See next lesson).
9. Flexibility and a willingness to change course, to do something different, are critical to the educational process.
10. "When ends are taken for granted and means dominate educational discourse.teachers will rarely be in control of their work, and the reasons given for taking one or another course of action will become increasingly bureaucratic and unsatisfying." This is widely known today as "defensive teaching."
Worthy of some thought.
1. Like politics, all education is local. Forget state and federal mandates.
2. Education in this nation is, or should be, more about living in a democracy, than about academic achievement.
3. Testing should be a means of learning about individuals, not separating and sorting them.
4. Evaluation should lead to improved curriculum, instruction and decision making, not to the punishment of teachers and administrators.
5. Teachers should teach students, not subjects or, at the very least, not subjects alone.
6. Principals must be democratically-oriented colleagues of teachers, not "bosses." [Principals who have been stupid enough to sign contracts requiring annual increases in test scores should renegotiate them immediately or find another job].
7. Students need to and enjoy taking some responsibility (being accountable) for what they learn (next).
8. Scientifically based education is an oxymoron. (See next lesson).
9. Flexibility and a willingness to change course, to do something different, are critical to the educational process.
10. "When ends are taken for granted and means dominate educational discourse.teachers will rarely be in control of their work, and the reasons given for taking one or another course of action will become increasingly bureaucratic and unsatisfying." This is widely known today as "defensive teaching."
Worthy of some thought.
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Wavering on waivers
Yesterday's news of the Massachusetts Commissioner of Education's refusal to consider waivers for the communities who lost a large number of days of school due to December's ice storm didn't come as a real surprise, considering the remarkable lack of understanding shown by his office since the storm hit. This certainly give the impression of being a classic "inside 128/outside 128" problem. One wonders if the Commissioner has ventured out to the communities hardest hit.
Massachusetts has two requirements for time in school: the well-known 180 day rule (which also requires districts to schedule 185 days, including an automatic 5 snow days), and the lesser known 900/990 hour rule, which came in under Ed Reform in 1993. This requires that schools spend 900 hours in elementary and middle school, and 990 hours in high school in "time in learning." That leaves out lunch, passing time, recess, etc. etc. (If you've wondered why recess time seems to be getting shorter and shorter, there's your answer, incidentally.)
The motivation of this is undoubtably a good one: the idea that one should spend a certain amount of time in education to get maximum benefit is reasonable.
Unfortunately, this is another one that runs pretty hard into the facts on the ground. There are always going to be kids who just "get it" right away; does the time requirement apply to them as well? Well, yes, if you're educating millions of children. Likewise, there are kids who in some subjects could use more time. The relative fairness of that is debatable, which is always true of an institutional system processing lots of people.
Any teacher who has taught on a nice day in May or June can also tell you that how much education is actually going on in her classroom is debatable in those circumstances as well. You can certainly force the kids to sit there; whether or not anyone is learning anything at all is questionable. With the advent of the MCAS in May, which exhausts kids in grades 3-8 and grade 10 a month before the current end of school, we have already compounded that problem. To further compound it by extending the school year into July (contractually not allowed in some communities) would be a mistake.
Massachusetts has two requirements for time in school: the well-known 180 day rule (which also requires districts to schedule 185 days, including an automatic 5 snow days), and the lesser known 900/990 hour rule, which came in under Ed Reform in 1993. This requires that schools spend 900 hours in elementary and middle school, and 990 hours in high school in "time in learning." That leaves out lunch, passing time, recess, etc. etc. (If you've wondered why recess time seems to be getting shorter and shorter, there's your answer, incidentally.)
The motivation of this is undoubtably a good one: the idea that one should spend a certain amount of time in education to get maximum benefit is reasonable.
Unfortunately, this is another one that runs pretty hard into the facts on the ground. There are always going to be kids who just "get it" right away; does the time requirement apply to them as well? Well, yes, if you're educating millions of children. Likewise, there are kids who in some subjects could use more time. The relative fairness of that is debatable, which is always true of an institutional system processing lots of people.
Any teacher who has taught on a nice day in May or June can also tell you that how much education is actually going on in her classroom is debatable in those circumstances as well. You can certainly force the kids to sit there; whether or not anyone is learning anything at all is questionable. With the advent of the MCAS in May, which exhausts kids in grades 3-8 and grade 10 a month before the current end of school, we have already compounded that problem. To further compound it by extending the school year into July (contractually not allowed in some communities) would be a mistake.
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