It's the darn consultants.

[knitter4democracy]

We have a team of consultants helping the alternative high school where I work. I'm merely a parapro there, though I've been a certified teacher (was an idiot and let it lapse and am trying to get certified again) and have taught high school English in Cleveland and in the area last year. I'm the writing coach, though none of us exactly know how to best use me, etc.

Anyway, after spending untold hours this summer helping my mentor teacher with writing curricula for her preps, I found an interesting theory that we both decided to try out. I wrote up the Writing Improvement class's curriculum using this theory (poetry-centered classroom--might actually work with our population), and I had to present it to the consultant today.

All he talked about was assessment, fitting it into the grant's standards (the grant that pays for him, not the one that pays for me), and not actually doing anything without the entire department (of three teachers) approving it. He kept saying everything had to be measurable, and when I kept explaining the portfolio assessment we are going to use and how I want to do that with the entire school, he kept saying that it was a good idea but didn't plug into Data Director.

The consultants get grant money from the state to get everything testable and measurable, to make sure Widget A plugs into Widget B, and all I want to do is teach the kids I have how to face their writing fears and write better.

I'm so discouraged tonight.

[sandnsea]

1. I agree. It has to be measurable.

I'm sorry but I've seen too many kids in too many new programs to just believe something should be done because a teacher wants to.

I bet if you can figure out how to explain measured progress to me, a parent, you can use that same methodology for Mr. Widget.

[Hannah Bell]

2. poetry isn't on the standardized tests. so i guess that's that.

no more poetry.

[knitter4democracy]

3. Believe me, I tried.

I used all the educationese I know. I explained the "big idea", explained how we were going to measure progress (individualized instruction--something we're known for at this school), explained how all the widgets fit in, and he kept getting hung up on how to make it fit into his boxes and how to prove that it works before trying it to see if it works.

Hannah's got it: poetry is considered an elective these days. Oh, it's in the state standards, but it's not on the tests, so it's really not in the state standards. That means that we can put it in an elective class (and with higher and higher core credit requirements, getting kids to take electives is getting more difficult), but we really can't make it the core of the curriculum, even though teaching students how to read poetry closely means we're teaching them how to read critically for the tests.

[sandnsea]

6. "read critically for the tests"

How does it teach that better than any other critical reading method.

And poetry was an elective when I was in high school back in the 70s, so that's nothing new.

I thought the priority was for ALL kids to be able to read critically. If poetry is necessary for that, then you ought to be able to define why and how, where you're going to see the improvement, and how it's going to be visible on a test.

[pnwmom]

8. Almost anything involving writing skills can't be measured well on a simple

standardized test. But standardized tests are much cheaper than individually graded tests. So when consultants say "measurable," they really mean "measurable with cheap standardized tests."

We had an example of this in our state when we finally instituted expensive testing in math, reading, and writing. The elementary schools immediately dropped Social Studies and Science from the curriculum. Had they suddenly become less important subjects? Obviously not. But they weren't going to count for the all-important (and expensive) tests, so out they went.

Which is why people with money send their children to private schools like Sidwell Friends, where the emphasis is on learning what is important, not what is most easily or cheaply measured.

[sandnsea]

9. She said critical reading skills

And yes, you can measure these things. You should also be able to measure the benefit of science with math, and social studies with reading and writing.

And yes they are beneficial of themselves, obviously. But I think if a child can't do math, they clearly can't do anything in science. And the same is true of social studies or any related field.

[pnwmom]

14. When testing for math and reading means that social studies and science get eliminated

from the curriculum, something is seriously wrong.

When testing for reading means that poetry -- which certainly does require critical reading skills -- gets eliminated from the curriculum, something is seriously wrong.

"Teaching to the test" is wrong. The primary goal should be learning, not test-taking.

[bain_sidhe]

29. That's not a bug, it's a feature!

When the "no child left behind" scam started out, I thought I was being paranoid. But I've seen more and more of these kinds of stories, enough to make me think I'm really not as far off the bubble as I assumed I was.

See, wearing my cynical hat (lined with tin foil, of course), I remember thinking that this whole system of high-stakes testing - pass or be defunded/shut down - was a near perfect way to FORCE public schools to teach BADLY, not to improve them. Badly, because of just such things as this - important skills and knowledge kicked to the curb because they can't be easily measured. Badly because kids' innate curiosity must be squelched in order to get them to focus on whatever will be on the test.

As public schools are forced to "teach to the test" and thus, leave out crucial but unmeasureable skills or be closed, more and more parents put their kids in private/charter schools which don't have to follow NCLB "rules," meaning they can include those crucial, but unmeasurable skills.

It's all a plot! Well. Maybe not. But, honestly, if you *wanted* to FORCE public schools to fail without tipping off the marks, this would be a pretty good way to do it.

[knitter4democracy]

10. I did all of that in the curriculum I wrote up.

I also brought in the books I got the idea from.

In order to read and write poetry, you have to be able to do what's called a close reading. Close reading skills are all based on good writing techniques: reading for sound, imagery, symbolism, syntax, diction, etc. Our students really fall down there, so I've found that they need to learn what all those words mean and how to apply them. This particular method makes them do it every day with a different poem and then makes them take those new skills and apply them to other readings and their own writing.

It's more that we don't have enough in Data Director to write an accurate pre-assessment and that assessing each student individually for his/her writing plan and portfolio assessment doesn't fit into the boxes neatly and show how we're going to get low-achieving students to get higher ACT scores (the test our state uses).

[sandnsea]

12. How can any program be used

If you don't have enough in Data Director, then how can any program be approved at this point? How can you do any accurate pre-assessment at all?

How are you planning to measure each students progress? Are you going to do it by a sort of "reading level" standard; or is sound more important than diction, or imagery more important than symbolism; or some combination?

[pnwmom]

15. The real question is why should Data Director determine what is taught in school?

What makes Data Director sacrosanct?

We're going about all this backasswards. Instead of deciding what our learning goals should be, and then figuring out how learning can be assessed; we're starting out with a testing system, and then only teaching things that can be assessed with that system.

THIS IS NUTS!!

And this is why my three kids all started out in public schools but ended up in a private school much like the one attended by Obama's kids.

[proud2BlibKansan]

18. A+

[knitter4democracy]

19. We're going to use the ACT-style testing in Data Director.

There's no way to accurately assess writing in Data Director, so we're going to do a pre-assessment from there on grammar, reading skills, and vocabulary (as it's our belief that this method works on all of those as well as writing) and then an initial writing that we'll use the MME standards to assess. At the end of the quarter, we'll repeat those to see if the scores went up.

As for reading level standards, the only thing we worry about on that is the MME, so using MME (which in our state is based on the ACT and includes the ACT for all juniors) testing gives us the best data for what we're worried about.

[pnwmom]

5. But many important things are NOT measurable.

Especially anything involving creativity.

Or if they ARE measurable, the measure itself is much too expensive to administer. Standardized tests don't cut it.

[sandnsea]

7. I disagree

I think teachers "know" what the value is in anything they're teaching. I just think they've never had to really delve into the structure of it and break it down so it can be applied independently to students.

Oregon just got $10 million for a data system to measure progress, so there's money for that too.

I'm sorry, I'm sick of the crappy education system in this country. I could limit it to schools with 50% graduation rates, but really 68% nationally is disgusting too. It's got to get better and just money doesn't do it all.

[knitter4democracy]

11. We break it down every day.

At least, I always have, and that's what I've directly observed in this school across the curriculum. We're an alternative high school, so we have to teach each student individually.

It's more that I question the data. The more I studied education in college, the more I realized that the liars are doing the figuring. I can create a "study" in my school and get it published, but that doesn't mean it would work anywhere else or even work at our school next year. It's the same thing with the data systems: who's writing the questions, who's pulling which questions out to create tests, and are those standardized from year to year and district to district? The reality is, most likely they aren't universal.

Oh, and last spring, we graduated 77 kids who wouldn't have graduated any other way. I count that as a major success.

[sandnsea]

13. So you're suggesting a program that might not work?

Based on your own opinion there. So how are you going to measure whether the poetry program does work? And if you had the success of 77 graduates last year, why are you changing the way you teach them? And finally, are all those 77 students ready to enter college or trade school with no remediation? I'd love to hear that every one of them actually had a career track walking out the door, but that's not very common at the moment.

[pnwmom]

17. Why should the standard be that all graduates are ready to enter college or trade school

with no remediation? Some students have dyslexia and other learning problems. Some students are cognitively disabled. Some simply have developmental lags in one area or another. Any of these students might have to repeat certain subject areas beyond high school in order to solidify their learning.

A good friend of mine, an Ivy league graduate, had to take remedial math when she was a freshman in college. Algebra just hadn't clicked for her in high school. Neither she nor her high school had failed; she just needed another go at it. And she did fine in college with that course and all her subsequent classwork.

But that was a while ago. Before the testing industry took over and started to make real money.

[knitter4democracy]

21. The reality is, that is the standard these days.

Any student with an IEP or 504 will have that follow them to college, so our students with those will continue to get help for that in college. They tend to be the ones we don't really worry about, as we work hard to give them the skills they need before they leave our school.

We do our best. We aren't successful with each and every student, but we work like mad to be. Sometimes, the student just isn't ready to meet us even part-way, and we wait until s/he is.

[pnwmom]

24. My friend didn't have an IEP or 504. I think she was math phobic, basically.

And the current test mania would have just made her worse.

[knitter4democracy]

26. Our math teachers work wonders.

I've seen them take the most math phobic kids and turn them right around. They're darn close to miracle workers.

[pnwmom]

27. That takes a special kind of teacher. Those kids are lucky! n/t

[knitter4democracy]

20. Our last way of teaching this class wasn't as successful as we'd like.

That's why we started looking at new ways. There's also the problem that we're not meeting AYP. Yes, even the alternative high schools have to meet AYP, even though we get all the students the other schools kick out for low test scores. We get students with fourth grade reading levels and have to get them to pass the ACT in less than a year (often not possible), and so we're revamping the entire school's curriculum with an eye toward raising test scores quickly. Much of what we're going to be trying school-wide this year has not been tried in the alternative high school environment, so we're all experimenting, hoping these new ways will work better than the old ones.

I've answered the measurement question in a prior post.

We have to change for AYP. Even though our old ways have worked, they haven't worked quickly enough or well enough with the kids who take the tests. So, we have to find new ways.

As for our students, most of them are headed to the local community colleges and trade schools this fall. Most of them had a solid career track when they left our doors (with some having full rides to various skilled trades programs), as that's a big part of what we do. We make sure that every student has a resume in hand before graduation, has done several job interviews, and has filled out the paperwork for the local community college, in hopes they'll attend. Some are still a bit lost, but at least they finally got their high school diploma. Since we offer support for life, they will most likely be coming back for some advice and guidance when they finally get their heads screwed on straight. My job this year is to help those who want to go higher than community college with their college application essays and application process, in addition to assessing each student's writing level when s/he enters the school, keeping portfolios, and then doing an end assessment with each student using his/her portfolio.

I invite you to visit our school, observe for a day or two, and talk with our students. It's a wonderful place. :)

[pnwmom]

25. You sound like the dedicated, informed teacher that everyone wants for their children.

I hope you continue to get enough help from your district.

[pnwmom]

16. Money has a LOT to do with it because class size has a LOT to do with it.

And smart teachers who are freed to use individual approaches with individual kids.

You didn't address the issue of creativity. Japanese schools, for example, do very well in math and reading tests, but they actually look to the U.S. for ways to encourage creativity in their students. I'd hate to raise our scores in math and reading at the cost of creativity, innovation, and risk-taking.

[knitter4democracy]

22. We're an alternative high school. We have small classes.

We have to teach more creatively, though, as our kids are here because the traditional approaches and methods haven't worked. So, we need to teach outside the box. Money is always an issue, though: I would love to have a space for a writing lab where the kids can come and get one-on-one help, but we're out of room in the building we're in. :(

[pnwmom]

23. I think Obama's problem is he had only 2 girls. He needed to have at least 3,

so he'd end up with at least one bright child who was way out of the box. Then he'd understand part of what teachers deal with every day.

:)

[Warpy]

4. There are some areas where consultants can be indispensable

Forensic psychiatrists can aid the FBI and every marine geologist in the country has likely been consulting on how to stop the oil disaster.

However, there are some places they're worse than useless and teaching is one of them. In those areas, consultant is a short word meaning "incapable of doing the job, so retreated into an ivory tower to develop unworkable theories."

You have my sympathy. I had to endure ivory tower consultants from time to time in my job as an RN, too.

The good thing is that they're on the clock and that clock will run out and they'll be gone, a bad smell left behind that should dissipate quickly.

That's when you can point to their way being counterproductive and get your way approved. In the meantime, sneak poetry in when you can, just so the kids aren't sacrificed to ivory tower hubris.

[Smarmie Doofus]

28. Good god thank you for this observation:

>However, there are some places they're worse than useless and teaching is one of them. In those areas, consultant is a short word meaning "incapable of doing the job, so retreated into an ivory tower to develop unworkable theories.">>>>>


I waded thru the entire thread waiting for someone to point out the obvious. Education consulting is a notorious cash cow... and a bottomless pit of cronyism and corruption.

Advice to OP: lose the consultants... if you can. Then teach poetry. Not everyone can do it but it's not rocket science for folks who know how. Sounds like you do.