Commentary: Generation Schools and better time use

A high school English teacher advocates a debate shift from the amount of instructional time to the quality of how that time is used.

Commentary: Put children’s needs before schools’

A longtime educator says the current discussion about retention versus social promotion has little to do with the needs of children.

Commentary: Was Life Skills closure warranted?

This commentary was submitted by Martin Schneider of the Colorado Coalition of Alternative Education Campuses.

On March 7 the Colorado State Board of Education agreed with Denver Public Schools board on the decision to close Life Skills Center of Denver. As the organization that worked with the alternative education campus (AEC) leaders to develop the initial alternative performance framework, the Colorado Coalition of Alternative Education Campuses (CCAEC) Board of Directors is disappointed in the decision to close Life Skills.

We believe that the decisions made by both the district and state boards were made based on inadequate evaluation frameworks, without adequate knowledge of the existing frameworks on the part of both boards, and without a full understanding of the difficulties of assessing the performance of alternative schools.

The CCAEC is a non-profit, membership organization established in 2009. The CCAEC’s mission is to provide support for alternative education campuses (AECs) by advocating for appropriate policies at the local, state, and national level for the education of high-risk students through research-based best practices.

The Colorado Department of Education asked CCAEC in 2009 to work with the AECs across the state to develop a proposal outlining a fair but rigorous set of criteria that could be used by the state to assign appropriate plan types to this set of schools. The proposal was submit and adopted by the State Board the following year.

Commentary: Aligning preparation and induction

Dana Nardello has been an educator for six years, currently splitting her time between serving as a literacy coach in Aurora Public Schools and providing policy leadership with the  Denver New Millennium Initiative, a project of the Center for Teaching Quality. 

The implementation of a new, more rigorous teacher evaluation system through SB 10-191 will require that teacher preparation and induction be better aligned than ever before. Colorado teachers will be assessed using more rigorous quality standards.  We will miss the mark if we do not think comprehensively about building a system that aligns standards for teacher preparation programs with standards for new teacher induction programs.

Currently in Colorado, teacher preparation programs and district induction programs do not align their curriculum, though they are loosely based on the same set of state-established standards. This creates gaps. District induction programs are designed to assist new teachers in meeting the requirements of the Colorado Licensing Act of 1991, (which requires teachers to document successful demonstration of proficiency on state teaching standards).

In a recent review of state policies on teacher induction, The New Teacher Center states, “Research evidence suggests that comprehensive, multi-year induction programs reduce the rate of new teacher attrition, accelerate the professional growth of new teachers, provide a positive return on investment, and improve student learning.”

However, induction programs and mentoring scenarios are different district to district.

Commentary: Quality is the next phase in reform

This commentary was submitted by the leaders of four education advocacy groups: Van Schoales, A+ Denver; Moira Cullen, Democrats for Education Reform; Paul Lhevine, Stand for Children Colorado; and Chris Watney, Colorado Children’s Campaign.

The future of our state lies directly with this generation of Colorado students.  Always a trailblazer in education reform, Colorado is now entering a new phase in which school quality is paramount over both school type and educational program. As we move forward in our quest to provide a quality public education for our students, it is imperative that Colorado keeps a laser focus on school quality, which will drive student achievement for all kids.

Initially, education reform efforts focused on confronting an industrial school model, unchanged over almost a century, in which students were assigned to a single local school and tracked into groups: simple technical skills, a basic high school diploma, and an elite few bound for college.

What happened?  Change.  Jobs changed, as more positions require independent thought and analysis – skills learned in higher education.  Students changed, as demographic shifts brought increased diversity to our public schools.  Personnel changed, as professional opportunities widened for ambitious and talented women who previously had few options other than teaching. Families changed, as both the composition and roles in the home shifted.

What did not change was the one-size-fits-all school model.  So, the initial phase of education reform ushered in a variety of public school options (traditional, magnet, charter, and innovation) that now provided various instructional programs, such as core knowledge and language immersion, and a changing environment that would eventually cultivate a focus on quality.

Commentary: “Drive” improvements to Denver Plan

This commentary was submitted by Jason Callegari, policy director for A+ Denver, a citizens group that advocates for education reform in Denver Public Schools.

In 2010, Daniel Pink wrote a book “Drive” that explores motivation, where it comes from and how to maintain it.  For the cliff notes version of the book, tune into the TED talk that he delivers on the topic here.

Pink spends a good amount of the book looking at motivation in the workplace, within businesses and at school. In the end, he questions our long-held belief in the value of extrinsic motivators, namely monetary reward. There is little question that money, praise and prestige act as strong motivators and drive better output(s) in certain left-brain oriented fields.  But Pink suggests, and I would agree, these carrot and stick motivators and the desire for material gain are overly simplistic and, in fact, the wrong tools to use to cultivate the drive for success in the field of education.

In fact, Denver Public Schools, teachers (DCTA) and voters partnered to implement a pay-for-performance program in Denver, which has seen results that are at best inconclusive.  I don’t think that this is surprising.  Of course many teachers would enroll in a program enabling them to increase their salary, but this doesn’t mean that this increased salary motivates a large percentage to do more than they currently are in the classroom.  Teachers are already working hard.

Commentary: Teachers key to implementation

This commentary was submitted by Jessica Keigan, who has taught English for nine years at Horizon High School and is currently serving  with the Denver New Millennium Initiative, a project of the Center for Teaching Quality.

The Ensuring Quality Instruction Through Educator Effectiveness Act, or Senate Bill 10-191, is an ongoing topic of conversation among educators and policymakers in Colorado. While some may still be questioning if this system will work, more important conversations have begun to circulate around how this system will work.

So what needs to be considered for the implementation process?

The single most important factor for moving forward is supporting teachers in implementation by including them in the decision-making conversations.

It is essential to continually include the classroom perspective. Systemic change is cumbersome and messy. Our focus needs to be on the reason we began the process in the first place — increased student success.

Those who would paint teachers as naysayers and contrarians rarely see the benefit in letting teachers speak about, let alone help shape, the complex support structures that should be created when implementing any new system.

Commentary: Everyone can agree on extended school days

This commentary was written by Jamie Engel, a freshman at the University of Colorado at Boulder and president of the CU branch of Students for Education Reform.

The dire need for a change in our nation’s public education system is evident.  Despite heroic efforts of many individuals and organizations, education inequity continues to plague the United States and the achievement gap remains a constant reminder that our schools are failing.

By 4^th grade, African-American and Latino students are, on average, nearly three academic years behind their peers.  89 percent of Latino and 86 percent of African-American middle and high school students read below grade level.  These numbers are not just statistics; they reflect real American children who have been left behind by our public education system. Most of  them will never catch up and risk a life of poverty and/or incarceration.

There are many theories of change that have been proposed to turn around education in our nation. All too often, however, most proposals receive pushback from individuals who are interested in preserving the status quo or those who stubbornly believe that their solutions are better.

There is one proposal, however, that garners almost universal support.

Commentary: How to measure educator effectiveness

This commentary was written by Jessica Cuthbertson, an educator with 10 years’ experience. She is a literacy coach in Aurora Public Schools and an active member of the Denver New Millennium Initiative of the Center for Teaching Quality.

How do you measure the effectiveness of an educator?

As a literacy coach I experience firsthand the multi-tasking, the magic, and the mishaps that occur in schools every day. I see teachers and kids on their best days, their worst days and all of the days in between.

I see teaching and learning in action. And I see the planning, thinking and “behind the curtain” decision-making that drives the day-to-day instruction in classrooms.

So it was with mixed feelings that I agreed to serve on the “alternative evaluation team” for three teachers this year. Would this blurring of instructional coaching and evaluation make teachers more or less responsive to collaboration and feedback? Would it foster trust and honesty or fear and fabrication?

Despite my initial reservations, being a part of each teacher’s team has strengthened our relationships and added layers of depth to our work.

Commentary: Government cuts = higher tuition

This commentary was written by David Svaldi, president of Adams State College in Alamosa.

Our nation must address the problem of rising college tuition. In a January speech at the University of Michigan, President Obama cautioned institutions that continuing tuition increases could potentially result in loss of federal funds. He was clearly appealing to college and university students, as well as those recently graduated – a constituency that he carried easily in the 2008 election.

For this generation, student loan debt dwarfs any other debt. The national average student loan debt is above $25,000 – 47 percent higher than a decade ago – with many students at elite institutions graduating with debt in six figures.

In his January State of Union Address, President Obama implied that he favored some sort of maintenance of effort by the states as a condition of federal support for public institutions. Indeed, the rapid increases in tuition at public institution are a direct result of state funding cuts.