Education finances are a tricky thing. I don't claim to be an expert in the field, but as the Liberal leadership campaign came to a close, it is time to wonder what will happen with public educational in British Columbia as a result of the new Liberal Party leader. The new leader of the Liberal Party, and Premier of the province, Christy Clark has had a tumultuous relationship with teachers in the past and has pledged to re-examine the funding formulas. As to what exactly this means, I am not sure. Over the past few years as education finances debates continue in BC with the Liberals, the cost of public education continues to rise. There are costs to move forward and there are additional costs just to maintain status quo.
Trying to have a 21st century school is trying. Districts are struggling with bandwidth, and our district is no exception. At this point I am not even talking about the additional hardware necessary. There is no point in adding hardware if the system cannot handle what we currently have. From my understanding BC was one of the first to have Internet in the schools, meaning that the problem is that BC was one of the first to have Internet in the schools and needs to seriously upgrade the infrastructure. Our Provincial Learning Network is outdated and maxed out. In order to deal with this problem our district has had to examine different possibilities. It was mentioned in an article that for the Coquitlam School District "A middle-of-the-road option that costs less than putting fibre at every school site but would still require a one-time $2.5-million investment plus $290,000 a year, or $785,000 annually to lease fibre over 20 years and the tools for five years."
The district can either wait for additional funding to deal with this or take it on by itself. To the best of my knowledge there is no additional funding coming. That means that just to be able to have a manageable system the district needs to come up with nearly $3,ooo,ooo. I just do not understand how the reigning provincial party can be talking about 21st century schools without providing the money necessary for the required infrastructure to make it possible.
Another finance piece that has confused me is how money is taken away. Over the past few years taxes have been added, green initiatives have been put forth and schools have been footing the bill. Perhaps it is just me, but I fail to understand why it makes sense to give schools $ and then take them back. Here are a couple of examples. This year, School District 43 will pay $232,000 to Pacific Carbon Trust to offset its energy, fuel and paper consumption but will get no money back for innovative projects, such as composting or recycling, that are cutting waste and dealing with climate change. The second example is last year districts were saving money for required major renovations and yet had the money taken away because it was deemed to not be necessary because it had not been spent. Since when is it prudent to spend your annual budget when you are not sure what renovations or major work might be necessary.
These renovations would have replaced old and outdated boilers and made the schools heating systems more efficient, provide better air quality and make the schools "greener". Better air quality, I would think, would result in fewer people being sick, another cost. The great part of the Carbon taxes is that the money taken back was money school districts were going to use to make renovations and alterations that would have allowed the school districts to become more carbon neutral and now have to pay the Carbon tax because they were not compliant with the Green Goals. To me it does not make sense to essentially fine a school district $232,000 because of a law that was enacted by the provincial party and then not giving the funding to the schools to make the necessary changes.
Budget times are always interesting as districts have many difficult decisions to make. It would be nice if there were not additional cost pressures added, but perhaps that is not reality.
Monday, February 28, 2011
Saturday, February 12, 2011
My struggles with the FSAs
Earlier this week I was sitting in the computer lab watching the students complete the grade 4 numeracy portion of the FSA (Foundation Skills Assessment - British Columbia's standardized tests for grade 4 and 7). There were many thoughts going through my head during this time. I had looked at the rankings that the Fraser Institute published and saw that my school had jumped significantly in the standings. I knew that we would be moving up from where we were last year, our focus has been on writing for the past few years. We have enjoyed some rich professional development, had great discussions, found different ways to emphasize and promote writing in the school and continued to work with different writing programs. These have all lead to improvements. I do believe that the students have improved in writing because of these changes, but that does not tell the whole story.
Our results are directly impacted by the number of eligible students who write the different tests and the number of students who have been excused from writing it for a variety of reasons including parental request that their child not write the tests. If a number of very strong students are excused from writing the test, our results will drop, conversely if the number of students excused from writing are struggling learners our results will rise. If there is not a flu bug running through the school around that time then the results go up, if there are a few kids who families all go on vacation at that time our results could drop. There are so many external factors that impact the results of the test beyond the teaching that if they fall in your favour as they mostly did last year, the result is a rise in the rankings, if they do not, as was the case two years ago and this year, they will drop.
To give you some insight as to how it works I will include a brief description. We received the package a few weeks earlier and I decided to wait to start. Over the past few years the system has had problems where students will be kicked out of the electronic portion and have to log back in. For some students this would happen 3-4 times over the course of the time they were working on one portion of the test. This caused a lot of stress and caused some to panic and become very anxious, worried that they would have to start again. (I cannot even begin to imagine what would be going through a high school student's mind when writing a provincial test and this happens!). I hoped that by waiting there would be fewer students using it at the same time, thereby reducing the possibilities of crashes.
During the couple of weeks leading up to us starting I had some conversations with other schools, people on my soccer team and elsewhere discussing the FSAs. A couple of friends with students at schools outside of our district were telling me that the kids had been practicing the tests for a couple of weeks and were a bundle of nerves because they were told how important these tests are and that they had to do well to represent the school. One of my colleagues was telling me that she had 3 different parents come to her and ask whether or not their child should be writing the test because they were worried that their kids would not be successful because of their IEPs (individual education plans) and would therefore bring the school results down. She told the parents that it was their choice, but that they should not be excluding their children for that reason. Would all principals have said the same thing? At our school all students write the test unless we are concerned about the impact that this could have on the student, and we do not spend any time practicing.
I had a few parents come to me a little before we were going to start wondering why we had not started our tests when when some of the neighbouring schools had. I explained my rationale and they felt that it made sense. One then asked me if we all received the tests at the same time and I let her know that I believed that to be the case. The next questions caught me off guard as it was not something that had entered my mind. If you held onto the tests for a couple of weeks, is there anything stopping schools from practicing with the actual tests before starting? Could they all do a rough draft and then copy the good draft into the booklet? If they were not all doing the electronic portion at the same time, would it be possible for a class to begin the reading portion and then copy the stories, print them and be able to go over them with the other students to prepare them for the questions? When I answered that hypothetically speaking this was possible she was stunned. How was this standardized? In order for it to be standardized should all the kids in the province be doing the tests at the same time, or at the very least, all of the kids in the same school at the same time?
There are other factors that concern me as to how the data is used. Two years ago our school received additional staffing partly due to the fact that we had a larger number of students with learning challenges than we normally had. That year, when the students were writing the FSAs, the flu went through the school and some got sick, 1 missed a lot of time from school so I decided to not have that student finish the FSA. Result, not meeting expectations in all areas. 2 students went on vacation part way through the test, result, 2 students not meeting expectations. 2 students broke down in tears because they were frustrated so we took the tests away, result, 2 students not meeting expectations. I believe that 4 of those 5 students would have fully met expectations. I had two students who would not be writing the tests for a couple of reasons and I used their identifications to show the students to log on. Result- 2 more students not meeting expectations because I had logged them in and answered 1 question but did not click on submit thinking the results would not show, this was a boneheaded moment which I did not repeat. When you have a cohort group of about 50 kids and 7 are not meeting expectations for reasons other than the results of the test itself is one thing that a school can address and explain to its community, when an outside agency is ignorant of what happens in the schools and publishes results is another.
Four years ago we had the exact same number of identified gifted students as student with learning challenges two years ago. The school went from double digit number of students who were gifted to double digits with learning difficulties. The cohort was completely different and something outside the control of the school. The result was a huge drop in the number of students not meeting expectations. I go over the results with the parents, give them the numbers as well as some background information. I am able to explain why we have gone up or down. Our community is aware of our context, an outside agency examining and working with the data is not. When a school has their test data compromised because their electronic results have gone into an Internet abyss and suddenly 10 students results are automatically not meeting expectations and those results are published, the public perception of the school can be compromised.
From my vantage point, the FSAs can provide useful information for a staff to look at and plan our school goals. We can use it as a measuring stick to chart our progress, knowing our context. This is not shirking responsibility. I still stand in front of our parents and share the data and listen to concerns that they may have. My concern is that when a non-informed group that ignores or does not care about the contextual situations that can arise in schools, and publishes results that are challenged statistically it impacts the perception of the school. Why are schools punished because H1N1 hit their schools hard one year? Why are schools punished for not practicing for the tests for weeks and choosing to focus on the curriculum and using the FSAs as a snapshot as they were intended to? Why are schools punished because the cohorts each year can be significantly different from year to year and give a false increase or decrease in the students' perceived success? The number of students writing is also compromised, based on parent willingness to have their children write the tests. There are some schools where only 30% of the eligible kids are actually writing the test.
If everybody is not writing the test at the same time, in the same way, under the same conditions, with the same number of kids in a room writing it together, with the same preparation, with ALL students writing the test regardless of abilities, with one large group of independent markers marking all of the tests in the same way and removing the possibilities of possible manipulation of the testing situations, intentionally or accidentally, the test is no longer standardized even if all of the questions are the same. There are just too many outside factors possible to make this testing equitable. Let schools use the information for the way that it was intended and not let outside agencies compromise the validity of a non-standardized standardized test.
Our results are directly impacted by the number of eligible students who write the different tests and the number of students who have been excused from writing it for a variety of reasons including parental request that their child not write the tests. If a number of very strong students are excused from writing the test, our results will drop, conversely if the number of students excused from writing are struggling learners our results will rise. If there is not a flu bug running through the school around that time then the results go up, if there are a few kids who families all go on vacation at that time our results could drop. There are so many external factors that impact the results of the test beyond the teaching that if they fall in your favour as they mostly did last year, the result is a rise in the rankings, if they do not, as was the case two years ago and this year, they will drop.
To give you some insight as to how it works I will include a brief description. We received the package a few weeks earlier and I decided to wait to start. Over the past few years the system has had problems where students will be kicked out of the electronic portion and have to log back in. For some students this would happen 3-4 times over the course of the time they were working on one portion of the test. This caused a lot of stress and caused some to panic and become very anxious, worried that they would have to start again. (I cannot even begin to imagine what would be going through a high school student's mind when writing a provincial test and this happens!). I hoped that by waiting there would be fewer students using it at the same time, thereby reducing the possibilities of crashes.
During the couple of weeks leading up to us starting I had some conversations with other schools, people on my soccer team and elsewhere discussing the FSAs. A couple of friends with students at schools outside of our district were telling me that the kids had been practicing the tests for a couple of weeks and were a bundle of nerves because they were told how important these tests are and that they had to do well to represent the school. One of my colleagues was telling me that she had 3 different parents come to her and ask whether or not their child should be writing the test because they were worried that their kids would not be successful because of their IEPs (individual education plans) and would therefore bring the school results down. She told the parents that it was their choice, but that they should not be excluding their children for that reason. Would all principals have said the same thing? At our school all students write the test unless we are concerned about the impact that this could have on the student, and we do not spend any time practicing.
I had a few parents come to me a little before we were going to start wondering why we had not started our tests when when some of the neighbouring schools had. I explained my rationale and they felt that it made sense. One then asked me if we all received the tests at the same time and I let her know that I believed that to be the case. The next questions caught me off guard as it was not something that had entered my mind. If you held onto the tests for a couple of weeks, is there anything stopping schools from practicing with the actual tests before starting? Could they all do a rough draft and then copy the good draft into the booklet? If they were not all doing the electronic portion at the same time, would it be possible for a class to begin the reading portion and then copy the stories, print them and be able to go over them with the other students to prepare them for the questions? When I answered that hypothetically speaking this was possible she was stunned. How was this standardized? In order for it to be standardized should all the kids in the province be doing the tests at the same time, or at the very least, all of the kids in the same school at the same time?
There are other factors that concern me as to how the data is used. Two years ago our school received additional staffing partly due to the fact that we had a larger number of students with learning challenges than we normally had. That year, when the students were writing the FSAs, the flu went through the school and some got sick, 1 missed a lot of time from school so I decided to not have that student finish the FSA. Result, not meeting expectations in all areas. 2 students went on vacation part way through the test, result, 2 students not meeting expectations. 2 students broke down in tears because they were frustrated so we took the tests away, result, 2 students not meeting expectations. I believe that 4 of those 5 students would have fully met expectations. I had two students who would not be writing the tests for a couple of reasons and I used their identifications to show the students to log on. Result- 2 more students not meeting expectations because I had logged them in and answered 1 question but did not click on submit thinking the results would not show, this was a boneheaded moment which I did not repeat. When you have a cohort group of about 50 kids and 7 are not meeting expectations for reasons other than the results of the test itself is one thing that a school can address and explain to its community, when an outside agency is ignorant of what happens in the schools and publishes results is another.
Four years ago we had the exact same number of identified gifted students as student with learning challenges two years ago. The school went from double digit number of students who were gifted to double digits with learning difficulties. The cohort was completely different and something outside the control of the school. The result was a huge drop in the number of students not meeting expectations. I go over the results with the parents, give them the numbers as well as some background information. I am able to explain why we have gone up or down. Our community is aware of our context, an outside agency examining and working with the data is not. When a school has their test data compromised because their electronic results have gone into an Internet abyss and suddenly 10 students results are automatically not meeting expectations and those results are published, the public perception of the school can be compromised.
From my vantage point, the FSAs can provide useful information for a staff to look at and plan our school goals. We can use it as a measuring stick to chart our progress, knowing our context. This is not shirking responsibility. I still stand in front of our parents and share the data and listen to concerns that they may have. My concern is that when a non-informed group that ignores or does not care about the contextual situations that can arise in schools, and publishes results that are challenged statistically it impacts the perception of the school. Why are schools punished because H1N1 hit their schools hard one year? Why are schools punished for not practicing for the tests for weeks and choosing to focus on the curriculum and using the FSAs as a snapshot as they were intended to? Why are schools punished because the cohorts each year can be significantly different from year to year and give a false increase or decrease in the students' perceived success? The number of students writing is also compromised, based on parent willingness to have their children write the tests. There are some schools where only 30% of the eligible kids are actually writing the test.
If everybody is not writing the test at the same time, in the same way, under the same conditions, with the same number of kids in a room writing it together, with the same preparation, with ALL students writing the test regardless of abilities, with one large group of independent markers marking all of the tests in the same way and removing the possibilities of possible manipulation of the testing situations, intentionally or accidentally, the test is no longer standardized even if all of the questions are the same. There are just too many outside factors possible to make this testing equitable. Let schools use the information for the way that it was intended and not let outside agencies compromise the validity of a non-standardized standardized test.
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
The Twitter Effect and Standards Based Reporting
What has started off as a few innocuous questions is gaining huge momentum. Who knew that responding to a tweet could have a potentially large impact on an entire district? A simple twitter conversation around eliminating letter grades led to me sending an email to an assistant superintendent which then led to a conversation in person between the 3 main participants of that conversation. From there it grew to a potential committee of about 9 schools, which then led to an email to the 70 some odd schools in the district to which about another dozen or so schools have responded that they are interested in taking this on.
I have to admit that I am borderline freaking out right now because I thought this might be a small group. I was wrong. My assistant superintendent is lining up potential facilitators, using connections to bring in some amazing people and looking for a way to get this project subsidized. My superintendent is sending me references for material that I should be looking at. We had our district volleyball tournament and teachers are coming up to me and telling me how excited they are to be a part of this. I am stoked, but also quietly shaking in my boots.
I guess we are going to have to call this the "Twitter Effect" rather than the "Butterfly Effect". If someone tweets in Coquitlam, BC, what can happen? Now I guess I get to the point of my post. Help!!!!! I had the opportunity to virtually take part in the Educon session Standards Based Grading: Is it fair? by Kristen Swanson and Mike Ritzius. I loved the presentation and the conversations that I could overhear, but I really enjoyed the virtual chat that I was able to take part in. Through that chat I was given 4 great resources as a starting point:
I have to admit that I am borderline freaking out right now because I thought this might be a small group. I was wrong. My assistant superintendent is lining up potential facilitators, using connections to bring in some amazing people and looking for a way to get this project subsidized. My superintendent is sending me references for material that I should be looking at. We had our district volleyball tournament and teachers are coming up to me and telling me how excited they are to be a part of this. I am stoked, but also quietly shaking in my boots.
I guess we are going to have to call this the "Twitter Effect" rather than the "Butterfly Effect". If someone tweets in Coquitlam, BC, what can happen? Now I guess I get to the point of my post. Help!!!!! I had the opportunity to virtually take part in the Educon session Standards Based Grading: Is it fair? by Kristen Swanson and Mike Ritzius. I loved the presentation and the conversations that I could overhear, but I really enjoyed the virtual chat that I was able to take part in. Through that chat I was given 4 great resources as a starting point:
I am going to put together a quick google doc to try and collect as much information and resources on standard based grading/assessment. Any help you can offer would be greatly appreciated! Please find the document here:
Friday, January 21, 2011
Public Ed vs Real World
As the conversation around the elimination of awards and letter grades continues, there are many people who decry the changes because we are not preparing the students for the "Real World". Most of the comments were along the lines of "In the "Real World" there are winners and losers so why are we sheltering them from that "reality"?". The callers on the talk radio seem to feel that young adults think that because they put in the effort that their work should automatically be appreciated in the "Real World". Based on the arguments offered, apparently you don't get the praise and recognition from your employers unless you are the best of the best in the "Real World". The one sidedness of the comments was surprising, but it got me thinking.
Are there winners and losers in some aspects of life? Absolutely. There are people who are going to be offered jobs and those who get the thanks for applying letters. There are people who are going to get promoted and then those who will be fired. Top sales reps will get awards, top actors will get awards, top athletes will get awards.and so on. There are people who will see those people getting the awards and the cash bonuses and will push themselves. To deny this is foolish, but for how many more does this have little or no impact, or even worse, the complete opposite effect.
So what will happen in schools, if honour roll and awards ceremonies are removed? How will this impact the students? I feel that it would not have a significant impact nor be detrimental to the students' learning. Many secondary schools now do awards on separate nights, so often the general student population are not present to see the awards being handed out. There are many students who aren't motivated by the awards. If they are motivated about their learning intrinsically, they will put in the time regardless of whether or not their name goes on a plaque.
If it is crucial to celebrate the best of the best, why is a "B" average celebrated? Does this not water it down? How was a "B" average deemed the cut-off point? If we are to truly recognize the top students, let's eliminate all those who do not have straight "A"s in every course they take. No "B"s allowed. Period. Why is this not done? Because we want all students to be encouraged to give us their best. The top students will be rewarded with scholarships, university entrance letters and choices of post-secondary institutions. Those whose grades are not as high have a limited choice of post-secondary institutions. If the students are unsure as to what they want to do when they graduate and were only motivated by letter grades, what are they going to do once they graduate? What becomes their motivation? I doubt that their employer is going to return a document that they have worked on with a letter grade attached.
Another question to deliberate is how many of those students have tutors? How many of those students have parents who have the ability and the confidence to help them with homework? How many other students could achieve that level of academic achievement if their home circumstances were different? What if they did not have to go and pick up their younger siblings, feed them, help them with their homework and then go and work a part-time job to help the family put food on the table? For some students, a C+ represents an amazing achievement. For others, it is an incredible achievement that they even made it to school. I have seen students who in grade 6 are waking themselves up, making their own breakfast, walking for 30 minutes and getting to school on time while watching some of their peers getting dropped off in 500 series Mercedes Convertibles. I am blown away every time I see those kids in my class and in my school being an active participant and I am going to find every possible way to recognize that.
Whenever I am out with friends and we talk about our various work environments, recognition and praise seem to be a big part of the satisfaction of the job. Those who do not enjoy their work tend to comment on how they are working hard and not being recognized for it, their boss takes credit for their work, does not even know who they are or only talks to them when there is a problem. Those who enjoy their work usually comment on how much they appreciate the fact that their boss acknowledges their work and effort, that they take a personal interest in their lives and that they are approachable. Why would kids be any different? People, as a general rule, like to be acknowledged for what they are doing, adults and kids alike. The praise must be authentic and not contrived.
Self-assessment has also been questioned. Why do we let students assess themselves? Because it is a crucial life skill to have. Learning how to critically look at your own work and be able to identify areas that need improvement and strengths are essential in many jobs. Learning how to look at someone else's work and identify areas that need improvement and strengths are also essential in many jobs. This is not the teacher passing the buck, there is a lot of interaction, teaching, modeling and dialogue that has to be in place for this to be effective.
The last point that I wanted to address was late work, as that was another point that seemed to come up a lot. Yes, it is true that many teachers accept late work. Yes it is true that fewer teachers are penalizing students who hand in the work late by reducing the mark. Students receive 2 marks on a report card, one that is supposed to represent their knowledge and understanding of the material covered and another that represents the work habits. The letter grades are supposed to be a reflection of how well a student understands the material being covered, not a due date. When there are issues with work that is continuously late there are meetings scheduled, plans set up and regular updates given to try and change it around. We meet with parents to try and determine if there is a root cause for the work not being done. Are there issues that we are not aware of at home or at school? More often than not, penalizing a student for late work does not motivate them, in their eyes it often justifies why they don't bother. Many students who are struggling with their homework or assignment completion are kept in at lunch or after school. Sometimes it is arranged that they will be dropped off early on some days in order to get additional support. There are consequences given when the work is late, but it should not be reflected in the marks. The key is support and working with all partners to have them improve their work completion. If they have poor work habits then they receive an "N" for their work habit mark.
I guess it comes down to a philosophical perspective on the role and purpose of school. Are we to be a sorting system where we continuously rank kids and in one form or another and tell them what their place is in the school? Most people would agree that seating kids according to their marks is very damaging, I saw it firsthand when I went to school in France. Why do it on a grand stage? We are there for every student from the most gifted to the most challenged. Our goal is to find that inner spark, that inner passion that will move that child to give us everything he/she has. Our responsibility is by the time they leave the school system we have given them every opportunity to be the brightest, shining light they can be, that they have developed as deep an understanding of all of the curricular content as possible and are the best citizens possible. For every child this is going to be different.
The students are already ranked and sorted in every competition out there whether it be track or debating, writing contests or basketball, Verbathon or other academic challenges. Those that strive off of competition have many opportunities to do so at school and outside of school. We see it every lunch hour, but we also see students who are reading quietly, skipping with friends, taking care of the school garden or picking up litter to keep the school grounds clean. Knowledge, understanding, respect and support are a school's responsibility. If society determines that there is a need to rank and sort once they are outside the school system, then that is society's choice. When students leave school hopefully they are confident, independent young adults with the ability to think critically and are self-motivated. To me these are essential skills for the "Real World". If gold stars, A's and awards are the only things motivating them then we are in trouble.
Are there winners and losers in some aspects of life? Absolutely. There are people who are going to be offered jobs and those who get the thanks for applying letters. There are people who are going to get promoted and then those who will be fired. Top sales reps will get awards, top actors will get awards, top athletes will get awards.and so on. There are people who will see those people getting the awards and the cash bonuses and will push themselves. To deny this is foolish, but for how many more does this have little or no impact, or even worse, the complete opposite effect.
So what will happen in schools, if honour roll and awards ceremonies are removed? How will this impact the students? I feel that it would not have a significant impact nor be detrimental to the students' learning. Many secondary schools now do awards on separate nights, so often the general student population are not present to see the awards being handed out. There are many students who aren't motivated by the awards. If they are motivated about their learning intrinsically, they will put in the time regardless of whether or not their name goes on a plaque.
If it is crucial to celebrate the best of the best, why is a "B" average celebrated? Does this not water it down? How was a "B" average deemed the cut-off point? If we are to truly recognize the top students, let's eliminate all those who do not have straight "A"s in every course they take. No "B"s allowed. Period. Why is this not done? Because we want all students to be encouraged to give us their best. The top students will be rewarded with scholarships, university entrance letters and choices of post-secondary institutions. Those whose grades are not as high have a limited choice of post-secondary institutions. If the students are unsure as to what they want to do when they graduate and were only motivated by letter grades, what are they going to do once they graduate? What becomes their motivation? I doubt that their employer is going to return a document that they have worked on with a letter grade attached.
Another question to deliberate is how many of those students have tutors? How many of those students have parents who have the ability and the confidence to help them with homework? How many other students could achieve that level of academic achievement if their home circumstances were different? What if they did not have to go and pick up their younger siblings, feed them, help them with their homework and then go and work a part-time job to help the family put food on the table? For some students, a C+ represents an amazing achievement. For others, it is an incredible achievement that they even made it to school. I have seen students who in grade 6 are waking themselves up, making their own breakfast, walking for 30 minutes and getting to school on time while watching some of their peers getting dropped off in 500 series Mercedes Convertibles. I am blown away every time I see those kids in my class and in my school being an active participant and I am going to find every possible way to recognize that.
Whenever I am out with friends and we talk about our various work environments, recognition and praise seem to be a big part of the satisfaction of the job. Those who do not enjoy their work tend to comment on how they are working hard and not being recognized for it, their boss takes credit for their work, does not even know who they are or only talks to them when there is a problem. Those who enjoy their work usually comment on how much they appreciate the fact that their boss acknowledges their work and effort, that they take a personal interest in their lives and that they are approachable. Why would kids be any different? People, as a general rule, like to be acknowledged for what they are doing, adults and kids alike. The praise must be authentic and not contrived.
Self-assessment has also been questioned. Why do we let students assess themselves? Because it is a crucial life skill to have. Learning how to critically look at your own work and be able to identify areas that need improvement and strengths are essential in many jobs. Learning how to look at someone else's work and identify areas that need improvement and strengths are also essential in many jobs. This is not the teacher passing the buck, there is a lot of interaction, teaching, modeling and dialogue that has to be in place for this to be effective.
The last point that I wanted to address was late work, as that was another point that seemed to come up a lot. Yes, it is true that many teachers accept late work. Yes it is true that fewer teachers are penalizing students who hand in the work late by reducing the mark. Students receive 2 marks on a report card, one that is supposed to represent their knowledge and understanding of the material covered and another that represents the work habits. The letter grades are supposed to be a reflection of how well a student understands the material being covered, not a due date. When there are issues with work that is continuously late there are meetings scheduled, plans set up and regular updates given to try and change it around. We meet with parents to try and determine if there is a root cause for the work not being done. Are there issues that we are not aware of at home or at school? More often than not, penalizing a student for late work does not motivate them, in their eyes it often justifies why they don't bother. Many students who are struggling with their homework or assignment completion are kept in at lunch or after school. Sometimes it is arranged that they will be dropped off early on some days in order to get additional support. There are consequences given when the work is late, but it should not be reflected in the marks. The key is support and working with all partners to have them improve their work completion. If they have poor work habits then they receive an "N" for their work habit mark.
I guess it comes down to a philosophical perspective on the role and purpose of school. Are we to be a sorting system where we continuously rank kids and in one form or another and tell them what their place is in the school? Most people would agree that seating kids according to their marks is very damaging, I saw it firsthand when I went to school in France. Why do it on a grand stage? We are there for every student from the most gifted to the most challenged. Our goal is to find that inner spark, that inner passion that will move that child to give us everything he/she has. Our responsibility is by the time they leave the school system we have given them every opportunity to be the brightest, shining light they can be, that they have developed as deep an understanding of all of the curricular content as possible and are the best citizens possible. For every child this is going to be different.
The students are already ranked and sorted in every competition out there whether it be track or debating, writing contests or basketball, Verbathon or other academic challenges. Those that strive off of competition have many opportunities to do so at school and outside of school. We see it every lunch hour, but we also see students who are reading quietly, skipping with friends, taking care of the school garden or picking up litter to keep the school grounds clean. Knowledge, understanding, respect and support are a school's responsibility. If society determines that there is a need to rank and sort once they are outside the school system, then that is society's choice. When students leave school hopefully they are confident, independent young adults with the ability to think critically and are self-motivated. To me these are essential skills for the "Real World". If gold stars, A's and awards are the only things motivating them then we are in trouble.
Friday, January 7, 2011
If you want to eliminate letter grades, what do you need to do?
We are in the process forming a committee in our district that will be re-examining report cards at the intermediate (grade 4-7) years, with the initial starting point of the conversation being the elimination of letter grades at the elementary level. I do feel that letter grades should be eliminated at the elementary level. I do not feel that you can change assessment practice without changing the reporting practice. But can you have this conversation without discussing assessment? Can this conversation be had without involving parents? What kind of information needs to be presented and how would it need to be presented? How long will it take to change it over? Is it possible to overcome the emotional/cultural/historical values of letter grades and reporting formats? So many questions to ponder when looking a major philosophical shift in reporting practices that have existed for decades.
We had a very good first discussion pondering the first steps that need to be taken. An important part of the discussion was about the fact that there is an emotional attachment to letter grades that needs to be addressed both inside and outside of the school setting. We can all think of letter grades that have impacted us emotionally in a very strong way. I remember when I got a C- first term of grade 11 Chemistry (I learned that I might actually have to study). I was sick to my stomach and preparing myself to go and do my French Military Service in order to avoid a very uncomfortable conversation at home. The C- that I got in 3rd year genetics was the happiest C- in my life as I managed to pass the course on the first attempt, unlike roughly 50% of my classmates. These letter grades mean different things to different people depending on the circumstances. For some they are a driving force, for others they result in crippling anxiety.
Parents are used to letter grades, they understand, or they believe that they understand what the letter grades mean. They usually only remember getting letter grades, and tend to not be able to recall what their earlier report cards would have looked like. They remember the conversation that they would have had at home with their parents, and they remember the incentives and/or the consequences of those letter grades. There is a degree of comfort in the familiarity. Many teachers are used to letter grades as a means of communicating the varying degrees of academic success of the students to their parents. This means that a significant shift in thinking that will be required should we change our reporting practices.
Assessment practices also came up, with a large emphasis on their importance in changing our reporting practices. Is it possible to change the culture around the report cards without changing the culture around assessment practices and communication about the assessment? Can changing the way we report change assessment practices? If we are to come up with a different reporting system, what needs to be considered? Is it possible to retain a previous reporting system that was based on an entirely different methodology of assessing?
Part of the reasoning behind the elimination of letter grades is that assessment practices do not match up with letter grades. Formative assessment is supposed to be a significant piece of the puzzle. How are students progressing? What have they learned from the feedback? Also, in my opinion, the assessments are not meant to be averaged out. If you are a true believer of formative assessment, then the September/October assessments are teaching tools, not measuring tools. A December report card should be reflective of where the student is now and include comments on how they have progressed based on the feedback. The students should be able to self-assess quite accurately because they have been actively involved in their learning. They should be credited for learning from their mistakes, not punished for having made them. The parents should also have an understanding of the assessment strategies, philosophies and purpose so that when assignments come home they know what the feedback means and have an understanding how to support their child's learning.
This means that there is a significant educational/information aspect that needs to be included. Presentations to parents about the language that will be used and what it means are key. If parents understand the rationale and terminology, they are more likely to support it. There will also need to be an important investment into professional development in order to ensure a common understanding of the philosophy behind the new reporting ideology within the school system. Trust is also going to be an issue. Trust with the parents as well as trust with the staff. How is this going to be better for the kids? How is this going to be better for communicating a child's progress to parents? How is this going to be more effective for the teacher?
Will focusing on performance standard language and assessment practices be sufficient to make this change? Any suggestions as to what are the next steps we need to take?
We had a very good first discussion pondering the first steps that need to be taken. An important part of the discussion was about the fact that there is an emotional attachment to letter grades that needs to be addressed both inside and outside of the school setting. We can all think of letter grades that have impacted us emotionally in a very strong way. I remember when I got a C- first term of grade 11 Chemistry (I learned that I might actually have to study). I was sick to my stomach and preparing myself to go and do my French Military Service in order to avoid a very uncomfortable conversation at home. The C- that I got in 3rd year genetics was the happiest C- in my life as I managed to pass the course on the first attempt, unlike roughly 50% of my classmates. These letter grades mean different things to different people depending on the circumstances. For some they are a driving force, for others they result in crippling anxiety.
Parents are used to letter grades, they understand, or they believe that they understand what the letter grades mean. They usually only remember getting letter grades, and tend to not be able to recall what their earlier report cards would have looked like. They remember the conversation that they would have had at home with their parents, and they remember the incentives and/or the consequences of those letter grades. There is a degree of comfort in the familiarity. Many teachers are used to letter grades as a means of communicating the varying degrees of academic success of the students to their parents. This means that a significant shift in thinking that will be required should we change our reporting practices.
Assessment practices also came up, with a large emphasis on their importance in changing our reporting practices. Is it possible to change the culture around the report cards without changing the culture around assessment practices and communication about the assessment? Can changing the way we report change assessment practices? If we are to come up with a different reporting system, what needs to be considered? Is it possible to retain a previous reporting system that was based on an entirely different methodology of assessing?
Part of the reasoning behind the elimination of letter grades is that assessment practices do not match up with letter grades. Formative assessment is supposed to be a significant piece of the puzzle. How are students progressing? What have they learned from the feedback? Also, in my opinion, the assessments are not meant to be averaged out. If you are a true believer of formative assessment, then the September/October assessments are teaching tools, not measuring tools. A December report card should be reflective of where the student is now and include comments on how they have progressed based on the feedback. The students should be able to self-assess quite accurately because they have been actively involved in their learning. They should be credited for learning from their mistakes, not punished for having made them. The parents should also have an understanding of the assessment strategies, philosophies and purpose so that when assignments come home they know what the feedback means and have an understanding how to support their child's learning.
This means that there is a significant educational/information aspect that needs to be included. Presentations to parents about the language that will be used and what it means are key. If parents understand the rationale and terminology, they are more likely to support it. There will also need to be an important investment into professional development in order to ensure a common understanding of the philosophy behind the new reporting ideology within the school system. Trust is also going to be an issue. Trust with the parents as well as trust with the staff. How is this going to be better for the kids? How is this going to be better for communicating a child's progress to parents? How is this going to be more effective for the teacher?
Will focusing on performance standard language and assessment practices be sufficient to make this change? Any suggestions as to what are the next steps we need to take?
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Who will be the "heroes" in 2011?
It is hard to believe that it has almost been a year since Vancouver hosted the 2010 Olympics. As the year 2010 came to a close the Olympics were on all of the Canadian top 10 news stories of the year. The transformation, even for a short time, of our city, province and country was amazing. The sea of red and white in downtown Vancouver was awe inspiring. It was a once in a lifetime event that I will always remember.
I wish we could hold on to those emotions and the amazing stories that came out of it. For two weeks students were focused on the amazing feats of athletes who, more often than not, competed for the love of the game. While the 2010 Games did open up with the tragic death of the Georgian slider Nodar Kumaritashvili, it also opened up with the determination of the Georgian Olympic team, marching in the Olympic Opening Ceremonies in black armbands in honour of their fallen comrade and receiving a standing ovation as they entered the building.
The first Canadian gold medal was won by Alex Bilodeau, who immediately went and embraced Frédéric, his brother with cerebral palsy. He demonstrated great humility in those interviews when he was the golden boy of our nation as the first ever athlete to win Olympic gold on Canadian soil. He could have gloated, he could have bragged, he could have behaved in many ways and yet when asked about his struggles and challenges, he minimized them in comparison to his brother's. Rather than talk about himself he talked about his admiration for his brother, and how his brother was his inspiration. He also donated his winnings from the gold medal to Pediatric Health Centres for cerebral palsy and encouraged other athletes to do the same as well.
Joannie Rochette's mesmerizing performance after the sudden death of her mother was one for the ages. I doubt that there were many dry eyes after her performance and the emotion she showed following the conclusion of her last skate was heart-wrenching. The strength and determination that she displayed was breath-taking. Clara Hughes, as inspirational a Canadian athlete as any, won another medal in these games. She is the only Canadian to ever win medals in both the Winter and Summer Olympics and is tied for the most medals ever won by a Canadian athlete. She was instrumental in the 2006 games for promoting Right to Play, becoming an ambassador for the organization and donating her winnings to the cause the she trumpeted and had many other athletes follow her example.
There were many other amazing performance by Canadians such as Lauren Woolstencroft winning 5 gold medals in paralympic ski events, Brian McKeever who became the first athlete to be named in a Winter Paralympics and Winter Olympics team in the same year, although he was not chosen to compete on the final roster for the cross-country ski event during the Olympic Games. He dominated his events in the paralympics with his brother as his guide, but his times would have allowed him to compete in the Olympics. His challenge, as a legally blind skier, would have been to ski the course without the aid of a guide. To be top 50 in the world where visual clues are critical to a good time because of slopes and turns is an outstanding achievement, and competing against others who do not share that same affliction is impressive to say the least.
While many will remember the golden goal by Sidney Crosby, there was so much to celebrate from these games in terms of character, perseverance and generosity. There were many amazing examples for children of all ages to appreciate. Our students showed the same enthousiasm for all of these athletes as many of the Tweens did when Justin Bieber came into town. Something I came to realize this year is that the students are amazed by many feats, they just need to be exposed to them. We had the opportunity to invite a Canadian Paralympian from the Beijing games. She was a torch bearer for the Paralympic torch and the students were very excited to meet her. She commented to her mother later that the kids made her feel like a star. Many of the students were talking about how cool it was to meet someone who went to the Beijing games.
When we invited a veteran to take part in our Remembrance Day assembly, the kids demonstrated incredible enthousiasm when greeting his as they left. What this taught me was that we need to do a better job of introducing positive role models to our students. We have amazing people in our communities. There are many children looking for someone to emulate and look up to. While it is difficult to compete with the tabloids, TMZ and other celebrity-afflicted media, we can help them identify with those who give back to their communities hopefully instead of those who become prima-donnas, and expect everything to be catered to them and seem to only take from the community.
There are many ordinary people doing extraordinary things in our communities. We have amazingly talented kids in our schools and our school communities. I need to do a better job of finding them and introducing them to our students. We can either present them real heroes or let media dictate that the Kardashians, Paris Hilton, Charley Sheen, Kanye West, Brett Favre or Lindsay Lohan are the ones to emulate.
I wish we could hold on to those emotions and the amazing stories that came out of it. For two weeks students were focused on the amazing feats of athletes who, more often than not, competed for the love of the game. While the 2010 Games did open up with the tragic death of the Georgian slider Nodar Kumaritashvili, it also opened up with the determination of the Georgian Olympic team, marching in the Olympic Opening Ceremonies in black armbands in honour of their fallen comrade and receiving a standing ovation as they entered the building.
The first Canadian gold medal was won by Alex Bilodeau, who immediately went and embraced Frédéric, his brother with cerebral palsy. He demonstrated great humility in those interviews when he was the golden boy of our nation as the first ever athlete to win Olympic gold on Canadian soil. He could have gloated, he could have bragged, he could have behaved in many ways and yet when asked about his struggles and challenges, he minimized them in comparison to his brother's. Rather than talk about himself he talked about his admiration for his brother, and how his brother was his inspiration. He also donated his winnings from the gold medal to Pediatric Health Centres for cerebral palsy and encouraged other athletes to do the same as well.
Joannie Rochette's mesmerizing performance after the sudden death of her mother was one for the ages. I doubt that there were many dry eyes after her performance and the emotion she showed following the conclusion of her last skate was heart-wrenching. The strength and determination that she displayed was breath-taking. Clara Hughes, as inspirational a Canadian athlete as any, won another medal in these games. She is the only Canadian to ever win medals in both the Winter and Summer Olympics and is tied for the most medals ever won by a Canadian athlete. She was instrumental in the 2006 games for promoting Right to Play, becoming an ambassador for the organization and donating her winnings to the cause the she trumpeted and had many other athletes follow her example.
There were many other amazing performance by Canadians such as Lauren Woolstencroft winning 5 gold medals in paralympic ski events, Brian McKeever who became the first athlete to be named in a Winter Paralympics and Winter Olympics team in the same year, although he was not chosen to compete on the final roster for the cross-country ski event during the Olympic Games. He dominated his events in the paralympics with his brother as his guide, but his times would have allowed him to compete in the Olympics. His challenge, as a legally blind skier, would have been to ski the course without the aid of a guide. To be top 50 in the world where visual clues are critical to a good time because of slopes and turns is an outstanding achievement, and competing against others who do not share that same affliction is impressive to say the least.
While many will remember the golden goal by Sidney Crosby, there was so much to celebrate from these games in terms of character, perseverance and generosity. There were many amazing examples for children of all ages to appreciate. Our students showed the same enthousiasm for all of these athletes as many of the Tweens did when Justin Bieber came into town. Something I came to realize this year is that the students are amazed by many feats, they just need to be exposed to them. We had the opportunity to invite a Canadian Paralympian from the Beijing games. She was a torch bearer for the Paralympic torch and the students were very excited to meet her. She commented to her mother later that the kids made her feel like a star. Many of the students were talking about how cool it was to meet someone who went to the Beijing games.
When we invited a veteran to take part in our Remembrance Day assembly, the kids demonstrated incredible enthousiasm when greeting his as they left. What this taught me was that we need to do a better job of introducing positive role models to our students. We have amazing people in our communities. There are many children looking for someone to emulate and look up to. While it is difficult to compete with the tabloids, TMZ and other celebrity-afflicted media, we can help them identify with those who give back to their communities hopefully instead of those who become prima-donnas, and expect everything to be catered to them and seem to only take from the community.
There are many ordinary people doing extraordinary things in our communities. We have amazingly talented kids in our schools and our school communities. I need to do a better job of finding them and introducing them to our students. We can either present them real heroes or let media dictate that the Kardashians, Paris Hilton, Charley Sheen, Kanye West, Brett Favre or Lindsay Lohan are the ones to emulate.
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Christmas Thanks and Wishes
I find it hard that to believe that I have been tweeting for 6 months. What started out as a way to get NHL free agent signings has turned into an education of limitless opportunities. I wanted to take the time to thank everyone who has the courage to put their ideas, thoughts and concerns out there for the world to see. I am a better educator because of all of you out there who share your passion.
I am thankful that I work with so many amazing educators in my district who lead, share and support each other, making us one of the most successful districts in the province. I am so proud of the fact that there are so many of you out there, we are only going to get stronger and better. I am also thankful to work in the best province with an amazing group of educators. I am very excited with some of the initiatives of the BCPVPA and the collaborative opportunities that we are creating and putting in place. My wish for the province is that we have 1 minister of education who stays in the position past 2 cabinet shuffles. Hogwarts had better stability.
I am also thankful for the infectious energy and passion that is coming from our prairie provinces, You are doing amazing things out there, and even though Saskatchewan robbed us of a Grey Cup appearance, I know that I am a better educator because of your sharing your amazing resources. My wish is that we continue to find a way to increase the collaboration. There are so many amazing projects and initiatives in our country that we need to push the envelope and take these ideas to our own provinces and districts.
To the amazing educators below the 49th parallel, I would also like to thank you for your passion. I am amazed at the connections that I have made across the USA. Thank you to opening up to the world to share. I am delighted to have made those connections, and don't worry, if I am ever in your city I will not be knocking on your door. Many of you have a fight on your hands to create the best learning opportunities for students despite standardized testing, RTTP and NCLB. My wish is that foundations like the Gates Foundation would realize that there are far better ways to improve and support education than the agenda that they are pushing. (It might be a useful wish that the policy gets changed to No Hungry Child because too many of the most vulnerable and defenseless are left wanting and starting out way behind, the same all across the globe)
The same goes out to all of the amazing and passionate educators world-wide. I am excited by this passion that transcends borders and politics, geography and philosophy. Thank you for making the learning for the students a priority in your lives. To organizations like Kiva and Free the Children who are making a difference in the world, thank you. You are an inspiration to our students.
The world is a better place, and getting better by the minute because of all of the projects that you have undertaken, the love of learning and the passion of teaching that you bring into the classroom, the creation of opportunities for teachers to be creative, administrators to have flexibility and Districts to have more freedom. If we continue at this we will get better every day, more doors will open for our children and students, and soon we will have the most amazing generation of learners the world has ever seen.
Merry Christmas to all of you.
I am thankful that I work with so many amazing educators in my district who lead, share and support each other, making us one of the most successful districts in the province. I am so proud of the fact that there are so many of you out there, we are only going to get stronger and better. I am also thankful to work in the best province with an amazing group of educators. I am very excited with some of the initiatives of the BCPVPA and the collaborative opportunities that we are creating and putting in place. My wish for the province is that we have 1 minister of education who stays in the position past 2 cabinet shuffles. Hogwarts had better stability.
I am also thankful for the infectious energy and passion that is coming from our prairie provinces, You are doing amazing things out there, and even though Saskatchewan robbed us of a Grey Cup appearance, I know that I am a better educator because of your sharing your amazing resources. My wish is that we continue to find a way to increase the collaboration. There are so many amazing projects and initiatives in our country that we need to push the envelope and take these ideas to our own provinces and districts.
To the amazing educators below the 49th parallel, I would also like to thank you for your passion. I am amazed at the connections that I have made across the USA. Thank you to opening up to the world to share. I am delighted to have made those connections, and don't worry, if I am ever in your city I will not be knocking on your door. Many of you have a fight on your hands to create the best learning opportunities for students despite standardized testing, RTTP and NCLB. My wish is that foundations like the Gates Foundation would realize that there are far better ways to improve and support education than the agenda that they are pushing. (It might be a useful wish that the policy gets changed to No Hungry Child because too many of the most vulnerable and defenseless are left wanting and starting out way behind, the same all across the globe)
The same goes out to all of the amazing and passionate educators world-wide. I am excited by this passion that transcends borders and politics, geography and philosophy. Thank you for making the learning for the students a priority in your lives. To organizations like Kiva and Free the Children who are making a difference in the world, thank you. You are an inspiration to our students.
The world is a better place, and getting better by the minute because of all of the projects that you have undertaken, the love of learning and the passion of teaching that you bring into the classroom, the creation of opportunities for teachers to be creative, administrators to have flexibility and Districts to have more freedom. If we continue at this we will get better every day, more doors will open for our children and students, and soon we will have the most amazing generation of learners the world has ever seen.
Merry Christmas to all of you.
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