Teacher Performance vs. Student Achievement

 A recent report out of the state of Florida indicated that there is great disconnect between teacher performance and student achievement. Florida had recently implemented a new formula for evaluation its teachers. Florida State Senate President Don Gaetz questioned “How can you have a C- or D- ranked school in which 85 percent or 90 percent of the teachers are classified as effective or highly effective?”

Changes in Florida law in 2011 changed the way teachers were evaluated and the way they could earn raises. The law also eliminated teacher tenure for newly hired teachers, an issue which is being challenged in court by the Florida teachers union.

Several questions persist. One central issue is whose teaching are you evaluating? If you are testing a student’s cumulative knowledge, then the current classroom teacher is not entirely responsible. What about those transient students who come and go from other districts or even from other states? How do you effectively evaluate the performance of teachers in that situation?  Yet another issue is students who have learning disabilities. If they have not been properly diagnosed and evaluated and their test performance is not disaggregated, they could be credited to a teacher’s performance.

We need to look at several issues and the solutions are complicated.

1.       We need to review and revise how teachers are trained.  There needs to be sufficient contact time in the classroom as well as an understanding of the content areas to be taught. How much theoretical knowledge of learning theory is necessary? I recently attended several lectures about the education system in Israel and learned quite a bit about their workings. The government encourages education and innovation. It provided funding for research and education. The teacher training program at the Technion, one of Israel’s premier universities, is quite rigorous, where candidates must get their degree in the content field first and then assist in the classroom befor getting a teaching assignment of their own. Teachers are not committed to a 35 year career in the classroom. Most Israeli teachers enter the classroom more mature than their American peers since they all have a military obligation that must be met before starting college.

2.       We need to decide what all America school children should know. Programs like the Core Knowledge Curriculum and the Great Books program are good, but they assume that students have a basic general fund of knowledge and many students do not. Unfortunately a great deal of this can be attributed to socio-economic differences. Additionally most American students are not proficient in a second language. These deficiencies keep American school children behind their European peers.

There are no easy answers but the hour is late and we cannot afford to have our children fall further behind. Nor can we afford to rubber stamp past pedagogical practices.

c. 2013 J.Margolis

Teaching About Climate Change and the Weather

Most of the continental US is in the grips of a frigid cold wave this week. Yet the news from last week indicates that 2012 was one of the warmest years on record. The year past also included its share of atmospheric tragedies, floods, raging fires, and of course Superstorm Sandy. Many of your students (and teachers as well) may be conflicted about climate change and global warming. There are many opportunities to present material to launch a lively discussion about just what is happening to our weather. There are several web sites that provide a good background for discussion.

The National Weather Service (http://www.weather.gov/) part of NOAA has up to date information about the current Arctic like weather with maps and statistics suitable for classroom use.

The web site “The Teachers Guide (http://www.theteachersguide.com/Weather.html) has free lesson plans and worksheets, etc. to print and use in your classroom. Students can even get instructions to build their own weather station. There are PowerPoint presentations already prepared for use in the classroom.

Student at the high school and college level may want to view former Vice President’s Al Gore’s film “An Inconvenient Truth” which takes critical look at global warming and its effects on our weather and the environment. Try viewing this web site -(http://www.takepart.com/an-inconvenient-truth).

The Weather Channel’s web page has a number of games and activities for children.  You will surely find something you can use in the classroom.  View http://theweatherchannelkids.com/weather-games/. Here you will also find film clips of weather events.

Additionally you may also want to view the web site of the National Geographic Society and its link for students about weather around the world.(http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/kids/games/interactiveadventures/wildest-weather/

http://eo.ucar.edu/webweather/site.html is the site for the University Corporation for Atmospheric Education. Here too teachers will find useful classroom tools.

I hope that you will find these suggestions useful in your classroom. Stay warm!

c. 2013 J. Margolis

2013 Presidential Inauguration

If you have not already been doing so, there is still some time to get your students ready for President Obama’s second Presidential Inauguration. While the President will take the official oath of office on Sunday, Jan 20^th as prescribed by the Constitution of the United States, most of the activities and festivities will occur on Monday January 21^st which this year also coincides with the celebration Martin Luther King’s birthday. The theme of this year’s Inauguration is “Faith in America’s Future.”

Here is the official oath of Office:

“ I do solemnly swear ( or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve ,protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”

There are many websites you can direct your student top to obtain information photos and stories that will surround this historic event. One great site is that of the Newseum in Washington, DC. This is a museum all about news and the media. The site has a wealth of information about the inauguration. If you were lucky enough to get a ticket for the Newseum on Monday ($100 per ticket) you would have a great seat for the parade. Go to http://www.newseum.org/.

Another site which might get the interest of your students is http://www.inaugural.senate.gov/. Here you will find information not only about the ceremony but also what is being served for the Inaugural Luncheon and other events taking place that day.

The official White House web site http://www.whitehouse.gov/ has information about the President, First Lady as well as Vice President Biden and his wife, Dr. Jill Biden. You will be able to read transcripts of press conferences and up to date information about goings on at the White House.

http://www.presidential-inauguration.com/inaugural-parade/ is the official website of Presidential Inauguation.com. You can find information here about obtaining tickets for events, the Inaugural Balls, the Parade and other events, traffic and weather conditions, etc.

You and your students will be able to follow events live on television and on the Internet. Be sure to take advantage of these historic activities.

c.2013 J. Margolis

Currengt Issues in Public Education

This past week I had the opportunity attend a press conference and lecture given by Dr. Frederick Hess. Harvard educated, Dr. Hess is currently a researcher for the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) in Washington, DC. Through the course of his discussions, Dr. Hess covered a wide variety of topics concerning the current state public education in the United States. He noted that there are over 100,000 schools in this country and over 14,000 school boards, a system that he believes is anachronistic.

While the US lags behind other developed industrialized nations (17 out of 74 in reading and 31 out of 74 in mathematics), it spends more educating each pupil than any of the other countries. Clearly money is not the solution to fixing the issues in our public education systems.

Dr., Hess noted that over the years, there have been a lot of “great new ideas” that school administrators latch on to as the magic bullet to fix education’s problems. But ultimately programs like “the small high school," whole language learning, block scheduling, and project based learning have had limited successes and were not widely adopted.

Another issue that was addressed was that of teacher retention. Dr. Hess believed that recruitment techniques needed to change. We can no longer rely on hiring a teacher and expecting that person to stay on the job in one school or district for 30 years. Like the Teach for America Program, founded by Princeton graduate Wendy Kopp, we need to set our sights on a shorter time frame, accepting the notion that a skilled individual may be willing to devote 2 or 3 years to being a teacher and then move on to another field of endeavor. The fact of the matter is that we need 300,000 teachers per year and we must devise a way to find and recruit them.

Dr. Hess also commented on the length of the school year. In other countries students are in school for over 200 days a year but here in the US most students attend classes for 180 days. Hess noted that as much as one third of the school day is spent on administrivia, like taking attendance, school assemblies, and dealing with discipline issues. Only 65% of the school day is actually spent on learning.

Hess left his audience with an important question to ponder, “Should every school be required to meet every need for every child?”

Dr. Hess’ latest book, “Cage- Busting Leadership” is now available from Harvard Education Press.

c. 2013 J. Margolis

Teaching Tools of the Week

Tools of the Week

The Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) is an organization with a wealth of information and networking opportunities for those teachers who work with student who possess disabilities.

Teachers will find articles as well as links to information regarding advocacy (who will stand up for the rights of students) as well as worthwhile discussions about paraprofessionals- how they should be selected and how they can best be integrated into classroom activities for the maximum benefit of the student. (Recommended reference-, The Development and Field Test of an Employment Interview Instrument for School paraprofessionals, Dillon & Ebmeier, 2006

One of the links from the CEC is called “Tool of the week” (www. tooloftheweek.org). This past week the topic was about teaching word problem solving techniques to students with autism. These resources are free and teachers can sign up to receive the tools each week via email by going to the web site. Prior to this most recent tool, previous lessons included identifying street signs in the neighborhood and signals at a crosswalk and teacher tools to prepare for IEP meetings and to engage the student in this critical process. Also available in the site’s archives are suggestions for implementing a peer mentoring program.

The main web site for the Council for Exception Children(http://www.cec.sped.org/) has information regarding professional development opportunities for teachers, a store with teaching materials for purchase, and a link to their Blog “Reality 101” ( which I subscribe to). There are many publications available for teachers as well.

The CEC will be holding its annual convention from April 3-6 in San Antonio, Texas. You can obtain more information about conference registration and costs, etc, from the CEC web site. The organization also sponsors webinars for those who can’t always get away to attend conferences. I encourage all teachers to take advantages of these free and useful resources.

c.2013 J. Margolis