Welcome Back to School

Back to School

“Even on your WORST DAY as a teacher

 You are some student’s best hope.”

As I was driving through Tennessee last week, I saw a sign in front of a school building that stated that the fall term begins on August 1^st. Is it that time already? Many of us have not yet cleaned out our book bags from the end of the last school year. We hope that your summer was a productive one. Whether you relaxed and recharged your batteries at the beach or the mountains, or if you attended a workshop or graduate program, now is the time for preparing for the new year. Aside from the micro – issues at you own school and in your own classroom, there are issues in contemporary American Education that take on a more global importance. Here is a brief list of some of those issues that educators will have to deal with during the coming school year:

1)      Politics and Education. As I have mentioned in previous articles, 2012 is a presidential election year and public education in this country will be impacted in some way no matter who is elected. Review the issues. Scrutinize the candidates. Don’t forget to vote!

2)      School violence. Unfortunately this summer glaringly illustrated that no public venue is safe- not a movie theatre, a Sikh Temple, or a retail store. Schools are not immune.  Familiarize yourself with your school’s policy regarding school emergencies and what programs are in place (or should be) to reduce violence in schools.

3)      Bullying. Bullying on school grounds or cyber-bullying has reached epidemic proportions in this country. What is your school doping about it? When crafting policies, be sure to include the voice of the parents. They are an essential key in eliminating bullying.

4)      Teacher Quality and Compensation. You may be going back to school without a contract. You may also be returning to the classroom with a new set of guidelines for teacher evaluations and rules for obtaining tenure. Be sure that you familiarize yourself with these changes. Discuss and issues with your administrator as well as union representatives.

5)      Bilingualism. This is an issue that is ongoing. As the percentage of the US population who do not speak English increases, the need for bilingual education becomes more critical. We must continue to develop literacy programs that will reach all children. Classroom teacher do not have to be reminded that they are obligated to teach every child who walks in the door.

6)      Poverty. You have students who went hungry this summer. Without school lunch and after school snack programs, many student whose families live below the poverty line did not have sufficient nutrition. In some states, summer program were able to provide food to needy students. This situation is not going to improve even as the school year begins. The current drought in the Midwest is bound to cause a hike in food prices making a healthy diet even less affordable to many families. Food banks around the country are already reporting shortages.

Schools are more than places for learning. They are also place for socialization and social action. What has made America’s school great in the past- so great that people flee other countries to get their kids in American schools- is that schools were a haven  with thoughtful and compassionate professionals who have the best interest of their students at heart. Please keep this in mind as you begin the new year. Best wishes for a successful school year!

Bank Street Bookstore

 A Visit to the Bank Street Bookstore

The other day I as was walking on the upper west side of New York City when I came upon the Bank Street Book Store. Readers of this blog know that I cannot pass an opportunity to visit a book store-whether they sell new or used books. But here I found A TRUE GEM. While most independent booksellers have gone out of business due to competition from chains and online sellers, this store was unique. This store sells exclusively children’s books, as well as educational toys and games.  The two story store situated on the corner of Broadway and W 112th street housed more children’s books than I have ever seen in any bookstore!

What makes this shop even more unique is that is part of a college.  Bank Street College of Education has been in existence since 1916 and although it is just down the street from the more well known Columbia University School of Education, it has a rich tradition and reputation of its own. Bank Street provides professional development courses for teachers in the New York City Public Schools. It also offers Masters Degree programs and on line courses. Since its focus is on early education and literacy it is not surprising that the book store specializes in books for young children, from wonderfully illustrated picture books to chapter books for more advanced learners.

One of the unique activities of this store is its summer reading program for children. The store prints out playing cards each week with recommended books. (The week of July 14-20 the topic was “Animals and Monsters’) When the student completes the activity on the card, the results are then validated by a parent or guardian and approved by a member of the bookstore staff. The student is then entitled to a free Dover mini-activity book of his or her choice from the store (limit one per week).

As resourceful classroom teachers, I am sure you can modify this and similar projects for use in your classroom for the upcoming school year. For information about the bookstore visit their website at www.bankstreetbooks.com. You can contact the store at 1-800-724-1486.

For more information about Bank Street College of Education, check out their web site at http://www.bnkst.edu/m.  Be sure to check out their Center for Children’s Literature.

 Don’t forget to look for area retailer “Teacher Appreciation Days”. There will lots of giveaways, discounts and coupons for teachers.  Take advantage of these offers as you prepare for “Back to School.”

No Gold Medal for Education

Those who have followed this blog may know that I rarely been in agreement with Michele Rhee and her philosophy for changing public education in America.  However, an article by Ms. Rhee appeared in the August `1^st edition of USA Today that I concur with. Rhee believes that if we in America would put forth as much effort in striving for excellence in education as we do toward training our Olympic athletes, then the academic performance of our school students would also improve significantly. She goes on to cite reports from both the Council on Foreign Relations and Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development that point to the fact that American students have been falling behind on their performance in internationally rated assessments, most pointedly in science and mathematics.

Who is to blame for this? Is this not reminiscent of the US in the 1950s when the Soviet Union grabbed the lead in the “space race” and exposed our inadequacies for the world to see? Obviously the priorities of a nation are in a different place.

One does not have to look any further than the recent debacle at Penn State University. The voluminous amount of press coverage has focused on Jerry Sandusky and the impact of the recent NCAA rulings that will affect the football team. We heard about the reduction in athletic scholarships. We heard about the bowl game participation ban and we also have been reading about current student athletes who have been deserting the Penn State football programs for other opportunities.

The one thing we have not heard word one about is ACADEMICS. The primary focus of a university must be to educate students and teach them how to become independent thinkers. A college education should also prepare graduates for life-especially career preparation. All of this has been lost for the sake of football-at least in the stories of the last several months.

Coincidentally, an article appeared in the August 6^th issue of Sports Illustrated about the Israeli Olympic team. The author noted that “Israel takes far greater pride in its ten Nobel Laureates and the multitude of Israeli tech start-ups on NASDAQ- than it does of its 7 Olympic medalists.”(SI. P. 73)

America cannot expect to narrow the achievement gap merely by conducting studies or appointing commissions. Nor can the expenditure of money alone fix the problem. Methods of teacher preparation, the crucial importance of parental involvement, a rigorous curriculum are all importance. Additionally, students need to know the importance of going to school and the value of obtaining an education. The blasé attitude of students toward learning and lack of seeing education as important is a further impediment of getting America back in the education game. The stakes are high. If we expect to remain competitive in the global economy, if we expect to have a population who will be able to guide the country, provide health care to an aging population, be at the forefront of the w world stage, then we must be more serious and focused on improving education. And No, we cannot afford to wait until November!

Poverty and Sudent School Performance

Does poverty play a role in poorly educated children?

There always seems to be a great deal of finger pointing when it comes to the issue of minority children in poverty areas, inner cities,etc. falling behind their more affluent peers  in school performance. Popular educators and authors like Jonathan Kozol and E.D. Hirsch have often made reference to this schism.

The scenarios usually include parents who don’t have the time or resources to buy books and computers for their children or to expose them to institutions like museums and concerts.

However, there are those who believe that all fingers should not be pointed at socio-economic issues. The quality of teaching taking place is also at issue. In some districts, the newest (least experienced) are assigned to the schools with the worst problems- poor attendance, violence, and low test scores. A number of teachers have given up on true teaching and have resorted to “baby sitting” rather than dealing with unruly and unmotivated students.

In many states, starting with this coming school year, teachers will be assessed on their the   performance of the students on the state assessment tests. Pay raises, tenure, and even the job itself will depend on how the student progress during the year.

Throwing money at the problem has not proven to make a difference. Neither has encouraging teachers to earn advanced degrees and certificates had an impact on student success.

There is no one solution to the problem of an under-educated population. As you begin to prepare for the next school year,  we urge you to make a concerted effort to make a difference in the lives of your students. Reach out to those who need extra help. On the political front, try to keep education on the front burner of the upcoming Presidential election campaign. We cannot afford our children to fall further behind, not even for one day more!

The Government's Role in Education

Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of Independence and third President of the United States was a strong proponent of making sure America became an educated country. Since democracy is advanced civics, it was important that the citizens of the new nation were enlightened individuals.  Yet any reference to the importance or method of education is conspicuously absent from the Constitution. The Tenth Amendment specifically states that, anything not the domain of the federal government falls under the jurisdiction of the individual states. Thus we have 50(51 including DC) state departments of education each with statewide curriculum requirements, teacher certification standards and high school graduation requirements. This also means that locally elected school boards play a critical role as to what goes on in America’s public schools.

At the federal level, the increasing role of government in education goes back to the 1950s. The National Defense Education Act was a knee jerk reaction to the Soviet launch of Sputnik, the first satellite in space. America realized that it was far behind in the “Space Race” and therefore appropriated funds to encourage college students to pursue careers in science and math.

President Lyndon Johnson was responsible for passing the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). President Jimmy Carter created the Department of Education and the cabinet level position of Secretary of Education that went with it. President George W. Bush was responsible for the broad reaching and controversial No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) and President Obama enacted the Race to the Top Program.

While there has been public resentment for these intrusions into education, it has not stopped interest groups from focusing on single issues when it comes to education in this country. These issues have included:

School Prayer

Reciting the Pledge of Allegiance in schools

Sex Education

Charter Schools

Inoculations

Textbook selections

More recently the issues have included teacher tenure, performance evaluations, and collective bargaining issues.

In short, education has become politicized with the adults doing battle without really addressing the needs of America’s children.  It is about four months until a very important Presidential election. It will remain to be seen whether education becomes a campaign issue. At the local level it already has, since a decline in property values has led to a decline in tax revenues used to fund public schools. As educators

Summer Reading

The other evening I was browsing in the local Barnes and Noble trying to escape the brutal heat wave that had gripped the Northeast. There was quite a crowd of parents and middle school students at the summer reading tables armed with lists provided by the local high schools. Many of the usual suspects were present-The Adventures of Huckleberry Fin, The Old Man and The Sea, Night, The Diary of Ann Frank, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, and the requisite number of Shakespeare plays.

On a nearby shelf I noticed a series of books entitled “Flash Kids Books.” Since these were new to me I decided to investigate further. Flash Kids workbooks are are published by the Harcourt Company, a major publisher of educational material. This series of books provides study aids for school students and are a great way to reinforce school taught ideas throughout the summer. The books are coded by grade level and are primarily geared for elementary school students. There are separate books for mathematics, reading comprehension and even test preparation (since so many states have high stakes tests that are administered to students every year.)

According to the publisher, the Flash Kids program books are geared to current national teaching standards. The format of the books makes the learning (or reinforcement) fun for children. It is an effective stimulus for summer so that students will return to class in the fall without the usual loss of content knowledge that tends to occur during summer months.

 These workbooks may also be effective for classroom teachers to use during the first weeks of school to aid in re-introducing topics that were taught during the previous school year.

Another workbook series worth investigating is called Summer Skills (www.summerskills,com) this series includes workbooks in math, language arts, and even foreign languages- Spanish, French, and Mandarin Chinese. The series’ publisher recommends that students should spend 20 minutes a day, three days a week, for the summer to stay in shape for the fall. The Summer Skills  books sell for $20  each are only available from the publisher.

Make this a meaningful and productive summer for your students and your children!

Who Killed the Unions?

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker’s victory in a recall election last week has sent a strong message to labor unions, particularly public employee unions (i.e. - police, firefighters, and teachers) that the mood of America has changed resoundingly. No longer are union members perceived as the downtrodden who had been taken advantage of and abused for decades and needed some sort of legal protection. Collective bargaining laws were designed to be the great equalizer in negotiations with municipalities and state officials.

Public workers yielded the prospects for higher salaries and chances for advancement in exchange for health insurance, a defined benefit pension plan and job security. They chose steady dime over the seldom dollar economics because they felt that they selected a career where they could make a difference- to protect the citizenry and to educate the nation’s children.  But the recent economic downturn derailed that continuum.

Governors, including Walker, Chris Christie of New Jersey, and Ohio Governor John Kasich, in an effort to curry favor with conservatives,  began a frontal attack on unions, cutting benefits, tenure laws, and chastising the unions  for “ breaking the backs’ of state treasuries with their demands and pensions.

The unions are not without fault. In New Jersey for example, it has been next to impossible to fire a tenured teachers who has lost effectiveness. For the school district it was a lengthy and expensive process and many would rather forgo that street fight.  A number public employee unions formed PACs (Political Action Committee) to raise funds for and campaign for favored candidates.

But now the paradigm has shifted markedly to the right. In an effort to remain solvent, states are reneging on their promises to save money. Public safety and public education are two issues that should never be compromised by politicization.  But that is indeed the case. But the public ( i.e.the voters) don’t seem to understand that they can’t have it both ways. Why would someone want to become a teacher in this environment- not knowing if something that was promised to them on the day they started teaching would still be valid on the day they retired? The public can’t stand there and scratch their collective heads wondering why education in the US had dropped precipitously in the world rankings when because of the current hostile environment, the best and brightest college graduates shun teaching as a career option. The voters cannot complain about an increase in the crime rate or of people dying because an ambulance could not get there fast enough on the one hand and refusing to even negotiate with public employee unions on the other.

America has become mean spirited and its politicians have been invoking a double standard, demanding for example that Israelis and Palestinians negotiate a settlement to their differences while refusing to do so at home with their public employee unions. At some point compromise must be the order of the day.

NOTE TO READERS- We are going on hiatus for a week or two as we relocate for the summer. We hope to be blogging again soon.