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By Kyle, December 22, 2011 12:21 pm

The Who – Christmas

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We’re almost there, Santa!

The recent personal event of having another nephew being born yesterday highlights, once again, the critical role that parents and families play in the education of their children.

While school districts¹, reform advocates², parent groups³, and unions⁴ all seem to agree on the importance of “parent engagement”, the sad truth is that every single initiative I’ve encountered from these groups has been a top-down strategy that, in the end, is either too specific to apply to an individual school like mine, or too vague to be any use at all.

For example, in LAUSD, we now have a whole division dedicated to family engagement. Led by former director of the non-profit Families in Schools⁵, the LAUSD Families⁶ office has begun its work in earnest. But what exactly are they doing? Well, they’ve written a document called Parents Bill of Rights and Responsibilities⁷(a document which no one at my school seems to know exists), and developed a poll (as of now about 700 parents have responded to it, which is in the range of one- to two-tenths of a percent of my estimate of the number of parents in LAUSD). Clicking on the “School Resources” link gives very few actionable steps to take at my school, and the “Parent Resources” link is even more dismal – “Hey parents! Click here and download a giant PDF of the LAUSD Parent handbook”.

Look, Santa. Here’s what I want. And I know you can do it because it’s easy. EASY. While having a district-wide strategy is important, tell the district that they mainly need to be focused on becoming a "Parent Engagement Resource Center”, or PERC, since we seem to acronymify everything nowadays (and “verbify” everything too). What does a PERC do? Really simple. It’s main jobs are to:

• Scour the district and find schools that actually are doing parent engagement well. I KNOW there are schools out there.
• Develop a system to catalogue not only what these schools are doing, but who at the schools are doing them (more on this later).
• Include both numerical data AND, just as (if not more) importantly, anecdotal data as well.
• Allow, encourage, and foster communication between schools who want to learn parent engagement strategies with those who seem to be leading the way.

But how do they actually do this? Well, assuming that the district know which schools seem to be doing parent engagement well, here are some ideas:

• LAUSD could compile an online database with names and emails of leaders at each school with exemplary parental engagement.
• LAUSD could provide stipends for leaders at these exemplary schools to provide workshops, classes, or PDs.
• LAUSD could provide sub-time for teachers, and principals to visit schools where parent engagement is done well.

Simply put, there ARE great things going on in the district right now, but no one seems to know about them. If the district can act as a facilitator rather than a manager in this regard, schools might actually be able to see not only “what’s working” but be inspired to tweak it to meet the needs of their own school community.

Santa, make it happen!

1. LA Daily News: LAUSD aims to engage parents in schools
2. Intersections South LA: “Don’t Hold Us Back” Movement Rallies at LAUSD Meeting
3. Transparent: A grassroots organization focused on making LAUSD better for our kids!
4. Long Beach Press-Telegram: UTLA workshop will help parents teach kids over summer
5. Families in Schools website
6. LAUSD Families website
7. Parents Bill of Rights and Responsibilities

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By Kyle, December 19, 2011 2:18 pm

Aimee Mann – Calling on Mary

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Dear Santa,

First, I hope you appreciate the format change of this blog post. Rather than embedding links, I’ve referenced all the links at the bottom of this post. Hopefully easier reading, and more knowing what you’d like to explore. Thanks and happy reading!

Waiting For Superman director Davis Guggenheim characterized charter schools as incubators. “We can take those ideas and pull them into mainstream schools,” he explains in a 2010 NPR interview [1].

To a certain extent, we’re seeing some of that right now. LAUSD and our union, UTLA, recently came to an agreement (you can view both LAUSD’s take [2] and UTLA’s take [3] on this agreement). That this agreement is characterized by some as giving charter-like autonomies [4] to campuses speaks to the fact that some do actually believe in the charters-as-idea-incubators descriptor. It is to this end that the original charter schools were created and it is to this end that I am actually in support of charter schools.

Yet, while the original intent was likely noble, the surrounding policies have created incentives that, more often than not, result in competition rather than collaboration. Again, while initially noble in nature, policies like California State Prop 39 [5] and LAUSD’s Public School Choice [6] devolved into systems that incentivized both District schools and Charter schools to not collaborate, but rather act in their own self-interests when it came to things like enrollment, data, and rhetoric.

Fast forward to 2011: We’re in a state of being in which, as a firmly committed LAUSD teacher, my mere mention of anything but vilification of charter schools will cause some to question just how firm my commitment to the district actually is.

So Santa, for this Christmas, what I’d really like is forums and opportunities to actually work with charters to explore actual strategies that might help kids. Everything from how to best serve all kids [7], to school culture [8]. Everything should be on the table as we work together to teach our kids!

Links:

1. Davis Guggenheim’s NPR Interview
2. LAUSD’s take on Tentative Agreement
3. UTLA’s take on Tentative Agreement
4. Deasy’s Twitter account regarding charter-like autonomies
5. Daily News: Charters See Win in Court Ruling (Prop 39)
6. Youtube: Deasy on Public School Choice
7. Miami Herald: South Florida charter schools admit few special needs children
8. Hechinger Report: A look inside a successful charter school culture

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By Kyle, December 17, 2011 6:13 pm

The Kinks – Father Christmas

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Dear Santa,

Since I know you keep up on world events via periodical reading, I’m sure you saw the fascinating article appeared in the October 3 issue of The New Yorker, in which the author, a surgeon, noticed that his practice seemed to be stagnating after a number of successful years. He decided to hire a surgeon “coach” (himself a retired surgeon) to watch him perform his surgeries, and give him analysis and feedback based on what he saw.

This is exactly what I’d like for Christmas, Santa. You gave me a taste of this 8 years ago when, as a newbie teacher, I had one of my school’s assistant principals regularly in my classroom, regularly giving me feedback, and regularly offering me suggestions on not only ways to get better, but which other teachers I should observe in order to improve my teaching craft.

Nowadays, this simply doesn’t happen, and when schools do magically find funding for a coaching position, all too often, they are simply overrun with administrative tasks and thus unable to devote any real time to the duty they are charged with.

So Santa (Father Christmas), how about some real coaching. Or if pressed for time, one of these to at least give me a different (and potentially painful) perspective.

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By Kyle, December 11, 2011 11:58 pm

Smashing Pumpkins – Christmastime

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In all honesty, Santa, I had written this list for you several weeks ago, not realizing that you had already started granting my wishes. It seems as if the next item on my preconceived wish list is already in the works.

Santa, what I was merely hoping for was a process that was less political, more transparent, and based on, you guessed it, better data.

However, Santa, it looks as if you’ve gone far past my wish for tweaking the Public School Choice process and gone ahead and killed it. While I am open to the idea that the original intent behind PSC was likely a noble and perhaps even forward thinking one, the process quickly deteriorated away from instructional improvements and into political posturing. While a tweak may have worked, Santa, saying goodbye to PSC may not be a bad thing insofar as it gives our schools time to improve instruction and our district time to improve the ways of measuring and supporting instruction.

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By Kyle, December 3, 2011 7:15 pm

RUN DMC – Christmas in Hollis

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Tip O’Neill had it right. All politics IS local. And here in Los Angeles, 7 of the most powerful folks, the LAUSD Board of Education, are consistently elected by less than 10% of voters.

These folks set budgets, determine teacher layoff numbers, authorize data systems, approve new schools, close schools, and even hire the superintendent. The effects of the decisions of these seven individuals ripple throughout the community of Los Angeles, for good or for ill.

So Santa, my next item on my Christmas list is that you’d please, please, please increase the voter turnout in out school board elections so that the folks really are serving a representation of the public they are charged with serving.

Now, I know, Santa, that you can’t change the will and attitude of the thousands upon thousands of folks who don’t show up in the elections for these local policy-makers, but in lieu of that ability, I offer up a series of actionable items you could (within your purview as Santa) take up to help this:

1. Stop with this madness of holding elections in March. Nobody votes in March. Always tie the school board elections to the larger elections as a whole, be it state or federal office.
2. A series of publically funded “Get out and vote” Public Service Announcements prior to school board elections. You could easily gather a coalition of folks who want to encourage voting.

I know, I know, Santa, this is a tough one. But I know you can do it. 

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By Kyle, November 28, 2011 9:28 pm

The Ronettes – Sleigh Ride (From “A Christmas Gift For You From Phil Spector)

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I fully realize that I instantly lose any moral high ground when my next Christmas song comes from a convicted murderer. However, despite killing The Beatles album, Let It Be, the wall of sound does, in fact, do ironic justice to the sounds of Christmas.

And that seems like a great way to begin my Education Wish List for 2011. So Santa, here goes:

First on my list (or last, depending on your theory of ordinal numbers) is my wish for LAUSD to end social promotion.

Santa, this wish has been on my list (and thus unfulfilled) for nearly 3 years. In case you’ve forgotten, students are socially promoted when those students, who have shown nearly no evidence of academic mastery of grade level-material are promoted to the next grade level anyway. This current practice is awful for a number of reasons. First, it may disincentivize (come on spell-check…”disincentivize” IS a word) students to perform well academically. Second, it hamstrings higher level classrooms where grade level material is increasingly difficult to teach due to the large numbers of students who have note mastered the prerequisites. Yes, they’re called “pre”-requisites for a reason. And third, and most importantly, the current system of social promotion flies in the face of the high expectations that teachers, schools, and families are trying to promote. It’s hard to say, “I expect you to work hard so you can do well in 8th grade”, but then "if you don’t, you can go there anyway.

Now Santa, you may be hesitant to end social promotion like I’d like you to. I know you may have read research that suggests that retaining students does little to improve their outcomes, or worry that district-wide ending of social promotion might not even be feasible.

I understand completely, Santa, and to help you out a little bit, I’ll suggest the following steps to ensure that this Christmas wish list can be actually fulfilled.

Step 1: Do not actually end social promotion district wide next year. Rather, end social promotion for all kindergarten. Then the following year, end social promotion for kindergarten and first grade. Then, the following year, end social promotion for K-2, and so on, and so on. Manageable? Absolutely.

Step 2: As research suggests, do not merely retain failing kindergarteners next year. Rather, identify them early, and in the process of retention, provide them with additional learning options and opportunities (be it intervention courses, parent workshops, or additional supports even in elementary school).

Santa, these two steps are totally manageable, and I know they can be done. So please grant my first Christmas wish. I’ve been good.

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By Kyle, November 26, 2011 12:31 pm

Low – Just Like Christmas

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Two days after Thanksgiving, one day after Black Friday, one day before the start of Advent and we’re now definitely into the “Christmas season”. When I was a child, I would usually take the post-Thanksgiving weekend to compose a fairly elaborate Christmas “wish list” which I hoped would conveniently find it’s way to my parents through your favorite middleman and mine, Santa Claus.

It’s in that same spirit, I’ll be brining you my 2011 Education Wish List, which, over the next month, will bring you 10 things that I would love to see happen in the “education world” (I can actually promise 10, I’ve got drafts already!).

So, Santa, instead of getting me a wool scarf or some snow pants (if you haven’t been paying attention to where I live), if you could manage one of the forthcoming gifts from my education wish list, I promise to make my way to the “nice” list next year.

Oh yes, and did I forget to mention that I get to share some of my favorite Christmas music along the way? So stay tuned for the first installment coming this Tuesday.

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By Kyle, November 17, 2011 9:58 pm

The Cars – Just What I Needed

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There’s much to be frustrated in education policy these days, from media outlets muddying the waters of actual reform (the LA Times just asked for all of LAUSD’s teachers’ AGT data) , to simplistic data being touted in overreaching ways (48% of voters think charters provide “better” education…unfortunately, we’re not exactly sure what the term “better” means).

Thank goodness for satire.

A blog I’ve recently been following, notyetlausd.blogspot.com, has provided some much needed levity to the situation, and in so doing, actually speaks some truth that at times, is a bit uncomfortable. The latest? Viewing the Wasserman’s $4 million grant to LAUSD (directly to teacher projects) as….get this, reparations for Public School Choice.

Amazing.

And yes, after a long night of parent conferences were a wonderful chance to meet and interact with my students and their families (but nonetheless went 30 minutes over time because of my amazing horrible fluency in Spanish), this is just what I needed.

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By Kyle, November 14, 2011 7:40 pm

30 Seconds to Mars – Kings and Queens

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So I’m becoming more and more a fan of the show 60 Minutes (probably because of the phenomenal soundtrack…tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, …)

However, I’m really upset with the CBS network right now, because when they post their clips to YouTube, they are disabling embedding, so I cannot share with my readers the fantastic story I saw last night in it’s immediate form right here.

However, I can link it, so if you can find 12 minutes out of your busy schedule, I’d highly recommend taking a look at last night’s story right here (http://youtu.be/KgTo4tslgwM), where Freeman Hrabowski’s University of Maryland Baltimore County seems to be doing exactly what so many institutes of higher education should be doing: sorting educating!

If you don’t like it, I’ll refund your twelve minutes.

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By Kyle, October 17, 2011 7:51 pm

Tommy Roe – Dizzy

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As the ocean layer began its morning burn off this past Friday, a group of teachers, including myself, waiting in our school library for the President of the American Federation of Teachers, Randi Weingarten to arrive along with UTLA President Warren Fletcher.

The agenda? Public School Choice, and the ways that it has both misidentified schools that need interventions (Cochran, while by no means perfect, does not need such drastic interventions), and failed to account for the way in which going through the process puts additional stress on staff, distracting our focus from where it should be, our children.

The content of the meeting itself was hardly substantive, but two specific outcomes began to shed a bit of light on the situation. First, the AFT President contacted our Superintendent on behalf of us, requesting a meeting, so we’ll see what happens there. Second, the LA Times education reporter happened to be in the room, and as a result, a story was published.

The article, while short, got straight to the point, and did a good job of assessing the current situation. A short time later, our local LA education blogger picked up the story and began a discussion online of what the potential response could be. A colleague weighed in brilliantly as this discussion progressed.

Where do we stand? Well, we don’t really know yet. However, in the words of Spike Lee, we are fairly confident that LAUSD will