Snow Days

When I was a kid there was nothing better than a snow day. In my memory I can recall snow piled as high as the roof of my house and sledding down hills that seemed the size of a small mountain. It was great to wake up to KMA radio and hear Oakland or Council Bluffs schools included on the list of those that were out for the day. We were always early risers, so generally once we heard the announcements, we started planning for the day. There were a few times that a neighbor and I would go door to door in the late morning trying to earn a few bucks shoveling driveways. Mom would usually fix soup and grilled cheese sandwiches, which were a welcome break from school lunch. When the news would come on at six that night, we watched the weather hoping for more snow in the forecast and the potential for another day off.

The worst sound that you could hear after going to bed with the hope of a day off due to a few inches of that wonderful white stuff was the rumbling sound of the snowplow. We all knew that if the plows got out early in the morning, the chances of the longed for day off diminished significantly. The dad of one of my classmates in elementary school drove a plow and I remember that we would often shun him when we had to go to school and there was snow on the ground. Like it was his fault!

Thinking back to those days sledding down the hills on the Oakland golf course or the one on the side of Abraham Lincoln High School in Council Bluffs bring back a lot of memories. However, I no longer have that same warm place in my heart! Now I go to bed when there is snow in the air dreading the phone call that I know will come early in the morning. I also have to share the news with my wife who is sick and tired of kids being in the house all day rather than at school – where they are supposed to be! I am really tired of the color white because that is all I see outside. I am not opposed to going to school in June, in fact, just the opposite. I have maintained for years that I would rather have kids in school in June than in August. So it isn’t the whole “have to go to school in June” thing with me. No, I’m just tired of short weeks and the inability for our staff and students to get in the flow of school. And, did I tell you that I hate the color white!

Can We Do This Together?

At a town hall meeting for high school students on December 15, 2009, U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan asked his audience what they are doing now to take responsibility for their own education. At that same meeting he pointed out that taking Advanced Placement classes, getting involved in extracurricular activities geared toward college majors or areas of interest, and volunteering are definite steps in that direction. The issue of taking responsibility for their own education is a topic people outside of the education field have also started to ponder as well, including Richard Doak from the Des Moines Register, who a little over a year ago basically told folks to back off on pointing fingers at the schools and level them at the conditions of poverty. As an educator, it was nice to read someone from the media who wasn’t blaming us!

In reality, the success that a student has in school is dependent on many factors, but basically, there are three: the student, the family, and the school. There are exceptions, but if all three do not contribute equally, then the chance of academic success is diminished. Or, in some instances, one or two of the factors have to compensate when another is not “pulling its weight.” I have seen some remarkable kids overcome horrible lives at home to become great students that give themselves the opportunity to live a much better life than their parents provided for them. I have also seen tremendous kids challenge themselves to be better when the school does not push them hard enough. But, I have also seen far too many kids that do not push themselves, and have dealt with more parents than I would like who do not hold their child accountable and find it easier to point their fingers at a teacher than at their own child. And, as sad as it may seem, I have dealt with parents who place a very low priority on their children and put up huge obstacles for them.

This working relationship is critical on a number of levels, but one that has me very concerned has to do with what our students today are going to face in their future. I know that part of my job is to educate parents and the community on things that are going on in this world that we are preparing their children for, and to some degree I question whether anyone is listening. Our children in school right now are going to compete with kids all over the world for jobs and yet why are we not making the necessary changes that need to be made to better prepare them for this reality? For instance, students in other countries are going to school 25 to 30 percent longer than we are. In a global economy, we are not playing on a level playing ground! Yet when are legislators and other leaders going to recognize that we have to have longer school years and compensate the teachers accordingly? However, it isn’t only them. I know that in this part of Iowa we still have a strong agricultural economy, but it is not the same as 100 years ago when school calendars were developed to meet the labor demands for farming. We must look at expanding our school year and get beyond the perceptions that have existed for so long that in our new information economy are terribly outdated.

From the perspective of a principal and a teacher, I know that we can continue to improve our instruction and the way we work with young people. It is a huge responsibility and mine to oversee on behalf of the students who attend our school. But I also agree a great deal with Secretary Duncan, an outspoken advocate of rewarding teachers based on student success, but who also has stated that teachers cannot do it alone regardless of the rewards. He made it clear that "students must be serious about their own education.” Honestly, on a daily basis this is what troubles me the most. I see kids every day that do not accept the fact that they must put forth their best effort to improve themselves, to develop their skills and expand their knowledge base. Many are only concerned with a grade or “passing” and do not seem to be interested in learning. We know from sports and the arts that in order to develop a skill it has to be practiced over and over again. The same is true for learning. Instead, many kids cram for a test to get a good grade, but do not internalize the important aspects of what they are supposed to learn. A recent Des Moines Register survey of nearly 13,000 educators showed that 79% of them do not believe that students want to learn. That is a troubling statistic! It is imperative that students listen in class, ask questions, make homework a top priority, put forth their best effort, get enough sleep, and take responsibility for their own learning.

Back to Doak’s position, teachers in Iowa also see the impact that poverty and life at home has on the children that arrive in their classroom each day. The same survey from The Register shows that 67% of Iowa teachers say that children in school are hungry or tired, and 88% stated that situations at home distract kids from learning, including anything from drugs to alcohol abuse by parents, constant moving, or a death in the family. What bothers me so much is that in some of these situations, parents are not making education a priority for their children. From the survey, it was stated, “Rich or poor, parents must instill in their children that it is their responsibility to get a good education.” There was a time in our history that parents living in tough situations wanted better for their children and knew that education opened those possibilities. Many parents must ask themselves what they can do differently to better prepare their children for school. According to The Register survey, “Parents have been let off the hook because we don’t want schools to use problems outside their door as an excuse.”

It seems that right now there is a lot of finger pointing, but the reality is that in order for my children, and other children, to be able to live the life they hope to live, we must figure out a way for everyone to be on the same page. There are times that schools are expected to solve problems that should be handled by parents. In some respect, we have taken the position that since it isn’t getting done at home, then we owe it to the child to take care of it at school. But when I really think about it, we cannot continue to do this. Where will it end? We have to communicate more with parents and in some instances help them so that we can all do a better job preparing children for their future. The idea of “it takes a village” is still very true today. Which brings us back to the question: Can we do this together?

Grab A Book!

I truly value the time that I have when I can read a good book, or catch up on some professional reading, whether it be from journals or other sources. I am particularly a sucker for mystery novels, especially those written by James Lee Burke, Walter Mosley, Andrew Vachss, Robert B. Parker, and yes, Sue Grafton and Janet Evanovich! I also cannot wait for the new works from John Grisham, James Patterson, and David Baldacci. I remember when I was teaching at Galva-Holstein a number of years back that I set a goal of reading 50 books in a year. I felt that I wasn’t taking advantage of all the worlds that I could go to through a book and simply was not taking the time to enjoy reading. I far surpassed that goal that year and set one even higher the next. Today, I do not set goals any more as I make time to read for my personal enjoyment and to advance my knowledge. I only wish that I could do that more!

When I was at Creston, we set aside time every day and “required” students to read. I struggled with the required part of all of that, but the philosophy was that if students had the time to read something they wanted to read, then they would develop a desire to do so on their own time as well. In some cases that held true and I do believe that programs like “Silent Sustained Reading” and “Drop Everything and Read” have value. I do know that some kids completed the first book they had ever read cover to cover. It was a struggle to get others to turn a page, so you can’t make everyone enjoy reading. It does give me concern that people do not take the time to read and I fear the consequences of this because our nation is dependent on a literate society. It is surprising to learn how many adults do not read on a regular basis!

In our busy lives it seems to me that we need to set aside the time to read. It is not uncommon for my family to sit in front of the television set watching American Idol or a movie, yet we could just as easily be together reading. It is actually kind of funny because when I jotted down a few notes for this article, it was because I noticed one evening over winter break that the four of us were sitting in our front room, each of us with a book open and all of us fully engaged in the story in front of us. I am so happy that both my kids have a book in their bags each day, one of them reading on the bus to and from school and the other in the evenings before bedtime. It also causes me to remember back to those nights when they were small, sitting in my lap or their mothers, turning the pages of their favorite book as the story was read to them. I am so happy we set that time aside for them because I have to believe that contributed to their love of reading today.

I don’t have to “schedule” reading time anymore for myself because I do it when I have a chance. And, I am lucky in that my kids read without coercion. For those of you out there who do not take the time, I strongly encourage you to start like I did about twenty years ago by setting goals and blocking out time. Get that library card and use it! I also believe that the best gift you can give to your child is to require that they do the same. You can’t “make” them enjoy it. But, you can ensure that they at least open the book and then turn the pages. Without that, they probably never will!

Is Pink Right?

In a previous article I'm A Wee Bit Confused! I wrote about what is happening on the front line in the field of education regarding science, math, and technology. There is no question that steps have been taken not only at North Fayette, but other high schools throughout the country to “beef up” our programs in those areas. And, there is no question in most educators’ minds that we need to continue to grow. Now with all of that said, I want to add to that perspective, so consider this a follow up to my being confused. But, hold on to you hats because you may be surprised at some of the things you read!

I want to introduce you to Daniel Pink, a former speech writer for Vice President Al Gore, author of the current bestseller Drive, and the book I will reference a few times in this article A Whole New Mind. He also worked as an aide to U.S. Labor Secretary Robert Reich and has held other positions in politics and government. Pink received a BA with honors from Northwestern University and a JD from Yale Law School, though “to his lasting joy, he has never practiced law!”

Promotion material for A Whole New Mind includes: “Lawyers. Accountants. Computer programmers. That’s what our parents encouraged us to become when we grew up. But Mom and Dad were wrong. The future belongs to a very different kind of person with a very different kind of mind. The era of ‘left brain’ dominance, and the Information Age that it engendered, are giving way to a new world in which ‘right brain’ qualities-inventiveness, empathy, meaning-predominate. That’s the argument at the center of this provocative and original book, which uses the two sides of our brains as a metaphor for understanding the contours of our times.”

On CBS Sunday Morning, January 10, 2011, the question was posed, “Will innovation ever be in short supply?” Daniel Pink’s answer was, “No, it is part of what makes us human.” Pink believes that all of us have at least some potential of being creative. He defines creativity as “the ability to give the world something it didn’t know it was missing” and uses the iPod as an example. We have tens of millions of people carrying around iPods today and eight years ago none of them knew that they were missing one! According to Pink, we all have a level of creativity because we are human beings, though not everyone is destined to be the next Einstein, Dylan, or Chihuly.

This country nurtures and encourages creativity and that has been the reason that we have maintained the economic advantages we have had throughout the 20th century and now into the 21st. So why are we trying so hard to emulate the educational programs of other countries, many of them developing nations? Why is so much of a focus being placed on test scores, in some places at the expense of the arts? Why do some of the finest engineering and medical colleges give preference to students with music in their background? What will happen to American ingenuity? All of these are questions that we should be asking!

While our political and business leaders are challenging schools to become more like other countries of the world where students score better on tests than ours, some of those same countries, such as India, China, and Russia are taking a close look at how they may change their schools to look more like ours. Why? Because they know they can produce cheaper and more efficiently than we can, but they do not have the ability to create and invent at the level we do. The United States still leads the world in knowledge capital. Doesn’t it make sense to work to maintain that advantage?

By the way, for the past twenty years the business world has been telling education how it should educate. Do you suppose if the education world had been telling business how to do their jobs our nation would be where we are at right now? Something to consider!

I'm A Wee Bit Confused!

Over the past few days I have been catching up on some reading on my favorite topic . . . education! And at this point, I must say that I am becoming more and more confused about one aspect of a trend we are seeing as well as the direction that many of the leaders in our profession say that we need to go. For the better part of the past eight or nine years, there have been very strong calls for beefed up instruction and performance in math and science as well as more extensive use of technology in the education of our children. Hundreds of millions of dollars have been made available to public schools from different levels of government and grants from numerous foundations, such as the Gate's Foundation. Schools have worked to improve programs and some have been founded as magnet schools. STEM has become an acronym for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. We educators have been constantly reminded how our students are behind their peers in other nations. There is no doubt that we have to improve in these critical areas and many individuals in my position are seeking ways to do that with the shrinking budgets we have and other obstacles that exist in our profession. How to get this done is just a small part of my confusion. In fact, I believe that we have a number of great possibilities on the horizon that can be implemented, such as the Iowa Core Curriculum, changes in instructional strategies, better assessment, and perhaps even one-to-one computers. I trust that this will sort itself out in the next couple of years!

Now that there are possibilities out there, I wish I hadn't taken the time to read some of the articles I read the past few days! I am perplexed! First of all, I read an article that summarized comments made by the Obama administration's basketball-playing Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan. I had a chance to listen to him in person in Washington, DC this past July and was very impressed by him as a leader as well as the direction that the Obama administration is carving for education. Anyway, in this article Duncan stated that "education leaders in the United States must work to close the digital divide and ensure that all students have access to top-notch technology, while at the same time using technology not just for technology's sake, but as a game-changing learning tool." I buy into that 100%. He then adds "we need to be much more creative and innovative in how we do things. For instance, students today use cell phones and PDAs on a regular basis, so coming up with creative ways to deliver content and curriculum and curriculum involving technologies that students like to use is one way to grab students' attention." Again, I am on board there, recognizing that we have an outdated philosophy on these devices as evident by the policies against them that we have in many schools, ours included.

Then I read an article about a brand-spanking-new magnet school slated to open next fall in Paradise Valley Unified School District in Arizona. The purpose of the school is to boost the number professionals in science and technology related industries in that state. It is called The Center for Research in Engineering, Science, and Technology. This STEM -- science, technology, engineering, math -- school will have a hands-on curriculum with a focus on biotechnology projects and all the latest and greatest in terms of technology and equipment. They will also have the best and brightest teachers that can be hired. With all we are hearing about how we are falling so far behind in math and science and that crisis awaits, Arizona is making a huge commitment to turn that around. Yet, only 60 students have applied for the 150 slots available for the first class! What's that all about? It doesn't sound like the Field of Dreams philosophy of "build it an they will come" proves out in this respect. This sounds like something Duncan has encouraged, yet it is struggling to attract students.

After that, from the Washington Post I read Fewer High School Students Taking Computer Science Classes. You can tell by the title what this one said! As we all know, it is hard to find a student that doesn't know how to navigate the the Internet to do research, socialize with Facebook, text or tweet on their cell phone, or play a video game. Just sit outside an American high school or middle school at the end of the school day and you will see that vast majority of students using devices when they walk out the door that they have been denied the use of inside! But just as our kids are using more technology, very few of them know how computers and the Web actually work. Throughout the country fewer students are taking computer science classes, to the extent that many schools, with choices to make because of budgetary problems, are dropping course offerings in this area. The College Board has even made the decision to cancel one of its AP computer science classes. Chris Stephenson, executive director of the New Your-based Computer Science Teachers Association stated in reference to our high school students "their knowledge of technology is very broad but very shallow." The implications for this is that we are creating a generation of teenagers that use computers at a very high level yet will most likely not have the know-how to contribute to the way that computer technology will shape lives in the future. Again, this decline in computer science education comes at a time when our political leaders are hammering away that we need to improve math, science and technology skills for our future workforce.

As I said before, I am confused! However, I do believe that we have to move beyond the common practice of using computer technology as a tool and use it to truly integrate instruction and learning. It is so much more than an electronic pencil and paper with a capacity to connect our students with learning that goes far beyond the walls of the classroom. This has to be our aspiration!

Juniors Come Through On ITED's

We received the results of our annual battery of tests associated with the Iowa Tests of Educational Development and are very pleased with the performance of our junior class. While we had improvement at the other grade levels, the juniors take on special significance because this is the grade level that we have to report out to the Department of Education and is thus the one that is used to measure our success in accordance with guidelines established with No Child Left Behind. The very good news is that 87.6% of our juniors scored at or above the proficient level in reading comprehension. That score does put us above the state trajectory and is a significant improvement over our scores from last year.

In math, the level of proficiency was also good -- 77.5% -- but not as high as we would like to see in relation to the trend line. It was just a little bit higher last year, but when one looks at performance over the past eight years, the level has been relatively constant. It is an area that we need to see continued growth in to meet the trajectory goals for the state and one where we need to dig into the data to gained a better understanding of everything from instruction to student performance.

The junior's performance in science was also very strong and exceeded the trajectory level established by the DE. At NFHS, 88.8% of the juniors were proficient. And, it was in this content area that we had the largest pecentage of "high performance" students and the lowest percentage of "low performing" students. All of this points to solid understanding of the concepts included on the ITED in this content area as well as close alignment of the concepts and skills that are taught.

We put an incentive in place this year that challenged students to put forth their best effort. Many of them showed solid improvement as 58% of all of our students 9-12 met at least one of three improvement/performance criteria. If they did not have a strong sense of purpose on these tests in the past, this incentive worked for at least a few of them. In the end, our goal is that all of our students show progress each year on these tests. They are the measure used by our Department of Education to demonstrate how well our school is doing. The problem over the years has been that students see no directed benefit for them. We all know that intrinsic motivation is much stronger than external, but until the "system" has something else in place, we use what we can to emphasize to students that these tests are important. In the last few years, NFHS has also started to put these scores on transcripts and they are required on applications for Dollars for Scholars.

Once we sort through all of the results, we will have reports ready for conferences in the spring and we will also report out on other things that we discover about our student's performance. However, this first snapshot is very good news for our school and does lend some support to let us know that we are on the right track.

The New Face of College Students: It's Never Too Late!

In the Des Moines Register this morning, I read an article about a woman who earned a diploma from North Carolina Central University with a 3.98 GPA in pharmaceutical sciences. This was after growing up in a low-income family in Utica, NY, earning a scholarship to Northeastern University in Boston nearly twenty years ago, dropping out of college at least twice due to family issues, getting married and having two children, and holding a variety of jobs. Catherine McNamara attended a total of five colleges over 17 years and despite life's interruptions, persevered and will graduate this month. As she was quoted in the Associated Press article, education "is the one thing you've earned for yourself that absolutely no one can take away from you."

McNamara is the face of the new college students. For the past five to ten years, community colleges have shown a significant increase in enrollment due to an influx of "non-traditional" students, and so have colleges and universities. What are non-traditional students? By most definitions it would be one that does not fall between the ages of 18-24, but also would include individuals who may attend part-time, care for dependents, or perhaps work full time while enrolled. According to recent statistics, about one-third of all college students now fall into this category of "non-traditional."

What I also found interesting as I read further is that McNamara is an even greater success story because she will actually graduate. 80% of community college graduates state that they hope to earn a bachelor's degree, yet only 10% do and it looks like the longer it takes the less likely they are go finish. Financial aid starts to run dry and life's other demands start weighing more on the student's priorities. But, when we look at students who go right on to college from high school, the completion rate is not much different. While over 80% of high school students in Iowa graduate, the percentage that actually complete either an associates (2-year) or a bachelors (4-year) degree is less that 20% of those that start college. It is a huge problem when one considers that in our "flattening" world, this kind of advanced education/training is going to be imperative for young people to get a job!

What is the take home on this? First of all, individuals like Catherine McNamara should be considered role models as despite significant odds, she got a college degree and will get a good job. A college diploma is worth about a million dollars over a worker's lifetime, thus it is imperative that we look beyond a high school education. Students must be challenged in high school and prepared to take on the rigor of college. No more "senior slackers" or "senioritis" can be tolerated. Colleges and universities are going to have to change the way that they teach students. Like high schools, they are going to have to recognize that there is valid research that provides a road map to how students learn best. Learning must be more relevant and more importantly, students must learn how to learn. Very few high school students today will have one career or job in their lifetime. Christine McNamara recognized that no one could take that education away from her and now she is set to make a better life for herself and her family.