Monthly Archives: October 2012

The Principles, Policies, and Practices of Reform

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Leaving my first meeting with Idaho Authors’ Community, two young women stopped me. They had overheard we were meeting and happened to have a friend hoping to become a published author. It was refreshing to be reminded of my own beginnings as a writer and the excitement of starting down a new path!

But the next day, I awoke recalling how difficult it had been for a “non-educator” to break into the education professionals publishing world and the struggle I faced with finding my first endorsers for my book. I felt it would be a waste of their time and mine to ask people to review something if it wasn’t even close to what they believed. So my effort included looking at a multitude of organizations and individuals and trying to decipher where they really stood on education reform principles, policies, and practices.

After much eye-blasting time at the computer and attempts to talk to live people, my conclusion was that the average Jane and Joe Q. Public can’t possibly sort out who really stands for what when it comes to “education reform.” I many times found myself having to dig really, really hard to find out who was the money behind many of these organizations. And the inter-connectedness of the influential was disturbing.

So how can we possibly expect the public to rise up and have their decisions lead us in the right direction?

And that is when I must remind myself why I wrote my book — in hopes of shedding light on the most important issue this nation must face — quality and equality for school children. If and how we get there will be up to the public.

It will begin with understanding what real education reform means, clearly facing facts, and moving forward focused on the goal.

All is Not Lost

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Across the country, people are rising to the challenge of beating back wrongful “education reforms.” The movement against high-stakes testing got rolling with 545 local school boards in Texas adopting a resolution against standardized testing. Other states including Florida, Oklahoma, Ohio, and Virginia have followed suit with many parents joining in by opting their students out of the testing in states such as New York, Washington, California, and Colorado.

And from education funding to education “reform” laws, the fate of public education is being placed before voters through state ballot measures in numbers not seen for 20 years. My state of Idaho is one of those states. Much is at stake.

In general, our lawmaking process has been corrupted by money and our minds have in the past been swayed by propaganda. We have been used in ways we may not realize until it is too late. But even as we acknowledge that money is a very, very powerful influence, we need to place our faith in the American people that they will rise up to this opportunity to support public schools. All is not lost.

At a rally here in Idaho yesterday, these were some of the parting words spoken: “Support quality education in Idaho.”

And that is what will be extremely important. When we have defeated what we know is wrong, we must be there to promote and support what is right.

Where Are The People?

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I have trouble understanding why the public doesn’t insist that we provide quality education to all children. I believe that deep down we Americans share some common values. I’m pretty sure they include freedom and liberty. I thought they also included justice and fairness.

So, after over a decade of being ruled by an education law that has proven itself failed and detrimental, why has the inaction of our congress not moved the country to engage in a conversation about the nitty-gritty of No Child Left Behind?

It isn’t hard to draw parents with school-aged children into that conversation. If they have kids in a less than excellent school, they see how the law has bound too many of us to a teach-to-the-test mentality that is sucking the joy out of teaching and learning. How have parents responded?

It used to be that teachers looked down on the idea of teaching to the test; have they now bent down in servitude to a false symbol of quality, the test score? What will it take for them to rise up?

Now, what about the others — the 75 to 80% that are not directly involved in public schools — the general public that claims education is important? Why have we not demanded an explanation of why the law failed and why it hasn’t been changed?

It’s worrisome. Where are the people that should be behind pushing this issue in the right direction?

Central to Progress: Conversations

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Previously in Actions Set the Standard, I discussed what should be seen as the ultimate of school reform conversations – the one that takes place between the primary adult in a child’s life and the child’s teacher. How it works out for the child depends on how well these adults can converse.

I’m afraid that art is going by the wayside. And without practice, we will not master the art of conversation and our society will suffer because we won’t be able to effectively put our heads together to solve problems.

I will be the first to admit that even after learning about some of the do’s and don’ts of dialogue and debate, I have trouble using what I know. When it comes to the topic of education reform, my passion gets in the way and I start to feel like I’m arguing instead of conversing. At those moments, I become part of the problem.

Education reform is all about a problem solving process that requires collaboration, cooperation, and the communications necessary to make those things happen.

I remember seeing a team shirt once that had the Henry Ford saying “Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success.”

Conversations are the essential glue which binds us together. Without them happening at all governing levels and in between …well, look what has happened…no child left behind? Right? Our so-called representatives have proved themselves incapable of taking the first step of coming together for the sake of this nation’s children.

When this year’s political pandering is history, we citizens need to have a serious conversation with each other and our representatives.

Essential to Reform : Cooperation/Collaboration

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In addition to the word communication, we really need to consider some other very important “C” words — collaboration and cooperation — which both mean the same thing, “to work together.” Those in education circles tend to use the word “collaboration” which can also mean “working with the enemy.” And I think most of us regular folks use the word “cooperation” more often and it also has an expanded meaning, “to combine so as to produce an effect.”

Right now, our differences divide us. We can’t work together when we continue to allow barriers to stop our progress.

Anyway you look at it, working together is a proposition easier said than done probably because the basis of it goes back to communications. We struggle because of differences in our use of words, the way we interpret words, how we relate them to our experiences, our body language or lack thereof in cyberspace, and a whole host of other communications related problems. Many of these things could be clarified if we would just ask questions and converse more often.

We have to remember, it isn’t about us; it’s about them. Real education reform will only happen when we work together to do what’s best for our kids. That is the page to start on.

An Instrument of Reform: Communications

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People can be an amazing source of information and inspiration. And there is something to be said for the old saying, “two heads are better than one.” But it only rings true when the two heads are able to communicate. After all, communicating is referred to as the science of transmitting information.

Communications is a much more complicated process than most of us tend to realize and I’m afraid we are so busy that miscommunications are occurring more than we recognize. It took observing children and seeing their perplexed looks over something misunderstood to draw my attention to the topic. And the difficulty of communicating became crystal clear when I took to writing and began questioning how my words would be interpreted.

So when we begin to look at school improvements, or education reform, we need desperately to learn to communicate better with each other. We not only need to share our knowledge and perspectives with others but we have to use each others’ input to solve problems — that’s a lot of communicating! It’s a big quagmire where many an education reform has gotten sucked in and died.

Until education reformists learn and practice the art of effective communications, we will continue to stumble where reform is needed most. Schools with large concentrations of poverty don’t tend to have many people considered “influential.” As individuals, they aren’t heard. So more often than not, group action is required.

We all have to be able to communicate – with each other and the influential – to be effective.

Knowledge Guiding Change

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Following my own advice, I took a few moments this morning to stop and think. I reflected on the efforts of so many who are struggling for quality education. I wasn’t thinking about the very public and petty fighting of politicos or the influential; I was thinking about regular folks in the trenches.

It’s believed that human nature is such that we are more inclined to unite against a thing or person that we hate rather than rally around something we love. Hate can be seen as a more unifying force than love. Frustrating and sad — but it’s a reasonable explanation for why it’s so hard to get people to rally on behalf of this country’s children. It almost sounds like an impossibility to overcome all of the forces working against the institution of public education. And they are real, powerful and many.

I have been asked before and again recently; how do you continue this fight against seemingly hopeless odds? I’ve never had a good explanation. But like most things, the answer is usually right in front of us; we just can’t see it until we are ready to.

I am a true believer in the idea that knowledge is powerful. Think about it; if we know something about human nature, can’t we then use that knowledge to change or direct an outcome? Sure we can; it’s done all the time — advertising, propaganda, persuasion of any kind.

So today, I have something to add to the advice “stop and think.” Listen, question, learn, and use the knowledge you have gained. As Francis Bacon (father of the scientific method) argued, inquiry will “…assure man’s mastery over the world.” Seek knowledge about the topic for which you wish to change.

And, please, ask questions. It makes people think.

P.S. I saw my book yesterday for the first time!

 

The Culture of Our Society

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“Education experts” fight over how much in-school and out-of-school factors contribute to student’s outcomes. Meanwhile, headlines in my newspaper today read, “Doctors help students make the grade — with drugs.” I thought it was going to be about college students; it wasn’t.

They talked about young students, adolescents! If a student has “trouble listening to instructions and concentrating,” there’s a drug for that. Need a competitive edge, there’s a drug for that. I know I’m not the only one that sees the wrong in this.

So where do we point the finger of blame; “overcrowded classrooms,” the “frustrated parents” asking for the drugs, competition and the need for kids to “perform better”? Or will we hear the truth in what this pediatrician said,

“We’ve decided as a society that it’s too expensive to modify the kid’s environment, so we have to modify the kid.”

Why French Kids Don't Have ADHD https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/suffer-the-children/201203/why-french-kids-dont-have-adhd

Why French Kids Don’t Have ADHD https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/suffer-the-children/201203/why-french-kids-dont-have-adhd

We don’t have time or resources to work with these troubled kids, but, we have a drug for that. This kind of “medical reasoning” will keep some Wall Street stock numbers up. Some will enjoy that high.

This isn’t just one dramatization, it’s wide-spread and it’s real.

Long ago, teacher Sarah McIntosh Puglist described the culture of her school to me as “test-based.” Yesterday she wrote about the culture once again saying, “…now I’m afraid many look upon struggling kids as something to resent.” Have children become a bother to society?

All should be able to see that the school culture can’t help but be influenced by the culture of our society. This is assuming that people (kids and adults alike) don’t quit being people when they walk through the schoolhouse doors.

If ever there is a time to stop and think, this is it.

“Let us put our minds together and see what life we can make for our children.” Sitting Bull

School Culture and Change

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When I began fighting for school improvements, little did I know  how important school culture is to success.

In my last blog (Understanding Change), when I asked the question “who will take control of the direction [of reform],” I wasn’t thinking about the movie I was about to see but it played right into the question.

The movie, Won’t Back Down, may not have been intended to be interpreted the way I did, but here it is. I saw the “union thugs” dressed in red (stop) and the parent-troopers dressed in green (go). I saw the protest signs for “choice” and heard the familiar words of the reform wars —tenure and bad teachers, can’t and won’t.

Swept up in the emotion, I cheered for the underdogs and shared in the pain of the parents portrayed on the big screen. I’ve walked in their shoes, but, without the fairy tale ending.

What I didn’t see was a law that will force schools to improve. Rather, what the movie demonstrated was the power of ordinary people. What I saw was the right leadership rising up, and, the question of control of the direction of reform was answered. I saw community organizing to support a public school; community stepped up. And I saw the “culture” of the school change from one of hopelessness to one beneficial to both teaching and learning.

“If culture changes, everything changes.”

T. Donahoe 1997

I saw the change we need, but, understand that the means to that end must not harm children, destroy neighborhoods, or undermine the strong foundation of our institution of public education.

“Dreams, visions and wild hopes are mighty weapons…” Eric Hoffer 1951.

Let’s hope they aren’t being used for the wrong reasons.

Discover more about school culture and change.

Understanding Change

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When I first heard that President Obama was taking on “health care reform” by passing major legislation, I winced. Not because it isn’t necessary that the nation address that issue, not because of any particular aspect of the law; I winced because this action revealed the failure of Mr. Obama and his advisers to understand the change process in people. In doing so, they set themselves up for major resistance.

Who Moved My Cheese? by Spencer Johnson probably wasn’t required reading in the Ivy League schools but it should be for anyone serious about changing our public education system for the better. The book opens with “The Story Behind the Story” by Kenneth Blanchard which contains this applicable statement, “…living in constant white water with the changes occurring all the time at work or in life can be stressful, unless people have a way of looking at change that helps them understand it.”

So as we once again approach the changes that will come with “education reform,” and they will come, we can hem and haw or sniff and scurry around, or, we can reflect on mistakes and plan for the future. We can share a vision of what change should look like. And we will only make progress when we come to understand that the people “who felt they had less power [were] more afraid of what the change imposed from above might do to them. So they resisted change.”

It’s human nature to react to change by first questioning — how will this affect me?

The cheese will move; the question is who will take control of the direction?