In This Issue:
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2
MORE YEARS+$133.6 MILLION TO FIX MISIS/LAUSD TO PAY $79.6 MILLION MORE
FOR MiSiS+HIRES NEW TECH OFFICER/BOND COMMITTEE OKS MORE MILLIONS FOR
MiSiS |
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Hope for dropouts: HIGH SCHOOL DROPOUTS TEACHING HIGH SCHOOL IN WISCONSIN? |
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The Right Start Commission: NEW COALITION SEEKS ANSWERS TO STATE’S EARLY EDUCATION WOES |
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NONACADEMIC SKILLS ARE KEY TO SUCCESS. BUT WHAT SHOULD WE CALL THEM? |
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HIGHLIGHTS, LOWLIGHTS & THE NEWS THAT DOESN'T FIT: The Rest (but
not necessarily the best) of the Stories from Other Sources |
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EVENTS: Coming up next week... |
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What can YOU do? |
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Featured Links:
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In the great scheme of things there are warnings,
auguries, and disturbances-in-the-force one is supposed to pay attention
to. The unnatural quiet; the dog not barking – the shiver on a warm
evening. An inner voice you choose to ignore that says that this
person-of-the-opposite-sex is precisely the one your mother warned you
against.
And after the fact there is irony. The realization that someday (long hence) - you will laugh at this tragedy.
He may not have said it first, but I first heard it from the Soothsayer
of Ebbets Field+Chavez Ravine: “Experience,” Vin Scully said, “is the
ability to recognize one’s mistakes when you make them again.”
As I get older the recognition (and the laughter) come sooner.
This week’s headlines: BOND COMMITTEE OKS MORE MILLIONS TO REPAIR LA
UNIFIED’S MiSiS / LAUSD TO PAY $79.6 MILLION MORE FOR MiSiS REPAIRS NEXT
YEAR, HIRES NEW TECHNOLOGY OFFICER / LAUSD TO SPEND TWO MORE YEARS AND
$133.6 MILLION FIXING MiSiS - all seem like last past issues of this
very blog.
One needn’t dial all the way back to the Great SAP/BTS Payroll Database
Fiasco of 2007 to find a match …though that one plus a child abuse
scandal also cost an LAUSD superintendent his job.
The ISIS database never really worked right; MiSiS is supposed to be a
quick fix for ISIS (itself a fix for SIS), which couldn’t meet the terms
of a federal consent degree in tracking Special Ed students.
Our own Dr. John Deasy – who admitted he doesn’t understand database
implementation …but is driven by the need for Big Data – rolled out a
product called MiSiS in Prince George’s County, MD …and then got outta
Maryland to the warm bosom of The Gates Foundation just before that ship
hit that sand!
The Internet abounds with stories of colossal IT failures [http://bit.ly/1LQklOV]:
●INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE: Business Systems Modernization; Launched in
1999 to upgrade the agency’s IT infrastructure and more than 100
business applications.
WHAT HAPPENED? By assembling a star-studded team of vendors, the IRS
thought its $8 billion modernization project would manage itself. The
IRS thought wrong. As a result, the agency’s ability to collect revenue,
conduct audits, and go after tax evaders was severely compromised. This
case study illustrates what can go wrong when a complex project
overwhelms the management capabilities of both vendor and client. Some
consider it to be the most expensive systems development “fiasco” in
history, with delays costing the U.S. Treasury tens of billions of
dollars per year.
●FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION: Advanced Automation System (AAS);
FAA’s effort to modernize the nation’s air traffic control system.
WHAT HAPPENED? AAS was originally estimated to cost $2.5 billion with a
completion date of 1996. The program, however, experienced numerous
delays and cost overruns, which were blamed on both the FAA and the
primary contractor, IBM. According to the General Accounting Office,
almost $1.5 billion of the $2.6 billion spent on AAS was completely
wasted. One participant remarked, “It may have been the greatest failure
in the history of organized work.”
●FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION: “Trilogy;” Four-year, $500M overhaul of the FBI’s antiquated computer system.
WHAT HAPPENED? Requirements were ill-defined from the beginning and
changed dramatically after 9/11 (agency mission switched from criminal
to intelligence focus) thus creating a strained relationship between the
FBI and its primary contractor, SAIC. As Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.)
stated, “This project has been a train wreck in slow motion, at a cost
of $170M to American taxpayers and an unknown cost to public safety.”
●There is actual ancient history: THE CALIFORNIA DMV rolled out a
database in 1987 that was supposed to solve everything. Look how that
went!
…and it isn’t all just government:
●NIKE: Integrated enterprise software.
WHAT HAPPENED? Nike spent $400 million to overhaul its supply chain
infrastructure, installing ERP, CRM, and SCM—the full complement of
analyst-blessed integrated enterprise software. Post-implementation (3rd
quarter, 2000), the Beaverton, Ore.-based sneaker maker saw profits
drop by $100 million, thanks, in part, to a major inventory glitch (it
over-produced some shoe models and under-produced others). “This is what
I get for our $400 million?” said CEO Phil Knight.
Databases are not enchanted machines that generate knowledge and
magically create the Great New Wonderful Tomorrow – they are about
storing and retrieving information.
If it’s not there, they won’t find it.
The best metaphor for an IT database is a prime example of an IT fiasco; The Denver Airport Automated Baggage Handling System.
The hardest+fastest rule in a land of rules+code is GIGO: Garbage In, Garbage Out.
I came across an article on the Internet (Remember: It’s not on the web
unless it’s true!) called 5 Big Data Implementation Mistakes To Avoid | http://bit.ly/1GdgnkC
1. You aren’t doing enough with the data you have.
2. You’ve bet the company on free software
3. You’ve abandoned your expensive legacy data systems altogether
4. You don’t know your data (which seems to be a circular recalculation of #1)
5. You’ve bitten off more than you can chew.
LAUSD+MiSiS. 5 for 5.
The media reports unanimously that the Bond Oversight Committee
unanimously OK’d the District’s proposal to continue to invest almost
$80 million more in MiSiS over the next 12 months. .
It would be easy to go on all “I wasn’t there!” on that vote; I wasn’t.
I support that vote, I would’ve voted to go along with everyone – but it would be wrong to equate unanimity with enthusiasm.
What the papers didn’t report is that the Bond Oversight Committee’s
approval came with important conditions and strongly expressed concerns -
crafted over the past few weeks – addressed to the board of ed and the
superintendent; concerns we believe reflect those of the public,
taxpayers and voters.
The BOC will deliver those concerns to the Board at their meeting on
June 9th – but primary among them is the District’s commitment to
long-term funding and staff training+support of the MiSiS program when
it becomes operational and cannot be bond funded. Speaking for myself: I
have seen too many billions-with-a-B spent on schools that are not
being adequately maintained and too much spent on building and equipping
libraries that don’t have librarians.
The District’s history with the payroll fiasco is informative because
the selfsame mistakes were repeated with MiSiS. Database centered
projects for decision support and transaction processing do fail. How
often? According to a study of IT projects by The Standish Group
reported in 1995, "Only 9% of projects in large companies were
successful. At 16.2% and 28% respectively, medium and small companies
were somewhat more successful."
The same report [http://bit.ly/1d6kXDU]continues with lists of reasons:
“Perhaps the methodology is the key to success. The CHAOS report says
"Agile projects are successful three times more often than non-agile
projects". Larock (2012) argues the problems that lead to failure
include: 1. Scope creep, 2. Unmanaged requirements, and 3.
Blamestorming, blaming everyone for the failure but yourself. Failure
occurs because of the development team and the client. Why do data
warehouse projects fail? Projects have a scope of work that is too broad
and ambitious, 2) Competing projects take needed resources, 3) Lack of
corporate vision, 4) Dirty data and 5) Insufficient technical design.
“Why do IT and database projects fail? Pedersen lists 8 reasons: 1)
Users failed to provide complete requirements, 2) Users were not
involved in the development process, 3) The project had inadequate or no
resources that were vital for its completion, 4) Executive management
just did not seem interested in seeing the project through, 5) Specs
kept on changing during the project’s tenure, 6) Planning was a
casualty, 7) The project’s scope had become outdated due to change in
business environment, and 8) The project team was technically
incompetent.”
LAUSD+MiSiS: 3 for 3, 5 for 5, 8 for 8.
A new MiSiS team is in place with methodology, agility, ability, reduced
scope, genuine leadership and realistic expectations. They apparently
have a committed partner with something to prove in Microsoft. They have
$80 million, $40 million of which is for Microsoft.
There are people out there saying MiSiS will never work. In the end we vote for Hope and we are hoping the nay-sayers are wrong.
And the irony?
I rely upon a software product from Microsoft called Live Writer to post
my daily 4LAKids updates and news feeds to the web. Last week - while I
was in Sacramento minding everyone-else’s-business and while my
colleagues on the BOC were blessing their contract – Microsoft – without
notice - ceased supporting the Live Writer. It was a free software
application.
The bluescreen of death. Error 404. File not found.
Data Implementation Mistakes To Avoid:
#2. You’ve bet the company on free software.
¡Onward/Adelante! - smf
2 MORE YEARS+$133.6 MILLION TO FIX MISIS/LAUSD TO PAY
$79.6 MILLION MORE FOR MiSiS+HIRES NEW TECH OFFICER/BOND COMMITTEE OKS
MORE MILLIONS FOR MiSiS
►LAUSD TO SPEND TWO MORE YEARS AND $133.6 MILLION FIXING MISIS
By Thomas Himes, Los Angeles Daily News | http://bit.ly/1LQ7vAf
5/29/15, 10:05 AM PDT :: The Los Angeles Unified School District will
spend the next two years rebuilding its problem-plagued record-keeping
system, MiSiS, as the computer software’s costs skyrocket to more than
$133.6 million.
District officials rushed to launch the software in August, leading to
widespread problems with transcripts, attendance reports, class
schedules and other vital records.
While quick fixes helped place students in the proper classrooms and
restored some functionality months into the school year, the makeshift
repairs need to be unraveled before MiSiS works properly, said Diane
Pappas, chief advisor to the superintendent.
“There’s been a lot of short cuts and fixes to the system that weren’t
done in the most appropriate way, so now we have to do an awful lot of
clean up,” Pappas said. “This system will be pretty much rebuilt by the
time we get done.”
Part of the trouble is district officials decided to model MiSiS after a
system used by Fresno Unified. But LAUSD, the state’s largest school
district with more than 600,000 students, needs to keep records for
about eight times as many students as Fresno Unified.
Over the next 12 months, Pappas said the district will focus on
restoring “basic functionality.” Bugs in the system’s ability to track
attendance — records the state uses to allocate funding — and reports
that educators need to review essential information about students will
be priorities, Pappas said.
“It will be substantially better than it is now, but it will not be complete,” Pappas said.
During the following year, Pappas said the district will concentrate on
creating features that were requested by educators and enhancing
user-friendliness.
The project’s cost has grown by more than five times its original budget
to $133.6 million from the $25 million that district officials
initially anticipated paying.
A committee appointed by school board members to oversee the district’s
spending of bond dollars this week approved a request to spend an
additional $79.6 million, up from the project’s current budget of $54
million.
But the additional $79.6 million will only include the cost of restoring
basic functions over the next 12 months, while more money will be
needed the following year to add functionality requested by educators.
Last year, Superintendent Ramon Cortines was prepared to request an
additional $71 million for fixing the system he inherited from his
predecessor. The additional dollars would have brought MiSiS’ price tag
to $98 million, but Cortines later decided to request smaller
allocations of bond funding, as work on the system progressed.
District officials said in a statement this week they have restructured
their contract with Microsoft — a key contractor working on MiSiS — to
withhold full payment “until functions are working at schools.”
Aside from the cost of building MiSiS, LAUSD earmarked $11 million in
emergency funds to help pay for manpower needed to manually review
records, place students in the proper classes and ensure the system
didn’t stop seniors from graduating.
MiSiS’ next test will come in August, when students arrive at campuses
for the new school year. At the start of this school year, educators
were left without the ability to enroll students, because MiSiS
malfunctioned under the load of thousands of educators trying to access
records at the same time. While may campuses reverted to paper forms
last used decades ago, scheduling and enrolling students without
software caused numerous issues.
Some students were stranded inside the wrong classes for several weeks,
as counselors worked nights and weekends trying to access the system
during off-peak hours.
While the start of the second semester went comparatively smoothly, the
first week of school provides unique challenges as students attempt to
transfer schools and enroll at the last minute.
“We’re doing everything possible to make sure we have a smooth opening of the school year,” Pappas said.
______________
►LAUSD SLAMMED WITH $80 MILLION BILL FOR MISIS DATA SYSTEM REPAIRS,
By Annie Gilbertson | KPCC 89.3 | http://bit.ly/1KEIFpg
May 28 2015 :: Los Angeles Unified is asking for $79.6 million in
school construction bond funds to repair MiSiS, the student data system
that failed to schedule classes, record grades and track attendance when
it debuted last summer.
At its meeting Thursday, LAUSD's bond oversight committee unanimously
approved the expenditure. The school board still has to sign off before
the funds are released. If approved, the amount would bring the cost of
building and repairing the district's customized Microsoft student data
system to more than $130 million.
Last December, Superintendent Ramon Cortines warned the board that MiSiS
repairs would continue throughout 2015, but this week, the district
officials announced they were extending the timeline to June 2016.
In a press release Thursday, LAUSD spokeswoman Shannon Haber said the
district restructured its contract with the Microsoft Corp. to prevent
“the vendor from receiving full payment until functions are working at
schools.”
On Tuesday, Cortines announced the appointment of Shahryar Khazei as the
district's new chief information officer. His predecessor resigned
abruptly last year as problems with MiSiS created havoc with class
scheduling and other issues at Los Angeles schools.
►ONGOING ISSUES FACE NEW LAUSD TECHNOLOGY CHIEF
By Adolfo Guzman-Lopez | KPCC 89.3 | http://bit.ly/1SIK805
Audio from this story 0:41 Listen: http://bit.ly/1d648sT
May 28 2015 :: Los Angeles Unified has hired a school district insider to lead its troubled information technology office.
Shahryar Khazei succeeds Ron Chandler, the district's last chief
information officer, who resigned abruptly last year as problems with
the LAUSD’s new student data system wreaked havoc at Los Angeles
schools.
Superintendent Ramon Cortines' selection of Khazei, the district's
deputy chief information officer, places a 30-year LAUSD employee and
mechanical engineer by training in charge of the office that runs
technology operations for the district.
The office has been at the center of management issues with two major
technology programs that contributed to both Chandler's departure and
the resignation of former Superintendent John Deasy.
A school district investigation of last year's meltdown of MiSiS, the
district's student data system, found that faulty management of the
project’s various moving parts was to blame.
Khazei, who was picked from an applicant pool of 200, worked on the data
system’s technology, according to Diane Pappas, the superintendent's
chief advisor on the MiSiS recovery program.
“He was on the network side of the project, not part of the project
management team, not part of the application, but strictly on the
network side,” Pappas said. “The problem was the MiSiS application and
all of the other issues, and it was absolutely not ready to be rolled
out.”
“[Khazei]'s got great depth of technical knowledge and expertise. He's
been working in urban education. He knows schools, knows the school
district,” she said.
The district could not immediately provide the salary for his new post.
In a written statement, Cortines said he’s confident Khazei can help fix
the student data system. That job, Pappas said, will take another two
years.
In his May 15 update on continuing fixes to the MiSiS system, Cortines
said: “While the system has been improving steadily since a troubling
start to the school year, there is still much to be addressed.”
Khazei will also help oversee the future of the $1.3 billion iPad
program, which Cortines has all but abandoned. The initiative,
championed by Cortines' predecessor, aimed to get a tablet in the hands
of each district student, but it has been problem-plagued.
A federal investigation into the iPad bidding process led the FBI to
cart out boxes of documents from district offices in December. The
action followed publication by KPCC of emails that revealed the district
had been in talks with computer giant Apple and software publisher
Pearson long before the bidding process was formally opened.
Last month, district wrote to Apple to demand a multimillion-dollar
refund for nonfunctioning curriculum software from Pearson that was
installed on the iPads.
________________
►BOND COMMITTEE OKS MORE MILLIONS TO REPAIR LA UNIFIED’S MISIS
by Vanessa Romo | LA School Report | http://bit.ly/1FL5EKV
Posted on May 29, 2015 9:53 am :: After a year of emergency fixes
that required emergency spending, LA Unified officials say they need
another $79.6 million to fully repair the computerized student data
management system known as MISIS by the end of next year.
The request was approved unanimously by the Bond Oversight Committee
yesterday. It will move to the school board for a vote next month.
If passed, it will bring the total MISIS tab to $133 million, a figure
that includes the original $29 million budget the district once believed
it would cost to build a perfectly functioning integrative software
program. It also covers an extra $3 million to buy new computers for
schools whose hardware was too outdated to run the new MISIS program.
Diane Pappas, who was appointed by Superintendent Ramon Cortines last
October to lead the MiSiS improvement effort, made a pitch to the BOC,
providing details of the yearlong plan to improve the system. Over the
next year, she said, the team plans to correct problems with enrollment,
scheduling, attendance and other areas critical to operate schools and
educate students. The interface will be made more user friendly and
additional updates would improve speed and reliability, she said.
The money to cover the costs will be drawn from the “unallocated funds” category in the School Upgrade Program.
The district has also restructured its contract with Microsoft Corp.,
according to Shannon Haber, a spokesperson for the district. The new
deal delays full payment “until functions are working at schools.”
“As part of its assurance to the District, Microsoft has committed to
keeping highly qualified personnel on the project, and will bring in
additional resources from around the world as needed to foster continued
improvement,” Haber wrote in a statement.
But this is not the end of MISIS spending. Documents submitted to the
BOC explain, “As the MISIS system becomes operational, an additional
allocation of ongoing general fund (money) will be needed starting in
2016-17 for staff to maintain and update MISIS to meet school needs.”
Just how much has yet to be determined.
Hope for dropouts: HIGH SCHOOL DROPOUTS TEACHING HIGH SCHOOL IN WISCONSIN?
By Caitlin Emma | Politico Morning Ed | http://politi.co/1xm12WO
5/29/15 10:01 AM EDT :: The news out of the Wisconsin legislative
session has been all about how state colleges and universities face a
cut of up to $300 million and K-12 education is staring down the barrel
of a near-$130 million cut despite investments in voucher expansion [http://bit.ly/1KBEb2w]
and charter schools. But a small provision slipped into the budget by a
Republican lawmaker and recently approved by the state’s Joint
Committee on Finance has some policy watchers deeply concerned. They say
it will demolish Wisconsin’s teacher licensing standards and possibly
allow high school dropouts to teach middle and high school students. The
provision would allow anyone with a bachelor’s degree to teach English,
math, social studies or science in middle or high school as long as a
school or district proves they’re proficient in the subject they teach.
And it would allow anyone without bachelor’s degrees, and maybe even
without high school diplomas, to teach anything that isn’t considered a
core subject. (Current rules say middle or high school teachers must
have a bachelor’s degree, a major or minor in the subject they teach,
skills training and passing scores on skills assessments and content
area tests.)
— Wisconsin Superintendent Tony Evers said [http://1.usa.gov/1BpDVLP]
the provision “presents a race to the bottom. It completely disregards
the value of the skills young men and women develop in our educator
training programs and the life-changing experiences they gain through
classroom observation and student teaching. This JFC action is taking
Wisconsin in the wrong direction. You don’t close gaps and improve
quality by lowering standards.” The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel also has
more: http://bit.ly/1cZEciG.
The Right Start Commission: NEW COALITION SEEKS ANSWERS TO STATE’S EARLY EDUCATION WOES
DESPITE A STATE BUDGET FLUSH WITH EXTRA BILLIONS FOR
EDUCATION, GOV. JERRY BROWN IS RECEIVING CRITICISM FROM SOME EARLY
EDUCATION ADVOCATES FOR A “STRIKINGLY MINIMAL” APPROACH TO EARLY
EDUCATION FUNDING
by Craig Clough | LA School Report | http://bit.ly/UXHVhZ
May 29, 2015 : 1:33 pm In response to the growing body of evidence of
the importance of preschool, a coalition of academics, lawmakers,
community leaders and business leaders has created the Right Start
Commission, whose goal is to help California find a blueprint for
providing universal early education to the state’s youth.
The commission, formed by the non-profit Common Sense Kids Action,
includes Stanford University Professor Linda Darling-Hammond, Apple Vice
President of Environmental Initiatives Lisa Jackson, retired
Congressman George Miller and Common Sense Media founder and CEO Jim
Steyer.
“Every child deserves a fair start in life, and the only way we can
ensure that happens is to provide all kids with the care, support and
quality learning experiences they need to be successful from day one,”
Steyer said in a press release. “We know that improving early childhood
education is one of the best investments we can make. Yet, across the
nation millions of American kids are denied this critical opportunity
year after year. With the Right Start Commission, Common Sense Kids
Action will kick off an effort to reimagine early childhood services in
California and create a model for the nation to ensure every child has
the opportunity to succeed.”
A recent report by the National Institute for Early Education Research
found that California lags behind most other states in the quality of
its early education programs and serves only 18 percent of the state’s
four-year-old children.
The commission said it will offer recommendations that will help make California a leader in early education.
“I think California is the right state to start that,” Miller told The
Associated Press. “This commission will help provide a roadmap.”
The forming of the coalition comes amid an increased focus on early
education at LA Unified and in California. Just as the California
legislature is debating a bill that would guarantee preschool to every
low-income child, LA Unified is considering cutting its School Readiness
Language Development Program, which provides preschool to 10,000
low-income students.
NONACADEMIC SKILLS ARE KEY TO SUCCESS. BUT WHAT SHOULD WE CALL THEM?
By Anya Kamenetz | National Public Radio | http://n.pr/1AF4sJS
May 28, 2015 7:03 AM ET :: More and more people in education agree on the importance of learning stuff other than academics.
But no one agrees on what to call that "stuff".
There are least seven major overlapping terms in play. New ones are
being coined all the time. This bagginess bugs me, as a member of the
education media. It bugs researchers and policymakers too.
"Basically we're trying to explain student success educationally or in
the labor market with skills not directly measured by standardized
tests," says Martin West, at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
"The problem is, you go to meetings and everyone spends the first two
hours complaining and arguing about semantics."
West studies what he calls "non-cognitive skills." Although he's not completely happy with that term.
The problem isn't just semantic, argues Laura Bornfreund, deputy
director of the education policy program at the New America Foundation.
She wrote a paper on what she called "Skills for Success," since she
didn't like any of these other terms. "There's a lot of different terms
floating around but also a lack of agreement on what really is most
important to students."
As Noah Webster, the great American lexicographer and educator, put it
back in 1788, "The virtues of men are of more consequence to society
than their abilities; and for this reason, the heart should be
cultivated with more assiduity than the head."
Yet he didn't come up with a good name, either.
So, in Webster's tradition, here's a short glossary of terms that are
being used for that cultivation of the heart. Vote for your favorite in
the comments — or propose a new one.
21st CENTURY SKILLS:
According to the Partnership for 21st Century Learning, a research and
advocacy group, these include the "4Cs of critical thinking,
collaboration, communication and creativity," as well as "life and
career skills" and "information, media and technology skills."
The problem, says West, is that "if anything, all the evidence would
suggest that in the closing decades of the 20th and 21st centuries,
cognitive skills became more important than ever." So this term,
although it's often heard in business and technology circles, doesn't
necessarily signal the shift in focus that some researchers want.
CHARACTER:
Character education has a long history in the U.S., with a major vogue
in the 1930s and a revival in the 1980s and 1990s. Beginning a few years
ago, the KIPP charter schools in New York City started to emphasize a
curriculum of seven "character strengths": grit, zest, optimism,
self-control, gratitude, social intelligence and curiosity.
"We're not religious, we're not talking about ethics, we're not going to
give any kind of doctrine about what is right from wrong," says Leyla
Bravo-Willey of KIPP Infinity in Harlem. "But there are some fundamental
things that make people really great citizens, which usually include
being kind."
West argues that the use of "character" is inappropriate in research and
policymaking because of its moral and religious connotations.
He notes that many of the qualities on the KIPP list — grit and
self-control, for example — are designed to prepare students for
success. "That's in tension with a traditional understanding of
character, which often implies something being good in and of itself —
which often includes some notion of self sacrifice," says West.
That distinction doesn't bother Bravo-Willey. She says that the school
is responding to parents' own wishes that their children be happy and
good as well as successful.
GRIT:
Grit is a pioneer virtue with a long American history — think of the
classic western True Grit. When Angela Duckworth was working on her
dissertation in the mid-2000s, she chose the term to encapsulate the
measures of self-control, persistence and conscientiousness that she was
finding to be powerful determinants of success. It quickly caught on —
maybe too quickly, the University of Pennsylvania psychologist says.
"I'm grateful for the attention, but that gratitude and amazement was
quickly replaced by anxiety about people thinking that we had figured
things out already." She's worried that grit is being overemphasized: In
a recent paper, she argued that grit measures aren't ready to be
incorporated into high stakes accountability systems. "I'm also
concerned that people interpret my position to be that grit's the only
thing that matters."
Larry Nucci at UC Berkeley, who has studied moral development and
character education for 40 years, has stronger words for grit. "I think
it's flavor of the month. It's not very substantive, it's not very
deep."
GROWTH MINDSET:
Carol Dweck, the Stanford University psychologist, chose the term mindset in 2007 for the title of her bestselling book.
"Growth mindset" is the belief that positive traits, including
intelligence, can be developed with practice. "Fixed mindset" refers to
the idea that intelligence and other talents are set at birth.
"In my research papers I had some very, very clunky scientific-sounding
term for the fixed and the growth mindset," she says. "When I went to
write the book I thought, these will not do at all."
Mindset has caught on tremendously in both the business and education
worlds. But Dweck's concern is that it's being used willy-nilly to
justify any old intuition that people might have about positive thinking
in the classroom.
"When people start thinking, 'I'll make the kids feel good and they'll
learn,' that's how something like the self-esteem movement gains
traction," — a 1980s trend that led to lots of trophies but little
improvement in achievement.
NONCOGNITIVE TRAITS + HABITS:
This term is most strongly associated with the work of Nobel
Prize-winning economist James Heckman. He analyzed large data sets to
show that attributes such as self-discipline and persistence — not just
academic achievement — affected education, labor market and life
outcomes.
This term is "ugly, broad, nonspecific," argues Carol Dweck — and she's a
fan. "I'm the only person who likes the term," she says. "And I'll tell
you why: It is a very diverse group of factors and the reason it's been
hard to come up with a name is that they don't necessarily belong
together."
Martin West at Harvard uses this term himself, but he says he's always careful to acknowledge that it can be "misleading."
"Every skill or trait is cognitive in the sense that it involves and
reflects the processing of information of some kind in our brains," he
says. And West adds that traditional academic skills more often than not
are complements, not substitutes, for the attitudes and personality
traits captured by the term "non-cognitive skills."
SOCIAL + EMOTIONAL SKILLS:
Nobody I spoke with hates this term.
"Increasingly teachers who are on the front line say that it's very
important to teach kids to be more socially and emotionally competent,"
says Roger P. Weissberg, chief knowledge officer of the Collaborative
for Social and Emotional Learning (CASEL), which promotes the concept
and the term nationwide. "Teachers feel, and growing research supports,
that it helps them academically, it improves school climate, it improves
discipline, and it's going to help them to be college and career — and
life — ready."
The only problem is that the "skills" part may not be seen as
encompassing things that are more like attitudes or beliefs, like growth
mindset. And the "social and emotional" part, again, may be seen as
excluding skills that are really cognitive in nature.
This is tough, right?
SOFT SKILLS:
Employers commonly use "soft skills" to include anything from being able
to write a letter, to showing up on time and having a firm handshake.
Most of the researchers I spoke with felt this phrase downplays the
importance of these skills. "Soft skills, along with 21st century
skills, strike me as exceptionally vague," says West. "I don't know that
there's anything soft about them."
So the struggle persists. Maybe one day there will be a pithy acronym or
portmanteau to wrap all these skills up with a bow. SES? SEL? N-COG?
Gri-Grow-Sess? Let us know what you think.
●● smf’s 2¢: There is a deep and robust conversation ongoing on the comments section of this article on the NPR site [http://n.pr/1AF4sJS].
The consensus is these are “Life Skills” – and no matter what we are
calling them, they are not being taught. There is a vocal minority
opinion by the usual suspects that these should be exclusively taught by
parents – but back in 1759 when Voltaire wrote Candide – Leibnitz’
optimistic “All is for the best in this, the best of all possible
worlds” was already a fantasy – which the author destroyed in satire in
his version of the Lisbon Earthquake of 1755.
And I think Grit is either ground hominy or a movie with a one-eyed John
Wayne chewing scenery with drunken abandon. Both go well with a pat of
butter.
HIGHLIGHTS, LOWLIGHTS & THE NEWS THAT DOESN'T
FIT: The Rest (but not necessarily the best) of the Stories from Other
Sources
Editorial: THE RISKS OF TOO MUCH CAUTION IN SETTING
CALIFORNIA'S BUDGET | LA Times | Gov. Brown is wise to be cautious, but
lowballing revenue estimates holds back spending on crucial programs |
http://lat.ms/1FMHU9c
“Would you like water or milk with that?”: DAVIS CA. BANS SODAS IN KIDS’ “HAPPY MEALS” - SFGate http://bit.ly/1eJImfB
FORMER UK PM/UN EDUCATION ENVOY GORDON BROWN: “This is not the year of
the child but the year of fear, with 2015 already the worst year since
1945 for children being displaced, the worst year for children becoming
refugees, the worst year for children seeing their schools attacked.” http://bit.ly/1RBGjIJ
Charter Schools: FOLLOWING THE MONEY by Marta Jewson of The Lens for Education Writers Association | http://bit.ly/1LQsD9C
:: Reporters (…and the rest of us) should pay attention not just to the
amount of money charter schools receive but how they are spending it,
reporter and moderator Sarah Carr said as she kicked off a session on
charter school finance at the Education Writers Association’s recent
National Seminar in Chicago
THE ONGOING STRUGGLE OF TEACHER RETENTION | Paul Barnwell, The Atlantic | http://theatln.tc/1Kw81SQ
BOND COMMITTEE OKS MORE MILLIONS TO REPAIR LA UNIFIED’S MiSiS | http://bit.ly/1FgY6Mt
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LAUSD TO PAY $79.6 MILLION MORE FOR MiSiS REPAIRS NEW YEAR, HIRES NEW TECHNOLOGY OFFICER http://bit.ly/1EIvKdr
LAUSD TO SPEND TWO MORE YEARS AND $133.6 MILLION FIXING MiSiS http://bit.ly/1KEBSf5
1 retweet 0 favorites
Scott Folsom @4LAKids 22h22 hours ago
CALIFORNIA DEPT OF ED CAUTIONS WHEN TO USE LCFF FOR TEACHER RAISES | http://bit.ly/1AAW0fb
CALIFORNIA GETS ONE YEAR NCLB ACCOUNTABILITY WAIVER
from Whiteboard Advisors via Fritzwire | http://twishort.com/YFric
DISTURBING INFO RE: CHILDHOOD SUICIDE from the AALA Weekly Update [http://bit.ly/1LV5uCl] :: According to the American Medical Association (AMA), youth suicide is a major public health concern in the United States.
It was the second leading cause of death in adolescents aged 12 to 19
years in 2012, accounting for more deaths than cancer, heart disease,
influenza, pneumonia, diabetes, HIV and stroke combined.
In children 5 to 11 years of age, it was the 11th leading cause of
death, a statistic that has remained constant over the last two decades.
Despite the stable rate, a study published in the Journal of the
American Medical Association Pediatrics found a trend during this period
in this group of children that had previously not been recognized:
there was a significant increase in the suicide rate among black
children and a significant decline in the suicide rate among white
children.
This study was initiated because there was limited information about
suicides in children younger than 10 years of age, so using 20 years of
data from January 1, 1993, to December 31, 2012, the authors
investigated trends and characteristics of suicide victims aged 5 to 11
years. During these years, 657 children committed suicide in the United
States; 84 percent were boys. The rate for white children dropped by
nearly one-third, while for black children, it nearly doubled. Further
analysis is recommended to identify the factors that contribute to this
racial disparity, but the study did say that black children experience
disproportionate exposure to violence, traumatic stress and aggressive
school discipline. They are also less likely to seek help for
depression, suicide ideation and suicide attempts. The study encouraged
suicide prevention organizations to work more closely with educators on
identifying warning signs of suicide and mental health issues
MEMORIAL DAY: “They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old” | http://bit.ly/1HGjbEj
EVENTS: Coming up next week...
06/02/2015 4:00 pm :: SUCCESSFUL SCHOOL CLIMATE COMMITTEE -CANCELLED
*Dates and times subject to change.
________________________________________
• SCHOOL CONSTRUCTION BOND OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE:
http://www.laschools.org/bond/
Phone: 213-241-5183
____________________________________________________
• LAUSD FACILITIES COMMUNITY OUTREACH CALENDAR:
http://www.laschools.org/happenings/
Phone: 213-241.8700
What can YOU do?
• E-mail, call or write your school board member:
Tamar.Galatzan@lausd.net • 213-241-6386
Monica.Garcia@lausd.net • 213-241-6180
Bennett.Kayser@lausd.net • 213-241-5555
George.McKenna@lausd.net • 213-241-6382
Monica.Ratliff@lausd.net • 213-241-6388
Richard.Vladovic@lausd.net • 213-241-6385
Steve.Zimmer@lausd.net • 213-241-6387
...or your city councilperson, mayor, the governor, member of congress,
senator - or the president. Tell them what you really think! • Find
your state legislator based on your home address. Just go to: http://bit.ly/dqFdq2 • There are 26 mayors and five county supervisors representing jurisdictions within LAUSD, the mayor of LA can be reached at mayor@lacity.org • 213.978.0600
• Call or e-mail Governor Brown: 213-897-0322 e-mail: http://www.govmail.ca.gov/
• Open the dialogue. Write a letter to the editor. Circulate these
thoughts. Talk to the principal and teachers at your local school.
• Speak with your friends, neighbors and coworkers. Stay on top of education issues. Don't take my word for it!
• Get involved at your neighborhood school. Join your PTA. Serve on a School Site Council. Be there for a child.
• If you are eligible to become a citizen, BECOME ONE.
• If you a a citizen, REGISTER TO VOTE.
• If you are registered, VOTE LIKE THE FUTURE DEPENDS ON IT. THEY DO!
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