In This Issue:
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L.A. UNIFIED FINALLY HIRING TEACHERS AGAIN |
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NO END TO LAUSD iPAD DEBATE + smf’s 2¢ |
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STUDENT PRIVACY CONCERNS GROW OVER ‘DATA IN A CLOUD’ |
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THE COMMON CORE IS TOUGH ON KIDS WHO ARE STILL LEARNING ENGLISH |
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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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CYN•I•CISM (sin-i-sizm)
n.
1. An attitude of scornful or jaded negativity, especially a general
distrust of the integrity or professed motives of others: the public
cynicism aroused by governmental scandals.
2. A scornfully or jadedly negative comment or act: "She arrived at a
philosophy of her own, all made up of her private notations and
cynicisms" (Henry James)
3. The beliefs of the ancient Cynics.
- The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
CYNIC, n.
A blackguard whose faulty vision sees things as they are, not as they
ought to be. – Ambrose Bierce, The Devil’s Dictionary. (Bierce’s
magnum opus was originally published as “The Cynic’s Word Book”)
Before 4LAKids retreats fully into The Old Gringo’s philosophy,
congratulations to the LAUSD All City Honors Band, apocryphally formed
to march down the troubled streets of River City in the finale of the
1962 movie musical “The Music Man” - for marching down Colorado
Boulevard for the 41st time.
“…rows and rows of the finest virtuosos,
the cream of ev'ry famous band.”
IT IS THE SECOND WEEK OF THE THREE WEEK HOLIDAY BREAK IN LAUSD with
three (count 'em) three football games a day on the tube - and once the
band has marched and the iPads misadventure has been rehashed for the
umpteenth time there hasn’t been much education news to report. The
state and the feds are on vacation too, the Board of Ed hasn’t met yet -
the lure for the media to rewrite a press release and call it a story
tempts like The Apple in Eden.
The Times’ L.A. UNIFIED FINALLY HIRING TEACHERS AGAIN is a case in
point. “After years of layoffs and hiring freezes, L.A. Unified expects
to hire more than 1,300 for next year. And it can even be choosy.”
Wait a minute …didn’t the superintendent say we can’t afford to do that
just last week?? [LA school board to consider hiring laid-off staff.
Superintendent Deasy opposes the move. | http://bit.ly/1cqNS0K]
Don’t the budget deficits persist? Doesn’t enrollment continue to
decline? The, answer gentle reader, is that, properly spun, any news is
good news!
Just because John Deasy is quoted twice doesn’t make him a bad person
…or a good superintendent. The principal quoted – also
not-necessarily-a-bad-person - is a handpicked Deasy selection in a
forced turnaround and that turnaround is described as a “significant
positive change in the employment climate“? Really? Reporting like that
doesn’t make Howard Blume a bad reporter or The Times a bad newspaper.
But none of this makes for much a good story either.
● Where is the interview with the former 24th Street teacher who was
laid-off or relocated because of the engineered application of the
Parent Trigger Law at 24th Street that started with a
simple-but-ignored petition from parents to please get them a different
principal?
● What is the opinion of the silent majority parent who didn’t sign the
P-Rev petition and therefore didn’t get a say in the takeover? .What
about the teachers at other schools who were bumped by the
transplanted/turned-around/former 24th Street teachers?
● What about the pool of 3,900 previously RIFed educators? How were their holidays?
Happy New Year in the Great New Wonderful Tomorrow. Drink the Kool-Aid,
it’s good for you. And if not for you it must be good for somebody.
THE LAUSD BOARD OF ED NEEDS TO MAKE A DECISION …and that decision should
be to appoint a representative to fill Marguerite LaMotte’s seat.
The LA Times editorial board offered some excellent advice to the board
of Ed on New Year’s Eve: “Talk less. Do more. You're a group of people
with sharply differing opinions and philosophies. That's great.
Disagree. Succinctly. Then find an area of agreement and take a vote.” |
http://lat.ms/1gyuT6d
Next Tuesday afternoon the board needs to decide whether to call an
election or make an appointment to fill the seat vacated by the untimely
death of Marguerite LaMotte.
I am all for elective democracy – and in The Best of All Possible Worlds
the board would call an election and the good citizens of District One
would elect someone and the seat would be filled in time for that person
to vote on the Local Control Funding Formula, the iPads, the District
budget for 2014-15, rehiring or not rehiring laid off employees, class
size reduction and any of the hundreds of things that will come up for a
vote between now and a general election in June. Or maybe November.
But first: The expression “The Best of All Possible Worlds” was inserted
in sarcasm into this blog post – just as it was inserted into Candide
by Voltaire in 1759. Candide is a satire of the optimism of the Age of
Enlightenment.
We live in a Representative Democracy - and this is a moment for our
elected representatives to show some leadership; not to worry themselves
into a dither or to retreat to a back room and make the unions,
politicos, billionaires or the mayor (or any number of former mayors)
happy. I’m sure Eli Broad and Richard Riordan and Bill Gates and Eric
Garcetti and Antonio Villaraigosa and Michael Bloomberg and Warren
Fletcher all have their favorite candidates …but they do not live in the
First District!
And, gentle readers, neither do any of the six surviving LAUSD Board Members.
The Board should decide that they are going to appoint someone – and
then they must make an effort to go into the First District and listen
to the community and then they should interview candidates in an open
and transparent process and then four of them should agree on someone
and make the appointment.
It’s not unfair; it’s Leadership. It’s the law, it’s the board’s job - …and it’s what is called for Tuesday.
This is not anti-democratic; the voters approved this process when they
approved the City Charter and they elected the decision makers: The six
members currently on the board.
There are two potential candidates being spoken of today. Jimmie Woods
Gray and George McKenna III. If anyone cares I have signed petitions
supporting both of them; they have both been there and done that – they
both have drawers full of the t-shirts!
If the board can’t agree on them they should find someone with the assistance of the community that four of them can agree on.
¡Onward/Adelante! – smf
● Also see this: CSBA GUIDELINES FOR FILLING A VACANCY ON THE BOARD OF EDUCATION http://bit.ly/1a8StFt
● Jimmie Woods Gray’s petition is here. | http://chn.ge/19JWLoL
● George McKenna III’s petition is here. | http://chn.ge/1kk6XZk
L.A. UNIFIED FINALLY HIRING TEACHERS AGAIN
AFTER YEARS OF LAYOFFS AND HIRING FREEZES, L.A.
UNIFIED EXPECTS TO HIRE MORE THAN 1,300 FOR NEXT YEAR. AND IT CAN EVEN
BE CHOOSY.
By Howard Blume, L.A. Times |http://lat.ms/1dmPYfL
January 4, 2014, 12:00 p.m. :: After an extended period of layoffs and
hiring freezes, the Los Angeles Unified School District has resumed
bringing on new teachers, while also being more selective about their
quality than in the past.
The nation's second-largest school system forecasts hiring 1,333
instructors for next year; it hired 718 for the current year. The total
teaching force numbers about 26,000.
The turnaround represents the first significant positive change in the
employment climate since 2007; each year since, the district had faced
significant budget cuts — from an economic recession, a drop in federal
funding and declining enrollment.
Help has come from an improving economy, a voter-approved tax increase,
and, perhaps most importantly, a demand for teachers that is finally
outstripping the supply.
"We are now entering that point," said L.A. schools Supt. John Deasy,
where the district is finally able to "undo" some of the harm from
"years of cuts."
"It's an exciting time," said Mary Ann Sullivan, principal at 24th Street Elementary in South Los Angeles.
One of Sullivan's new hires is Samantha Pulliam, 27, whose first-grade
classroom gave no indication recently that she is a rookie L.A. Unified
instructor. Walls, whiteboards and windows were filled with colorful
displays: an exhibit of student writings and drawings about the story
"Kitten's First Full Moon"; an explanation of the color wheel; calendars
to mark lost baby teeth and birthdays; a poster with the parts of an
essay; a chart that defines books and stories by genre.
Pulliam used the word "genre" with her first-graders, who gathered
around her attentively discussing whether a story about pigs was fiction
or nonfiction, fantasy or reality.
"A lot of people underestimate how much knowledge a kid has and how
smart and how capable they are," she said. "I also want students to see
how intelligent they really are."
She has one boy who speaks limited English, so she especially tracks that student's comprehension.
Pulliam began her career working for a charter school because no positions were available in L.A. Unified.
Three other 24th Street teachers previously worked for local charters,
which are public schools but not run by L.A. Unified. Pulliam liked her
former job but decided there were more career opportunities within the
larger school system.
There are also typically more union protections and potentially more job
security within L.A. Unified. That wasn't necessarily the case,
however, in the downturn years.
In June 2010, the district laid off about 600 teachers. A year later,
about 2,000 teachers, counselors, nurses and other professional staff
were let go. And in 2012, about 1,300 layoffs occurred. Other teachers
bounced around because they lacked enough seniority to remain at a
particular campus.
In addition, thousands more received notices that they might be laid off, leading annually to long periods of uncertainty.
One result has been an evolution into an older work force — because most
layoffs, by law, target teachers with less time on the job. In L.A.
Unified, more teachers are older than 70 than younger than 25. More than
a third of teachers are between 36 and 46.
Gradually, hundreds of laid-off teachers have returned — some after
weeks, others after several years, as layoffs were rescinded or
positions opened up.
Pulliam's school, 24th Street, represents an extreme in the hiring
picture. The persistently low-performing campus was among those that
went through a forced restaffing: Instructors had to reapply for jobs.
Only five returned.
The remainder had the choice of retiring, resigning or entering a hiring
pool. Teachers in the pool retain salary and benefits but have to work
as substitutes until and unless they find jobs elsewhere in the school
system. Numerous campuses have been required to restaff in recent years.
Meanwhile, schools with openings are supposed to pull from the hiring
pool as much as possible. (This group also includes instructors
returning from leave or those who lost positions because of declining
enrollment.)
One difference this year was that 24th Street had more freedom to choose
teachers from outside the hiring pool. Of 23 new teachers, 18 are in
their first year, six others in their first year at L.A. Unified.
All had to undergo a more rigorous hiring process, revamped by human
resources chief Vivian Ekchian. Science teachers, for example, had to
show a grade point average of 3.0 or better in their college science
classes. Applicants also have to demonstrate teaching skills in sample
lessons, among other requirements.
"We have overhauled the entire hiring process," Deasy said.
The district can afford to be selective. For the current year, it hired
344 elementary teachers out of 1,200 available candidates. Some 242
applied for 56 science positions. The market remains tight for high
school English: three hires from a pool of 216.
Declining enrollment, partly a result of the growth of charter schools,
continues to shrink the number of teaching positions, by about 450 for
next year alone. But this figure is offset by such factors as about
1,000 expected retirements and about 700 leaving for other reasons,
voluntarily or otherwise.
Increasing numbers of teachers have been forced out, after being accused
of poor performance or alleged misconduct. Among veteran teachers, who
typically have strong job protections, 57 were fired while 155 others
resigned to avoid being dismissed last year, records show.
And the district also is letting go greater numbers of teachers before
they earn tenure and stronger job protections, which usually occurs
after two years.
For Pulliam, the numbers added up to a job, which has particular appeal because her mother taught for 40 years in L.A. Unified.
"That's where my love of teaching started," she said.
NO END TO LAUSD iPAD DEBATE + smf’s 2¢
Mailbag | Paul Thornton, LA Times letters editor | http://lat.ms/1dk8Hc0
January 4, 2014 :: Even the noblest of efforts — such as, say, the Los
Angeles Unified School District's program to give each of its
600,000-plus students Apple iPads — can suffer under the weight of
bungled management. Since the district rolled out its $1 billion program
— funded by construction bond money, a sticking point with letter
writers — reader reaction has ranged from skepticism at the beginning to
downright hostility as more problems were reported.
The Times' latest article on the program, which reported that other
school districts pay far less than L.A. Unified for their laptops and
tablets, sparked reader indignation again. [AS SCHOOLS GIVE STUDENTS
COMPUTERS, PRICE OF L.A.’S PROGRAM STANDS OUT http://bit.ly/1bIsCAh]
This time, the targets were more numerous than just the district's
administration; some faulted society for being hostile to paying for
top-notch technology in the classroom, and others took issue with The
Times' coverage.
● Emily Waldron Loughran of Los Angeles says iPads aren't the fix L.A. Unified needs:
"Thanks to The Times for exposing the great iPad travesty. I will
certainly never vote for a school bond again if this is the way the
money is wasted.
"As a parent of two elementary schoolchildren, I see little if any
evidence that iPads can effectively replace textbooks. For example, my
children actually prefer doing math with pencil and paper and dedicate
their iPad time to mindless games.
"Smaller classes with textbooks and workbooks would be a far better use of bond money."
● Leigh Clark of Granada Hills spots the profit-seeking elephant in the room:
"The front-page chart shows that LAUSD iPads cost more because they
are the most current version. The newest technology, in a
profit-centered economy, is the most expensive.
"What readers might miss is the 800-pound elephant in the room: No
one wants to give free stuff to poor kids. Boring textbooks, maybe, but
cool technology, no way. That would be, like, socialism."
● Newbury Park resident Barbara Bucsis defends the district:
"LAUSD is doing a wonderful thing by giving students the best
technology available. 'You get what you pay for' is very true,
especially for technology.
"Instead of celebrating this LAUSD endeavor, The Times has put the most negative spin possible onto the story."
● Planaria Price of Los Angeles asks about all those teachers who lost their jobs:
"I didn't learn math from an iPad, so I might be missing something here.
"The cash-strapped LAUSD — which in 2012 cut libraries, nurses,
thousands of teachers, administrators and support staff, and deprived
250,000 adult students of adult and career education — is spending more
than $1 billion on one of the nation's most expensive technology
programs.
"More of us should be asking why L.A. Unified is paying top dollar
for these tablets. More of us should be 'following the money.'
"I would say that 'something is rotten in the state of Denmark,' but
few would understand because the teaching of Shakespeare has also been
cut."
____________
●●smf’s 2¢: The arguments made above that LAUSD is providing the best
technology to its students misses the point that LAUSD is providing last
year’s model of the best technology to students in 2014-2016. The iPads
LAUSD has contracted for is for last year’s model of iPad: The iPad4– a
32 bit device – albeit at the price of this year’s model. The newest
iPad (The iPad Air) is thinner, lighter and smarter – being a 64 bit
model with a faster chip. LAUSD could have negotiated its price to
always get the newest model, or to have a choice – but instead made a
commitment to (sub)standardization so all iPads will the same, whether
delivered in 2013 or 2016 or beyond. This discounts the role of
Technological Evolution, Moores’s Law and the Duchess of Windsor’s
advice that one can never be too thin.
● July 2015 is when the software license for the questionable Pearson
Common Core System of Courses expires. Maybe that’s like the lease on a
Yugo?: You’re glad when it’s over.
● As a Bond Oversight Committee member I voted for what The Times calls
“the noblest of efforts” …though if you look back at the record of the
meetings I hope you note my – and the oversight committee’s –
endorsement questioned the nobility. We certainly didn’t vote for the
contract; vetting, approving and overseeing contracts is the statutory
role of the Board of Education.
● I am as cursed as anyone with the crystal clarity of hindsight. There
was never a vote by anyone on the “bungled management” …unless it was
the late Ms. LaMotte’s vote of dissatisfaction with the superintendent’s
performance.
STUDENT PRIVACY CONCERNS GROW OVER ‘DATA IN A CLOUD’
By Carol Burris from Valerie Strauss’ Answer Sheet/The Washington Post | http://wapo.st/1ayio5P
Valerie Strauss writes on January 3 at 4:00 am :: Privacy concerns
have been growing over a $100 million student database – largely funded
by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and operated by a nonprofit
organization, inBloom Inc. — that contains detailed information about
millions of students. Most of the states that had signed up to
participate in a pilot program have pulled back, and in New York,
parents and educators have pushed back with protests and a lawsuit. The
nonprofit Electronic Privacy Information Center has sued the U.S.
Education Department over the database.
Here’s a new post about the database from award-winning Principal Carol
Burris of South Side High School in New York, who has been chronicling
on this blog the many problems with test-driven reform in New York. She
was named New York’s 2013 High School Principal of the Year by the
School Administrators Association of New York and the National
Association of Secondary School Principals, and in 2010, tapped as the
2010 New York State Outstanding Educator by the School Administrators
Association of New York State. She is the co-author of the New York
Principals letter of concern regarding the evaluation of teachers by
student test scores. It has been signed by more than 1,535 New York
principals and more than 6,500 teachers, parents, professors,
administrators and citizens. You can read the letter by clicking here. http://bit.ly/JC5qNU
Carol Burris writes:
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is indecisive when it comes to uploading
student information into inBloom, the cloud-based system designed to
provide student data to vendors. He says that he is waiting for
Commissioner John King’s report on privacy, even as the upload begins.
Cuomo claims that massive student data collection is “necessary.”
Meanwhile, eight other states that originally committed to inBloom have
pulled out, or put their plans on hold.
The collection and reporting of school data is nothing new. We used to
send data on scan sheets; test scores, drop out rates, the percentage of
students with disabilities, etc., were all reported in the aggregate.
As technology progressed, we began to electronically send data, not in
the aggregate, but by student. Students were assigned a unique
identifying number so that their privacy was protected, with identity
guarded at the school or district level. More data, including race,
ethnicity and socio-economic status, were added to what we sent. This
allowed the state to disaggregate data by student group, while still
preserving anonymity.
Now that wall of privacy is shattered. Names, addresses (e-mail and
street) and phone numbers are to be sent. Schools are required to
upload student attendance, along with attendance codes, which indicate
far more than whether or not the student was absent or present. Codes
indicate whether a student is ill, truant, late to school or suspended.
Details about the lives of students are moving beyond the school walls
to reside in the inBloom cloud.
As a high school principal, I am worried by the state’s ever growing
demands for student information. I believe that all disciplinary
records should be known only to families and the school. All teens are
under tremendous strain to perform — sometimes for adults, other times
for peers. Some live on the emotional breaking point — others visit that
point now and again. Kids make mistakes. Some make bad decisions.
Others lose their temper and get out of control. Such serious
infractions result in suspensions. We have to keep our schools safe,
even as we are concerned about the well being of the offender.
When I suspend a student, I frame it within the context of learning. I
also assure students and parents that discipline records are only known
to us. Once that information is in the state database or the inBloom
cloud, I can no longer give that reassurance.
What, then is the rationale for shipping personal data beyond the
school? The New York State Education Department defends the collection
of individual attendance and suspension data, claiming that it must be
collected and uploaded to inBloom because it is one of several “early
warning indicators” of dropping out. That rationale is insufficient. The
identification of students with those indicators can be done at the
school level. What is needed are the resources and supports so that
schools can better intervene. Schools also need community support for
dealing with problems such as student truancy. We do not need data in a
cloud.
An additional justification is that inBloom data dashboards will allow
parents to check to make sure that a suspension was removed from their
child’s record if the commissioner overturns a suspension on appeal. In
those rare cases, if a parent wants reassurance that the suspension was
expunged, parents should visit the school. Schools are obliged to
produce every written record, as well as give parents access to
computer records. Disciplinary records are kept in both hard copy as
well as in school data systems. Looking at a data dashboard would give
an incomplete picture at best.
There is simply no justifiable reason for a state education department
to know whether an individual student was ever suspended. It is an
intrusion into the privacy of kids.
Similar arguments are made to justify the increased collection of
individual disability information as well as test modification data.
The years during which data is collected and stored is expanding as
well. New York’s Race to the Top application committed the state to a
P-16 system which would, according to their proposal, eventually become a
P-20 database–thus tracking students from age 3 into well beyond their
college years. Educational records would be linked to workforce data,
all to be held in the inBloom cloud.
Post high school data collection has already begun. This year,
information on the college progress of our alumni was placed in my
Nassau Boards of Cooperative Educational Services data dashboard. I was
startled to see information on students who graduated years ago. In the
past, we did follow-up phone calls, identifying ourselves, and giving
parents the choice as to whether or not they wanted to let us know if
their child had graduated college. Most were willing to speak with us,
but it was their choice based on their trust in our high school. I
wonder if there are other agencies with access to that data, or if
graduates even know that data was captured and shared.
I wonder when New Yorkers decided that it was acceptable for a state
agency to collect children’s personally identifiable information from
pre-kindergarten until well into their adult years. I do not remember
the debate. If it is acceptable today to store whether a student has an
emotional, intellectual or physical disability in the inBloom cloud,
will the collection of even more personal information be viewed as
necessary tomorrow? Logically, couldn’t every detail of a child’s life
be justified on the basis of serving “research purposes”?
We are living in an era of data fascination. Too many policy makers
have been seduced into believing that there is a perfect research
algorithm from which we can extract wisdom to design a personalized
education for every child. This belief persists even though pilot
programs, such as the study of the much heralded School of One, have
failed to demonstrate improved learning results.
Despite the lack of evidence, the inBloom website actively encourages
the development of products to be sold to schools, which will encourage
schools to turn over student data for the creation of personalized
educational products.This belief that “the algorithm knows best” is
based on nothing more than the speculation that a data-driven
instructional world will better serve our children. Whether or not
children prosper, however, may be inconsequential to those lining up to
develop products and sell technology to schools.
On Jan. 10, 2014, parents opposed to the upload of their children’s
data to the cloud will have their lawsuit heard in a New York State
Superior Court. I am grateful for the hard work, research and
persistence of Leonie Haimson of Class Size Matters who has fought to
protect student privacy since inBloom’s inception. Leonie played a
critical role in the development of the lawsuit and no matter what the
outcome, she has made parents and educators aware of inBloom. Let’s hope
that this lawsuit not only puts the upload of student data on pause,
but also serves as a catalyst for the needed debate that we ought to
have regarding the involuntary collection of student data.
Perhaps we can agree that before any personally identifiable data is
collected, the government and its agencies should have to provide a
compelling justification, and not collect data because they deem it to
be “necessary.” Those who have no problem setting high standards for
our students, should, when they collect student information, be held to
high standards as well.
THE COMMON CORE IS TOUGH ON KIDS WHO ARE STILL LEARNING ENGLISH
By Pat Wingert, The Atlantic Monthly | http://bit.ly/1kkigRi
Jan 2 2014, 7:32 AM ET - COMPTON, CALIFORNIA :: Remarkable things are
happening at Laurel Street Elementary School in Los Angeles.[1] Ninety
percent of its 580 students are eligible for free or reduced lunch. More
than 60 percent of its students are classified as English learners. And
yet the school has established a stellar record of success: a national
Title I Distinguished School Award in 2012 in recognition of its high
academic achievement, a Golden Bell Award for its innovative writing
program, and a Dispelling the Myth award from the nonprofit Education
Trust. Despite years of state funding cuts and classes that average 30
or more kids apiece, an amazing 83 percent of Laurel Street’s students
scored at proficient or higher on a recent state language-arts exam, and
91 percent scored that high on the math test.
Laurel Street kids tend to do better on math because it’s a kind of
transitional language for students still learning to read and speak
English fluently, said fourth-grade math teacher Angel Chavarin. He
learned English himself while attending a Los Angeles public school
years ago. Laurel Street students rarely express a typical lament of
American students: “I’m not a math person.” Instead, teachers say
they’re more likely to hear the opposite. “We have kids who say they’re
good in math, but not in language arts,” said Chavarin. “We tell them
they can be good in both.”
But this year, teachers at Laurel Street are a bit more anxious about
their achievement levels than usual. That’s because they, like most
schools in the country, are in the midst of transitioning to the new
Common Core standards. Voluntarily adopted by 45 states, the new
standards stress critical thinking, deeper learning, and more
sophisticated vocabularies, with the aim of making American students
more competitive with their peers from around the world.
The creators of these standards hope they will boost the achievement
levels of most students, but some educators worry that the standards
might inadvertently hurt one of the fastest growing groups of students
in the country: students whose native language is not English. Since
Laurel Street has been so successful in effectively educating these
students in the past, it’s a good place to take an in-depth look at how
one school is dealing with this issue. The school leadership agreed to
let a reporter follow the transition over the year.
“The language demands of the Common Core are enormous,” said Ben Sanders
of the California Office to Reform Education, which supports
implementation of the new standards . “This is absolutely going to be a
big challenge to English learners.” [2]
And English learners are a big challenge to the U.S. public school system.
There are already an estimated 5.3 million students in kindergarten
through 12th grade who are English learners: that is, students whose
English skills are less than proficient. Their numbers have grown by
about 50 percent nationally since the late 1990s, and they currently
account for about 10 percent of all American students. That percentage
is growing in most states and is expected to rise to 40 percent of the
U.S. kindergarten through grade 12 population by 2030.
As a group, these largely Hispanic students have scored significantly
lower than their white peers on standardized tests like the National
Assessment of Educational Progress, known as the nation’s report card,
despite increased attention to this “achievement gap.” How—and
if—schools can overcome this hurdle will be a key measure of success for
the Common Core.
This issue looms especially large in California, the state that educates
one of every eight American students and has far more English learners
than any other. Latinos now make up the majority of California public
school children, and 37 percent of the state’s total enrollment comes
from homes where a language other than English is spoken. Currently,
about 23 percent of the state’s students are categorized as English
learners.
While some California high schools have students with 60 different
language backgrounds, more than 80 percent of the state’s English
learners speak Spanish. “Almost every single teacher (in California) has
English learners,” said Jeanette LaFors of Education Trust West, which
is studying Common Core’s impact on these students. “It’s rare to see a
class that does not have them.” California’s large number of English
learners helps explain why California’s National Assessment of
Educational Progress scores have repeatedly come in well below the
national average.
Like a lot of educators in California, Laurel Street’s leadership team
is enthusiastic about the Common Core because they think the standards
are research-based and encourage a better way of teaching and learning.
But they also recognize that big changes are necessary if their kids,
particularly their English learners, are going to do well on the new
assessments linked to the new standards.
“They are absolutely our priority,’ said Principal Frank Lozier, who
first came to Compton Unified School District in 2000 as a Teach for
America recruit out of the University of California, Berkeley. “They are
such a large part of our school.”
As Laurel Street begins the process of adapting to the new standards,
much of the focus is on their math program, a traditional area of
strength at the school.
California’s old state assessment was pegged to its old standards and
rewarded math students with good memorization and pattern recognition
skills in ways that the new standards and assessments will not. “We had
students who were good at finding the right answer because they had
memorized the script,” said third-grade teacher Alejandra Monroy. “They
could simply add or subtract and get the right answer.”
Common Core, on the other hand, emphasizes complex word problems, in
part so kids realize math’s usefulness in everyday situations. “We had
our big ‘Aha!’ moment when we realized we needed to shift from an
emphasis on teaching isolated math skills to integrated skills because
of the tasks that would be thrown at them” by the Common Core, said
Lozier. “The intent is to get the kids to have a deeper and crisper
understanding of how math can be used to solve real-life problems.”
The new standards also require students to explain in writing how they
got their answer, and that requires a broader and more sophisticated
vocabulary than many English learners have. “If they don’t have the
words, it’s hard to read and listen and speak and write,” Chavarin said.
“Vocabulary is the pillar to all of this.”
To address these new challenges, Monroy, who was born in Chile and was
once an English learner herself, said teachers at Laurel Street are
trying to incorporate more strategies into their math lessons that have
proved effective for teaching English and expanding vocabularies.
Those efforts were apparent on a recent Tuesday afternoon, as Monroy
introduced the use of “repeated addition” as a strategy for solving
multiplication problems. She started with a vocabulary lesson. “There
are very important words you need to know,” she told her class. “If
you’re doing a multiplication problem — 3 x 4 = 12 — the numbers `3’ and
‘4’ are the FACTORS and the ‘12’ is the PRODUCT. All the numbers and
symbols together—3 x 4 =12—is a “MULTIPLICATION SENTENCE.”
“What is this?” Monroy asked, pointing to the equation.
“A multiplication sentence,” the class echoed back.
Next, Monroy stressed that repeated addition involves “patterns,” in this case, 4+4+4 = 12
“We need to know that a pattern is a regular or repeated sequence,” she
said. “A pattern can be something like red/blue/red/blue, right? A
sequence that repeats. When you count by skipping numbers—2-4-6—you’re
doing a PATTERN.”
Once she was sure they understood the vocabulary, Monroy introduced
“sentence frames,” pared-down phrases the students will need to learn in
order to clearly describe what they’re doing. In this case, using
repeated addition to solve a multiplication sentence involving 3 x 4
means “three groups of four.” As the class worked through a series of
equations — first as a group, then with a partner, and finally as
individuals — the kids got repeated opportunities to use their new
vocabulary words. Even when they were working on their own, Monroy urged
them to talk their way through it. “I hear you saying the steps,” she
said as she walked up and down the aisles, checking the students’
progress. “That’s very good.”
As the class neared its end, Monroy introduced an associated word
problem involving the total number of wheels on four tricycles. She
wanted to check that the kids would recognize how their new skill might
be used in the real world. She also wanted to establish that they
understood instructions that use phrases like “repeated addition” and
“multiplication sentence.” As the kids set to work, Monroy did a quick
check to see how they were doing.
“Is this hard?” she asked the group.
“Easy, easy,” the kids responded.
“Repetition is very important for English language learners,” Monroy
said later. “Learning those sentences is like learning a recipe. The way
I explain a solution is like a recipe to solving the problem. Then they
have to practice doing it and saying it and writing it. This is a huge
difference, but this is good practice and good teaching.”
Laurel Street started this transition with an advantage because its
district uses a structured curriculum called Swun Math. It’s a widely
praised program developed by Si Swun, a Long Beach, California, math
teacher who was inspired to combine some of the best of American
education techniques with methods used in Singapore, long a world leader
in math achievement. Both Common Core and Singapore-style math
emphasize a deep study of the most basic elements of math before moving
on to more advanced math. Swun Math also encourages collaboration and
talking through the problem-solving process. With the introduction of
Common Core, Swun said he is working with schools to supplement and
adjust the original curriculum to make it more effective, and to
strengthen students’ reasoning and writing skills.
To determine if the changes they’re making are on the right track,
Laurel Street teachers monitor their kids’ performance in class and on
weekly assessments that grade-level teacher teams create together. Each
student’s score is then added to a spreadsheet and scrutinized by the
principal, all the teachers, and even parents and students.
If one class gets better scores than the others, teachers compare notes
and incorporate the most effective strategies into their own lesson
plans, said fifth-grade teacher Rebecca Harris. It’s about
collaboration, not competition, she said. “We learn from each other.”
“It’s a very transparent process,” Lozier said. “We have a culture where
we make decisions based on evidence and results and data, rather than
opinions. Mine included. We do more of what works and less of what
doesn’t work.”
The work is challenging. But the deeper they get into it, the more
school leaders are becoming convinced that the methods encouraged by the
Common Core will help all their students get better at math as well
English.
“I see a lot of things in the Common Core that we should have been doing
in math all along,” said Harris, “because it will help our students get
to a better place in math as well as language.”
Swun agrees. As a former English learner, Swun, whose native language is
Chinese, said he’s “super sensitive to this issue.” But he believes
more emphasis on language in math will likely lead to more success for
everyone. “Some teachers don’t want their kids to talk a lot,” he said.
“But to me, that is productive noise.”
That confidence is an important first step, and while they don’t have
all the answers yet, Lozier said they feel good about the outlines
they’re seeing of the path forward.
____________
smf’s footnotes:
1 Geography will not be tested! Laurel ES is in the Compton USD,
though from the Atlantic’s editorial offices it must all look like sunny
L.A.
2 CORE CA is NOT a government entity; it is a consortium of ®eform
minded superintendents/school districts. Compton USD is NOT a member of
CORE CA
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FIT: The Rest (but not necessarily the best) of the Stories from Other
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CSBA GUIDELINES FOR FILLING A VACANCY ON THE BOARD OF EDUCATION: by smf for 4LAKids News 4 January 2013 :: ... http://bit.ly/1dkVGPm
An editorial from the ‘hood: COMMUNITY OVERWHELMING SUPPORTS DR. GEORGE McKENNA FOR LAUSD BOARD APPOINTMENT: W... http://bit.ly/1i58RbN
NO END TO LAUSD iPAD DEBATE + smf’s 2¢: Mailbag | Paul Thornton, LA Times letters editor | http://lat.... http://bit.ly/1lfET7B
THE LAUSD BOARD OF ED NEEDS TO MAKE A DECISION …and that decision should be to appoint a representative to fil... http://bit.ly/1l8ThhL
Letters: COLLEGE, RECRUITERS AND MONEY: letters to the LA Times | http://lat.ms/1cNPToT Students gather ... http://bit.ly/1kh7X0f
A New York parent writes to Mrs. Obama: SAVE OUR CHILDREN: by Jill Bernardi, Reblogged from Diane Ravitch’s bl... http://bit.ly/1kgMW5V
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LA SCHOOL BOARD TO CONSIDER HIRING LAID-OFF STAFF. SUPERINTENDENT DEASY OPPOSES THE MOVE. | http://bit.ly/1cqNS0K
FAFSA: 5 tips to ace college federal financial aid application | http://bit.ly/192i2co
THE NEW GED MAY BE HARDER …BUT IT’S ALSO COSTLIER AS IT MOVES FROM NON-PROFIT BUSINESS MODEL TO FOR-PROFIT – C... http://bit.ly/1kgqlXe
US DEPT OF AGRICULTURE PERMANENTLY RELAXES RULES ON HEALTHIER SCHOOL MEALS: from Reuters via Huffington Post ... http://bit.ly/1kgd014
OVERTURN OF BEVERLY HILLS SUPERINTENDENT'S CONVICTION FOR MISUSE OF FUNDS MAY HAVE IMPLICATIONS IN LAUSD iPADS - http://bit.ly/1gwqyAv
COURT REVERSES CONVICTIONS OF EX-BEVERLY HILLS SCHOOLS CHIEF + smf’s 2¢: Jeffrey Hubbard was convicted in 2012... http://bit.ly/1atNYBA
Letter: WHY TENURE MAKES GOOD TEACHERS: Letter to the Editor of the L.A. Times | http://lat.ms/KjPyQD Januar... http://bit.ly/1db3F1q
L.A. Times Resolutions For Other People: SUPT. JOHN DEASY: Calm down. Just a little. Sure, you're committed (cont) http://tl.gd/n_1rvbicp
L.A. Times resolutions For Other People: THE LAUSD BOARD OF ED - Talk less. Do more. You're a group of (cont) http://tl.gd/n_1rvbicd
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MY TIRED OLD VALUES ARE BETTER THAN YOUR TIRED OLD VALUES.: It's time to demythologize the Left+Right/Red+Blue | http://lat.ms/1k3NHPz
EVENTS: Coming up next week...
• Common Core Technology Project Committee – Tues. January 7, 2014 | 10:00 am
• Special Board Meeting – Tues. January 7, 2014
>>NOTE TIME>> 6:15 pm
• Budget, Facilities and Audit Committee Meeting – Thurs. January 9, 2014 | 1:00 pm
• Early Childhood Education and Parent Engagement Ad Hoc Committee-Thurs. January 9, 2014 | 4:00 pm
*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
Marguerite.LaMotte@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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