The Week In Review

A few things on the Internet caught my interest this week and spawned a few personal comments.

"Education Next" in the "Lights, Camera, Action" article discussed using surveillance video cameras in classrooms as a way of conducting teacher evaluations. My comments at the bottom of the article were posted as "MisterRog" and included a link to another article on videotaping teachers from the Washington Post.

Politicians and so-called education reformers have the sirens blaring over the latest international test results from the "Programme of International Student Assessment".  However, a piece in "Bloomberg Businessweek" had a nice response to the panic, "U.S. Schools Are Still Ahead - Way Ahead".

Personally, I take issue with the popular notion "The United States is rapidly falling behind the rest of the industrial world".  Like the concept of the movie "Inception­" this notion that "The United States is rapidly falling behind" has been repeated over and over that it has grown within peoples' minds so much it has become accepted as their own idea and as the truth.

Also, Gregory Michie had a fabulous, spot-on piece this past week with "How to Be Taken Seriously as a Reformer (Don't Be an Educator).

One line from his article regarding the so-called reformers particularly struck a chord with me "... "But their arrogance is astounding­, and their lack of interest in the wisdom of those who spend their days in classrooms speaks volumes."

And a related "MUST-READ­" to Gregory Michie's piece is  "Teachers Should be Seen and Not Heard" by the 2009 National Teacher of the Year, Anthony Mullen.

Nine Months Later

It's been over nine months since my last blog posting.  Actually I have been consistently commenting on other blogs and news articles but at the expense of my own blog.  Plus now since my blog was given a "Hat Tip" in a "Teacher in a Strange Land" posting I'm feeling motivated (pressured) again to crank out some new commentaries.

I'm also considering rethinking my blog, having it become a source of things I find interesting on the Internet with a few insightful comments without going on a full rant.  This posting will be an example of that.

One of the education blogs I visit on a regular basis is Maureen Downey's "Get Schooled" blog on the Atlanta Journal/Constitution website.   A recent "Get Schooled" posting addressed the issue of "performance pay" for teachers.  While the article centered around the opinions of the current Georgia Teacher of the Year, what really struck me was one of the reader comments by a reader commenting as "teacher&mom".  Her comments included:

What happens in a district that mandates a reading curriculum….like Reading First? Is it fair to penalize teachers if you tie their hands and force them to teach from a scripted curriculum?

What happens if you agree to supervise a student teacher for a semester and the test scores dip?

What happens if your administration decides to re-arrange the schedule? For example, you go from a 4 X 4 block schedule to a 7 period day or an A/B block schedule. Isn’t it possible that scores may slide as everyone adjusts to a new schedule?

What happens if the budget crunch means 35+ students in a classroom?

What happens when the Common Core Standards come into play and teachers begin to train and implement the new standards? Will they experience a dip in scores?

What happens when a teacher is out for maternity leave and the district decides to not pay for a long-term substitute and instead rotates different substitutes in and out of the classroom for several weeks?

What happens if the local judicial system does not help the school system with chronic attendance problems and teachers have students with 20+ absences taking the CRCT/EOCT?

What happens to the test score of the student who finally qualifies for special education AFTER the CRCT?

What happens to the teachers’ pay when we have a testing fiasco like the 7th grade Social Studies CRCT?

Remember the National Board Certification stipend —-Gone

Remember the High Performing Administrator Bonus — not in this year’s budget

Remember the Master Teacher Program —- anyone know where it went?

I wonder how many are willing to take the risk that maybe this time our legislators won’t change their minds or manipulate the numbers to control costs?

Interesting points by "teacher&mom" wouldn't you say?  While I'm not philosophically opposed to performance pay, there are many details as "teacher&mom" points out that will have to been considered before most teachers will support such an idea.

What's up with "The Experts"?

Florida is about to embark on yet another grand experiment with its state's education system. It's commonly known as Senate Bill 6 and also referred to as the "Teacher Tenure Bill".

It has passed both the Florida State Senate and State House of Representatives. Now it has been passed to the governor for his signature or veto.

I'm really shocked and disappointed that the debate surrounding this legislation has not been covered very much by the national news media. Of course I realize the big story this week has been Tiger Woods return to the Masters Golf Tournament, and we all know that celebrity news is always more newsworthy than education issues.

In a nutshell, this legislation cannot be explained in a nutshell. Supposedly it installs a merit pay system for teachers, but the "merit" pay will be based on standardized test scores as the predominant measure of a teacher's "effectiveness". But it also eliminates any kind of tenure or due process for new teachers and calls for the termination of the teaching certificate of a teacher that is deemed ineffective (based on standardized test scores) in 4 of the preceding 5 years.

Furthermore, it ignores the fact that teachers only get better as they become more experienced; the bill places them on annual contracts and prohibits recognition for years of service, advanced degrees or becoming nationally board certified.

In addition, school districts will be required to create standardized tests for courses that do not currently have them. The creation of these new tests alone will cost the Dade County School District millions of dollars for example. To add insult to injury, these costs must be absorbed by the local school districts without any new funding support from the state.

Of course educators in Florida were excluded from any discussion in the drafting of this legislation. But then why should they have been included? The federal government does not really seek the input of experienced educators who work daily "in the trenches" of our nation's classrooms.

Instead we have "experts" like Eric Hanushek at "Education Next" who maintains that "Florida legislators recognize that teacher quality is central to student outcomes. They also recognize that neither teacher experience nor graduate degrees bear any consistent relationship to student achievement. This legislation is simply putting policy where the evidence is."

Oops! It seems that Mr. Hanushek missed the report from researchers at the University of North Carolina that discovered "rookie teachers are much less effective than their more experienced colleagues". The same report goes on to say:

The study looked at student scores on end-of-grade and end-of-course tests and connected that information to their teachers, how long they'd been teaching and where they learned to teach. The focus was on teachers with less than five years experience. All school districts were included.

Rookie teachers are less effective in nine out of 11 measures. Elementary school math students in inexperienced teachers' classrooms lose the equivalent of 21 days of school, and middle school math students lose the equivalent of 47 days of school.

I try not to take things written by so-called experts personally, but for Mr. Hanushek to say that experience and advanced degrees do not make a difference in teaching is really insulting to me as a teacher of 28 years with a master's degree and National Board Certification. Perhaps Mr. Hanushek's opinion is strong evidence that the methods "experts" use to measure teacher effectiveness is flawed and highly inaccurate.

Upon a quick investigation of "Education Next" I discovered of the 16 people that make up its editorial staff, only a couple have any teaching experience in elementary or secondary schools. Mr. Hanushek background is that of an economist, and the editor-in-chief, Paul E. Peterson, has a background in political science.

In addition, Mr. Paul E. Peterson's latest book is titled: "Saving Schools: From Horace Mann to Virtual Learning". In his book, Mr. Peterson explains "we need fewer teachers, not more, and those few teachers must reach thousands of students at a time".

I'll pause a moment here for everyone who has fallen out of their chair after reading that comment from Mr. Peterson.

It is sad that our nation has such a wealth of great, experienced teachers whose input is rarely considered when developing these grand experiments otherwise known as education reform. It is really sad that our politicians instead rely on the opinions of "experts" who really don't seem to have a clue about education reform.

The stakes are high for the future of students and teachers in Florida. I fear if this legislation is signed into law by their governor, it could be disastrous not only for the schools in Florida, but for schools across the entire nation.

Food Fights on the Internet....

Ok... so it's been over a month since I last updated this blog.  Since my last post I've gotten quite addicted to posting to "reader comment forums" on various Internet news web sites.  So bad is my addiction, I'm seriously considering entering a 12 step rehab program.

Often times, I feel like the participation in these forums amounts to a Internet "Food Fight".  Regardless, I thought I'd share parts of the discussion from my latest foray.

It all began from reading a news story on the "Livingston Daily.com" news web site.  The story was regarding the contract negotiations in a school district in my county.  Keep in mind I didn't really have a dog in that fight as my son is not a student in that district and I am not a teacher in that district either.  However, being a teacher, I feel a duty to defend my fellow educators whenever I feel they are being unfairly attacked.

It all started when I read a couple of  simplistic solutions including:

Fire all the union teachers and hire in new happy to be employed teachers at 45k per year not the average 64k per year salary union teachers are making now. This would also allow for schools to hire more teachers and assistants making smaller class sizes. Problem solved. (From WOWYOUTHINK)

And...

I for one see no reason that the younger teachers should not be used as the primary and the prima donnas be given walking papers.(From julll)

To which I replied:

Sorry, but your post is another example of an uneducated, simplistic "solution".

Your "solution" mirrors the thinking of politicians and so-called experts that assumes students are mere widgets on a educational assembly line and teachers are interchangable robots.

And if I may refer back to the orginal proposal of firing the 64k "union" teachers and replacing them with 45K "new happy to be employed" teachers, why not go a step further? Why not then replace the 45K "happy" teachers with 40K "super happy" teachers? But don't stop there... let's replace those 40K teachers with 30K teachers.

After all... anyone can teach since experience and creditials mean nothing, right?

I'm still eager to hear the professions and salaries of people commenting about teachers here so I can make similar arguments and recommendations about their jobs.

That in turn garnered this response from another reader: (steeplechase1)

Your "solution" mirrors the thinking of politicians and so-called experts that assumes ... teachers are interchangable robots.
The union demands that every teacher be treated exactly the same regardless of specialty, ability or level of enthusiasm. Hence 'interchangeable' - blame the union for that.

Michigan public schools are not doing a good job compared to other states/countries, and a big part of that has to do with how they manage talent. (unions, tenure etc.)

They overpay for liberal arts and elementary teachers and then can't afford good or even average science, business or math teachers, because those skills are in high demand and cost more. Businesses pay more for certain skills and less for others. Schools should be doing the same thing.

Finally - you don't need to be a watchmaker to tell the time. Time's nearly up on this broken business model. Schools have to change, or Darwin will take over.

 Alright! Game on! So my reply to "steeplechase1" required a bit of pondering and some research but I eventually composed the following response:

Thanks for a civil reply containing logical points that have some merit.

However, (as you might predict) I take issue with your logic.

First,  I didn’t offer a solution.  I was challenging the idea of firing all the veteran teachers and replacing them with cheaper teachers as overly simplistic.

Secondly, “the union” did not create the system that treats every teacher the same regardless of their specialty, ability, etc.  This system was in place long before there were teacher unions.

Teacher unions understandably are leery of merit pay schemes after witnessing the failure for funding in such examples as the Tennessee Teacher Career Ladder and now the elimination of merit pay in many states for National Board Certified Teachers.  Those are two merit programs that did have support of teacher organizations.

However, the carrot of merit pay is one of the first to be cut during times of tight budgets.  And now the new idea of determining teacher pay with President Obama’s Race To The Top Scheme through “value
added testing” has too many flaws to mention here.

Next, I challenge your notion that Michigan Public schools are not doing a good job compared to other states.  If you examine the average ACT scores by states that require all high school juniors to take the test, Michigan ranked 2nd in the nation in 2009 and was within 0.7 points of the top state, Colorado.  In addition, if you examine the National Assessment of Educational Progress, (which is the closest thing we currently have to a national test) you will see that Michigan’s test scores are not significantly different than the average national score.

Furthermore, you really can’t make a fair comparison of an elementary teacher to a secondary math or science teacher as elementary teachers set the foundations for future learning.  I realize there are reports in the mainstream media regarding a “shortage” of math and science teachers.

However, I challenge that “shortage” notion.  If you examine the shortage patterns, they mainly exist in poor rural and problematic urban schools.  Schools that provide adequate teacher salaries, attractive facilities and minimum support systems have little trouble attracting applicants for math and science vacancies.  

What schools do have trouble with regarding math and science teachers is retaining them beyond their second or third year.  This is almost always due to a lack of classroom support for those teachers, not the lack of pay.

Finally, I take issue with the constant comparison of schools to business.  Schools are unique institutions and cannot be compared to other “business models”.  Politicians and experts keep trying to do that and they keep failing.

We do agree on one thing.  Schools do need to change. But until the policy makers really give experienced, classroom teachers that work in the trenches on a daily basis a substantial say in school policies, our society is doomed to keep repeating the same mistakes.

 Like I said... I think I need a 12 step rehab program.

Linking college academics to careers? Oh my! What a novel idea!

A recent article in the Washington Post reported on the idea that many college undergraduates are uncertain about academic disciplines.

The article also states:

As a result, many students leave school without fully tapping their interests and aptitudes and without appreciating how their academic knowledge is connected to their future careers...

What?  People are going to college without really knowing what they want to do when they get out?

Perhaps if students could make time in their high school schedule to pursue a few Career and Technical Education courses they might gain a better insight to their interests and aptitudes before they even begin college.

However a number of factors including budget cuts and a push by many states to increase "core curriculum" requirements are making it difficult for many secondary schools to continue offering a good variety of CTE courses.

As a result, I believe the Washington Post article illustrates how this is really a disservice to our students.

The High School Courses Students Need For College???

In today's Washington Post, college admissions consultant Bruce Vinik, president of Vinik Educational Placement Services, writes about "The High School Courses Students Need For College".

In his article, Mr. Vinik states:

"Outside of grades, nothing is more important in college admissions than the classes kids take in high school."

"Let’s start with the basics. Colleges expect students to take at least five core academic subjects every year of high school -- English, social studies, science, math and foreign language.

"Beyond the basics, most colleges expect students to challenge themselves in the classroom by doing advanced course work when it is available in their schools."

"For ninth and tenth graders, this typically means taking honors courses or the occasional Advanced Placement (AP) course; for eleventh and twelfth graders, this means AP or International Baccalaureate (IB) classes."

Personally, I think that perhaps college admissions officers should reevaluate their admissions criteria given that less than 50% of students who start college ever graduate.

Why doesn't anyone ever challenge the notion of the so-called "core curriculum" and how those courses mostly operate in a vacuum?

The core curriculum concept was developed in 1893 by a "Committee of Ten". Shouldn't we perhaps at least examine some new educational possibilities now that it is the year 2010?

I have been teaching high school computer-aided-design (CAD) classes for over 20 years. Almost every one of my students that have gone on to become successful engineers and architects who I remain in contact with have credited my courses as some of the most valuable classes they took in high school or college.

Classes such a CAD or other technical courses have the potential to be an excellent vehicle for delivering important concepts taught in "core" classes while making those concepts relative to "real life" ideas that many students can relate to.

Furthermore, I have been told that many college admissions guidelines discard grades earned in classes like CAD and only consider the "core" classes.

I just believe that we are doing a disservice to many of our intelligent students who have much potential by trying to always force them into "cookie-cutter" curriculum ideas especially when it come to college admission guidelines.

Might this be one of the reasons for the current college dropout rate?

The Pat Tillman Award?

Yesterday my favorite player in the National Football League, Peyton Manning, won his record-setting fourth "Most Valuable Player" title, an award presented by the Associated Press.

Peyton is my favorite NFL player for a number of reasons.  Mainly because he hails from my Alma Mater, The University of Tennessee, and is a really terrific quarterback that is amazing to watch in action.

But also he is a classy individual, a great role model, and a humble person. Furthermore he has been a great ambassador for my Alma Mater at a time when so many other athletes over the years have tarnished the reputation of the university by their off-field antics.

While I honor Peyton Manning as a player and a person, there is one other person who once played professional football that has garnered my utmost respect.  That player is a man named Pat Tillman.

Pat Tillman walked away from a $3.6 million contract as a safety with the Arizona Cardinals to join the Army after the September. 11 attacks.  He enlisted in the Army in May, 2002 and completed training to become an Army Ranger.

He served numerous tours with the Army, including the initial invasion of Iraq, "Operation Iraqi Freedom".  He was later deployed to Afghanistan as part of "Operation Enduring Freedom".

Pat Tillman was killed in action while on a mission in southeastern Afghanistan on April 22, 2004.

So now whenever I heard the phrase "NFL's Most Valuable Player" I cannot seem to separate the work of a mere football player from the actions of man who walked away from the game to give the ultimate sacrifice to our county.

Currently, the Associated Press has no name for their trophy awarded to the most valuable player in the NFL.

I think it is now time to name this award "The Pat Tillman Trophy".

Your Dog Wants Steak.

I just saw a story today that says the carbon footprint of a pet dog is more than double that of a gas-guzzling sports utility vehicle (SUV).

OK... as an owner of two dogs, when I first read the article I felt a twinge of guilt for once criticizing  Al Gore's hypocritical energy consumption.

Upon closer review, I did discover the comparison in the article uses the assumption that the average medium size dog consumes almost a pound of meat each day and the owner of the SUV only drives 6200 miles per year.  OK...given those comparative assumptions, maybe a dog does have a larger carbon pawprint.  However, I highly doubt these assumptions are reasonable.

With articles like this, it's no wonder that so many people are skeptical about the claims of climate change.

For the record, I take the issue of climate change very seriously.  As someone who leans conservative, I believe it should be a conservative's nature to "conserve"  while at the same time be concerned about how the human race is polluting the Earth that G-d gave us. However, I tend to be a bit skeptical about both the claims from the extreme left and the denials from the extreme right regarding this issue.

Besides, after evaluating my own energy consumption habits using an online carbon footprint calculator, I discovered my 10.4 tonnes of CO2 is just half that of the average American (20.4).

As a result, I'm feeling less guilty about my dogs right now.

Hey Gypsy and Maggie... bark once if you'd like a rib-eye for Christmas dinner or bark twice if you'd prefer a porterhouse.

Moon Shots

Is "Moon shot" becoming an overused phrase?

Just this morning already, (and it's not even 5:00 AM yet) I've run across two news articles that use the "Moon shot" phrase.

A GM engineer uses the term in his reference to the development of the new Chevy Volt.

Most importantly, this article mentions "U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan has called the Obama administration's Race to the Top initiative "education reform's Moon shot," the largest pot of discretionary school funding -- $4 billion or so -- in the nation's history."

Call me a cynic, and I know $4 billion is a lot of money, but in the scope of the number of schools in the entire nation and compared to the $700+ billion spent on the Wall Street bailout, $4 billion seems like pocket change.  Plus we can't forget the estimated $600 billion spent on the invasion of Iraq.

And in reference to the "Moon shot"? Adjusted for inflation, the NASA moon project of the 1960's cost $237 billion.

So what do I think of the $4 billion being offered as the "Moon shot" for the nation's schools that are "in crisis"? Get back to me when you're serious about a real "Moon shot" type endeavor for education and have some real "Moon shot" type money to back it up, OK?

Otherwise, quit calling it a "Moon shot".  It might be a decent federal initiative however it's not a Moon shot.

But then that's just my 2 cents.

But Will This Tax Apply to Tea?

Michigan's Lt. Governor, John Cherry, is floating an idea for a 10 cent tax on bottled water in order to fund the "Promise Scholarships" that were recently cut out of the state's budget.

The details of his plan are still developing, but so far it sounds like the tax will only apply to companies that manufacture bottled water in Michigan. The tax will apply to water sold in Michigan or shipped out of the state. Lt. Governor Cherry estimates this new tax will raise $118 million, of which $100 million will be used for the scholarships and $18 million will be used for wetlands regulations and other conservation plans.

I think this plan will be pronounced dead on arrival. 

First of all, how fair is it just to tax companies that use Michigan's water for producing bottled water?  If "It's time for the big bottlers to pay their water bill", as Cherry says, shouldn't all beverage companies that use Michigan's water have to pay the tax?  What about beer producers and soft drink bottlers?

What about tea?  Should it then also apply to bottled tea?  If I remember correctly a tax on tea eventually led to a thing called the American Revolution.

According to my research, the tax on Michigan state tax on beer is only about 2 cents per bottle.  Can anyone really justify that bottled water should be taxed at a higher rate than beer?  I'm not necessarily advocating for raising the beer tax, I'm just referring to the beer tax to illustrate a point.

Besides, the Michigan Promise Scholarship is the program that replaced the Michigan Merit Award.  The Michigan Merit award was originally funded with 75 percent of the proceeds from the state's tobacco settlement.  What became of that money?

Just for the record, I was against using the tobacco settlement money for that purpose originally.  The lawsuit was filed against the tobacco companies under the guise that their product was costing the state in terms of health care benefits.  But did Michigan then use the majority of that settlement money for health care and smoking cessation programs?  No, they used most of it for college awards.

In addition, considering all of the cuts being made to the funding of K-12 schools and other important programs in Michigan, should creating a new tax just for the Promise Scholarship be the top priority?   I realize it's called the "Promise" Scholarship, but there are many other "promises" that were implied in past state budgets that are now being cut.

Again, as I mentioned in this blog a week ago, it is time for Michigan  to consider some major tax reforms. To continue to nickle and dime its citizens with piecemeal tax ideas that don't address the root cause of the state's financial problems is legislative malpractice.

What's New with the News?

The Brookings Institution recently released a study that reports only 1.4 percent of national news coverage from television, newspapers, news web sites, and radio dealt with education issues.

And if you think about it, education doesn't get much coverage from local and state news outlets either.

Think about that the next time you watch any local TV news broadcast.  Usually any local TV news about schools is related to a scandal, an outbreak of a disease like H1N1, closures due to snow, or a successful sports team.

Rarely do you hear anything good about education on a regular basis much less any reports on important issues such as the effects of "No Child Left Behind" or the Michigan high school graduation requirements.

A few weeks ago when Novi High School was reported to have the first H1N1 case in the Metro Detroit area for this school year, TV news trucks were lined up at 6:00 AM waiting and beaming live reports for the morning broadcasts.  However, you never saw the news crews in front of the school at 6:00 AM the morning after the Novi F.I.R.S.T. Robotics team won a national championship.  Plus you never see any in-depth reporting on what state budget cuts are doing to our schools or other urgent education issues that will have long lasting consequences.

Just think how much time on the local news is dedicated to weather each day.  Doesn't that make you wonder why TV news organizations can't have a full time dedicated education reporter to give updates on issues that effect the lives of our school children on a daily basis?

It's not just the local TV news either.  Check out any local newspaper web site and you'll be hard pressed to find a section of the news dedicated to education.  You'll find sports sections, business sections, entertainment sections, obituaries, etc., but you really have to search to find a subsection for schools or education.

I know as a teacher I'm biased toward education issues, but really, isn't the disproportionate coverage of other subjects in the news when compared to education a bit of a disgrace?

One final thought... I "Googled" a few phrases to see what kind of "hits" I'd get and the results are astonishing.

10,400,000 hits for "Jon and Kate plus 8"
9,390,000 hits for "Tiger Woods scandal"
7,440,000 hits for "American Idol"

5,040,000 hits for "Pimp my Ride"
4,970,000 hits for "South Park"
2,900,000 for "Dancing with the Stars"

677,000 hits for "no child left behind"
362,000 hits for "race to the top"
113,000 hits for "influential teachers"
70,500 for "blue ribbon schools"

Oh... and by the way... the report on the Novi H1N1 case was inaccurate.  The student's test results ended up being negative.

Random Thoughts on School Budgets and Taxes

Random Thought #1:
Detroit Public Schools asks each teacher for $10,000 interest free loan.

The Detroit school system is teetering on the brink of bankruptcy.  If the system does end up declaring  bankruptcy, will the teachers ever get that loan money back?  Plus I'm not sure if I was a teacher in Detroit how I'd feel about loaning money to a district that has been so corrupt and mismanaged for so long including the fact that Detroit Public Schools overpaid millions for real estate after middle-man markups.

In addition, the Detroit school system has taken other major voyages on the Failboat which includes the dispute that mothballed state of the art equipment at the $122 million Detroit School of Arts and the infamous school book depository.

Random Thought #2:   
Should Michigan tax pensions to help fund schools?

I found one particular quote in that article very interesting, from the state's budget director, Bob Emerson. "My son, who works his butt off as a chef in Oakland County, he makes in the mid-$30,000s," Emerson said. "He pays 4.35% in state income tax. I get a public pension that's greater than his salary, and I'm not taxed on that. Someone explain the fairness of that."

Yes, I agree with Bob that it is not fair.  However my solution to the unfairness is to not to tax the pensions, but to consider eliminating the state income tax altogether and replacing it with a system similar to the "FairTax" that has been proposed for the entire country .  The state of Michigan is now at a crossroad that will require a major overhaul to its tax system.  

I realize that a "FairTax" system relies heavily on a variation of a sales tax.  Plus I realize the current problem with Michigan's revenue shortfall is due to a dip in sales tax receipts.  However a "FairTax" system would also collect taxes on services, unlike the current sales tax system.  Wouldn't it be an acceptable trade off for a higher sales tax on purchases, including services, if the state income tax was eliminated? Plus, wouldn't it make Michigan a very attractive state for new residents and businesses alike? 

Random Thought #3: 
Deadline Nears on Michigan School Budget Cuts.

It seems that the lawmakers in Michigan are now more worried about qualifying for "Race to the Top" funds than they are about fixing the current funding crisis.   And why is the "Deadline" so near?  Because the legislature breaks for Christmas vacation in a couple of weeks.

I don't guess we should expect them to give up any of their vacation time to fix a crisis that is a direct result of their neglect, huh?

Early school-year start back in play

The Detroit Free Press reports today that because of Michigan's desire for the federal "Race to the Top" education funds, the law mandating schools must start after Labor Day is back up for debate.

I believe we need to take the school starting date before the United Nations and propose that no school in the world should be allowed to start before Labor Day. Heck, we are always comparing the performance of America's schools to schools in other countries so how fair is it that politicians in other countries stay out of the way and let their educators determine when the first day of school is?

(I'm joking, but I'm really trying to make a point too.)

I found one quote from the article exceptionally unbelievable... "Rep. Kevin Elsenheimer, the Michigan House's top-ranking Republican, said the Melton measure would undermine one of the Legislature's most pro-business achievements of the decade."

If a law mandating an after Labor Day school start date is one of the Legislature's most pro-business achievements of the decade then Heaven help us.

Personally I liked starting school after Labor Day, however it's time for the state to get out of the way and return control of schools to the local school boards.

The Race to the Top?

I just returned from The Network of Michigan Educators conference held in Lansing today.  Our afternoon session included a surprise visit by Governor Jennifer Granholm.

Needless to say, it's always exciting to be at an event when the governor pays a visit regardless whether or not you agree with her policies.

The purpose of Governor Granholm's visit was to enlist the conference attendees support of Michigan's application for the "Race to the Top" federal dollars that will be awarded next Spring.  However, as she explained, Michigan must first pass some education reforms through the legislature before they can even apply.

These reforms include more charter schools, expanded alternative teacher certification, and teacher reviews tied to student performance.  If passage of the reforms is successful and Michigan is able to have their application accepted to "win", it would mean an influx of nearly $400 million dollars in federal aid for education.

This money if awarded, would come with federal strings attached and couldn't just be used to restore cuts to the general education budget. 

State School Superintendent Mike Flanagan spoke after the governor and made an interesting remark.  He compared President Obama's education initiatives to President Nixon's diplomatic outreach to China.  He explained that a democratic president of the era wouldn't have had the support to restore relations to a communist country, and in this era a republican president would never be allowed to suggest the education reforms that President Obama is proposing.

To me, the forms make sense on a philosophical level, but like most federal legislation there could be a devil in the details.

Your input by participating in today's survey will be greatly appreciated.

If Algebra = "X", and careers = "Z", then find "Y".

A story in today's "Baltimore Sun" has a troubling headline: Algebra II test indicates 15% ready for college.

I'm amazed that a mere math test can determine a person's readiness for college.  I guess based on that one test then maturity level has nothing to do with college readiness. I also guess being self-motivated and goal oriented have nothing to do with college readiness either.  I could go continue on with other examples of what I think determines college "readiness" but I will admit that was not the main focus of the article.

However, it does seem that many educational "experts' and politicians have decided students who can't handle Algebra II are unfit for college. It wasn't until recently that I realized what a "gatekeeper course" Algebra II has become.

Is Algebra II really a vital course for every college major? Aren't there many careers which require a college degree that don't involve such high level mathematics as Algebra II?

Personally, I never attempted an Algebra II class, but I believe I have been successful in both the technical job marketplace and in my career as a teacher. But in retrospect, if Algebra II had been a requirement for me, I most likely would have chosen a different career path that didn't involve a college degree.

If Algebra II is such an important course to every student and every career, shouldn't our educational "experts" and politicians provide some insights and real support on different ways of teaching Algebra II so more people can truly learn it?