School and District Report Cards

A preamble to the post!

Which feels more parent-friendly? 

This:
In accordance with the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), all states and districts receiving federal Title I funds must prepare and disseminate annual report cards. Report cards are critical tools for promoting accountability for schools, districts, and states by publicizing data about student performance and program effectiveness for parents, policymakers, and other stakeholders. Report cards help parents/guardians and the general public see where schools and districts are succeeding and where there is still work to do. [Intro to the 2016 Massachusetts State Report Card]

Or this:
Families and communities are critical partners to a school’s success. Just as a student’s report card shows how they are performing, the school report card shows how a school is performing in multiple areas. It shows the school’s strengths and the challenges that need to be addressed to ensure the school is meeting the needs of all students. [Draft Intro on 2018 Massachusetts Report Card Prototype]

Second one. By a mile. I didn't copy down what was read to us the other night, but think it may have been edited further so that it is shorter now, too.

School and District Report Cards have been *required* since No Child Left Behind, but access to the information in them has been inconsistent, hard to find, and, for most of us (that is, those who do not speak "DESE"), hard to understand. 

Public reporting efforts have been geared toward compliance with state and federal laws, rather than being intentionally designed to meet people's needs. As a consequence, most of the data have been unseen and unused, thus limiting their ability to promote and support improvement for students and systems. 

With the reauthorization of ESEA (from No Child Left Behind) to Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), states are once again mandating school and district reporting. This time, states are determined to communicate better -- and differently -- with parents and other stakeholders (see notes at end of this post).

States are required to annually report on "education indicators" at the state, district, and school levels, including data used in accountability systems (which are still very much under construction in MA), assessment, educator qualifications, and other measures of school quality. Report cards could answer questions and inform actions, such as: 

• How are our schools doing (compared to others in the state, nationally)?
• What are the bright spots?
• Where are the gaps?

Since 2007, Massachusetts has prepared school and district report cards that contain all federally required elements, and has made them available via the Department's School and District Profiles website. (The site is in transition. This is the "general information" page for the state's profile; it mirrors the format of school and district report cards. Soon there will be a dedicated page for School and District Report Cards).

Beginning with the 2018-2019 report card, states must also include the per-pupil expenditures for the preceding year of federal, state, and local funds, including actual personnel and non-personnel, disaggregated by source of funds, for the state as a whole and for each public school district and public school in the state. (Oh hey! While we're at it, might we also want to see Net School Spending there? Hmmm?)

This past Monday's special meeting was an opportunity for the Board to hear an update about and see a demo of a new school and district report card that the Department will publish later this month.

In an effort to develop "parent-friendly" report cards, we learned that, wisely, the Department partnered with Learning Heroes beginning in Fall 2017. Present with Russell Johnston, Senior Associate Commissioner, and Rob Curtin, Associate Commissioner, were Bibb Hubbard, Founder and President, and Erica Gray, Strategic Advisor, from Learning Heroes. 

Learning Heroes was founded 4 years ago as a resource for parents. They have conducted impressive research in 25 states for the purpose of improving communication to parents via school and district report cards. In so doing, they have partnered with more than 25 national organizations, among them National Parent Teacher Association (PTA), Flamboyan Foundation, National Association of State Boards of Education (NASBE), Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO), and Common Sense Media. 

To understand what parents/guardians/families want to know and see in these reports, their partnerships enabled Learning Heroes to engage:

• 100+ focus groups
• In Depth Interviews (IDIs)
• 10 national surveys
• Dozens of ethnography sessions 
• Dozens of tests of their tools
• Focus on low-income parents/guardians and parents/guardians of color

The Massachusetts prototype was further built on information Learning Heroes gleaned from focus groups with Massachusetts parent groups, including Massachusetts PTA, Massachusetts Parents United, and Phenomenal Moms.

I was struck by the opportunity these report cards present for the state to put information into the hands of parents and families and other stakeholders. We have an opportunity to tell better stories, as a result. By sharing this data, we can go behind the numbers and statistics because that's where the stories are. Stories about our schools, students, and teachers, and the experiences they are having. It's an opportunity to (dare I say it!) decide how we want to feel about our schools as we tell stories that highlight and celebrate success and even identify areas for improvement.

National research revealed:

• Parents have high expectations of public schools
• They can have an over-inflated view of their child's progress, believing their child as at or above grade level in reading and math

Disaggregated data, presented flatly in text and table form, has had unintended consequences. Many times it has been perceived as discriminatory or inadvertently shaming of students who are falling short because families ultimately view the data through a personal lens. Families of color whose children are not in special education, for example, may have wondered why they were seeing data on children of color in special education. The same holds true on homelessness, English learners, foster care, and military. A clear summative rating is very important because it lets one know how a school is performing as a whole for all children.

Research of Massachusetts parents showed:

• They are more likely to see their child at grade level
• Parents are more likely to question their child's achievement when presented with data
• When parents are shown that their child is not at or above grade level, they want to know what they can do to help their child improve or to get more involved

Parents primarily care about their own child and it makes sense that the data would focus on how their action will directly impact their child's progress. Context and information about why the policy or practice matters personally to the school and their child are key and should be included.

Parents are problem-solvers. By sharing information, schools and communities can match students with additional supports they need, including, high-quality afterschool and summer programs, college mentors, summer job programs. Doing so helps students thrive.

Different people need different data to meet their information needs, including school committee members, superintendents, principals, and teachers. As someone who sat on a school committee, I see them benefiting from clearly communicated data about their schools and districts. Having access to the same information creates opportunities for telling dynamic stories.

DESE walked us through a demo of the new site. It was uncluttered, with lots of white space, good visual information, and noticeably fewer blocks of text and data tables. There were clear directions to "click" for more information or detail about the data.

As the Parent Representative on the Board, not an education expert or corporate CEO, what I saw I understood to be something of a game-changer. Rarely have report cards of this type treated parents as the customer. It remains to be seen just how personal the information will be or how clear the context will be for doable action steps. It strikes me that, up to now, too few families and other stakeholders have been unable to find the information they were looking for.

Too many times, school information comes at parents and families in a language we don't understand. I mean this both literally and figuratively. I'll admit that understanding "Edu-speak" has been a kind of badge of honor for me, but it is truly a barrier. It matters that MA's new report cards will be written in everyday language and offered in English, plus nine others.

Since we are talking about sharing data better with everyone, we should also have a clear understanding of how student data is being used and protected. And, because data doesn't always speak for itself, families deserve training and support to understand what they can do to help their children once they have this information.

Done well, parents/guardians/families and all stakeholders could inspire action in local communities and provide a conduit for shared successes with the public-at-large. With so many working from the same set of information, they could also form a baseline for authentic conversations with stakeholders. If we do, our communities, our schools, and, most importantly, our students will benefit.
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Header image credit: Screenshot, http://profiles.doe.mass.edu
NOTES: 

• For perspective, take a look at West Virginia's approach 
• Or Tennessee's
• Nashville's Parent Data Chats
• Louisiana created a one-pager to promote their report card to schools, families, pediatricians, realtors, and other stakeholders 
• National School Boards Association (NSBA) and Data Quality Campaign (DQC) partnered to create this one-pager
• CCSSO just released this resource: Communicating Performance | A Best Practice Resource for Encouraging Use of State and School Report Cards
• Also just published, check out this article from National Association of Secondary School Principals: Parental Engagement | More Important than Ever?

True Sympathies

In the birth-order of his large family, Glen's place was somewhere toward the eldest end of siblings. He was a few years older than me and I was close to him by association, which is to say, I wasn't close at all.

After college, a dozen of us singers from UMass, joined singers from New York, North Carolina, Florida, and California to work as performing wait staff at the Mount Washington Hotel, in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire. I'd worked hard at the several jobs I'd had before this, but the work at the hotel was most intense.

We worked breakfast and dinner and rehearsed every day for a few hours following the breakfast shift, until about 1:00 or so. We had the rest of the afternoon to ourselves (such as it was) until returning to the dining room at 5:30 to prepare to serve dinner and, most nights, to perform one or two songs in the main dining room at about 8:00. After dinner we made a quick change (out of alpine-inspired waiting garb) into evening costumery and performed an impressive floor-show for hotel guests in the ballroom.

The living was intense, too. The vast majority of us lived in small, private rooms in the on-site housing (dormitory) above the hotel's laundry and dry cleaning because housing, beyond the rambling resort property, was scarce (if you've ever visited the Bretton Woods area, you know how remote it is); it also made it easier to be on time for those 6:30 AM breakfast calls.

Only a couple of weeks into the season, and there was an outbreak of salmonella. Kitchen, housekeeping, and dining staffs were reduced by more than a third. We were asked to call on friends and family to see if any were available and interested to join the ranks of hotel workers while those ill went off to recuperate; some hunkered down in their rooms; others left altogether. That's when I met Glen. He was one of the replacements who showed up that June to work as a member of the performing wait staff. Glen teamed up with Mary in the dining room and lived, not in the dorms but behind them, in a dwelling that was a bit further down the property. Instead of stressing out about the work and rehearsal schedules, Glen seemed amused by it all.

The music, sweat, and laughs we all shared, as well as the dorm-style living and long days of work with little time off, made fast friends of us all, and some of those friends married each other; Mary and Glen did so not long after that summer. I didn't keep up with them afterward, even after the birth of their daughter; they stayed up north and built their lives in NH. After a few years, though, they divorced. I'd seen Mary only a few times since then and lost touch with Glen altogether.

An out of the blue email, sent to me and my bestie, Carol, informed us of Glen's untimely passing. She had remained in touch with Glen and, in her follow up email to me, wrote that she wanted to go to the service, and offered to pick me up early and drive us there.

Spring in New Hampshire is the exact opposite of its lush green summer or crisp colorful autumn; it's called "mud season" for good reason. The landscape is bleak and uninspiring, but grey Cranmore, Moat, and white-capped White Mountains rise above it all.

We arrived ahead of schedule, parked on the street across from the church, and walked up the block for coffee. Our reminiscing, begun in the car on the drive up, continued in the cafe. We talked easily and laughed hard about those busy, chaotic hotel days. Memories, of the time we mapped our dreams and held them close, quickened. Unconsciously, I panned to my twenty-something self, then to my contemporary me, as if scanning a view in different seasons from high atop some precipice.

Our coffees consumed, we walked to the church. Mary greeted us at the entrance, all twinkling eyes, bright smile, and open arms. Inside it was pristine and light and full of family and years of friends. Sunlight streamed through clear glass, full-length and clerestory windows. Glen’s casket was at the foot of the altar steps. People acknowledged each other with big hugs or smiles or by simply nodding. During the service they shared delightful, heartfelt stories; beautiful music and songs and poetry and tears were offered. Before the final blessing, a piper played “Amazing Grace” on his bagpipes, outside, from the knoll behind the church.

The church emptied slowly as we followed the casket and pooled onto the walkway. Only immediate family would go to the interment. The rest of us were slow to move to cars, but eventually we did and drove a few miles to the inn where we would meet up with Glen's family for a reception.

The too-bright sky, brilliant blue and cloudless above dense pines, reflected on mirrored and polarized shades of the mourners, outside, on the inn's broad patio. We lingered there, over coffee or ale or single malt, sharing stories and laughing and catching up. I was struck to feel, after all the years between the hotel and now, this connected to Glen. No Time stood between us.

After visiting a good while, Carol and I said our goodbyes to everyone and settled into the car for the drive home. We did so in silence, initially, reflecting on observations from the church or during the service or at the reception. That "No Time" feeling, I now understood, was Love: Love between friends and shared experiences, for family, and for places and times. A poem had taken shape in my mind and, once home, I wrote it down:

drove
to the big White Mountains
stopped
in a church to pray
heard
the thoughtful people
what they sang and had to say

in the church
Love testified
to wise and poignant turns of phrase
a tapestry of vibrant hue
the record of his days

Love never dies

reflected big blue dome above
drove past pines
and heard the ‘pipes
amazing grace
how sweet the sound
put Love into the ground

Love never dies

Family engagement isn't a checklist

I'm a proud parent of three: two sons, now college grads, and a daughter in high school. I became active in their education at school when our first child entered kindergarten (lo those many years ago...) and it's what keeps me engaged during those long Board of Ed meetings each month.

Back when they were little, the family-school partnership inspired and motivated me to contribute my skills as an artist and musician to further the educational goals of students and the school. I was happy to do things other than fundraise. Besides, it was fun connecting with other families and teachers and staff in the process.

Family engagement isn't a checklist; it's about a school's openness to a relationship with all of its families for student success.

More than 40 years of research shows that students with families actively engaged in their education at school and at home do way better at school and in life - and this holds true regardless of a parent's level of education, country of origin, or socioeconomic status.

Modern school culture uses the language of "partnership" to describe the mutual relationship of schools and families to co-construct opportunities for learning. This is intentional, as it acknowledges the child at the center of decisions in schools, families, and communities. It's a statement about the shared responsibility of all who make those decisions and that they're focused on children's development and learning success. This focus impacts student skills, grades and achievement, health and safety, discipline, and other attitudes and behaviors, and includes encouraging students to develop talent in art, sports, music, technology, and other areas.

As the Parent Representative on the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, I'm one of 11 voting members appointed to provide oversight of the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education by virtue of my parent lens. 

That parent lens isn't only important for some things, it's necessary on all of the issues that have an impact on our children, our schools, and our communities. It's in all children's best interest to have families represented all across and up and down the educational enterprise and, by the time they're in high school, to have students represented, as well.

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Notes, quotes, tweets

I've blogged before about my experience in a global book study with the book, Beyond the Bake Sale: The Essential School Guide to Family-School Partnerships. Some of the parents and educators from that group have gone on to have the book study with parents and educators at their school.

Learn from the mistakes of others. You can't live long enough to make them all yourself.
~ Eleanor Roosevelt

When the whole world is silent, even one voice becomes powerful.
~ Malala Yousafzai

Being talked about at the dinner table is a "good" thing. Are Your Students Thankful For You? https://t.co/OJeC8zJbmB via @mjanatovich

— Jon Harper ; (@Jonharper70bd) November 24, 2015

Remember I'm-possible!!! pic.twitter.com/Q2roOTwmXB

— Ted Huff (@TedHiff) November 25, 2015

Schools that Work

When we think of being involved parents* at school, what comes to mind? Is it to volunteer in the classroom? Fundraise for needed items? Attend a program, event, or meeting?

These are only part of what it means to be a modern, engaged parent today. Parents are working, juggling family, extra-curricular activities, and other commitments. Certainly, our students and schools win when parents are meaningfully involved in classrooms and schools. And, while it's true that an engaged parent may be a school volunteer:

• he may also be interested in learning how school events actually link to learning, so that he may better support learning at home;

• or, she may want to participate in decision-making opportunities in the school or in the district;

• or some may wish to advocate not only for their child and her classroom, but for all of the children in the school, city, or town, by speaking out on school-wide issues before local, state, and/or national elected representatives and policymakers.

Between government mandates, increasing class sizes, and shrinking budgets, public schools today are challenged to provide every child with opportunities to meet their educational needs.

Our communities, along with the Commonwealth, and the federal government as a critical third partner, have a shared responsibility for maintaining public schools and ensuring that all children have access to a high-quality public education.

The parent partnership extends beyond the school walls and includes our elected representatives at the local, state, and national levels. We must let them know how they can make a difference for our children by showing up to advocate for resources.

Across Massachusetts, schools lack resources for critical programs they need to close gaps and overcome barriers to learning that threaten the quality of education for every child - and leave our most vulnerable children behind.

To keep the promise of public education alive is to renew our partnership with policymakers and to promote a more fruitful collaboration on behalf of every child in every public school in every city and Town.

I'm dedicated to building family, community, and statewide partnerships that work for our schools and children.

Yes - family engagement is about partnering with our child's teacher and school -- and, yes, it's also about packing healthy lunches for them, monitoring their screen time, and talking with them about their goals and passions.

But, that's not the whole picture.

We all need to work together - beyond the classroom and school - to help our schools obtain the resources they need to fulfill the promise that public education holds for every child.

Advocacy is like an ever-flowing river - one that you may step into at any place, at any time. And whether you choose to dip your toe in at the edge of the shore, or wade all the way into the deep - your presence has changed the course.

Now is the time. We must partner together because these are our children, our schools, our future and they deserve no less.
- - -
* Throughout this post, "parent" refers to any adult who serves a care-giving role in a child's life.

Some reflections on the Board's vote for a new statewide test

I don’t know about you, but I’m a little burned out on arguments about statewide assessments. I accept that we need them, but we’re spending way too much time on them just because students from other countries are "out-performing" students in the US on standardized tests.

It bothers me that we've been angsting over these assessments for so long when there are many other areas in need of our attention and dollars. Plus, I’m more interested in the larger educational context that is our vision and our plan for learners. (I'm not going to call it "21st c learning" because, 2015...!)

Across the discussion of “how to do tests in Massachusetts", I’ve observed a tension between what, on the one hand, is essential for child/student well-being and learning and what, on the other hand, strikes us as essential for the future economy. I will argue that until and unless we are dedicated and accountable to child/student well-being, teaching and learning may have little relevance for many children, thus we contribute to a problem we're trying to solve while putting students at risk of being unprepared - not only for their role in the future economy, but for their lives. Education is more than a talent pipeline for employers, after all, it's an end in itself.*

Beleaguered by the political morass, teachers and learners are losing ground. The teacher/learner relationship is the most essential and everything Principals, District Leaders, School Committees - and State Boards of Education - do must be to support that primal relationship in the learning environment, and build capacity for that relationship to thrive for effective teaching and learning. 

We're seeing how education must be personalized for each student no matter who they are, where they live, what language they speak, or how they present. The skills and dispositions they must possess require a multi-dimensional approach of the kind not undertaken before in K-12 education. A lift of this magnitude requires resources in the form of educational and economic investment from federal, state, and local partners in government, as well as deep and sustained alignment with all components of our educational eco-system, including true partnership with families and communities.

To be truly effective (and more than a blunt instrument of accountability), assessment might be part of a wholly supported, integrated system that's realigned with structures not only for technology and education, but also organizational development and capacity, school climate and culture, budgets, and School Committee policies. Why place the standardized assessment ahead of our needs for high quality professional development, student-family-community engagement, social-emotional learning, and teaching and learning? How can we move forward with an assessment system that's not critically aligned with these in partnership with local districts?

We’re already working from a technology deficit because we lack effective technology in every classroom, in every school, in every district across the Commonwealth. Where that technology isn't present or aligned as part of a strategic framework for educational transformation, it hasn't been identified as a priority and/or committing scarce dollars is a reality. Some business and education leaders suggest that getting online assessments in place first will, therefore, leverage meeting our compelling technological needs.

This thinking isn't correct.

Technology is a part of realizing our vision for learning and student success, not apart from it. Partnering with districts to move toward digital learning environments is more than having the requisite test-taking technology. We're absent a grounding vision that not only supports the learning eco-system, but sustains it with time for learning, teaching, collaboration, and reflection.

Fewer than 25% of people living in communities are families with children in schools. Education, progressive in that it's always moving into the future, should be a source of pride in all communities. These are our schools, our children, our future and we all need a voice in shaping them.

The mission of the Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education is to strengthen the Commonwealth's public education system so that every student is prepared to succeed in post-secondary education, compete in the global economy, and understand the rights and responsibilities of American citizens, and in so doing, to close all proficiency gaps.

How will the Board achieve its stated mission? How do we set up the right conditions for all learners and educators? It's not with a standardized test. Standardized tests have not driven us to higher achievement. They've driven us to higher test scores, but not to higher achievement.

And therein lies the rub.

Many children do very well by these tests, and will continue to do well with the new test, especially if they're white and from affluent families, but not all children and schools are well served by them. Poor children do much less well.

The decision the Board has made is tiny compared to its mission and to the other important things I've mentioned.

I agreed with 6 of my Board colleagues who voted (7-4) to support a two year "hold harmless" provision for districts while a new test is developed, but I prefer that we go further.**

Whether we're in a knowledge economy, an innovation economy, or a purpose-driven economy, learning is life-long. There's a lot to be done to prepare our students for life and the future, including knowing exactly what part assessments are to play to inform instruction and improve learning with their timely data and feedback to skilled, knowledgeable professionals with the people, financial, and technological resources to identify learning gaps, modify curriculum, and adjust instruction for whole child and student success.

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Notes, Quotes, Posts, tweets
* A reference to John Dewey's 1893 essay, "Self-Realization as the Moral Ideal". (The Philosophical Review, Vol. 2, No.6 (Nov., 1893), pp.652-664; Published by: Duke University Press on behalf of Philosophical Review; DOI: 102307/2176020; Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2176020). The embedded link in the above post should lead directly to page 660 of the journal - which provides the context for the oft quoted, "Education is not preparation for life but life itself."

** I support bill H.340 of Rep. Marjorie Decker's calling for a 3-year moratorium on the high-stakes punitive nature of testing in Massachusetts.

If you pass a test, didn't you learn something?

Sustaining Improvements in Urban Schools

You wanna fly, you got to give up the shit that weighs you down.
~ Toni Morrison, from Song of Solomon

So much of our work depends on taking time away from students to be the best teachers possible.
~ The JLV

Is Education broken? - @stevewheeler interviews @AudreyWatters http://t.co/y5xHc2NyZv

— Edumorfosis (@edumorfosis) October 15, 2015

What's Behind Door #3? [PARCC::Part II]

We've been reading (for example, HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE, among other places, like HERE, HERE, and HERE) that a recommendation is pending from Commissioner Chester to the Board of ESE about how to move forward with statewide assessments in ELA and maths. He's been floating around his idea for a third way since October 19th's Board meeting, sharing his change of view and describing his process for how he will inform the Board of his recommendation. We assume said recommendation will be similar to what we've been reading and hearing about. Time will tell.

At October's meetings, the Board learned that tech upgrades to infrastructure were estimated to be $3.1 million; another $12.3 million estimated for additional technology in schools. Many schools may be ready for computer-based testing but very many more are not at all equipped with equitable, effective digital learning environments.

Acknowledging our tech deficit across the Commonwealth in this regard, I'm concerned that technology for learning is being driven with an eye to test-taking instead of blending future focused, student-centered, content-rich interactive curricula. What's the plan to align and effectively integrate those environments, while ensuring great teaching and learning?

• How are we supporting practitioner-led professional development that's framework-aligned and tech-integrated? 

• Are all educators in regular and frequent conversations with the rest of the team? Is the instructional technology team part of grade-, course- and/or department-level PLCs?

• How are school staff collaborating with families and community partners to connect students and families to expanded learning opportunities and community services in order to support achievement and civic participation? 

• Is the organization developed sufficiently with integrated tools and resources, including non-cognitive supports for all learners, no matter the language he speaks or where she lives?

• Do educators have what they need when they need it to support all students, including those from disadvantaged backgrounds?

To live in a media-rich, technology-driven environment, the entire educational enterprise must have command of the essential skills of collaboration, communication, problem-solving, critical thinking, and reflection through the integration and effective use of technology.

The point is this: no test ensures great teaching and learning. Teachers in the learning environment are the true catalysts for change. A more effective statewide assessment system in 2015 might be focused on seamless integration with its complementary parts, not on the sturm und drang over the standardized assessment tool.

Educators are skilled professionals - practitioners working to inform their practice so they can nimbly respond to a learner's needs, modify curriculum, and improve instruction. The urgency isn't about getting everyone in a 1:1 relationship with a device for test-taking. It's about remaining focused on great teaching and learning for our digital age, providing opportunities and time for reflection and collaboration, aligned with a vision that holds student-learning at the center of all decisions.

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Resources, quotes, tweets
See HERE, HERE, and HERE for the Department's vision and support for digital learning in MA K-12 schools.

Great read on the Obama administration's changing views on standardized testing.

Those bills in the Massachusetts Legislature calling for a moratorium on testing and on other accountability measures.

Read and heard elsewhere: recent references to "door number three thinking":

• An article about the Lawrence receivership that ran in CommonWealth Magazine on October 12, 2015

• The Secret History of Thoughts - Dark Thoughts that aired on The Invisibilia Podcast on January 9, 2015, rebroadcast on WGBH-FM, November 2, 2015, which is when I heard it

PARCC::Part I

Note: The Board will hold a final public comment session on PARCC -->Door #3 (?) Monday, November 16, 4:00-7:00 PM at Malden High School auditorium (in lieu of Public Comments at Tuesday morning's regular BESE meeting, 8:30 AM).

Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.
~ Albert Einstein

A great obstacle to discovery is not ignorance, but the illusion of knowledge.
~ Daniel Boorstin

Our best measures of educational performance are cognitive because that's what's easiest to test. If the things that are harder to test matter more, that presents something of a conundrum for people trying to formulate educational policy.
~ Megan McArdle in Bloomberg View (Note that Ms. McArdle's article describes key takeaways of an experiment in parent engagement undertaken by Roland Fryer, Stephen Levitt, and John List; Roland Fryer is now a member of the Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education).

Great ed leaders inspire others with vision and hope not pressure and fear.

— Pedro Noguera (@PedroANoguera) September 1, 2015

American schools are modeled after factories and treat students like widgets. Right? Wrong. http://t.co/A1FyhOL6Yl

— Jack Schneider (@Edu_Historian) October 10, 2015

NASBE Breakfast Keynote :: Disruptive Demographics :: Thursday, October 22, 2015

Keynote Speaker: Dr. James H. Johnson Jr., University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Asks: How do we properly educate needs of diverse students?

Unprecedented, disruptive demographics around us present incredible challenges and opportunities

Finds 6 disruptive themes from 2010 census:

1. The South Rises...Again
2. The Browning of America
3. Marrying Out is "In"
4. The Silver Tsunami is About to Hit
5. The End of Men
6. Cooling Water from Grandma's Well...and Grandpa's too!

The South Continues to Rise...Again...

• we are a mobile society
• our migration trends are immigration driven
• movement is happening in 4 states in the South: 71% of 14M people going to Texas, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina

The Browning of America

• immigration driven
• 1921-1961 most people migrating came from Europe
• 1961-1988 most people migrating came from Asia
• 1987-1998 migration from Europe fundamentally disappears
• migration and immigration are age-selected
• more young people are coming to US - having children at higher rates and "completed fertility" of white women is between 40-44 year-olds means school systems are impacted by this fundamental biology

The Graying of America

• at the same time the Browning of America is going on, the graying of native born is on the rise - the silver Tsunami is about to hit...
• also, changes in longevity - HUGE
• AND declining fertility
• longevity due to  better lifestyles (healthy eating, more active lives)
• multi-generational workforce
• succession planning and accommodations for elder care - organizational game changers!

Marrying Out is "In"

• profound shift in marriage patterns
• intermarriage trends on the rise
• no one-size fits all - kids coming in will not fit (and will not let you make them fit...!)
• children living in grandparent and non-grandparent households on the rise
• family arrangements have changed
• much more diversity
• women are about to surpass men as majority in workforce

All of this has a huge impact on the history we will tell and how we will tell it. Education is necessary but insufficient.

Q&A
Q: Very compelling presentation; great portrait of demographic shifts in US - to what extent do these impact globally?
A: Only region of the world not experiencing these trends is sub-Saharan Africa; a global phenom

Q: School to prison pipeline: what can we do to reduce it?
A: Rebuild a better, robust system of public schools that offer protection, affection, correction, connection. Engage our boys in a different way. Better preparation for new generation of teachers. More training in youth development.

There's more in the Storify
- - -
Notes:
More about Dr. James H. Johnson, Jr

The End of Men

2010 US Census Data

Family-School Partnership Models

In thinking about the type of partnership your school culture embraces, consider how well it engages families and the greater community in:

• Building Relationships
• Linking to Learning
• Addressing Differences
• Supporting Advocacy and
• Sharing Power

Bake Sale authors point the way with these four partnership models:

The Partnership School

This school's culture holds that all families and communities have something great to offer and the school will do whatever it takes to work closely with all stakeholders to make sure every single student succeeds. Home visits are common with new families. The building is open to community use and social services are available to families at all times. All family activities connect to student learning and parents and teachers look at student work and test results together. The parent group includes all families and there's a clear, open process for resolving problems. Student-led Parent-Teacher conferences are held three times a year for 30-minutes. In a Partnership School, the PTA is focused on improving student achievement and families are involved in all major decisions.

The Open Door School

Partnership is improving here: families can be involved in many ways and they're working hard to get an even bigger turnout for activities. Teachers explain test scores, if asked, and folders of student work go home occasionally. The school holds curriculum nights three or four times a year and families are knowledgeable of out-of-school classes in the community. Minority families have their own group and multicultural nights are held once a year. Regular progress reports go to parents, but test data can be hard to understand. Parent-Teacher conferences are held twice a year. Parents can raise issues at PTA meetings, as well as set its own agenda and raise money for the school. And, a Community Representative sits on the school-based site council.

The Come-if-We-Call School

The phone is used as a hotline by staff to invite parents in - but only when there are problems, because the school thinks there's only so much families can really offer. The school is the expert here and families are told what students will be learning at the Fall Open House. The school can't address differences when it's overwhelmed with more than twenty different languages, because they think immigrant families don't have time to come in or care to contribute. The principal sets the agenda for parent meetings - and the PTA gets the school's message out! If community groups have concerns, they are more than welcome to take them up ... with the School Committee.

The Fortress School 
By its very nature, a fortress is most difficult to access. There's a whole community up there behind those walls, but unless you work here, or go to school here, you are not welcome - and you will be seldom invited in. The school thinks that if students don't do well here, it's because their families aren't giving them enough support - because the school is already doing all it can. The principal will select a few "cooperative parents" to help out at times. And families are afraid to complain fearing reprisals on their child.

 A key to understanding partnership, is to see it along a continuum. Some schools may be Open Door Schools, yet still have some Fortress classrooms. How will you ensure your school's culture is open to embracing true partnership with families and the community?

As a first step, take a welcoming walk-through of your building with an eye for any unintentional barriers; consider how you will engage your families in that process. And then, once you identify barriers, what's your process for removing them?

In education, what will be effective depends on your goal and how it's measured. Schools cannot do this work alone - it's a shared responsibility of schools, families, and communities to ensure all students succeed. This means looking beyond parent volunteer and fundraising stereotypes to build inclusive and effective partnerships for student success.

Core Beliefs

Change is easy. You go first. ~ Wisdom of Anonymous

If we are serious about engaging families for student success, and if we do not take our families' involvement for granted, we will want to improve family engagement practice in the most authentic ways. When schools work with and engage families, those families become powerful partners, allies, and advocates. Family engagement matters.

These 4 Core Beliefs are found in Chapter 3 of Beyond the Bake Sale; by placing them at the heart of family-school partnerships, the authors promote and affirm the valuable role of families, so necessary for all students to achieve academic proficiency - and beyond.

Core Belief 1: All parents have dreams for their children and want the best for them. When we take the time to hear from parents directly about their hopes and dreams for their children, it deepens the relationship. How often do schools take the time to hear  directly from parents about the dreams for their children? How do teachers adjust their practice to accommodate student/family goals each day? Each week? Month? Year? Schools must be intentional in their approach to building relationships with families. 

Core Belief 2: All parents have the capacity to support their children's learning. Do we believe this? Or do we think families do not have time to come in or care to contribute? If all parents have the capacity to support their children's learning, and we support parents, children's learning will improve.

Core Belief 3: Parents and school staff should be equal partners. When you think about it, schools belong to the community and families. Schools must tap into parents' expertise of their children. True partnership is essential. Achieving student and school success will be impossible unless all stakeholders are valued for their contributions, and schools make themselves available and are willing to commit to that goal.

Core Belief 4: The responsibility for building partnerships between school and home rests primarily with school staff, especially school leaders. Of course. Principals set the tone in the school, co-constructing roles based on shared responsibility and understanding of the complementary roles of families and communities.

Family engagement is the third leg of the stool that holds the child in the center and lifts her up (family, school, community). If families do not know what their child is learning and doing in class, and the school is unaware of the family's hopes and dreams for their child, how will they be able to help her achieve her vision of success? Families, communities, and schools must acknowledge their shared responsibility for every child's success—and it is up to the school to lead the way.
⸻
Image credit: Ground-breaking workbook for families and school leaders to read together by Anne T. Henderson, Karen L. Mapp, Vivian R. Johnson, and Don Davies.

Urban Post-Disaster Interim Housing

www.whatifnyc.gov

I was in Brooklyn a few weeks back, which also happened to coincide with the one-year anniversary of Superstorm Sandy. As I walked from my hotel to DUMBO, I engaged with a construction site infographic located at the corner of Red Cross Place and Cadman Plaza East, just North of Whitman Park.

What's going on here?

The site is a parking lot that measures about 40' x 100'. The construction fence was "wrapped" in that heavy-duty fence wrap that had large-scale texts and graphics printed on it.

What's going on here?

Content of the texts and graphics described the reason and process for building emergency Post-Disaster Interim Housing, a prototype of which was being built behind the fence.

"Fantastic!" I thought. The genius being not only the project itself but the communications around it.

Through the Prototype Program, the City is creating a multi-story, multi-family interim housing solution that will work in urban areas all across the country. Interim housing is post-disaster housing. It's used after emergency sheltering, and before those affected by a disaster can move into housing they can sustain without post-disaster aid.

What will it look like from the street?

Because of the City's high population density, lack of open space, and a mission to resettle as many residents as possible in their former neighborhoods (common issues for many cities), the Urban Post-Disaster Housing Prototype Program outlines a new plan for interim housing that will provide more suitable living spaces for people displaced by disaster than conventional interim housing solutions.

The information/communication had come out of the NYC Office of Emergency Management (OEM). I've since learned that this particular site in Brooklyn was chosen because it presents many of the challenges for post-disaster housing deployment in urban areas and because it has many of the assets those displaced by disaster would need to re-establish a sense of community.

What will it look like?

I learned that this project was begun a good five years before Superstorm Sandy, the storm that ravaged New York and New Jersey coasts only a year ago on October 25, 2012.

This prototype program grew from a design competition in NYC announced in September 2007.

Back then, Mayor Bloomberg and OEM Commissioner Bruno, in partnership with the Department of Design and Construction (DDC), Rockefeller Foundation, and Architecture for Humanity announced a competition to design urban housing for use after a disaster.

The competition was called, "What if New York City...Design Competition for Post-Disaster Provisional Housing". The competition challenged participants to propose innovative designs for temporary urban housing for use after a disaster, asking competitors to temporarily house a displaced population in a hypothetical disaster scenario in a realistic but fictitious neighborhood.

How long can people live here?

Can it fit different family sizes?

What really drew me in were the super-scale renderings/graphics which not only communicated the pleasing, modern design of the prototype dwelling but important information about the thinking driving the process as well, accomplished in a thoughtful, visual way. Text content was clear and concise and addressed many questions and concerns that naturally arise as to systems, aesthetics, and functionality, and included a link to a city government website where one could go to learn more about the prototype.

What type of temporary housing
will work in the city?

I cannot overstate just how struck I was by the clarity and simplicity of this project's display. It's an amazing example of thoughtful communications to busy city-dwellers, the information which was evidently written with them in mind, and artfully displayed with them in mind, too.

Busy passers-by could get a quick take of the project or take in key questions and essential principles driving the project's process, if they chose to linger.

Why can't we use trailers in cities?

Keeping in mind lessons learned from past disasters, the project incorporates guiding principles the City intends to follow for the planning of interim housing, such as respect for the community, keeping people close to home, coordinating with a Citywide recovery strategy, and respecting the City's unique character.

What makes
a good location?

I was happy to have chanced upon this important project because it has immediate and transferable implications for cities, and is an excellent example of intelligent, urban, and visual, civic communications.

Questions posed on fence wrap:

What's going on here?
What will it look like?
What type of temporary housing will work in the city?
How long does it take?
What makes a good location?
How many people can it house?
How does it make a neighborhood?
Is it comfortable?
Can it fit different family sizes?
How long can people live here?
Will it help foster a community?
What will it look like from the street?
Why can't we use trailers in cities?

AfterNotes: 

In 2012, the NYC OEM and the NYC Department of City Planning developed a case study guide, or “playbook,” for post-disaster site selection with design principles for keeping residents in the community and allowing them to live and work in their neighborhood (it's a PDF and downloadable). 

OEM and DDC, with support from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and the Regional Catastrophic Preparedness Grant Program, are creating and testing the interim housing prototype based on a shipping container-style modular system.

Raise Up MA - Update!

RaiseUpMA advocates
at the Tuesday Farmer's
Market, Lexington

For the past two months I've been part of the Raise Up Massachusetts coalition working to gather signatures across Massachusetts for a ballot initiative that would see two questions added to the statewide ballot next November (see previous Posts: Raise Up Massachusetts; PDM). These two important initiatives would index the minimum wage and require employers to provide earned sick time to their employees.

The coalition has been successful! We succeeded in our signature drive - - gathering more than a quarter-million signatures, far surpassing our most ambitious targets. And, PDM has substantially exceeded its own ambitious goals. I was one of many familiar faces at the Farmer's Market each Tuesday from mid-September through the end of October and at several Town events. I also made a personal commitment to knock doors in my precinct - and I'm pleased to say that I successfully gathered 500+ signatures for my efforts.

The impact of Raise Up's statewide campaign has led the state Senate's leadership to advance a minimum wage measure that would meet many of the campaign's goals.

I stand with PDM and statewide activists who await this initiative moving forward, in both legislative and electoral settings, to see these important progressive reforms put into law.

Will Congress Expand Early Education?

Earlier this year, President Obama proposed a new partnership with states that would provide universal, high-quality, full-day preschool for 4-year olds from low- and moderate-income families. Last week, Secretary Arne Duncan joined members of Congress, business and military leaders, law enforcement officials, educators, and parents to voice support for a landmark early learning bill.

Introduced by Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.), and Rep. Richard Hanna (R-NY), the Strong Start for America's Children Act would improve and expand high-quality early learning opportunities for children from birth to age five.

If signed into law, the new bill will accelerate the progress that states already are making to implement high-quality preschool programs and ensure that these programs are accessible to children who need them the most.



Early nurturing, nutrition, and stimulation increase a child's ability to learn and thrive over a lifetime. Read the Bill Summary of the Committee on Education & the Workforce and contact your Congressional Representative to voice your support.

Media Literacy Education

Advocates in support of the Media Literacy Bill (S.213) were in good company in Room A-1 of the State House on the morning of October 31st. Below is the testimony of Christina Brown on behalf of the Massachusetts PTA, followed by my testimony on behalf of the MASC Legislative Committee.

My name is Christina Brown; I am a parent, educator, and a proud member of the Massachusetts Parent TeacherAssociation, an affiliate of National PTA, the oldest and largest volunteer child advocacy association in the country, here to speak on behalf of the needs of families, parents, and children.  

Thank you for the opportunity to testify before you today on the critical issue facing children in the 21^st Century, media literacy. Right now there are children all over the Commonwealth who have in their hands, in their lockers, and in their backpacks devices that connect them to the greatest collection of marketing, images, information, videos, social media, and personal data collection tools in the history of our species. This portable collection of media grows exponentially every day and our digital natives naively assume that knowing how to manipulate the functions of these devices means they understand and can make wise decisions about the content that pours out in torrents. 

As a parent of a second-grader, I know my days of having control over the media that my child has access to are limited.  My ban on his using electronic devices that connect him to this collection of media could end any moment as there is no place a child can go where there are not smart phones and tablets. I know full well that this media is as valuable as it is his dangerous to his development and socialization. I also know there are marketers doing brain research at this moment to understand how to keep him engaged and on their screen. I know that he hears my voice in his head asking him to think critically, ask himself what is being sold to him, is this true, what is the evidence for the veracity of the claim that comes with deceptively attractive graphics and colors? But I know parents can't do this alone.

This bill asks that in addition to their families' voices, children in the Commonwealth also hear the voices of their well-trained and skilled teachers who are provided with resources to support the development of media literacy in our children. Teachers can join parents on the frontline and add to the knowledge and volume of critical questions children ask themselves as they use new technology and navigate our 21^st Century world. In the same way MA teachers will for thirteen years support children's development as literate individual who are prepared for college and career as readers, writers, speakers, and listeners as detailed in the MA Frameworks, there is a desperate need for this comprehensive literacy instruction to fully include media literacy to support students in navigating a and increasingly complex media landscape.

The Mass PTA Position on Consumerism dedicates us to:

I. support efforts to protect children from exploitive marketing through advocacy, education, and collaboration; and

II. To support, expand, and improve efforts to inform parents on media and technology safety issues.

The Mass PTA Position on Technology in Schools dedicates us to:

I. Support, expand, and improve efforts that increase knowledge and skills for students to access, analyze, evaluate, navigate, and communicate a variety of media messages from the internet and other media sources.

The Mass PTA Position on Education of the Whole Child dedicates us to:

I. Support, expand and improve resources to ensure schools give every child access to a rich array of subjects and address children's basic emotional and physical needs.

II. Support, expand, and improve resources to ensure children are healthy, engaged, supported, challenged, and safe.

Media education is about making sure that students are prepared to think critically and ask the right questions throughout the 21^st Century and into the 22^nd Century. And it is essential, now more than ever that we give them skills they need for the lifetime that extends well-beyond their K-12 years. Thank you.

Christina Brown,

Massachusetts PTA

405 Waltham Street, #147

Lexington MA 02421

617/861-7910

* * *

Honorable Co-Chairs, members of the Committee, thank you for the opportunity to testify on the importance of Media Literacy in Education. I speak as a school committee member and member of the Massachusetts Association of School Committee’s Legislative Committee.

Members of locally elected school committees are very sensitive to public policy overload, education legislation, or any legislation that would mandate course curriculum content. At a meeting of the MASC Legislative Committee last Thursday night, members thoughtfully considered, then voted unanimously to support S.213 for the following reasons:

• The Bill is not written as a mandate. Media literacy is pedagogy, a method of teaching, not a subject area. One can incorporate media literacy into any subject. So, it’s not an add-on, but rather a powerful way to teach a subject that is relevant and engaging to kids who live in a powerful 24/7 media environment.
• The MTA endorses S.213 and has been on board as long as the Massachusetts PTA.
• It’s a matter of equity. Some districts already recognize that media literacy is written into the Common Core State Standards and those districts are moving forward to integrate media analysis; students risk falling behind schools and districts that are doing a better job preparing their students for work and life.
• This Bill calls upon the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to assist districts with implementing comprehensive media literacy education for the purpose of developing stronger critical analysis skills and independent thinking skills; these skills are in tune with curriculum frameworks aligned to Common Core State Standards and necessary for navigating our media-saturated world.

Today, literacy means media literacy. When you consider that nearly 6 trillion ads are displayed online each year[1], 400 million tweets are sent daily[2], and 4.75 billion pieces of content are shared on Facebook every day[3], it’s vital that students question and understand media’s commercial and political messages –– and to create their own messages and responses to 24/7 media. Thank you.

Mary Ann Stewart

Lexington MA 02420

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[1] U.S. Digital Future in Focus 2013, www.comScore.com

[2] http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2013-03-21/business/37889387_1_tweets-jack-dorsey-twitter, by Hayley Tsukayama, March 21, 2013

[3]https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151908376716729&set=a.10151908376636729.1073741825.20531316728&type=3&theater