MCIEA Conference

I was at UMass/Boston this morning for the MCIEA Conference (Massachusetts Consortium for Innovative Education Assessment); their website is HERE

Technical glitch with my laptop kept me from live-blogging the event, but I was able to do some tweeting (#newaccountability) and took notes, so, better late than never!

Today's Agenda (in bold, with program notes; my notes):

Networking and Poster Session: Enjoy breakfast while exploring posters that highlight MCIEA’s School Quality Measures and Quality Performance Assessments
Poster images currently in my instagram story (@mastewartma) and also as a featured highlight (MCIEA), along with a few other slides from today's presentations

Welcome: Arthur Mitchell, Senior Director of Programs, Center for Collaborative Education

Center for Collaborative Education website HERE
Arthur Mitchell with a warm welcome

Says, we're working on something transformative 

accountability has negative connotations for a lot of people
lots of interest in this new accountability -- not only for students in this region, but across the country
this is a movement
lots of people interested in what we're doing here
accountability to each other
want students to be able to demonstrate what they know and can do
want to transform performance
pencil and paper has a place
State Legislature supporting this [MCIEA] in the budget
Acknowledges presence of Legislators in the room: Rep. Tami Gouveia, Rep. Tim Hawkins, Sen. Pat Jehlen, and Sen. Jason Lewis -- Sen. Lewis will address in a little while

Introduces Dr. Ricardo Rosa for the Keynote

Keynote: Gettin’ Critical Wit It: Dr. Ricardo Rosa, Associate Professor, UMass Dartmouth 

Says, Schools, like any institutions, are like rubber bands -- change requires sustained pressure from below, or nothing will change

is drawn to this work because of the engaging communities

Says he is sometimes dismayed by "constant critique"

of those who only engage in endless critique w/o doing the work of imagining what's possible

gives a shoutout to districts, unions, educators, and students who are doing the work 

Reads from Bertolt Brecht's poem, Questions from a Worker Who Reads

Superintendents are not creating the schools

Corporate CEOs are not creating the schools

Schools are owned by the communities they are placed in

has witnessed the destruction schools [by] test-taking

watched the opt-out movement at a distance

the pressures of school leaders on immigrant students to pass the test after only one year in this country

Says he never really pushed back, but did have the impulse to push back after seeing the impact high-stakes testing had on his own child, ultimately

Then, he began to encourage opt-out

wrote a letter to the paper -- Washington Post reprinted it

high scores on high-stakes tests do not show evidence that learning has occurred

would be interesting to look at mental health disorders in relation to high-stakes testing

says, the drill and kill approach to learning is concrete violence against people

school to prison pipeline, as if schools are the problem

it is really a cradle to prison pipeline and it's a problem of our social policies

is encouraged by those who are acting up on MCAS
About the racist question on MCAS: 'for me, that's only the surface'

sees high stakes testing, in and of itself, as racist

communities must be involved if there is to be transformative educational leadership
students are critical piece of the process of critically thinking about performance-based assessment
Dr. Rosa introduces Senator Jason Lewis

Keynote: Where Education in Massachusetts Stands Now: Senator Jason Lewis, Fifth Middlesex District of Massachusetts, Chair of the Joint Committee on Education
Begins talking of 'the importance of education' in MA, via Constitution; esp Chapter V, Section II 
#cherish

Quotes Horace Mann, MA's (and the nation's) first Secretary of Education; it's the oft-quoted "Massachusetts mining..." passage (that I first read in a Globe article and is also what Sen. Lewis said at the start of the Joint Committee's public hearing on school finance bills that I attended, and what Tracy Novick reported on and provided a citation to):

"Having no other mines to work, Massachusetts has mined into the human intellect; and, from its limitless resources, she has won more sustaining and enduring prosperity and happiness than if she had been founded on a stratification of silver and gold, reaching deeper down than geology has yet penetrated" ~ Horace Mann, 1846

Says, while 2017 high achievement results are the envy of many, they obscure large achievement and opportunity gaps, esp for students of color, English learners, students with disabilities, economically disadvantaged

These are failures to our constitutional and moral obligation to "cherish" education
global economic demands that we have skilled, thoughtful workers
Sees measuring student learning and school quality as a pressing issue
a top priority in the MA Legislature is to finally update and reform our school funding formula
adequate and equitable funding regardless of community wealth
FBRC convened back in 2014
in 2015 FBRC published its report that pointed to underfunding of our public schools by $1-2B, esp for those stus with greatest needs
MALeg is looking at all of the options
continues to listen to all stakeholders
fixing funding formula is high up, not the only, priority
other priorities include:

• expand access to high quality childcare and early education to all families, esp;
• costs of higher education;
• students better prepared to succeed in college and career; 
• improvements in K-12 system also how we measure student and school quality so all students can thrive and reach their full potential

sees the value of MCIEAs/o to his hometown of Winchester
thanks his colleague Sen. Pat Jehlen, instrumental in securing budget line item [for MCIEA] and launching the consortium
looks forward to working together with MCIEA

Introduction to MCIEA and The New Accountability:
Adeline Bee, President, Attleboro Education Association, MCIEA Governing Board Member
Dianne Kelly, Superintendent, Revere Public Schools, MCIEA Governing Board Member
Believe that standardized testing raised the bar, and also contributed to the gap
Different experiences require different assessment
acknowledges student experience, voice, and their own learning
Performance tasks support teachers and students
Student learning is not limited to ELA and Math, and sometimes science
Students need English, Maths, Arts, creativity, critical-thinking, compassion, enthusiasm, sense of wonder, lots more!
MCIEA process generates collaboration between teachers, not top down from the superintendent

Workshops: Choose from one of the following two workshops:

• Building Quality Together: Jumping into the Assessment Design Process: Hear from teachers about Quality Performance Assessments, how they’re designed, and try it out for yourself with the Rapid Prototyping Protocol
• More Than a Score: A Holistic Vision for Measuring and Improving School Quality: Explore how MCIEA is gathering data about what we value most in our schools via the School Quality Measures 

I chose Session #2

This session features Jack Schneider & James Noonan
different data can help to tell us different things
What Makes a "Good School"?
Schools are complex ecologies
describing schools in all of their complexity
a deliberate move away from one high-stakes test towards a more robust system of multiple measures of school quality
look on the MCIEA website for more about their framework
Outward facing: telling the full story of schools and districts
Inward-facing: helping schools and districts improve
better and more data is critical
too much weighting on one test leads to distortion
School quality measures (SQM) because multiple measures are important (i.e.): % of teachers teaching 5 years or more; counselors to student ratio; number of electives
Student surveys: 66 total questions total, grades 4-12; 44 Qs presented; translated into 9 languages
T surveys: 70 Qs to all teachers
all surveys are taken on line
SQM data dashboard is design to allow stakeholders to see the full measure of what makes schools work and how they can continue to improve
Setting high expectations for all students: Ts and L'ship; School Culture; Resources; Academic Learning; Community and Wellbeing
Collaboration for adults
What can SQM tell us about schools?

• What is this school doing well?
• How can you tell?
• What can this school improve?
• How can you tell?

Then, my table (and some others) looked at an accountability from DESE (to answer the above bulleted questions):

Other tables looked at SQM Data Excerpts for a MCIEA schools:

Then:

A Conversation with Students and Q&A: Students from MCIEA schools

Paul Tritter, Director of Professional Learning, Boston Teachers Union, MCIEA Governing Board Member [and moderator]
Judith Evans, Superintendent, Winchester Public Schools, MCIEA Governing Board Member

We were introduced to a teacher, 4 students, and Superintendent Evans; each introduced themselves, their role at the school, and a little something about themselves

Lindsay Gallagher, 5th grade teachers, Abraham Lincoln School in Revere
Cassandra, 5th grade at the Lincoln School
Jade, 5th grade at Lincoln School, draw paint
Omar, 8th grade, Susan B. Anthony Middle School, Revere
Dion, 8th grade, Susan B. Anthony Middle School, Revere
Judy Evans, Superintendent, Winchester Public Schools supt
(I apologize for not getting all of interesting things panelists are interested in! Likewise, for not seeing who said what among the students, at times)

Tritter: Can you tell us some examples of your Project Based Learning?
Omar: At Susan B. Anthony (SBA), students looked at 'anchor texts'. One of them was What sparks revolution? He chose Martin Luther King, Jr to better understand what he was learning at school. Reading was structured around 1-2 weeks to understand the essential question itself; students were given a rubric on different 'presentation styles'; he chose PowerPoint and spoke along with the slides.
Cassandra: We had a 'slime project'; had to figure out if it was solid, liquid, or gas; we determined it was a liquid bc it took the shape of the container that held it
Dion: We did research on the Grand Canyon: looked at plants, animals, and resources like food; had questions about what limits the population to grow or shrink? Considered coyotes, rabbits. it was fun. most of research was computers with a partner. researched for a week
Jade: We had a playground project -- build your dream playground; We had to determine "area and perimeter"; find the area and perimeter for each space in the playground that we wanted; we did it; it was really fun bc we got to use our brains and imagine anything, no limits! We had a zipline and a trampoline
Tritter: Sure, it was fun, but did you learn anything from it?
Jade: Sure! There were no limits to anything; if only rules, that's boring and some kids don't like rules. We could do whatever we wanted to do with the project
Tritter: what helped you to understand area and perimeter/
Jade: I learned more about area needed for putting in a zipline

Tritter: Ms. Gallagher -- talk about performance-based assessments
Gallagher: In the beginning, it was hard letting go; wanted to control. Now, make sure I have all of the materials they need for trial and error so I do more on the planning side of things, not on the control side of things. It's not me grading their paper at night; it's me looking at them while they're doing this to see what they know and what they still need to know
5th stu: In third grade we didn't really do much project-based learning, mostly tests. Things got funner bc you got to pick your partner most of the time
8th stu: my first experience with PBL was 1st grade and it wasn't a big standard and my teacher wasn't really pushing; churning butter, making cookies, carving pumpkins and counting pumpkin seeds; I can have fun and learn at the same time
5th: we're not sitting down doing tests all the time; there's a mix
Tritter: how are you making sure they are learning while they are having all this fun?
Gallagher: It's all about planning; planning came down to what do we need to know and do to plan for this? Stus have to defend their answer

Tritter: what is your experience of MCAS and performance assessment?
8th stu: I have never liked MCAS bc it never properly showed what I know. stus that have bad days and get so stressed do worse, which places them at a disadvantage
5th stu: MCAS is an important test and too many students get stressed out about it; need more hands-on tests. Hands-on let you be creative and have fun, it's more like an assignment

Tritter: In the state, all across MA and the country, are students really learning stuff they need to know? If I came to your school, what should I look for to know if students are learning at the school?
5th: look for how students 'look'; student participation; look at their learning
Omar: walk into a class and look to see if students are bored; see if they are looking at the T; raising their hand: asking Qs about the topic
Tritter: How do I actually know how stus are learning? How would I know?
Dion: I would like you to look directly at my science teacher; it's a crazy class; mats, bouncy balls, fairy lights; any kid will tell you they learn; her tests are formatted such that questions on rocks are followed by questions on reproduction; it's all important that we need

Tritter: MCIEA work, not just you and your classroom. What's involved?
Gallagher: Cross-school validation; cross collaboration; talking with other Ts to test ideas improves my planning
Tritter: turning it over to Supt Evans in Winchester...What comes to mind when thinking of the differences [between MCIEA/PBL and traditional/MCAS]?
Evans: Students are more reflective and thoughtful [with MCIEA]; there isn't only one 'right' answer. With [traditional/MCAS] 'smart equals fast', values compliance over taking risks. Students talk about 'test stress and anxiety'; [MCIEA]widens out perspective. Student choice and voice is the direction for schools

Q from audience: There's basic teaching. How to balance?
Gallagher: Balance is something I'm still working on. I'm math and science. Thinking through how we get there. Students learn in their own way and their own style. Vocabulary. Exploring and taking ownership of their own learning

Q from a Teacher of students in Special Education: Uses students with disabilities MCAS/ALT test
Evans: Waiver from state to more accurately asses students. Students talk repeatedly about working with other students, taps into unique strengths; SWD, ELs;

Q from a parent: How to join the consortium? What is the process?
Noonan: Briefly -- Agreement between district Union and Superintendent.

I had to leave at this point

Closing Remarks: Craig Consigli, Assistant Superintendent, Milford Public Schools, MCIEA Governing Board Member
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Image credit: This question is at the heart of what drives two very different accountability systems in Massachusetts. MCIEA fact sheet HERE ~ mas

How can being bilingual be an asset for white students and a deficit for immigrants?*

With one tweet, I was linked to perhaps the most on-point question of our time and to information about a dual-language program right here in Massachusetts, in the Mendon-Upton Regional School District:

Attn: @marcela_elisa @SoniaChangDiaz @MAStewartMA #MAEdu https://t.co/iHYdrFxmJ5

— Tracy Novick (@TracyNovick) November 14, 2016

The link embedded above in Tracy's tweet will still take you to The Hechinger Report article. The Mendon-Upton program (and another one highlighted, from Texas) aims to make all students in the class fully bilingual. The article points out that the Texas program would be illegal in Massachusetts. And, while bilingual education programs aren't part of the ELL construct in the Commonwealth, such strength-based approaches guarantee students who are Limited English Proficient (LEP) access to educational opportunities. These programs allow students to acquire a full command of the English language and employ their native languages to help them master challenging academic standards in all subject areas.

Growing up in rural Pennsylvania, as I did until age 10, I noted many wonderful accents in the parents and grandparents of friends, including my own grandparents, who were immigrants from Turkish Armenia, Italy, Poland, or Germany. All of the children I knew spoke English, though I now realize it may not have been their first language.

More than 35% of people whose first language is not English live in my Town today — true in varying degrees of many cities and Towns across the Commonwealth — and many are limited English proficient. It's extremely difficult for children to do well in school who do not understand what their teachers are explaining. Language instructional programs, especially in public schools, should also involve parents in planning, implementation, and evaluation.

It's time to amend the law that came about as the result of an initiative petition that passed in 2002, so that we can do better for our multi-lingual students. Strengthening this area is one key to closing gaps in proficiency.

*Title of an article in The Hechinger Report, and subject of this post.

Board's Budget Subcommittee

The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education exists, primarily, to administer state and federal education laws, of which the State's Education Budget is a part. And, while the education budget is a line item within the State's total budget allocation (as is a local education budget within a Municipality's budget), the appointed State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education exercises no budgetary authority (which is unlike locally elected School Committees who have actual budget oversight); BESE maintains policy and regulatory oversight.

Of the ~$5.2B allocated to DESE in FY17, only a tiny amount is actually discretionary:

• ~91% passes directly through DESE and goes to local districts in the form of Chapter 70 funding
• ~5% is for federal entitlement programs (IDEA, Nutrition, Perkins, Titles I, II, etc.)

• Of the remaining ~4%:
• ~3.9% is discretionary for the purpose of assigning FTEs to new programming (Civics Education, e.g.)
• less than 0.001% goes to the Department's staffing needs

The Budget Subcommittee* met for the second time this fall to help with the development of Board priorities within the FY18 State Budget. The meeting was held Tuesday, November 29 at 7:30 AM, an hour before the Board's regular monthly meeting. We had previously identified numerous interest areas, including, but not limited to: SEL, civics education, educator resources, Chapter 70 funding, extended learning time, updated health standards, reading and third grade literacy, updated arts education standards, Foundation Budget Review Commission recommendations, and full funding for MCAS 2.0. Given the State's continuing revenue challenges, Chair Craven brought forward the idea of "enforced collegiality via intergovernmental service funds", which has the potential for interagency collaboration on shared, non-academic education challenges via Section 2B of the Budget and with the Education secretariat in collaboration with Health & Human Services and Housing secretariats^

The Subcommittee brought forward its recommendations to the full Board for a vote at our regular November meeting (11/29).
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*Members of the Board's FY18 Budget Subcommittee: Katherine Craven (Chair), Margaret McKenna, Michael Moriarity, Ed Doherty, and yours truly. We meet with the commissioner and DESE financial staff. I'm pleased to have been appointed to the Budget Subcommittee each year since my appointment to the Board in 2014; this was my third time through the Board's prioritization process.

^Departments of Early Education and Care, Higher Education, Developmental Services, Public Health, and Mental Health among them. Section 2B of the FY2017 Final Budget: Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, the agencies listed in this section may expend the amounts listed in this section for the provision of services to agencies listed in section 2. All expenditures made under this section shall be accompanied by a corresponding transfer of funds from an account listed in section 2 to the Intragovernmental Service Fund, established by section 2Q of chapter 29 of the General Laws. All revenues and other inflows shall be based on rates published by the seller agency that are developed in accordance with cost principles established by the United States Office of Management and Budget Circular A-87, Cost Principles for State, Local and Indian Tribal Governments. All rates shall be published within 30 days of the enactment of this section. No expenditures shall be made from the Intragovernmental Service Fund which would cause that fund to be in deficit at the close of fiscal year 2017. All authorizations in this section shall be charged to the Intragovernmental Service Fund and shall not be subject to section 5D of chapter 29 of the General Laws. Any balance remaining in that fund at the close of fiscal year 2017 shall be transferred to the General Fund.

ESSA Community Forums: UPdate

If you've registered to attend the first ESSA Community Forum this Monday from 6:00-7:30 PM in Boston, you already know it won't follow a typical "public hearing" format.

As per the email from DESE, those who have registered to attend a session will be seated at tables for facilitated brainstorming sessions, and it looks as though they'll home-in on a few areas, based on the first round of survey and private meetings last spring. An outline of activities was provided in the email:

• ~10-15 minutes: DESE staff will introduce ESSA and the opportunities for Massachusetts to consider

• ~30 minutes: Brainstorming - Session 1: DESE will conduct brainstorming activities at each table. In this session, they'll be focused on the opportunity to modify our school accountability system (the measures and leveling systems used by the Department)

• ~30 minutes: Brainstorming - Session 2: DESE will conduct a second set of activities at each table. For this session, participants will choose among several topics:
• ideas to improve students' health and safety;
• ideas to ensure students have a well-rounded education;
• ideas to ensure teachers have high quality supports

• ~15-20 minutes: Open Q&A/Wrap up (15-20 minutes)

The ESSA flier has a link to a survey at the bottom of the right-hand column; if you can't make one of the scheduled Forums, you may still provide feedback. As of this post, when I clicked on the link, a message appeared that the "survey is under construction" and to check back soon to provide your feedback.

ESSA Community Forums

Five ESSA Community Forums/Fora are being hosted by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. The first Forum is this Monday, November 14 from 6:00-7:30 PM (details for all Forums/Fora below).

Each Forum provides an opportunity for stakeholders to join in a regional discussion and share ideas on how to improve K-12 public school assistance, accountability, and engagement, so that schools receive the supports they need to benefit each and every student. A stakeholder is anyone with a stake in the success of all students in our K-12 public schools, including:

• Parents
• Students
• Teachers
• Principals
• Superintendents
• other education administrators and personnel
• community members
• business leaders and entrepreneurs
• community organizations
• faith-based communities
• Statewide organizations and associations
• post secondary public and private colleges and universities
• paid or elected public service individuals and committees

Monday, November 14 | 6:00-7:30 PM: Boston Public Schools, Bolling Building, 2nd floor, 2300 Washington Street, Roxbury

Monday, November 21 | 6:00-7:30 PM: Shrewsbury's Oak Middle School, 45 Oak Street, Shrewsbury

Tuesday, November 29 | 6:00-7:30 PM: Brockton High School, 470 Forest Avenue, Brockton

Thursday, December 1 | 6:00-7:30 PM: Holyoke High School, 500 Beech Street, Holyoke

Tuesday, December 6 | 6:00-7:30 PM: Salem's Collins Middle School, 29 Highland Avenue, Salem

Join an upcoming public forum by registering online HERE. More about the Forums/Fora HERE (including a link for giving online survey feedback) and HERE.

Modern Lead Learners*

To the Gilbert & Sullivan tune, "Modern Major General":

To model a true Partnership with Fam'ly and Community,
(As leaders of our school it is a key responsibility),
To strive to liberate the barriers with true integrity,
For Stu' success we'engage all fam'lies to our best ability!

We do not hesitate to work hard to improve engagement rates,
Shared vision that we all create will lead us to eliminate
The gaps in learning that exist, the urgency is oh so great,
Our staff is focused ev'ry day, as school improvement demonstrates!

The Partnership needs all of us, it's more than a philosophy,
We take to heart relationships and excellence and equity,
Our strength lies in diversity to re'lize opportunity,
Modern fam'ly 'engagement is a shared responsibility!

We have experience and skill with tools and staff most critical,
Communications ev’ry way from face-to-face and digital,
We build relations big and small, collaborate with one and all,
For Stu' Engagement, most of all, Fam’ly Engagement is our call!
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*A theme song for today's school leaders! "Family" refers to the community of adults in a child's life who provide advocacy and support for them to succeed at school and in life.

Parent Perspective: State Assessments Under ESSA

About state assessment results, parents have said they want to know and understand:

• How does this information help me and help teachers to provide a better learning environment for my child?
• What does this mean? Is she doing well or not doing well? 
• How will teachers get the information they need?

(Note to DESE: Look at, and think about, what you're going to say to parents!)

One of the things ESSA has done is give States more flexibility* in education governance. It's not a perfect system; it's a series of trade-offs and choices.

Those trade-offs and choices begin with the question: What do you want the test to do? If one thing is to spend less time on testing, are we trading-off on content coverage, which may result in less reliable data than a longer test. How well is the assessment aligned to state's standards? Both questions are striking, given Massachusetts is in the midst of developing its 2.0 test.

(I'm told every testing vendor, if asked, can give an analysis of how well the questions line up with state standards. Note to self!) 

B: Align to Standards (ELA/Literacy) Criteria (L) & Evidence (R)

Also important is to understand what a high-quality assessment is. CCSSO criteria outlines principles for assessing a high-quality test, including testing for "depth of knowledge" (B4). Constructing a response, writing, or doing a performance assessment - all of these types of responses are considered high-quality assessments. (They also take more time and cost more money to score hence, the trade-offs!)

It seems obvious to state this, but apparently it's something frequently overlooked until quite late in the development process: To ensure a test is actually assessing higher order thinking skills, some questions should ask students to do the kinds of things we actually want them to do in classrooms.

Questions this parent still has:

• What information will be reported?
• How will information be reported?
• When will assessment results be shared with parents, teachers, and policymakers? (If teachers don't get info on how their students did until November, it really isn't going to do them any good in terms of making changes to their practice or lesson plans.)
• How transparent and accessible will those results be?
• Are we monitoring everything we're doing?
• How?
• Do we understand the capacity of our local districts?
• Do they have enough computers/devices?
• Is there sufficient bandwidth? (Many times parents feel as though the testing sessions go on for weeks and weeks, even though it's not happening to every kid; the perception is no other learning is taking place in the school).

• Is DESE ready for new reporting requirements by subgroup ("N-size") to include military students?

Upshot: Where state assessments are concerned, DESE can't do it all and can't do it all well. Test developers' decisions are made on which content standards are being prioritized (and the Board didn't establish a list of content standard priorities). Given the fact that state assessments are going to continue, and that the test represents the particular skills and knowledge the test developer has chosen to assess, I'll be referring to the above questions as the Board considers its ESSA decisions concurrent with the development of the MCAS 2.0
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*ESSA also provides for additional flexibility under the Innovative Assessment Pilot, but Massachusetts isn't taking this on at this time.

US Department of Education (July 2016): ESSA Assessment Fact Sheet

NASBE (January 2016): The State Education Standard

Ensuring Equity in ESSA: The Role of N-Size in Subgroup Accountability

Modern Family Engagement

Hands: How often have you experienced "random acts" of family engagement at your child's school, those one-off events to count heads in the building toward the school's family engagement plan?

Research demonstrates that when families are engaged in children's education, student achievement and graduation rates increase. Also? Studies show that effectively engaging families is cost effective, so much so that schools would have to spend more than $1,000 per pupil to get the same results.

So, it's clear that schools need families to help close learning gaps, but few know what good family engagement looks like, and fewer are willing to take the risk.

It's been observed that, in the homes of high-achieving children, the academic climate is in-sync with the academic climate of their schools. Together they generate a series of beliefs, attitudes, skills, and motivations that lead to higher achievement of many kinds.

Modern families play critical roles for student success, raising their children in multiple settings and across time, in collaboration with many others:

• Modern family engagement is a shared responsibility in which schools and other community agencies and organizations are committed to engaging families in meaningful and culturally respectful ways - and families are committed to actively supporting their children's learning and development --> where families and schools co-create responsibilities and roles for student success

• Modern family engagement is continuous across a child's life --> where schools and communities provide opportunities for family engagement

• Modern family engagement is carried out everywhere children learn - at home, in pre-K programs, in school, in after-school programs, faith-based institutions, and community programs and activities --> where families, schools, and communities take stock to learn and improve

It's important for schools to be intentional in their approaches to build relationships with families, yet many teacher preparation programs provide very little preparation on how to work constructively with families. As the Lead Learner in a school building, Principals set the tone, co-constructing roles based on a shared responsibility and their understanding of complimentary responsibilities.

How family friendly is your school? How do you know? One way to find out is through a welcoming school walk-through. Invite some families, some community members, teachers, and support staff, including custodians, cafeteria workers, and school secretaries. Walk through the building and ask them to look at your school as a new visitor would see it:

• How inviting is the entrance?

• Are signs clear and in the languages represented by families whose children attend the school?

• How welcoming is the front office?

Consider using a guide like this checklist from Beyond the Bake Sale.*

All parents have the capacity to support their children's learning and there are many different kinds of learning. Many times, educators don't understand how they intimidate families, especially those whose first language isn't English. How can you shift culture in a school?

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* Beyond the Bake Sale is a great book for the whole school to read together, but it's even more effective to read it in mixed teams of educators and parents. I've read it several ways and one of the most powerfully engaging was as a virtual book study across 10 time zones using blogs, twitter, and voxer to share learning and challenge thinking.

Too Small to Fail is an initiative of the Clinton Foundation and The Opportunity Institute to empower all parents with tools to talk, read, and sing with their young children from birth. Check out their Programs & Partnerships to see how they are shifting awareness in the media, in laundromats, on the playground and more.

Harvard Family Research Project helps stakeholders develop and evaluate strategies to promote the well-being of children, youth, families, and their communities.

Intro to ESSA

At nearly 400 pages the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA, the new iteration of ESEA/NCLB) intends to recalibrate the federal-state relationship (thrown out of whack with NCLB) and continues the commitment of the federal government to "quality and equality in the education that is offered to our young people". The law brings with it several key changes in policy for states and districts, including:

• State Assessment Programs support high-quality assessments through state and district assessment flexibility, federal funding, and a new pilot program to encourage innovation. Still in: the provision that at least 95% of students and 95% of each group of traditionally underserved students will participate in statewide assessments (grades 3-8, once in high school, in ELA & maths).

• State Accountability Systems focus resources on low-performing schools and traditionally underserved students who consistently demonstrate low academic performance. State goals and accountability systems must establish long-term goals for, at minimum:
• student achievement, high school graduation rates, and English language proficiency with measurements of interim progress.
• For the lowest-performing 5% of Title I schools and high schools with graduation rates at or below 67%, comprehensive, locally-determined, evidence-based intervention and targeted support and improvement will increase with need.

• Improving Teacher and School Leader Quality and Effectiveness: States and districts are responsible for improving quality and effectiveness of teacher/principal/other school leaders for increased student academic achievement, especially for students from "low-income families" and "students of color". ESSA eliminates the "highly qualified teacher" (HQT) provision (in NCLB), replacing with:
• School districts must describe how they will identify and address any disparities that result in students from low-income families and students of color being taught by ineffective, inexperienced, unqualified, or out-of-field teachers at higher rates than other students.*
• States must collect and publicly report data on these disparities.*
• State plans must describe how students from low-income families and students of color will not be served at disproportionate rates by ineffective, out-of-field, or inexperienced teachers.*
• School districts must have mechanisms to notify parents regarding the professional qualifications of their child's teacher.
• States may use federal professional development funds to increase access to effective teachers for students from low-income families and students of color.
• Professional development (PD) - ESSA authorizes federal funding for states and districts to provide PD activities that support school leader effectiveness.
• Teacher and leader evaluations - States may (and are not required) use federal PD funds to implement teacher and leader eveluation systems based on student achievement, growth, and multiple measures of performance - and to inform PD.

*Note that this does not apply to students with disabilities and English language learners. COPAA (Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates) testified before the Committee on Education and the Workforce Subcommittee on Early Education, K-12, and Higher Education first hearing on implementing ESSA. Ms. Selene Almazan, Esq. testified on the "vital role" of ED in implementing ESSA to ensure high expectations of teachers and leaders for achievement of students with disabilities, students of color, and students who are English language learners. A letter by organizations representing parents, teachers, and state and local leaders, expressed strong support for and commitment to putting students first.

• Supporting and Improving the Quality of Low-performing High Schools: States and districts are responsible for supporting and improving the quality of low-performing high schools:
• High school graduation rate goals - for all students and student subgroups.
• Low-graduation-rate high schools - at least once every 3 years, states must identify high schools with graduation rates at or below 67% for comprehensive, locally-determined, evidence-based intervention.
• Funding for high schools - ESSA allows districts to target Title I funds to high schools.
• High school program - ESSA eliminates the High School Graduation Initiative (HSGI) included in NCLB and creates a new grant program for states and districts called the Student Support and Academic Enrichment Grant program.
• State and district plans must describe how the state will work with districts to provide for the effective transition of students from middle school to high school and from high school to post-secondary education, including integrating AP, IB, CTE and work-based learning, dual enrollment, and coordination with institutions of higher education and employers.

(Emphasis throughout mine).

Supporting our schools is everyone's business - not just for those with kids in school

I'm an involved parent - some might say I'm too involved!

When I first began as a volunteer in my child's school, I was in a partnership mindset and the school was, too. The school principal set that tone and fostered the culture to support it, engaging families and community members in a process that was defined and well-communicated. This isn't the case for all schools.

High quality public education may be the focus of local, state, and national policy, but it's not yet a civil right. There are tremendous disparities in funding, facilities, and instructional resources across our nation's school districts, and this inequity underlies the poor outcomes that the No Child Left Behind law attempts to address.

But, learning happens everywhere: in before-school programs, after-school programs, in school, in pre-kindergarten programs, in community-based programs and faith-based programs. We can think of learning happening across a continuum.

As a result, our schools need everyone's help: parents, family members, community residents, local organizations, and anyone else whom we can engage in children's learning. From early childhood through high school, families make key contributions to student learning.

Family, school, and community partnership is not some "nice to have" - it's a necessity for school improvement and student success.

Collaborating with the community in support of your child's education*

There are many ways to engage in a child's education: at home, at school, and in the community. Here are some ideas for collaborating with community organizations in support of children's learning:

• Make local agencies and businesses aware of what's happening at your child's school.

• Help coordinate and participate in events that support community groups.

• Talk with employers about co-sponsoring parent meetings or parenting workshops on site.

• Encourage employers to adopt flexible work schedules and time off so that employees might attend school functions.

• Help organize and/or participate in community career, art, or health fairs.

• Recruit community members (seniors, business people) to volunteer at school.

• Serve on local community advisory councils and committees.

• Work with local authorities and public officials to sponsor community events.

• Encourage and help facilitate your child's participation in community service.

• Be a role model; be active in community service yourself or together with your child.

- - -

* This refers to any adult who serves a care-giving role in a child's life.

How do you know if your school is "family friendly" and why does it matter?

How family friendly is your school? How do you know?

Sometimes it's really easy to overlook things that may be unintended barriers to family engagement because seeing them day after day can make them invisible to you. One way to address this is to have a welcoming walk-through of the building. How will families and community members engage with school leaders and staff in the process?

Henderson, Mapp, Johnson, & Davies suggest that even before families enter the school building, they're looking for signs that they will be welcomed:

• friendly signs (in all major languages spoken by families at the school) point out the entrance and say that families and visitors are welcome;

• parking spots for parents and visitors are clearly marked and are near (or at least not very far from) the entrance;

• school staff and parents greet visitors in a friendly way and ask if they can help;

• teachers, administrators, and other school staff go outside the building to greet and talk with parents.

Once inside the building, how welcoming is it? What do you see? What impressions do you come away with? And, once you have identified barriers, what's the process for removing them?

Parents as Partners in Shared School Decision Making

I truly believe that when parents are fully respected and engaged as partners with schools, schools do better. When our youngest was in elementary school I served on the school's Site Council for two years (2006-2008), elected through a representative process. Site councils give parents the opportunity to shape school policy by giving them an equal voice in school decision making, along with teachers, principals, and community partners. Serving on the Site Council was an engaging, pragmatic way to partner with the school in students' academic and social-emotional life.

Our Site Council was comprised of four parents whose children attended the school; each parent served overlapping terms of two years each, with two parents elected each year. Three school staff members were elected by staff. Then, one parent was nominated by members of the council to serve as Co-Chair; the principal served as the other Co-Chair and also appointed one member from the community at large.

We met monthly in a conference room at the school, before the start of the school day, and for about an hour. The issues we took up had an impact on the annual school improvement plan:

• the impact of class size on student performance;

• school safety and discipline;

• the school handbook;

• family engagement;

• enhancing the school grounds, and more.

HERE's what's on the DESE website about Site Councils. Among other things, the Massachusetts Education Reform law requires School Site Councils to:

• adopt educational goals for the school;

• review the annual school building budget;

• develop a school improvement plan which must correspond to the district improvement plan.

The relationship between School Committees and school Site Councils provides for a unique opportunity to improve and strengthen community engagement within public education governance. The law provides an oversight role for School Committees and further states that elected School Committees at the district level may grant additional authority to School Councils in the area of educational policy. During my years on the Lexington School Committee, and in partnership with MASC, we met with representatives from the Town's 9 School Site Councils twice a year to strengthen their awareness of their roles and responsibilities.

The most important work of the school Site Council is the development of the School Improvement Plan (SIP). In this work the entire school community develops goals and plans strategies to address identified needs. Parents can have an important impact in this process by making sure that issues important to them and their children are addressed. These might include:

• establish a welcoming school environment;

• training to help school staff work effectively with families;

• class size, its impact on student learning, and a plan to reduce class size;

• design and implement parent/family engagement activities;

• meeting the learning needs of diverse students, including students with disabilities and students who are English language learners.

Once developed (annually), a Site Council submits their SIP to the School Committee.

I learned a lot about our school during my time on the Site Council. I found it an informative and empowering way to take part in a collaborative process that had a positive impact on the students and school culture. The experience led to my running for Town Meeting, then the School Committee, where I ultimately advocated for all of the Town's public school children. 

If you're still with me here, having read this far, and it sounds even a tiny bit interesting, I encourage you to look into the process for serving on a local Site Council.

NASBE Session :: Career Readiness for All Students

The Second C: Paving the Path of Career Readiness for All Students
Thursday, October 22, 2015

Panel Presenters
James Hull, Center for Public Education, National School Boards Association (NSBA)

Andrea Zimmerman, National Association of State Director of Career Technical Education Consortium (NASDCTEc)

Malbert Smith III, Ph.D., President & Co-founder, MetaMetrics

Bill Mathis, Ph.D. Managing Director, National Education Policy Center at University of Colorado, Boulder, Member of Vermont State Board of Education

Mireya Reith, Chair of NASBE Career Study Group, Vice Chair and Member of Arkansas State Board of Education

Robert Hull, Moderator, Director of Center for College Career, and Civic Readiness ("the first c, the second c, and the other c"), NASBE

Robert Hull: NASBE Board of Directors chooses one or 2 topics to take a deep dive into for the year - come back and share - - research. Report of the NASBE Career Study Group is the result of the work on "career readiness".


Jim Hull (no relation ^): Center for Public Education (cpe) also wrote a report on this topic: The Path Least Taken II

• Lots of focus on kids going on to college

• Not very much focus on the impact of high school on career readiness

• There are many reasons kids don't go on to college

• Non-college students took less rigorous courses in high school (though they took two or more vocational courses); other "credentials" that matter most for non-college goers:
• completed Algebra 2 as their highest math course; advanced biology as highest science
• cumulative GPS between 2.51 and 3.0
• completed an occupations concentration in high school (three or more vocational courses in a specific labor market area)
• earned a professional certification or license

Malbert Smith

• MetaMetrics using lexile scores as a reading framework to ask: 
• How well do you have to read to become an auto mechanic?
• How do you measure career readiness?
• What benchmark shows success?

• Google "CCR" = college & career readiness

• many states tracking students longitudinally

• North Carolina ahead of many states in this regard

• DIBELS Next* - Common Scale across multiple assessments, reporting out lexile measures on https://lexile.com/

• the ELA standards: 5 critical shifts from earlier standards:
• 1) text complexity
• 2) analysis, inference and evidence
• 3) writing to sources
• 4) mastery of writing

• Lexile levels and maths - necessary for very many careers, whether attorneys or auto-mechanics

• This is where you need to be for active citizenship

• All about competency

• Importance of connecting career to competency (not just college...)

Andrea Zimmerman

• How we can move to an innovative, HQ system?

• Rigorous skills

• Future of CTE Summit October 6-8, Orlando FL

• What is a common, HQ CTE system supposed to look like?

• Need to prioritize action steps (^)

• SBEs have a clear and critical role for CTE

• Two reports: focus on intersection of college and career in partnership with Achieve:
• Competency work
• Career accountability systems (Measuring Career Readiness @CTE)

• Review ESEA waivers, state report cards, how they're being publicly reported, major trends

• CCR framework is focused on the first c = college; need to instill career indicators, multiple measures Perkins data,cte/ccr leaders, as well as workforce and economic dev leaders; find the appropriate balance of uses across public reporting and accountability
• Lingering Challenges are systemic

• Incorporating CTE early and often - embedded in strategy at all levels, break down silos

• Need to attend to equity: validation of multiple pathways

Bill Mathis

• He attended a vocational education program, has sat on a voc ed board, and taught about it in college

• CTE program taught him a lot about...vacuum tubes > > learned transferable skills

• Today, kids need to learn basic knowledge, flexibility, continuous learning, cooperation, problem solving, etc, but that not exactly what kids are getting in school

• Offered an Overview of Vermont's CCR program - task force led to Flexible Pathways Act 77, in order to graduate:
• any HQ program can count
• blended and virtual
• must demonstrate proficiency
• must have a personalized learning plan by 2019
• career ed must begin in 7th grade

• National and global need

• Cites the Economic Progress promises of President Obama, Arne Duncan [links mine]

• the more highly educated the person, the more bucks they can make

• this is the root of the American dream - but we live in a post manufacturing economy

• need for fair incomes and equality

• check out the World Economic Forum's 12 Pillars

• Implications of 2012-2022 - Labor Force Projections

• Health Care, construction, and social assistance are all impacted

• Says: STEM! I'm tired of STEM!!
• only 5% of all jobs are STEM
• no need to keep pushing STEM - it's an overcrowded field
• implications for state boards

Mireya Reith

• SBEs need to understand the framework in which we're working

• Quickly realize that we're working in silos

• Who gets the CTE money in states?

• How is money spent in states?

• Arkansas CTE housed in Career Education (separate board, separate dept)

• These structures matter...!

• Can't talk about CTE as K-12...goes back to birth...could we talk about it as Birth-20?

• Visit your CTE programs!

• Kitchens in a classroom!

• classrooms integrated with other places

• Feels like a different type of learning

• Visit factories...learning that needs to happen...

• Some states have definitions...[MA?]

• What are the implications?

The take-aways:
College readiness is all about Competency
Career readiness is Overlooked (need for competency here, too)
Civics is Forgotten or Silent

Important to engage minorities - so often overlooked and the need to address preconceptions

There's more in the Storify

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

Back to School

#My3Words

I'll admit to being more than a little misty-eyed when I saw our youngest head off for the first day of school for this year. She works hard and has faced many academic challenges in her K-12 experience thus far, showing resilience and strength of character in facing them. She follows two older brothers, now college grads, and though she is still on the journey, in many ways just beginning, I couldn't be more proud.

We know families play essential roles in student success, beginning with their critical role in children's school readiness. Children depend on all of us to support their development everywhere they learn: at home, in PreK programs, in school, afterschool programs, in faith-based institutions, in community-based programs and activities. Engagement is continuous across a child’s life and entails enduring commitment -- but changing parent roles -- as children mature into young adulthood.

Researchers describe effective family involvement as a shared responsibility, meaning that schools and other community agencies and organizations are committed to reaching out to engage families in meaningful ways in which families are committed to actively supporting their child's learning and development. The strongest research evidence indicates that parental beliefs, attitudes, values, and child-rearing practices, as well as home–school communication, are linked to student success.

The Parent and Community Education and Involvement Advisory Council (PCEI) to the Commissioner and Board of Elementary and Secondary Education has created a set of Family, School, and Community Partnership Fundamentals in Massachusetts. The Fundamentals describe six guidelines schools can use to plan, benchmark, and calculate effective school, family, and community involvement policies and practices. They support high expectations for such partnerships with the goal that coordinated, comprehensive, and systematic supports will create opportunities for all students to achieve academic proficiency and beyond.

The Department's 2015 Strategic Plan includes a goal for supporting students' social-emotional health through the use of the Fundamentals incorporating "engagement strategies into ESE grants, policies, services, and resources from across state agencies and stakeholders, and to strengthen and expand the Department's capacity of educators to support family and community engagement."

Engagement is intentional and integral when it acknowledges the child at the center of schools, families, and communities, and is focused on student learning and development that impact student skills, grades, achievement, health, safety, discipline, and other attitudes and behaviors, as well as to develop students' talent in art, music, technology, and other areas. 

Families not only play a critical role in a child's school readiness but in their decision to pursue higher education. Effective partnership is essential regardless of parents' level of education, country of origin, or socioeconomic status. It's a complementary role through collaboration with schools, educators, and community organizations that establish meaningful relationships for student success.