The Treasure Hunter

In deciding what to post today I went back to my file of pieces I had written in the past that were published somewhere else.  I was drawn to a particular essay about my own years as a teacher, a high school department chairman, and a principal, during which schools did not use standardized tests or end-of-course tests to “measure” student learning.

Throughout my career as a teacher I was never much of a test giver. It wasn’t a matter of laziness, but of not wanting to play “Gotcha” with my students. What I hoped to find out were the positives for each student: the things that they had grabbed onto and made their own. Although the ways I used to find out those things won’t work to measure student achievement or the “value added” by a teacher, they helped me to know each student’s strengths, weaknesses, and personal interests and to shape my teaching accordingly. Later, as the chair of a high school English department, and then as the principal of an elementary school and a middle school, I worked with  teachers to help them do similar types of assessment. Often they came up with great ideas I had never even imagined.

As I write this I can almost see the looks of distain on the faces of many “experts”. They don’t understand that my philosophy of education was– and still is–different from the one dominant over the past several years that seeks to prepare all students for college or the workplace and ensure that America’s place in the global economy will always be near the top.  In my view the purpose of education is to enable each student to become a fully functioning adult in all the roles he or she has chosen, or is given to play. If, in the process students attain wealth or fame, and the American economy soars, so much the better.

My versions of assessment are what any good teacher can find in students’ projects, writing, talk, and behavior.  Although at times they were  scheduled events, mostly they were observations of everyday activities and behaviors.  My memories are far from complete, but I can describe several activities my teachers or I used at different grade levels to obtain meaningful information about student learning. Below are some samples for different school levels.

When I taught the elementary grades my students often worked with a partner or in small groups. I encouraged them to build things from ordinary materials, using either written instructions or just their own imagination. Sometimes I asked them to turn the stories they read into puppet shows.  At other times each student chose an animal to read about and then wrote about and drew the animal for a class book.  Often, for homework they were asked to identify math problems in their own lives and explain how they solved them. Estimation was an important part of almost every math lesson.  Students wrote weekly notes to me commenting on my teaching or their own work.  Older students often read aloud to children in lower grade classes.

At our middle school in reading classes students were able to choose a book to read from four or five offered. Often, the books were connected to the history or geography they were studying.  With fiction, teachers asked students to choose one character and keep a diary for him or her over the course of the story, reacting to plot events and other characters’ actions.  Sometimes, in studying geography or history students created an imaginary country on a map that had symbols for cities, highways, rivers, and other physical features. As often as possible they were encouraged to make math a part of other subjects by drawing objects to scale, comparing foreign money or weights to our own, or computing distances or times.

In high school classes student writing almost always accompanied reading.  After a short story unit, for example, students wrote their own stories.  Sometimes they imitated poetic forms or wrote book reviews posted for others to read.  They translated scenes from a Shakespearian play into modern colloquial English and acted them out for an audience. Teachers often shared significant newspaper and magazine articles with students and encouraged them to write letters to the editor when they had something to say.  We also pushed students to participate in community events and projects and to speak at public meetings.

As I listed the learning demonstrations above, others jumped into my mind.  But I never intended to be encyclopedic, only to give the flavor of the things that enabled the teachers I worked with and myself to evaluate student learning without giving tests.  As often possible, good student work was shared with families, other classes, the community, or friends.  In those ways we did our best to be accountable to all our stakeholders.

Over the past week I’ve been reading articles about the most recent NAEP test scores . The two major points of interest are whether scores have improved, stayed the same, or declined and the differences between white, Hispanic, and black students.  Although test score patterns appeared to be similar from state to state, the analyses of the causes were varied and highlighted different factors. I came away from all that data and its interpretations confused and unsatisfied. I suspect that like many people my age, I am not good at interpreting data. More significantly, I don’t trust data to give me the answer to the most important question: what can we do about it?

However, before I get into my concerns, let me briefly—and as clearly as possible—report on the factual information I found.

According to the official report on the most recent NAEP results, the national average math scores for 12^th graders in 2015 were lower than those in  2013. Student math scores in Grade 4 were higher than those in grades 8 and 12 for both years.

The national average reading scores did not change significantly from 2013 to 2015. Scores were very similar for students in grades 4, 8, and 12.

The official report did not include any explanation of declining scores or the differences from grade to grade. Nevertheless, I have opinions about both. I suspect that scores are declining from grade to grade because older students recognize that the NAEP has no effect on their grades, promotions, or graduation.  When it comes to the decline in math scores from grade to grade, the most likely cause is the greater difficulty in the types of math taught in the upper grades. Compared to arithmetic, which is a part of every day life for everyone, algebra, geometry and calculus are strangers. In addition most 12^th graders are no longer taking any math courses and have forgotten at least some of the math they learned before. Reading assignments, on the other hand, are a part of all courses throughout all the grades, and they increase in difficulty.  Twelfth graders are still learning how to read well.

Articles in Education Week and other news sources looked at the NAEP results from a different perspective, focusing on the differences from district to district and between white, black, and Hispanic students. In addition, they included researchers’ opinions on what should be done to reduce the “achievement gap.”

As one might expect, the lowest scores were in high poverty districts, and in those districts there were only small differences between students of different ethnicities. The researchers’ conclusion was that in such districts no one does very well. On the other hand, there were large black-white gaps in wealthy districts. Researchers found this situation disturbing, but concluded that wealthy students were getting more support to do well outside of school and greater pressure from their families. They also saw problems in high poverty schools, where there were fewer resources to support students and lower teacher expectations. The only suggestions for eliminating those problems were to integrate communities and schools more and to provide equal resources for all schools.

After reading all the data, analyses and suggested solutions, I found myself unsatisfied. There was certainly nothing new about identifying the core problem as poverty and all the bad experiences that go with it. But it was clear that nothing is going to happen to change those conditions in the near future. And although I agree that giving schools in high poverty neighborhoods more resurces would help, I am still not convinced it would turn things around for the majority of students. They would still be living in impoverished homes and dangerous neighborhoods and still be steeped in beliefs that they are losers. If there is to be any help for these children it must come from a major change in our society that would include health care, good jobs, decent living conditions, and affordable college education for all Americans.

Do you see any political party or its leaders interested in making those things  happen?

Yesterday, a friend sent me a copy of an essay that appeared in another blog recently. It was written by a teacher who wished to remain anonymous. She(?) wrote about the 4^th grade PARCC test that her students had taken, citing specific items she considered inappropriate for that grade level. I will not quote those items here because I understand that they are under copyright. But I will describe what they expect from 9 year olds and give my own opinions about their appropriateness for this grade level.

The first prompt cited by the teacher presents passages from an article and a poem on the same topic. Students are asked to write an essay that explains the differences between the structural elements in the article and the poem, including specific examples from both texts. The task is intended to test students on the Common Core standard RL.4.5: “Explain major differences between poems, drama and prose, and refer to the structural elements of poems (e.g., casts of characters, settings, descriptions, dialogue, stage directions) when writing or speaking about a text.”

Not only am I certain that I never had to analyze and compare structural elements of prose and poetry in 4^th grade, I think that the idea of writing an essay on this topic is way out of line. It might have been more reasonable to ask students to name the differences between prose and poetry or even to ask, “How can you tell whether you are reading a poem or a piece of prose?”

The second prompt presents prose passages about sharks from two different documents and asks students to write an essay that includes details from both. On the surface this seems to be a reasonable task for 4^th graders, but in this case the teacher claims that both passages are written at a middle school level, which would make the task developmentally inappropriate. If that is accurate, I totally agree.

The third prompt offers a story about a young girl and her family and then asks students to write a new story using details from the first one. Again, I think this is a reasonable expectation for 4th graders, except that the question includes a requirement that the new story be about the girl trying out for the junior high track team. Both the teacher and I think it is unreasonable to include this specification when fourth graders are not yet familiar with middle school and its activities.

In all three cases the teacher also refers to specific standards from the CCSS that appear to be the ones tested by the tasks prescribed and finds faults therein. I didn’t pay much attention to her arguments because for me the entire CCSS is a dead issue. Unquestionably, the standards were structured from the top down, resulting in many developmentally inappropriate expectations for the elementary grades. Moreover, the standards were conceived by non-teachers who were strangers to the realities of childhood and, I believe, the different routes students take to success in college or the workplace.

Today I am re-posting another article from the blog of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) because I think it contains good news for public education. This piece was written by  Alana Rome, an English teacher and newspaper advisor who will soon move on to becoming a journalism teacher in Montvale, New Jersey.

 Although school newspapers in  several states already have 1st Amendment rights, there is still a long way to go. My hope is that other states will follow their example, giving to student journalists the same rights that professional journalists have.

In preparation for the Journalism Education Association’s Certification for Journalism Educators (CJE) exam last week, I brushed up on various aspects of media law and ethics, including what (and who) is protected under the First Amendment. Through this amendment, the government promises to protect and respect citizens’ freedom of religion, speech, assembly, petition, and, most important for journalists, press. Of course, there are exceptions to this rule, which may vary from state to state. Invasion of privacy (public disclosure of private and embarrassing facts, intrusion, false light, and misappropriation), libel, copyright, obscenity, and disruption are various forms of unprotected speech.

On April 26, Maryland Governor Larry Hogan signed a bill that guarantees scholastic and collegiate student journalists protection under the First Amendment, even if the publication is financed by the school or created as part of a journalism class. In the past, such a publication was more likely to be restrained through prior review (administration can view content prior to publication).

Whether this bill makes every scholastic publication in Maryland an open forum is unclear, but it most certainly gives more voice and freedom to the students and more protection for the adviser or journalism teacher. The line between fulfilling the responsibility to inform the public and releasing potentially damaging or controversial information, at least in the eyes of administration, can be a tenuous one. However, this fight for rights shows just how much student words matter. They matter because student journalists typically provide the most in-depth coverage of school events. They matter because a student publication represents the culture of the school. They matter because they are being fought over by politicians and legislatures. They matter because they can make or break a teacher’s career.

Several other states, including Missouri, Illinois, Michigan, Nebraska, Rhode Island, Alabama, and Minnesota, have similar active bills as part of the national New Voices movement. My home state, New Jersey, has yet to pass such a bill; according to New Voices’ website, the New Jersey legislature was scheduled to discuss the matter on January 12, but no news has been released since. Let’s hope we see more states looking to support the rights of student journalists and their teachers in order to protect and foster journalistic integrity for the next generation of writers.

I hope that readers will forgive me for writing about basketeball again so soon, but it’s been a serious study of mine over time, and the current play-offs in which the Portland Trail Blazers performed well but ultimately lost  to the more experienced Golden State Warriors is still fresh in my mind.  Although I’ll get over my feelings soon, I think that the contrast between the rules of basketball and those that currently determine educational practices will stay with me until eduation gets more realistic and reasonable.

As I watched the basketball play-offs this month it occurred to me that education policy makers have something to learn from the NBA. While both professional sports and educational institutions seek to promote excellence in their participants, each group goes about it differently. Basketball gives teams, players and coaches repeated opportunities to show that they can make the grade; public education prescribes only one time and one way: testing.

One important difference is that basketball recognizes that winning a game is a team effort. A big factor in the Trail Blazers’ improvement this year has been their willingness to spread responsibility and glory around. For another, basketball operates on the principle of multiple chances: six personal fouls before a player gets ejected and the need to win four games out of seven in the play-offs. There is also the understanding that even the best coach can’t control his players’ performances; they have to be willing to follow his instructions, play long and hard, share opportunities for success, and restrain their feelings when they think they’ve gotten a raw deal.

But most important, I think, is the recognition of the emotional dimension in any game. It is no accident that we hear about a team “being ready to play,” “having the home court advantage,” and “falling apart under pressure.” We understand that basketball players are also human beings, and that what’s in their heads and hearts strongly affects what their well-trained bodies can do in a game.

I find it strange that none of the rules of basketball seem to also apply in education. While cooperative work, teacher assistance, and second chances are common practices in classrooms all year long, they are not allowed when the time comes for the “big game” (the test). Each student must go it alone; no coaching, no rebounding, no assists.

Also in education there is the single score upon which everything depends, when “four out of seven” might make more sense.   In most states tenth graders who don’t pass the test this time may try again, but not until next year. And third, fifth, and eighth graders in many places get only one chance to prove they are ready for the next grade. There is no way that a student’s high quality classroom performance can over-ride a low test score.

Ironically, a team that plays poorly in the beginning of the season can redeem itself later on, just as the Blazers have done this year; but schools have just one chance at the end of the year to show their results. Moreover, in most states schools are judged by those yearly test scores, and may be labeled “failing” and subsequently closed if the scores are unsatisfactory over a period of time. In all the arguments for more charter schools, student vouchers or other cure-alls,“poor teachers” and “failing schools”are cited as the root cause for student failure, while basketball coaches are rarely replaced because their team didn’t make it to the play-offs.

Finally, the role of emotion in student testing is totally ignored. On that fateful test day a student’s lack of self-confidence, trouble at home that morning, frustration with one incomprehensible test question, or the awareness that there is not enough time left to finish the test may get in the way of performing well.  Shouldn’t  students, like basketball players, get another chance to prove themselves if their test results look bad?

All the differences between what we expect from basketball teams and from schools are not inevitable. In fact, education is more amenable to change than basketball. The trouble is that many of the changes we have seen in the past 15 years are the wrong ones. We have created a system that cares so much about numbers that it has no understanding of the circumstances or the people that produced them. Instead, we should be seeking broader definitions of academic success; ones that offer more and varied opportunities for students and teachers to set reasonable goals and a variety of ways and time frames to reach them. Consideration of the many factors that influence and mark student success is possible through a greater emphasis on classroom performance and less on test scores; through an understanding that good teaching takes into account students’ individual needs, strengths and vulnerabilities; and through public recognition that a good education is not winning a single game, but slowly and surely moving ordinary kids into long-term winners.