Back to School

Debate simmers nationally on value-added assessment: evaluating teachers based on the standardized test score gains kids make from September to June.

What are other ways teachers can get feedback? Sometimes it can be simple.

In our teacher prep program, we ask every trainee to rate every class on a 1 to 10 scale, and then comment.

Here are the ratings I received yesterday. This was a class about Carol Dweck and her concept of “growth mindset.”

My reaction:

1. My ratings are down from last session (not shown). That’s quite useful in itself.

2. An 8 out of 10 is average for our program. Either we’re good, or they’re generous, or both.

So this chart, as published, might make me a bit complacent – the bars look high, but this is really a so-so performance.

Therefore, I usually re-set the scale, at least mentally, so it’s a 5 to 10 scale.

3. Okay. That just makes things a bit easier visually. Now I turn to comments. Basically, I’m looking for the main themes, and then the outliers (which I sometimes respond to individually).

7 out of 10. The session was helpful but the idea of these two mindsets (growth and fixed) is just difficult for me to really get my head around. While I understand the importance of having a growth mindset and seeking out feedback, it’s hard to always want to be “growth mindset.” It kind of feels like you’re never satisfied. Which is good — but maybe also overly critical, which can be very trying. I just feel like I have a lot of soul searching to do on this front.

7 out of 10. I think we’re bordering on too soft when we talk about psychology of the teacher (compared to the other session: How to build relationships with parents; how to give crisp directions in class, etc).

7 out of 10. This particular point has been beat to death.

Okay, so:

*Unclear as a concept
*Unclear why we’re still talking about it
*Unclear that this will help me be a better teacher

Even some of the higher ratings amplified the clarity issue.

9 out of 10. I found this useful for myself — I agree with some of my fellow corps members that Carol Dweck’s model is somewhat constraining and feels so forced, but it was great to have a semi-structured way in which to think about how my projected firmness and self confidence has played out this week in tutorial. (Or the “synthetic” confidence I have created by prepping thoroughly for tutorial).

Obviously, these are all areas where I could have done better. My preparation needs to improve.

Yet immediately my brain tries to put some blame on Dweck. “It is her book that was unclear,” I tell myself. “Not my teaching, which was fine.”

I’m like an English teacher whose kids tune out of his lesson, and then he says “Well, not my fault, many kids don’t like Shakespeare.”

But the lapse is just momentary.

I recognize the desire to blame something external (Dweck!), and turn back to the feedback.

Useful outliers:

Maybe more small group discussion? I think our group might be too big for a large group discussion to be effective and engage everyone.

And another:

When it became clear that there was a misunderstanding or some confusion about what Dweck meant by her model, I wanted MG or someone to stop and say, “Ah, I see that you are confused. Let me clarify and let’s move on” rather than “Let’s get 20 people’s feedback on this.”

This goes to a classic teaching challenge:

When do I pick my moments of “Okay, let me tell you stuff, cuz I know it” versus trying to elicit the ideas from the group (which leads to them thinking more, remembering more, but also inefficiency and sometimes fuzziness)?

Port of Los Angeles High School in San Pedro received a boost from local dignitaries on Wednesday, with the visit of Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, Councilwoman Janice Hahn and City Attorney Carmen Trutanich.

School official say they have the support of the trio in seeking to purchase their campus from a powerful landowner: the Port of Los Angeles.

School Executive Director Jim Cross said he believes the Harbor Commission will vote early next month on the school’s offer to purchase its building, a former shipping company office structure on West Fifth Street. To the frustration of POLAHS officials, there have been multiple delays since negotiations began in fall 2008.

Cross and other POLAHS officials consider the building’s purchase vital to the future of the six-year-old charter school. It currently pays about $800,000 per year in rent to the port.

Meanwhile, the school this fall is celebrating having reached its goal enrollment of 850, and recent achievements on state tests.

It earned an API of 778 this week — a gain of 47 points that it put it well above all of LAUSD’s traditional comprehensive high schools in the South Bay and Harbor Area. In results released in August, POLAHS also outperformed those campuses on results from the California High School Exit Exam: 93 percent of 10th graders passed the English section on their first try, and 91 percent passed math.

Next Wednesday, the school will host a ceremony marking the dedication of a new science classroom to FTR, the firm building the new port police headquarters next door. FTR made an in-kind donation of about $90,000 to the school by constructing a new sewer line. The dedication is the fifth such ceremony for the school, which recently built five new classrooms on its once-empty second-floor space.

Wow, my first week of school began last week…crazy as usual and full of change. That IS the first week of school at any age level.  So much goes into a new semester: roster changes, procedural changes, new faces, old problems, the excitement of returning, and the awkwardness of getting back in a groove; there’s really no need for that proverbial needle on an educator’s back.  But I found it…three to be sure!

1. The Christian Science Monitor had an extensive bio on Arne Duncan. They balance the hope and humanity of the Secretary of Education with an underlying tone of targeting inferior teachers as the problem with schools.

2. TIME magazine’s entire issue this week focused on the potential of charter schools while subtly citing teacher unions as the problem with schools.

3. Probably my favorite was Newsweek’s editorial on why school reform fails, naming students (!!!) and their lacking motivation, as the problem with schools.

What is it about our national fabric that requires we find a boogeyman, a scapegoat, a fall guy, or otherwise something or someone to blame?  America’s public education system is hugely complex to the degree that appointing one boogeyman for the ailment is crassly shortsighted.

The journalistic timing is optimal that as teachers begin our year, usually the hardest part of our job, it becomes a popular time to critique and dissect the profession that we’ve sacrificed so much to uphold, not for the institution itself, but for children.  Still, a hallmark of problem solving and continuous improvement is to identify root causes and fixing them which may sound like casting blame.  Great educators do this every day with our students, finding out what is missing, what is needed, and what can be better, then doing it.   Let’s hope that was the intent of this latest media blast of education, so that after the first few weeks of a new school year settles in, we can continue the great work of improving schools from the inside out while thanking mainstream media for their hearty analysis.

I appreciate the tools and views of the HOPE Foundation. Simply through the moniker (Harnessing Optimism and Potential through Education), I feel reassured that there are voices in the darkness discounting boogeymen and blame, and focusing on the positive energy to approach solving the litany of challenges each school faces.

Conservative activists across the cyber world are rallying behind a Palm Beach State College student whose Young Americans for Freedom organization was booted out of a campus club event last week.

The group’s Florida chapter posted a video on its website showing a police officer asking PBSC student Christina Beattie to remove her table at a campus rush event, where student clubs recruit new members.

Beattie and the organization’s Florida president, Daniel Diaz, were displaying literature critical of President Obama’s healthcare legislation, stimulus program and the nation’s “unsustainable welfare state.”

While the group said its first amendment rights were violated by a pro-Obama college administration, the school said the group simply didn’t follow rules.

“They never registered as a campus club, and that’s all they need to do to be fully recognized,” said PBSC spokeswoman Grace Truman. “You can’t just come in, set up a table and say you’re forming a club. Student clubs get student activity money that are paid for by student activities fee. The college needs to be very clear who the clubs are.”

Since Young Americans for Freedom posted the video online, conservative blogs across the country have denounced PBSC as denying the organization its first amendment rights.

An e-mail sent to student activites coordinator Olivia Morris-Ford on Thursday congratulated her for “keeping the dogma pure at Palm Beach State, allowing only approved Socialist/Marxist/Communist theology to be discussed.” The letter was signed Josef Goebbels, Karl Marx, Vladimir Lenin and Josef Stalin.

During the recorded exchange between Beattie and PBSC Morris-Ford, Beattie said she e-mailed Morris-Ford in June, asking for help setting up the club. School guidelines said a club needs at least five PBSC student members before it can be formed. Beattie, the only PBSC student participating, said she needed to participate in club rush in order to recruit students.

Beattie said she received a phone call from Morris-Ford two days later and that Morris-Ford gave permission for the club to set up, despite not meeting the college’s requirements.

Diaz e-mailed The Palm Beach Post a snippet of a phone bill log which apparently shows a three-minute call from Morris-Ford’s office line to Beattie’s cell phone on June 23.

However, Diaz would not send a full copy of the bill to verify its authenticity, citing sensitive phone numbers on the log. Beattie could not be reached for comment.

“I never spoke to you on the phone, no I did not,” a visibly angered Morris-Ford said on the video. “I need you to move your stuff, period.”

Truman said that while it’s possible Morris-Ford called Beattie, she wouldn’t necessarily remember the conversation. Morris-Ford’s voice mail says she is out of the office until next week.

“She speaks to a lot of people all the time,” Truman said. “Referring to something back in June, it’s very likely she couldn’t remember.”

Truman said she’s not aware of the school ever allowing a non-registered club to join rush.

None of the clubs currently registered at PBSC is directly affiliated with conservative or liberal political organizations. PBSC has a Student Government Association, and a Political Forum club.

After the incident, Diaz posted a snapshot of Morris-Ford’s Facebook page on the Internet in which she lists herself as an Obama fan. Morris-Ford’s Facebook page no longer shows up on the social networking site.

“They’re talking about her motivation, and I don’t know how they can see into her head and heart,” Truman said. “All she was doing was enforcing the college’s policies.”

Diaz said his organization had similar incidents at Florida Atlantic’s Broward campus, and the University of South Florida in Tampa.

“Universities don’t understand,” Diaz said. “They think students need to be given permission to practice their free speech.”

andrew_abramson@pbpost.com

The state has publicly posted the new Academic Performance Index scores, which show a significant uptick for most campuses.

The statewide API went up 13 points to 767. Now 46 percent of California schools meet the target score of 800 or greater.

We’re still combing through the scores, but here are some standouts:

• Harbor Teacher Prep in Wilmington gained 52 points to 936, making it the highest-scoring secondary school in LAUSD.
• Port of Los Angeles High in San Pedro, a charter campus that’s starting its sixth year, gained 47 points for an API of 778.
• Troubled Leuzinger High in Lawndale added 34 points to get to 611. Now only Gardena High, the subject of my profile in today’s paper, has a score below 600 for South Bay secondary campuses. Gardena did jump up 11 points to get to 586.
• A number of Inglewood elementary schools saw big gains. Oak Street Elementary jumped 84 points to 826, marking the biggest gain in the South Bay.
• Hawthorne’s Eucalyptus Elementary also saw a big jump: to 772, gaining 57 points. All of the Hawthorne elementaries saw gains.
• All of Torrance Unified’s middle saw gains, including Hull, which was the last to jump above the 800 mark. North and Torrance high schools jumped into the 800 range too.
• Palos Verdes High lost a surprising 17 points, dropping down to 848. That’s now significantly below rival Palos Verdes Peninsula, which gained 6 points to hit 891.
• Despite the region-wide upward trend, a good handful of schools did see significant drops, including two PVPUSD elementaries and Victor Elementary in Torrance. Eleven local elementary schools in LAUSD saw drops of 15 points or more.