Threats and Bribes

The AP reports today that an independent, bipartisan congressional commission is recommending that the NCLB

"should track the progress of teachers as well as students. The private commission said schools should be required to measure how well teachers are doing at raising student test scores.."

In addition, Jonathan Alter in Newsweek writes that,

"Teachers should be evaluated annually based on progress in test scores of their students."

Wow... All you have to do to be a successful teacher is raise test scores! This brings "Teach to the Test" to a whole new level! Threaten, cajole, bribe the teachers but most importantly, DUMB DOWN the teaching profession! Require teachers to put away their passion, suppress their curiosity, save their creativity for the golf course, quilting, or cooking! Now teachers must get serious about raising test scores! (We're not going to even pretend to call it "improve or reform education"). The reform movement is refined, distilled and easily turned into political policy. TEST SCORES! IT'S ALL ABOUT TEST SCORES! Would someone please ask why it's so important to use threats and bribes to motivate trained professional educators?

Update: Thanks Martha in Tallahassee for the heads up.

From Senator Ken Salazar of Colorado comes word of his survey of over 2000 Colorado educators concerning NCLB. One of the findings, in fact Number 1:

Colorado principals, administrators, and superintendents who responded to the survey do not believe the goal of the No Child Left Behind Act, that every student in the country will be proficient in the subjects math and science by 2013-2014, is achievable.

Surprise, surprise, the teachers in Colorado believe that EVERY CHILD IS IMPORTANT.

Colorado teachers believe student growth should be measured individually for each student, rather than the current measurement model which evaluates groups of students.

This is stunning in it's clarity and common sense. Finally, we have educators standing up to say, WE HAVE A SAY! I hope Senator Kennedy is listening and I strongly hope that his committee and the rest of Congress will finally LISTEN TO THE EDUCATORS!
Also in the survey comes this news:

“The recent few years have been less effective, less fun, and the instructional approach has taken the creativity, joy and fun from classroom teaching. This is making the local parents unhappy with our programming and we have lost a lot of support from the community.”

Yes, joy, fun and creativity ARE important to classroom teachers, teachers of music and art, but most importantly the community of parents and friends of education. The business model for education DOESN'T WORK! Frustration is rampant, often to the point of losing good teachers. They feel under-appreciated, under-trained, and under-funded.

“Many teachers are frustrated to the point of resigning. We do not feel we've been given enough information or training in what we are expected to do. We also do not feel appreciated for the strides we have made.”

“The joy of learning is being lost with so much testing…”

The facts: Test results are not an accurate method of evaluating students. High stakes testing drives teachers and students away from learning. Underfunding education is the most profound way to insure it's lack of success. Reform must be led and most influenced by those in the field, not those in politics.

Thinking's Not Important

The current NCLB law requires testing in grades 3 - 8 in reading and math. In a new study by Scholastic, Inc.

"40 percent of kids between the ages of 5 and 8 read every day. At fourth grade, though, that rate declined to 29 percent."

Peg Tyre and Karen Springen write in Newsweek that by the time kids get through the testing process in third grade they are showing a real decline in performance by fourth grade. One subtle effect of high stakes testing is the removal of social studies and science from the curriculum in the early elementary years replaced by reading instruction in an effort to "teach to the test." They've removed a wide range of reading materials including, "non-fiction and expository writing" and replaced it with specific, testable vocabulary. In other words, kids are being spoon fed (scoop fed?) more and more of the material that's on the test and less and less of anything that's hard to measure. No more learning to think. No time to create. No excuse for teaching. If it's not on the test, forget it!

"Thinking's important. It's good to know how.
And someday you'll learn to, but someday's not now.
Go on to sleep, now. You need your rest.
Don't think about thinking. It's not on the test."

-Not On The Test
by John Forster & Tom Chapin

Does anyone care about the kids?

"Stop Pandering on Education" cries a headline in Newsweek on an article by Jonathan Alter. Mr. Alter is a prize winning and highly respected journalist, highly respected in the world of political commentary. Sit up and listen! Mr. Alter wants Democrats to reclaim the debate on educational accountability.

"It's a sad commentary on Democrats that they've allowed 'educational accountability' to become a winning issue for the GOP."

Mr. Alter wants Democrats to reclaim the debate and indeed the entire issue by shouting down the teacher unions and firing all the incompetent teachers! Indeed Mr. Alter praises the No Child Left Behind policy saying,

"..the real fault of NCLB will become clear: it doesn't go far enough." Not only must we "identify failing schools we must go even further and identify failing teachers."

There you have it ladies and gentlemen. First it's the school's fault. Test scores aren't high enough and unless they improve, teachers will be fired, students will be allowed to transfer, federal funding will be removed, YOU'LL BE LISTED AS A FAILING SCHOOL IN THE LOCAL NEWSPAPER! Second, it's the student's fault. They don't study enough, they stay up too late, they don't test well, they speak the wrong language, they watch too much TV, they don't read often enough or well enough. And now we find out that it's also the TEACHER'S FAULT!

The real tragedy is that the GOP has managed to hijack the education issue turning weak kneed Democrats into unthinking radical reactionaries. They've managed to define the debate and turn it against the very folks most involved and most knowledgeable. Indeed the folks who care the most about education are now being scapegoated! Mr. Alter, IGNORING INTELLIGENCE is the way this administration makes policy! Remember, the same administration that led us to war by ignoring the intelligence community, the military, historians, and any advisors that didn't follow the Neo-Con dogma, gave us No Child Left Behind. We've got people to blame! We've got a real, measurable, accountability method now! Just raise test scores! (Besides there's a real nice company in Texas that will package a school curriculum and provide everything you need to raise those precious test scores and at a nice price too!)

Artists and Managers

I think all teachers must be artists and participate with students in lessons, music, games, songs, melodies and rhythms. As artists we create music with children and lead children in the process of creating art. This artistic process is by nature creative, improvisitory, free, and expressive. The most incredible sessions I've ever been in have been with artists who are able to communicate with us the essence of their artistic vision. These sessions have been active and completely student centered, using the artistic ideas of the students and the teacher to move through the session. Often as a result of the lesson a "sharing time" is desired by everyone. Some of these were polished some were simple demonstrations of the artistic process.

I also think teachers have to be managers. We've got to prepare the site, the lesson and the students for the artistic experience. There are instruments to prepare, dances to learn, sequences of concepts to work into the artistic experience. We've got to work with fellow teachers, administrators and parents to help them understand what we're trying to do. But also and most importantly, we must manage our teaching to maximize the learning process. We have a finite amount of time, a concept to develop, and a plan for it's success. As managers we are responsible for sequencing the music lessons, presenting concepts in a logical order. As managers, we always must "keep our eye on the prize," remembering the journey yet to come. We know where we want our students to be when we are finished not only with each day's lesson but at the end of the week, the semester or the school year. As managers, we are always aware of when students are ready or need to share what they've learned with an audience.

The best teachers are those who are successful managers and artists. We teach an art form, but we have to be managers to be successful. We are charged with helping to keep the art of music alive, vibrant and growing. We have the examples of many great artists to inspire us. Orff Schulwerk gives us a form of artistic expression that is child centered, wholistic, and inspirational to teachers. Orff Schulwerk training is all about artistic expression, creative process, but also about becoming good managers of music and movement with children.