How to know when you are in a good school and how to choose a new one when you are not

Leadership: Look for strong leadership from the school board and superintendant to the student council. How are decisions made? When it comes to the decision making, is it the principal alone, or are teachers, parents, and students at the table? This will become apparent when you ask about recent decisions on budgets, scheduling, and curriculum, and how those decisions were determined. Be cautious of accountability teams, councils, and parent groups that have authority in name only. Great schools look for every opportunity to promote leadership. This means that parents and students are part of the interview and selection process for hiring teachers. PTOs and PTAs not only raise school money but help decide how to spend it. Teachers are heard, honored, and supported. Students are treated as problem solvers and are included in addressing challenges from school discipline to selecting clubs, and enrichment programs will be offered after school.

Culture: A trained eye can assess the culture of a school by walking the halls. Things to look for: Are you welcomed by the office staff? Are the messages on the walls inspiring and empowering? Is there evidence of learning everywhere? Are the expressions on the faces of students and teachers animated and engaged? Do you see parent and citizen volunteers supporting children's learning? Are the classrooms rich with resources - books, music, craft materials, science opportunities, real world learning challenges and excitement? Learning can look like action, color and collaboration but it is also restful and contemplative. Are students demonstrating their learning in a variety of different ways? Do they exhibit interest, curiosity, and enthusiasm?  Find out how much time children are provided to eat lunch and play outside at recess. Get a school menu.  Make sure that art, music, and PE are offered regularly.

Diversity:  Denver's East High School motto is "Diversity is our strength." Norm Augustine, Don Cheadle, Sidney Sheldon are all graduates of East. One of the topics that never appear on state standards or district curriculums is 'relationships.' Yet our ability to maintain healthy productive relationships is central to our effectiveness personally and professionally. While it is important to master the 3 R's, some of the most important lessons your child is gaining is how to relate, communicate, and collaborate with other people. A good education is not limited to career building but seeks to develop each individual student as citizens, parents, spouses, friends, and neighbors. A wide range of economic, cultural, and social diversity in your school ensures opportunities for your child to grow and stretch in their understanding of others.  Every day of their lives they will be connecting with different types of people. Great schools recognize this and seek to attract and celebrate a diverse body of students, teachers, and administrators. Great educators attend to a child's social and emotional growth as well as to their intellectual development.

Accountability: The biggest mistake parents often make in selecting a school is associating high test scores with school quality. Scores such as the Colorado Student Assessment Program, CSAP, have no correlation to a student's success after high-school. In fact linear, singular types of multiple questions are the opposite of the critical thinking, creative problem-solving, and collaborative skills required in the real world. Schools that have high test scores often do so because they have narrowed the curriculum and eliminated subjects and concepts that aren't measured on state tests. As a literacy coach in an elementary school in Highlands Ranch, I watched first-hand how science and social studies were squeezed out in order to spend more time on drilling and test preparation for reading and mathematics. The number one correlating factor to high test scores is income. So take care not to confuse high test scores with quality teachers, purposeful curriculum, and high expectations. Schools that rely on a variety of success indicators will have a more rounded and relevant approach to teaching and learning.

Make joy central to your decision making when it comes to choosing your child's school. They have very short childhoods. If they are happy in school, they will not only learn more but they will create positive associations with education and grow to love learning throughout their lives.

…More on these blog posts:
A Principals - Principles by Richard Lakin
http://www.thanks2teachers.com/Home/MyFavorites/TheWorldofIdeas/tabid/74/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/157/A-Principals-Principles.aspx

Questions to ask school administrators and teachers
http://www.angelaengel.com/blog/?p=125

Important News Developments:
Diane Ravitch on Race to the Top
http://act.commondreams.org/go/1524?akid=119.67129.nTcqB3&t=18 <http://act.commondreams.org/go/1524?akid=119.67129.nTcqB3&t=17>

A Popular Principal, Wounded by Government’s Good Intentions
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/19/education/19winerip.html?_r=1&ref=michael_winerip

On education policy, Obama is like Bush
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/13/AR2010081303197.html

Upcoming Events:
I'm in the process of scheduling a community meeting with Senator Udall regarding the re-authorization of the Elementary Secondary Education Act. Please consider joining this important conversation.


Request for volunteers:
Anthony Dallman-Jones and other important education leaders have joined with me to help develop a national strategy. We are looking for a volunteer or three to help gather contact information and research partnering organizations. Most of the work can be done from home in just a few hours a week. Is this something that you can help? Contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ; (303)908-1954.

Featured Education Leader, Susan Ohanian:

http://www.susanohanian.org

Susan Ohanian, a longtime New York and New Jersey teacher of grades one through college, now lives in Vermont. She is a Fellow at the Education Policy Research Unit, Arizona State University/University of Colorado.

Susan’s Caught in the Middle: Nonstandard Kids and a Killing Curriculum chronicles her years working with disaffected 7th and 8th graders.  She feels blessed to have encountered one fruit of her labor years later on a Saturday morning at the Boston Book Fair—when a tall African-American man came up and handed her his business card, saying, “You taught me to love books.”  No matter what else happens, there is great satisfaction in knowing that one has taught a 7th grader labeled "difficult," who grew up to be a man who finds it worth his while to spend a Saturday morning at the Boston Book Fair.
Recipient of numerous writing awards, Susan’s more than 300 articles have appeared in publications ranging from The Atlantic, Nation, Washington Monthly,  USA Today, and Parents to Phi Delta Kappan, Language Arts, and Education Week. Her article appearing in the September 2010 Extra! a publication of FAIR (Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting) is titled "'Race to the Top' and the Bill Gates Connection."

The fight against standards and testing is not new to Susan. In her popular One Size Fits Few:The Folly of Educational Standards, she coined the term "Standardisto." Writing on both on education policy and curriculum, Susan’s 25 books include When Childhood Collides with NCLB (VSSE 2008), Why Is Corporate America Bashing Our Public Schools? (Heinemann 2004) What Happened to Recess and Why Are Our Children Struggling in Kindergarten (McGraw-Hill 2002);  One Size Fits Few: The Folly of Educational Standards (Heinemann 1999); The  Great Word Catalogue: FUNdamental Activities for Building Vocabulary (Heinemann 2002); );  Day-by-Day Math (Math Solutions 2000); Who’s In Charge? A Teacher Speaks Her Mind (Boynton/Cook  1994).    

Happy Summer! I'm just returning from the AERO conference in Albany NY. The theme was "Learning Center Alternatives for Everyone." It was an extraordinary weekend and we came face to face over the debate over "Everyone." John Gatto opened the conference with a critique of public schooling - how they are oppressive, impersonal, and propagandize the poor into corporatism and materialism. The following day, 19-year-old black Matthew Davis ended his keynote address with, "I don't want to hear any more criticism of public schools. Look at the faces in this room. Alternative education is serving you. White middle & upper middle class kids will graduate from Democratic Schools and can go on to Harvard and Yale but for people like me, public schools are all we have. Learning to read is power."

The challenge that those of us face working to change the current status of standardization, high-stakes testing, and expensive accountability schemes that further remove students, teachers, and parents from the opportunity to solve the challenges unique to our own communities, is that we become too closely locked into our own agendas and versions of what education ought to look like. Although we had a lengthy spirited debate, by the end of the conference we found some harmony.

If we are to be successful in defeating damaging education policies and budget allocations that don't address the real needs of our children, then we'll have to find common ground and shared values that can unite us. In my workshop on cultural inclusion I said the most important lesson is to help children learn how to live in the world together. This newsletter is dedicated to that lesson, not just for children but for each of us - young, old, teachers, parents and students.

There is a wide array of leaders and organizations working on various aspect of education: teacher jobs and salaries; school funding - adequacy and equity; high-stakes testing and standardization; parent involvement; student's rights, alternative school options, school closures, and so forth. I believe that if we can agree on some general unifying principles, that we can build on one another's good work and catalyze change on behalf of "everyone's" children. Over the next year, I am dedicating myself to this work.
In the spirit of building I'd like to share the mission of the Fresno California 2010 Cesar Chavez Conference; Literacy and the Professional Teacher.

To live up to the broadest definition of freedom of thought, the highest standards of professionalism and the democratic promise of educational reform, taking special care to address the needs of the poor and marginalized.

The following are the student and teacher goals that have successfully guided the Jeffco Open School in Jefferson County over the past 40 years:

- Rediscover the joy of learning
- Engage in the search for meaning in your life
- Adapt to the world that is
- Prepare for the world that might be
- Help create the world that ought to be
Source: Lives of Passion, School of Hope - Rick Posner, PhD

Perhaps this mission and these goals can inform our work as we begin to join efforts and move forward. Whatever your position, I think we can all agree that our society functions optimally when citizens are engaged. More opportunities to come.

For your summer enjoyment
On a separate note, I'd like to share my favorite film list. Those listed are mostly international films. My daughters, Grace and Sophie, will reveal that I hate television. They have one hour a day in the summer to choose between phone, TV, and computer. While much of mainstream programming is desensitizing, films can sensitize us, bringing us right up to the challenges of others and closer to our own humanity. Malcolm Gladwell in his book Blink, writes, "Our first impressions are generated by our experiences and our environment, which means that we can change our first impressions by changing the experiences that comprise those impressions." Enriching films create new experiences and new opportunities within us. Enjoy!

Family Film List:
Children of Heaven
Into the Arms of Strangers
Akeelah and the Bee
Please Vote for Me
Under the Same Moon
Emmanuel's Gift
The Beauty Academy of Kabul
Paper Clips
Warrior of Light
God Grew Tired of Us
Freedom Writers

To add to this film list or make a book recommendation for an upcoming newsletter, please visit my blog at:
http://www.angelaengel.com/blog/
~..~
Featured Education Leader Lynn Stoddard, author of Educating for Human Greatness:
Lynn Stoddard, 83, is now retired and has spent 36 years in the public schools as both a teacher and principal. His friend and fellow writer, Dr. Anthony Dallmann-Jones (author of The Handbook of Effective Teaching and Assessment Strategies) has been assisting by editing a new second and expanded revision of Lynn’s 2004 (sold out and out of print) Educating for Human Greatness. --

The 7 Dimensions of Educating for Human Greatness are as follows:

Identity – Help students learn who they are – as individuals with unlimited potential; develop their unique talents, abilities and gifts to realize their personal worth; and, develop a strong desire to be contributors to family, school and community.Inquiry – Stimulate curiosity; awaken a sense of wonder and appreciation for nature and humankind; help students develop the power to ask important questions; and, how and where to search for Truth.  
Interaction – Promote the forming of healthy, cooperative relationships that are courteous and caring; and, develop the powers of thoughtful communication.
Initiative – Foster self-directed learning, will power and self-evaluation.
Imagination – Nurture creativity in its many forms.
Intuition – Help students learn how to feel and recognize truth with their hearts as well as with their minds; and, develop spirituality and humility.
Integrity – Develop honesty, character, morality and responsibility for self.

Read more at: http://www.angelaengel.com/blog/
And order your copy today at www.EfHG.org

An update on Seeds of Tomorrow and note of Thanks:
Seeds of Tomorrow has sold out at the last two conferences. I'm booking several more conferences for this coming year. I've been invited to be a contributing author for a new book. I recently appeared as a moderator on the Educator Roundtable on Assessment hosted by Teachers Letters to Obama. Coming soon I will be a featured "expert" in the parent resource blog as part of EdNewsColorado.org. On Saturday, July 24, there will be a graduation for the Family Leadership Training Institute (FLTI). This spring I facilitated the Denver FLTI class. To learn more or apply for next year's program visit: http://www.coloradomedicalhome.com/FamilyLeadership/aboutFLTI.html Thank you all for recommending Seeds of Tomorrow and for requesting the book in book stores and libraries.

Performance Pay in the Colorado Legislature

Senate Bill 191 will make its way to the House Education Committee to be debated this Thursday May 6, 2009. The deciding vote will be cast by Representative Karen Middleton of Aurora. This legislation has very seriously implications for all of us.

The arguments:

Educator and principal evaluations are a good idea.

I agree with the majority of American's who feel that teachers and principals should be evaluated annually. Although I am an ardent supporter of the preservation of freedom of thought and the highest standards of professional teacher excellence, I would be willing to concede tenure. So long as we recognize that all evaluation is subjective, even quantifiable measurement tools are developed and graded by human subjects. In any profession, the best appraisals come from experts in that particular field. Public defenders should not be assessed by their clients or jurors. Although they are recipients of a lawyer's services, they are not experts in the law.

As an educator, I have always surveyed my students and parents. When I taught for Douglas County Public Schools the questionnaires from students and parents were helpful. While we recognized the limitations of those valuations, those surveys helped inform the professional goals I developed and accomplished each year. However, my most valuable assessments came from my principal, vice principal and building resource teacher - experts in my field. Their careful valuations came from direct formal and informal assessment and were guided by education and experience.

Why quantify?

Let's face it. There is an over reliance on technology and an obsession to assign quantitative values to everything. We have forfeited wisdom for the safety of the numeric. Governor Ritter earlier this year said, "Only what can be measured, can be improved." That's a stupid comment. I know that as a parent my relationship to my daughter's is the most important element in effective parenting. When I returned from a recent business trip my little Sophie (10 years old) asked me if I would cuddle with her. I always make time for cuddling and so we climbed into her bed where I listened attentively as she caught me up on her weekend. This kind of experience cannot be measured. Even so, I'm still improving my listening skills - eliminating distractions, making eye contact, focusing my attention, asking interesting questions, and demonstrating understanding. Education is not the only professional field being reduced to the numeric. Nurses are spending so much time quantifying and accounting that they have little time to actually treat their patients. I wonder what number Governor Ritter would assign the nurse that holds her patients hand.

Proponents of SB 191 say that the Colorado Student Assessment Program (CSAP) won't be used. When I asked one of the sponsors of the bill what tools would be used in calculating a teacher's value and compensation, he replied, "A standardized test." He wasn't in the legislature in the late 90's for the debate over grading schools according to CSAP. Back then they said CSAP was a better tool but in the 10 years of high-stakes testing, CSAP was never independently evaluated for validity or reliability. Yet the legislature appropriated millions of dollars over the last decade on developing and administering that test and tracking the subsequent student data. CSAP data told us the same things we've known all along. Children of low-income families perform lower on standardized tests and their growth rate is slower than their middle class white counterparts.

We measured it. We did not improve it. In fact, the schools throughout Colorado that are being closed predominantly have the highest populations of low-income and minority children in their respective districts. I asked a legislator if it would be appropriate to assess his leadership ability through the means of a standardized test. Being a statistician, he answered, "yes." Only that wouldn't be the model driving SB191. The same paradigm behind SB191 applied to legislators would mean that their pay would be determined by how well their constituents scored on the standardized test. This concerns me greatly. I live in Centennial, Colorado. While our test scores are guaranteed to be high as indicated by income - we are one of the wealthiest House Districts in the state - our elected representative is Spencer Swalm. Enough said.

How much will it cost?

The current investment in No Child Left Behind is 26 billion each year. Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan is proposing $350 million to revise tests. The projected cost to redevelop CSAP is $80 million. Wasted opportunity will cost even more. This past decade of high-stakes and grading schools according to a single measurement tool has failed. Here in Colorado and throughout the nation drop-out rates have increased and the achievement gap has remained unchanged. Money spent on CSAP and the growing bureaucracy needed to manage all the data and reporting has meant less money for higher education. College tuition since the passage of No Child Left Behind has undergone the highest rate increase ever reported in our nation's history. College is becoming a distant dream to too many families now left in the "Race to the Bottom." I recently served on a panel with Stephen Krashen. When asked about the alternative to high-stakes testing reforms he said, "food and books." See the appendix below.

What else does the research say?

SB 191 would require an expansion of testing, at a time when children are already over-tested. There is no research evidence that supports the idea that tying the success of teacher to a standardized test score improves teacher quality. In fact, the evidence shows that high-stakes testing reforms have not correlated to improved student achievement.

Nichols, Glass, and Berliner (2006) found in general no relationship between testing "pressure" in 25 states and achievement on the NAEP math and reading tests. Research by UC Berkeley scholars Saul Geiser and Maria Veronica Saltelices shows that high school grades in college preparatory courses are a better predictor of achievement in college and four-year college graduation rates than are standardized tests (the SAT). Geiser and Saltelices found that adding SAT scores to grades did not provide much more information than grades alone, which suggests that we may not need standardized tests at all. Bowen, Chingos, and McPherson (2009) reached similar conclusions.

Education is Accountability.

When 49 Governor's first met in 1989 at the National Education Summit to bring state standards to public education what they didn't realize was that we already had academic standards. They weren't uniform but neither are our kids and neither are our communities. When they met again in 1996 at the 2nd Annual Education Summit along with 44 executives they developed the plan to drive education through commercial tests and government mandates. Assessment is a fundamental component to teaching and learning. The difference is that classroom assessments are applied in real world contexts, without artificial time constraints. Reading, writing, and mathematical problem solving previously were evaluated on an ongoing basis by professional educators, not Kelly Girls or other temp agencies that contract to score state tests. I'd like to think those Governor's and business men were simply uniformed and misguided. But that's not really true. You see, the job of business is to find market opportunities and exploit them. Our schools represent an enormous investment in our tax dollars. It is the role of text book and testing publishers to capitalize, expand their business lines, and grow their profits. And it is the role of parents and teachers to protect our children from those interests. Our job is to fortify our schools of learning and assert our role to elect and direct our local school boards. When our forefathers determined that if "we the people" through the process of representative democracy are to direct our own future, then "we the people" must be educated and empowered. When it comes to government or business defining "what", "how" and "when" our children must learn, or "how teachers are evaluated" we as citizens must cry foul. Humanity is not a perfect science and it never will be. We are living in a climate of distrust. On the subject of education policy, we have the opportunity to restore our faith in educators, parents, and students or we will lose not only our classrooms but democracy too.

"It is not the function of our government to keep the citizen from falling into error; it is the function of the citizen to keep the government from falling into error."   -- United States Supreme Court in American Communications Association v. Douds

Senate Bill 10-191, The Principal and Teacher Evaluation Bill, will be heard in the Senate Ed Committee today Wednesday, April 21st.  This bill will codify Governor Ritter’s executive order requiring that 50% of teacher pay will be linked to test scores.

If you think the needs of children should be heard, then you as parents, teachers, and concerned citizens will have to raise your voices on their behalf.

Read the full bill here:

Senate Bill 10-191

Why you should oppose this bill:

Section 3 of this bill transfers authority for our schools, teachers, and students away from citizen elected school boards and centralizes control in the hands of a Governor appointed "Governor's Council for Educator Effectiveness." The state board will have to adopt the guidelines the council develops. Section 6 ensures that our local school boards will then have to adopt those same guidelines. It creates yet another level of expensive government attempting to exert "their" agenda and further removing parents and citizen's from public school decision making.

      Section 3 requires the state board of education (state board) to
      work with the governor's council for educator effectiveness (council), as
      created by executive order, to promulgate rules concerning a system to evaluate the effectiveness of educators
      (system).
      Section 6 requires a school district board of education or board of
      cooperative services to meet or exceed the guidelines established by the
      state board when creating its performance evaluation system. Standards
      are provided for a school district board of education to use when evaluating principals.

Keep in mind that the measurement tool used to "earn" and maintain "non-probationary" status will be state standardized tests. This bill will REQUIRE districts to penalize teachers whose students do not demonstrate growth according to the Colorado Department of Education's formula for "longitudinal growth."

      THE RECOMMENDATIONS DEVELOPED PURSUANT TO THIS SUBPARAGRAPH (I) SHALL REQUIRE THAT AT LEAST
      FIFTY PERCENT OF THE EVALUATION IS DETERMINED BY THE ACADEMIC GROWTH OF THE TEACHER'S STUDENTS

Quick Facts about CSAP and Standardized Tests:

See this link: http://www.angelaengel.com/blog/?p=73

According to the proponents of the bill:

SB10-191 "Helps us retain our best teachers and principals by offering them challenging new career ladders that offer them more pay and more responsibility to support their fellow educators in improving their practice."

Apparently the bill supporters haven't noticed the school closures and teacher lay-offs. $300 million dollars in education cuts to Colorado schools this year means there is no money for "teacher incentives." Districts have had to cut essential programs and basic student services. A well respected superintendant once said to me, "I'd love to reward teacher for great performance, but I wouldn't be able to afford it." The real truth is that this bill isn't about rewarding teachers, it's about punishing them. Good policy provides a solution to a problem. Sponsors of Senate Bill SB10-191, listed below, have identified teachers and principals as the "problem" in education. They arrogantly assume that they "know better" than the on-site principals and community elected school boards. SB10-191 represents another failed attempt to quantify what is uniquely individual - human performance.

Evidence behind standardized test driven reforms:

The month of April will provide some important opportunities for each of us to impact education policy and direct the future of our public schools. Please read below on 1. the reauthorization of NCLB, 2. National standards, and 3. the removal of Colorado's negative penalty for students who opt out of CSAP. 4. Free desk copy of Seeds of Tomorrow for those considering the book for course adoption. 5. Video of Sir Ken Robinson on Schools today. Don't forget to send your comments to the House Education Committee.

No Child Left Behind faces reauthorization

Despite clear and unprecedented evidence of the failures of reforms linked to high-stakes testing, lawmakers have committed to a bipartisan overhaul of the Elementary Secondary Education Act (previously titled No Child Left Behind). Full committee hearing is scheduled for April 14, 2010 on How Data Can Be Used to Inform Educational Outcomes.

Please take the time to E-mail your comments to House Committee on Education and Labor, Chairman George Miller, at: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Two important articles that address the Arne Duncan plan:

"School Reform We Can't Believe In" by Stan Karp, April 5 2010

"A Blueprint That Needs More Work" by Richard Rothstein, April 5, 2010

Problems with the US Dept. of Ed. Blueprint:

- Obama calls for college/career readiness by 2020 yet according to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics only 21% of jobs nationwide have a primary source of education with a bachelors degree or higher. http://www.bls.gov/emp/ep_table_106.pdf

- Competitive grants will only increase school funding inequities that are at the root of achievement disparities.

- States must conform to performance pay models that tie teacher pay to student scores on standardized tests. It is not evidenced based when the outcomes of high-stakes testing reforms demonstrate lower graduation rates, further widening of the achievement gap, and a reduction in student services and opportunities. Nearly a decade of grading schools based on test scores has degraded our educational system and emphasize the least important skills and qualities. Student or teacher performance must never be defined by a single measure. Standardized tests are inadequate measurement tools. Tennessee and Delaware, recipients of the 600 million dollars in "Race to the Top" grants have tied 50% of teachers pay to standardized tests. Colorado Governor has issued an executive order requiring the same.

- Navigating this economic crisis require that we spend wisely on the educational essentials: classrooms, curriculum, and kids. The current administration is proposing to spend $350 million developing new assessments, and states will have to spend billions more on the implementation of the National Core Standards (see below). The blueprint includes 4.5 billion dollars going to states who will concede their rights with the prettiest grants just so they can play by the corporate policies of federal government. Critical resources misdirected represent wasted educational opportunities and untapped student potential. According to Stan Karp, "Teachers and Students, already sinking in a swamp of data-driven drivel, may drown. Test publishers and data systems companies will get richer."

Earlier this week I had a unique opportunity to help out a friend. She asked me if I could take one of her English Language students to the optometrist.  Fadumo is a refugee woman who left Somalia with her family in 2004. She greeted me, tucked behind a colorful head scarf with a quiet handshake and a "pleased to meet you." The Lion's Club had agreed to pay for her eye exam and a pair of glasses.  During the doctor visit we learned she has severely impaired vision and permanent nerve damage that causes twitching - likely sustained from the warlords rifle to that back of her head. A new set of glasses will help significantly with her ability to see and master English. On the drive home I asked her what she likes and dislikes most about the United States. She said to me, "I like everything here, everything." Then in her broken English she added, "The education here, I love it! It is good for my head and she touched her head and then pausing she added, "It is good for me," and she touched her heart. It was an important reminder to me of how important our public education system really is. In fact, I believe it to be the most valuable quality of this country. Because every single child is given the opportunity to expand their knowledge and skills here, we are a country with unlimited possibility.

I feel incredibly proud to be a spokesperson for our public schools and an advocate for our children. Welcome to my first newsletter! The purpose behind our children's movement is to unite the deciding public in concern for children and commitment to excellent public schools.

The goals of the movement are to:
*  Build the momentum that will lead us to improve education
*  Empower and educate parents, teachers, and students
*  Shine the light on success from people to programs