Consider in the global view of things, that “national is local.” With instaneous communication, global in fact may often be viewed as local. However, turning to the U.S., many are asking how we allowed the situation in the Gulf to happen. What were the factors that led to such a total disregard for environmental precautions. Greed? Arrogance? Many asked the similar questions with the fall of Wall Street, the housing markets, and, dare it be said, if not the demise, the “down rating” of capitalism.  Thoughtful educators may well ask how we as leaders in the U.S. have failed.  As educators, it seems right to also ask what we would want for tomorrow’s leaders — at local, national, and international levels. How could their leadershp be more effective than ours? What skills and experiences while in school are needed? And who should we look to and work with to create the leadership for tomorrow? Is it global or local? What are the implications for the “race to the top” and for reinventing education?

Our solution is simple. We share it in hopes that others will use similar strategies and enhance the effectiveness of these important sessions. Sure teachers need to learn about school policies and procedures, they need to hear about the latest plans for school discipline, they need to know what the new principal wants, and they need a chance to meet each other, to dialogue, and to set procedures in place for an effective school year. And if the school is embarking down a path with a new curriculum, new initiatives, or new expectations for teachers, teachers need to know about these. 

It is the ‘how” that often presents the problem.  The how that delivers messages quickly is often an “information session” — also known as “we tell, you note.”  So the Center for Educational Improvement (CEI) and the Consortium to Improve Ohio Schools (CIOS) will work with administrators to plan a session that Wows! teachers, keeps them engaged, and sets the stage for an exciting, progressive, and optimistic school year.

Check under “our services” for complete information on Back to School Workshops offered by CEI and CIOS.

Our intent is to offer premium services to set the stage for a successful school year. To do this, school and district workshops in August and September need to be engaging, informative, and highly interactive. They need to include the most relevant information both for new and returning teachers.

Workshops offered by the Center for Educational Improvement (CEI) and the Consortium to Improve Ohio Schools (CIOS) all contain the following components:

• Inclusion of Wow! factors to keep teachers surprised, entertained, and informed
• Modeling to show teachers how they can implement in their classrooms the elements from the workshops
• Timing and pacing to prevent boredom, add the element of surprise, and components designed for participants with different learning styles
• No more than 7 minutes of continuous lecture at any point in the workshop
• The use of think, pair, share; four corners; gallery walks; engaging ice-breakers; jigsaws; and role-plays
• Materials that include templates for future use; relevant websites, resources for additional information.

Not only that, we plan with administrators, so that teachers learn about new strategies your school will be implementing in a way that holds true to our “wow!” approach. We encourage administrators to include teachers on their planning teams so that by the time the workshops occur, some teachers not only have already signed onto the new strategies, but also are able to help lead the workshops.

What else? For the topics we believe are most important to include, see “our services.” If you have additional ideas for wowing! teachers, send your comments along to this blog.

When I teach workshops on co-teaching, I often ask participants what they love to teach. With two teachers, each could focus more on his or her areas of strength and the responsibilities for other areas can be shared. So if you are a photographer, perhaps you can bring photos into the class, provide the concrete visuals, to support learning. If you are a musician or love music, perhaps you find music to represent the subject matter.  Music from different historical eras, countries, or cultures. If you sing, perhaps you help students develops raps as mnemonic devices.  With two teachers, the burden does not fall on one person to be everything to everyone. The workload is shared, the grading is shared, and even communication with parents can be shared.

With two teachers who are both using time efficiently in a classroom, student productivity should improve. After all, instead of one teacher trying to meet the needs of 25 students, the workload may be split. With two teachers, it is easier to schedule “think alouds” with the teachers modeling how they problem solve together. Even such tasks as warm-ups and reviews can be split, so that teachers take turns being responsible for those elements of a lesson plan.

For students with IEPs, it is a natural for the teacher with the special education credentials to spend more time implementing specific plans for students with IEPs and other students with special learning needs. Co-teaching can also be  implemented with teaching assistants who assume responsibility for maintaining high levels of student engagement, assisting with technology, or re-teaching materials to students who have been absent or have had difficulties with specific lessons.

1. With Powerpoint slides DO NOT use bullets. Instead, think of a minimalist, zen approach, with a few key words, and perhaps some beautiful visuals. Create a atmosphere for the audience.

2. Consider a factor of three and do not have more than 3 points for any concept.

3. Set the stage by naming an antagonist early in the presentation and then deliver the fix. For many educational presentations, the antagonist will be AYP and factors interfering with student achievement.

I encourage teachers to apply these strategies when working with students and to create an air of mystery or a challenge to pull students into the assignment. For example, one could say “Columbus was the first explorer to sail to the new world” or the lesson could begin with a “hook” such as “Imagine that you are approaching the Queen of Spain, planning to set out to make a journey that has never been done before. You know that others set out and did not return…” We want students to be engaged with the topics, to put themselves in the scene.

From my work with yoga and meditation I have also learned the importance of working with energy and creating a classroom where students and teachers are energized. If yawning sets in, teachers may need to shift activities. One way to stay ahead of the boredom is to pay attention to time and note over a few days when the boredom or restlessness starts to occur. With this information, teachers can then shift subjects a minute or two before. This will vary with each class as classes have unique personalities and needs.

I am challenging teachers to create at least one “wow” lesson a day. [See also "Using Smart Phones to Teach Math" under the EducationNOW page]

Everyday is Differentiation Day! This is the theme in Grade 4S at GEMS World Academy in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.  Read alouds are selected based on student interest.  Independent reading of just right books is chosen by students according to interest.  Flexible guided reading groups are based on readiness.  During writing workshop topics are selected by student interest. Words Their Way groups were created based on spelling diagnostic assessments. Math groups are flexible and organized according to readiness. Units of inquiry (Primary Years Programme) consist of projects focused on interest and how students learn best.  How did the Grade 4 Team arrive at this place of teaching?  The common factor in setting up this milieu of meeting students where they are has been flexibility and diagnostic assessments.

“Which group am I in?” is a question some of our learners use to be eager to know. We assure them that the group depends on what they need to know, how they want to demonstrate their learning, or based on their interest.  Teachers also inform students that the groups will change. When learning how to differentiate instruction a core term consistently heard about was flexibility.  In How to Differentiate Instruction in Mixed-Ability Classrooms, Tomlinson states many rationales for using flexible grouping. For example this strategy is used to “encourage teachers to “try out” students in a variety of work settings” and “keeps students from being “pegged” as advanced of struggling” (102).  So teachers and students have to be prepared to move and change as necessary.  This may be in a group based on readiness, interest, and/or learning profile.  Examples of flexibility in readiness groups this year include: moving 9 students to different reading groups, shifting 3 students into new Words Their Way groups, and transitioning 4 students to new math groups.  Not only do the students move but as a team of teachers we transition too. What is important when it comes to being flexible? 

When our grade level team starts a new unit, the common understanding is that the newly formed groups are flexible and subject to change. We consistently update lists of students in our groups, communicate to each other based on formative assessment data gathered, and discuss our students and groups at weekly collaborative meetings. Another critical piece to flexible groups has been keeping the parents informed.  Information regarding reading levels, Words Their Way grouping, and math groups is sent home early in the year.  Research and applicable web links for teaching in this manner are also made available to parents.  So how are these flexible groups determined? One way is through diagnostic assessments.

What is multiplication?       Solve two ways. 15 x 48

Spell the following words: drive, carries, confident

Games are fun and teach us something.  Think about your favourite game.  What is it and why do you enjoy it.

                What do you know about matter? Write and draw everything you know.

                Above are four examples from diagnostic assessments which were administered this year in Grade 4. These come from computation, Words Their Way, expository writing, and inquiry. The diagnostic assessments the teaching team creates are always diverse, student friendly, and connected to objectives. These assessments are the gateway into the mind and thought process of the student.  They provide students, parents, and teachers with prior knowledge, strengths, misconceptions, and areas to be developed. Other useful diagnostic assessments include discussions and using visuals. Asking students open and closed-ended questions on topics and recording their responses as well as showing pictures related to content are meaningful when finding out what students already know. It is not just about administering a diagnostic assessment, but what you do with the data once it is gathered is crucial.

Acting on data is more important than gathering data.  The team I work on collaborates to examine how our students respond and we have devised an approach for grouping based on readiness. First, we look at our class individually and then we sit together to discuss the entire grade level. Data is organized using spreadsheets in order to look at patterns which exist, strengths, and as a means to create initial flexible groups. These groups are then typed and distributed to the team. Teachers select which group we will work with based on previous groups. We make sure we never work with the same group of students. This allows students to experience a variety of teachers and pedagogical styles. Within readiness groups we can also further differentiate based on interest and learning profile. For example, in addition/subtraction flexible groups students were able to work together with peers and select how they would best show what they learned about the objectives.  Some students created games and others learning posters.   Recently during a unit of inquiry on media students were able to work solo or with a partner, select a task based on interest, and choose how to display their new learning. So differentiation also further occurs within our flexible groups.  The more we use this strategy the more we find students are engaged and able to self manage themselves and their learning.

Meeting students where they are takes educators who are willing to collaborate, be flexible, and really find out what their students know, understand, and are able to do.  For my team this occurs by differentiating instruction, working in flexible groups, and using of diagnostic assessments. With these strategies the focus is always on students and putting their needs, interests, and learning styles first.

Would you rather that students at the end of their 12 years of school emerged with ideas about their own future and their individual dreams, or perhaps to have sweated night and day, spending up to 10-12 hours a day studying to pass tests?

Is it fair to ask these questions? Are they relevant?  Must there be forced choices?

If we were working with a team of the foremost educational experts and redesigning schools for the future, what critical components would rise to the top of our list? Who would we invite to plan with us? Would we want this to be a U.S.-based and operated endeavor or to include a team of international experts? Would it make any difference to the outcome? How do we avoid the communication difficulties and the problems coming to consensus when individuals come to the group with different philosophies, beliefs, preferences, and thinking styles?

Are we caught in a cycle, almost like a hamster on on a wheel, where we keep running in circles?  Stephen Covey starts with “first things first.”  What should be first?

What is it like for students to learn in various environments — public schools, private schools, charter schools, boarding schools, in homogenous settings, with a multi-cultural group of peers and teachers?  How important is the physical structure of the school building, the resources, the quality of the teachers? If you could change just one variable what it would it be? Is the size of the school important — do small schools really make a difference?

And what of students who are the poorest, who live in poverty, whose schools have dirt floors and no walls, where there are no books? What improvements have occured in these schools in the last 10-15 years?

We have concrete answers to some of these questions. And in some areas we can see improvements. What’s next? How can you be part of the solution?

Just some random thoughts as I reflect on the research I did this week and the discussions I had with others about quality teaching and improving education — in the U.S. and internationally.

From my observations, January to April is also often a time when the students who just can’t make it are left to struggle. In recent years I have taken to recommending that we slow things down a bit and focus on the basic, underlying skills that these students need rather than trying to jump through too many hoops.  This usually helps to restore some sense of calmness and order to instruction.  Of course. the best case scenario is that standards-based learning and curriculum alignment have already helped teachers to understand where to focus instruction and the “mad-dash” this time this year may not be quite so mad or quite so much the dash.

From January to April, when delivering professional development to help close achievement gaps, in recent years we have focused on strategies such as studying and test taking skills, fluency, vocabulary development, writing and rewriting, and even for some students meta-cognitive strategies to help them understand their own learning process.  We have talked with administrators about the latest research-based strategies from the most successful districts, and have helped districts and schools understand how to use spaced trials, games and quizzes, peer tutoring, technology, and student motivation and self-assessment. As it gets closer to the time of actual tests, then we move on to more test-taking strategies, reducing test anxiety, and even affirmations and advice on diet, nutrition, energy, and sleep.

Wow, this all takes a lot of energy — year after year.  In thinking of the NEXT GENERATION of assessments, what else could be done, and how?

In education, we have historic opportunities to recreate and reinvent. NCLB does need to be overhauled and ARRA and Race to the Top offer tremendous opportunities for schools.  While in India, as an Assistant Principal of a small school, I found that I could initiate change and implement policies without the burden of layers of bureaucracy.  As with small, start-up businesses, this allowed me to be nimble.  We moved quickly towards student-driven instruction and individual plans for students as adjustments were made in curriculum and instruction to find a better match between student skills and needs and school expectations. I worked closely with teachers to help them gain confidence and to learn to trust that establishing a good educational foundation would help students advance their knowledge and skills.  This wasn’t always easy — some of it seems counterintuitive. The end goal: excellent education and good scores on Cambridge exams demanded an aggressive approach to learning. However, there are times when simply pushing students and teachers creates frustration and confusion.  I conveyed that we must trust that time would not move in a linear fashion, but rather that by slowing down (and attending to basics) right now that we would move ahead more quickly later.

The opportunity educators face in 2010 is to expand our vision, to move towards refining our instructional approaches, and to continue to correct injustices, our false starts, and imperfections. To me it is not about creating a ”one size fits all education” but rather about helping teachers customize educational experiences so that youth are fully engaged and responsive. It means tuning into and listening to students — actually hearing beyond their words and actions — to reflect on the gestalt, even as we handle the day to day situations that arise.

In this era, in 2010, as we work to improve assessments, we have an opportunity to improve instruction, to help youth reach a deeper understanding, and to engage with many in an exciting journey as we move forward. While states, commissions, educational consortia, researchers, and administrators may not be able to be as nimble as I was in India, we do have an opporunity to reflect, to do our part not to be a part of the educational problem, to uphold and promote visions, and to serve youth by bringing our best to the table.

January 19, 2009

Office of Elementary and Secondary Education
Attention: Race to the Top Assessment Program
U.S. Department of Education
400 Maryland Avenue SW
Room 3E108
Washington, DC 20202

To Whom it May Concern:

Thank you for the opportunity to comment on the proposed Race to the Top Assessment Program. We applaud the Department for taking the initiative to establish an ambitious and competitive process to revise the standardized assessments. This is long overdue. For far too long children and teachers have suffered as states have systematically implemented a wealth of procedures that have dramatically revised the school calendar as schools, districts, and states have scrambled to show that students are scoring higher scores on outdated and antiquated tests. We are looking forward to an era with a renewed emphasis on TEACHING and INSTRUCTION.

In preparing this response, we have reviewed testimony by others and attended three of the public RTT Assessment meetings. We have also reflected on research regarding learning and achievement. As the Department proceeds with synthesizing all of the input it has received, we urge you to consider these factors:

1. Technology is available to present exciting options for student demonstration of problem solving, teaming, and application of skills. We hope the Department will encourage applicants to push the envelope in the use of these innovative technologies so that higher order thinking skills can be demonstrated in creative ways that reflect our everyday use of technology. Tests can be interactive and include diagrams, videoclips, and interesting visuals.

2. Research on human learning clearly demonstrates that when individuals are able to set their own goals for learning on topics of interest to the individual that more learning occurs. Knowing this, is it essential that each and every child be held to the same standards across a multitude of subjects? Or rather would better overall results be obtained if students were to identify perhaps 2-3 areas/subjects for intensive investigation and be tested at a higher level in these areas, with a more general test administered for other subjects? Let self-determination and student-driven instruction be the lynch-pins for this new program of assessments.

We believe, and considerable research on student-centered instruction supports, that when students are more engaged that they learn more, more quickly. Recent research in the area of universal design for learning (UDL) and related brain research clearly shows that motivation and affective centers of the brain are “lit up” when individuals are pursuing subjects of interest to them. CAST and others have described this in relation to Vygotsky’s “zone of proximal development” –the optimal zone for learning where individuals are duly challenged but also encouraged by their rate of learning.

3. UDL also provides a way to facilitate test accommodations through building accommodations into tests, rather than adding accommodations after the test has been designed. Such an approach to test design would allow for the greatest consideration of the diversity of learners and their needs and strengths and would facilitate testing for individuals with disabilities as well as students with limited English proficiency (or English as a Second Language).

4. Those on the front line using the assessments and instructing students need to be involved in designing the assessments and reviewing templates for data summary and feedback to teachers. We recommend that input be obtained both from panels of teachers representing diverse perspectives and also from teachers who have received awards for their teaching excellence.

5. International exam and accreditation systems incorporate teamwork into their measurement of student skills — teamwork is critical to our workforce and should be part of what is measured.

6. Formative assessment and authentic, curriculum-based assessments are key for measuring student learning. Rather than designing one test, flexibility is needed so that teachers and schools could choose to target the topics/subjects they are emphasizing. This would mean that in addition to a common platform of topics, that schools that specialize in the arts, in technology, in math, etc. would have options for showcasing their strengths.

7. The assessment design process with the consortia of states, state requirements for procurement, and the other Department of Education requirements should not impede our ability to create the very best tests. Sometimes the best designs come not from a group process with all the compromises that are often made, but rather from the genius of a single person or a small group of people. However, consensus will be needed at some point. Knowing this, we urge the Department not to burden the creative process or dilute the final product through rigid adherence to lock step efforts of a cross-state consortia. Instead, here are some alternatives:

a. The Department might be able to implement a 2 or 3 step process, perhaps by supporting a selected group of researchers, test designers, and educational experts to come together for 2-3 day meetings (or perhaps a series of meetings) to consider options and barriers and come to conclusions regarding the creative aspects PRIOR to the state consortia process. Perhaps then the results of these meetings could serve as a springboard for the state consortia.
b. A vehicle like the SBIR (Small Business Innovations Research) process might be used to fund small scale pilots prior to widescale design and implementation.
c. Could other ways be found to phase-in the implementation so that adequate feedback and consensus is found prior to final development?
d. States should not be required to stick with the assessment vendors they team with. That would be the equivalent of telling consumers to buy a Ford simply because it was made in the US rather than allowing performance to be the yardstick for marketplace endorsements.

e. Some states may want to sign on to 2-3 consortia as part of different approaches to being involved and designing tests. While initially they may be able to sign on to more than one team, the number of sign-ons should be limited – this would require states to use some discretion in their endorsement process. Perhaps the competition could include a pre-ap phase where up to 3 sign-ons are allowed for individual states. At the point of the invitation for the final application, states should be allowed to only sign on to only one plan.
f. At least three national projects should be funded.

In closing, thanks again for the opportunity to overhaul our archaic assessment systems. We are looking forward to this next era of educational assessment and educational innovations. Please contact me if I can be of assistance in considering these important next steps.

Sincerely,

Christine Y. Mason, Ph.D.
Executive Director