IT TAKES A GOOD SCHOOL

At the school board meeting Tuesday night Capital High gave their "School Improvement" report. Everything was going along about as good as can be hoped for until one of the presenters made that pompous indeological statement that makes my teeth grate "it takes a village to educate a child". No it doesn't! This attitude reminds me so much of when I was behind the soviet lines in 1975- everyone was obligated to the state - in fact they could take you out of your house to work wherever they wanted you to whenever they wanted to- you had no rights- everything was "for the good of all"- the individual had no rights- was of no consequence.Kind of like our teachers being forced to do community service for their performance evaluations. They're not being evaluated strictly on how well they do their JOB which is to TEACH but are being forced to do other things they may not want to do.

Well, so is Capital High a good school? I actually liked some of the new things they are doing. They are tracking kids of a sort in what they call tiers. Tier one are students they just pretty much can leave alone- they do their work and do pretty well at it. Tier two are kids that may need some support- maybe a mentor  or a little help with their homework. I like the idea of giving kids homework help after school. Tier three were kids who had behavior issues or needed more intervention. They went on to explain about the digital academy where kids can make up credits. This may not be a bad use of technology to help kids that are struggling in a particular class. They also have Dual Credits so kids can opt to get credit for a course at Carroll College or UM Helena. They also have the traditional AP (advanced placement) classes where students can take a test and make their credits transferrable to college. One of the board members asked why the kids were pressured to get college credits instead of just enjoying high school . I pretty much agree. Our schools are trying to do way too much- they have career tracks now too.You can do premed work or learn to be a welder or construction worker for example. The schools shouldn't try to be a college or vocational school, they shouldn't try to be a family or a mental health center either. Helena has social services and vocational schools as all cities do. It's called making referrals.

As I see it the "tracking" that they are doing is limited though. There seems to be opportunities for advanced students and good support for kids that need help but what about the middle? Should they be all lumped together? I remember my honor student daughter getting together with a friend to finish reading books that they didn't read in their english class. I think the kids have the right to be in an A english class if they have the abilities. They definitely should not be in english classes with kids who are barely literate. We used to have A, B, and C english tracks. This was better education for everyone. Everything in life is always changing- including education- but good change means keeping things that work. It is no wonder to me that last summer we achieved the lowest reading and math
 scores on college entrance exams in the United States that have ever been recorded in the history of the country.

After the Capital High presentation came the Peak (gifted and talented) presentation. I was impressed that the board really did some thoughtful questioning of this program. One question was this " Why do gifted kids have to have time with their peers and our Special Needs children are fully integrated and don't get this opportunity?" Exactly. I taught special education and their needs are not being met in the regular class. They deserve their own curriculum and their own peer group.

Here's a statistic for you. Did you know that according to  the U.S. Department of Education no evaluation of TITLE I SCHOOLS (high poverty schools that have lots of Federal programs and dollars) from the 1970's forward has found credible evidence of significant positive impact on student achievement? In other words, the whole child concept is a failure. Let the teachers teach, let the kids learn, and let the village mind it's own business. It takes a good school to educate kids not a free lunch!

THE TWENTY FIRST CENTURY

WATCH OUT! SOMEONE HAS DECIDED WHAT OUR TWENTY FIRST CENTURY SKILLS SHOULD BE - AND WE NEED A PARADIGM SHIFT TO GET THERE!!! Wow! Who is this genius? Please show yourself so at least we know who we're talking to and what makes you so special!

When did we lose control of our schools? When did the public schools need to be controlled by some nameless genius who knows (supposedly) what the future is and what our kids need to know for it? Who is this person who knows more than teachers and parents and must control all of us?

At the last planning meeting for the new BOND (more property taxes needed), the curriculum director gave a presentation about the new COMMON CORE STANDARDS which were recommended by the Office of Public Instruction and then approved by the State Board of Education (surprise, surprise- I bet they spent late nights struggling over that decision don't you?). The curriculum director was careful to point out that these standards were written by "teachers". I would guess they were manipulated just like we are at the planning meetings. You are given a premise or a problem to get you to decide on some form of what they want you to come up with. How else would they get 45 states and then the world to agree with exactly the same standards?!!!

At the first planning meeting each table was given a student with a particular problem to solve. For each thing the firm wanted in the new "plan" they had a student with that problem. Then at the second meeting the firm summed up for us what we came up with at the last meeting- of course it came out to be COMPREHENSIVE PRESCHOOL TO COLLEGE AND VOTECH TRAINING, EVERY STUDENT ON AN I.E.P.(individualized educational plan), COLLABORATING WITH EVERY OUTFIT IN TOWN THAT NEEDS STUDENT HEAD COUNT (Holter, Exploration Works, Grand Street etc.),WELL BALANCED LIFE SKILLS AND GUIDANCE COUNSELING (this covers Youth Connections integration into the School District) and of course TECHNOLOGY. Just a few points to make here. First of all, have you seen the studies that actually tracked kids from Head Start and compared their school progress with kids who didn't go to Head Start? Well, there was no difference. They found this out a long time ago and since then they have just doubled down and increased Head Start ten fold integrating them into public schools. Secondly, it looks like all the "balanced life skills" stuff may be interfering with academic focus and college preparedness, did you hear the report that the United States had the lowest scores in math and reading on the SATS ( scholastic achievement tests you take to get into college) last year that we've ever had in this nation? Finally, I was fortunate enough to be at a table with three really great high school students. One young man, sadly, pointed out to me that there is too much tech focus in school.  Teachers don't care if you know grammar and spelling anymore, they tell you to just use spell check, etc.

One thing's for sure- kids know when they are being cheated out of an education. Let's change up the genius's idea for "21st century skills". Let's change the 4 C's this genius came up with (communication, collaboration, critical thinking and creativity). Let's reinforce the three R's with the Four I's.

INDUSTRIOUSNESS: Instead of 6 year olds wasting their days talking to each other about why six plus six equals twelve- have them learn to compute so well that their minds are little computers and they can actually think mathematically because their mental math is like a buzz saw! Along the way they will learn to work hard, focus, stick to the task, and learn to be proud of their success!

INDEPENDENCE: The ability to believe in and count on yourself. The spirit that brought our forefathers to this country and made them successful. The spirit that brought us through World War II successfully. We all know the stories about how the Germans fell apart when their General was killed but in the same situation our soldiers just stepped right up and took command of the action.  Let these kids do their own work, especially struggling students. They need to learn that they can indeed do their own work!

INTEGRITY: It's more important than creativity. The ability to be creative comes to people genetically.  We all know those wonderful designers (the best designer I know majored in Anthropology!), or wonderful painters, while some of us have trouble with stick figures. Education helps some but in the end it's like football, you can either do it or you can't. As far as creative thinking goes, necessity is the mother of invention. Did you all see the movie Apollo 13? These guys had integrity. When a problem needed to be solved (they had to get the Apollo 13 spacecraft home) they worked together and solved it because those were their friends out their. They did it with a slide rule. And just think, they were never taught "21st century skills"! They had integrity. You do your job and you do it well. You don't lie you don't cheat and you do your duty in spite of any obstacles. You're not a victim or a whiner, you're a doer.

INDIVIDUALISM: It's great to be able to communicate in this world of texting, blogging, face booking, tweeting, and every other form of communication, but let's learn to spell and write and use grammar because we have some pride in who we are as an individual. Who we are as a human being, not who we are as part of some constant group which constantly changes with each new project in every class. Kids who have pride in their individual accomplishments will grow up to be adults with initiative and pride in themselves. Then they can be proud of themselves as part of their family, their school and part of that one most wonderful group, proud of themselves as Americans.

Have no doubt that whomever this "genius" is that knows what the 21st century will be and knows what our kids should learn is looking for a "paradigm shift," as our curriculum director never fails to remind us. I didn't even know what a paradigm shift was until 1992 when Hillary Clinton introduced GOALS 2000. But what it is, is a change in business as usual in our schools. Not an evolutionary change that appreciates what our schools are and have done (think Apollo 13, landing on the moon, building the nation) but a revolutionary change in beliefs and attitudes that I believe will not only destroy our children's education, but will destroy the greatest nation that is and ever will be on this earth. Think losing your freedom as these 21st century" geniuses" strive for their utopia.

POWER  Versus  Consensus

Have you ever had a conversation with someone and really thought you got your point across only to find out later that they ignored everything you said? Well, that's what a consensus group is. The  powers that be (those are our elected representatives) will listen and then do what they want. Do you think they already know what they want? I'm sure they do. The direction comes from Washington and all the non profits and grants. One member of the steering committee at the meeting last night finally said "Maybe we are trying to do too much with this whole child concept." She's right but she will be passed by like a post is passed by by a Bullet Train. Do you think this district is going to do away with the whole child concept and leave all their nonprofits unfunded? Not hardly.

So did the public get to vote whether to spend the QUARTER MILLION DOLLARS to fund an architectural firm to plan education in Helena? NO. I wonder how they would have voted. Did the public get to vote on what to pay the next Superintendent (minimum $135,000.00)?NO. I wonder how they would have voted.The public doesn't control anything except their vote for the trustees. This is after all a representative democracy. The only thing that counts is the vote. Without the vote we live in a dictatorship.If anyone can undermine the vote as ACORN does across the country (the latest in the news today is New York) then they have succeeded in subjugating the people to a dictatorship. Is it a coincidence that it is always the Democrats that are against voter I.D.? 

So why have all these consensus groups for hiring the superintendent and "planning" the Helena School District's education future (especially when the curriculums are now being written internationally with the COMMON CORE STANDARDS- no need even for teacher input in our new curriculums)? Have you ever heard of the BANDWAGON TECHNIQUE? If you haven't this is a way of getting people to go along with what you want because it seems that everyone else wants it. In consensus groups who gets to decide what everyone wants? The trustees of course. The trustees have the vote. The firm apparently tracks what people say and tries to get them to say the things that they need to say to get where the board wants them to be. At the meeting last night the firm was lamenting that at the last meeting they didn't get everything they wanted. Maybe I interpreted it wrong but this is what I heard.

Speaking of the vote did you know that the Helena School District voted to go to an all mail in ballot at the last board meeting? Did you know that the voter fraud across the country is almost always with absentee ballots- which are mailed in. Many people who never voted find out that indeed a vote was cast in their name. Did you know that in the City of Helena elections, that are all mail in, less than fifty percent of the ballots were returned? I wonder where all those ballots ended up?

As we register people to vote everywhere all you need is the last four digits of someones social security number and their name and you can register them and sign their card. Then the ballot will be sent to your house and you can vote it! As a general rule the elections officers do not track addresses. In one precinct in another state, 900 ballots were found to have come from the Democratic headquarters.

The problems with write in ballots are very numerous. As we have more and more consensus groups we have less and less security of the vote. I hope this is just a coincidence.

The occupy Wall Street crowds tend to cry "Power to the People"- well I think that is what our founding fathers had in mind and I think that is what is being destroyed here. One mother said to me that people should have the choice to spend their money on the school they want. I agree with that. That would be real "Power to the People". Sitting in consensus groups and having someone else decide what everyone wants is not power. Being forced to pay a monthly fee of $200.00 a month and upwards for schools that you don't control is not "Power to the People". Being put out of your house because property taxes continue to go up as school trustees spend hundreds of thousands dollars for firms they don't need is not "Power to the People" either.

GET THE STARS OUT OF YOUR EYES!

Having stars in your eyes may be a very romantic concept if you're falling in love but if you want to provide good education for children it's better to just know what the heck you're talking about. As pointed out on this blog earlier no one knows what the "21st century" is going to be, not even these real smart superintendents that they are looking for in this Superintendent search. Belonging to  the Association of School Superintendents (is this acronym what it looks like?) anyway going on, and going to the national meetings in Denver, does not make them an expert, a genius or a soothsayer of the future. Running after every Federal grant thought up by greedy insiders who want to become the consultant (good money and less work- you get paid travel too) does not make them a "21st century educator" either.

I went to the superintendent search meetings against my better judgment  because I know this is a farce, if the board doesn't have the person they want picked out I would guess they have some candidates. But I found the public comment interesting and enlightening. The usual cast of liberals got their email alert and showed up. The union had their spokesperson, Peak (gifted and talented) had many spokespersons (they're worried about the public support they're losing), the health department was represented (they're educators like Planned Parenthood is now), The "Explore" program (preschool for the handicapped) was represented, a couple of old school board members, one guy who wants suicide education (Heaven help us- this works like all the drug programs and sex programs- you talk to young people about the whole thing until they're depressed and start thinking about it!! If you want to know how this has played out in other states I have a book for you.), and so it went- there were a few parents who had some insights and maybe no axe to grind.

At the first meeting on January 9th one man had an astounding piece of information. He addressed the group as working in technology and having that background. He explained to us that our district is lacking in technology expertise and that when the Power School program (the one that tracks little kids behavior and every other thing) first came out anyone and everyone had access to all the information!! That's right - your kids attendance record and behavior record in class, in the school, on the playground and on the bus was available to anyone who went on the internet and looked at Power School. I wonder how long this went on?

The first two questions posed were about how wonderful our schools are and how wonderful Helena is. Well I love Helena period- but I wouldn't say I stay here for the art!!It was interesting to note that these liberals who just love the "whole child" concept ( where schools are basically the family, providing daycare, food, health care, mental health care and so on) think that Helena is such a great town because we are a "family" town and we are great parents because we are all so educated. How does this jive with Bryant where all kids (irregardless of family income) are given free food all day long "because their parents just won't feed them?" Anyway, on to how all the other towns admire Helena Schools. Where do they get this stuff? We're below state average in math at every grade level, 25% of our kids at Helena High don't make it to graduation, and out of 138 middle schools in the state Helena Middle school is ranked 101st by the Office of Public Instruction! That's where the stars come in. Do these people do any research at all? Do they think? Do they really think (I think some of them do) that going after every grant makes our district innovative and successful? They need to get the stars out of their eyes and do some research. They need to look at what is really happening in our schools.

The third question was about characteristics for a new superintendent. More stars in the eyes. He has to be a "21st century educator". He needs to prepare our children for the 21st century and beyond. Do they really think this guy is going to know what the future is, or do they just think if he gets on the bandwagon for every grant out of Washington that he knows what the future will be? He has to work with the union implicitly because we have a heavily unionized workforce and this is the face to our children. REALLY? We are heavily unionized, but I thought this was just job security, retirement and wage increases . How is the union involved in good education for kids? They'd take away the education of our students in a heart beat if someone tried to cut their wages and benefits. This superhero needs to be a lobbyist for the legislature, do community service, and belong to most of the civic organizations in town too! He needs to be open, accessible, a good leader and manager as well (This makes sense but did we have to pay a firm to find this person from out of state? There are people like that right here in little old Helena.) It was really amazing to hear people say (some of whom apparently had not even lived in Helena that long) that we need a superintendent from out of state because so many of our educators are so backward and we need an out of stater to bring us into the 21st century!! Keep in mind that though Montana has gone from 5th in the nation to 20th in the nation in academic rankings since school reform started, they are still way ahead of Washington D.C. , California and most of the other states these people so admire. 

Finally someone suggested maybe he should have common sense. AMEN TO THAT!! Just think of it-common sense and the character to back it up. What a dream that would be- it almost makes me get stars in MY eyes. Someone who would actually demand accountability in these programs and THROW OUT PROGRAMS THAT ARE NOT WORKING!!  I don't mean those silly little forms that the federal grant people require. Teachers are pressured to fill those out positively. I mean like- did the DARE program after 30 years of operation in the district actually decrease drug and alcohol use? That answer I believe would be no since as reported by Youth Connections 25%  of our youth are on MARIJUANA!! Have our gifted and talented students become more proficient because of the PEAK program which takes them out of school for one fifth of their education? Are all these teacher training programs that leave our children at home for four of their school days resulting in  better scores? We were never below state average in math at every grade level before. Not only should this dream superintendent with common sense look at whether programs are working, he should look at how new programs affect the total school environment. For example, should curriculum time be used for redundant programs like the four programs we have to supposedly eliminate drug abuse? Maybe one would suffice- pick Health Enhancement Curriculum , or Youth Connections, or Resource Officers  or the Dare Program. 

Finally we got to the question about deficits in the school district with 5 minutes to go before the end of the meeting. This was eye opening. One mother complained about how her gifted student was bored in class. Another mother said her gifted honor student who went off to college this year called home crying because she was not prepared to do college level work. Over and over it came out that too much time is spent without an academic focus and that lower level students are catered to while the gifted and more capable students are ignored.

This brings up a final point. It is difficult to serve every student. BUT WOULDN'T THE TEACHER HAVE A CHANCE IF THERE WAS TRACKING? Tracking has a very evil name in schools these days but the simple truth is that if you want our best students to excel you need to provide a curriculum just for them- and I don't mean cooking and rafting on one day a week. I mean math , reading, writing, science , social studies- every single day all day long. Students in the middle need a competitive education as well and struggling students deserve remedial help. If schools were allowed to track this could all be accomplished and our scores would go through the roof. Instead of going to this common sense approach our district is doing the opposite. Our district is putting kids in Academies at our high schools (Helena High has 77% of freshman in according to the principal). Academies are all ability levels in the same 4 core classes (30 kids follow each other like in middle school). It doesn't take a genius to forecast the result of this little experiment. We can only hope these people get the stars out of there eyes before our schools sink to their lowest ever. Let's stop "WHOLE CHILDING"our kids and start giving them the education they need and deserve!!

EXPERTS

Have you been to any of those planning meetings for the new school bond? Well, I have. The firm the Helena School District hired for $250,000.00 is an architectural firm- but as pointed out on this blog earlier they aren't going to be doing any architectural drawings for the $250,000.00, they are going to plan the future of education in Helena. In fact, they are not even versed in educational issues, thus they had to hire BRAIN SPACES, a firm that apparently are "Education Experts". BRAIN SPACES sent a spokeswoman to the planning meeting ( maybe it's her business and she's the whole firm- I'm not sure about that)- in any case this is the extent of her "expertise". She made an amazingly biased and I think ill informed comment about classroom structure. She said no one ever had their most powerful learning experience sitting in the third seat of the fifth row. In other words, she is biased against classrooms organized in traditional rows. I asked her about her teaching experience, and apparently she has never even taught in an elementary classroom, just some middle school and college teaching. And this is the person leading the way to what our school district will look like in the future.

I asked her for her email and we had a little discussion about classroom structure. First I think we must challenge her premise that the most important education is the "powerful" learning experience that you can remember. The most important things you learned in school such as reading, writing and math happened over many years of day by day learning most of which you can not remember. If it were not for hard disciplined work most of which was not necessarily exciting, you would be illiterate.

Secondly I would like to challenge the premise that education should always be exciting and entertaining. Once in a while it is. When you've achieved a goal for example, or learned enough to discover something exciting. But many times, like any work, or all the work you will do in your life, it takes focus and discipline. It is not entertainment, it is work. As for the premise that teaching children learning discipline is the old factory model I would like to challenge this as well. We don't know what the future will be (especially 75 years from now!) but if it includes working from home on computers the ability to focus and stay on task will become even more relevant. As anyone who works at home knows, it is very hard to get to work and stay there when people are coming in and out, the phone is ringing, and you could just sleep in because no one is watching over you. School prepares children to set goals and do tasks that will reward them in the far future. They learn the discipline to do things that they may not always want to do. This is not a "factory" model , this is life.

 Thirdly I would like to most definitely challenge her bias toward rows. I taught for many years with students of all ability levels. I tried groups and pods. I found they didn't work. How would you like to sit all day with someone right at your elbow? I found students do better work when they have their own space and can focus. There is less talking and more working when students have their own space. For projects desks can easily be turned or moved. This is particularly important for students with ADHD. Students may not have to be on drugs to control impulsive behaviors and lack of focus if the teaching environment was structured to help them stay organized and focused.

Finally I would like to challenge the bias that exciting learning does not happen in rows. One of my most successful programs was a grammar program that used all the senses. It had a visual overhead as well as student papers. It had songs and rhymes and required oral responses as well as written ones. It engaged all students and was even effective at the end of the day when we were all tired. My struggling students loved it best. They participated, had fun and felt successful.

In my experience struggling students get lost in unstructured project environments. They don't need a "guide by the side" they need a teacher who structures a learning experience for them where they can find success and get extra help when they need it. There are many different ways to teach and many different teachers with successful teaching strategies. I'm sorry to see people call themselves "experts" and then dismiss out of hand years and years of successful teaching and learning experiences. After all, this country was built long before all the new liberal education ideas hit the workshop circuit.