The Complaint Teachers Love to Hear

There was a buzz of activity in the computer lab in the library at Le Moyne College.  Students typed furiously, their notes and textbooks spread around them.  It's the last week of classes and papers and labs and exams loom over the young people working industriously in the brightly lit room.  No less industrious are two young girls, each at their own terminal, focused and intent.  They confer with one another from time to time, but mostly pound the keys in silence.  They are also working to complete a project -- but there is no deadline, no assignment, no grade.  They are doing this for themselves.  I point out a writing convention here or there, suggest an elaboration, but mostly watch in amazement as these young people create.  Finally I say the words so many students live to hear, "Okay, save that document.  It's time to go."

And they groan.  "Do we have to?!?" they whine, almost in unison.  And that's it.  That's the moment every teacher yearns for.  A student so delighted in learning, in reading and writing, that she doesn't want to stop -- even though the darkening night is turning cold and there are cookies and punch waiting in the other room.  Parents are coming to pick them up.  Dinner and relaxation await them at home.  But they want to stay here, under the fluorescent lights, and write.

I pry them from their computers and we gather with the other students to tie up our last meeting of LEAP for the year.  The cookies are quickly devoured and one of the youngest girls wins the trivia contest and gets to be the scribe for a collectively written thank you note for donors.  Here's what they wrote:

"Thank you for donating money to LEAP because we are grateful to have something to look forward to when we come.  We are also grateful for the books, binders, pens, markers, paper, and flipcharts.  We are in different groups.  One group is making an anti-bullying packet for our schools.  Another group is doing a play on child abuse.  The last group is writing a novel.  We couldn't do it without your help.  Sincerely, LEAP!"

Our scribe writing the thank you letter, with lots of helpers leaning in.

To be in a room with such earnest young people, working hard on projects they care about, is an honor and a privilege.  Let me add my thank you to theirs for all the support you've given LEAP over the years.  (And if you haven't yet had that privilege, there's a "Donate Now" button above!)  And let me add my complaint to theirs, as well.  Do we have to take a break until January!!?!  Can't wait for the New Year.

Testing v. Learning

We have taken to measuring our children’s success repeatedly and then using that data to assess how we are teaching, who is teaching, where funding should go and other important aspects of our education system.  This sounds, on paper, like a great idea – get the data and then respond to reality.  So how could this go wrong?

Well, first, there is the experience of being tested to contend with.  Each test gives us information about how students are doing – but the test is another educational experience, as well.  And that experience affects our children.  What does it feel like, at the age of 5, to be just starting school and begin with a test?  And, since it is a baseline test, you are expected to fail it.  And you do.  And you’re five.  One kindergarten teacher described her students’ response: “They don’t know how to hold pencils.  They don’t know letters, and you have answers that say A, B, C, or D and you’re asking them to bubble in. . . .  They break down; they cry.”  Research shows that these tests can decrease students’ love of learning (Jones et al., 80).  They may score well on a test, but also learn to dislike school.  And the level of anxiety high-stakes testing produces can make many students physically ill, with incidents of stomach aches and headaches skyrocketing on test days (Jones et al., 95).  Testing and the anxiety that accompanies it often leads to lower scores (Cassady and Johnson 273), which then increases test anxiety for the next test, creating a destructive cycle.  Ironically, our measurements of how well our students are learning may show less achievement than they would be capable of without these measurements. 

Second, there are limitations to what we can measure on a standardized test.  A multiple choice instrument is not conducive to measuring creativity and imagination.  You cannot see how a student arrived at an answer.  But, since more qualitative measures are difficult to score, we opt for bubbling in A, B, C and D.  These multiple choice questions are best suited to lower level thinking skills like memorization and description.  Higher level thinking like analysis and evaluation are difficult to test by choosing one of four offered answers.  Even memory is not well tested by multiple choice, because the answer is written out for the student and all she has to do is find it in the list – rather than recall it herself.  And don’t forget that a student may have guessed the correct answer.  Standardized tests do not give us a window into the thought-processes of students.  As teachers, our goal is to meet students where they are struggling and help them figure out the material, but a score on a standardized test does not give us the information we need to do so.

So what are children achieving when they score well on a standardized test?  They have prepped well, their teacher has drilled them on the facts they need to know to pass the test, and they have good memories.  This does not tell me if the student has new, creative ideas or if he is engaged by reading The Giver or if he understands the causes of the Civil War.  Albert Einstein once complained that coercive testing so turned him off to learning that he gave up on science for a year.  Are we losing some young Einsteins because of our current emphasis on high stakes testing?  

Bibliography

Cassady, Jerrell C. and Ronald E. Johnson.  "Cognitive Test Anxiety and Academic Performance."  Contemporary Educational Psychology.  (2002) 27:270-295.

Jones, M. Gail, Brett D. Jones, and Tracy Y. Hargrove.  The Unintended Consequences of High-Stakes Testing.  Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 2003.

Monahan, Rachel. "Kindergarten gets touch as kids are forced to bubble in multiple choice tests."  New York Daily News.  10 Oct 2013.

 "Multiple Choice Tests."  FairTest.  fairtest.org.  17 Aug 2007.

The Joys of Teaching -- without High Stakes Testing

I believe two things with all my heart:

-- Children love learning and, therefore, teaching should be delightful

--  I am the luckiest person in the world

These two things are confirmed every time I step into the small room in the Falcone Library at Le Moyne College where, on Tuesday evenings, we hold the LEAP program.  These lovely children come on their own time to read, research and write.  They race ahead of us with ideas and energy.  Our jobs as teachers are more about guiding their boundless energy than prodding them to get to work.  This Tuesday night, as the parents arrived to pick up kids at 8 p.m., one girl sighed audibly.  "Already?!" she complained.  If only children felt that way every day at the end of the school day.  And I believe they would -- if education can be realigned with its true purpose.

The kids in LEAP are reading, researching and writing in order to make a change in their worlds.  The kids in this year's programs are in three groups.  The oldest group is researching child abuse and writing a pamphlet to be distributed to their peers.  They want "by kids, for kids" emblazoned on the brochure.  So as they work on getting the grammar and spelling right, and making sure their information is correct, they are not focused on passing an exam, but on getting the word out about a problem that is important to them.  The same energy these kids would have put into spreading the news about a new romance or break-up goes into what is, actually, school work.

A group of LEAP kids enjoying Whoopi Golberg's Sugar Plum Ballerinas series

One group has decided to write a novel about bullying.  They decided that people should see how a person becomes a bully (based on their research, many bullies were bullied themselves in the past).  They also wanted to let people know that there are effective ways to stand up to a bully.  Inspired by Katherine Applegate's The One and Only Ivan, they, too, wanted to write a story about overcoming obstacles and the grace and dignity people have, even in the worst circumstances.  By writing a novel, they can show the internal struggles of the characters (a trio of girls).  The energy they are putting into writing this novel -- which they have no doubt will be published, because it is "awesome!" -- is amazing.  And, of course, we will do all that we can to make sure that the novel gets into the hands of a publishing house.  We believe that the kids in the program have something important to say and will do anything we can to help them say it.

I should point out that these children are exceeding all expectations in the Common Core State Standards for responding to literature, writing narratives, gathering information through digital sources, revising based on input from teachers and peers, and using proper grammar and spelling (although we did discuss the use of dialect, the power of The Color Purple and accurate portrayal of characters).  But don't tell them they are exceeding Common Core Standards -- they think they're just having fun.

I look at these children, happily working away on their own time, when they could be home watching television or playing video games, and the contrast between them and the picture concerned parent Jeanette Deutermann draws of children dealing with state assessments:

We saw our children crying at night over months and months of test prepping homework. We heard our children say, “please don’t make me go to school”. We saw our 8, 9 and 10 year olds wake in the middle of the night asking, “What will happen if I do bad on the test?” On test days we watched our children break out in hives, refuse to eat, throw up, lock themselves in school bathrooms, shake, sob, and lose their smiles. These are not isolated instances, but an epidemic. (You can read Deutermann's full account here.)

 The atmosphere created by high stakes testing is draining away the energy and joy our students naturally have when it comes to learning.  The good news is that it pops right back when children are placed in a supportive, purpose driven environment.  We learn to read, write and do arithmetic in order to communicate with each other and solve life's problems.  We learn in order to be citizens.  The kids in LEAP, given that opportunity, are engaged and excited about learning.  And that brings me back to my second truth: I am the luckiest person in the world.  Why?  Because I get to watch what kids can do, watch them take charge, grow and learn -- and I get to help them do it.  There is nothing more rewarding.

What Outcomes Are We Assessing?

Given the way we bicker over high stakes testing, the Common Core, merit pay, and other educational reforms and policies, it may be hard to believe that teachers, parents and policy makers all want the same things for our children – positive outcomes.  If we all want our children to do well, why can’t we agree? The answer is that we define “positive outcomes” in many different ways.  In our increasingly test-driven educational system, the policy makers have taken control of that definition.  Positive outcomes has come to mean high test scores on standardized exams.  I remember pushing my son to study for the SAT and re-take it until he got a number that would become a golden ticket to admission to the right university and, following graduation with another number (a GPA of 3.5 or higher), a successful life.  The focus on that number as an indication of the value of a child’s education and his or her potential for a successful life has filled our vision to the exclusion of all else.  The child’s success, the teacher’s job and salary, the fate of the school and the future of our nation have all been tied to that number.

Imagine a child, number two pencil clutched in her hand, prodded and prepped for this moment, carefully filling in circles that will determine so many futures.  She reads a passage from Letter from Rifka describing a girl, about her age, arriving in the U.S. from Russia.  There is much that is compelling in this passage – Rifka’s yearning to be reunited with her parents; her unexplained baldness; the difficulties and delays on the journey; her first glimpse of Lady Liberty, holding up her lamp – but, after reading this passage, the child is asked three questions about basic facts (who is speaking, where is she traveling from, what does she see first in NY harbor) and two vocabulary questions (the meaning of “assist” and “clever”).  How does this young girl read this passage?  Does she scan it for quick answers to the factual questions?  Slide her finger over the text until she finds the word “assist” or “clever” and then focus on that sentence alone?  Let us say that our young scholar gets all five questions right – is this the positive outcome we were looking for? (This example comes from the California StandardsTest for 3rd grade.)

If this young girl were in the LEAP program, we would talk about the similarities and differences between Rifka and herself.  We would wonder what it would feel like to be separated from ones parents by an ocean for a long period of time.  We would ask if we could have endured the journey.  We would hypothesize about the causes of Rifka’s baldness and wonder how it felt to see the Statue of Liberty rising on the horizon, light shining from her uplifted hand.  We would journal about these questions, write our own letters about similar situations, act out scenes, talk about our families and a hundred other things I can’t imagine at this moment because the children would instigate them.  Let us imagine that the same young girl, in the LEAP program, wrote an imaginary letter to a cousin about a trip she had taken.  Perhaps there would be some spelling errors – which we would note and correct – but the importance of the writing would be to understand an important time in U.S. history and connect it to our lives now. Is this the positive outcome we are looking for?

I know many excellent teachers who strive for the same kinds of outcomes that LEAP works for.  However, unlike LEAP, they must also prepare students for the kind of exams that ask “Where is Rifka traveling from?” and the time they have to pursue less easily measured gains is cut short. 

Imagine also a parent listening in as a child moves his cars around the floor, narrating the adventures imaginary people are having.  “Oh no . . . the road is blocked!  But “Crash!” in comes super truck, and the obstacle is removed.  “Thank you, thank you!” squeals a high pitched voice, “now we can go to the store!”  The deepest voice the child can muster replies: “No problem!  Glad to help.”  And the parent grins, imagining a future for her son – will he be in some helping profession like firefighter?  Will he always be so polite and say “thank you” and “glad to help”?  Will he always have a vibrant imagination, turning trucks into superheroes?  And, please God, will he always be as happy as he is in this moment? Are these the positive outcomes we are looking for?  Do we teach or test them in our current educational system?

Parents want the best for their children.  We’ve been told that the best is a high score on a standardized test.  And there are valuable things that children learn that can be measured that way.  But the truly important things in life – wonder, discovery, imagination, community – cannot be measured by a multiple choice question.  And we do want our children to learn these things and they can be learned in school.  I know that I experienced many of these things in my own education (long before No Child was left behind and we all started Racing to the Top).  Accountability for schools, teachers and children is not a bad thing – but before we go any farther along this path, we have to ask, “accountable for what?”

Education of the people, by the people, for the people

As a philosopher, I often step back and look at things with an eye for large patterns.  It is easy to get caught up in the day-to-day struggle -- which is so important -- and to become mired in questions about this or that practice or the contours of one particular event.  It is vital that we engage on that close to the ground level.  We must act thoughtfully where the rubber hits the road.  But it is also important to step back and look at the road itself. Where are we going?  Why this road?  What is the destination?  With that in mind, I began to think about why we have public education, with the hope that the answer to that question can be used to guide thoughtful engagement on the ground.

My concern is with public education in the United States.  It is public education -- funded by federal, state and local government and provided to all.  Why do we have such a system?  Why does our government -- a government "of the people, by the people, for the people" feel that educating young people is important?

Our government is "of the people."  Our leaders are not blue-blooded nobles, of some separate caste from the majority of citizens.  We serve in the government.  Our leaders are elected from among us and asked to take on the task of guiding all of us.  But they have no special "divine right" to rule, no innate quality that makes them suitable -- each and every mayor and city councilperson, congressional representative and senator, governor and judge, president and county clerk is one of us.  For that reason, we want to make sure that all of our children are well educated and prepared to take on the task of leadership, should they choose to run and should we choose to elect them.  Looking at a group of children -- from the 5 year old who tells an endless story punctuated with "and you know what?" to the teenage who asks why reading Shakespeare is necessary -- we cannot know which of them will be our government in 30 years.  So our schools must provide the information and skills they will need to make wise decisions for the rest of us.  Our schools must develop the leaders who are "of the people."

At the same time, our government is "by the people."  The electing of this representative or that one is done by your friends and neighbors.  The decision of guilty or not guilty is made by that kid who was sitting next to you in history class, doodling on her desk.  I have listened to people complain that they should not have to pay for the education of other people's children, because they do not have children in the public school system themselves.  But we are not so independent of one another.  Your future is in the hands of all the citizens of the United States -- they vote and sit on juries, they organize political rallies and pay (or don't pay) their taxes.  And each of the decisions they make impacts you.  So our schools must provide the information and skills they will need to make wise decisions for all of us.  We must prepare the next generation of citizens who will run our government "by the people."

Last, our government is "for the people."  As a governmental enterprise, education improves the "common wealth" -- well educated people enrich our lives by creating business that both improve the economy and provide us with goods and services we need.  Well-educated people enrich our lives by writing the novels, plays, television shows and movies that entertain and move us.  Well-educated people enrich our lives through innovation that transforms our lives -- from smart phones to symphonies.  Being well educated is a joy.  Our schools must provide the rich cultural heritage and the business skills needed to develop new ideas and share them with others.  Our schools must be "for the people" by enriching our lives.

What does this mean for public education?  We could have a meaningful discussion about content.  Surely our students need to understand the history of the United States, so that they can participate in the democratic process thoughtfully.  Students need science and math, so they can understand the challenges we face and work to overcome them.  Students need the humanities to enrich their lives and ours.  Students need a trade, so that they can contribute to the economy.  But there is one thing that all students need whether to be leaders, citizens, or enriched (and enriching) individuals.  They must all learn to think and to think well.

Yes, all of us think all the time.  But our school system must teach our children how to evaluate the ideas of others, what to make of the evidence they are presented, how to develop a new idea and test it, how to challenge ideas so that the new ideas that move us forward are tempered through public debate.  Critical thinking is the most important thing that our schools can offer to children -- and to us -- because we want smart, thoughtful people to lead us in 30 years.

What does that mean when we return from this foray into philosophy and return to the everyday struggle?  It means that when we consider the value of high stakes testing, we ask ourselves, "Does this promote critical thinking?"  When we wonder about the Common Core, we ask ourselves, "Does this promote critical thinking?"  When we choose a textbook, set up assessment systems, work out an IEP, decide whether to suspend a student, deal with bullies, have a guest speaker or write up a worksheet, we stop and ask ourselves, "Does this promote critical thinking?"

What would education look like if promoting critical thinking was the primary goal?  Would it look like the public education system we have?  Or would it be dramatically different?  Let me know what you think in the comments below.

Never Doubt . . .

The kids in the LEAP summer program in New Orleans are tying up their third week -- one more to go!  Although I am in Syracuse, watching the progress from afar, I couldn't be more excited about what the kids are learning.

First, the kids are voracious readers!  The program is committed to having each child go home with one book that she or he has read.  To that end, we bought well over 100 books before the camp began.  But the kids have gobbled those up and we've order two more shipments of books over the weeks.  How wonderful!  (Of course, that means our budget is greater than we had expected -- but it's worth it!  If you'd like to help out, there's a "Donate Now" link above!)  From Dr. Seuss to Walter Dean Myers, these kids are inhaling books with rich language and rich messages.  I'm so proud of them -- and of the fabulous teachers who are helping them improve their reading skills.

The younger elementary kids (1st-3rd) continue with their problem-solving.  (See our recent post "Is a Party a Problem?")  The second and third graders met together this week -- and the second graders had difficult news for the third graders -- their menu had too many calories!  (They wanted fried chicken, pizza and wings -- and cupcakes and strawberry shortcake and peach cobbler -- and, of course, crawfish!)  So the two groups are working together to plan a menu and activities that keeps the net calories gained from the event down to 100.  Isn't that amazing?  When you were in second grade, could you have understood the phrase "net calories below 100"?

The older elementary kids (4th - middle school) are developing their own problem statements in response to the fabulous literature they are reading.  Two groups are reading The One and Only Ivan.  One is working on animal cruelty, the other is looking at what art is -- and learning about Jackson Pollock.  Do you think that Pollack's work (which many of these kids feel they could recreate easily) is art?

The oldest kids are working on their own life plans -- if they want to be a lawyer or a mechanic; a teacher or a doctor -- how do they get there?

And the rising 5th graders, who are reading Number the Stars, are developing a report on bullying.  They have done extensive research and are thinking of ways to respond to bullying situations.  Who would have guessed that reading a book about the Holocaust would lead to problem-solving about bullying?  Perhaps the brave work of the Danish people, who systematically smuggled all the Danish Jews to Sweden -- beyond Nazi reach -- inspired them.  The beauty of the problem-based learning approach is that the kids are encouraged to take the project in a direction that is meaningful to them -- so they made the connection between Nazis and bullies and are thoughtfully committed to changing their own worlds!

More updates as the program goes into its last week after the Independence Day holiday.

Common Core -- friend or foe?

I'm torn about the Common Core movement.  Yes, there are problems with implementation -- you can't test something that hasn't been taught yet.  But setting that to one side -- what do you think about the common core itself?

I'm impressed with the standards that I've seen -- they emphasize skills, mostly critical thinking, research and writing skills.  These are skills I value highly and would love to see all my students come to college with.  But I work in my little corner of the world (academia) and, while I prize these skills, I wonder what others think.

I also wonder about how people are working out the details of turning standards into actual lesson plans.  How creative can you be?   Are you forced to use problem-based learning, if that is not your style?  (One reader raised -- and dismissed that concern.)  How will differentiated instruction work with the Common Core?

Many of you are working on this right now -- how are you finding the process?  Is it exciting and fruitful -- or another top down mandate that blacks your ability to teach?  Let's get a conversation going in the comments section.

Is a Party a Problem?

We're back in Syracuse -- but the problem solving continues in New Orleans.  We kicked off the four week, problem-based learning program, spending that first week in the classroom.  Now, we are watching the kids' progress from afar -- just as you are by reading this blog!  Here's what's going on in the K-3 classes:

Our youngest students were astounded to find out that an egg had been stolen from the camp kitchen.  Fortunately, they are reading the Nate the Great series of detective books and offered to help us find the culprit.  (Perhaps the thief wanted to make some pancakes, like Nate?)  They learned a lot about eggs and considered all the possible uses the thief might have for one.  They have hidden (and found!) eggs, dyed eggs and checked to see how strong an egg is.  But then, on Friday, the thief stole some flour!!  Now they are investigating all the things a person could use flour for . . . although they are beginning to suspect that the thief is planning on baking something!  Furthermore, the flour was stolen from a very high shelf -- so the thief may be an adult -- or a very good climber!  They are developing their problem-solving skills -- logic and observation -- learning about scientific method and generally having a blast!

The rising 2nd and 3rd graders have a different problem to solve -- how do you throw a party for 100 kids?  The 2nd graders will be planning the party activities and the 3rd graders are planning the food.  They both have honed their math skills -- you do need math to figure out how many packages of a dozen cupcakes you need to buy to ensure that all 100 kids get one.  They are working on their social skills -- do you order a little extra to make sure no one goes hungry?  How do you coordinate your plans with the other class?  And they are reading and writing -- sending me updates and receiving further instructions by email.  (As well as reading about food and activities.  They are all reading Junie B Jones books about parties, too!)

The fun and the learning continues -- we miss them so much, but it is so much fun to get their email updates!

We're so glad we had this time together

I missed posting yesterday -- it's been so busy -- and today is our Syracuse volunteers' last day. We head up north again first thing tomorrow morning. 

The program, however, continues until the middle of July and we will continue to update the blog so you can keep up with the projects the children are working on. 

This afternoon, as I walked around the empty building, already missing the kids, I noticed how much of what was up on the walls was in their voices. This is the distinctive quality of the LEAP program: we place the children's voices front and center. 

For example, in morning meeting we shared the quote attributed to Mohandis Gandhi, "Be the change you wish to see in the world."  But we presented the sentence to the kids with the words "change" and "see" removed. We let them finish the sentence in their own way. Now the poster is up on the wall with one of the kids' choices showing:

"Be the real you you wish to be in the world."  So Trent Duchane, rather than Gandhi, is the author every child will see as he or she passes by. 

Here's Trent -- front row, far right. 

Stirring Up Problems

Today our teachers had some well deserved rest in the French Quarter, but only after another great day working with the kids at All Souls. 

We are running a child-centered program, with an emphasis on problem-based learning. Working with a 1:6 teacher/student ratio, we can give children individualized attention.

But even more than that, we can empower the kids to take on and solve the problems they most care about. 

We've introduced them to other children who have made a huge impact on our world (watch Cassandra Lin's TED talk when you get the chance!). And we've encouraged them to be the change they want to see in the world. 

So they are beginning to brainstorm about what problems they would like to tackle. Here's a list generated by our rising 4th graders:

100 ounces of fun!

We're having an amazing day at LEAP's summer literacy camp.  Section 8 (rising 4th graders) played addition/subtraction football -- you can see the offense adding three numbers to see how many yards they advanced (but the defense will soon subtract three numbers and push them back!). 

The rising 1st & 2nd graders learned about the amazing structural strength of domes by piling books on eggs. (Not to worry, the eggs were in a ziplock bag that contained the mess!)

The eggs held 16 pounds!!

But the highlight of the day was the punch made by section 7. After learning base 8, the children used that knowledge to figure out how many cups of various ingredients were needed to make punch for all 98 kids in camp. One of the ingredients called for 100 ounces!  After figuring out the math, they made and served punch to everyone; being good hosts, they served themselves last. 

The Adventure Begins!

Today was the first day of camp!  It was a sultry day ("sultry" is a new word the upper elementary learned today while reading Saki's short story, "The Storyteller."). But we had a blast!  We're working with 98 kids --  all of them reading great literature and tackling ways that they can change the world. 

Here you can see two of our upper elementary students digging into the Newbery Award winning The One and Only Ivan. I can't wait to see what themes they pull out of this complex text that deals with everything from animal cruelty to the power of art. 

More updates to come!

New Orleans or Bust!

It's time to hit the road!  Tomorrow morning, at the crack of dawn, 12 excited teachers will climb into two vans and head south. It's time for LEAP's annual summer literacy camp in the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans!  We are again working with All Souls Episcopal Church and Community Center and many of the same wonderful children we've gotten to know over the years. This year we have a new partner, St. Anna's Artscape program.  All of this is possible because of your generous donations and support. Thank you!

Our problem-based learning curriculum is called "Changing the World!"  We're encouraging the kids in the program to tackle an issue in their communities and work collaboratively and creatively to develop solutions. (The program was inspired by the group of 5th graders who attended last year's "Use Your Words" camp and decided to write to their mayor with specific suggestions to curtail gun violence in their neighborhood.). So, we're expecting great things!

If you'd like to follow our adventures, please sign up to follow by email in the box on the bottom right. Today's blog is my first mobile submission, as I'm making sure the system works. We'll be sending you pictures and info all summer long!

Off we go!

What Our Children Need

Two big opportunities to have your voice heard on education matters come your way this week.  Tonight (yep, tonight!) there is a meeting at Henninger High School from 6:30-8:00 p.m. with 4 members of the school board and Superintendent Sharon Contreras, who will listen to parents and teachers.  The board members have said that they will not speak themselves, but want to hear your concerns. And Saturday, June 8 there is a rally in Albany from noon to 2 where concerned people can speak out about high stakes testing and the Common Core. 

Gaby Testani, LEAP teacher, working with 2 students.  Just 2. 

On Saturday, LEAP will be on our way down to New Orleans for the kick-off of our annual summer literacy camp in the Lower Ninth Ward, so we won't be at the rally.  If we were, what would we say?

Children do not need tons of technological gizmos to increase their learning (and, incidentally, increase the profit of Bill Gates, who is the major force pushing for the Common Core, and the CEO of the company that will then sell software to the school systems to implement it).  We do not need a one-size fits all Common Core and standardized testing that turns children into numbers.  What kids need is a caring adult in their lives who is professionally trained to work with them in a responsive and individualized way.  In other words, what kids need are good teachers -- and plenty of them. 

The teachers I know are smart and caring.  The wealth of knowledge they have about how children learn as well as about content areas is amazing!  But even greater than that wealth of knowledge is the personal commitment they have to reach each and every child.  But we have taken these caring professionals and placed them in a situation that is nearly intolerable.  Current educational policy removes decision making from teachers and local school boards in order and places it with nationwide programs.  (I hesitate to call them "federal" programs, since the Common Core has been driven by the Gates Foundation and other non-governmental organizations.) 

I've seen what can happen when children get direct attention from a well-trained, caring adult.  When a teacher has time to work one-on-one with a child a number of things get transmitted, other than the information itself.  The child learns that she is important and that the material is important -- both are receiving valuable attention. Most importantly, the child learns that her understanding of and responses to the information is important.  Someone wants to know what she thinks about this!  This kind of teaching has so many benefits -- it sparks creativity and engagement and it prepares children to take part in a democratic society, to make their voices heard.  But what do we need in order to provide this kind of education to our children?

1.  Great teacher training.  Teachers are professionals who need a broad range of knowledge (a liberal arts education!) and specific training in educational theory and practice.
2.  Retention of great teachers.  Teachers are not babysitters, nor are they tech aides who need only turn the computer on.  As well trained professionals, they need to be supported the way other professionals are.  That means a decent salary, a manageable work load and support in the form of assistants and resources.
3.  A small teacher/student ratio.  I've watched amazing teachers give so much of themselves -- in classrooms from 20-30 students.  But to truly care for kids, smaller classes are a must.  At LEAP we work for a 1/5 teacher student ratio or better, and it does make a difference.  I know that is an expensive proposition -- but surely something better than 1/20 is attainable!  (Imagine yourself in a room with 15 eight year-olds.  Could you give them direct, individualized attention?)
4.  Time to teach (less time on test preparation and test administration).  One teacher estimates that she spends 26% of her school year on testing.

If you can make it to Henninger tonight or Albany on Saturday, please do so.  If you can't (because you're in a van on the way to New Orleans or something!), please write a letter to your school board and/or legislators.  Our children need a system that works for them!

Fighting the Big Bullies in our Schools

I just read a wonderful blog post comparing the testing companies to bullies.  We all know the hallmarks of bullying -- daily abuse, an insistence that if you complain it will be worse, bystanders either doing nothing or egging on the bully out of fear of being bullied themselves.  We also know what we recommend -- talk to an adult, get help.  And parents and teachers are taught to recognize that a weepy or withdrawn child who perhaps doesn't want to go to school might be the victim of bullying.  In his blog, Phil Bildner draws connections to each of these characteristics of bullying.  Our stressed out children do not want to go to school. Testing and test prep have seeped into the daily lives of school children, if they or their parents complain they are met with threats, teachers and administrators go along, because they, too, are victims of this bully.  It's a compelling analogy -- and it calls on us to stand up to this bully.  It has to stop.

Stories of Hope: Asean Johnson

I'm an optimistic person.  The closing of 50 schools in the Chicago Public School system could be a story of despair.  But, for a moment, I'm looking at the silver -- heavens, a golden! -- lining in this mess.  And that beautiful, shining streak of hope is Asean Johnson.

Asean is 9 years old and attends Marcus Garvey Elementary.  He has been speaking out about his school for months.  Asean is not only intelligent, he is dedicated and well educated.  He can build a logical argument and support his points with facts, examples and quotations.  He's writing well above grade level, according to the Common Core Standards!  But more than that, he is using those skills with purpose.  He has passion.  He is engaging in a democracy by using his free speech to become an active member of our political system.  Remember, he's only 9!!

Watch the video of his speech at a rally a few days before the school board's vote on the closings.  Seriously, watch the video.  It's 3 minutes you won't regret and which will lift your spirits.  Some people look at Asean and wonder if we're looking at the next Martin Luther King, Jr.  Some have suggested that Asean run for mayor (once he's old enough).  I am confident that Asean can be just about anything he wants to be.

Of course, I believe that about all of our children.  When children are encouraged to use the skills they learn in school to work for goals they feel passionate about they are turned on.  They become passionate.  Asean Johnson is not, necessary, an anomaly.  He is an example of the kind of intelligent engagement we could be encouraging in all of our children.  What is astounding about Asean is that he has had the will to develop that intelligent engagement in the face of a deadening school system. 

When the Chicago School Board came together to decide the fate of 54 schools last Wednesday, they faced a lot of opposition from parents and teachers.  They also faced Asean Johnson.  In the end, the board voted to close 50 of those schools.  Marcus Garvey was not one of them.  I suspect that Asean Johnson may be one of the reasons why.

"Look for the Helpers"

Our hearts go out to the people of Oklahoma, especially the children who were in school when the tornado hit.  It's been a tough Spring -- Boston; West, TX; Bangladesh.  And each time something happens we are reminded of the advice that Mr. Rogers heard from his mother and has passed on to us -- "Look for the helpers.  You will always find people who are helping."  Once again, we are in crisis mode, and once again the amazing people of the United States are stepping up.  Donations are pouring in.  Oklahoma City will be rebuilt.  We will move forward.

There are different kinds of helpers, however.  There are the crisis moment helpers -- some of the bravest and most wonderful people you will ever meet.  Firefighters, EMTs, neighbors, the National Guard, doctors, nurses, volunteers -- I can't imagine how we would ever make it without these people.  But some helpers look at things at a different scale.  Last night Bill Nye was on CNN with Piers Morgan and they spoke about the possibility that the severity of this storm was caused by climate change.  Nye made the point that 10 of the last 12 years have been the hottest on record and that thunderstorms (including tornado storms) are driven by heat.  The conclusion is obvious.  I remember Bill Nye talking about what humans do to our environment when my children watched him in the late 90s.  He mentioned the effects of global warming on hurricanes on Larry King after Hurricane Katrina, 8 years ago.  Nye is looking beyond the immediate crisis and is trying to find the causes of the crises.  He, too, is a helper.

I am reminded by Dom Helder Camara's famous quote: "When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint.  When I ask why they are poor, they call me a communist."  We need people who give food to the poor -- but we also need "communists."  We need people who will look for the causes and seek to rectify them.  These people do not fill our airwaves, we do not have 24/7 coverage of the search for causes the way we do have 24/7 coverage of the search for survivors.  It is long, painstaking work.  But the people who do it are helpers, too.  They are trying to make the changes that help us avoid crises in the future.

At LEAP we are also trying to work on the long term changes needed to forstall disaster for children living in poverty.  Sometimes it is easier to see and identify with the pain of a crisis -- it is very clear and our response is immediate and heartfelt.  It is more difficult to see the pain of ongoing, grinding poverty and hunger.  But it, too, destroys lives.  Today, our focus is on Oklahoma.  But tomorrow, we will roll up our sleeves and continue working on the chronic problems facing some wonderful children.  I hope you'll help.

Factories, Schools, Creativity and Fascists

I had a lovely lunch with one of New York state’s newest teachers this week.  We talked about our summer program, chatted about jobs and friends, and – as can be expected – complained about the pressures facing teachers in the current educational environment.    Students are expected to drill and drill, in order to excel at a standardized test – all their work and knowledge rendered down to a number.  And teachers are expected  to robotically fulfill Common Core requirements, spending much of their time proving they are “performing” according to an externally determined plan (for the Annual  Professional Performance Review), rather than teaching.  As a philosopher, I couldn’t help but see the underlying world-view motivating educational “reform” in the United States.  We act as if schools are factories, inhabited by bustling workers (teachers), churning out well-tuned and tested machines (students).  If students were automobiles, then we could standardized the way we produced them and we could test them carefully and discard the lemons.  A quality control officer could discover where mistakes are made and the factory workers (teachers) could be judged by how efficiently they worked.  That would be great if students were automobiles – but they aren’t.

                Teaching is an art.  Students are complex, self-moving people.   And – most importantly – what each child brings to school each day is variable and outside of the teacher’s control.  If teaching is an art, we might compare students to lumps of clay that the teacher molds into beautiful and useful objects.  But there is more than one kind of clay, with variable plasticity, differing porousness, color, etc.  And if you don’t get your clay from an art store, already highly processed, there will be sticks, pebbles, roots, and other debris in it.  The same is true of our students.  Each child has her or his own qualities, strengths, and weaknesses.  Some come to us highly “processed” – like clay from an art store.  Perhaps they spent the first 5 years of their lives surrounded by books, talking to college-educated parents, playing on computers or tablets, and visiting museums.  But other children come to us with great natural intelligence that has not been processed and prepared in the same way for the school system.  A teacher needs to meet children where they are, adapt to their abilities and interests and assist them in discovering the world.  But students are more than clay.  Unlike clay, which the potter can control, children can resist, redirect, misunderstand, and, in general, respond to teaching in surprising ways.  This is a good thing!  We want children to be engaged learners who take on the project of gaining knowledge as active participants.  We do not want children to sit passively and repeat what they are told.  Tape recorders can do that – but children are people, not machines.

                When I first became a teacher, I met with the usual frustrations.  Students didn’t respond to my lessons the way I had intended.   They took up assignments in ways I hadn’t anticipated.  They found every loophole in my rules.  Like many new teachers, I responded by tightening up my instructions, filling in the loopholes, mandating conformity.  I could feel the resentment from my students and I was uncomfortable in the role of police officer.  And still they didn’t act the way I had planned for them to act.  Tightening my grip only made them slip through my fingers more.  I might get outside conformity, but I knew I was losing them.  With time, and confidence, I began to let go.  I took on the unexpected as a good thing – I gave more open assignments, solicited student input, and began to look forward to the surprises my students would bring me.  And learning started happening – both for the students and for me.   I am fortunate enough to teach on the college level, where state mandated testing and performance evaluations do not constrain me.  What I learned, however, carries over to primary and secondary education – learning and conformity do not mix.

                Today’s public school teachers do not have that freedom.  While the teachers I know are creative and confident and could easily engage their students as individuals and really teach them – they are being forced to conform by state and federal controls and they, in turn, are forced to make their students conform as well.  As I said to my friend at lunch, we are raising good fascists, but we are not teaching.  

Literature and Life

LEAP is getting very excited about our upcoming summer program, Changing the World!  Many a sobbing teenager has equated her anguish with Juliet's or felt her parents were as unfeeling as Matilda's.  Our hope is to link literature to larger social issues, while encouraging the kids to take action and to feel that they can make a difference.

For example, the rising fourth graders will read The One and Only Ivan, a poetic Newbery Award winning novel about a noble gorilla who has been put on display at a run-down mall and flea market.  Ivan struggles to understand himself and the humans around him -- some helpful, some cruel -- using art to express his feelings and to champion the rights of little Ruby, the baby elephant who shares his fate.  As the children read and discuss the novel, they will be encouraged to consider one issue that the book raises for them.  It could be animal cruelty; it could be the role of art in social change; it could be issues of identity.  Once the kids agree on a topic, they will research the issue and develop a response.  They will then choose an audience (the local zoo? their peers?  their teachers?) and a medium (a letter?  a report?  a PowerPoint presentation?) appropriate to how they want to change the world.  Last, they will present that final product to the appropriate person(s).  This is literacy in action -- being moved by what you read, reading more to learn about an issue, writing to express a reasoned opinion and to communicate with others your plans, dreams, hopes.

Other literature we will be using include Nate the Great and Junie B. Jones for the younger children.  The oldest kids will be reading S. E. Hinton's The Outsiders, Judy Blume's Blubber and Walter Dean Myers' Scorpions.  (Maybe they will think about the gun violence that plagues our nation -- especially after the shootings on Mothers' Day in New Orleans!)

Stay tuned to this blog for updates on how the summer is going (the program runs from June 10 - July 12).  And please donate (there's a link above) to help us buy all these lovely books for the children.  We want every kid to go home with a piece of literature that she or he has read, and dog-earred, and loved!

A Selective School for Syracuse?

On Tuesday, the Syracuse City School Board will consider Superintendent Sharon Contreras’ proposal for a selective school, to be called Syracuse Latin.  Students who attend a selective school must pass an exam in order to be accepted, with the idea being that the best students would get the chance to have their gifts and drive nurtured in an academically rigorous environment.  But is this a good idea?

My first reaction to hearing a word like “selective” was to wonder if these schools end up becoming another way to exclude the poor and people of color from the benefits of the best education.  I was wrong.  It turns out that at most selective schools in our country, thepercentages of students of color and students from working class backgrounds are higher.  I was intrigued and continued my research.

Three questions emerged for me as I continued to read about selective schools.  Of course, I wondered how effective they are.  The results are mixed.  A recent study found that selective (or “exam” schools) have a 91% graduation rate and offer more college-aimed classes like advanced placement and international baccalaureate courses.  But another study (this one from England where there are numerous such schools) shows that selective schools are no better (and no worse) than other schools when it comes to social mobility.  The schools did not provide a significant stepping stone for working class students to become middle class, in other words.   And it seems that these schools do not raise test scores for these students (who would have high test scores anyway).  None of these studies could quantify the self-esteem gained from being chosen to attend a selective school nor could they measure the richness the broad course offerings add to a young person’s life.

A second question – which I could not find any data on – was whether the “brain drain” that a selective school might create has an adverse effect on the rest of the school system.  Selective schools tout the fact that students are surrounded by other serious, hard-working young people, but that would mean that the remaining schools in the system have fewer model students to inspire others.

My last question has to do with the curriculum offered at selective schools.  The proposed selective school in Syracuse will be called “Syracuse Latin,” like one of the most prestigious selective schools in the country: Boston Latin.  (Many selective schools have a “Latin” curriculum.)  Although students at Syracuse Latin will not be required to learn the language, the curriculum will be a classical one – something along the lines of Mortimer Adler’s emphasis onthe classical texts of the Western tradition.  This emphasis on content over pedagogy and on the West over other cultures troubles me.

There is one important difference between the proposed Syracuse Latin and other selective schools in the US.  While most of our selective schools are high schools, Contreras proposes that Syracuse Latin cover grades K-5.  This is an unusual step.  What exam will determine, at the age of 4, that a child is suited for this selective schooling?  And how will the curriculum be tailored to this younger age group?

What are your thoughts on a selective school for Syracuse?  Share them here and with the school board.

Stories of Hope: Dawn Loggins

Dawn Loggins's story is exceptional.  She is at Harvard now, after struggling with homelessness and poverty, growing up in North Carolina.  She made the news last Spring as she approached her high school graduation, a straight-A student who had earned a full ride to Harvard.  If ever there was a story of picking oneself up by one's own bootstraps -- this is it, yes?  Well, no.

All students need support -- they need food and shelter, clothing and books, people to believe in them.  And Dawn received that.  We think that people get that kind of support from their families -- what is exceptional about Dawn is that the community of Lawnsdale, NC and the fine people at her high school stepped in and provided that support when her family was not able to do so.  From individuals who provided things like candles, so the teen could study at night (her family did not have electricity) to the programs that provided a janitorial job, it took a village to get Dawn to Harvard.  And, one should note, Harvard's huge endowment makes it possible to offer full scholarships to students like Dawn.  So Dawn did not pull up her own bootstraps -- she had a lot of help.

But Dawn is exceptional.  She had the intelligence and the spirit to make it.  No one learned all the material for her, no one else sat up late at night studying, no one else could grab a quick bite to eat in the janitor's closet, finish the cleaning and then hurry to class.  Dawn is amazing!  It is because of her exceptional intelligence and courage that the village she needed was drawn to her and helped out.

This story gives us hope.  There are good people and wonderful organizations and endowments that can step in and help a student in need.  People do not have to fall through the cracks.  But it also gives us pause.  What about all the non-exceptional, solid, hard-working, good kids who don't catch the village's eye?  A C and B student from the suburbs, with a solid home and decent schools can get to college with reasonable effort.  But a student living in poverty, one of the many (16 million!) children in the United States who have to think about hunger and the light bill, and manages to get Cs and Bs -- will these children get help from others to let them make it, too?  That's where we need to step in as a society -- to make sure that we really don't leave any children behind.

Dawn remains amazing.  From news accounts, it appears she is doing well at Harvard.  A quick look at her Facebook page shows that she is going to be one of those exceptional people who helps those who struggle with poverty.  (She has asked for privacy on Facebook, so don't rush off and friend her!  But I did see some very nice posts.  She's a wonderful person.)  We need lots of Dawns to help out those, like her, who are exceptional -- but held back by poverty -- and to help many more good, solid students who may not stand out, like Dawn, but who deserve a shot nonetheless.

Diversity and the Syracuse City School Board

It’s time for the two parties to choose candidates for the Syracuse City School Board – and the Democrats are struggling with how much “diversity” they will have in their line-up.  According to an article on Syracuse.com this morning, Democrats are facing pressure to nominate candidates of color.  Because the children in our schools are predominately students of color (only 26% of the students are white), advocates such as Walt Dixie of the Alliance Network are pushing for a choice of at least two candidates of color.   (The Democrats will nominate three).

The choice, according to Michelle Breidenbach and Paul Riede, of the Post-Standard, is between politically connected white candidates and up and coming candidates of color.  But it seems to me that this description of the choice is too simplistic – and misses the point.  It is not that we need people with a certain skin tone – we need people who understand that racism exists and seek to change that.  So, rather than looking at the box someone checks on a census form, a careful look at their activities, experience and attitudes.  With that in mind, I did some research and there are some real stand-outs in the field of candidates:

1.       Taino Palermo is dedicated to helping students make it through high school.  He’s formed a non-profit organization called Outliers, Inc., designed to help students who are not expected to succeed in our society do just that.  Taino is himself an “outlier” – a person who doesn’t fit the statistical expectations for his group – and he wants to help other “underserved, underrepresented urban youth” do the same.  What an excellent choice for the school board!

2.     Derrick Dorsey is the director of the CommunityWide Dialogue to End Racism (which organizes the annual Duck Race to End Racism) and also promotes Seeds of Peace, a camp in Maine that teaches young people how to resolve conflict. 

3.      David Cecile was principal of Henninger High School and, even though he lived in Brewerton at the time, brought his daughters to school there so they would grow up with diversity.  This shows a personal commitment to multiculturalism.

Now I haven’t told you what color these people are – does it matter?  If you know any of the candidates personally, I’d love to hear your input in the comments section below.  There is much more to a person than you can find on their resume.  But my main point is to choose candidates who will support our children, who understand the challenges children of color face, who believe that all children can succeed and will work to help them do just that. 

Your thoughts?

What we do

Literacy Empowers All People – or LEAP – was born when Le Moyne College education students Becca Gray and Maggie Donohue traveled to the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans to help rebuild after Katrina.  As education students, they saw needs beyond the rebuilding of homes, as important as that is.  They both volunteered in an afterschool program and saw that the storm, combined with poverty, had created enormous educational deficits for the children in the Lower Nine.  The decision was made to offer literacy education over the summer – and LEAP began.

The first summer, we worked with 52 children in the Lower Nine for one week.  Now, our program, which combines progressive education with an anti-racist curriculum, serves over 100 children every summer.  This year, we are offering a 4 week problem-based learning program that draws on literature and music, art and ingenuity to help students address problems of their own choosing. 

And LEAP is growing elsewhere.  We plan on bringing our program back home to Syracuse – again addressing children who live in poverty and do not have the resources that other students have.  Living in poverty can lead to poor nutrition, increased stress in the home, health issues and a lack of educational resources (such as books and computers) in the home.  And all of those effects lead to poor educational attainment.  Children who live in poverty have only 45% of the vocabulary of a child who is raised in a middle-class home.   These struggling readers will then have extra challenges in all subjects – where the text book may be incomprehensible.  Even the instructions for homework can be a challenge to read. 

So LEAP reaches out to these children.  We strive to show them that they are smart, they have something to say, and they can find ways to say it through literacy.  We provide fun, stimulating educational experiences that will, hopefully, show these wonderful children that the extra hard work that they will have to put into their education is worth it. 

All of this, of course, takes money.  We provide children with books they can take home with them when the program is over, we use craft supplies and journals and pencils, pens and crayons.  Your support can really make a difference for a child who, through only the accident of where they were born, has to work twice as hard to get a high school diploma or college degree as other children.  Please consider donating.  We’re getting ready to launch this summer’s program and will immediately put your gift to good use.  (You’ll see a Donate Now! link above.)

Stories of Hope: Children’s Lifesaving Foundation

It’s Monday, and it’s gray outside.  Karen Carpenter is running around the back of my mind singing “Rainy days and Mondays always get me down . . .”

So here’s a little ray of sunshine to brighten up a gray day.  Maria D’Angelo, who grew up poor in New York City, became a teacher.  And we all know what that means – so much more than a profession!  Something happens when a teacher looks at a problem – there is both the intelligence and problem solving ability and the heart that leads to a program like D’Angelo’s Children’s Lifesaving Foundation.  Starting with helping one homeless child who couldn’t read in 1990, D’Angelo has now built an organization of 250 volunteers that works to get the most vulnerable children in our society to college.  The Children’s Lifesaving Foundation has provided 45 students with four year scholarships – after working to make sure that the students were prepared to take on that challenge. 

Read more about CLF here – or visit theirwebsite.

High stakes testing can kill a democracy

I honestly believe that what LEAP does can change our world.  I tell the kids that all the time – you can use your words to change the world!  When we read and write we are connecting with others – perhaps people who live far away or in a different time, perhaps with someone right next to us – but we are sharing our ideas with them and they are sharing theirs with us.   Literacy education, for those of us in LEAP, has to do with empowering people growing up in some of the worst circumstances in the United States to communicate their understandings of the world, and their solutions to the problems we all face.  Literacy, then, is about critical engagement with the rest of society. 

That is also what democracy is.  In a democracy, we, the people, decide how we will live.  But we, the people, can’t make those decisions unless we communicate with others, unless we connect with others.  And we, the people, can’t make these decisions well without two important things: good information and the ability to think creatively. 

Having good information involves reading, yes, but it also involves critical thinking.  We need to sift through the information we are bombarded with daily and separate the important and useful information from the unsubstantiated blather.  In our public schools today, do we teach this ability?  I would love to hear from teachers about how that is taught.  When we worry about getting students through a test, so they won’t be “left behind” but can “race to the top,” we end up spending weeks just telling students the information they need to pass.  While we may pass on a lot of good information, we also train the students to trust our judgment on what they need to know.  Memorization, not evaluation, is the crucial task for students when faced with high stakes testing.  It isn’t important that they know why D is the correct answer – they must just recognize that it is the right answer (because we told them so) and bubble it clearly!  Understanding can happen, but it isn’t essential.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau once warned that if you teach your students to listen patiently, trust what you say and repeat it, you have set them up to accept what others may say as well.  “With all these fine speeches you give him now to make him wise, you are paving the way for a fortune-teller, pied-piper, quack, imposter, or some kind of crazy person to catch him in his snare or draw him into his folly.”[1]  It is easy to manipulate someone who has been trained to memorize and repeat – and the way political campaigns are currently waged as a war of slogans attests to that.  People are guided by who says something the loudest, the most often or with the most memorable sound bite.  We want, instead, to teach our children to think, to understand, to evaluate.  Although it may look like a democracy, a system where people vote based on manipulation it is, at best, an oligarchy – the people with the most money for ads, etc., decide who will rule and what decisions will be made.

The ability to think creatively is a higher order thought process.  In Bloom’s taxonomy, the lowest mental abilities are remembering and understanding; the highest are evaluating and creating.[2]  By emphasizing memorization (with or without understanding) we are leaving our children behind and we definitely are not reaching the “top.”  High test scores do not always equate with creative and critical thinking.  As Matt Damon (who is Harvard educated) has said, the abilities that have contributed the most to his success – such as creativity and imagination – cannot be measured on a multiple-choice test!  He is proud that his mother (an educator) insisted that he not be tested when he was in public school.[3]

Back in the 1970s, a mother marching into the principal’s office and insisting that her son not take a standardized test worked.  Now the situation is more difficult.  One DC school announced that students who do not take the tests will be barred from participating in sports the following academic year.  (At the same time, they offered “incentives” like raffling off iPad minis and Visa gift cards for students who do take the test – and giving gift packs to those who score well).[4]  Here in Central New York, parents cannot make this decision for their children – but the students themselves are refusing to take them.[5]  In Seattle, WA, the opt-out movement is strong, with 600 high schoolers refusing to take the standardized test.[6] 

Refusing the test – refusing to be “dehumanized” (as Paulo Freire would put it) by being trained to remember and repeat – is, in my opinion, a truly democratic move.  Although it is possible that these students are merely doing what their parents told them to do, I hope that many of them are thinking for themselves.   And I hope that the opt-out movement grows enough that our legislators are forced to rethink the democracy strangling practice of high states testing and give our teachers the time to truly teach.

---

[1] Rosseau, Jean-Jacques.  Emile.  http://www.ilt.columbia.edu/pedagogies/rousseau/index.html 612.

[2] Overbaugh, Richard C. and Lynne Schultz.  Bloom’s Taxonomy.  http://ww2.odu.edu/educ/roverbau/Bloom/blooms_taxonomy.htm

[3] Strauss, Valerie.  “Matt Damon’s Clear-headed Speech to Teachers Rally”  The Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/matt-damons-clear-headed-speech-to-teachers-rally/2011/07/30/gIQAG9Q6jI_blog.html

[4] Strauss, Valerie.  “School Warns Students: No test, no sports.”  The Washington Post.  http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2013/04/22/school-warns-students-no-test-no-sports/

[5] Hannagan, Charley.  “Pencils Down! Central New York Parents Tell Schools Their Children Won’t Take Tests.”  http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2013/04/opt_out.html

[6] Layton, Lindsey.  “Bush, Obama focus on standardized testing leads to opt-out movement.”  http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2013-04-14/local/38537469_1_no-child-students-such-testing

Welcome!

Welcome to the LEAP (Literacy Empowers All People) page!

We're committed to changing education so that children are encouraged to think for themselves and engage their world -- moving it ever so slowly toward social justice.  We'll be bringing news about teachers who are transforming their classrooms and children who are transforming their lives.  We'll discuss the new ideas, new books, new curricula that are stirring the education pot in the United States.  And we'll be looking for your input on how we can truly educate our children.  Looking forward to hearing from you!