Current Events

Education Week

“Some Sobering News on Math Education”

By Erik Robelen on April 19, 2010 1:02 PM

I chose this article because I am a middle math teacher.  The article talked about a study that took place that centered around two issues:  preparation of math teachers and teacher’s on-going professional development.  Research revealed that future US elementary and middle school teachers are in the middle of the pack compared to future teachers in 15 other nations.  They based this data on a new test designed to gauge teacher skills.

The first year findings of another study of 77 middle schools suggest that even after intensive, state-of-the-art efforts to increase teacher skills on the job may not lead to significant gain in student achievement right away.  My initial thoughts about these test and the results was that the problem may not be with the teachers.  We must admit that the relevance of math has changed in the past 15 years but the curriculum has not. 

As a principal, I think we must look beyond blaming the teachers and empower and equip the teachers with the knowledge, skills and 21^st century technology to implement within the classroom and give them a reasonable about of time to show progress.  I would make sure that all math teachers received relevant professional development and implement some type of expectations within each math classroom.  Honestly, we have teachers who are what I call, “old school”, still using the overhead projector because they are not comfortable with the latest technology in the their classroom.  Once professional development is in place we must hold teachers accountable.

Educational-Leadership                               

 "Teacher Effectiveness: Getting the Whole Picture"
By Marge Scherer

I chose this article because, “teacher effectiveness”, is the new phrase for the pay for performance plan.   The article began from a natural stand point of what does an effective teacher look like.  Some to the characteristics of an effective teachers included:  caring, enthusiasm for the subject, and getting the best out of your students.  These things are abstract and cannot be easily measured.  Policy makers believe that student outcomes instead of years of experience and advanced degrees would have a greater impact and be more measurable. 

Most teacher evaluators have not been trained to analyze teaching in this way, and relying on student outcomes as indicators of effectiveness often fails to take into consideration student differences, working conditions, and group accountability. Finally, the new measures must also take into account that teacher influence goes far beyond student academic performance. Teachers also foster students' motivation, perseverance, and citizenship. To really support good teachers, any new evaluation system must consider the whole picture.

Those who measure teacher effectiveness have a difficult job ahead of them, but not as difficult as the job of teaching itself. As an administrator I would make sure the teachers are aware and knowledgeable of how this process is measured and I think it would be very helpful to have master teachers from another school to come into staff development and demonstrate what and effective lesson looks like and allow feedback from teachers.  This will give teachers a better understanding of what evaluators are looking for during their teacher observations.

Supreme Court Case

SUPREME COURT DECISION

GROVE SCHOOL DISTRICT vs. T.A.

This case involved a struggling Oregon high school student whose parents removed him from public school to a private residential school that cost $5,200 per month because the public school would not provide special education services.  The major question in this case was whether parents who enroll their disabled child in a private school are entitled to tuition reimbursement if the child never received special education services from the public school.

The Supreme Court held after reviewing similar cases that the School District’s failure to provide an IEP of any kind was a serious violation of its responsibilities under the IDEA as a failure  to provide an adequate IEP.  Therefore, the Supreme Court  concluded that IDEA  authorizes  tuition reimbursement for the cost of private special education services when a school district fails to provide a FAPE and the private school placement is appropriate, regardless of whether the child previously received special education or related services through the public school system.

 

MY OPINION

I am actually torn between both sides of this case.  From the parents point of view their child had been struggling for years and even the Forest officials had noticed the student was having difficulties and did evaluate the student for learning disabilities and was found ineligible for special education services.  To make matters worse this student had a history of ADHD, severe depression, substance abuse problems and failing grades.  That had to be frustrating as a parent knowing that their child needed special services but was denied.  The other factor that would concern me as a parent was the delay in the due process of this case.  The due process hearing was in April 2003 and the District Court did not issue its decision until May 2005.  The decision was issued almost a year after the student graduated from high school.  In defense of the parents, they had to take some action to ensure that their child received the special education services that he needed.

In regards to the Forest Grove School District, I feel like this case may have been avoided if they would have provided some provisions for this student in an IEP or 504 plan.  It was obvious that something was affecting the student’s ability to learn.  In defense of the Forest Grove School District the student’s diagnosis of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and other disabilities was only made after the student enrolled in the private school.  In my opinion the parent’s decision to choose a residential school for their child that cost over $5000 a month was a bit extreme.  Unfortunately this parent’s victory in this case could cause other parents who feel their children should be receiving special education services to enroll their children in private school and ask for a tuition reimbursement.  The New York City School System filed a friend-of-court brief supporting Forest Grove stating that they paid $89 million in private school tuition for parents with disabled students who enrolled them in private schools.  The 1997 amendment to the IDEA prohibited private school tuition reimbursement for students who never received special education services in public school.  If this amendment is not upheld the public school system will not be able to withstand the cost of tuition reimbursement.

In conclusion, I think the student should have received some sort of special education services and the public school system is going to have to do a better job of providing some services even if minimal when it is evident that the student is clearly showing signs that something is affecting their ability to learn.  I also believe that the 1997 amendment to the IDEA should be upheld by higher courts.  If this does not happen then it will cause precedence when similar cases come to trial and the public school system will eventually not be able to financially sustain the reimbursement for private school tuition.



Research Citations:


Wright, P. and Wright, P. (2008-2010) Supreme Court Issues Pro-Child Decision in Forest Grove
     School District v. T.A. Wrightslaw:  Harbor House Law Press.

Lewin, T. (June 22, 2009).  Court Affirms Reimbursement for Special Education.
     The New York Times.

Principal Interview Part II

What are the two most challenging issues that they deal with in regards to special education or with student 504's?

My first concern  is  making sure that we are meeting all student accommodations.  Sometimes that can be challenging for teachers because of all the other requirements teachers must meet on a daily basis.  Teachers must have knowledge of each students accommodations from the IEP at a glance or the 504 plan along with other differentiation strategies that they must implement on daily basis to meet the need of all students. 

My second concern is ensuring that we are in compliance.  The law states that we must provide instruction that meets each students IEP or 504 plan.  This year that has become a little more challenging for our teachers because resource students have been placed in regular class settings with an inclusion teacher.  That means that there are more students in the classroom that require special accommodations.  In some cases the class sizes are over 30 students with almost half the students requiring accommodations.  Therefore, it is extremely important that our Exceptional Children's Department work very efficiently to ensure that our students are getting their appropriate accommodations to help the students meet their goals and be successful this school year.

School Climate



Should schools be responsible for solving or handling social issues as those presented in the videos?

I would say yes as it pertains to school.  Conflict that arises during school hours is the school's responsibility to assist in resolving the matter through peer mediation or some type of other counseling method.  It is unfortunate that some conflict occurs while students are at home through face book or some other social network.  When the conflict is carried over to the school environment and impedes the process of learning it takes a combination of parents and school administration to resolve those issues.  School administrators have no control over what takes place in the home, therefore they must rely on the parents to monitor their children and resolve issues with their children so that is does not carry over into the school atmosphere.  Unfortunately, that does not always happen.

What other social issues you believe schools should be responsible for addressing in some form.

One of the issues that I think schools should address is self-esteem.  If students feel good about themselves and believe in themselves it will enhance their student performance.  So often students compare themselves to others and create a self image that causes them to believe that they are inferior in some way.  If all schools would implement some type of Character Education these students may come to realize that being different is not a bad thing and celebrate the diversity that exist in our schools.

Principals Interview

Principal Decision Interview: What are two recent decisions you have made as a principal?


1. Being chosen to lead and open a new school this pass year there were many decisions that had to be made. In an effort to have the latest technology in every classroom, a company donated four promethean boards to our school. I had to decide which teachers would receive the training and promethean boards in their classroom. Because of the high school credit for algebra I and the preparation to get our 8th graders ready for high school, I chose to place the four promethean boards in all 8th grade math classes.


Decision Making Process: The decision making process used in this decision was from the Facilitative Leader Model (Decide and Announce). The principal made the decision without any teacher or administrative involvement. I believe I would have used the same model because there were no promethean boards in the school and announcing that we had four would have sparked lots of debate about who should receive the boards. Our principal has always stated that she wants promethean boards in all classrooms and decided to put them in the 8th grade math classes first.


2. Coming from a high school background where we have high school graduation to middle school where we have a moving on ceremony which does not mean the students actually have been promoted. I had to decide on the best procedure for this ceremony. Since this decision involved all 8th grade teachers, I met with all 8th grade teachers and asked the teachers what was done in the pass at their schools and how could ours be different. Many suggestions were given and written down and I chose a few teachers to handle specific parts of the ceremony and from there we put the program together.


Decision Making Process: The decision making process used in this decision is also from the Facilitative Leader Model (Consensus). The principal basically let the teachers decide what kind of ceremony they wanted to have as long as it was done in excellence. I would have done some things differently. Bringing teachers together to make suggestions can be time consuming and some people are heard and some are not and get their feelings hurt. I would have formed a moving on ceremony committee to come up with the program and had them present it to me for approval then present the program to all 8th grade teachers.

Principals Interview