Focused on our learning goal . . .

Today we had another opportunity to work with elementary teacher leaders.  As with previous meetings this year, our focus was on our Classroom 10 key content goal.  These meetings are always energizing for me.  I have the opportunity to support teachers, clarify expectations, and work with committed people.  Nancy, Dawn, Annette, Kristin, and Connie prepared a lesson design that provided opportunities for us to deepen our understanding of learning goals and differentiate between activities and goals.  We also revisited the importance of providing feedback as a necessary component of growth.  Nancy and Dawn once again did an excellent job of facilitating our learning.

Another component of the work was introducing a planning tool to assist the principals and teacher leaders in planning for support at the building level.  The tool places a focus on the gap between current reality and the building's learning goal for the year and the need for intentional support structures and learning opportunities to close the gap for all staff.  I believe that the teachers and principals left with increased knowledge and understanding of the need for focus and planning as they seek new and adaptive strategies to support deeper understanding and capacity to use these research-based instructional practices that increase student achievement.

In my learning walks in all district buildings I am observing changing practices with visual learning goals and increased use of checks for understanding.  It is rewarding to see the willingness of teachers to embrace these practices and the response by students when the practices are in place.  The brief story below comes from an elementary teacher responding to a question from me on why she believes the work this year on our learning goal has been so powerful for her.

For me the focus on Learning Goals at staff meetings and inservice days throughout this year is what has been powerful. The two main reasons it has been powerful is because my teaching is so much more focused. I know for that block of time my objective is to get my learners to meet that goal. The other, and I think most powerful, reason is that my goals now include my students. During our conversation at the beginning of every lesson I ask them what they should know by the end of the lesson. They have become very skilled at identifying what their target is by the end of the lesson. I don't have the data but my observation shows me they feel more confident about their learning and I feel like they are more clearly able to communicate if they have met the goal or not. Just today I had a student come right up to me after a lesson and tell me that she didn't understand what we had worked on today. My students are reflecting on their learning and communicating when they don't understand.

I would welcome additional feedback about your experiences with crafting well-constructed learning goals and the impact of that on your work and the response by students.

C for our state . . .

In January Education Week published their 16th annual Quality Counts report that tracks key education indicators and grades each individual state. Our state earned a C (74.5) and ranked 38th as shown in the chart below. The overall rating was a slight decrease from the 75.4 earned in 2011. A link to a summary of the report and the state-by-state rankings can be found here. The highest overall score was a B+ (87.8) earned by Maryland. Washington is at best in the middle of the pack in most of the rated categories with the best being 16th on Chance for Success and the worst being 41st in School Finance, something is not a surprise to us.

The report tracks information in five areas.

• Chance for Success captures data in 13 areas over three broad life stages: the early childhood years, participation and performance in formal K-12 education, and adult educational attainment and workforce outcomes. In this category Washington earned a C+ and a ranking of 16th.

• K-12 Achievement evaluates the state’s performance on 18 criteria in three dimensions of performance; current state performance, improvements over time, and equity as measured by poverty-based achievement gaps. In this category Washington earned a C- and a ranking of 25th.

• Standards, Assessment, and Accountability examines state level policies related to these topics. In this category Washington earned a C+ and a ranking of 37th.

• The Teaching Profession measures 44 indicators in three areas of state policy: accountability for teacher quality, incentives and allocation, and efforts to build and support the capacity of the teacher workforce. In this category Washington earned a C- and a ranking of 26th.

• School Finance grades states on eight indicators in two dimensions of education finance: school spending patterns and the distribution of resources within a state. In this category Washington earned a C and a ranking of 26th. The adjusted spending per student shows Washington spending $9,329 per student that results in a ranking of 41st. The nationwide per student adjusted funding average is $11,665.

A more detailed summary of the scores can be found on the Education Week site and in this summary on the League of Education Voters site. One of the charts on this page shows our state increase in the achievement gap from 2011 to 2012 while most other states are experiencing decreases. This is one of the main drivers for the recent legislation promoting charter schools. To see how that battle is playing out in the media check out this post on the LEV site in favor of charters, one of many posted over the last two weeks. Then check this Seattle Times opinion piece by Wayne Au, a University of Washington professor suggesting charters are not the answer to closing the achievement gap.

Seeking reasons for a waiver . . .

In an earlier post I asked for some feedback on how our system should respond to the opportunity to file for a waiver for making up the days lost to the recent storm. I received three comments and an e-mail response with the commenters sharing the importance and need for the 180 days of instruction. The one issue that emerged in more than one was the unknown of potentially losing more days during the year requiring us to go further into June and the hardships that this might cause for individuals.


In this Tacoma News Tribune Post we are beginning to see what some surrounding districts have chosen to do.

• Tacoma – Looking into waiver possibilities.
• Sumner – Scheduled two of the lost four days, undecided on whether to apply for a waiver for the remaining two days.
• Federal Way – Will make up all four days, two in May and two at the end of the year.
• Puyallup – Scheduled three make-up days, one in March, one in May, and one at the end of the year.
• Steilacoom – Scheduled four make-up days, one in March, one in May, and two at the end of the year.

At this time, we have scheduled our four make-up days for the end of the year and have left open the potential for a waiver. We will schedule a discussion and decision for a future board meeting. As we prepare for that meeting I would like to know reasons why we should consider the waiver opportunity. I believe that we should make up the four days, but I am open to being influenced.  Other than the hardships identified in comments to my earlier posts, what other reasons should we consider in making this decision?

Comments and expanded visibility . . .

So far I have three comments from my last post on waivers for the weather emergency.  Thanks to Scott for also sharing the post in an e-mail that may result in a few more comments.  I'll give others a chance to respond before sharing again.

Today I received an e-mail notification that an excerpt form one of my posts was chosen by School Administrator Magazine for sharing in the Best of Blog section of the February magazine.  This followed sharing full posts I think for a month earlier this year.  I'm wondering who has the resources to follow education posts and then decide which should be shared.  The excerpt is the one below.  Sharing this will certainly not impress the reformers or others supporting changes to teacher and principal evaluations.  Who knows, I could find my name on some list of those to avoid if this keeps up.  I don't know if  I like this expanded visibility.  I am learning first hand that once online you lose control.  It is like having no control over the volume knob, I like it Minimum not MAX!

“I think it is unfortunate that in our state and in states around the country millions of dollars are

being spent to create evaluation models whose stated purpose is to support teacher growth over

time, but whose intent is to get rid of ‘bad’ teachers.”

From “The Frenzy for Accountability” by Michael Maryanski (superintendent, Maple Valley, Wash.)

in his blog, Seeking Shared Learning

Waiver or no waiver . . .

At Tuesday’s board meeting the calendar was revised to make up for last week’s lost days. As previously agreed to with the bargaining units, tomorrow will be a student day and the remainder of any lost days will be added to the end of the student year. There are some in the community who question why they can’t be made up during the mid-winter break so we share how the calendar is a condition of employment and the board does not have authority to unilaterally change it.


The other issue that is emerging both from community and staff is how the governor’s declaration of an emergency situation will play out. They are asking since it was an emergency why do we need to make up the days. Let’s just ask the state for a waiver. We know that this will be a possibility because OSPI has shared that districts can apply even though the official process required for emergency situations is not complete.  It could take weeks before it is official.

The bigger question for me is the importance to us of the lost instructional days. Recently, a coalition of of our school and community groups was prepared to lobby legislators to not cut the school year from 180 to 175 days to save money, one of the governor’s budget saving options. We believe that it was important to not lose the instructional time given the standards and expectations imposed on our students and staff. Does that change because an emergency was declared? If they were simply snow days we wouldn’t be having this conversation. Does the need for the days change because of the event that requires making up the days? Does being able to waive the days without loss of state revenue and potentially salary influence our choice? These are some of the questions that must be asked and answered before making a decision on a waiver request.

What are your thoughts on this choice that we face?

Textbooks plus = big dollars . . .

I found this follow-up to the Apple announcement last week on textbooks interesting. I knew that publishing textbooks is a lucrative business, but not to the scale I learned in this Alexander Russo post. In it, he shares a chart and an article from Epicenter that followed the announcement giving some insight into the publishing world.


The biggest publishers in the world today are education publishers.


It’s not even close. In 2009, Pearson’s Education division alone brought in more revenue than any other book publisher besides number two, Reed Elsevier, whose biggest businesses are Lexis-Nexis and Elsevier Science.


Education publishers dwarf trade presses. Only the top trade press, Random House (itself owned by Bertelsmann) is bigger than Cengage, the little-known education publishing division that Thomson spun off in 2008 before merging with Reuters.

To bring this closer to home, since 2010 we have purchased new math materials in grades K-12. These purchases totaled about $609,000; huge for us, but in the big picture we are a very small piece of the pie. In other words, there are millions of dollars to be made in each state every year as districts are on different textbook review cycles and this is only for one content area.

So, why would Apple not try to take a bigger cut than the 30% figure they reached with three of the top publishing firms?  The article puts forth the following thinking.

But Apple has literally billions of other reasons to play nice.


Let’s suppose you don’t really care about textbooks. Pearson also owns Penguin, the world’s second largest trade publisher. They also own the Financial Times and a 50% share of The Economist.


That’s the same Penguin that partnered with Apple to help launch iBooks along with the iPad. And that’s the same Financial Times that proved publishers could bypass the App Store’s 30% cut and still grow their subscriber base on iPhone and iPad.

The article goes on to share some further insights into this world.

Their giant size and reach throughout the education and media landscape gives these publishers advantages and disadvantage. One disadvantage: they move slowly. One big advantage: You cannot outflank them.


One after another, Apple, Inkling, Barnes & Noble and other digital publishers have given up trying to outflank academic publishers. Now we will see whether Apple’s spotlight can get them to move.

It would be nice if Apple could have taken a bigger bite out of this behemoth, one that would make it easier for school systems and students to access current content.

Hopefully behind us . . .

I lost power Thursday morning about 8 and got it back Saturday night about 6. I got to join the lines for gas for the generator and put up with the inconveniences of no electricity for two plus days. That was not fun, but ok to deal with. When it went out again this morning I waited about an hour before going out to once again get the generator going. Just as I was about to start it the power came back on and has stayed on since. Hopefully, this is the last gasp for this storm.

We lost many trees over the road and the driveway plus some beautiful bushes and shrubs that have been with us for twenty plus years. The place looks like a tornado hit it. Given all this it still doesn't approach the hardships faced by so many across the world each day. We are so fortunate and have so much that I sometimes lose sight of it and complain when I should be thankful.

This morning we still had three schools without power, but have been told by PSE that we will have it by tomorrow and they rarely make that kind of prediction. Given this, we should be back at school in the morning, but it will take time to get all the systems up and running. I guess we chalk this up to a lost week and move forward.