Most books about education are worse than worthless. They are detrimental to the efforts of anyone who is earnestly seeking a way forward. Two decades of searching have rendered only a handful of authors whose work both resonates with and informs my own practice. This after reading hundreds of books and articles and browsing many times more.
I want to share my list with you. Don't look for a system in these books, or for consistency among them. These are writers who, in my judgment, grapple with the angel and refuse to let go. That's the best anyone can do. And those who claim to do more are deluded. Those who produce and market a system are either imagining things or hoping that you are. Contrary to the sales pitches of dozens of publishers and hundreds of programs, education isn't a problem that can be solved or a methodological question that can be answered. This doesn't mean that there is nothing important to say or hear or write or read about education. It only means that real contributions are rare and should be treasured.
The List: (in no particular order)
Kieran Egan's The Educated Mind, Frank Smith's Book of Learning and Forgetting, Howard Gardner's The Disciplined Mind, Mem Fox's Reading Magic, Nancy Atwell's The Reading Zone, Deborah Meier's Power of Their Ideas, Parker Palmer's To Know as We Are Known, David Solway's Lying About the Wolf, Howard Bloom's How to Read and Why, and Neil Postman's Building a Bridge to the 18th Century.
I have read more than one book by each of these authors, but wanted to keep the list short. I chose for each author the book that is most representative of their thinking about education.
If you only have time for one short work, consider Mem Fox.
I hope that you have time to enjoy them all.
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Friday, August 28, 2009
Friday Night Lights
O.K., the lights were in the Middle School Commons. And it clearly wasn't football. Football players get pads. Here's what happened:
Due to an unexpected influx of in-district students over the summer, Corbett Elementary School became over-crowded, necessitating the advancement of the Corbett School sixth graders to the middle school where there was space available. Because we had no mechanism for detecting this influx until students began to register over the past two weeks, we were faced with a last minute decision that was going to have significant and immediate impact on a large number of students and families. In recognition that this would cause legitimate concerns, we called a parent meeting so that we could talk over the changes with the community. It was easy to anticipate that there would be some anxiety and frustration over the timing of the change. And a parent meeting had to be just what all of them wanted to do on the last Friday night before school opens. Certainly not the way that we had planned to spend this evening when we closed school last year with an immaculate plan regarding how this year would unfold. Not an auspicious start to the new year.
In fairness, 90% of the participants in the meeting were assembled to learn about the last minute changes to the middle school configuration and to share their concerns with the staff. And it is entirely legitimate to have concerns when dramatic changes are introduced with short notice in response to unforeseen circumstances. The participants were thoughtful and asked good questions regarding the plans for making this a great school year for all of our kids. It was a good meeting.
And right in the middle of it all, I made a mistake. I mistakenly claimed that most of the Middle Schools to Watch were 6-8 buildings. They are not. I was wrong. I was distracted, I suppose, by the status of Corbett Middle School as a School to Watch being used by some as an argument not to change anything. It's no excuse, but in the moment I confused one list for another and the rest is history. I apologize. But it is important to understand that we didn't gain the status of a School to Watch by applying a formula that can never be altered. In fact there was no formula involved. We won that status because of a successful approach to education that is independent of the ages of the students in the building or the number of classrooms. That was my larger point, which was probably somewhat diluted by my lapse. This is me embarrassed...
After the meeting, many of the parents who were present (many parents were unable to make it on short notice, and a number had been kind enough to visit prior to the meeting) thanked the staff for their service and affirmed their confidence in the work of our extraordinary teachers. As for the teachers, they were nearly giddy at the prospect of having 6th graders join their classes, with one going so far as to say that the middle school NEEDS the sixth graders in order to fully capitalize on the multiage approach that we have employed for years. He knows of which he speaks. I entrusted my then-12-year-old daughter to the care of these teachers and wouldn't hesitate to recommend the same to anyone. I've never even heard rumors of a better group of educators assembled in one place. (The only exceptions might be the elementary building and the high school building.)
All in all, I left the meeting reminded again of what a privilege it is to work in a community that wants so much for its young people and where differences of opinion can be shared in open and positive exchanges. I can't imagine another place where such decisive action so close to opening day would have been met with the strong support and encouragement of even those parents who brought important questions through the door with them. Corbett is a great community, and deserving of its schools.
And I'm beat. No doubt others will have different perspectives regarding tonight's meeting. I'm sure it looked different from different place in the room. This was my view. FTHM.
Due to an unexpected influx of in-district students over the summer, Corbett Elementary School became over-crowded, necessitating the advancement of the Corbett School sixth graders to the middle school where there was space available. Because we had no mechanism for detecting this influx until students began to register over the past two weeks, we were faced with a last minute decision that was going to have significant and immediate impact on a large number of students and families. In recognition that this would cause legitimate concerns, we called a parent meeting so that we could talk over the changes with the community. It was easy to anticipate that there would be some anxiety and frustration over the timing of the change. And a parent meeting had to be just what all of them wanted to do on the last Friday night before school opens. Certainly not the way that we had planned to spend this evening when we closed school last year with an immaculate plan regarding how this year would unfold. Not an auspicious start to the new year.
In fairness, 90% of the participants in the meeting were assembled to learn about the last minute changes to the middle school configuration and to share their concerns with the staff. And it is entirely legitimate to have concerns when dramatic changes are introduced with short notice in response to unforeseen circumstances. The participants were thoughtful and asked good questions regarding the plans for making this a great school year for all of our kids. It was a good meeting.
And right in the middle of it all, I made a mistake. I mistakenly claimed that most of the Middle Schools to Watch were 6-8 buildings. They are not. I was wrong. I was distracted, I suppose, by the status of Corbett Middle School as a School to Watch being used by some as an argument not to change anything. It's no excuse, but in the moment I confused one list for another and the rest is history. I apologize. But it is important to understand that we didn't gain the status of a School to Watch by applying a formula that can never be altered. In fact there was no formula involved. We won that status because of a successful approach to education that is independent of the ages of the students in the building or the number of classrooms. That was my larger point, which was probably somewhat diluted by my lapse. This is me embarrassed...
After the meeting, many of the parents who were present (many parents were unable to make it on short notice, and a number had been kind enough to visit prior to the meeting) thanked the staff for their service and affirmed their confidence in the work of our extraordinary teachers. As for the teachers, they were nearly giddy at the prospect of having 6th graders join their classes, with one going so far as to say that the middle school NEEDS the sixth graders in order to fully capitalize on the multiage approach that we have employed for years. He knows of which he speaks. I entrusted my then-12-year-old daughter to the care of these teachers and wouldn't hesitate to recommend the same to anyone. I've never even heard rumors of a better group of educators assembled in one place. (The only exceptions might be the elementary building and the high school building.)
All in all, I left the meeting reminded again of what a privilege it is to work in a community that wants so much for its young people and where differences of opinion can be shared in open and positive exchanges. I can't imagine another place where such decisive action so close to opening day would have been met with the strong support and encouragement of even those parents who brought important questions through the door with them. Corbett is a great community, and deserving of its schools.
And I'm beat. No doubt others will have different perspectives regarding tonight's meeting. I'm sure it looked different from different place in the room. This was my view. FTHM.
Thursday, August 27, 2009
The Standards Debacle
The State of Oregon will release the results of the 2009 State Assessments on Monday. Corbett will show up well. As has become our habit, we will look about average for the first several years of schooling, while most districts are focused on cranking out passing scores and we are focused on developing the life-long habits of great learners. Then somewhere around 6th or 7th grade, Corbett students will start out-performing those same schools that might have looked 'stronger' in grade 3. By grade 8 it will be apparent that the mystical qualities of Corbett water have kicked in, and by grade 10 it will be difficult to imagine that Corbett students were taking the same test as their counterparts around the state. And so it goes. Again.
There are several reasons that Corbett's passing 'curve' across time looks different than those of other districts. One primary reason is that we pay less attention to State of Oregon Standards (which the tests are supposed to measure) than do others. Other districts will be sponsoring 'professional learning communities' who are trained (at considerable expense) to gather around their test scores and work at modifying their instruction in order to change the numbers. No, thanks. Rather than organizing our thinking around a single standard that all fourth graders should be able to meet, we are organized around how far we bring each child along as a reader, a writer, and mathematician, a citizen, a good friend to his or her classmates. And if that work is out of alignment with the Oregon standards, then the standards are wrong. We aren't changing.
What saves us in the end is that at grade ten the State Reading Assessment is written in English and the State Math Assessment includes numbers and symbols. And the vast majority of our students are able to read and think at a level that renders the particulars of Oregon's standards (on which the state has spent thousands of hours and who knows how much money) irrelevant and boosts our passing rates to among the highest in the state.
The Standards Movement, upon which our State Assessments, State Report Cards, and AYP Designations are based, just got it wrong. Learning can't be standardized. Learning benchmarks are the tragic misapplication of a perfectly good measuring tool to an inappropriate object. It's like using a yardstick to measure softness. Doesn't make it a bad yardstick...just makes the results silly. And the more precisely we try to measure (down the the sixteenth of an inch?), the sillier it gets.
What's the alternative approach to education? There are a number of ways to think about it, but the one that comes to mind today is (to rob C.S. Lewis, who probably wouldn't have minded) 'higher up and further in'. Education is a journey the endpoint of which is necessarily unspecified. But that doesn't mean that we can't know that we are on the way or that we can't see progress (or sometimes the lack thereof) with our own eyes. Those who have traveled the way before us have left sign posts, love notes, artifacts. The trail isn't hard to find, at least in the early going. And our kids don't need a map printed in Salem or Washington, D.C. They need a guide. Someone who has walked the trail before, and who has traversed these early stretches so often that they are able to offer advice and assistance to the first-timers. They need a guiding hand on the slick spots and a high five upon the successful navigation of a particularly challenging obstacle. What they don't need is to be measured, labeled, classified and sorted while they are still learning how to be part of the fellowship of travelers.
So the State Assessments results are good for public relations. But I promise not to take them too seriously if you won't. We have much more important work to do.
There are several reasons that Corbett's passing 'curve' across time looks different than those of other districts. One primary reason is that we pay less attention to State of Oregon Standards (which the tests are supposed to measure) than do others. Other districts will be sponsoring 'professional learning communities' who are trained (at considerable expense) to gather around their test scores and work at modifying their instruction in order to change the numbers. No, thanks. Rather than organizing our thinking around a single standard that all fourth graders should be able to meet, we are organized around how far we bring each child along as a reader, a writer, and mathematician, a citizen, a good friend to his or her classmates. And if that work is out of alignment with the Oregon standards, then the standards are wrong. We aren't changing.
What saves us in the end is that at grade ten the State Reading Assessment is written in English and the State Math Assessment includes numbers and symbols. And the vast majority of our students are able to read and think at a level that renders the particulars of Oregon's standards (on which the state has spent thousands of hours and who knows how much money) irrelevant and boosts our passing rates to among the highest in the state.
The Standards Movement, upon which our State Assessments, State Report Cards, and AYP Designations are based, just got it wrong. Learning can't be standardized. Learning benchmarks are the tragic misapplication of a perfectly good measuring tool to an inappropriate object. It's like using a yardstick to measure softness. Doesn't make it a bad yardstick...just makes the results silly. And the more precisely we try to measure (down the the sixteenth of an inch?), the sillier it gets.
What's the alternative approach to education? There are a number of ways to think about it, but the one that comes to mind today is (to rob C.S. Lewis, who probably wouldn't have minded) 'higher up and further in'. Education is a journey the endpoint of which is necessarily unspecified. But that doesn't mean that we can't know that we are on the way or that we can't see progress (or sometimes the lack thereof) with our own eyes. Those who have traveled the way before us have left sign posts, love notes, artifacts. The trail isn't hard to find, at least in the early going. And our kids don't need a map printed in Salem or Washington, D.C. They need a guide. Someone who has walked the trail before, and who has traversed these early stretches so often that they are able to offer advice and assistance to the first-timers. They need a guiding hand on the slick spots and a high five upon the successful navigation of a particularly challenging obstacle. What they don't need is to be measured, labeled, classified and sorted while they are still learning how to be part of the fellowship of travelers.
So the State Assessments results are good for public relations. But I promise not to take them too seriously if you won't. We have much more important work to do.
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Jack Be Nimble
Corbett School District is small, as Oregon districts go. Small is advantageous in any number of ways, one of which is the accompanying ability to quickly and effectively adapt to a rapidly changing environment. Flexibility and adaptability are undeniably positive attributes, but they are only really assets if we don't back away from deploying them as circumstances warrant. Last year's flexibility and last month's agility are just history. We need to be watchful, never resting on laurels and never compromising our willingness to act decisively, creatively, when opportunities or challenges arise.
If the rumor mill is working well, many of our parents may have heard that class sizes are increasing, particularly in the upper elementary grades. There have been whispers of classes as large as 30 students. That was yesterday. We find classes of that size to be unacceptable. We spent today hammering out a response that fits within our budget and optimizes the use of our facilities and the talents of our remarkable staff. We are ironing out final details and we are excited at the prospect of sharing it with all concerned before the week is out.
I can hardly express my excitement for the start of another banner year at Corbett Schools.
If the rumor mill is working well, many of our parents may have heard that class sizes are increasing, particularly in the upper elementary grades. There have been whispers of classes as large as 30 students. That was yesterday. We find classes of that size to be unacceptable. We spent today hammering out a response that fits within our budget and optimizes the use of our facilities and the talents of our remarkable staff. We are ironing out final details and we are excited at the prospect of sharing it with all concerned before the week is out.
I can hardly express my excitement for the start of another banner year at Corbett Schools.
Monday, August 24, 2009
The Class of 2009
To say that the Class of 2009 set a new standard for future Corbett graduates is no exaggeration. Corbett has witnessed outstanding student achievement in the recent past. Sarah, Eve, Andrew, Alex, Adam...all students that could have defined many a fine teaching career. All kids that might come along only once in a lifetime And as a group, the Class of 2007 was remarkable. New highs, in virtually everything. Then along comes the Class of 2009 and turns the page again. And it wasn't just a matter of traditional academics. These were musicians, artists, athletes, engineers, champions...a truly remarkable group.
In the State of Oregon last year, about thirteen percent of all graduating seniors passed an AP exam. In the Corbett Class of 2009, three times that number passed three or more exams each. And sixty percent passed at least one. Ten percent of the class tied or surpassed the old record for the most AP exams passed by an individual. (The old mark was nine.) Forty percent of the class earned recognition from The College Board as AP Scholars. Their awards will arrive next month. One qualified as a an AP National Scholar, and one is in the hunt for the Oregon AP Scholar award.
The class posted two perfect scores on the SAT verbal and three students exceeded Corbett's previous all-time best performances on the SAT combined. In all, Corbett's SAT participation has doubled and its average scores have increased by 120 points in the last decade. The Class of 2009 was icing on this particular cake. All of this in a class of fewer than fifty students.
How durable will their remarkable record be? If recent history is any sort of guide, I'll give them from two to four years to become the rung that another class unceremoniously passes on its way to the top. Beyond the individual achievements, and beyond the remarkable composition of some extraordinary cohorts, we are witnessing the growth of a culture in which achievement beyond this level is imaginable, and therefor almost inevitable. Will it be the Class of 2010? 2011? We'll see. Watch out for 2013, with its five freshmen in AP Calculus (ab). And if nobody else picks up the mantle first, I have a hunch about the class of 2015.
So here's to the Class of 2009. Thanks for showing a glimpse of our future, and for being giants upon whose shoulders the next great class will stand. And best of luck at Vassar, Smith, OSU, Sarah Lawrence, Willamette, Reed, Eastern, Western, U of O, Mount Hood, Southern...
In the State of Oregon last year, about thirteen percent of all graduating seniors passed an AP exam. In the Corbett Class of 2009, three times that number passed three or more exams each. And sixty percent passed at least one. Ten percent of the class tied or surpassed the old record for the most AP exams passed by an individual. (The old mark was nine.) Forty percent of the class earned recognition from The College Board as AP Scholars. Their awards will arrive next month. One qualified as a an AP National Scholar, and one is in the hunt for the Oregon AP Scholar award.
The class posted two perfect scores on the SAT verbal and three students exceeded Corbett's previous all-time best performances on the SAT combined. In all, Corbett's SAT participation has doubled and its average scores have increased by 120 points in the last decade. The Class of 2009 was icing on this particular cake. All of this in a class of fewer than fifty students.
How durable will their remarkable record be? If recent history is any sort of guide, I'll give them from two to four years to become the rung that another class unceremoniously passes on its way to the top. Beyond the individual achievements, and beyond the remarkable composition of some extraordinary cohorts, we are witnessing the growth of a culture in which achievement beyond this level is imaginable, and therefor almost inevitable. Will it be the Class of 2010? 2011? We'll see. Watch out for 2013, with its five freshmen in AP Calculus (ab). And if nobody else picks up the mantle first, I have a hunch about the class of 2015.
So here's to the Class of 2009. Thanks for showing a glimpse of our future, and for being giants upon whose shoulders the next great class will stand. And best of luck at Vassar, Smith, OSU, Sarah Lawrence, Willamette, Reed, Eastern, Western, U of O, Mount Hood, Southern...
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Welcome
We are eight days and counting from the launch of the 2009-2010 school year.
Last year saw new levels of achievement and new challenges at Corbett Schools. SAT scores and participation rates, Advanced Placement achievement, performance on the State of Oregon Assessments, The Academic Decathlon...all reached unprecedented levels. Corbett continues to gain recognition around the State of Oregon and the nation for its achievements.
And this year we are adding a new school. Corbett Charter School will open its doors on August 31st, allowing 320 students to access Oregon's finest school district and, in turn, allowing the District to continue offering the quality that our parents and students have come to prize and expect from Corbett Schools. Make no mistake, without Corbett Charter School's contribution to its fiscal infrastructure, Corbett School District would have had to make staffing reductions (similar to what you are reading about around the state) that would have dramatically curtailed achievement at the secondary level.
The campus will be busy this fall as we open our doors to nearly 900 students. This represents Corbett's capacity, as all of our instructional space is fully utilized. Don't look for us to get any bigger! And it will feel a little crowded, especially during those few minutes each day of dropping students off or picking them up from school. We are putting together plans to make this part of the day as convenient as possible, but patience is called for. We have something of a 'bowl' for an elementary parking lot, so we all need to take extra care to keep things safe and civil.
I intend to post here frequently for those of you who are wondering what is going on with Corbett Schools. Posts will often have to do with the details of schooling, but there will also be a significant number of posts that address our approach to education and what I believe makes Corbett unique. I look forward to continuing soon.
Last year saw new levels of achievement and new challenges at Corbett Schools. SAT scores and participation rates, Advanced Placement achievement, performance on the State of Oregon Assessments, The Academic Decathlon...all reached unprecedented levels. Corbett continues to gain recognition around the State of Oregon and the nation for its achievements.
And this year we are adding a new school. Corbett Charter School will open its doors on August 31st, allowing 320 students to access Oregon's finest school district and, in turn, allowing the District to continue offering the quality that our parents and students have come to prize and expect from Corbett Schools. Make no mistake, without Corbett Charter School's contribution to its fiscal infrastructure, Corbett School District would have had to make staffing reductions (similar to what you are reading about around the state) that would have dramatically curtailed achievement at the secondary level.
The campus will be busy this fall as we open our doors to nearly 900 students. This represents Corbett's capacity, as all of our instructional space is fully utilized. Don't look for us to get any bigger! And it will feel a little crowded, especially during those few minutes each day of dropping students off or picking them up from school. We are putting together plans to make this part of the day as convenient as possible, but patience is called for. We have something of a 'bowl' for an elementary parking lot, so we all need to take extra care to keep things safe and civil.
I intend to post here frequently for those of you who are wondering what is going on with Corbett Schools. Posts will often have to do with the details of schooling, but there will also be a significant number of posts that address our approach to education and what I believe makes Corbett unique. I look forward to continuing soon.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)