Saturday, September 12, 2009

Forum?

Good for a laugh. My kids occasionally tell me about particularly entertaining postings on the so-called 'community forum'. It's a curious phenomenon. The posters would be discouraged, I think, to know what the best Corbett students think about them. It makes for some good laughs, but there is something serious going on, too.

The erosion of community. One of the earliest meanings of the word forum is an open-air meeting place where people gathered to exchange ideas. People participated face to face and with civility, and those who might have chosen instead to shout obscenities from behind a shrub or croak from beneath a rock would not not have been considered participants. As for the definition of community, well, playing online might be its perfect inversion. Sadder and sadder.

The marvels of modern technology. While technology provides some wonderful benefits, its darker side is that it can engender laziness and foster illusion. It can degrade some magnificent old traditions, like the forum. Those who peck away anonymously and post irresponsibly on so-called 'online forums' are missing out on the satisfaction that comes with participating in the human community as a person with a name and a face. Like reality TV, online 'forums' are probably here to stay, and that's O.K. But the illusion that one is heroically contributing to the public conversation, while evidently either satisfying or merely addictive to some, is no substitute for real public life. And 'online forums' are no more public discussions than reality T.V. is, well, reality. And when the topic is education, irony compounds upon irony, as no educated person could take seriously the anonymous postings of online would-be education consultants. As a dear friend often says, 'Virtual means not really.'

Education is a serious enterprise. It calls for responsible deliberation among grownups. Grownups sit up straight, look others in the eye, and only hide their identities when they are doing something of which they are ashamed. While I suppose there is some glimmer of hope in the fact that so many forum posters choose to remain anonymous (which means that they do still have some capacity for shame) it is a sad example that they are setting for our youth and a horrible reflection that they are casting on a lovely community filled with wonderful people.

A special apology. I know that there is someone who, upon reading all of this, will feel his or her fingers twitch with the need to respond. Unfortunately, this is a blog and not a 'community forum'. It's a one-way street, designed for those who are interested in what is going on not only in the district but also in the thoughts of one of its several architects. If you feel an urgent need to post, then there are places you can go. Catch you later.

Way to go, Joe!

Joe Perry, Class of 2009, has earned National AP Scholar recognition from The College Board. The criteria for this award include achieving a score of 4 or higher (on a scale of 1-5) on eight or more Advanced Placement exams. Joe is no stranger to AP Honors and was recognized as an AP Scholar with Distinction for his work in 2008. He was also a member of the 2008 state champion Academic Decathlon team from Corbett High.

Joe is currently a freshman at Reed College, one of the premier undergraduate schools in the nation.

Way to go, Joe!

Thursday, September 10, 2009

Communication Breakdown

I really don't mean that there has been a communication breakdown. I mean that I want to take some time to break down the question of communication.

Nine times out of ten when people use the word communication they don't mean anything very specific by it. It is often serves as generic expression is dissatisfaction. So we hear, "There should have been more communication!" "Why didn't we hear about it before now?!" "I was blind-sided!" (which, unless one actually has a blind side, is unlikely). "The District should communicate more!" What are these phrases really getting at? It's often hard to say.

How do Corbett's communication efforts measure up?

1. Corbett School District has a web site. Because we are a school and not a bank, our web-site is largely the result of student efforts under the guidance of a very able teacher. The web site allows patrons access to District Policy online, board agendas and minutes, staff blogs, information regarding athletics, general contact information, lunch menus, online lunch accounts, links to community groups, the calendar.

2. Corbett School District has a newsletter. It is published by the District Office staff.

3. Corbett has a Key Communicator network that every patron can sign up for.

4. Corbett has open houses, parent teacher conferences, and written progress reports.

5. Corbett's administrators have had open door policies for a decade that I know of.

6. Corbett's Board meetings are open to the public, and to date I would judge that fully half of 120 or so meetings that I have attended have had 2 or less audience members.

7. In spite of having no local paper, Corbett receives significant coverage in the local, statewide and national press.

8. Corbett has two emergency networks that are employed to notify families within 15 minutes of any emergency.

Corbett produces as much or more communication than other districts with which I am familiar. I have lived in three Oregon school districts, and none communicated more than Corbett. (My only contact with the district in which I currently reside has been the occasional football player knocking on my door raising money for the team.) More important is the fact that none do nearly as good a job educating children as Corbett does. And so long as there are limits to our per pupil funding, I will argue that the District's efforts at general communication must always take a back seat to the fostering of student achievement.

Although I believe that we currently communicate far more (and more clearly) than does the average school district in Oregon. This doesn't alter the fact we could certainly do more. We could have a communications officer, or perhaps even a communications office. We would have to pay for it, and that would mean doing without something that we currently pay for. After a decade of budget cuts, I cringe to think what would go next.

Speaking of cuts, the District could communicate more if we hadn't eliminated two full-time administrators, a counselor, a full-time business office position and two full-time secretaries over the past decade. Communication would be easier if our Special Education Director and our Elementary Vice Principals didn't teach all day (that really gets in the way) and if Mr. Trani didn't do the jobs of two or three people. We really could communicate more. But would it improve student achievement? And since it would not (sorry, rhetorical question), should we shift resources away from what we are doing in order to increase the volume of general communication? (oops, I did it again!)

The most impactful communication in the entire education enterprise, outside the classroom itself, is the communication between parents and their students. President Obama did a fair job of articulating the ideal theme of much of that conversation. In addition to instilling in students the urgent need to attend school, work hard, show respect and focus on their work, parents can help by getting children in the habit of reviewing with them, hour by hour, subject by subject if need be, what they learned or thought about or wondered in school that day. Students who anticipate this daily requirement learn a couple of important things. First, they learn that what they do in school is so important that parents are willing to invest time in hearing about it every day. Second, they begin to anticipate this daily requirement and they start keeping track of their day, thinking about what they will report and how to summarize the day's work. This is a great exercise for a young mind.

Communication is important. It is more important the more it directly impacts student achievement. It is less important the further it is removed from that priority.

I think that most calls for 'more communication' come from a desire to be in the loop and to participate more in the decision making process. That is perfectly understandable, and it is our goal to offer those opportunities when the situation warrants and when time and resources allow. But when an urgent issue arises in Corbett today, we don't have the luxury of assigning one group of staff members to get to work on a solution while others crank up the communication machine. That second part of the staff doesn't exist. It was eliminated six budget cuts ago. So we do our best. And we communicate as we can. And we keep our thoughts fixed on a single question: How are the children doing?

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Our Girl

Each year The College Board recognizes two State Advanced Placement Scholars, one male and one female, from each of the fifty states and the District of Columbia. The winners are determined by which students pass the greatest number of Advanced Placement exams (with a score of 3 or higher) during their school careers, with a minimum cumulative average score of 3.5 on a 5 point scale. A tie in the number of exams passed is broken by the highest average score.

The College Board has announced that Lara Dunton has been designated a 2009 State AP Scholar for Oregon. Lara's response? "Neat." Quite the speechifier, that one. (It was a text message, to be fair.)

Lara began her AP career by passing just three of her first four exams with an average score of 2.75. Then she responded like she always has. She worked harder. She hit her stride in her junior year and passed the next nine exams with an average score of 4. In recognition that all work and no play is, well, all work, Lara took time out from her AP studies to lead Corbett's Academic Decathlon team to two state titles and to win an individual gold medal in Language and Literature at the 2009 United States Academic Decathlon national competition in Memphis last spring.

Lara graduated from Corbett in 2009 and is currently a sophomore at Willamette University.

That's our girl.

Monday, September 7, 2009

President Obama's Speech

President Obama is going to address the nation tomorrow. He is specifically going to address school aged children. I applaud his interest in education and honor his concern for young people. During the scheduled air time of his speech, the students and staff of Corbett School District will be in school. We are going to be taking to heart and putting into action his admonitions to work hard and to stay engaged. We are grateful to know that his thoughts are with us and that he is using his bully pulpit in support of our efforts. I hope that many Americans will gather their families together in the evening and watch what will doubtless be a memorable address.

Education is a noble cause. And an educated citizenry is clearly necessary to our national well-being. But education is not primarily a national cause. Education is local. K-12 education is based in the school community. The inspiration that matters most, the admonitions that will maintain the excellence of some of our schools and help to turn around others, has be local. The experience of Oregon schools in the years since the State took increased control over education has provided clear evidence of futility of 'remote' control over schools. Governors and presidents cannot be school board chairs, and legislative bodies make ineffective boards of education.

So we welcome the support and attention of President Obama. We respect his own achievements and his hope for a quality education for all children. We agree with him regarding the importance of a great education for every child. And we will spend the day forging the bonds that will keep our students in school and developing the habits that will support their long-term academic achievement.

Sunday, September 6, 2009

On the Way to Something Really Interesting

Of course our 10th grade assessment results are good. And yes, over the past two years our Economically Disadvantaged (the State's term, not mine) 10th graders have out-performed the state's general population in reading and math and science. And O.K., I'll admit it, the only statewide population that has out-performed Corbett's Economically Disadvantaged students is the one identified as Talented and Gifted. It's all true. And it's good for publicity. And not much else.

Other districts' testing machines are beginning to kick into gear. They are organizing their schools (and their children's days) around maximizing test scores. I hear from moms about students losing their electives, being removed from art and music for extra doses of 'the basics'. I hope it's not true. I hope that if Corbett had to resort to such measures in order to beat NCLB, we would choose to be declared a failing school. Art and music aren't frills, and no societies have every survived without them. If test prep puts the study and enjoyment of our culture out of the reach of kids, then the tests have become too important.

State assessments are supposed to work like a dip stick, a device to check the 'academic oil level'. The oil itself is not supposed to be the point. The point is to keep the motor in good shape. Organizing life around passing the Oregon Assessments is like forcing oil out of the engine and up the canal around the dip stick in order to get a good (albeit false) reading while losing track of what oil is for and where it really needs to be. O.K., painful analogy, but I think it's accurate. Passing the assessments just can't be the point of school. If nothing else, the thought is too painfully boring to endure.

Years ago Corbett made a commitment to pass the 10th grade assessments on the way to doing something really interesting. So what might that be? Corbett students do schooling at a level that the State of Oregon would never think to expect and never dare to require. Every Corbett student pursues a course of study that was originally designed for and limited to the social and economic elite. They participate in a meritocracy in which one earns one's way through commitment, integrity and talent. Everyone starts together, everyone has access.

This year for the first time all Corbett 9th graders are taking Advanced Placement Human Geography. For the second year, all 10th graders are taking AP World History. (Last year about 25% of Corbett 10th graders passed an Advanced Placement exam. That is about twice the rate at which all graduating seniors in Oregon reached the same benchmark last year.) All Corbett 11th and 12th graders are taking AP English, and all will take AP Government before graduation. Over 50 students are taking AP Calculus (five of them are 9th graders), and another 60 are in pre-calculus. This year, Corbett students will take about 10 AP exams per graduating senior...history would say that this is over three times the rate of the second most prolific school in Oregon.

A third of Corbett's high school students are studying the Academic Decathlon curriculum this year. It is an interdisciplinary course centered on the French Revolution. Not all will choose to compete, but we intend to send two teams, one from Corbett School and one from Corbett Charter School, to the state competition. Only 18 students will earn the right to compete. Our goal is to win first and second at the state competition. The first place team will be eligible to represent Oregon at the national competition. The second place team will represent Oregon in the national small schools online competition.

Corbett makes no guarantees that all students will achieve at the same level. We do not fall victim to the Standards doctrine. Our experience is that they will not. But students who attend a school with this level of academic energy tend to make short work of the State Assessments. Our history will bear out the fact that Corbett did not wait for great state test results as a sign that we were ready for the Advanced Placement program. We used to Advanced Placement program to make the State Assessments largely irrelevant.

Corbett's SAT scores have echoed the trajectory of our State Assessment and Advanced Placement results. Over the past 12 years, Corbett's participation in the SAT has doubled and its average score on the math and verbal combined has increased by 100 points. Typically, scores are expected to drop as participation climbs, so Corbett kids are beating a powerful trend by dramatically increasing both simultaneously.

Corbett's most recent development has to do with college placement. Graduates are beginning to show up in interesting schools. A decade ago, Corbett seniors were hesitant to express an interest in schools other than community or state colleges. Today Corbett has graduates at Reed, Harvard, Vassar, Willamette, Smith, Sarah Lawrence, Puget Sound, Whitworth, Warner Pacific, George Fox, Oregon State, University of Oregon, Southern, Eastern and Western Oregon and MHCC. (I'm sure I have left some out, but the point is there.) In a trend that first came to our attention two or three years ago, some students are entering college as sophomores as the result of Advanced Placement scores, saving parents from $20,000 to $40,000 in tuition, room and board and saving students time as well as staving off boredom.

In keeping with our habit of avoiding the latest educational fads, don't look for 'Professional Learning Communities' in Corbett. We are not convening around state assessment results trying to ascertain what we might have done wrong. We do a great job with our kids. If the assessments are valid, they will register that fact. If the assessments fail to capture our work, we can be patient. They will probably come around. And in the meanwhile, we are on our way to something really interesting.