One of the items discussed at the public meeting with Mr. Johnson was that fact that as the I-SS implemented its version of the Baldrige Plan there was a decrease of humanity in our schools. For example, it was mentioned that since administrators had to spend so much time dealing with all of the Baldrige requirements that they did not have the time to get to know the students as well as they have been able to get to know them in the past. It was also stated that at one school, there were a number of students who identified one of the teachers as the principal.
I recently received an e-mail from a teacher who talked about the importance of the human element. The teacher has told me that I may share the contents of the e-mail with the readers of this blog. I am including the message here.
Hi Mr. Klaene.
Someone at my school made a comment. I believe it holds a lot of truth and is worth sharing.
She said,
"When we began using the terminology "stakeholders and customers" to refer to our parents, teachers, and students, the heart and humanistic characteristics of teaching and learning died."
I thought the comment was profound. These titles are cold and impersonal- which is much like the atmosphere in our schools and classrooms. The words "stakeholder and customers" have slowly but surely sent the clear message that education has joined the corporate world - where lives get shattered because of numbers, and possibilities for individuality and enrichment are stifled at the hands of those in control. Now our education system is diseased by this business mentally.
Someone should mention to our school board and our administration that words are powerful - we would like to be acknowledged again as the humans we are. We can be customers at the Wal-Mart when we purchase a broken, mechanical item. But in school, please let us be teachers. Let us be students. Let us be parents. Let us be a community. Recognize us as givers and seekers of knowledge. That just may be a huge step toward improving morale.
I-SS Teacher
Great letter! Well thought out and to the point.
ReplyDeleteI took my daughter to the doctor for a physical. She has been having problems with her stomach. It seems that a lot of our students are having problems with their stomachs, heads, etc. because of the stress that students feel in our system. That was her problem. Later on these students are going to develop high blood pressure, etc. We are not working on building healthy and educated students. We are just building test takers. The doctor even said that in the last 5 years our students in ISS have had more stress related problems.You are right we are taking the human out of our ISS system to build data banks. More parents need to report this to ISS. Testing too much causes too much stress especially on students who care about their tests. Noone wants to be the one on the PDSA graph that causes their class not to celebrate. It is like being the last one picked or striking out. This is a sad mockery of education.
ReplyDeleteWhy is it that on one knows the Exceptional Children's Department at ISS is at 0% compliance with the state?
ReplyDeleteCould it be that Exceptional Chidlren's Department is the funnel for money used for Baldridge?
Wouldn't it be a shame if children in Exceptional Children's program suffered because of Baldridge?
PDSA My son is a freshman at SIHS get this he just told me he has to do a PDSA in English Leadership.....etc each class and he will be graded on this junk! What does this have to do with acutal learning English, Math, Science, History. How does this help anyone actually learn the material. I hope and pray something changes soon! I can't take 4 more years of this time wasted. School is to important to take 2 plus days to get this done. Teach the material please!!!! (I really wanted to type this in all caps)
ReplyDeleteWhy is this not public knowledge.
ReplyDeleteWhy has this news not made the paper?
Have parents been informed of this travesty?
EC non-compliant, surely you jest. Mr. Johnson couldn't remember Alicia Tate making a statement at the June COW meeting that ISS had been identified as a "needs help district". Actually I misquoted Ms. Tate. Her correct quote was, "I-SS identified as a 'Needs Assistance' district based on 2007-2008 LEA Profile Data." One can only guess what ISS would be identifed as based on 2008-2009 school year and this year with all of the cuts this past June. Again we are told it is the budget, times are hard etc. Administration gets raises and services are cut for EC children. Every I-SS employee who resides in Iredell County pays taxes. Every taxpayer has the right to question.
ReplyDeleteI think all of you who have endless complaints and no solutions to share with the rest of us should apply for the position of Superintendent since you have it all figured out. Why else keep the solutions to yourself, unless you don't want someone to have an upper-hand on you in the interview? And don't just say stop Baldrige, because from what I see, Baldrige is anything that is not liked. Google Baldrige and you will get 604,000 hits. Google PLC's and you get 67,400,000. Obviously, PLC's are not Baldrige, yet I see it called Baldrige on here all the time. Give your solutions with specifics. And since administrators are overpaid, you should do the job for $15,000 a year or whatever minimum wage is. That will solve all the problems.
ReplyDelete6:22 p.m. I was thinking that same thing as I was listening to Brady rattle of SAT scores in the meeting. We have not created learners, yet alone ignite a passion for learning in anyone. We have simply taught them test taking strategies to pick the right letter. We've taught them lots of teaching terms too since they are supposed to tell us how to teach them. I'm sure the stress related problems apply to teachers too. Some interesting data might be, the amount of sick days taken in the past few years. I know I've worked sick, as just about every teacher has, but might be interesting.
ReplyDelete8:14, some of us would LOVE to teach! Doing this stuff for a grade, absolutly shameful. It sounds like a principal decision since it is in each class. Most of the principals now have been brought in during the last 7 years, and you didn't get the job if you didn't worship Baldridge. And they don't actually have to do the stuff...they just have to check it off on a blackberry. I have seen a principal ask a veteran teacher how to do a PDSA, and this person had a reputation for being a Holiday pet. They have no idea.
Everyone, except the CO, has suffered because of Baldridge. We have all paid a price, except CO. CO has just made money off it in salaries, raises, and goodness only knows what other kickbacks are/were going on.
I say let's go back to the way things used to be. And by the way, let's go back to the low state-wide ranking that I-SS used to have. We were 57th and now we're in the top ten. So, let's go back to being 57th again. As for turning the students into test takers - most of those tests are state required - not required by I-SS. So, while we're going backward - let's get rid of all state requirements too. In fact, let's get rid of grades - because they cause stress. Then, let's get rid of attendance requirements - more stress. Let's let kids drift in and out of classes at will, and then congratulate ourselves on our low standards - but happy kids. After we do that, the good citizens of Iredell County will be begging for - you guessed it - someone who will come in and clean house!
ReplyDeleteThey already are low so what is the difference? They can't function in college because they do not have the skills. Our AG classes are being neglected, but you know it is all how the data is manipulated. Ask a student. A young student told me had been in all the honor classes and the top 10%. He failed at Mitchell College first semester ,because he had no idea what he was supposed to do .
ReplyDeleteIf the data is so honest then why are students failing and not able to function in the workforce? This is going to come out. We keep working on improving level 1s and 2s ,but look who is showing the least growth,our 3s and 4s.
If all students are not reaching their potential,
then we as teachers and administrators all are failing. If all we can do is test take, then no wonder we do not learn anything that will sustain us in our future. We then can all sit on our couches and live off the government. It must be what we are after for our future citizens.
5:20 - "As for turning the students into test takers - most of those tests are state required - not required by I-SS."
ReplyDeleteThe state requires ONE test a year for elementary kids grades 3-5 in reading and math + fith grade science. For grades K-5, ISS requires weekly tests, standardized tests (called PAs) every 2-3 months, teacher made CFAs (standardized tests) every few weeks in between PAs in reading and math. We also have Writing (2?-5) and Science (3-5) PAs. The state used to do a 4th grade writing test, but even they abandoned it before the budget cuts. While grades 3-5 are taking the ONE state required test, K-2 are taking an ISS required PA. I can't speak for the high school level, but the state does not require any testing for K-2, and they certainly do not require weekly testing of any student. The state does not require students to be tested on the first day of school!
The top 10 rating is created by ISS, NOT the state. There is no ranking system from the state.
College is about applying knowledge, analyzing, problem solving, etc. If our kids are not given ABCD, they don't know what to do....sad.
Weekly testing not required by the district. We only have two sets of PA tests (not every 2/3 months) the state did away with the 4th grade writing test but replaced it with the requirement that the district keep a writing portfolio with 2 content and 2 on-demand prompts.
ReplyDeleteForgive me, but I am going to place this comment in two posts. Regarding the Strategic Plan Survey, I think it would be a great service to the community if the Statesville Record and Landmark would write a small column in the paper regarding the importance of the citizen input in responding to this survey.
ReplyDeleteYears ago, I remember how the NC legislators kept making reference to the low performance in North Carolina SAT scores compared to the rest of the 50 states. While the perception of the printed publicized number did seem very dismal, the truth is the comparison was greatly flawed. Please consider the following: How many states west of the Mississippi required students to take the SAT? What particular group of students west of the Mississippi took the SAT? Could it have been that those students in those western states who took the SAT were looking to gain entrance into an university in the east that required that particular score? How many students in NC were encouraged to take the SAT? I remember that at that time there was a strong push to have as many students in Iredell County schools as possible to take the SAT. Would these hidden variables have an overall affect on the final publicized results of SAT comparison across the nation?
Now my point is, does that cause the data to be flawed? You can rest assured that it does.
Now, let us please consider the formula being used to show improvement in I-SS. It is a formula that has been created by the Holliday accountability system. But, does anyone have any clue of the “hidden variables” that are not being compared when arriving at the final printed result? The answer is NO!
Now, here is a challenge for any supporter of the Holliday system of accountability. Would you allow a statistics professor to come in and evaluate the Holliday system of accountability and printed improvement? Again, I ask. Would you? A while back, I had a simplistic discussion with a statistics professor at a local university who is somewhat familiar with I-SS. Our discussion involved the reported improvement in I-SS according to the Holliday system of accountability. He simply laughed and stated that 60% of data is flawed. Now please remember, his reply is a general comment regarding data.
Here is my question. Is the Holliday system flawed or accurate?
Also, I have started to consistently use my name with my posts. I understand why many of the posters do not use there name. We all understand that. Will the Holliday supporters please start using your name with your post? What do you have to lose?
And since there is much “hidden controversy” regarding the previous administration (not current), it would seem that the local newspaper should start reporting the controversy and allow for a more clear public response (called data or imformation gathering) and eventual resolve. That would be a great public service to the community.
PA schedule: August Baseline (called a baseline, but the exact format of a PA), Oct 19-22, (7 weeks) Feb 22-25, (Christmas/Thanksgiving/January breaks gives 13 instructional weeks), EOGS are May 17th, (11 instructional weeks). Grades K-2 will give a 4th quarter PA, but grades 3-5 will not.
ReplyDeleteThe first required CFA is September 25, not sure about the future CFAs.
PDSA is required to be done weekly in the schools I am aware of. We were told last year by our IF if we need to stretch our PDSA to two weeks, we still need to assess in between. I know of two other elementary schools that are required to pre and post test during their enrichment block.
Let me try this again, the DISTRICT does not require you to test weekly
ReplyDeleteBull! That assessment was expected with each weekly PDSA. Are you from Mars? Now it is the same with our math PDSA. So now we will have 2 PDSAS to do each week besides reading, writing doing math using our manipulatives,and doing remediation and enrichment in a 43 minute block.
ReplyDeleteI am doing an L to J with Dolch words , too. I have been reading a novel to my students. I haven't had time to get to my state assessment folders or my Dolch word lists but will try to.
I may have to keep students after school to get those done, plus our DRAs start soon. Progress Reports need to be done, too. Well, let's see if I can fit everything into my busy schedule.
Remediation and enrichment is a 45 minute block.
ReplyDeleteGuess what, the ethics violation reporting on the website doesn't work either.
ReplyDeleteJust a thought, 9:58 PM - maybe it is not a very good teaching technique to be reading a novel to your students. Reading to them requires only passive participation from students. Why not have them read, and why not have them do that at home. Class time should be instructional time, not passive listening time. And again, the DISTRICT does not require weekly testing - that must be a requirement of your particular school. Why not ask about that?
ReplyDeleteAlvin Ostwalt:
ReplyDeleteThe data comes from NC School Report Cards and is available to anyone who cares to look at the website. It contains the official data on schools from all over North Carolina.
07-08:
District: Eng.=79.6%; Alg. I = 72.2%; Chem.= 87.5%; Hist.=68.4%
State: Eng.=73.1%; Alg.I =69%; Chem. = 71.8%; Hist.= 66.5%
01-02:
District: Eng. = 68.3%; Alg.I = 77.4%; Chem.= 77.9%; Hist. = 45.6%
State: Eng. = 69.7%; Alg.1 - 79%; Chem. = 70.6% Hist. = 50.3%
SAT scores - 07-08 District average = 1056
SAT scores - 07-08 State average = 1007
SAT scores - 01-02 District average = 1012
SAT scores - 01-02 State average = 998
Please note how in 07-08, I-SS is beating the state average in every category. In 01-02, the State is beating I-SS in every category except chemistry. There are other categories listed on the website as well. It would be great if parents everywhere learned how to navigate this website so that they could see for themselves how much student performance has improved.
I personally don't care if we use Baldrige or we don't use Baldrige. I just want this website to deal with facts rather than opinion or speculation. I-SS has improved in the last seven years. Check it out for yourselves. If you want to go back to the way things were, then perhaps you want to go back to when we were below the state average in 50% of the courses measured vs. today when we are above the state average in 90% of the courses measured and equal to the state average in the other 10%.
Anonymous 9-15, 10:57
ReplyDeleteMy late night reply is due to the fact that I am at home sick but still working.
10:57 Please sign your name and open the debate.
I agree that the numbers are there. I do not dispute the numbers on the NC Report Card. But,the question is should they be used to compute rankings among the 117 school districts? Is this really the way we would like for education to be scrutinized in NC? DO WE HOPE THE STATE WILL START RANKING ALL THE SCHOOL DISTRICTS WITH THE WAY I-SS HAS DEVELOPED A RANKING SYSTEM? Be open minded to the next question and PLEASE RESPOND TO IT: Is that a good thing for education or could it result into problems for education? I think these are questions that can be considered for debate. Remember, tests will focus on a set narrow area of objectives. CHANGE THE TEST AND THE DATA WILL CHANGE. PLEASE RESPOND TO THAT STATEMENT.
Regarding your statement "I personally don't care if we use Baldrige or we don't use Baldrige. I just want this website to deal with facts rather than opinion or speculation."
Yes, you have created a set of facts. But is it a valid measuring stick? Or, have we become better at teaching the test? I ASK, ARE THESE VALID QUESTIONS? And if you don't care if Baldrige is used or not, than please sign your name. Regarding facts, opinions, or speculation: Can facts be disputed? Is it okay for people to give an opinion (afterall, are they not stakeholders and are they not supposed to have a say?) and finally, you will get speculation on a blog and society in general. Fair reporting of issues will certainly help to eliminate some speculation.
And finally, would you agree that one result of the previous administration was the very poor morale within the system? And would you agree that we have aided many surrounding systems with a supply of workers.
I open these questions to the above addressed and to anyone who would like to respond.
And to the above, again please be brave and sign your name. I have.
10:14 are you a teacher? If so, maybe you need to do some research on how important it is for children to be read aloud to. It improves comprehension and vocabulary, increase fluency, and builds motivation. There's even been studies that say being read aloud to develops the mind and increases intelligence. Nothing is passive, especially if you are asking the kids to respond to the book in some way.
ReplyDeletePDSA is weekly at every school I know...what school is NOT weekly and why is it different?
Anonymous 9-15, 10:57
ReplyDeleteI have another question regarding the scores you reported. Take a look at the history scores from the information you cited.
Why do think the history test scores are so comparitivlely low from 2001 to 2008 across the state?
Do you think it is possible that the scores are relative to the lack of history taught in grades K - 8?
It is just a thought regarding interpretation of data?
As for the comment about no one knowing anything about the EC being at a 0% compliance, I clearly remember one of the two candidates who ran for school board mentioning at the Statesville High School school board candidate forum that the EC department was in shambles and facing a state intervention. I'm not sure which candidate it was, but he was a teacher and very knowledgeable about both what was going on and about education in general. I then remember that the next candidate to speak, I believe it was the school board chair, contradicted the man's remarks about EC's non compliance by saying things were improving and progress made. The other candidate gave him the look of "you have no clue what you are talking about." So someone knew something was very wrong with EC compliance.
ReplyDeleteSomething is still very wrong with EC. Parents should go to their child's school and request to view the IEP. They should make sure the IEP the school has is the same one they received a copy of at their child's most recent IEP meeting. IEP's have been lost. They have not followed children when they have returned to their home schools. Parents should not agree to attend IEP meetings when invited by phone but request a written invitation. The school no longer has to list the school personnel attending but the parent may request that information in writing and that the information be made available prior to the IEP meeting. If a child's teacher or therapist is not listed the parent may request the attendance of that teacher or therapist. Changing or amending an IEP without the IEP team can only be done with the parent's permission. PARENTS SHOULD MAKE SURE THAT THEY RECEIVE A COPY OF THE IEP THAT THEY SIGN AND THAT IT HAS ANY AND ALL CHANGES ON THE DAY OF THE MEETING. Parents need to check to make sure when they receive the final computer copy that it is the same as the one on the day of the meeting. ECAC is a wonderful local resource for exceptional children and parents located in Davidson NC.
ReplyDeleteWhen the humanistic characteristics left so did the trust. EC parents may tape record meetings. If it is not in writing or recorded it does not have to be provided by the schools.
ReplyDeleteI too, would recommend that EC parents record the IEP meetings. That way the school IEP team cannot say they didn't agree to something when indeed they did. Also remind the IEP team that they are there to advocate for the student not the school. A friend of mine had a good idea. She would take an 8 x10 picture of her son with her to the IEP meeting and place it on the table so everyone would remember for whom they were advocating. And speaking of advocating, parents remember that you can bring people to the meeting to advocate for your child. Bring a grandparent or other relative, bring your pastor, or bring a friend who knows your child. Keep the focus on what is needed to enable your child to succeed in school.
ReplyDeleteReading a novel to my first graders is what we do, and those students usually excel in reading by the end of the year. I do ask questions and not easy ones, but only 1 of my students is on a third grade reading level at this time. Our novels are usually 4th grade and above. By the end of the year, mostof my students will be above 2nd grade and more on 3rd grade reading level. They love the novels .
ReplyDeleteWe do plays and poetry together, too. I guess you want that stopped too. You must be from the planet Jupiter. Reading to students increase their desire to read. Adults are the role models, and if an adult does not read, why should they?
Reading to students increases their desire to read. (correction)
ReplyDeleteStudies show that children benefit from being read aloud to through the 8th grade. Check the research.
ReplyDeleteI am not from the planet Jupiter. I am a teacher with 30 years experience, and I have certainly read aloud to children. I just don't think it substitutes for active teaching and learning in which the child is engaged. Some children are engaged when you read aloud to them and some are not. One of my points is that if you're sitting there day after day reading a novel to them - how would you know which ones are not engaged. If you can't complete the other requirements of your job because you prefer to read aloud - then reading aloud ought to be re-examined as a technique. It is often typical of those who have no real argument to make that they resort to name-calling instead. Let's take the high road here, and avoid that.
ReplyDelete"It is often typical of those who have no real argument to make that they resort to name-calling instead." That has been a prevailing attitude on here.
ReplyDeleteSo we should do away with read-alouds in favor of PDSA. Gee, which is a proven teaching technique?
ReplyDeleteMy students do many other srategies during the day. We get math done, writing done and our guided reading done with a different group each day. We get our calendar done ,and we exercise and move around every 15 minutes or so.
ReplyDeleteI don't think that a chapter being read aloud everyday is not learning or participating, when the children cannot wait to get to that book the next day. We love to write a sentence about the story and draw a picture of what is in our mind when that chapter is read. Our students do need read alouds and listening time. If we do not give students the joy of reading, then we are a lost nation.
Look out EC teachers - Looks like Klaene and his crew are after your jobs now.
ReplyDeleteNo one is questioning EC Teachers. We all know they are doing what they are told to do by EC Administration and LEA's who have no idea what EC teachers do every day to assure that no child is left behind.
ReplyDeleteNo Child Left Behind has certainly left behind the same subgroups every year. I'd like to see only our subgroups scores in ISS schools. Did they outscore the other districts?
ReplyDeleteYou know that same rude person is still trying to put down Mr. Klaene. You do not have to write on this blog nor read this blog. You are always trying to start something over a remark that can be read but not quite comprehended except in a negative connotation. Read carefully before you judge others. Just like the novel. Do you really think that a teacher justs sits there reading all day? Perhaps she is right , you may have come from Jupiter. Then I could see your point.
ReplyDeleteThe scores grew higher as we taught how to take a test more than than how to acquire knowledge. At one time if they scored in the 17% percentile they were scored as a 3. That was way too low, but it happened. It seems when we started being held accountable for scores as teachers, that teaching to the test became the norm.
ReplyDeleteExactly how do you teach an elementary child to "take a test"? If they know the answer they do, if they don't they don't...right?
ReplyDeleteThere are several test taking strategies...it depends on the skill or what the question is asking. For example, if it's a main idea question, you have them go back and look at the first and last line in the paragraph that the question is about. If it's summarizing, you can have them number the paragraphs, then number each sentence in the answers to find which answer has a number in the beginning, middle, and end.
ReplyDeleteFor a math example, we teach them to underline key words. If it says "how many more", that's subtraction. If the word each is written in the problem, it's multiplication. If it's in the question, it's a division problem.
Basically, you teach them how to narrow it down to two choices, then find the answers, not neccssarily problem solve or actually think. When they do that, they often times pick the wrong answer, not the "best" answer that the test is looking for. We don't ever want them to think they don't know the answer, if they don't know right away, we teach them how to find it.
Also in mutiple choice answers usually it is not a as the answer, and most times it is the longest answer. If you don't know it then just guess a, b, c , or d. Test strategies are what we teach.
ReplyDeleteIf you dont know it just guess a,b,c or d? You really think that is why our children have performed better on standardized testing? Isn't that stating the obvious?
ReplyDeleteSome students would freeze at a question and stop, and at least if they would guess ,they would go on to others that they could answer. THe timed tests can panic some of our students and when they know how to at least guess at the best answer ,the time will not be held against them. Tests are variables anyway,
ReplyDeleteTests are not always true. I watched an EC student take one of our tests and she jst started guessing and she did quite well. She just colored in circles and to her it was like making a pretty pattern. The next test she did not do very well on, but that shows that grades and data can be disputed. She was in 2nd grade and probably was on K reading level. The tests never bothered her.
ReplyDeletejust started guessing (above)
ReplyDelete