I don’t get angry often. I have a fairly long fuse and I will laugh often to keep from blowing up even if it is a sardonic laugh. But I want to yell at someone tonight. I just don’t know who.

I started out in preschool — teaching that is. In 1979 I went to work for the State of Arizona as a resource teacher for children age 0-5 years of age who had identified delays in their development. I spent my mornings working with 3-5 year olds, helping them integrate into normal preschool settings. My first placement was at a school that I was not familiar with but over the next year that I worked there I became good friends with the director/owner of the school.

I had already worked in a couple of preschools part-time while I was getting my first degree in archaeology thanks to the intercession of my wife who with her master’s degree in early childhood had become a director at another preschool. She saw that I had a talent with kids and nepotism didn’t bother me.

This school was very different from the one my wife ran, but I was flexible.

As I said the director of my new school and I became friends because she immediately saw I was not just some government lackey, I actually knew about kids, knew how to work in a preschool and I went out of my way to integrate myself into whatever program I was placed in. I went on to work in many different schools over the seven years I was with the state, each with its own character, but continued to be close friends with that owner long after I left her school.

Eventually I went on to teach in public school. I stayed mostly in early education, spending eleven years in kindergarten and seven years in second grade. My friend’s program grew for a time and she expanded to another site on the other side of town but after going through a divorce and as her kids got older she decided a career change was in order. She sold her schools and after a few false starts, using her original teaching degree she returned to the education field. She continued to grow in skills and eventually found that teaching English special education in middle school beckoned to her. She enjoyed the work, was innovative in her approach and seemed to in a good place professionally.

Except with colleagues.

Interpersonal skills with peers had never been her strong suit.

Everywhere she went she seemed to have a problem with being somewhat blunt with what she said to others. She also suffered enormous mood swings. Then there was supervision, often a problem for teachers who are left to their own devices so much, additionally, having been the boss herself for many years she struggled to deal with her various principals especially when she saw them as simply hassling her for her lack of tact and her tendency to speak up about whatever was on her mind. Few, if any, criticized her teaching, in fact most gave her good evaluations because, as I said, she was good at it.

She went to the doctor about her issues with interpersonal relationships and was diagnosed as bi-polar. Her doctor put her on medication. For a while it seemed to help.

After several contentious years with one district here in Tucson she decided to make another change and move to her home state of Texas to teach. Her son lived there and she initially moved in with him while she began subbing. There was some friction, he being a grown man who had left the nest several years before so she eventually moved into her own place.

She stayed busy and while she didn’t want for work, she finally decided that Texas wasn’t for her and she came back to Tucson, eventually landing a new teaching position, this time in a high school as a special education inclusion teacher. My wife and I were both called individually as references and asked our opinions of her as a teacher before she was hired. Ironically when we compared notes later we had said almost exactly the same thing.

We both said we had known her for over twenty-five years, that some of our children had gone to school together, that we thought she was an excellent teacher but that she could be brutally honest at times and would invariably speak her mind. Additionally we both said we would hire her, given the option — but then we knew her well.

She was pleased when she was hired and really looked forward to the job. She shared her ideas and goals with us and spent a lot of time learning what an inclusion teacher was supposed to do.

It was rough year. The high school had never done inclusion before. I could relate because inclusion was what I had started out doing all those years before when I worked for the state: trying to make sure that exceptional education students fit in to a regular classroom. She often felt that her opinions were dismissed as not being the way that they did things and she tried to persuade them that she recognized that was not how they had been doing them but this was something new.

Near the end of the year she wrote a grant and received an award for materials she could use the next year. This pleased her greatly and it seemed a vindication of her skills professionally. That was the high point — there were many low points.

She grew frustrated and often depressed. It just wasn’t working out. My wife and I had many discussions with her about various issues because we had a standing dinner date on Friday nights. We gave her what advice we could and once again her teaching skills were never in question as she continued to get excellent evaluations on her lessons.

Near the end of the school year her medication was adjusted by her doctor to try and ameliorate some of the radical mood swings.

On one hand she was worried that she would not be asked to return to the school and yet she was equally worried that she would be asked back.

We assured her that whatever happened she would have a job next year because the district was always short of special education teachers and her evaluations were good. We tried to persuade her she was golden.

The day she got got her RIF — Reduction In Force — notice, news that her job would not be filled the next year, she called and came over to talk with us. Again we assured her that this was simply procedure on the part of the district and she would be picked up soon. Funding was the main culprit, coupled with lowered enrollment so they were just “covering their ass” so to speak. She laughed about it at the time but my wife knew it really bothered her. One thing she was afraid of was that she wouldn’t have health insurance until rehired and that could take all summer.

She went to the meetings held by he district for those people who had been RIF-fed; employing a verb that has become common usage for describing the process. She was getting ready to go to a job fair; much like the one where she had been hired the year before. Some friends from work were going with her to ensure that she got all the interviews she wanted.

Yesterday she came by to wish my wife a Happy Mother’s Day as we were loading into the car to go to brunch. Her kids all live out of town so we invited her to join us, but she demurred saying she was going to church, something she had been doing lately. When she left she seemed in good spirits and we said we’d talk later.

Sometime last night she dressed for bed, put towels along the base of her garage door, climbed into the backseat of her car with the engine running and went to sleep.

She was found around four o’clock this afternoon by two colleagues who wondered why she hadn’t come to work.

I’m mad, I want to yell, I want to scream, I  just don’t know who to scream at.

We simply can’t have a setting where the teachers unions are able to contribute tens of millions of dollars to the campaigns of politicians, and then those politicians – when elected – stand across from them at the bargaining table supposedly to represent the interests of the kids. I think it’s a mistake.” Willard “Mitt” Romney

If the students had a union?

So Mitt, you think that because teacher unions are the number one contributors to democratic candidates, those candidates will unfairly look upon the union requests favorably thus causing a “glaring case of conflict of interest.” Wow, that’s interesting.

You know what? I agree totally, Mitt. Those Democrats are going to favorably look at teachers because they were supported by those teachers. What? You say you were referring to teacher unions, not teachers? You actually think that teachers are pretty great, it’s teacher unions you don’t like. Umm, who do you think belong to teacher unions, Mitt? I have some bad news for you, almost all the members of teacher unions are educational professionals — they’re teachers, Mitt, yeah, the ones you like, the teacher unions are just crawling with them!

I’m sorry, do you need a moment? Here sit down in this empty chair. You got lucky, we have a lot of empty chairs for adults at schools these days. That’s because in response to the current financial crisis, Republican legislatures everywhere are cutting school’s budgets.

What was that? Oh, they have had to cut school budgets because schools are failing. We have to come up with different models? Is that like school choice? Yes, I know, I read about that. A lot of parents were questioned about this problem of America’s failing schools, Mitt. They were asked what was wrong with their schools? Do you know what they said? They said nothing is wrong with their school — it’s all the other schools that are no good. The study found that on the whole, most parents like their own school. 2)

Amazing the things you can find out when you ask the right questions.

There is an interesting fact that has come out of all this studying we’ve done, Mitt. What? A fact is something that is true. Yes. So as I was saying, what has recently been found is that despite the fact that our schools are so horrible, children’s imaginations have actually gotten better. 3) Our students think more broadly, have more new ideas now than in the past and are more creative — yeah, American kids. With our schools being so horrible you’d think that the opposite would be true, huh?

There’s that idea of yours, you know, to push for parental access to Charter schools. You’re going to increase the availability of school choice with vouchers. I see. You do know that in general the charter schools performance is somewhat less than that of public schools, right? 4) It’s not a big thing, just 5-10% below but the studies show that by percentage, there are as many good public schools as there are good charter schools and more of the charters perform below the average than do our public schools. I know, yes, it was a poll and you hate polls.

Now you remember what we really need: better teachers. That is what we need, you are right, good teachers can really make a huge difference, Mitt. I’m glad you noticed that when you looked at schools. Yes, even without funding we really need to stock up on those good teachers. Of course, job satisfaction is at an all-time low for teachers and more are leaving the profession than are joining it. 5) Yes, I’m sorry it is another one of those fact-things. How do we fix that?

Really, money? We pay them for performance? Is that like how we pay Wall Street for performance or how we pay legislators for performance? Now, don’t get defensive. Like you, I’m just trying to get at the answers. OK, say we improve pay for teachers. How do we structure that increase seeing as compensation is set by individual school districts? What we need is an advocate, one that goes state by state and lobbies for teacher salaries and benefits? You know, like a union.

Oh, wait, yes I remember, we talked about those before, yeah, those unions they’re the ones that  contribute to Democrats and get unfair consideration in return for their millions of dollars.

Uh, Mitt, one last question, would that be like the corporations and billionaires who contribute to Republicans? Do they get any special consideration, Mitt? Mitt?

I was just asking.

1) http://www.mediaite.com/tv/romney-shuts-down-questioner-who-claimed-teachers-unions-are-popular-i-don’t-believe-it-for-a-second/

2) http://www.azschoolsmakeadifference.org/A_survey.pdf Page 3

3) http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2012/06/26/36imagination.h31.html

4) Charter_School_Performance_Study.svg

5) http://www.metlife.com/assets/cao/contributions/foundation/american-teacher/2011-Teacher-Survey-Findings.pdf

“I’m one, I got my fork, now bring on the cake!”

It’s hard to believe my grand-daughter is one year old.  It seems like only yesterday I held her in the hospital and gave her her first kiss on her furrowed brow.

We attended the obligatory birthday party at a place I wouldn’t normally be caught dead in. You know, one of those ‘pizza parlors’ devoted to excesses of noise, lights, games, screams and grandparents who wish they were somewhere else. (The grandparents might have been the ones screaming, I couldn’t tell.) So much time, energy and money expended in the name of celebrating our children; the mind boggles.

And yet almost simultaneously across the nation, our children are being short-changed in one of their most critical areas of growth; we have severely cut back our funding for education.

Right now children are returning to school and finding things changed. There are fewer teachers, less educational materials and more children per class. Can we reverse this? Joy Resmovitz writing in the Huffington Post, says that there is hope that we may see the situation improve because President Obama is also sounding the alarm.  1) The White House has released a report entitled: “Investing in Our Future: Returning Teachers to the Classroom.” in it this administration finally seems to have realized the potential damage that can occur if the trend of laying off teachers and underfunding education continues. 2)

One of the most common problems that is cited by teachers is that they are expected to do more with less. They are also being expected to teach more with less. Class size continues to grow. There have been many in administrative and legislative positions who have pooh-poohed the notion of smaller class size being important.  Our current Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan has publicly supported the concept that a teacher will be just as effective with 20 students as they will with 25 or more.

When asked to explain his comments further, Duncan told The Huffington Post that he’d rather have better teachers in larger classes. “My point there was that I think the quality of the teacher is so hugely important,” he said. “I’ve said things like, give me the parent, give me an option of 28 children in a class with a phenomenal teacher or 22 children in a class with a mediocre teacher. If I was given that choice, I would choose a larger class size.” 3)

Randi Weingarten, head of AFT, responded that Duncan’s comments were disingenuous because wouldn’t he rather have both a phenomenal teacher AND a smaller class size? It only makes sense to say that if we improve one factor impacting our education system, improving two would be better and therefore working to improve all elements of public instruction must then be even more desirable.

Duncan recognizes the risk we take in ignoring the needs of education. He knows that the government impact on educational funding is limited. Most of the money is in the hands of the individual states legislatures. His comments on class size were given in reference to where we must allocate our rapidly diminishing resources that are still devoted to education. 4)

Since that time Duncan has also backed off his other position somewhat, admitting that reducing class size is important too but it needs to be coupled with improvements in teacher skills and better retention of effective teachers. 5, 6, 7)

Here is my shopping list Mr. Duncan: better training for teachers, improved compensation for well trained instructors, ensuring that  every child has access to those well trained teachers and adequate materials in their classroom, also ensuring every child has a chance to learn effectively by supporting early education programs, school breakfast and lunch programs, health care for all and since it takes a minimum of two incomes to adequately raise a family these days; before and after school programs to allow parents to go work to support their families without concern for what their children are doing.

If we wanted to, we could do this. If we truly believed what we say about our children and their importance to us, we would do it. But perhaps even more importantly, if we as adults, want our children to be the inheritors of a better life and a stronger America, shouldn’t we do this?

1) http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/18/obama-back-to-school-education-cuts_n_1799289.html

2) http://www.scribd.com/doc/103166235?secret_password=3tx63weozho4nyaeqbt

3) http://www.ed.gov/news/speeches/new-normal-doing-more-less-secretary-arne-duncans-remarks-american-enterprise-institut

4) http://www.frederickhess.org/2011/03/breakfast-at-arnes

5) http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/14/larger-class-size-a-thousand-cuts_n_1659591.html

6) http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/05/class-size-fight-overcrowding_n_997052.html

7) http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/29/duncan-boosts-merit-pay-a_n_913608.html

“But we don’t fund it.”

It’s hard for me to believe that school starts in a less than a week. Summers go so quickly. Especially this summer.

Many parents and children are seriously thinking about school again. It’s about time they caught up. Most teachers have long since started working. My indefatigable wife has already worked four full days, though not alone, having also drafted at least one of her long-suffering daughters each day to go with her.

Of course she was never really done with school. It’s just that during the summer teachers can decompress, reflect and plan. A good friend of mine who has returned to Tucson from Texas has spent much of her time looking for a new position though because she is a skilled Special Education teacher her fate was never in doubt. Our ranks of teachers trained to work with special needs students are sorely depleted and the coffer has never been full.

Much of that has to do with the asinine edict that says Special Education students will be tested in their grade level rather than in their ability level. A severely mentally-handicapped eleven year old who has just successfully completed a self initiated toileting objective and can write their first name and the first letter of their last name is tested as a competent fifth grader. Surely there is nothing wrong with that?

Of course the other option is just to refuse to have special needs students in your school. This is happening in Minneapolis. Last year a public school that was failing was closed and a new charter school replaced it. They had a one year agreement that the Special Education students would also be allowed to attend the new school. That school has now told parents of special education students that they will not be attending the new school. You can read more about this situation in an article by Allean Brown in the Twin Cities Daily Planet. 1)

Starting a new school year has a very different meaning for those children and their families.

Meanwhile I am struggling with my first year of semi-retirement watching this flurry of activity with my jaundiced eye and realizing that there are some things that I feel need saying.

First, I want to offer an invitation. For the entirety of my classroom career I had a standing offer. I invited anyone who wanted to, could come and spend a day as a teacher. I would write all the plans, prepare all materials. I would even sit in the room. Just come do my job, for a day. No one ever took me upon it.

I can no longer make that offer now that my role has changed, but I can do this. If you are a legislator, vested with the responsibility of determining the fate of public education in Arizona, come to my school. I will take you around, I will let you go wherever you like. I will personally escort you to each classroom that you would like to see. I will answer every question you have. I am at your beck and call.

Here is the caveat. If you are not willing to actually see what goes on in public school then get your hands off public education and let us work. I am sure you can find things to work on that are more endemic your field of expertise, let teachers decide what is best for education.

Finally, fund education, not just some pet money-making scheme of education but real, public education. You know, for everyone.

There is too much to do, there are too many working extraordinarily hard to do it and we in public education police ourselves much more diligently than any legislature can. If you are among those who think teachers are ever satisfied with their results then you are among those that are wrong.

This is how it has always been. While I am not nearly as persistent as my wife, in years past by now, I would have spent at least a dozen or so hours preparing in my room for what I know is looming. It’s what teachers do.

Our public schools do not need meddlers. If you want to work, fine, volunteer or at least contribute your $200 to your school and get it all back at tax time. If you want to be part of the solution we will welcome you with open arms and put you to work. If not, get out of our way, we have important things to do.

1) http://www.tcdailyplanet.net/news/2012/07/24/cityview-leaves-north-minneapolis-special-education-students-behind

“Sum-mer-ti-ime and the living is . . . ”

Hard for non-educators to imagine and even harder for professionals to explain. Let me try anyway.

I sat in my last classroom the other day. My indefatigable aide, Donna, had finished a marathon cleaning and clearing out while I had alternated between puttering around, sorting papers and reminiscing while watching her in mute amazement. I had given her virtual carte blanc, that is, I had told her to use the “don’t ask, don’t tell” rule: if she was unsure about whether to save something, don’t ask me because I will vacillate and perseverate over the decision and therefore don’t tell me when she had gotten rid of something, because likely as not I’ve forgotten I even had it and definitely no longer need it. As a result of this dictum there was almost nothing that distinguished my former classroom from any other big empty classroom in the school.

Sitting there facilitated my reflections. It made me think of what Catherine Gerwertz writes about as one serious worry that is looming before many teachers who are supposedly relaxing and recovering from another school year: The Common Core. 1) The Common Core is like a big empty classroom. Gerwertz says:

Now, the (Common Core) standards face what experts say is their biggest challenge yet: faithful translation from expectations on paper to instruction in classrooms.

The problem is concisely restated in the article by Professor William Schmidt:

Most current teachers have read the standards for their grade level, think highly of them, and are willing to teach them, but few understand the profound changes in teaching that they will require . . . .

And my followup statement to Gerwertz and Schmidt, not uttered in the article but never forgotten by any professionals, is that teachers need to be ready to implement these changes by day one of the upcoming year. For many teachers this is a summer of transition. Some have established their teaching rituals over many years of practice and reflection. Now they are wondering if those practiced daily schedules and progressions are viable any more.

They also have clean, unwritten plan books that are like my big empty classroom. What will they write? How are teachers going to fill their days? Will they furnish their plans with exciting activities that integrate lessons into the curriculum using the Common Core as a guide or will their days be predicated upon lessons that focus on teaching to the objectives for the purpose of passing tests?

Are the profound changes mentioned by Dr. Schmidt a series of directives that will narrow the curriculum or are those changes a form of educational liberation that energizes America’s public education again and encourages our students to want to learn. It’s scary, entering the unknown territory that the Common Core represents. Teachers like to know what they are doing before they begin to do it. Believe me when I say the youngest child can sense when as the teacher, you are making it up as you go along and they will respond accordingly. It’s not pretty.

My big empty room is unidentified; without personality, like the school year to come. The upcoming year is going to be an exciting one for many teachers. Whether that excitement will be caused by positive energy, persistent confusion or abject terror remains to be seen.

1) http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2012/04/25/29cs-overview.h31.html

. . . but my daughter says I will talk to anyone.

By now we have held quite a slew of these little talks; forays into the turmoil that is the modern world of education. We’ve established a mutual trust and discussed enough important subjects, that I feel can share with you something personal about myself.

I suffer from a condition.

A few of you may have guessed already. Some of my close friends probably know, they can’t help but have noticed but in the name full disclosure I feel I should make a general statement to clear up once and for all any possible confusion.

I’m not looking for your pity when I tell you about this. Nor am I attempting to make myself a more attractive or sympathetic individual. I don’t want to influence your opinion about me in any way. I just want to come clean about this situation that has affected me virtually my entire life and will always be with me.

Even as I write (speak?) these words I can see the light of recognition dawning in your eyes so let me go ahead and say it.

Yes, it’s true, I’m a Cubs fan.

Please don’t pity me, don’t feel you must go out and organize an intervention or start a fund to help search for a cure — trust me — it is incurable.

There may be a few ways to begin understand a condition such as mine. For example when cable TV came to my neighborhood, I was among the first to call them and set up an appointment. When the representative came he was surprised to find that I cared nothing for the fact that they offered free HBO or Showtime, The Playboy Channel did not even elicit a glimmer in my eyes, all I cared about was “Do I get WGN, the Chicago Cubs channel?”

You may ask why someone seemingly so rational would choose to submit himself to the decades of punishment that Cub’s fans have endured. I can honestly say it is not by choice. My mother used to tell of how she would set me in my little “Johnnie Jump-up” right in front of the black and white Emerson TV with its 12inch screen, so she and I could watch the Cubs game while she did the ironing. By the time I was three I had a favorite player, Hank Sauer, number 9, which became the number I wore whenever I played any team game throughout my checkered athletic career.

There are rewards, such as they are, for being a Cub’s fan. You just have to dig a little deeper than most to find them and they are not as sweet as rewards generally are for others. One such trufflle came to me serendipitously last Friday when I got to see Kerry Wood, a personal favorite of many of us benighted folk, pitch what is ostensibly his last pitch as a Cub. Kerry was the original ‘phenom’, the ‘can’t miss’ prospect, an arm that with the help of a guy named Prior was going to finally bring the Cubs that much longed for World Series ring. Early in his career he had a game where he struck out 20 of the opponent’s batters. That’s twenty strikeouts in a total of 27 outs! I watched it and it was dominance on a scale unheard of.

But over the years, injuries forced Kerry to rehab or go under the knife for surgery and that ring never materialized. Yet, he kept coming back and enjoyed considerable success over and over again in a way that most of us can only aspire to achieve. On Friday, rumors were flying around the media that Kerry was “hanging it up”. Though he could still throw a baseball 95 miles an hour, he didn’t always know where it was going with the precision he expected. The word was, from those in the know, he wanted to pitch one last time and then he was done.

In the eighth inning he came into the game to face one batter. His last pitch was a nasty curve that had the batter swinging at nothing and in the dugout I’m sure someone called out “Thanks for the breeze!” in derision. Kerry walked off the field having struck out one more major league batter and as he approached the dugout, bathed in a tumultuous standing ovation, his son came running out and jumped into his arms. It was the stuff of hackneyed, cheap movie sentiment and I had tears rolling down my face.

There was a singer-songwriter named John Stewart. He died a few months back. Over his career he had one top hit, a song called “Gold”. For the entirety of his professional life, which spanned decades and included near the beginning, a stint as one of the Kingston Trio, he was much respected by others in the field of music. Many of his songs were recorded by other artists and he produced nearly a score of albums, copies of most of which, I can proudly say, I own. If you ever get a chance, type in the title, “Mother Country” by John Stewart and listen to that song. There is a line that goes “and he’s driving her ‘stone-blind’!” that never fails to elicit a well of emotion in me and that was what I felt on Friday; that same rush of bittersweet emotion that is drawn out of you despite all your efforts to the contrary.

Kerry Wood has retired. He can still throw a ball and throw it better than most but over the years the effort becomes harder and he has to work more diligently to get the same results. When he gets up in the morning there are numerous aches and pains to contend with and besides, young arms are out there waiting for their chance to show what they can do. The game has not passed him by but it is time to move on, he can leave knowing he has had many successes, more than failures and he did so at a level that many others could not achieve in his chosen profession. He is satisfied, I think with what he has accomplished. Was it what he expected, or was expected of him? No, of course not, but still there is the recognition that he did well, especially given the various situations thrown at him over the years. No one but he really knows the total effort he put in. The pain and the frustration are his to remember alone. But as recompense for those dark memories there is the sweet sound of that ovation in his ears and more than that, that magnificent curve ball, spinning forever, just out of reach, right where he wanted it to go.

And in my own way I know just how he feels . . .

I was in school when I got a call. I rarely take calls during school but my wards were busy, and for some reason I chose to answer this one. TUSD Board member, Judy Burns had passed away, it had just been announced. I ran to the computer and saw the email from Dr. Pedicone. I was dumb-founded. How was it possible? What happened? It seemed unreal.

Later I got the information she had a massive heart attack. She was sixty-three years old and well known at my school for many years where her daughter had once worked in our before and after school program. But beyond that, she was a friend, a friend to me, to the children of TUSD and especially, a friend to the much-maligned teachers of our district.

She had served on the TUSD Board for more than ten years and before that she was active and well known in the district. She is the one candidate for the board that I had unhesitatingly supported every time she ran for the board. I used to see her at all kinds of events: fund raisers, classes, schools. We always found time to chat about the latest developments, crises, catastrophes. I enjoyed getting her perspective on things. In fact I had just received an email from her in answer to one of mine a few days before. We had shared home email addresses, something I do too often and I think she had too. But that was how she was. Judy didn’t duck controversy or water-down her opinions. She was what you saw, and she was what she said she was.  She was at once always accessible and stalwart in her support of public education.

All those ‘was’es helps me realize that she is really gone and that is the ultimate tragedy. Judy Burns was irreplaceable to the teachers and students in  TUSD. We are all much poorer for her absence from of our district and public education in Arizona. Sleep well, my friend, you earned your rest but you left us with a great void to fill and I do not see anyone else who could adequately fill it as well as you did.

The public is demanding accountability, but accountability must be fair and equitable.
L. Hunnicutt “Arizona’s school grading system: so little knowledge, so many opinions”

I love the word ‘equity’ in fact I used it just yesterday. I was discussing the situation of a teaching assistant at our school. She works in a cross-categorical special education classroom and just before school started she had taken a class on Autism Spectrum issues which is very current as a professional development opportunity for her job. She was of course paid for the class but she was also told that because she had taken the course she must give up one of her grading days.

Grading days are when teachers and their ancillary colleagues compile grades and then work like crazy to try and get done in one day everything they have been putting off all quarter. In other words, for most educational professionals they are days that are golden, a day to just work, without the students there, and it’s not a weekend or vacation day.

I could not understand why she should have to give up a day of work thus negating the fact that she had taken time out of her own schedule to get better at her job. That would mean that while she got paid for her time; as an hourly employee she would give up that same amount of pay on a later check. Teachers do not have to give up a personal day to take classes during the summer — if they did no one would do it. For me it was a question of equity . . .

equity – noun ( pl. -ties)
1. the quality of being fair and impartial : equity of treatment.
New Oxford American Dictionary

. . . a white collar worker should not be forced to give up a day’s pay when a certified teacher would not.

So you would think a great fan of ‘equity’ like myself would be a staunch adherent of the school grading system described by Ms. Hunnicutt as “fair and equitable”. If it was, I would be.

The problem is, there is no equity in education. There is none for teachers, schools or students.

Equity would mean that each school would have the same funding, the same curriculum, the same materials, teachers equally well trained, access to the same technology, the same family dynamics, the same involvement in PTA; the list goes on and on and on; it would be laughable if it was not so damnably true.

No, I am sorry to say I do not buy the idea that this evaluation tool for teachers will have any equity. And I do not subscribe to the idea that rating a school that has 600 students and 20 teachers, with a 60% mobility rating and a socioeconomic base that includes 90% free and reduced lunch is any way equitable with a school of 300 students with 20 teachers and 20% free and reduced lunch. The effort involved with one accessing a ‘B’ rating and the other getting the same ‘B’ rating is in no way equal. And either one being rated a ‘D’ for any reason is punitive to those teachers and students who are working so hard.

What’s more, to further castigate the sacred cows of education, I don’t believe in AYP! It is simply one of the most pervasive myths currently in fashion in education. That seven year old child who started the year in a group home and lived in three foster placements in one year didn’t make AYP? Why not? What is wrong with that teacher?

The only equitable method of evaluating a child’s progress is to look at where that child enters the school year, what they have happen to them in that year and how much they grow as an individual in that school year. And the only person who is willing to take that data and assess and understand it, is that child’s teacher. No one else is going to take the time, or care.

How do you rate your postman? How do you rate your fire department? How do you rate your police force? Answer, you don’t; you trust them to do their job. You count on them to be there when you need them and you believe they work in their field because they are committed to it.

People want teachers to be accountable? They leave their kids with them for 7 hours every day. Has any competent parent ever done that with someone they don’t trust? Isn’t that the ultimate test? Would you leave your child with someone you don’t trust to be accountable?

And here is the ultimate kicker to my argument. Hunnicutt’s article states: “The public is demanding accountability . . .” and in a limited sense, that statement is true but at it’s core it is also totally false. The public is demanding accountability from those other schools. Google it and see,  (http://www.azschoolsmakeadifference.org/A_survey.pdf Page 3). Over and over again parents report they are satisfied with the effort of their school in educating their children, it is the other schools that need to be reformed, even those in the same district.

For example, the data from the 2011 survey of the Washington DC schools features the following interesting parent response numbers: Overall rating of your school – 73% favorable; your district – 49% favorable. Will you keep your children in this school system? – 83%. Will you recommend your school to others? – 81% (http://www.dc.gov/DCPS/Files/downloads/). Ergo, my school is fine; those others in the district need the work.

Sorry, this system of evaluating teachers is not fair, it is not equitable; it is simply misdirected. No, where evaluation is needed is in our off-stated commitment to our most valuable resource: our children. If we are truly going to say that we believe this then we need to stop short-changing our future, stop pushing aside those who can least afford our inattention. It is time to support children and fund their education and those who deliver it. Nowhere is that more true than in the State of Arizona. You want to evaluate something? Evaluate our true commitment to educating our children.

On September 30th the movie “American Teacher” will be released (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/24/american-teacher-takes-a-_n_979116.html). It chronicles the lives and careers of four teachers. As we sit on the edge of reauthorization of ESEA in some form or another and struggle with a continuing spiral of economic downturns it might behoove us to decide what we want the future to look like.

The film’s narrator, Matt Damon, notes that in the next years over half of the current teachers will be eligible for retirement. While that may be a source of optimism for short-sighted legislators in search of additional revenue, the potential loss of experience to the profession is staggering. Think of what would occur if half the doctors in the country were about to retire, or half the dentists or half of any necessary profession.

Meanwhile educational reform in America is floundering. The signature plan of the United States government “Race To The Top” is in trouble, money is drying up, RTT driven evaluations are under fire, every winning state has postponed the implementation of deadlines. The Obama administration has held out a carrot that offers relaxation of NCLB standards to those who buy into reforms. Everywhere there is talk that maybe “teaching to the test” is not such a good idea after all.

Educators recognize that passing a test of minimum requirements is not an indication of educational proficiency. And yet it is one of many tools teachers use to help them evaluate student’s progress. The problem is that measuring learning is not easy. The term AYP is hard to adequately define in terms that all agree on. We can set objectives and plan goals but in the end the student must consistently produce results that indicate not just the ability to answer questions but actually think.

Which leads to another issue closer to home.

Locally an icon of Tucson and Arizona education, Pima Community College is tightening entrance requirements. For some this is hard to watch. I remember back when PCC was the brunt of a jokes that truly proved anyone could go to college. But in doing so, PCC offered an opportunity for many to find a direction for their skills and unique abilities that would not be appreciated at an institution like the University of Arizona. To me it looks like Pima wants to legitimize and emphasize the college aspect of it’s campus over the community one. Yet there was outcry and anger over what is perceived as a broken promise to those who see the university education as beyond their wildest dreams and Pima as their best alternative.

Yet who cannot agree that there needs to be a minimum requirement to be accepted as college eligible? The growth of programs like JTED may help ameliorate the resulting increase in potential students who are now ineligible for the local community college. What corresponding program will be offered to offset the loss of teachers and provide the educators of tomorrow?

The loss of so many educators to retirement may represent another broken promise, that of a free and public education.

I completed my twenty-fifth ‘first day of school’ today and I have to say . . . I hate the first day of school! The confusion, the mysteries, the uncertainty, they all combine to make it possibly the worst day of the whole school year.

Confusion arises from several sources, the students are getting used to a new teacher’s style and rules, the teacher has to learn 25 to 30 new names as soon as possible and things always crop up that were not foreseen.

Let me give you an example. Today I took my class out and practiced a fire drill. We talked about rules and responsibilities. I assigned several jobs and then got down to the meat of the day. I passed out an activity that assessed cutting skills and took an initial writing sample. I then had them write independently so I could assess their skills and get an idea of their spelling ability. All these things were disguised as fun: the cutting was a hand print we are putting up in our room, the independent writing was based on the story, The Little Train That Could, they wrote three things on train cars that they thought they could do. Finally the last activity was them writing about themselves, their favorite subject, like their favorite color, food and hobby and drawing a self portrait. It’s always interesting to see what they think they look like.

After we had worked for quite a while a new little boy brought me all his papers with almost nothing done and said, “Teacher, I can’t read.” I laughed, tousled his hair and said, “No problem guy, that’s my job, we’ll work on that.”

As a teacher you have to be ever vigilant.

Then there are the mysteries, like the new student who has no idea what is going on. We get a lot of these in kindergarten. You see them walking down the hall at lunch time. They are looking around them like the Big Bad Wolf might be hiding anywhere.

“Hi, whose class are you in?” “I don’t know.” “What does your teacher look like?” “It’s a lady.” “What happened to your name tag?” “I don’t know.” (By now I am sure it is a kindergartner) “We have three lady kinder teachers, is she tall?” “Uh-huh.” Then a kindergarten teacher walks up and says “Come on. You’re with us.” As they walk off I notice while she towers over the student, she is the shortest of our kindergarten teachers.

And the uncertainty. This year I started with a roster that had 27 names. Twenty-six of those showed up today and one new student enrolled so I ended up with 27. That almost never happens. Usually I am wondering how many kids will actually be there? I remember one year I had 36  show up on the first day and another where I ended up with only 15.  Of course neither of those classes stayed that way — for very long.

I hate the first day of school, it’s almost as bad as the last day when I have to let them go.