Why Obama, Duncan should read Linda Darling-Hammond's new education book

[tonysam]

The reason Linda Darling-Hammond wasn't picked as secretary of education is because she didn't play basketball with the president:

Anybody who does read the Darling-Hammond book--and Diane Ravitch's new book “The Death and Life of the Great American School System”--will get a full picture of how Obama and Duncan are off track with education reform and in danger of wasting billions of dollars on schemes that had already wasted billions in the George Bush era of No Child Left Behind.

Darling-Hammond’s research, teaching, and policy work focus on issues of school restructuring, teacher quality and educational equity--and she knows as much about them as anyone in the country. These issues are central to any effort to create schools that really work.

Still, when it came time to pick an education secretary, there appeared to be a campaign against her. She was falsely accused of supporting the status quo and blindly aligning with teachers unions.

Whatever his reasons, Obama tapped Duncan, the superintendent of Chicago schools, who supported key elements of No Child Left Behind during his tenure there. As education secretary, he has disappointed many people who had hoped Obama would end the era of high-stakes standardized testing and punitive measures for schools that don’t meet artificial goals.

Darling-Hammond’s book gives us an idea of where we could have been headed if she were in charge of the country's education policy.

More from WP

The kids are going to pay the price for University of Chicago stupidity called "neoliberalism."

[jody]

1. How does "focus on issues of school restructuring, teacher quality and educational equity" improve

our students' performance in mathematics and science?

The National Center for Education Statistics reports mathematics scores of Finland (548) and South Korea (547) vs. United States (474) and science scores of Finland (563) and Canada (534) vs. United States (489).

No new courses needed to teach high school mathematics and science, so how will Linda Darling-Hammond "change the process" used to teach those courses to bring our students' performance up to the level of Finland, South Korea, and Canada?

[tonysam]

2. She'd do it far better than the shitbag that's in there now.

Charters and privatization are no solutions.

[jody]

3. OK but please point out how the OP's book will lead to improvements in math & science scores. n/t

[tonysam]

5. Tell me how Arne would improve it.

Tell me you know what you are talking about because you don't.

You are repeating lies from A Nation at Risk, propaganda right out of Bill Bennett.

[jody]

6. I take your reply to be you don't know and that's a honest answer. n/t

[Fire1]

11. I've not read this book but just from reading her answers in

this interview she has a few suggestions that may lead to improvement. A couple of her suggestions have long since been implemented in our district but not with enough consistency.

http://www.pbs.org/onlyateacher/today2.html

[jody]

16. Curious, please describe one example of a change that improved student scores in the lowest

quartile on math & science tests.

[Fire1]

17. "a few suggestions that MAY improve............" n/t

[jody]

18. Me Bad. Could you share one suggestion that MAY improve student performance on math & science scores

[Fire1]

21. Her answers to questions 2 and 3 should give you a pretty

good idea.

[jody]

24. Sorry I'm not connecting. Do you mean Darling-Hammond's answers to questions? If yes, then do you

have a link to them?

[Fire1]

25. See post #11 for link. n/t

[jody]

26. I give the answers to 2 & 3 below. There is nothing there that would improve math & science scores.

Q: There's a lot of talk about reform that's gone nowhere. What should be the heart of any reform today?

We've had waves of reform for this entire century, in the 1900s in the 1930s, in the 1960s. Every single time we try to do reform by changing the curriculum, changing the management structure, changing the budgeting process, whatever, without paying attention to helping teachers learn how to teach kids well, the reform fails. And then we say, "Oh, we tried that and it didn't work." Because teachers were not enabled to use the curriculum materials, to use whatever the new innovation was that was coming down the pike. It's the sine qua non of learning is to enable really high quality teaching.

Q: What can we do to help teachers do their best work?

Unfortunately kids don't learn at the same rate. They don't learn in the same way. So whenever teachers are given a single way to teach, they're actually made less effective in meeting the needs of the students. And I think a lot of the folks outside of the profession don't realize that some efforts to improve teaching can actually harm it. Obviously, lack of time to work individually with students or collaboratively with colleagues is a huge hindrance in American schools. In many other countries like France, Germany, China, Japan, and so on, teachers will have 10, 15 even as much as 20 hours a week to work with one another on planning lessons, on doing demonstration lessons, on observing one another in the classroom, meeting individually with parents and students, all the stuff that enables what goes on in the classroom to be effective. In this country teachers have 3-5 hours a week for planning their lessons, period, and they do it by themselves. So all of that support for developing high quality teaching and enabling kids not to fall behind is not available to them. Things like class sizes and so on obviously can make a difference, but in fact, even more so than that, we found that not having access to the knowledge you need to do the job is probably the single biggest hindrance that American teachers have. We have very thin, uneven teacher education experiences; there are some great programs in this country; there are some that are truly awful; many of them are just cash cows on the University campus that are there to fund the education of lawyers, accountants, architects, doctors and everyone but the teachers who are paying the tuition. Very little opportunity for ongoing learning. So when a teacher comes into the classroom and is confronted with kids who have a variety of needs, learning disabilities, many who may not speak English as their first language, who learn at different rates and different ways, the likelihood that she will have encountered the knowledge that would help her address these learning needs, understand how children develop, know what to do about learning difficulties, have an adequate grounding in the content area, is relatively small in this country. And so teachers have to learn by trial and error. And it's not fair to them. And of course it's not fair to the kids.

[YvonneCa]

31. Here is the key in both...

...answers:

"Because teachers were not enabled to use the curriculum materials, to use whatever the new innovation was that was coming down the pike."

Enable teachers to use their brains, their skills, their time, their training and experience. We've never done that...

[jody]

33. Thanks for the exchange. Have a pleasant evening. n/t

[tonysam]

4. Charter school advocate horseshit. Take it elsewhere. n/t

[jody]

7. Why do you start a thread and then react angrily when someone posts a legitimate question? n/t

[mzteris]

8. 'cause she can't answer it. n/t

[Hannah Bell]

12. first, i wouldn't buy into those statistics altogether without researching the differences in

testing protocols.

It's my understanding, for example, that students tested in s. korea, for example, have a different profile than students tested in the us. e.g. about 30-40% of korean hs students go to vocational schools. and the voc school students don't do the same testing as the academic hs students do.

[jody]

15. Understand, I use the point merely to focus on improving math & science scores because during

election season that's a common theme for candidates.

IMO we don't need advanced math & science courses to improve, only basic math & science courses to pull up students in the lowest quartile.

Then the question simplifies to "How do we improve teaching basic math & science to students in the lowest quartile such that their performance on tests improve?"

Anything more than that baffles candidates in my area with whom I've had personal discussions.

[YvonneCa]

19. Answer: We stop micro-managing how teachers...

...do their job and allow teachers to use their talent, training, skills and experience to assess a student's skill level...to teach to that level as a beginning point...and to design and implement future instruction toward the goal of mastery of state/federal standards for that grade level.

What we are doing under NCLB, is teaching grade level standards to every student at a grade level...whether or not that student has mastered prerequisite skills. AND we are teaching high acheiving students skills they already know...because it is the standard for their grade level (they get really bored, BTW).

I'd add that...in my vast experience teaching these kids*...I see the same challenges over and over:

1. They have struggled and lost confidence in their ability to do math at an early age. They need to experience success and have FUN math experiences.

2. Students who struggle to read have HUGE challenges with problem solving (word problems).. This is a big challenge for ELL students, especially. Structured process/math language instruction is needed at every grade level.

3. Concrete math ...math (or science) as away of thinking about the world...helps low-performing students.

*I spent years teaching the 'bottom third' of 6th graders at my school. The biggest challenge was convincing them that they could be GOOD AT MATH. They were mostly 11 years old. :(

[jody]

20. Agree stop micro-managing teachers but that demands a way of measuring teacher performance and then

a fair way of rewarding good performance and penalizing poor performance.

Do you believe a fair system can be set up to do that and then fairly administered?

[YvonneCa]

28. Yes, I believe a fair system...

...can be set up WITH teacher collaboration. One would also have to define terms, such as 'good/poor performance'...again, with teacher collaboration and consensus.

IMO, performance of teachers is much more than a canned lesson (dog and pony show for admins and visitors) or a student test score. It is leadership, role modeling, community building, goal setting, guidance counseling, problem solving, empathizing, lifelong learning...on and on.

So it could take a while to get to consensus. :7

[jody]

30. Understand. How would such a system be weighted for a student's ability and desire to learn that

most teachers agree affect the outcome, e.g. test scores on math & science?

Is there support or opposition to the notion that IQ tests or other tests measure a students ability to learn?

[YvonneCa]

34. I'm not sure I understand what you are asking...

here. Could you restate your question?

[jody]

36. What if you had 15 of the weakest students and I had the strongest 15. Do you believe we should

each be evaluated on our students raw performance scores?

Related question, how would the education system determine the weakest 15 and strongest 15 students?

[YvonneCa]

41. Have you been spying on my...

...school? :7 Kidding...but that's a real dilemma.

To your first question...30+ students is more the reality. ;) And it happens just that way when building classes. And I ENJOYED working with struggling students so I didn't complain...but some teachers barter for students to make them look good (now THOSE are poor teachers, IMHO). I realize this is a rather personal perspective...but I experienced being judged by "students' raw performance scores." So...no, we should not be judged that way.

As to your second question...I think schools and districts are already trying to do this. They are not very good at it, thus far. What I see is TOTAL reliance on test scores...because that's where the data is. Every student is an individual with multiple traits that place them on a continuum between 'good' and 'poor.' Test scores, yes, but also study habits, homework, motivation, curiosity, empathy, communication skills, ,goals, teacher observation, parent involvement...etc. On and on.

[jody]

45. The conditions you list is why I don't believe merit pay is fair. Humor below.

A young Texas teacher was helping one of her kindergarten students put on his cowboy boots.

He asked for help and she could see why.

Even with her pulling and him pushing, the little boots still didn’t want to go on.

By the time they got the second boot on, she had worked up a sweat.

She almost cried when the little boy looked up and said, ‘Teacher, They’re on the wrong feet.’

She looked, and sure enough, they were. It wasn’t any easier pulling the boots off than it was putting them on. She managed to keep her cool as together they worked to get the boots back on, this time on the right feet.

He then announced, ‘These aren’t my boots.’

She bit her tongue rather than get right in his face and scream, ‘Why didn’t you say so?’, like she wanted to.

Once again, she struggled to help him pull the ill-fitting boots off his little feet. No sooner had they gotten the boots off when he said,‘They’re my brother’s boots. My Mom made me wear ‘em.’

Now she didn’t know if she should laugh or cry. But, she mustered up what grace and courage she had left to wrestle the boots on his feet again.

Helping him into his coat, she asked, ‘Now, where are your Mittens?’

He said, ‘I stuffed ‘em in the toes of my boots.’

She will be eligible for parole in three years.

[YvonneCa]

49. ...

:7 Thanks for the humor...sounds like my grandson. :) I agree about merit pay...it's the simple answer that is usually wrong.

[mbperrin]

43. Actually, this is exactly what happens now, except that you have 15

of the strongest, while I have 30 of the weakest.

The schools segregate AP/IB/GT students and place them in small classes (6-15 at our school) with great resources - document readers, projectors for computers, worktables rather than single-armed desks, and so on. The teachers of these students tend to be those with large numbers of years of experience and advanced degrees, as well as out of town seminars and development activities paid for by the district.

The rest of the students are 30+ to a room (I have 38 desks in mine), no document readers, (I have a projector for my computer, because they forgot to take it when I decided to stop teaching AP/GT and return to the regular classes.), 3 computers for students sitting on top of a bookcase because there's no room for tables or chairs for them. I have multiple degrees and certifications and three decades teaching, but most of my "regular" colleagues are coaches who are made to teach 2 periods a day and new teachers with new bachelors' degrees, many still working on their certifications, who average fewer than five years of experience. The brand new teachers with no experience at all teach sophomores, those folks fresh from being on top in junior high and who do not quite fathom they're on the bottom in school. They all get inservice training on the campus, such as logging on to Atomic Learning and watching video lectures on how to make a powerpoint.

Now when TAKS scores come in, the new teacher with no experience and nothing to work with is graded by the % of students who passed the TAKS, with bonus consideration given to those with commended performances.

So let's say you take your population of special ed, migrant, LEP, ESL/bilingual, 504, economically disadvantaged, reduced/free lunch scholars who are crowded 30 to a room for 6 periods a day, and you find that 60% or 108 out of your 180 passed, and that 10 of them made commended performances, your overall number is now 66%, and you are on probation, and you are now officially a "bad" teacher who will have to go to remedial workshops on your own dime and time to stay employed.

Meanwhile, you, my colleague, take your 60 AP/IB students for testing (yes, you teach only 4 sections a day, not 6, because your students require rigor), and you find that 100% of them pass and 30 of them are commended. Your score is 150%, and you are an "excellent" teacher who would be entitled to share in the bonus pool of money handed around for those superior performances.


Now are there any questions as to why HALF of all new teachers in the US quit before their 4th year of teaching?

[jody]

46. This branch was from "19. Answer: We stop micro-managing how teachers..."

# 20. Agree stop micro-managing teachers but that demands a way of measuring teacher performance

# 28. Yes, I believe a fair system..

Do you have an answer to # 30. "Understand. How would such a system be weighted for a student's ability and desire to learn that most teachers agree affect the outcome, e.g. test scores on math & science?

Is there support or opposition to the notion that IQ tests or other tests measure a students ability to learn?"

[mbperrin]

50. And yet, test scores on math and science are not the reason students

have desire or ability to learn, they are minor products of that desire and ability, most of which was instilled by their parents before they began school, especially with parents or other caregivers reading and modeling other academic behaviors to their charges.

But your question was how are teachers rated now? This is how they are rated now.

What are you proposing exactly?

[jody]

51. What portion of a teacher's rating is based on the test scores of students? n/t

[mbperrin]

53. 100%. There is no other criteria, because test scores are all that are used

by NCLB. Every single subgroup must pass every single segment of TAKS to be satisfactory.

So the old ratings, in which availability for tutoring, sponsorship of student activities, degrees and certifications held, and so on, were out.

Worse, the test scores are split into two years in high school in Texas. The 10th grade scores are what the school and teachers are judged on and are of no consequence to students. They have no reason to succeed or fail; that test is irrelevant to them. 95% of them must take the test, or it's an automatic unacceptable rating.

The 11th grade test scores the next year are what students must pass to receive a diploma their senior year, but these scores cannot be used as evidence of improvement for the previous year's scores by the same group. These scores are of no consequence to the school or techers.

Not surprisingly, 10th grade scores tend to be quite a bit lower than the same group's scores on the exit exams the next year. The English Language Arts portion is given in early March each year, and the Math, Science, and Social Studies are given in late April. Because of the emphasis on the test, most students feel they are finished with the year as soon as the take the test. This gives a number of disciplinary and attention issues the front burner till the end of May when school ends.

That's your current wonderful ratings system, first dreamed up in Texas by a non-educator, Mr. H. Ross Perot, and later spread nationwide by another non-educator, George W. Bush. And here we have yet another extension being dreamed up by two more non-educators, Mr. Arne Duncan and Mr. Obama.

Hope this helps.

[jody]

54. Thanks. n/t

[Hannah Bell]

29. not by nclb & obama's new "competitive" grants. cause the focus on nclb

scores has led to cutbacks in science & other non-tested subjects.

[jody]

32. Understand but candidates in my area often proclaim our schools must do better in teaching math &

science so we can attract industry and compete with other states and countries.

That's laughable since industry closes plants in California and moves them to Alabama, Mississippi, etc..

That must mean AL schools are doing a better job teaching math & science than CA -- :shrug:

[YvonneCa]

35. I think your regulations for business and...

taxes may be less than Ca.

[jody]

37. Agree 100% and if AL can compute with CA if math & science are important factors, then we should be

able to compete with many other countries that are receiving manufacturing jobs out-sourced from the U.S.

[tonysam]

55. Science and social studies are now tested as well as reading and math. n/t

[mbperrin]

42. Finland did it with a lean set of national standards. Curriculum is written

locally, as well as assessments. There are no national tests, no standardized categories to meet, no AYP. Just teachers taking a general guideline, using their expertise to develop, teach, and test a course with their own local population.

Results speak for themselves: You speak for them, yourself.

Restructuring then, eliminates the top-down approach we use; teacher pay and prestige were enhanced and more was expected in curriculum development and testing; teachers, administrators, and students, all local, became part of the process of teaching the desired course elements.

How's that?

[mzteris]

9. Darling-Hammond thinks TFA does a good job. . .

recruiting new talent.

"She is a longtime critic of Teach for America because many of its corps members abandon the classroom just when they are learning their jobs, but she has recently acknowledged that the program recruited new talent into teaching." http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/02/us/politics/02web-darlinghammond.html?_r=1

*********


"A TEACHER SUPPLY PROPOSAL FROM DARLING-HAMMOND AND SYKES

Linda Darling-Hammond and Gary Sykes have issued a call for a "national teacher supply policy." Without systematic intervention from Washington, the authors warn that states and districts are unlikely to solve their shortages in certain subject areas and the inequitable distribution of good teachers. . . The authors recommend that a national policy should consist of the following:

. . . Offer grants to urban universities and districts to get them to mirror Teach For America's recruitment savvy . . ." http://www.nctq.org/p/tqb/viewBulletin.jsp?nlIdentifier=164#302

[Hannah Bell]

14. Your cites don't support your contention. what a surprise.

[mzteris]

10. D-H seems to support "incentive pay"?

"While issues of pay and working conditions are centrally the concerns of states and
localities, Washington could encourage more states to address these issues by
sponsoring research within and across states on the success of various strategies
in different contexts. These might include systemic state strategies like
Connecticut’s and local experiments with compensation plans. . .
but some states and districts are exploring
further innovation with compensation and working conditions that bear watching.
For example, some analysts have advocated advancement on teacher salary
schedules based on indicators of performance in teaching, including National Board
Certification and other measures of merit or accomplishment. California
implemented $10,000 bonuses for National Board-certified teachers, increased to
$30,000 for such teachers who taught in low-performing schools.
. . . In addition to sponsoring research, Washington might play a role in stimulating the
development and testing of innovative compensation and support models explicitly
designed to retain effective teachers in needy schools and districts. In this case, the
Department of Education or other relevant agency would announce a national grant
program that would support two phases of work, the first to develop innovative
compensation plans, the second to evaluate trials of these models to determine
their effectiveness. . ."
http://epaa.asu.edu/ojs/article/viewFile/261/387


*****

"This is an administration that gets education," Darling-Hammond told me in a brief interview. "It understands how to leverage improvement and reform while dealing with fiscal needs." Examples of that, she said, include the additional funds for teacher performance pay and for improving teacher preparation, both of which were key ideas in the Obama campaign platform . http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaign-k-12/2009/01/a_celebration_for_linda_darlin.html

[Fire1]

13. I think you will find that most teachers don't support merit

pay.

[mzteris]

22. it seems that she does -

just wants to use different "criteria".

[Fire1]

23. Fortunately, she's not the majority. It never ceases to amaze

me how people who haven't set foot in a classroom in ages or ever at all, have ALL the answers!!!

[mzteris]

27. but she does -

and tonysam seems to like SOME of her suggestions . . .

Prior to her appointment at Stanford, Darling-Hammond was the William F. Russell Professor in the Foundations of Education at Teachers College, Columbia University. Darling-Hammond was president of the American Educational Research Association and a member of the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. She has served on the boards of directors for the Spencer Foundation, the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, and the Alliance for Excellent Education.<5>

Darling-Hammond began her career as a public school teacher and has co-founded a preschool and day care center, as well as a charter public high school.<6> Darling-Hammond has been engaged in efforts to redesign schools so that they focus more effectively on learning and to develop standards for teaching. As Chair of the Model Standards Committee of the Interstate New Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium (INTASC), she led the effort to develop licensing standards for beginning teachers that reflect current knowledge about what teachers need to know to teach diverse learners. As Chair of the New York State Council on Curriculum and Assessment she oversaw the process of developing the state’s learning standards, curriculum frameworks, and assessments during the early 1990s.<7>

While William F. Russell Professor at Teachers College, Columbia, Darling-Hammond co-founded the National Center for Restructuring Education, Schools, and Teaching (NCREST), which documented highly successful school models and supported a range of school reform initiatives in New York and nationally. Darling-Hammond has been engaged in efforts to redesign schools so that they focus more effectively on learning and to develop standards for teaching: As Chair of New York State's Council on Curriculum and Assessment in the early 1990s, she helped to fashion a comprehensive school reform plan for the state that developed new learning standards and curriculum frameworks for more challenging learning goals and more performance-oriented assessments.<7> This led to an overhaul of the state Regents examinations as well as innovations in school-based performance assessments and investments in new approaches to professional development.<10>

As Chair of the Model Standards Committee of the Chief State School Officers’ Interstate New Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium (INTASC), she led the development of licensing standards for beginning teachers that reflect current knowledge about what teachers need to know to teach challenging content to diverse learners.<11> These were ultimately incorporated into the licensing standards of more than 40 states and became the foundation for a new generation of teacher certification pointed at teaching competencies rather than merely the counting of course credits.<12> She has been instrumental in developing performance assessments that allow teachers to demonstrate their classroom teaching skills as they are applied in practice, as an early member of the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards and, later as a co-founder of the Performance Assessment for California Teachers (PACT). The PACT consortium, comprising more than 30 university- and school-based teacher preparation programs, has designed and is implementing a performance assessment that examines how teachers plan, teach, and evaluate student learning in the classroom. The PACT assessments are now authorized for use in licensing California teachers.<13>
Developing schools and programs

Darling-Hammond has been active in developing innovative schools. She began her career as a public school teacher and has co-founded both a preschool/day care center and a charter public high school serving low-income students of color in East Palo Alto.<14> In a community where only a third of students were graduating and almost none were going onto college, this new Early College High school – an open admissions school which admits students by lottery – has created a pipeline to college for more than 90 percent of its graduates. The school, along with seven others, is a professional development school partner with the Stanford Teacher Education Program (STEP), which prepares a leadership corps of teachers for high-needs schools. Darling-Hammond led the redesign of the STEP program for this new program, and its successes have been acknowledged through recognition in several studies as one of the nation’s top programs.<15>

Darling-Hammond has worked with dozens of schools and districts around the nation on studying, developing, and scaling up new model schools—as well as launching ground-breaking preparation programs for teachers and leaders—that facilitate greater success for diverse students. Through the School Redesign Network at Stanford, she works with a network of urban districts to redesign schools and district offices, strengthen leadership and teaching, and monitor and enhance equity in resources and outcomes, while studying the outcomes of reforms. See School Redesign Network district partner web site.

Darling-Hammond has said, "Lagging far behind our international peers in educational outcomes--and with one of the most unequal educational systems in the industrialized world--we need, I believe, something much more than and much different from what NCLB offers.” She also praised the law for drawing attention to achievement gaps and for the right of all children to well-qualified teachers. She has suggested that, in addition to these major breakthroughs, “We badly need a national policy that enables schools to meet the intellectual demands of the twenty-first century (and) we need to pay off the educational debt to disadvantaged students that has accrued over centuries of unequal access to quality education.” She has suggested that federal spending on education is inadequate to achieve the goals of the law.<16>

[jody]

38. Experience is public school teacher, co-founded a preschool, day care center, charter public high

school.

How many years did she teach and what grades?

[Fire1]

39. I agree with some of her suggestions, as well. Hammond's

initiatives, frankly, are not so dissimilar from many initiatives that have surfaced over the years. Glad to know that she was at least a teacher, at one time.

[mzteris]

40. AND she helped found a Charter high school . . .

hmmmmmm -

[Fire1]

44. So?? Anybody can start a charter school! What's your point? n/t

[mzteris]

47. Well, she is the "darling" - no pun intended

of this group. And they do so hate charters and anyone who support them - sooooooooooo just thought it an interesting little tidbit.

[Fire1]

48. Sounded like snark to me. n/t

[mzteris]

52. nope -

just trying to illustrate that all ideas should be considered, and just because someone disagrees with you on one or two or even three things, does NOT mean they are the "enemy".

We're all on the same page that says, "We want what is best for our children." The problem comes in that we disagree sometimes on what that "best" is.