Calvin, on standardized testing.
(Source: backstage-ninja, via bryanboova)
Like a gnawing stomach or pesky runny nose, a looming stereotype can make it difficult to focus and perform well in school. Based on existing research, black students, Latinos, and women in math and science are known to perform poorly when a mistake could seem to confirm a negative stereotype about their group.
A new study by Stanford psychologists has found that negative stereotypes can also prevent minority students from learning new academic material. But alleviating concerns about stereotypes dramatically improves black students’ learning.
The idea that a person’s work might suffer if he or she believes a poor performance will reinforce a negative stereotype about that person’s group is known as “stereotype threat.” Studies have shown that stereotype threat is a likely cause of educational achievement gaps.
“What hadn’t been done was to see whether the same stereotype threat affects how well people learn new academic material,” said Greg Walton, an assistant professor of psychology and co-author of a new study published in the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin.
When students of color walk into a classroom, “They might be aware of stereotypes that their group lacks intelligence,” said the study’s lead author, Valerie Jones Taylor, a former Stanford graduate student who is now at Princeton. “These concerns could impact how well they acquire novel information.”
As Claude Steele’s research on stereotype threat has developed, and as his profile has risen, I am curious (and concerned) about whether or to what extent education reformers have taken this into account in the advancing phalanx of high-stakes tests entering our schools.
Fresh Air: The Debate Over School Reform
This is a Fresh Air episode I’m definitely going to catch the podcast of, as I think Ravitch and Rotherham are pretty solid advocates on different sides of the debate (each strongly opinionated, but well-informed).
TweetOn today’s Fresh Air, the debate over school reform and what strategies really work.
Guests: Diane Ravitch, former Assistant Secretary of Education. She had been an advocate of school vouchers, charter schools, testing and No Child Left Behind… and after seeing some of the results… changed her mind.
Also…we talk to education consultant and policy analyst Andrew Rotherham. He supports redesigning American public education with the help of charter schools, public sector choice, and accountability.
- <100 number of days media exec Cathie Black worked as chancellor of NYC public schools
- 17% her approval rating according to a NY1-Marist poll taken on Monday (really bad)
- 23% of those polled didn’t even know who she was or had never heard of her (even worse) source
» Her…
(Source: shortformblog)
Haven’t even read the article yet (though Jay Matthews is usually good for at least starting a conversation, but I had to link to this just for the “Whaa?” headline!
Klein Out; Hearst Chairwoman In as NYC Schools Chancellor:
I’m sort of baffled by this one. Chairman of Hearst Magazines (and former head of USA today) to the head of NYC schools? Seems like we’re gonna be seeing lots of infographics on the new standardized tests, eh?
Schools Chancellor Joel Klein stepped down today after serving as the leader of the city’s school system since 2002, the longest anyone has served in that post. He will be replaced by another executive with no educational experience: Cathie Black, a longtime media executive who currently serves as Chairman of Hearst Magazines.
“Over the past eight years, Joel has taken an administration that was a case study in dysfunction to one that the Obama administration has held up as a model for the nation,” Mayor Michael Bloomberg said at a press conference this afternoon. “Joel has implemented innovative changes that have made an enormous difference in the lives of New York City’s children.”
Black, a longtime media executive now at the helm of Hearst, which publishes Cosmopolitan, Esquire, Good Housekeeping, and O, the Oprah Magazine, will be the second non-educator, after Klein, to serve as schools chancellor. (via NBC New York)
Can anyone tell me why this is a good hire?
A good read from Andy Rotherham — here’s an excerpt:
Charter schools are all the rage these days. The public is increasingly smitten with them — in this year’s Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup education poll, 68% of respondents said they support charter schools, up from 42% in 2000 — but few people know what charters are. When the education journal Education Next asked Americans some basic questions this summer about charter schools, such as whether they can charge tuition or hold religious services, fewer than 1 in 5 respondents knew the correct answer (which was no in both cases). The confusion is so pervasive that more than half of the teachers surveyed couldn’t answer the questions correctly either.
Quick primer: Charters are public schools that generally operate independently of traditional school districts. Since 1992, they have grown in number from one in Minnesota to about 5,000 in 40 states and the District of Columbia. (Ten states don’t have laws allowing charter schools.) Collectively, they serve about 1.6 million students, and an estimated 420,000 kids are on various waiting lists to get into them. By law, when more students apply to a charter than there are seats available, the school has to hold a lottery to determine who gets in.
After Baltimore City teachers vote down contract, Alonso kills ‘em with kindness (or at least mutual respect)
Another example of how Andres Alonso in Baltimore is using mutual respect, even in the face of adversity, to improve relations with teachers and reform public education in the city schools (via Baltimore’s ABC2News).
The city school’s CEO, Dr. Andres Alonso, released a statement, which read: ‘This contract makes a historic shift in how teachers are compensated, in the district’s ability to attract and retain excellent teachers, and in the ability of schools to shape key aspects of school operations. These are essential elements of how we as a district will move forward. Many teachers wanted more information about all the dimensions of the contract and more time to digest what it would mean. I respect the seriousness with which teachers approached the vote and the importance of the questions they have raised. The high turnout for the vote reflects the importance of the contract and the value that teachers place on their work. We are committed to working with teachers until all who voted against the contract understand its benefits or we agree on other conditions that are just as necessary for our schools to move forward as our kids deserve.’
It’s difficult to imagine this kind of gracious statement coming out of the Michelle Rhee administration in DCPS—though her resignation remarks were quite impressive on Wednesday. We’ll see if the tone in DC changes under interim chancellor Kaya Henderson. If last night’s Vince Gray town hall in Ward 2 was an indication, then mutual respect may be the new name of the game.
(Previous thoughts on Rhee vs Alonso, in terms of style, can be found here)
TweetGray’s first move, from Washington Post:
Presumptive mayor-elect Vincent C. Gray introduced Kaya Henderson on Wednesday as the interim chancellor of D.C. public schools and vowed that reforms launched under Michelle A. Rhee would continue when he takes office in January.
“We cannot and will not return to the days of incrementalism,” said Gray, appearing at a news conference with Rhee, Henderson and Mayor Adrian M. Fenty, who will formally appoint Henderson at Gray’s request.
Later in the day, Gray, the D.C. Council chairman, met privately with Henderson for more than 90 minutes in his office in the John A. Wilson Building. They were joined for part of the time by Chief Financial Officer Natwar Gandhi, perhaps signaling that Gray and Henderson are already grappling with issues related to the District’s large budget shortfall.
Gray and Henderson hugged as the meeting broke up. Gandhi declined comment as he left, and Henderson said she needed “fifteen minutes to breathe.”
“A lot has happened today,” she said, adding she will begin formal media interviews within a few days.
In Henderson, Gray inherits someone in tune with Rhee on the fundamentals of education reform, especially the belief that teacher quality is the most important determinant of student success. Rhee and Henderson worked together at the New Teacher Project, a teacher recruiting nonprofit group that Rhee founded and ran before she was appointed by Fenty in June 2007. Henderson was a vice president for the group.
Thoughts on Michelle Rhee and Vince Gray’s next move
iwasjustsayin replied to your link:D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee to announce resignation Wednesday (WaPo)
What is Vince Grays vision?
That is the big question, and here are my quick thoughts (in as many complete sentences as I can pull together at 10 p.m.).
In the campaign, Gray made his arguments about style, rather than about changing specific policy decisions made by Rhee or Fenty. Here’s the quick blurb from the Post:
Gray has repeatedly said that he supports an ambitious program of school reform but does not think that changes depend on a single person. In aninterview with The Washington Post last week, he said that if Rhee leaves, he will seek to name a replacement who shares many of her values and not a veteran who has spent several decades in top school jobs. He ruled out Rhee’s predecessor, Clifford Janey, whose name had circulated as a possible replacement.
While I think Gray will take his time and consider young talent, I still wouldn’t be too surprised to see another reasonably big name in ed reform circles come in, such as Rudy Crew, former superintendent/chancellor in New York City and Miami, among others. On the other hand, the expectation is that Kaya Henderson, Rhee’s deputy, will be named Interim Chancellor, and she could be an intriguing candidate, with stronger D.C. roots than Rhee.
While some policy changes will be rolled back, I think some of Fenty and Rhee’s most positive and lasting legacies are the repairs made to all of the schools in the District, and the significant shortening of a maintenance backlog that had previously included broken windows that hadn’t been replaced in more than a decade in some schools. These infrastructure pieces are generally seen as a total positive (though some critics pointed out that not all schools had their repairs done as quickly as others, or pointing out differences in how the district is handling the renovations of Wilson and Ballou High Schools). A well-maintained school can make a statement to students about how much the community cares, and these facility upgrades, along with generally improved data systems, allow for more people to focus on the quality of education. I think Gray will benefit from the fact that many of these changes have happened, and that the central administration of DCPS, while still far from a high-functioning organization, seems considerably more responsive than it previously was.
As to the IMPACT system and other accountability measures put in place by Rhee, we’ll see how Mr. Gray approaches them. The $75 million in federal Race to the Top funding will lock in a few systems, at least in the short term, and changes in federal education policy will continue to nudge DC in the accountability-based direction of many of Rhee’s reforms.
While we don’t know yet how Mr. Gray’s vision for education reform will play out on the ground level, we do know that he has an understanding of building alliances and support that the outgoing administration certainly lacked, and so while he may not move as quickly as Fenty and Rhee did in the “no excuses” direction, he is also not likely to alienate the supporters of those steps by moving 180 degrees in the opposite direction, and he will also likely make some moves to keep some of the talent that was brought in with a strong inclination to help revamp D.C.’s failing schools. Those retention efforts will be critical not only from a human capital standpoint (keeping talent), but also for basic continuity of operations of this complex and important system.
On the other hand, the huge budget gap facing D.C. government for the next fiscal year means he will have to make some tough choices about what to cut, and it is not likely that he will be able to make a lot of headway in the immediate term on his campaign promise to focus on “the entire educational spectrum” from Pre-K to community college and beyond.
Any thoughts?
TweetD.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee will announce Wednesday that she is resigning at the end of this month, bringing an abrupt end to a tenure that drew national acclaim but that also became a central issue in the recent mayoral primary race.
She is scheduled to announce her departure at a news conference with Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D) and presumptive Mayor-elect Vincent C. Gray (D), said officials close to both Gray and Rhee, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
She will be replaced on an interim basis by Deputy Chancellor Kaya Henderson, a close associate of Rhee’s from their days at the New Teacher Project, a teacher recruiting nonprofit group that Rhee founded and ran before she was appointed by Fenty in June 2007. Henderson was a vice president for the group and is also scheduled to be at the news conference.
Rhee’s departure has been anticipated since Fenty was defeated in the Sept. 14 Democratic mayoral primary. She campaigned on his behalf and questioned whether Gray has the political will to make the unpopular decisions she thinks are necessary to sustain school improvement in the District.
So the shoe has (unsurprisingly) dropped, and we’ll know soon what Vince Gray’s education reform philosophy is going to look like.
"
Michelle Rhee vs. Randi Weingarten. Heroic schools reformer vs. obstructionist union boss. In much of the media and the public mind, the national debate over education has been oversimplified into a grudge match between those two strong-willed women.
It’s not the whole story, and it’s self-defeating to think it is. That black-and-white caricature about the choices in education - recently highlighted in the celebrated documentary “Waiting for ‘Superman’ ” and on Oprah Winfrey’s television show - confuses and undermines the discussion of how to fix urban schools.
To get a clearer picture, you need look no farther than an hour’s drive north in Baltimore. There, schools chief Andres Alonso has achieved substantial educational progress through ambitious reform efforts similar to Rhee’s - but without alienating teachers and parents in the process.
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Baltimore school reform shows Rhee’s way isn’t the only path to success
I’ve had a complicated opinion of the Michelle Rhee tenure in DC, not because I’ve disagreed with many of the strategies that she has sought to instill, but because her tactical choices (emblematic of the Fenty Mayoralty) have created more problems than they solved. Maybe it’s my wonk tendencies, or maybe it’s because I came up in public affairs and media relations, but it was easy to see that despite the significant talent she brought into the DCPS system—including some great people in central admin, in schools, and in classrooms—Rhee’s success would rise and fall on her shoulders and on the shoulders of the mayor that put her into office.
I was happy to read this column (it’s worth clicking through), because I think Dr. Alonso’s work in Baltimore is really impressive, and his approach has been a big part of his success. By creating allies, the change may not seem as dramatic, but it can wind up with stronger and deeper roots. (Dr. Alonso even took part in the Baltimore chapter of “Mustaches for Kids” last year, in order to raise money for Donors Choose, which provides cash for teachers’ projects. Who doesn’t root for something like that?).
TweetAn interesting read from the Washington Post, showing that this was not simply the “Rhee referendum” that has been portrayed in much of the national media, but that many of the battle lines that played out with the DCPS chancellor were symptomatic of broad Fenty steps or missteps.
On the last weekend before the Democratic primary, D.C. Mayor Adrian M. Fenty competed in a triathlon, cut the ribbon at a dog park in Cleveland Park, shook hands in Adams Morgan and Dupont Circle, and attended a premiere of a documentary about his controversial schools chancellor.
His chief rival, Vincent C. Gray, meanwhile, was dropping in at no fewer than three black churches, in the Mount Vernon, Shaw and Fort Lincoln neighborhoods.
The election wasn’t lost or won in a weekend, but how the candidates spent that time says something about why Gray defeated a sitting mayor with a long list of accomplishments.
One particularly striking set of observations follows:
If his policy decisions as mayor provoked criticism, he also hurt himself by missing opportunities to connect with black residents through symbolic gestures: He failed to meet with civil rights leader Dorothy Height, and he raced in a triathlon instead of going to church on the Sunday before the primary election.
Eddie Glaude, a professor of religion and African American studies at Princeton University, said Fenty’s defeat “suggests that the model of deracialization might not be sustainable” and presents an opportunity “for us to think about the direction of African American politics. What are we to make of this new class of post-racial black leaders? What challenges will they face, and who will follow in their wake?”
Glaude continued: “On the one hand, we could say Fenty engaged in bad politics, and on the other, we could say that some of the expectations of the African American community were unfair. He had to govern D.C. within constraints, and given his accomplishments, this outcome can seem dangerously punitive and may suggest that there is a desire to go back to a form of politics that I find troublesome, which is the kind of cronyism and patronage that defined the Marion Barry years. But I don’t think that’s what’s going on.”
"Standards define common content and performance expectations for all students in particular grades or age groups. They are derived from analysis of the structure of the core school disciplines and from efforts to reach consensus about societal goals. The content expectations tend to be aspirational, and the expected performance levels tend to be a negotiated balance between the desire to be rigorous and challenging and the need to be realistic in terms of likely failure rates on the assessments used to measure performance. In contrast, learning progressions represent hypotheses about how students’ understanding actually develops given particular instructional experiences, and they can be tested and validated against further empirical observations of the order and rate in which students’ understanding and skill do in fact develop given similar instruction. They also can be modified by evidence on what happens when instruction varies. Instead of making assumptions about what should happen, they focus on what does happen, given variation among students and their instructional opportunities."
— Learning Progressions vs. Standards. From the report, “Learning Progressions in Science, An Evidence-based Approach to Reform” by theConsortium for Policy Research in Education. (via jasonflom)
TweetAnother take on mayoral control of schools, this one from the Wall Street Journal, but it leaves an important question unaddressed:
Mayoral control—which usually means dissolving elected school boards and replacing them with commissions appointed by the mayor—was pioneered in Boston in 1992. Since then, several big cities have adopted the practice, notably New York City in 2002, Washington, D.C., in 2007 and Chicago in 1995, where current Education Secretary Arne Duncan ran the school system for seven years as the mayor’s appointee. Schools in Cleveland, New Haven, Conn., and Providence, R.I., are also under mayoral control.
One issue that I have not seen addressed is the question of how mayoral control is impacted by a change in the mayor’s office. In New York, Mayor Bloomberg has been in place since the beginning of mayoral control; similarly Adrian Fenty in DC. In fact, mayoral control proposals are often championed by (and seen as somewhat of an extension of) one specific mayor’s views.
While Mayor Bloomberg has managed to avoid succumbing to the NYC term limits voted in by the populace, and he is unlikely to lose to any challenger at the ballot box, not all city mayors have that kind of job security.
In fact, DC’s mayoral race is shaping up to be very competitive, and Mayor Fenty’s appointment of Michelle Rhee as chancellor is one of the signature issues of the race. Rhee has essentially gone on record as saying that if Fenty is defeated by Democratic challenger Vincent Gray in the September primary, that she will not stay on.
But a change in administration does not signal a return to a board-controlled system, with its pros and cons. A prospective Mayor Gray would then have to figure out how to direct that same executive-controlled school system, and who he would choose to run it.
