Teachers ask: Does putting students first mean putting them last? The Rhee message revisited.
UPDATE: Despite assumptions that it would pass, SB 184 did not succeed because the Senate did not agree with some moderating language inserted by the House. It is eligible for reconsideration next year. The bill won substantial votes in both the House and Senate, but time ran out on reconciling the two versions of the bill.
Within two hours of House passage of a controversial bill this week requiring teacher layoffs to be based on job performance rather than seniority, I received a call from StudentsFirst.
Would I like to talk to founder and CEO Michelle Rhee about the role StudentsFirst played in the passage of Georgia Senate Bill 184? (The bill passed in the House, but has to return to the Senate to approve the modifications made by the House.)
While I knew that Rhee had visited the governor and General Assembly in February, I did not realize that the former chancellor of Washington, D.C., schools had mobilized her members in Georgia to push for an end to what she considers the damaging policy of last-in-first-out or Lifo in teacher layoffs.
“We have 7,000 members of StudentsFirst in Georgia and they generated more than 12,000 e-mails and calls to legislators round the state,” said Rhee in a telephone interview. “They came out in full force and it’s unusual to see that kind of volume in education issues.”
Rhee has raised the national volume on education as both the outspoken leader of DC schools and now the peripatetic CEO of StudentsFirst, a grassroots group dedicated to what she calls common sense reforms in education that put children in the forefront. Rhee returns to Atlanta to appear at a panel tonight at Spelman College.
The Georgia Legislature has every right to meet with Rhee on her views. And it certainly can heed thousands of calls and e-mails from Georgians who believe in the StudentsFirst agenda. But the question at this time of low morale and deep discouragement among state educators is whether legislators also made an effort to sit down with Georgia teachers. Several teachers who contacted legislators about the bill said they received promises of meetings, but no follow-up.
Did lawmakers reach out to teachers in the state?
“No, I don’t believe so,” said Tim Callahan, spokesman for the Professional Association of Georgia Educators. “Some of them seem fascinated by national figures such as Ms. Rhee —who many are taking a second, more critical look at —while others seem eager to move into the limelight with legislation that is national in its publicity even as it seems to be a clumsy fit with realities here in Georgia.
“In short, the last several years have been less about lawmakers engaging with educators and more about their catching various political waves which aggrandize their egos,” said Callahan.
“This is the argument we make on every issue in the Legislature,” said Marcus W. Downs of the Georgia Association of Educators. “Yes, they can assemble task forces, and legislators can talk to the educators in their districts that they trust. But GAE and other teacher groups offer the collective opinion of people who serve on the frontlines every single day. For their opinions not to be sought is demoralizing for our members. They feel their opinion isn’t valued because it is never sought.”
In talking to legislators, I get the sense that they have written off teachers as cranks who will block any reforms that threaten the status quo. While I understand that there are some teachers for whom all change is threatening, this wholesale dismissal of the working ranks of Georgia educators as naysayers ignores valid and real questions about how the state will assess classroom job performance.
Yes, seniority was flawed, but we have yet to come to a consensus of what defines a good, middling or poor teacher? Is how well they’re loved by students? By parents? By administrators? I know teachers who have lively classrooms, happy students and low test scores. I also know teachers who have daily drills, piles of worksheets and good test scores.
In my own time as a parent, I have seen two outstanding teachers who crossed swords with their principals because of the stands they took for good teaching and for their students. It does happen. Good teachers are often pushy, demanding and ask tough questions. For those behaviors, teachers can either be respected or reviled by the administration.
Teachers fear performance ratings will be based largely on test scores, which they contend often reflect factors outside of their control, including how well prepared the students were when they arrived in the classroom, how often they missed class and how much support existed in the home. And research suggests that test scores can fluctuate so even highly effective teachers can have a period where their scores falter.
“I have not seen a single proposal that calls for test scores alone,” said Rhee. “I think that saying it will come down to test scores is a kind of scare tactic. The value-added models that we are talking about take into account a lot of the things that are outside the control of the teachers. In DC, we controlled for things like attendance — if a kid came into your class three weeks before testing, you cannot be held accountable for how that kid does. A really good model tries to take into account all the factors outside of what a teacher can affect.”
In talking to Rhee, I asked whether her agenda is being overshadowed by her own back story. In the last few months, her performance as a teacher as measured by test scores has come under scrutiny, as has the remarkable score leaps in some Washington schools under her tenure as chancellor. (Following the same path as the AJC did in looking at Atlanta schools, USA Today looked at erasure patterns and found the same improbable score jumps in some schools.)
Rhee says that she has never maintained that she is perfect and that her own failings, real or perceived, should not obscure the message of StudentsFirst. Could I not, she asked, write about StudentsFirst without focusing on her?
But to the public, Rhee is StudentsFirst, and her credibility affects the mission of her fledgling group. There is no doubt that she has the confidence of elected leaders but her ability to rally teachers to her cause seems in doubt. Rhee says she has the support of teachers who understand the lunacy of laying off outstanding colleagues because they were the last hire, and that many teachers want fair and comprehensive performance evaluations that recognize and reward good work.
I told her that I don’t hear from too many teachers on this blog who endorse her agenda, but if there are teachers out there who do, I would love to see them share their views here today.
Rhee found some vindication this week from the well-respected Paul E. Peterson, director of Harvard’s Program on Education Policy and Governance and a Hoover Institution fellow.
In another parallel to Atlanta and its school chief Beverly Hall, the defense of Rhee rests on her district’s NAEP performance. Atlanta, too, has seen unprecedented growth on NAEP. (At a recent panel here, the much acclaimed Baltimore school CEO Andres Alonso said that he was quite impressed with Atlanta’s NAEP scores and that the system is clearly doing somethings right. Baltimore and Atlanta are both among the urban districts participating in a unique NAEP project that assesses district performance rather than the usual state performance. )
In the Washington Times, Peterson wrote:
With states from New Jersey to Indiana searching for ways to modify teacher compensation and teacher tenure laws, the pioneering work by Michelle Rhee, former chancellor of schools for the District of Columbia, has come under increasing scrutiny.
Not only have newspapers claimed cheating at a few specific schools in the District, but two separate studies have sought recently to cast doubt on the distinctiveness of the gains achieved by D.C. students during Ms. Rhee’s tenure in office – one by Alan Ginsburg, a former director of policy and program studies at the Department of Education, the other by a committee constituted by the National Research Council (NRC).
According to Mr. Ginsburg, Ms. Rhee was no more effective than her predecessors. Not surprisingly, his argument has been picked up quickly by American Federation of Teachers President Randy Weingarten, who asserts in a Wall Street Journal interview that Ms. Rhee “had a record that is actually no better than the previous two chancellors.” The NRC committee says gains in the District were no greater than those in 10 other big-city school districts for which comparable information is available.
Where’s the evidence that Ms. Rhee was no better than her predecessors? And that other cities are doing just as well?
In my report, released today by Education Next, I put to one side data from the District’s own assessments now subject to cheating allegations. Instead, I consider the performance of District students on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), a low-stakes test for which incentives to cheat are minimal, as the performance of no student, teacher or school is identified and about which no cheating allegations have been raised.
Mr. Ginsburg and the NRC committee also rely upon the same NAEP data, but neither excludes (when possible) the scores of students attending charter schools beyond Ms. Rhee’s control, and Mr. Ginsburg, when comparing Ms. Rhee with predecessors, does not adjust for national trends in performance. Once the data are corrected and adjusted for national trends, it becomes evident that during the Rhee years, fourth-grade students gained at a pace twice that seen under her predecessors in both reading and math. The gains in math by eighth-grade students were nearly as much, although no eighth-grade reading gains are detected.
Gains are not enormous in any one year, but over time, they add up. In 2000, the gap between the District and the nation in fourth-grade math was 34 points. Had students gained as much every year between 2000 and 2009 as they did during the Rhee era, that gap would have been just 7 points in 2009. Three more years of Rhee-like progress and the gap would have been closed. In eighth-grade math, the gap in 2000 was 38 points. Had Rhee-like progress been made over the next nine years, the gap in 2009 would have been just 14 points, with near closure in 2012. In fourth-grade reading, the gap was 30 points in 2003; if Rhee-like gains had taken place over the next six years, the gap in 2009 would have been cut in half.
–From Maureen Downey, for the AJC Get Schooled blog
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117 comments Add your comment
hmm?
April 14th, 2011
9:22 am
lol, now Rhee is claiming she is the one that got this measure pasted…
Maureen; please dont take this the wrong way but it seems some of the ones you listen to or having a conversation with (Rhee, Hall etc…) are really playing you
dont take offense plz;
i think you are a good hearted person; but these ppl have “ONE” goal in mind and its not about the education of children
hmm?
April 14th, 2011
9:23 am
sry… passed
Maureen Downey
April 14th, 2011
9:29 am
@hmmm, I do think that Michelle RHee and StudentsFirst have standing with many legislators and I think she did influence them on this bill. She met with the governor in a private meeting on this issue. I also think that’s Ok. Legislators can and should listen to all sides.
My main point is whether they are now ignoring teachers under the rationale that “nothing will make teachers happy.”
That’s my concern.
Maureen
Tonya C.
April 14th, 2011
9:44 am
Legislators’ first obligation is to listen to their constituents. The teachers of this state, the voters, are being ignored unless their views line up with the with what legislators already believe. How is that listening to all sides? When was the last time the governor hosted a private meeting with a panel of teachers from around the state, or even the metro area.
Their “rationale” is you can call it that is purely rationalization of their already cemented views. If you have an agenda, why would you want to hear the opinions of those that disagree with you?
Dr. Proud Black Man
April 14th, 2011
9:44 am
Can’t wait to hear Rhee tonight. Maureen do you plan on attending?
Maureen Downey
April 14th, 2011
9:47 am
Dr. PBM, I do. I also plan on getting there early to get a seat as I think it will be crowded since it’s free and open to the public.
Maureen
wanttohaveinput
April 14th, 2011
9:49 am
I have grown tired of people making decisions for our students that NEVER see our students in a classroom situation. We are treated as we know nothing of how to teach children and we do not know what is best. I am in good standing at my school(former teacher of the year) and in my system but am sooooo tired of being treated by the state and “experts” as though I am inadequate that I have begun to seek employment in other careers. We are the experts and should be listened to. Politics has degraded public education and educators to the point that we are no longer in the respected profession we used to be. And Maureen, I do believe that most teachers are cranks(can you tell I am one from the tone of this?) but it is a product of low morale from absolutely no consideration from those that “lead” us.
catlady
April 14th, 2011
9:49 am
“I told her that I don’t hear from too many teachers on this blog who endorse her agenda, but if there are teachers out there who do, I would love to see them share their views here today.”
And the silence speaks volumes.
Lorrie
April 14th, 2011
10:09 am
Where and when will Rhee be speaking?
dylandawg
April 14th, 2011
10:14 am
I think this is awesome. Now if we have to lay off teachers we can look at salaries and how close teachers are to their pensions and lay off teachers based on that criteria. Imagine how much money we will be able to save. It is time that we fought the teacher unions that are ruining Georgia schools. I know someone is going to come on here and say “we don’t have teacher unions in Georgia” but that is not the point. They are still ruining Georgia schools. Fox News says it, I believe it, that settles it.
Double Zero Eight
April 14th, 2011
10:17 am
From what I have read and heard from educators, they
are being ignored. Evaluations can be highly “subjective”.
Those that “rock the boat” quickly learn to “shut up”, and
refrain from questioning processes that have produced
poor results. Principals evaluate them in many instances
as not being “team players”.
If seniority has no merit, why is it often used in politics
for committee appointments?
Some contend that the “poor” teachers are in rural and
urban systems. Why doesn’t the state consider testing
a pilot program consisting of the following:
Pay a bonus to a designated ” competent and innovative”
teacher from the elite Gwinnett school system to see if he/she
can significantly improve the test schools in an urban APS
school. I would be surprised if there were any volunteers.
2 cents...
April 14th, 2011
10:29 am
just kills me the powerplay going on in ATL; Cagle, senate republicans, etc…; now throw in some outsider that has very questionable past dealings; seems the GA legislature really is good for anything… let’s round up a grp of retired teachers start running them for office or what the heck let classroom teachers start running
Pluto
April 14th, 2011
10:30 am
Let’s take a little bit closer look at why this specific piece of legislation was pushed through this year. The austerity cuts will continue and teachers will bare the brunt of those cuts. There is no system to evalute admin so they won’t be touched and the sacred cows at the 159+ district offices seem to be immuned to cuts so who does that leave as hman sacrifices. That’s right folks; teachers and custodians. It does not seem to matter whether there are dems or repubs in control they always seem to relish screwing with the education system mostly to its detriment.
Too highly qualified?
April 14th, 2011
10:36 am
So, there is politics in education…what else is new.
My motto is ‘evidence not opinion’.
I come from a background as a chemist…as per the FDA…if it wasn’t documented…then it didn’t happen.
I have an MS degree in biomedical sciences and no education degrees…I passed the test and started teaching in the third largest inner city school district in the nation, in Florida, 17 years ago.
My interview for my first job took place during lunch duty in a school of over 3000 students…a fight broke out…the principal left because he didn’t want to get his suit and/or his car damaged.
The AP and I finished the interview…the deciding question: “Was I tough enough for this?”
I love being a leader of learning…I have had great success.
I have been compared to the “woman in ‘Dangerous mind’”…so I had to watch the movie…
I think that I am more like ‘To sir with love’…
I was compared to Harry Wong…at the time I had never heard of him…I looked him up back in ’98/99…I think that there may be similarities…
I relocated to Georgia in eight years ago…I have worked in four districts…six schools…and two colleges in the University System of Georgia…the educational issues, especially in science are severe…too severe for leaders of learning…and I don’t mean administrators…I mean front liners…to ignore…
I have been so beat up by administrators, and parents…black listed for speaking up…prejudiced against…how dare I even think to suggest that things change…but I have never had ‘bad’ test scores or evaluations….they can’t touch the evidence…
So…after my tour of duty across Georgia…from the SW agricultural corner…to the NE coastal corner…I put myself on ‘sabbatical’…
In December, 2010, I spoke with a person in Atlanta who was ‘impressed with my passion’ and said I needed to leave public school alone and ‘hook up with Michelle Rhee’…this was the first time that I ever heard of her.
Was my head under a rock?…No…I was busy doing what I love…educating the whole child.
I have facilitated learning in schools that were what others would consider the worst of the worst…I got results that were the best of the best…I never focus on the test…I focus on creating science scholars.
This is why (and for frequent visitors to this blog…here goes) I sit in my living room…I am looking for a school/district/state/country that values ‘evidence not opinion’.
I am not referring to the politicians…I am referring to the people on the front lines. When I receive my ‘Johnnys’ and ‘Janes’…I give a learning style survey…every year since day one…the first week of school…then a motivational survey…then we spend a week to two weeks in ‘orientation’…we talk about Maslow, Vygotsky, Goleman, etc…every grade level from 6th through college…I learn them and they learn me…this cuts down on any problems down the road…
I presented this approach to teachers at the Georgia Science Teachers Association (GSTA) conference in February, 2011 (videos on Youtube)…I offered to go to schools and train teachers for free…no one followed up…help is out here from the grassroots…from front liners, like me, who want a TEACHING position in a school where reform means looking at things like Banathy’s Systems theory, rather than the existing Classical theory approach to learning…
My approach is unconventional but it works.
Teachers that I have encountered seem to resist the student-centered approach…emphasis on THAT I HAVE ENCOUNTERED…they are too focused on politics…opinions…and test scores…I am evidence that if you teach the whole child…the test scores will follow…yet…I sit in my living room…waiting…evidence…not opinion…where it matters…
Some might say blogging like this will cause me to never get another position in Georgia…wow…and the educators in charge blame the politicians…
catlady
April 14th, 2011
10:38 am
“Rhee says she has the support of teachers who understand the lunacy of laying off colleagues who have won teacher of the year based solely on hiring dates, ”
You can get TOTY based on your hiring date?!
Dr. John Trotter
April 14th, 2011
10:42 am
Maureen: Who says that APS has had “unprecedented” growth with the NAEP exam scores? I thought that it was just the opposite…that the CRCT scores spiked (with the intervening cheating) but the NAEP scores flat-lined.
I’m so tired of this hoopla about Michelle Rhee. Her policies and practices were a dismal failure in D. C., and people are acting like she really is on to something. It’s the same old ineffective “Let’s blame the sorry, lazy teachers for the failure of the children.” It’s such a sham…and it is also a shame because it is bringing about the ruination of the public schooling process.
I suspect that Michelle Rhee’s StudentsFirst organization is heftily financed by the foundations of Gates, Broad, and Walton. These foundations are driving the agenda in public education today. Didn’t you know that teaching students from different backgrounds with different intelligent levels, different motivational levels, and different preparation levels is the same as selling a software package (Windows 7, etc.) or a plumber’s belt or a gallon of milk? It is the same. Just ask Bill Gates. He’s an expert on education now. (c) MACE, April 14, 2011.
SallyB
April 14th, 2011
10:43 am
@Maureen Re: ”
My main point is whether they are now ignoring teachers under the rationale that “nothing will make teachers happy.”
This is nothing new, Maureen. I know you are speaking of legislators, but teachers have always been ignored and are often the last to know when their own systems have adopted a new “approach” to teaching, salaries, raises, testing, etc. And , even though teachers are chosen to review subject textbooks before adoption, many times their recommendations are ignored.
SHAMESHAMESHAME~
Happy Teacher
April 14th, 2011
10:50 am
@catlady – There’s “silence” because it is pointless to come on this blog and try to challenge the status quo. It’s like walking into a hostile, burned-out teachers lounge and even being heard, much less respected. I’ve given up. I read once in a while, but I would much rather use my time and energy doing my job as well as I can. My students need that energy more that this blog does.
Back to planning. Have a great day all!
William Casey
April 14th, 2011
10:50 am
I’m retired now and mercifully don’t have a dog in this fight. However, since I believe that good education is the foundation for a good society, I believe that we should consider the logical long-term consequences of Senate Bill 184, “Michelle Rheeism” and other trends of the last decade (i.e.- increasingly shrill disrespect for the teaching profession, etc.)
Yes, there are real problems with seniority being the sole basis for retaining teachers during times of layoffs. However, laws and other practices that tend to make teaching unattractive as a CAREER will have the effect of making teaching a “I’ll do this until something better comes along” job rather than a profession. Some of this has always existed but it’s generally been the exception rather than the rule. I predict that by 2020, rapid teacher turnover will be one of the most vexing school problems, especially in good economic times. Teachers will view their jobs similar to the way that most restaurant servers view theirs.
And the brutal truth is: it takes about five years for even the most talented and dedicated person to become a truly excellent teacher. How many will stay that long? Nothing takes the place of experience.
A Conservative Voice
April 14th, 2011
10:54 am
@Maureen Downey
April 14th, 2011
9:47 am
Dr. PBM, I do. I also plan on getting their early to get a seat as I think it will be crowded since it’s free and open to the public.
Maureen
Have a nice time……..”there”
Maureen Downey
April 14th, 2011
10:58 am
Catlady. Poor sentence construction. See my change to avoid that natural confusion.
By the way, anybody out there hear that Dekalb has made its pick for school chief?
Just talked to DeKalb spokesman Jeff Dickerson and he says the board has not decided among the three yet. We were hearing reports that it was Arthur Culver, although Lillie Cox was the top name last week.
And DeKalb’s other spokesman Walter Woods just sent me this e-mail to my query on whether it was Culver:
Maureen
I've Had It
April 14th, 2011
11:02 am
My name says it all. I have been beaten up, torn down, and criticized for the last time. I’m hanging education up at the end of this year. I have no idea at this point how I will make ends meet, but there’s got to be more to life than this. Every bit of the joy of working with children has been sucked out of me. I’m leaving it to one of the “hundreds of people waiting in line for my job” (as frequently pointed out by my administration). Good luck!
Maureen Downey
April 14th, 2011
11:02 am
@Voice, This is not my day. I can only plead temporary fogginess from a first-time-ever back issue that is forcing me to write standing up at a counter and has led me to try deep tissue massage, yoga and acupuncture this week. My friend is a minister and he’s offered to give me a discount on faith healing if nothing else works.
Maureen
SallyB
April 14th, 2011
11:06 am
There is a relatively simple way to demonstrate the impact of a teacher on scores as opposed to the impact of other variables .
When NCLB reared it’s ugly head in Dekalb, it wasn’t long before the assignment of blame by the county office fell pointedly and singly on the teachers.
I was teaching at a middle school in a very low income area where over 50% of the students were just learning English and many if not most of the remainder arrived at our school reading at least 2 levels below grade level. {I loved it }
Our faculty suggested a way to prove our point that other variables were at work here.
We asked the sovereigns from the county office to choose 3 of the lowest scoring schools and 3 of the highest scoring schools and… for the next school year…. exchange the entire personnel of the low and high scoring schools. The students would stay put.
Our hypothesis was….No significant change in scores…low would remain low and high would remain high, thus demonstrating our point.
The royalty said,” We would never do that”, THe teachers said,” Of course not! Makes too much sense!”
Dr. John Trotter
April 14th, 2011
11:12 am
I will always return to MACE’s mantra statement…
You CANNOT have good learning conditions UNTIL you first have good teaching conditions. (c) MACE, April 14, 2011.
A Conservative Voice
April 14th, 2011
11:18 am
@Maureen Downey
April 14th, 2011
11:02 am
@Voice, This is not my day. I can only plead temporary fogginess from a first-time-ever back issue that is forcing me to write standing up at a counter and has led me to try deep tissue massage, yoga and acupuncture this week. My friend is a minister and he’s offered to give me a discount on faith healing if nothing else works.
Maureen
Back problems are terrible and I feel for you, but all that ain’t gonna do no good……make an appointment with the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville……ahhhhh, relief
"Old Crank" aka Proud Georgia Teacher
April 14th, 2011
11:21 am
Maureen, where does Michelle Rhee get her funding? Who writes her pay check is my question. Is she independently wealthy? Does she get grants from the GOV’T? Hmmmmm….. What exactly is her agenda?
teacher&mom
April 14th, 2011
11:24 am
@too highly qualified? Could you provide a link to the youtube videos? In my district, we are unable to send teachers to the GA Science teachers annual meeting…:(
HRT
April 14th, 2011
11:26 am
Public school teachers already are last… the least-demanding major at any college is education. When most of the teachers are morons, what do you expect their eventual students to learn?
James
April 14th, 2011
11:29 am
This is going to be a tough sell for the educrats. Everybody who ever had to suffer through public school had dozens of burned-out, mean, ignorant old (always female) teachers who should have been let go years if not decades ago. Seniority in a government job usually means somebody who doesn’t have the ability to get a real job somewhere else.
Mikey D
April 14th, 2011
11:32 am
It’s funny how Rhee was all about the publicity and fame when she was being hailed as a genius, but now that she’s been exposed as a fraud, she asks you to write about StudentsFirst without focusing on her. Nice how that’s the way she answers you without really going into an actual answer. I guess avoidance and evasion are better for her “standing” than coming out and admitting that she fudged her credentials a bit…
RJ
April 14th, 2011
11:43 am
Wow! @HRT, this is why most teachers will be leaving the field as soon as the economy turns around. I just wonder what people are going to be rushing in to take their places.
Dr NO
April 14th, 2011
11:46 am
Rock ON Rhee…A house cleaning is LOOONNNGGG overdue.
William Casey
April 14th, 2011
11:56 am
@HRT & James: I am extremely confident of my ability to compete with either of you in any test of intellectual ability and skill you might devise. BTW— what do you guys do for a living?
Miguel
April 14th, 2011
12:02 pm
HRT! Obviously you have never stepped into my school. I know of no to one single teacher here who could by any stretch of the imagination be considered a MORON. I don’t know where your school is, but you must have been educated there.
Mikey D
April 14th, 2011
12:12 pm
@Maureen -
Do you not find it a little ironic that within two hours of the passage of the senate bill, you got a call soliciting an interview with Rhee, but then she became dodgy when you hit her up with some real questions? She’s clearly playing the game of publicity and self promotion, but wants to hide behind the copout of “It’s about my organization, not about me…” when the questions get a little tough. If it truly wasn’t about her, she would’ve put you in touch instead with one of the “thousands” of supporters here in Georgia. She’s a political opportunist and publicity hound of the worst sort.
Thanks for giving her some real questions instead of just swallowing her talking points. Keep up the good work!
Too highly qualified?
April 14th, 2011
12:17 pm
@teacher&mom
Re: April 14th, 2011
11:24 am
@too highly qualified? Could you provide a link to the youtube videos? In my district, we are unable to send teachers to the GA Science teachers annual meeting…:(
Here are the links to the six parts of the video from the presentation that I did for the Georgia Science Teachers Association (GSTA) on February 18th, 2011.
It is a colorful, candid, anecdotal application of serious research and educational issues.
Enjoy! For the educational professionals…hopefully you find something that you can use:
Emotions and neurocognition: Closing the STEM Achievement Gap
Give a man a fish or teach him how to fish? This question should have a profound meaning for STEM educators as it pertains to minority students. It is the responsibility of educators to ensure that all students are self sufficient far beyond the time that they are on a class roster. Educators must meet the academic needs of all students regardless of the academic, social, economic or emotional level from/at which they are received. The emotional constraints that may hinder a successful educational experience will be examined along with ways to counteract them. This presentation will introduce the concepts of neurocognition and emotional pathways and how they may be used for educating minority students in STEM endeavors. Possible links between learning styles and emotional pathways will be discussed along with how they may impact academic achievement for African Americans in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Disciplines.
Dissertation: “Achievement emotions as predictors of high school science success: A multiple regression analysis of minority and non-minority science achievement”
Links:
Part 1 – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTNDqzxAh-E
Part 2 – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6IhvT_xB8g
Part 3 – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5d1s6aamqq4
Part 4 – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGTuZ0uu-Jk
Part 5 – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXkW7Hn2aMU
Part 6 – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyd7-cHspAs
Just Wondering...
April 14th, 2011
12:18 pm
How ironic, HBT, that I just read the following article in the NYT:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/17/education/edlife/edl-17business-t.html?_r=1&hp
“Skating through business school” – a study found that business majors worked less and learned less…hmmm. Less required reading, fewer papers, more group projects.
another comment
April 14th, 2011
12:19 pm
Maureen, the best Spine ( back ) doctor in town is Plas James M.D. he is the Falcon’s and Thrasher’s Doctor. Do not be tempted to go to the big well known University attached group that advertises on TV and is closer to your house in Decatur. Dr. James is near your new headquarters, with his Atlanta Spine. He is the reason Dany Heatly is still playing Hockey.
Smarty Pants
April 14th, 2011
12:20 pm
This article is ridiculous! Rhee is right about the policy. There are too many bad teachers that are in the classroom and rely on their seniority. They get fake degrees from Capella, Phoenix, Walden, and other for-profit schools. They learn nothing and it shows in their classrooms! GET SOME TEACHERS WITH REAL DEGREES AND TEST SCORES WILL IMPROVE!
FYI — 1/4 of all of the students in Georgia who receive HOPE test into learning support when they get to college! How can someone with a high “B” average in school be so unprepared for college?
Just Wondering...
April 14th, 2011
12:20 pm
oops – sorrt @ HRT, not HBT.
BTW – I was a chemistry major. We thought just about every other major outside of physics was easier, lol.
Dr. Craig Spinks/ Augusta
April 14th, 2011
12:26 pm
Concerned teachers and administrators will put students first. One of the most vexing problems facing our state’s public school system is that we have too many teachers and administrators who put themselves first.
Smarty Pants
April 14th, 2011
12:29 pm
To Mr. Casey,
I respectfully disagee with you. My mother was a teacher and I see both sides of the argument. However, the problem will not be teacher turnover. The problem will be finding qualified teachers. Teachers are paid more than college professors in most cases and they are not as qualified. They get three months off and still make more money. This makes the job attractive. Furthermore, the education classes are not as rigorious as a math, psychology, or nursing class. We joke in my department, that those students who are not smart enough to major psychology end up in the education department. Unfortunately, for most students, that is true.
A former roommate of mine is a elementary school teacher making over $60k. It took her over six years to get her BA degree in education because she could never pass the core classes for the other majors she chose. I guess those education classes were more on her level.
Smarty Pants
April 14th, 2011
12:30 pm
Oh grammar! Please excuse my “a” for an “an.” That’s what I get for not proofreading!
Smarty Pants
April 14th, 2011
12:33 pm
To Sally B,
Most of the textbooks used in schools are wrong! The facts are wrong and most of the books even have the same wrong material. Reviewing these texts books is not the problem! Teachers (okay the BOE) need to find good textbooks. Try using some from the college level.
Smarty Pants
April 14th, 2011
12:37 pm
Too highly qualified,
What type of data did you use? Where is a copy of the dissertation mentioned? It sound like a good read and one that can be used in conjunction with some sociology results to improve student achievement. In their study, you should praise students for working hard to achieve the solution (even if not completely accurate) in order to make students work hard when faced with another problem. Conversely, if you praised students only for correct answers, then students would be less likely to work hard or try another problem for fear of failure (hence no praise).
Any thoughts?
Smarty Pants
April 14th, 2011
12:39 pm
Dr. Trotter,
If we introduce all of the variables you suggested in your post, we should just test students and measure their IQ when they enter elementary school to determine if they will be worthwhile students. After all, that is all that matters statistically. Nothing will change scores if a student’s IQ is high or low.
teacher&mom
April 14th, 2011
12:43 pm
@Maureen: You made several good points. I get several emails and/or read updates from different educational organization throughout the legislative session….GAEL, PAGE, GAE, GASSP, etc. What I never see are requests for input. Too often we are informed “after the fact.”
Schools, districts, and states that have a history of stakeholder buy-in, are usually held up as examples. Others then “copy” the reforms while by-passing the critical buy-in process. The reform is doomed from the start. Georgia repeats this cycle over and over and over.
Once the building administrators, superintendents, legislators, governor, and state board of education realizes that the first reform needed in GA is a viable teacher input system, then we will begin to see progress.
Dr. John Trotter
April 14th, 2011
12:46 pm
@ Smarty Pants: False analysis. Straw man argument. I never stated that nothing will change. But, if a person starts off twenty yards from the starting line, that person is not likely to win the 100 yard dash. That was my point. You shouldn’t beat up on a track coach if his runner does not win the 100 yard dash if this runner started 20 yards behind the other runners. Would love to verbally joust with you, but I am very busy today…on this computer. Take care.
James
April 14th, 2011
12:50 pm
@William Casey, I’m an engineer. I was smarter than all of my public school teachers, and I’m reasonably sure that I’m smarter than you, too.