The Education Stimulus package falls under the comparability and compliance provisions in Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Act. Within these provisions is a little known loophole under Title VIII called Impact Aid. Impact Aid, a little known Cold War provision, allows for school districts to use large sums of funding without strings attached and in whatever form the district deems necessary. This includes items that were thought to be off limits such as school construction. Originally, Impact Aid was put in place to offset the impact of military bases and the federal presence on Native American land since districts are responsible for educating children on reservations, but cannot tax the property on these lands. The language in Impact Aid is to offset the negative impact providing educational services would have under these circumstances during times of war. How ironic that districts will be able to use part of the $48 billion in aid to not only repair schools that are in need of updating, but will also be able to build new construction due to a back door loophole is an unforeseen benefit.
The ability to use stabilization funds for Impact Aid means there is greater flexibility for use of these funds than previously acknowledged.
“Under Impact Aid, districts can use the funds for anything within a district – anything,” said Leigh Manasevit, an attorney with the education law firm Brunstein & Manasevit. “That means hiring teachers, paying for basic educational services, building a new school…If we were to proceed under this analysis, then everything the (stimulus) law says about stabilization dollars at school districts goes out the window because you would need to use the funds according to Title I, IDEA(the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act) or voc-ed. You could spend them as if they were general revenue.”
The Department of Education is expected to address the issue of Impact Aid this week. Any way you look at it, the feds need a lot of flexibility in order to do the type of reform that needs to be done in public education.
This is an interesting TED Talk from 2006. What lessons can we glean from spaghetti sauce?
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/malcolm_gladwell_on_spaghetti_sauce.html
December 16, 2008, email request:
Many of our teachers are very experienced here and some are less experienced but adventurous. We would like to have someone talk about professional development options that would satisfy both groups.
Also we would like to hear about options that would encourage successful professional development programs within our school. All these areas we currently have in place however, we would like to get fresh perspectives.
Professional Developer response:
I would gladly speak to your SAC committee in January about professional development options. To ensure that I am prepared with materials that would be most effective would you please elaborate on the following questions about your school’s current professional learning model? Thank you.
How often do your teachers meet for professional development during the week? Month?
How long is each session?
What were the professional development offerings presented over the past semester?
How many of the sessions were ongoing over a period of more than one month?
How do you know whether or not the strategies are working? What tools are you currently using?
What Adequate Yearly Progress subgroups have been identified in your School Improvement Plan?
What is the percentage of new teachers at your campus?
What is the percentage of veteran (5+ years) teachers at your campus?
Once I have a clearer picture of the professional learning culture of your school, I will be able to offer suggestions tailored to meet your needs.
January 16, 2009, school response:
How often do your teachers meet for professional development during the week? Month?
Teachers meet 2 x per month as a group for staff development and faculty or grade level meetings; 4 x per month for collaboration by department; planning/early release days as available.
How long is each session?
Sessions are 1 hour long; early release or planning days time may vary
What were the professional development offerings presented over the past semester?
Reading in the content area and ELL/ ESE presentations for whole group; department collaboration decided by department
How many of the sessions were ongoing over a period of more than one month?
All of these staff development opportunities have been since start of year.
How do you know whether or not they are working? What tools are you currently using?
Collaboration information is through group discussion by departments (smaller groups.)
Admin. and reading coach walk throughs help to observe classroom application of strategies.
What Adequate Yearly Progress subgroups have been identified in your School Improvement Plan?
Blacks, Economically Disadvantaged, English Language Learners and Students with Disabilities have been identified based on our last FCAT results. We had always made AYP prior to last year.
What is the percentage of new teachers at your campus?
10.9% new teacher at our school.
What is the percentage of veteran (5+ years) teachers at your campus?
74% veterans at our campus.
Research (DuFour, 1991; Loucks-Horsley &Hergert, 1985; Showers et al., 1987) has shown that although most teachers understand the concepts being presented in a meaningful workshop, they seldom change behavior from the workshop alone. The changes come from job-embedded follow-up and support. How will I get this point across to a group of teachers, administrators and parents at an after school meeting?
SAC Committee meeting, January 28, 2009:
Using an NSDC bookmark as a discussion starter, we delved into how the teachers at the school were using their time together and over the course of the discussion we discovered a huge untapped resource. With veteran teachers making up more than 70% of the faculty, teachers had an opportunity to share their knowledge with each other as Teacher Researchers.
We also discovered that they already had resources for another professional development strategy: Curriculum Design as Professional Development. The Science Department Chairperson informed the group that they had tailored their curriculum and instructional focus calendar to fit their needs and were more than willing to assist other departments to do the same.
Overall, it was a great brainstorming session for planning professional development for the 2009-2010 school year. By planning professional learning now, the school is giving themselves a great gift. T-I-M-E. The next day I received a thank you email from the SAC Committee Chairperson. Since the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) is right around the corner, I'll contact them near the middle of March to support the group as they continue developing their professional development plan. If you would like one of our Training Specialists to speak at an upcoming SAC committee meeting please contact HRD-Professional Development Support at 754-321-5006.
SAC Committee Meeting
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It’s the end of the school day and the students wait impatiently to receive their report cards. Derrin hears his name and slowly lumbers up to the teacher to get his report card. After a quick glance at his grades he crumbles the piece of paper into a ball and throws it into the trash can as he leaves the room. For Derrin, the report card isn’t something he looks forward to with delight. He isn’t motivated by grades and he is not exactly a model student. Sometimes he participates in his class, but most of the time he doesn’t turn in his homework. His teacher would say that he is just a lazy student and that’s why his grades are consistently C’s, D’s and a few F’s. When Derrin’s turned off by school, he works hard to find ways to get suspended. Samantha, on the other hand, is an “A” student and eagerly dashes up to the teacher to receive her report card. She opens the paper to review her grades and is relieved to see that even though she struggled to bit on tests, her hard work has been rewarded. She completes and turns in her homework, and is overall a responsible student.
Grades on Crappy Graphs.com
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What’s in a grade, anyway? What do grades reflect? Should we place such a heavy emphasis on school grades? Grades are a reflection of a number of factors. For Derrin, grades are a constant reminder that he doesn’t fit into the teacher’s classroom. He falls asleep in class and relies heavily on being a class clown in order to draw attention away from the fact that he is in the 8th grade and can barely spell his name at the top of his paper. How will the “F” motivate Derrin? Samantha is a straight “A” student. Does the “A” indicate that she truly learned the lessons that were taught? Maybe Samantha is a great test taker, yet barely understands the concepts being tested? The “A” could also mean that she already knew the information and didn’t need any additional coursework. Both students’ grades could be a reflection of a few graded assignments or a compilation of several assignments.
The emphasis on school grades is often discussed and disputed among administrators, teachers, parents and professional developers. The question I constantly ask: How do you know the student learned anything in your class based on grades? How can you prove it? Samantha may be skating through her K-12 career. What happens when she goes off to college and for the first time is challenged to prove what she is learning? What does that say about her formative education? Are we failing students like Samantha and Derrin?
Funny how we have embraced this question. I use it with my clients all of the time.. Sometimes with a very disgruntled response. This podcast relates to professional developers as well as administrators, teachers, curriculum developers, and the community. We are way past the days of Prensky's Digital Natives and Digital Immigrants (2001). It's time for some Digital Wisdom and this podcast speaks volumes. It's something to consider when planning your school's professional learning for next year.
Pay Attention
Homework. Love it or leave it, homework is a part of the fabric of our society. What if there was a way to get teenagers to become fully engaged with homework? A couple of teachers in Colorado are flipping the script and incorporating technology into their lectures to make homework cool. Could this technique work for you?
NEVER LECTURE IN CLASS AGAIN
After four lengthy years, Google has settled a copyright infringement lawsuit with several research libraries, and publishers over the digitization of millions of book collections. The ramifications are mind boggling. What will this mean to the future of how we teach children in K-12 schools? What price will learning organizations have to pay for access to high quality research? While the education elite debate over what is wrong with public education we may miss the opportunity to engage in a discussion about how to teach within a learning web. Where do we go from here?
The full text of Google's settlement can be read here: Google Settlement
Habit #4 - Hold everyone accountable all of the time. Okay, I said it. I said the big "accountability" word. Nothing ever changes or improves if we do not hold each other accountable - all of the time. Re-engaging less than weekly allows teams to drift apart and lose focus. Here are three keys to success for holding accountability meetings (great teams hold these types of meetings): Triaged, Twisted, and Treasured.
Triage Reporting: My husband was rushed to the emergency room a few months ago with severe stomach pains. When we arrived, we were met by the Triage Nurse who did a quick prognosis of the severity of his illness. Since he was not having a heart attack, and did not lose a limb, we had to wait in the emergency room waiting area for several hours until all other more urgent emergencies were treated. Think about the last time you held a meeting with your team or department. Did you do triage reporting? The "wildly" important goals must be addressed NOW. All other goals and discussions need to be tabled until they can be handled at a later date.
full staff meeting
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Pictured: The HRD-Professional Development Support department at one of our Monday morning meetings.
Twisted: Keep your lens seriously focused on your "wildly" important goal. Once your team comes up with their best solutions ask for a third alternative. Twist the solutions and look for something more. Always seek the better alternative. Never settle for less.
Treasured: The team is only as good as it's weakest member. Be willing to ask a team member, "What can I do to help you get the job done?" Become selfless in your team efforts and always seek to build each other up instead of tear one another down.
How could these keys help your team meet it's "wildly" important goals?
keys
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Habit #3: You can’t hold people accountable for results if the only thing that is ever measured are their methods. What does this mean to you? It's hard to meet goals unless everyone involved understands what is expected individually from each one of them. Leadership, remember, is a state of mind. It can be distributed at every level within a learning organization. It means that to inspect what you expect, we must get creative and identify new and better behaviors, attitudes, and aspirations for your goals.
Pictured: Training Specialist, Lisa Maceinri works with Randy O'Dowd, Inservice Facilitator, on the design of course types for his school's professional development plan.
Lisa Maceinri working with an IF
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Streetball
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Habit #2: Keep Scoreboards Visible. We play differently when no one keeps score. Have you ever watched a street basketball game when the players are not keeping score? There are frequent breaks and no one is really giving it their "A" game. But when they start keeping score things change dramatically. Players adapt quickly to new challenges, huddle up, and the pace increases.
In our rush to meet Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) we do the same thing in our work. Without a laser focused measure of success, people are unsure what the goal actually is. Without measures, the same goal is understood by a hundred people in a hundred different ways. The target is constantly moving depending on the day, week, or month. With an inconsistent feedback system, teams and departments veer off track to focus on urgent, but less essential goals.
In the previous post, we discussed focusing on the "wildly" important. Once you focus on the "wildly" important, a scoreboard helps to keep everyone focused on the goal. The goal never wavers or meanders no matter what is mandated at any moment on campus.
Scoreboard
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Most teams and work groups have no way of knowing how they are doing on their key priorities. It's not about rewards and consequences, it's about creating a feedback system so players can execute the plays. The scoreboard needs to be visible, adaptable, and unless you see the score, your strategies and plans are simply abstractions. What do we have in place to visibly keep the faculty focused on "wildly" important goals? What formative assessments (feedback system) do we have in place? If you would like to continue the conversation about how to develop a feedback system for your school, post your question on the discussion board of the PDS-HRD wiki.