As a supporter of education reform, including the charter school movement, it is disappointing that the reform movement is focused not on the actual education of students, but on creating a brand or a name for themselves.  Over at Ctpost.com, an interesting article explores the money trail in Connecticut's attempt to "reform" education.
Finally, a news organization in this state is willing to look at what is happening in our State.  Perhaps, now someone should look at the complete authority given to Dr. Steven Adamowski as he dictates his reform agenda to Windham Public Schools. Someone needs to follow that money and his decisions.

Missed Opportunities

Every morning in schools around the country, the P.A. system beeps on and the daily announcements come on. Some schools use broadcasts, which is at least much more interesting than the voices in the sky.
But, I can't help but think that these modes, especially the P.A. system is hopelessly outdated.
In a generation where schools are constantly looking to draw their students in and engage them, it seems to me that we are missing many great opportunities to deliver messages through Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and Youtube. Schools are still fearful of these social media sites, and the result is a greater divide between the students and the school leaders.

Governor Malloy Must Just Show Up for Four Years Pt. 2

Unless I am misunderstanding Governor Malloy's Education Reform movement, he would like to see teachers held accountable for poor student performance. But for the University of Connecticut's men's basketball team, Governor malloy finds it "ridiculous" that the NCAA has banned the team from post-season play for poor academic standards in the past.
Interesting. I guess it isn't politically advantageous to call out the UConn Huskies and Coach Jim Calhoun, but those poor, incomepetent teachers...

Caught off Guard

My best guess is that if the quality of my teaching was to be judged on student outcomes this year, I might end up as ineffective, especially when compared to last year's scores. Surviving this year has undoubtedly been difficult, and it has often left me feeling ambivalent. And yet.
In his powerful book of essays, The Hungering Dark, Frederick Buechner writes a prayer:
"Catch us off guard today. Surprise us with some moment of beauty or pain so that for at least a moment we may be startled into seeing that you are with us here..." My wife and I had the entirety of the prayer read at our wedding. The truth of it encompasses so much of what we do.
Last week, on a Friday no less, a student or two caught me off guard. For the entire school year to date, this one student, full of good intentions, has failed to accomplish any reading assignments at home.
But here she was, eight chapters into The Lord of the Flies, up to date on her reading and with the type of annotations I expect from my students. Tucked into her notes was a deep and profound question, but I can't remember it. Instead, I remember the lump in the throat, the "moment of beauty."
I have learned this year to not let my highs get to high or my lows get to low. It is what it is as the cliche goes. But I was thankful for the moment.

Governor Malloy Must Just Show Up for Four Years

Now, I am an advocate of school reform. However, I am not an advocate of school reform being led by people who can't even follow a basic line of reasoning, and thus completely misunderstands the statements of the very people he disparages. That Governor Malloy did not understand the speaker's premise or the speaker's ultimate conclusions is an embarrassement to the State led reform.

The Socialist Experiment

The motto of my new, state run education system will be, "from each according to his/her ability, to each according to his/her need." My father won't be happy with this new socialistic leaning, but Governor Malloy and other reformers have inspired me to join the movement.
In our new education system, the state, presumably me because I will have that kind of authority, will determine who the best teachers in the entire state are, and where they teach. I will clearly begin my search for the best by heading to Avon and Simsbury and, well, Fairfield County for sure. Those commodoties, the best teachers, will be delivered to the neediest schools in Connecticut, those in Hartford, Bridgeport, and Windham.
Once those needy schools have the best teachers, I will then transfer the crappy teachers, the ones I've replaced in Hartford, Bridgeport, and Windham to Avon, Simsbury, and most of Fairfield County.
The middle of the road schools found in Tolland, Mansfied, and Torrington will get left alone because while their scores are good, they aren't great and thus don't have any teachers to move up or down.
I would clearly have to force all of these transfers because those really good teachers (the capitalists I guess) are only concerned with their well-being--that is why they don't teach in those terrible and failing schools.

Teach for America, Poverty, and Governor Malloy

In today's Hartford Courant, which if you are asking me, has a terrible education section, three opinion pieces appear that have me feeling ambivalent at best, aloof at worst.
The first one praises the possibility of bringing in Teach For America into my school district. The second, written by a teacher at one of Connecticut's wealthiest districts, West Hartford, cautions that poverty is the true underlying issue in school success or failure. And the third gets at the constant demoralization of teachers that seems to be at the heart of our Education Governor, Dannel Malloy's, and our Secretary of Eduaction, Arne Duncan's education reform movement.
Teach For America promises more than it can deliver. But that doesn't mean it doesn't have some merit. Tough schools need teachers who can pretty much sacrifice their life to find a modicum of success. But even with TFA'ers in place, they still have to confront the realities of a poorly run school and poorly run district--which is run by a highly over-rated Special Master who accomplished very little in Hartford Public Schools.
Never-the-less, adding TFA'ers to the mix can't hurt, and I'd be glad to help them acclimate to my building.
Poverty is debilitating if a person allows it to do just that. That a teacher in a ridiculously wealthy school district recognizes this makes me feel supported. Unfortunately, Governor Malloy and his Blame the Teacher Tour doesn't care much to listen to real educators, instead taking his marching orders from President Obama and Arne Duncan in their lofty rhetoric that sounds really good when read off of a telemprompter--in all three cases, they would be rated as ineffective teachers and lose their jobs if they were held to type of standards in their current positions as they want me to be held to in mine.
But the reality remains despite poverty, some schools are finding success. KIPP, SEED, Cristo Rey, and others examined in David Whitman's Sweating the Small Stuff, prove that with the right format, and the right support, we can do better with students of poverty.
At the moment, I pretty much hate teaching. Not because I hate interacting with students, or because I care one whit what some moron commenting on any of the listed articles thinks about me or my profession. I hate teaching at the moment because educated people are buying into the demoralization. That the governor of any state, especially one of the most well educated ones in the country (Connecticut), could ever utter the belief that to earn tenure "the only thing you have to do is show up for four years."
Quite frankly, the whole mess is absurd. So why care? Why bother getting worked up and angry about what Governor Malloy and his ignorant cronies think? Why care whether TFA or some bum off the street walks in next year to teach at my school? Why concern myself with the income level of my students? I think I'll just show up, or not. In the end, I serve no greater purpose than providing talking points, both good and bad, to people wishing to get elected.

UPDATE VIA jonathanpelto.com this image of how Connecticut (Malloy) is spending 1 million dollars to "help" Windham Public Schools: