Education Profiteering; Wall Street's Next Big Thing?

I found this link from Linkedin. I always check out an article and here and there. This one was really of little interest to me as my children are grown and I do not have grandchildren as of yet. I just was bored so I started to read. The last five years I have worked throughout Northeast WI with many different school districts. One fairly large district has several charter schools. A literacy-based school, an art-based school, a direct instruction school, etc. The other districts I have worked with are much smaller and do very little, some do not even have a curriculum for their 4-K other than saying, "We use bench marks or use the state standards or core knowledge basics."

I have had this idea in my head that those charter schools are cutting edge. They are really the best way to teach. Charter schools give parents and children choices. Parents can  give their child an edge when learning to choose the best approach that their family wants.
I also put this right in the same category as school choice. If one district offered better options, teaching styles, teachers, etc everyone should have that opportunity. I am a realist though and know that parents do not always use school choice or charter schools that really are the best choice for their children. They choose schools that are in districts that the upper middle class fund thinking money equals quality.

Let's face it we all know a child can learn a lot with a card board box or wooden spoons and a few pots and pans. It is also true, and marketing executives would never admit, what reports, flyers, and billboards say about their schools is what they want people to hear. The good stuff. They tell you how many children graduated, how many went on to higher education, how many got scholarships, etc. Not how many fell through the cracks, how many left the district, etc.

Parents also choose a school close to their place of employment. This makes total sense to me. Who has not heard that parent involvement is vital to a child success in school? If a parent values education so will the child. This then makes sense that a parent chooses a school close by. Parents then have more opportunities to attend events and be involved. They can slip out of work at lunch time and break time. They do not have to worry about traffic delaying them when picking up and dropping off children. Having school close by saves money they would otherwise spend on child care, that can now be spent on books, which every teacher tells you will help your child. Research shows the more reading your child does the better chance he will graduate, get a better paying job, be a successful member of the community, etc. Also, when your child is ill you can be at his school within the allotted time that the school staff considers a "good" parent would arrive if  they really cared about their child.

Many times parents choose schools that help the family function smoother. This is not to say there is no value in that. I would do the same thing. It is not always the method of teaching that is important. Does it not make sense that if a family is running smoother there is less stress. If funds are not in short supply there is less stress. Stress can affect a child just as much or may be more than choosing teaching styles. Choosing a school close by your place of employment so when your child is ill you can be there within 30 minutes ranks you as a "good" parent in the school staff's minds. The relationship between the teacher and parent make a difference in how well the child is taught. Many teachers will say they would never treat a child differently just because of a parent's actions. I beg to differ. I have no research to back this. It is just my opinion. I feel everything we do is based on our experiences to some extent.  We may give the child more attention if we feel parents are not doing what they should. When we do this are we helping? The child may need to be independent. Maybe that is the family culture. The child may have to wait longer because the parent has to work to make ends meet. Every family has its own culture and who are we as teachers to say it is right or wrong.  Teachers may just give up on the child because there is nothing they can do for this child if the family cannot get on the same page as they are on, and they are educators and their page is the correct page. The parents are reading the wrong book anyway.

Alas, as always I get off subject. So I started with the idea that the one district in my area with the many charter schools was in my mind a "better more advanced" district. Then I read the above article. WOW! Is it true they are funded by those who want to privatize public education? Are charter schools the start of privatization? Would that be a better system?
It is very scary to hear that these people who are giving away money in the name of education and support only doing so to get their feet in the door when a take over comes. All for their profit. Just as it is in big business the leaders/owners make the money and credit and the low level employees do all the work. Teachers who say that they are not in it for the money may well be helping. Teachers are in it for many reasons and I do not feel it is wrong to say they need to make a decent living doing what they love. Is it not said that if you can make a living doing what you love you will love going to work. So yes teachers should love what they are doing, and should be able to make a good living doing it.

So being fair I will be a devils advocate. Is this article assuming that those philanthropists are donating to and supporting education is just so that they can invest in it later might not be true. Maybe they are just really supporting new ideas they believe in. Why are we as a public always so sure no one does something just to be nice. As a society have we been burned so many times we trust no one?  Do we look for evil in every action no matter how well intended?

I also know that not every big business treats their employees poorly even though for the most part all mine have treated me that way. Unions are not any better or worse than employers. Why can we not find a happy medium. Especially when it is about our children and our nation's future.

This article tells me I really need to think about charter schools. Are they the future? When we look to fund them, check out the funding source and investigate what the donor is about. Turning down funding for the right reasons is not a bad thing. If it is meant to be there will be other funding.

Do not stop trying new things. Do not stop being creative. Differentiate to meet children's needs. Just be careful of how you do it and who you ask to help fund it.


















Here is the link to the above mentioned article. If the link doesn't work.
http://www.linkedin.com/groups/Education-Profiteering-Wall-Streets-Next-51957%2ES%2E170189171?view=&gid=51957&type=member&item=170189171&trk=eml-anet_dig-b_nd-pst_ttle-cn

Here is a great article on Pre-school expulsion.


http://medicine.yale.edu/childstudy/zigler/publications/34774_National%20Prek%20Study_expulsion.pdf

ASSESSMENT

Hello Everyone,
What is the new topic? Assessment! Assessment of teacher's and assessment of our students. The data that compiled is used to advocate for funds to support Early Childhood programming. There are many discussion going on about how to assess and evaluate those who teach. Some feel test scores are the way to do. If the children's grades are good the teacher must be doing good.
Teachers will tell you that is unfair. Especially those teachers of hormone filled middle and high schoolers that can hate you one day and love you the next. Hopefully, the date the tweens/teenagers take the test they love you and are not being ostracized by their friends or their girlfriend or boyfriend hasn't dumped them. If it is a bad day for them it most likely will be reflected in their test scores. The teacher can then have bad scores reflected in their evaluation and bonus or maybe even in whether or not their contract is renewed. Yet, I'm sure everyone will agree that test scores should be considered and are indicators that the teacher is doing a good job, they might not show a clear picture of the ability of the teacher.
Early childhood professionals, however, do not agree on how to assess the children. Here in Preschool Assessments: A Look Across the States shows that not all programs assess in the same way. The many different ways listed in this article show that if programs use test scores to evaluate teachers shouldn't we assess our children with the same tool or in the least using the same strategy?
When using observation, which is developmentally appropriate, a teacher needs to have good anecdotal notes to back the level at which the child noted at. Some programs for years have allowed staff to use "observation" as its strategy, yet not require notes to back the level the child is marked or knowledge that they say the child knows. Now with technology improving, gas prices raising and funds dwindling programs find online assessment tools to be cost effective. Online programs also can give data that otherwise took many staff hours to collect. All it takes is a few clicks of a mouse and a report appears with graphs in many different formats. It also allows for management to be able to get at data from any computer anywhere. Teaching Strategies GOLD - Teaching Strategies, Inc. has a wonderful assessment tool and one that many programs have chosen. It works well with most good Early Childhood curriculum. OnlineCOR.NET - The world's most respected child assessment tool. is the HighScope version. It is also very good, yet still in the upgrade stage. The cost of these online assessment tools is high for small programs.  There are many others.
There seems to be some programs  that have decided to go with testing pre-K and Kindergarteners for ease of use for teachers and cost. They use checklists to ask children questions from. Still this is "testing" is it not? Other programs have teachers who just use checklists and rely on their memories and scattered notes to fill out assessments.
So where do you stand? How should Early Childhood professionals evaluate children? How should EC Educators be evaluated?
This is not new to education, yet never before have we tested children so young.

Education of Teachers in Early Care

Hello Everyone!
I have been in Early Childhood for over 20 years. I have brought up two children. Two VERY different children to say the least. I have worked in various different EC settings. After 18 years I finally finished my BA in EC. Today's discussion is about teacher education verses quality.

One of the many debates in EC is if the education of your child's teacher equates quality care or education. The nation has many quality initiatives going. Most are rating systems. The one in Wisconsin is YoungStar. YoungStar though does not affect any DPI programs. It seems those in charge think that DPI has enough protocols in place to make sure that quality is there.

I am here to say I beg to differ. In any programs licensed by Health & Human Services there will be   many regulations in place that DPI does not have to follow. For example child to staff ratios. In a H&HS licensed program four-year-old classrooms require a 1:14 ratio. In a child care center or preschool no child would be allowed out of sight to use a restroom. That is not the case in a DPI school program. Many programs also go by the rule that no adults will ever be alone with a child. Not only does this protect the child from abuse it protects the program and staff.
Many child care workers in Wisconsin are up in arms about this push for quality. I was at a conference over a year ago when a discussion became a "bitch" session. There was a lady in her late 40's early 50's who said she had been in this business for over 25 years and felt she knew more than a new 24 year-old with a BA. I really would have to say that is true in ANY case. Yet, as I told her if she would get a BA she would improve also. I feel what I learned in my college classes helped me tremendously! That however does not diminish my 20 years experience.

My supervisor has a BA in Mental Health and has been in ECE in a supervisory position for 6-7 years. I feel I understand much more than her. Why? Because I have the experience of living the day to day teaching. She only has experience "watching/observing" it. I feel she really gets the social/emotional aspect of children and in observing classrooms she see things and can understand better than I can, yet implementing what she says is tricky to say the least. I know what needs to be done, yet I have 19 other students and an assistant who is not very skilled. Reality of what should and can be done is different.

In his article, The Pre-K Debates: What the Research Says About Teacher Quality , Steven Barnett says there are many variables in rating quality, not just education. He points out that good mentors and wages are other signs of quality. I watched a video Watching Teachers Work | NewAmerica.net that discussed many things, one of which was quality and assessing teachers. There were two teachers on the panel and when they discussed having student scores as the basis for teacher bonuses and contract renewal they were not completely on board. One made the point that she teaches 17 year-olds and  that one day they like her, the next they hate her. If they took the test that her contract was based on,  on a day they disliked her she might lose her job.
The group actually acknowledged that the K-12 population is learning from the EC field on what quality really is. Right now the National Head Start is being revamped and many have heard about the re-competition that is happening all over the US with programs scoring low in reviews. There is much more to it than low scores see ECLKC, the Early Childhood Learning and Knowledge Center  (http://eclkc.ohs.acf.hhs.gov/hslc ) for more information on how that is being handled. Head Start has started to use the C.L.A.S.S  assessment tool CLASS™ and QRIS FAQs  as part of their arsenal to check for quality care. In the video mentioned above now the K-12 is looking at this tool also. It does not just look at the environment, the curriculum, and student test scores it looks very deeply at adult/child interactions.
The Center for Social Emotion Foundations of Early Learning Pyramid Model, http://csefel.vanderbilt.edu/about.html, has a base of effective workforce. The next level is Nurturing and Responsive Relationships. C.L.A.S.S. matches with that same theory. What makes a good teacher? All the education in the world may be good, but if a teacher/caregiver is not building a relationship with the students there will not be quality.
So with all that said, is education important? Absolutely! If you do not know what is developmentally appropriate or understand how the brain works to store memories you cannot possibly provide quality learning experiences. So it is a combination of things that constitute quality.

I had a pre-k DPI certified teacher tell me at free play she finds it is best to just let the children play. Why, she asked, should I interrupt children? I think they need that time away from teacher directed learning. I asked her why was she directing the play? What interactions could you have that would scaffold them to a higher level of thinking? It is not interrupting to make statements or give encouragement. Teachers are there to facilitate learning not to direct it. In early childhood we set up the environment to give opportunities for learning. Many times what we planned to be learned was not, but something totally different was learned.
When Steve Jobs died there were two articles, of which I cannot find at the moment, both pointed to the fact that today's world is becoming so structured and academic that there will not be another Steve Jobs. He was so creative. He was an out of the box thinker. He created things that no one else would even think of. If we direct every learning experience and make sure that what "we" want is taught our children, who are our future, will not know any more than we do. They will not reach beyond. We want our children to be risk takers. I do not think that we should go beyond what is safe, but they should not be a clone of what we are. I hope that every child I teach learns something more from me that what the curriculum is set up for them to learn.
Quality is more than a box of information. Quality is many things. The next posting will discuss the cost of quality. Who will, who wants, who should to pay for it?
Goodbye for now! I hope my blog has got you thinking and discussing!