Improvisation

Teaching is a performing art. In this day and age in the classroom, more and more teachers open the textbook and follow a script. Moreover, principals, superintendents and state legislatures expect us to teach in this way. One teacher is on a given lesson, and the teacher next door is expected to be on the same exact lesson. The world of education, the growth of knowledge does not fit this model whatsoever. Quite the contrary, lessons need to move and change to fit individual students.

To dispense knowledge you must have the attention of your students. They must be engaged, either while a teacher is speaking or learning from the setting the teacher has created to prompt discovery, discussion, or research. One size does not fit all, the scope and sequence of any class should only exist as a guide. A plan is a mark to aim for, it’s not a dictator. Any great teacher adjusts lessons, and most lessons need adjusting.

For example, I remember running literature circles where groups of students read a novel together. The various groups, every year, and had different roads to travel. One group, who read a given novel, had entirely different discussions than other groups that read the same novel. If I had to teach a given curriculum content area, say ‘tone’ for example, the students would pick different words from their reading and construct meaning that made sense to them. The many and varied ways that students learned voice, main idea, theme and even grammatical ideas such as possessive nouns and punctuation were all valid and all arrived at by different means.

This not only applies to reading but across all content areas. In math, I can recall many times when the scripted lesson for the day was (thankfully) sidetracked to clarify some other math misconception. Getting denominators to match was consistently one of these areas. To
find a common denominator, I invariably had to ‘sidetrack’ and remind students of how to find the greatest least common multiple. When rounding, or comparing numbers, I always had to revisit place value. Honestly, these few examples are just the tip of the iceberg. Great
teachers shift, move, adjust and improvise; they don’t stick rigidly to a set plan where students’ understanding is not taken into account.

I remember once when a student was challenging me on the fact that Hawaii was located out in the Pacific Ocean. He said something to the effect of, “They went down to Hawaii.”

I ventured to correct him by replying, “You mean over to Hawaii right?”

The student retorted, “No Mr. G. Hawaii is down there by Mexico.”

Should I stay with the plan? Do we have time to go off on a tangent and clarify a geographical misunderstanding? The fact that many
maps, including the one in my classroom, inlay Hawaii down in the bottom right hand corner of the map threw him off. He had seen it down
in the right hand, bottom corner many times; this prompted the student to believe that Hawaii was located in the Atlantic Ocean right next to
Mexico.

Musicians and other performers do this all the time, they adjust. Great teachers are performers. I have played many solos and often times
there comes a point where I play an accelerando. I start out slowly, steadily increase the speed, and then fly into warp speed. If the crowd
starts screaming and cheering, I will stay with the speed for a while longer. If the crowd is quiet, I will move on to the next section of my
solo. Teachers must do the same thing.

Led Zeppelin is one of my very favorite rock groups. Their improvisation is one of their greatest attributes. In their live stage shows Jimmy
Page would play and awesome guitar lick and Robert Plant would mimic the guitar riff with his voice. The back and forth communication was
pure excellence. Jazz musicians do this all the time as well, a trumpet or a sax player will take a verse for a solo, they’re feeling it,
improvising, they take musical roads they may not have planned on taking – but they’re valuable, amazing and enlightening roads! Educators need to take these roads as well.

Art is expression, using human creative skill, and tapping the imagination. Isn’t that what teachers do everyday? Even something as mechanical and logical as math, often uses the phrase, “solve the expression,” or “express the answer in such and such a manner.” Knowledge is an expression, and/or understanding of an expression. The analogy holds up even better with the visual arts. Isn’t your school day literally the making of a movie? How we treat others, teach with examples and use narratives analogous to the strokes of paint on canvas? Administrators and teachers, what did we paint today? Is the picture a serene seascape? Or is it an avant-garde, buckets of paint flung on the canvas?

I can tell you this: the performance or the painting describes what happens in the realm of education much better than an ordinal percentage assigned by a standardized, multiple choice test.

Disposition

Disposition is everything. How we treat others, how we interact with others, is of prime importance. I completed much research on the subject of happiness for our school district Wellness Program; the overarching message was that happiness comes from our own, internal perception. If we perceive that our life is stressful, that we are overwhelmed with problems beyond our control, we will be unhappy. This is true regardless of reality. You and I could be in the same exact environmental situation, say we are both stranded in the middle of a vast desert. I could be unhappy, ornery, aggravated, worried. You could be walking right next to me happy, excited to be on an adventure, enjoying nature, having faith that we will be found, or just be having fun surviving. Happiness and our disposition in general, is a choice.

By the same token, our approach to interacting with others is our choice. Teachers and administrators must have a disposition of kindness, patience, and understanding. We must ask students to “admit” that they don’t understand some curricular area, and be open to accepting instruction. This is not only true for academics, but even more applicable in the realm of behavior. We in essence are asking people to change; to grow, and to see a reason for this growth and change.

We ask parents to discipline and instruct students at home that have a problem with hitting other students. We ask teachers to speak kindly to parents and not to foist their viewpoint – even if they know it’s the correct path to take! We ask administrators to prompt teachers to be caring, vigilant instructors. We ask for change. Shouldn’t we ask in a kind and caring way?

How much government?

You know, when I was younger, it seemed to me the world was black and white with few gray areas. Life experience brings about change, and change causes a broadening of viewpoint. For example, my view of government; when I was younger I worked for the Forest Service, and I saw the importance of the government stopping the general public from destroying Wilderness areas. I saw the importance of fighting forest fire, regulating who took wildlife and trees from forest land. Even at that time, I still felt dreadful when the law enforcement officer with whom I worked wrote tickets for people breaking petty rules.

After many years of studying history, and listening to music that I love, I long for the government to keep its hands out of my pocket and its edicts out of my life. I don’t want the government telling me, I can’t drink a coke, or that my kids can't eat a happy meal, or even tell me to put on a seat belt. I think that if God can give us freedom of choice, our own free will, why does the government of the United States think they can take it away?

OK, I do want law and order, but why should the government have the right to tell me how or what I can build on land that I’ve purchased? I want freedom, not restriction. I don’t want people to hurt other people, and I want a society that is intelligent. So how much government is good government? To have safety from evil doers, I believe the government should provide a police force, and military forces along with military technology. In order to have an intelligent public, and a society that learns the mores and folkways for a productive culture, I believe schools are of primary importance, right alongside defense.

The importance of education in our republic form of government is well spoken by the father of America, George Washington on Dec. 15, 1784 stated, “The best means of forming a manly, virtuous, and happy people will be found in the right education of youth. Without this foundation, every other means, in my opinion, must fail.”

Beyond safety and an academically and behaviorally superior society, I don’t think the government should be involved… at all! Can anyone comprehend such a limited government? See, here’s the gray area, this is what I feel is important now. Someone else will have other priorities. Some will want extra taxes on cigarettes, gas, alcohol, they’ll want Fish and Game to limit people even walking on “Public Land.” Some will want the government to tell McDonald’s how hot they are allowed to make their coffee, or Amana to make refrigerators that die within ten years to have “green” compressors. I don’t.

All this being said (hypocritically) by a principal whose salary comes from the taxpayers of Idaho! You see, it’s all gray area.

Discipline

Teachers, and especially administrators, have to constantly manage children’s behavior. We are not only given the task to teach academics, math, reading, writing, etc. but in order to do so we have to manage behavior first.

How can we teach a child to read if they are being abused? It’s impossible. Learning is not high on an abused child’s priority list, survival is. Abuse occurs more than one would expect. Concurrently, there is a much more prevalent problem - spoiled children.

I wonder how many students in our school have regular chores to complete. I wonder how many children in my elementary school have any chores to complete. It is so difficult for a child to come to school, and for the first time, hear someone give them directions.

Many kids are just accustomed to telling their parents “no,” and it’s permitted. Therefore, when a teacher gives a simple command such as “Please sit down,” there’s a good chance the student will say, “no.” Then comes the dealing, the encouraging, and the prodding.

Now, add the fact that there are 25 to 35 other students all losing a chance at receiving instruction. All the other kids that have had a similar upbringing learn they can say no as well. It’s a miracle what we educators get accomplished under the circumstances.

It’s telling when discipline is such a original approach that television shows are made and become hits that put forth the idea. There are students that come from homes that have taught responsibility, and respect. These people are our hope for the future, but they're becoming the minority!

Honesty and Openness

The innocence, the forthrightness, the honesty, experienced in abundance from fifth graders on down to kindergarten is awesome. The experiences of honest displays of affection are something most people do not experience. Do I love it when students swarm me out at recess? Do I love it when children come to my office to show me something they have drawn? Do I love it when a child spontaneously takes my hand as I walk down the hall? YES!! Can you have this experience in any other job? No.

It’s not just the overt display behaviorally; it’s also the honesty in their words. Children keep a person grounded. When I (at age 43) have a pimple, they notice, they point it out. If I’m inconsistent, they are not quiet about it, they point it out. If they love the kudos they receive for performing well academically or behaviorally – they certainly let you know. They laugh and they cry easily; the young people I work with everyday let you know what they are thinking and feeling.
Somewhere around sixth and seventh grade, this openness and honesty disappear.

I know the affection and honesty was never present in my other jobs I’ve had as an adult. Construction, fire fighting, surveying, I could never imagine the honesty and openness occurring in these other vocations.

In a way, it’s also sad that we can never recapture that time in our lives. That time before our hearts were truly broken. That time before we worried about being cool. That time before bills, and stress, and when we were basically only concerned with the superfluous. Children are a blessing.

Gloop

I’m running along, jumping over the hurdles. Clearing them quickly, really rolling. Then all of the sudden after catching air over one of the hurdles, my right foot comes down, instead of landing on a hard, cinder track, I land in gloop.

Gloop is the consistency of a mammoth bowl of sticky oatmeal. It’s quicksand. Plop. The mud grabs around me, sucks me down. I’m sinking, stuck, legs and arms descending, movement is difficult. Veins popping, slow, swimming motion with my arms, just go forward. Slow struggle or my mouth and nose may descend to where I can’t breathe. I reach the edge of the gloop; feel some hard ground through the muddy oatmeal. Pull, fingers first, straining, triceps aching… pull… push up motion to drag my body out of the quicksand. Strain, struggle, pulling… upper body out, pull legs free.

No time to rest. I wipe off some of the gloop, get up, and get running down the track. Clear the next hurdle, the next, then blop! Back in the gloop.

How many of these gloop sessions until I’m out of energy? How many of these gloop sessions are self imposed? How many are out of my control?

Education... Rewarding and Draining

Teaching takes the starch out of a person. Yes, teaching is rewarding, we get to meet and help other, fellow human beings. However, it’s also a completely draining experience. I remember when I first started teaching a class of 31 – 33 sixth graders. I would come home completely wiped out. I virtually had no energy for discussions, for doing anything, for going any where. Nothing has changed.
As an administrator, it’s the same experience, but most of the interactions are dealing with problems. Talk, talk, talk, talk, talk. You have to reason with children and adults (teachers and parents) constantly. Thankfully, as an administrator I still have plenty of opportunity to teach as well, but the grey hair is multiplying. It’s electrifying!

Emotions run the gamut. One of our faculty’s most upbeat, happy personalities has left us today. How sad? I literally shed tears, she is so kind, caring and patient, and always has a happy smile. Now she is on to her own business where she can make a lot more money than in a public school setting. Sad.

A student came in and may be seriously injured, possibly cracked ribs. Other students all came worried, and worse, I fear another student pushed the injured student on purpose. Yes, we even have to deal with the criminal element. Worry.

I gave away little toys to students who are well behaved and saved “Eagle Bucks.” I also gave away prizes to children who were good and their names were drawn out of a hat. The utter joy in these kids who receive nothing more than a “slap bracelet,” special pen or a piece of candy is so fun. Happy.

I had to bolt four large shelves to the wall, and hang acoustic panels with a drill, masonry bits and wall anchors. Un-string an extension cord from the ceiling, and get my safety manual in order for a safety inspection. Physical labor.

This is just little parts of one day! There is so much more, phone calls, complaints, worry for my secretary, worry especially for one of my teachers, hope for the fledgling music aspect of Adams, and the list goes on and on. One day!
I worked I the Forest Service, surveying through the roughest terrain the United States has to offer. I fought forest fires for many years – education is MUCH more draining. It’s the formation and building of lives. No wonder it’s draining!

Another cost cutting measure

Notice, so far I’m limiting the cost savings from only the education budget. I truly believe funding education should be of paramount importance – this is where society is shaped. So, cut other governmental pork; regardless, even if we limit the conversation to solely the education budget these are ways to save money.

Another way to save money is the ad campaigns Idaho is currently running. Suspend all ad campaigns. How much money is spent on the TV ads for the “Go-on” ad campaign? Ostensibly, to urge kids to finish high school and go to college? What a hypocritical waste of money – “Yeah kids – go on! Education is so important, it’s so important we cut funding seventeen percent over the past two years. Go-on kids, education is so important, we’re taking 770 teachers and administrators out of the schools over the next two years… but really… education is important.”

Put your money where your mouth is, fund education, not ads that directly contradict the approach at the state level.

Real solutions to save money

An Alternative Plan
So here are some concrete ways to save loads of money, and still have an awesome educational system in Idaho.

1. No more ISAT the way it currently exists. When I was completing my Master’s degree back in 2007 I called a person at the State Department of Education in Boise. She told me Private test vendors sell these mandated standardized tests to schools across the nation. The state of Idaho, buys an internet based version for testing from Computerized Assessments and Learning, LLC, a company located in Lawrence, Kansas. According to Heather Nyby at the Idaho State Department of Education, the cost of the test alone is $10,000,000.00. The contract with this test vendor is ten million dollars over a four year period. Currently, the Idaho State Board of Education has chosen a new vendor for the Idaho Standards Achievement Tests. Data Recognition Corporation, a national testing company based in Maple Grove, Minn., I will have to do some digging, but if Idaho paid 10 million in 2007, you know the price is higher in 2011.
Teachers should create their own end of course assessments that are aligned with state content standards. These teacher created tests can even be made at the state level. All construction and delivery of any standardized test is taken care in "in house" in our own state.
2. If you are going to cut the education budget, the State Dept. of Ed. should not ask teachers and administrators to take extra classes. How many millions are spent on the Math Initiative - that every educator is mandated to pass? How about the Literacy course? And best of all, all the millions spent on having a class in technology, which Idaho just decided to say it’s not needed any longer. I say we have an absolute freeze in professional development, no one, not one single teacher or administrator is allowed to travel outside of Idaho to attend conferences and trainings.
The best growth I ever encountered was watching fellow colleagues teach, right in my own school.
3. Four day work week. We need longer days, Monday through Thursday, 8:00 – 3:30, to fit in the entire curriculum we need to teach. With the added time Monday through Thursday the contact time with students is nearly the same. Yet, we save all the costs of busing, lunch, utilities, custodians for one day every week.

Luna Plan Part 2

Hey, I promise all the posts I make will not merely ridicule Luna's plan. After bringing forth the flaws, I will offer alternatives to saving money, and still give our children the best education.

As copied from Luna’s plan, “All ninth graders will receive a laptop as part of their educational experience. Laptops: $4.7 million a year, all maintenance, repair and support provided by the state. Teacher training: $800,000 a year. Purchase laptops for every high school student.”

Did Tom Luna, Butch Otter, or anyone who thinks this plan has merit, ever have a fifteen year old child in their house? What is the life expectancy of a laptop computer in the hands of fifteen, sixteen and seventeen year old children? I can make a real accurate guess! I don’t want my child having his own laptop. Gee, I wonder if fifteen, sixteen and seventeen year old kids will look at any pornography if they have their own computer. I wonder what the ratio of time spent on academics will be compared to that of time spent on Facebook?

Wait, I already know, I was an Assistant Principal in a middle school for two years. There are attempted pornographic searches in school, on school computers, about two to three times a week. These are students that are ten to thirteen years old, now we’re talking full-bloom, adolescent people.

How many young students are self motivated enough to get on a computer and complete coursework? I believe there is no substitute for another human being, encouraging, showing how to tackle curriculum. 4.7 million, plus maintenance and teacher training I’ll bet the total cost is more like 10 million per year. How many teachers could we hire with ten million dollars? How many teachers could we give a raise to for their amazing work? Machines can not encourage, or teach, it takes the human element. Every child that struggles will fail with only a computer for encouragement and delivery of information.

Lastly, pay for performance – merit pay. How are the teachers and administrators going to be judged on their performance for higher pay? The only way possible is the standardized ISAT test given to students every year. To judge a teacher, an administrator, an entire school, on a one time snapshot test is simply ridiculous. Some smart children bomb standardized tests, some very academically low students guess well and come out too high. I’ve seen it many times since 2002. Check out the findings from the following scholarly, researched based article:

A self-fulfilling prophecy
Iris C Rotberg. Phi Delta Kappan. Bloomington: Oct 2001. Vol. 83, Iss. 2; pg. 170, 2 pgs



Current accountability measures particularly high-stakes testing may have seriously weakened the academic standards they were intended to raise, Ms. Rotberg argues.


ACCOUNTABILITY has become the centerpiece of political rhetoric on education reform. The underlying assumption is straightforward: hold teachers and students accountable for students' scores on standardized tests, and academic standards will rise. Sounds good. But it doesn't work. Our current preoccupation with standardized testing began in the 1980s with the publication of reports claiming that the U.S. education system had declined. While this conclusion was not supported by the data, the accountability measures it triggered- in particular high-stakes testing - may have created a self-fulfilling prophecy by seriously weakening the academic standards they were intended to raise. These are a few of the unintended consequences of our national fixation on high stakes testing.

* High-stakes testing weakens academic standards when the test becomes the education program. The emphasis on cramming for the test is inevitable as long as teachers and students are held accountable for test scores. Many schools now spend weeks, even months, on test-preparation activities. Because the tests are not typically derived from the curriculum, teachers have no choice but to teach to the tests. The tests themselves become the curriculum and, in turn, replace the school's ongoing academic program. The focus on testing, therefore, narrows the curriculum and encourages rote learning. Even the few tests that measure broader skills, such as writing or analytical thinking, were never intended to serve as the basis for a course of study. It is not surprising, therefore, that private schools and some charter schools (when they have the option) do not participate in high-stakes testing programs.

* High-stakes testing weakens the quality of education by encouraging, or even requiring, policies that may not be in the best interest of the children. Some jurisdictions pressure educators to include "all children" in the testing program. Others make it easier to assign students to special programs specifically to exempt potentially low-scoring students from the test. The risk is that children's experiences may depend more on the incentive systems in each state and school district than on a careful examination of their individual needs. Moreover, high-stakes testing gives school systems incentives to retain potentially low-scoring students in the grade immediately preceding the test-- administration year - a practice that leads to the appearance of gains in test scores but also increases dropout rates.

My point here is not hypothetical, nor is it limited to the current generation of accountability plans or to the United States. In the 1 940s Irish schools responded to accountability pressures by increasing grade retention.1 More recently, World Bank studies report exclusions in China and Kenya.2 Similar reports are now emerging in the U.S., for example, from Kentucky and Texas, states that place strong emphasis on test-based accountability. An assessment coordinator in Kentucky put it this way: "I'm concerned because we have fewer students after grade 9, and it looks like it's to a school's advantage to get kids to drop out rather than to keep them on the rolls and have poor test scores at grade 12."3

* High-stakes testing weakens academic standards when it discourages the most qualified teachers and principals from remaining in the profession. A focus on test-based accountability has significant implications for the teaching environment because it affects instructional practices, public image, salaries, school takeovers, and the resources available to schools. If well-intentioned policies lead to excessive demands on teachers and principals, they may have adverse effects on job satisfaction and, in turn, on the ability of the profession to attract and retain highly qualified educators. There are reports of teachers leaving the field or requesting transfers to a grade that is not tested because they feel that the tests are having adverse effects on instructional methods and working conditions. It is also becoming increasingly difficult to attract and retain principals. An article in the New York Times, reporting on shortages of principals, described it this way:
As the academic year begins for the nation's 53 million students, a growing number of schools are rudderless, struggling to replace a graying corps of principals at a time when the pressure to raise test scores and other new demands have made an already difficult job an increasingly thankless one .... In Kentucky and Texas, where the pace at which principals are fleeing is as accelerated as it is in Vermont, job openings in some districts that drew more than a dozen applicants as recently as five years ago are now attracting as few as three, according to principals' associations there.4

If policies intended to strengthen academic standards exacerbate current shortages, they will have precisely the opposite effect from that intended.
While it is an illusion that highstakes testing creates high academic standards, many people have come to use the terms almost interchangeably. When we read that states have raised academic standards, all we know is that they have initiated a high-stakes testing program. We know nothing about whether the quality of the education program has improved. For example, if 25% of students drop out of school because they fail the test, we have not improved our schools - they simply are not serving the lower-performing students.

The irony is that, after all the energy and resources devoted to test-based accountability, the tests tell us little about the quality of the education program a school offers. They tell us mostly about student selectivity (which students actually take the test) and about how much the school teaches to the test (or about occasional cheating). They also tell us about how long the test has been administered by the district. Educators are familiar with the protocol: a new superintendent; a new test, which results in low test scores; cramming for the new test; gains in test scores; another superintendent; another new test ...
Most troublesome is the fact that the focus on test-based accountability has diverted attention from the underlying causes of low academic achievement. We cannot improve education for "all children" without addressing problems of poverty and the serious inequalities in resources between schools that serve affluent populations and those that serve low-income populations. Nor can a test substitute for a comprehensive and sustained academic program or a working environment that encourages the most qualified teachers and principals to remain in the profession. Without attention to these matters, no amount of testing -- high-stakes or otherwise - will improve our schools.

Luna's New Plan

I have tons of usable, constructive ways to run a school and a classroom. Conversely, our current Superintendent of Instruction in Idaho, Tom Luna, seems bent on destroying the education process. Under Superintendent Luna’s and Governor Butch Otter’s leadership the budget for education has been cut seventeen percent over the last two years. This translated to a seven percent pay cut for all employees in my local school district last year. All districts deal with the cuts in their own creative way to try and survive.

Now, within the last month, the ignorance gets even more impactful. Here are the lovely highlights from Tom Luna’s plan, as presented to the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee, on Jan. 18, 2011:

-In 2012‐2013, the state will require all 9th graders to take 2 online credits per year. By the Class of 2016, all high school students will take 2 online courses per year.

-All 9thgraders will receive a laptop as part of their educational experience.
–Laptops: $4.7 million a year
–All maintenance, repair and support provided by the state.
–Teacher training: $800,000 a year
-Implement pay‐for‐performance plan for teachers and administrators.
-Purchase laptops for every high school student
-Increasing student‐teacher ratio by 1 to 2 students over next 5 years in grades 4‐12 will save $500 million.
–FY2012: increase the divisor in grades 4‐12 by 1.25 to save $62.8 million a year.
–FY2013: increase the divisor in grades 4‐12 by another 0.75 to save an additional $37.9 million a year.
–In FY2013‐FY2016, the state will save $100.7 million a year.
-While class sizes have declined, student achievement has remained flat nationwide.

-Credible research shows the greatest factor in a student’s academic success is the quality of the teacher in the classroom –no matter the size of the class.

•Linda Darling‐Hammond recently cited renowned research on this topic: “Of all the factors we study, class size, ethnicity, location, poverty –they all pale to triviality in the face of teacher effectiveness.”
Reduce secondary staffing by 770 positions over two years through attrition.
This end the Highlights of Luna's plan...


What a joke! It is obvious Tom Luna hasn’t got a clue about how great education is delivered. This “plan” has so many flaws I don’t know where to begin. Over the next few days I will tackle each flaw.

I guess number one on my list is the off base comment that it’s research based that classroom size does not affect the quality of education. Did Luna ever give a writing assignment to a student in school? NO!

Writing, which is the synthesis of many mental processes, is highly valuable. These assignments take forever for a teacher to grade. You have to read, catch spelling and grammar errors, topic sentences, format, voice; this is just a small list of things to correct. Now for the student to benefit from a writing assignment you have to talk with them, instruct them, one on one. Do you think there is time for this with 33 kids in each class?

How about math, did Luna ever give a math test to a class of 30 students? Obviously not. You have to grade not only tests, but daily work, and re-teach concepts not understood by individual students. This is so obvious to educators; it irks me that I have to correct our instructional leader for the entire state of Idaho - effective education clearly needs a low number of students to each teacher ratio.

Now add in the children who are the learning environment destructors, the students who hate school. Some kids don’t see the value of education. Some are violent, loud, or just plain lazy, how does a teacher have time to straighten out these behavior problems when there are 33 students in each class?

These are obvious, practical, real-world experience reasons to not stack students deep in classrooms. As if common sense isn’t enough, here is peer reviewed, real academic research stating the importance of having low student to teacher ratios:


Educational Attainment, Teacher-Student Ratios, and the Risk of Adult Incarceration Among U.S. Birth Cohorts Since 1910
Richard Arum, Gary LaFree. Sociology of Education. Albany: Oct 2008. Vol. 81, Iss. 4; pg. 397, 25 pgs

Class Size: A Battle Between Accountability and Quality Instruction
Cynthia Januszka, Lisbeth Dixon-Krauss. Childhood Education. Olney: Spring 2008. Vol. 84, Iss. 3; pg. 167, 4 pgs
Experimental Analysis of Class Size
Project STAR. In 1985, Lamar Alexander, the governor of Tennessee, led an initiative to assess the usefulness of having small class sizes in the primary grades. He authorized funds to conduct an experimental study of this issue, known as Project Student-Teacher Achievement Ratio (Project STAR). The project used random assignment of students and teachers to three types of classes: 1) a small class of 13-17 students, 2) a regular class with 22-25 students, or 3) a regular class with an aide to assist the teacher. The program lasted four years, following students from kindergarten through 3rd grade. All groups in the study received the same curriculum and materials. The sample was large, with approximately 6,400 pupils participating. Results from the study showed that students in small classes did better than their counterparts in larger classes on subject area tests in reading, math, science, social studies, and spelling. Minority students also made higher gains in smaller classes. In addition to the academic improvements, teachers were able to give more individualized attention to students, which helped to decrease the amount of behavior problems (Achilles, 2003; Bracey, 1995; Mosteller, 1995).
Lasting Benefits Study. The Lasting Benefits Study used an experimental analysis to evaluate the long-term benefits of reduced class size on student achievement. This study was a three-year follow-up (1989-1991) that tracked the progress of more than 4,500 students from Project STAR. The progress of students in the experimental group was monitored when they returned to classes of average size. Findings from the study indicated that students who were taught in small size classes in the early grades performed better than their peers when they returned to regular size classes (Mosteller, 1995).
Burke County Initiative. In 1991, a pilot study on the effects of reduced class sizes in the elementary grades was conducted in the Burke County Schools in North Carolina. In the first year of implementation, the superintendent reduced 1st-grade class sizes in four elementary schools to 15 students per class. In the following years, all of the 1st-grade classes and some of the 2nd- and 3rd-grade classes were added to the study, and the teachers also received specialized staff development in reading, math, and science. These treatments were based on the rationale that increased teacher training combined with lower class sizes would make the most difference in student achievement.
The Burke County Initiative was a quasi-experimental study that was analyzed by matching the students in the experimental schools (small classes) to students in the control schools (average size classes) following treatment. Students were matched on gender, socioeconomic status, teacher experience, and test scores (Egelson, Harman, & Achilles, 1996). Results showed that the students in the smaller classes significantly outperformed the control group on reading and math tests (Egelson et al., 1996).
California's Initiative. In response to the student achievement gains reported in Project STAR, the California legislature passed an initiative in 19% to commit more than $1 billion a year to reducing class size. Funds were allocated to schools that decreased their K-3 classes to a maximum of 20 students. Within six weeks, most of the California school districts began to reduce their class sizes. This was a large-scale endeavor, with approximately 1.8 million students placed in small classes by the end of the third year. As students were not randomly assigned to experimental groups, this initiative was a pre-experimental study that merely compared the Stanford Achievement Test scores of students in the small classes to those of students in large classes. Students in the smaller classes did show small academic gains, but there were concerns regarding the program. As a result of the large-scale endeavor, California lacked enough qualified teachers to instruct the children in the small classes. Consequently, teacher qualifications declined within the three-year period of the initiative. Also, California's curriculum standards were still under development when the initiative took full effect, causing confusion about which curriculum to use (Stetcher, Bohrnstedt, Kirst, McRobbie, & Williams, 2001).
Teacher Training. A two-year study was conducted to investigate whether teachers' expectations and opinions concerning small class size matched student academic achievement (Shapson, Wright, Eason, & Fitzgerald, 1980). Fourth- and fifth-grade students and their teachers were randomly assigned to one of four class sizes (16, 23, 30, and 37 students, respectively). Results from this experimental study revealed that teachers rarely changed their teaching strategies when placed in smaller classes. Teachers believed that students in the smaller classes would outperform those in larger classes on measures of academic achievement, but little or no difference was found in either students' achievement or teachers' instructional methods. The researchers concluded that teacher training was a necessary precursor for placing teachers in smaller classes.
Doing More with Less
Anne C Lewis. Phi Delta Kappan. Bloomington: Apr 2008. Vol. 89, Iss. 8; pg. 547, 2 pgs

The Wisdom of Class-Size Reduction
Elizabeth Graue, Kelly Hatch, Kalpana Rao, Denise Oen. American Educational Research Journal. Washington: Sep 2007. Vol. 44, Iss. 3; pg. 670, 31 pgs

Size matters to students' grades
Rebecca Attwood. The Times Higher Education Supplement : THE. London: Dec 16, 2010. , Iss. 1978; pg. 10
Abstract (Summary)
The research, published in The Economic Journal, provides "some of the first estimates" of the impact of class size on university students' academic achievement as measured by their end-of-year test scores, say the authors, Oriana Bandiera, Valentino Larcinese and Imran Rasul. "There is robust evidence of a negative class-size effect - on average, larger classes reduce students' academic achievement," they write.

Short Biography and Rationale for this Blog

First, I make no bones about it, I created this blog, to sell a book I have written. The book is full of short stories that put forth methods to be a great educator, it's not published yet, but it will be shortly! This site was also created so we can talk about pertinent issues in education. There is a huge problem with politicians, who have never taught or run a school, making disastrous decisions in education policy. There are also multitudes of instructive methods and anecdotal stories that can be shared, discussed and enjoyed by all.
I was a student teacher in 1996, and taught in the regular education classroom for eleven years. In 2008 I "joined the dark side," and became an administrator. Other teaching experiences include teaching the percussion section of Madison High School marching band for seven years; I've also had a teaching role as a land surveyor for the Forest Service for fifteen field seasons. All these experiences have revealed useable methods that are effective when teaching others. The book is titled, The Real Deal with Education, How to be a Great Teacher and Save the World at the Same Time. It's a short narrative, and can be described as: humorous, enlightening, realistic, honest, heartbreaking, entertaining, instructive, gritty, personal, and immediately impactful. Yes, all those descriptors are accurate!
I realize the title sounds over-the-top, but the truth is the amount of time children spend in school does greatly impact their development academically and behaviorally.