New Tool Kit Helps Administrators Engage Teachers, Parents

A new online tool kit has me wishing that all of you were middle school principals! Though the tool kit was developed with middle school administrators, teachers, and parents in mind, every principal should be able to find in it some very valuable resources.

Should Public Officials Send Their Kids to Public Schools?

Should people expect elected officials to send their children to public schools? In a recent article, Baltimore Sun reporter Lynn Anderson wrote that the children Baltimore mayor Martin O'Malley and some area school board members attend private schools. That sends the wrong message to the people those officials serve, some community members say.

One board member told the Sun that he sent his daughter to a private school so she could receive foreign-language instruction at an early age. His three older children had attended public schools, he noted.

"I know board members who have no children at all, and they are fantastic board members," Carl W. Smith, executive director of the Maryland Association of Boards of Education, told the paper.

Others think public officials should be required to send their kids to public schools. They say board members whose children attend public schools would be more concerned about the quality of public schools. They would have a much better idea of what is going on in the schools and how their decisions affect those schools.

Baltimore is not alone. People debate the issue in countless cities and towns. In New York City, the New York Daily News revealed that Mayor Rudy Giuliani and members of the city's board of education send their kids to private schools.

The issue looms large on the state level too. In California, Ray Haynes, a state senator, recently introduced legislation requiring public school teachers to send their children to public schools. "What do these teachers know about their public schools that is causing them to not enroll their own children there?" Haynes asked a North County Times reporter.

The debate is made even more volatile by its connection to the debate over school choice and vouchers. Shouldn't families of all incomes have choices about their children's education? many ask.

Seniority Out, Site-Based Hiring In

It used to be that teachers with the most seniority were given preference in filling vacancies in Philadelphia's schools. But the school system's new contract will give some schools more say in choosing the best person -- without regard to seniority -- for the job.

Twelve Philadelphia schools have established site-based selection committees that will determine their own criteria for filling vacancies, screen and schedule interviews with candidates, and select the best candidate based on experience and skills. The new selection process also enables each school to monitor the racial balance of its staff.

Supporters of site-based selection see the new policy as a small victory, putting teaching skills over seniority. Schools charged with meeting standards and raising test scores should have more say in choosing teachers who will best meet students' needs, they say.

The fact that only 12 schools voted to create selection committees suggests that teachers are skeptical the process will work, say some detractors. Supporters contend that the small number of pilot schools will make it easier to make the process work before expanding it to other schools.

Philadelphia is not the first school system to initiate school-based selection. Recent contracts in Milwaukee and Seattle have turned some hiring decisions over to schools. A similar program in Columbus, Ohio, has run into some snags in its inaugural year. Reports that individuals were told before a closing date that no new applications were being accepted or that job offers were made have reinforced the need for all involved in the process to abide by the rules.

Seniority has always been a trump card that teachers could play when it comes to filling job vacancies, but it seems that the rules are changing in some school districts. Senior teachers might have lost a little leverage in the name of school reform -- but who can argue with a little lost leverage if the school curriculum and the students come out ahead?

Readers can reach Gary Hopkins at ghopkins@educationworld.com.

And the Most Effective Strategy for Quality Schools Is …
March 29, 2001

$100,000 Salary Proposed for Master Teachers
March 15, 2001

Last month, Arizona State Superintendent of Public Instruction Lisa Graham Keegan proposed a plan to provide big pay increases for "master teachers" in Arizona. Keegan proposed that every school should have one or two master teachers who would mentor other teachers, evaluate school curriculum, and inspire young teachers to stay in the classroom. Master teachers would work 12 months a year and be paid a salary of about $100,000 per year.

Are Signing Bonuses the Answer?
February 22, 2001

Are signing bonuses the answer to attracting top-notch talent to the teaching profession? So far, a unique program in Massachusetts has had mixed results.

In 1999, Massachusetts became the first state to introduce the idea of paying bonuses to mid-career professionals and recent college grads who would teach math, science, or foreign languages in high-need schools. That year, the state initiated a massive recruitment effort to hire 59 participants for the Massachusetts Signing Bonus Program for New Teachers. At the end of intensive, summer-long training, those 59 individuals received their teaching credentials. Each "bonus baby" received an $8,000 bonus during his or her first year in the classroom and would earn a $4,000 bonus for each of the next three years.

How did the first class of program graduates do? Some initial findings were recently released.

• By the end of the 1999-2000 school year, one in five teachers had quit or did not plan to return to the classroom in September. That might not be a bad result considering that most worked in urban and/or low-income settings.
• In a survey of principals who supervised the "bonus babies," 81 percent of the respondents rated those teachers "average" (32 percent), "above average" (23 percent), or "well above average" (26 percent).
• Ninety percent of the principals who responded said they would hire another bonus-program teacher if they had a vacancy.

All eyes are on Massachusetts. The state's success -- or lack of it -- in training and retaining new teachers will interest departments of education in 49 other states!
 

Does Corporate Advertising Have a Place in Public Schools?
February 15th, 2001

Would you buy discounted basketball uniforms from Nike in exchange for placing a large Nike logo on the gymnasium scoreboard?

Would you take corporate money in exchange for allowing a Dr. Pepper advertisement to be painted on the roof of your school, which just happens to be on the flight path to the local airport?

Would you name the arts wing of your school after the office supply store that has agreed to supply all the materials to keep that program going?

Many school districts around the country are debating such questions. Faced with declining budgets, district administrators and school boards are looking for creative ways to maintain programs or provide new programs. Many take the money!

Last month, school officials in Falmouth, Maine, announced a plan to name parts of the town's new high school for companies willing to pull out their checkbooks. Officials there hope to raise $1 million -- which just happens to be the amount of the project's anticipated shortfall.

Although Falmouth school officials have decided to go after the corporate money, other school boards, including the board in San Francisco, have implemented rules that ban such commercialism.

Lengthen the School Year in the Middle-School Grades?
January 11th, 2001

In a bold move last week, Gray Davis, the governor of California, announced a plan to extend the school year by six weeks for students in the state's middle schools. That move, spurred by low test scores, would help boost student achievement in the upper grades, Davis said.

Under the plan, individual school districts would make the final decision about adding days to the school calendar. Districts could add as many as 30 extra days for grades six to nine, depending on district grade configurations. Financial incentives from the state would provide $900 million a year if the plan is fully implemented, according to an article published in the Sacramento Bee.

Davis's education plan also includes additional funds for teacher training and incentives to attract and retain middle school and high school algebra teachers.

Reaction to the plan has been mixed. School districts will undoubtedly meet opposition from parents concerned that children in the same family could have different school schedules. "Why not extend the school year for all students?" some parents have asked.

Educators express concern about teacher burnout, which might increase the exodus of experienced teachers from the classroom. Some critics wonder how an extended school year might affect students. Teachers often use the summer months to acquire needed continuing education credits; a longer school year would mean earning those credits while school is in session.

Other educators see the move as strictly political. It would further Davis's presidential ambitions, they say. "I would much rather see the money used to lower the student-to-teacher ration to 20:1," one teacher commented in a listserv discussion about Davis's proposal.

Some teachers favor extending the middle school year to 210 days. "It would enable me to get through my curriculum," one teacher said.
 

Surfing for Sex in School: Cause for Administrator's Dismissal?
December 14th, 2000

When it was discovered that an Indianapolis-area superintendent of schools had been surfing sex sites on his school computer, the response was quick. Even though the surfing took place on a Sunday, the superintendent had violated the district's Internet policy. Within days, he was out the door.

In suburban Connecticut, a similar case played out last summer, but the elementary school principal who viewed Internet pornography on his office computer is still on the job. In spite of the fact that he initially lied to school officials and the police about the charges, the principal was handed a 21-day suspension and will not receive a pay raise for the next three years. He also was ordered to write letters of apology to school staff and parents.

Although she didn't support retaining the superintendent, one Indiana PTO president worried about the effect of all the news coverage. "The school will recover quickly, but [the superintendent's] reputation, his relationship with his family and his friends won't," she told the Indianapolis Star. "It bothered me that people were in such a witch hunt over this."

After the 6-2 vote to retain the Connecticut principal, one of the dissenting board members resigned. "I don't want to be part of sending him back to that school," she told the Manchester Journal Inquirer.

Proof That Testing Has Gone Too Far!
December 7th, 2000

If the Illinois State Board of Education has its way, every student in grades 3 through 11 might soon be taking annual standardized tests. That plan has some state educators and parents in an uproar. Yearly testing will mean more class time spent preparing for and taking tests and less time focused on actual learning, they say.

Is testing mania out of control? The fact that testing is the subject of a new children's book is a good indicator that it is!

Judy Finchler, a K-8 school librarian and author of the popular Miss Malarkey Doesn't Live in Room 10, pokes fun at the hoopla that surrounds testing in her latest book, Testing Miss Malarkey (Walker & Company). Miss Malarkey attempts to play down to students the importance of the upcoming state tests, but the behavior of the school's staff belies the message. Miss Malarkey's fingernails aren't as long as they use to be, the gym teacher is teaching meditation to get students in a testing frame of mind, and the cafeteria ladies are pushing an inordinate amount of fish -- "brain food"! Those clues, plus the lineup of teachers outside the nurse's office on test day, are a testament to the panic that surrounds testing.

Test day provided great fodder for the book, Finchler told me earlier this week. "Testing is crucial to much that goes on during the school year," she said. "Every person in the building is concerned with the testing program. Fourth graders are well aware of the importance of the test, and eighth graders are often petrified."

Testing Miss Malarkey is an apt title for Finchler's new book, for as much as the kids in Miss Malarkey's class are being tested so are the teacher's abilities, stamina, and nerves!

Testing, it seems, might have gone too far. If the Illinois State Board of Education gets its way, that will be proof positive!
 

The 'Neglected Stepchild'
November 30th, 2000

Nobody Wants to Go to the Principals Office!
November 16th, 2000

A principalship used to be something teachers aspired to. But expert teachers are staying away in droves from the position that once capped many education careers. School districts must beg, borrow, and steal to find the qualified school leaders they need!

Successful teachers who might make exceptional administrators are opting to stay put in the classroom. Why should they aspire to the principal's office? The job might pay $10,00 to $20,000 more, but it might also mean giving up summer vacations, sacrificing family life, doing bus and lunch duties every day, and handling an increasingly unappreciative, often litigious, parent population.

The U.S. Department of Labor estimates that 40 percent of the 93,200 school principals in the United States will be retiring soon. Many schools are already up the proverbial creek when it comes to filling new principal slots. The lack of ready leaders has many other school districts scrambling for solutions. Some of those school districts have turned proactive. They are "growing their own" with programs designed to train and support current principals; those programs are also designed to include selected classroom teachers who might be candidates for administration positions. Such programs offer training and the opportunity for those educators to learn firsthand what it's like to be a school administrator -- and to learn whether they are cut out for the job!

Fox TV's Boston Public Raises Ire of Educators
November 7th, 2000

History teacher Harvey Lipshultz wants to send a student home for not wearing a bra. Harry Senate whips out a revolver and blows off three shots to get the attention of his students in "the dungeon." English teacher Marilyn Sudor has just been voted the "teacher students want to sleep with the most." Milton Buttle is the butt of a student's uncomplimentary computer-animated cartoon about his teaching style....

Those are a few of the events that transpired on last Monday night's episode of Boston Public, a new TV show from producer David E. Kelley (Ally McBeal, The Practice). Through them all, principal Steve Harper sighs and sighs--as the ice packs held to his head grow in size!

Fox bills the show as "the Monday show to watch," but many educators are offended by what they see. "I am appalled by the gun-toting teacher who fired his gun three times during a classroom situation," principal Allan Rummel told Education World. "I realize that this is entertainment for some, but for me, it is a black eye for school systems across America that are doing a great job."

Boston Public is years of high school controversy (sex, extortion, racism, you name it) crammed into 60 minutes. Yes, if you look hard, you'll find positive messages about the give-and-take that goes on in a school, the camaraderie of a staff, and the long hours educators put in. But the students in the show--not the teachers--seem to be the civilized ones, the voices of reason.