REINVENT TEACHING

NCTAF Featured on Connected Educators Blog!

2012-01-05T14:54:00.001-05:00

What happens when teachers use mobile devices to connect to peers and mentors? This question is the driving force behind the Teachers Learning in Networked Communities 2.0 project that the National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future (NCTAF) launched this school year as an extension of the Teachers Learning in Networked Communities (TLINC) project.

Read NCTAF's full post on the Connected Educators Blog.

Time for a Paradigm Shift

2011-12-21T16:25:00.003-05:00

Mark Phillips’ recent post “Education Reform Paralysis – and How to Fix It” asks some provocative questions about how we can get out of thecurrent education reform scenario that might be summarized as “If you keepdoing what we’re doing, we’ll keep getting what we’re getting.” Tinkering withthe schools we have won’t get us the schools we need. One problem (and Phillipsadmits this freely) is that most educators are too busy with immediate problemsto figure out what a new vision for schools would look like.

Phillipscalls on reformers andpolicymakers, who have the luxury of time, to consider a shift in theschooling paradigm. He envisions a learning environment for kids that is more connectedto nature and not organized around artificially separated “subjects” like “English.”NCTAF has long pushed for hands-on, interdisciplinary learning. Thepossibilities are endless because information is there for the taking on theinternet, which is ever-more accessible. Phillips imagines classrooms as “commandcenter[s] for a learning process that involved local media, worldwide webcommunication, and the creation of integrated imagery and words shared with thecommunity.”

Thefirst step in creating this paradigm shift is to redesign the role of teacherswho team up to lead these command centers. As Phillips notes, teachers need more time tothink, plan, and collaborate. But we need to go further and reinvent the job ofteaching and how it’s organized.

Likening us in our current impasse to thesquare in Edward Albott’s Flatland,Phillips illustrates how closed and static the current system is. A newparadigm for schools must take advantage of the multi-faceted world of theinternet, global communications, and social media. But, with the advent of the internet—the explosionof information accessible anywhere/anytime— the world has flattened in analtogether different sort of way. Information is everywhere for the taking; teachersmust be empowered to reinvent themselves into teams of facilitators, guides,and curators. Students need teachers to help them consume and produce mediaappropriately, namely to think critically to find what’s accurate andprioritize what’s important. Only then, can we redesign schools to operate effectivelyin the many dimensions of information teeming in our flat, globalized world.

It is Time to Stop the Teacher Bashing

2011-12-13T16:39:00.000-05:00

The argument that teachers are drawnfrom the bottom third of the workforce is just the latest version of the oldsaw: “Those who can, do - those who can't, teach.” The irony is that those who make thisargument understand the importance of quality teaching; but they fail torecognize that their teacher bashing undermines the profession.

In his recent blog post, "Where do Teachers Come From," Merrow demonstratesthat teacher bashers base their “bottom third” argument on questionableconventional wisdom, and he encourages them to do the math. So here are some numbersto consider. The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) reports thatthe nation hired 388,000 new teachers in 2008 (313,000 in public schools plus76,000 in private schools). NCES alsoreports that we had 2.2 million college graduates that year (1.6 million BAsplus 650,000 MAs). This means that to hire only top tier candidates, we wouldhave to hire at least half of the top third of the graduates from every collegeand university in the country – every year – year after year. The teacherbashers seem to believe that we can somehow induce half of the top tier graduatesin the nation to pursue teaching in lieu of other careers, including medicine,law, finance and technology - despitetheir cynical drumbeat of attacks on educators.

As Merrowpoints out, as college graduates, our teachers are already among the besteducated of the country’s population. With over 3.6 million in classroom,teaching is the largest profession in the country. To effectively staff ourschools we will always draw teachers from a broad cross-section of collegegraduates – just as most other professions do. If school reform is to succeed, we need to get serious aboutrecognizing, rewarding, and supporting teaching professionals.

Teaching isthe profession that makes all other professions possible. As a nation, we saythat we value teachers as the most important factor in the quality of a child’seducation. But the way that we treat them sends quite a different message. Akey characteristic of the high-performing countries profiled in the McKinseyReport that is cited in this debate is the very high “cultural respect accordedto teaching.” More than any other recruitment policy, the respect we give our teacherswill determine the future quality of the profession. It is time to stop the teacher bashing.

Response to “How to Rescue Education Reform”

2011-12-06T16:32:00.001-05:00

In “How to Rescue Education Reform” (NY Times 12/5/11), Rick Hess and LindaDarling-Hammond call on all sides to focus on what the federal government cando well, and to leave the rest to educational leaders at the state and locallevel. What the federal government does well is to promote alevel playing field and equitable learning opportunities for all students. What it does poorly is to nurtureinnovation.

The problemsof compliance-driven industrial schools can’t be fixed with more factory-erathinking. Time and again, federalefforts to encourage state and local innovation are riddled with requirements thatlock states and districts into tinkering with the status quo. Most recently, states called on the U.S.Department of Education to give them the lead in developing and implementinginnovative reforms, by granting waivers from stifling NCLB mandates. U.S. Ed responded by announcing that it wouldgrant waivers, but only to states that are prepared to comply with the new Raceto the Top program regulations. Substituting one set of rules for another is not the way to unleashinnovation.

SecretaryDuncan is committed to being “tighton the goals but loose on the means of achieving them.” We hopethat he will use these waivers to provide as much flexibility for innovation aspossible, while maintaining meaningful accountability for improving studentoutcomes and closing achievement gaps.

NCTAF in U.S. News & World Report!

2011-11-18T10:43:00.001-05:00

NCTAFis featured in today’s online U.S. News & World Report “Debate Club”section, weighing in on whether a college education is still "worth it." Read it here and comment!

NCTAF Wins Two Awards!

2011-11-15T15:07:00.001-05:00

The NationalCommission on Teaching and America’s Future (NCTAF) is pleased to announce thatits STEM Learning Studios project has been awarded one of the two Judges’ Awardsin the Partnering for Excellence:Innovations in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) Educationcompetition, hosted by Carnegie Corporation of New York, The OpportunityEquation, and Ashoka Changemakers®. In addition, NCTAF’s STEM Learning Studios projecthas been awarded a Special Focus Prize from the Amgen Foundation for the LearningStudios innovation that demonstrates an effective partnership model enhancingSTEM learning through inquiry-based methods.

Read Press Releases.

More and More Teachers Taking Second Jobs

2011-11-14T10:29:00.001-05:00

This new article in Education Week reveals that many teachers are taking second and even third jobs. The points presented here add to the heated debate about teacher compensation, challenging all of us (no matter how much we think teachers are "worth") to think about what it means to make enough to be middle class.

Get Serious about Teacher Compensation

2011-11-10T14:48:00.001-05:00

TheWall Street Journal published a cynical attack on teacher compensation thisweek: “Public School Teachers Aren't Underpaid” byAndrew G. Briggs and Jason Rich (November 8, 2011). The thrust oftheir argument is that teachers are underperformers who could not commandhigher compensation in other sectors of the workforce – and further, that inrelation to any other job that they are qualified to hold, they are actuallyovercompensated. This is the latest version of the old saw: “Those who can, do- those who can't, teach.” The irony is that Briggs and Rich recognizethe importance of quality teaching and believe that the nation should draw itsteachers from the top tier of college graduates. But, how is theirargument that teachers are overpaid a formula for attracting top performers tothe profession?

Briggsand Rich suggest that effective reform requires knowing the facts about teachercompensation. So, here are some facts. The National Center for EducationStatistics (NCES) reports that the nation hired 388,000 new teachers in 2008(313,000 in public schools plus 76,000 in private schools). NCES alsoreports that we had 2.2 million college graduates that year (1.6 million BA’splus 650,000 MA’s). To hire only top-tier candidates, we would have tohire well over half of the top twenty-five percent of the graduates from everycollege and university in the country – every year. Briggs and Rich seem tobelieve that we could somehow induce those top-tier candidates to pursueteaching in lieu of other careers, including medicine, law, finance, andtechnology - despite their conclusion that today’s teachers areovercompensated.

As anation we say that we value teachers as the most important factor in thequality of a child’s education. But the way that we pay them saysotherwise. The fact is, we have some of the best teachers inthe world, and they deserve a better compensation system. Ifschool reform is to succeed, we need to get serious about making that happen.

Case Study: STEM Learning Studios

2011-10-24T11:02:00.001-04:00

NCTAF’s STEM Learning Studios have been getting somewell-deserved attention for being an innovative model for deepening studentlearning, embedding professional development for teachers, and engagingcommunity volunteers. Read a profile of our work here!

Support NCTAF: The Easiest Way to Vote

2011-10-13T10:02:00.000-04:00

Weare excited to announce that NCTAF’s STEM Learning Studios project has beenselected as a finalist in the Partnering for Excellence: Innovations in Science, Technology,Engineering, and Math Education competition, in partnership with CarnegieCorporation of New York and The Opportunity Equation. We were selected fromamong 265 applicants from around the country!

To vote for the Learning Studios Projectclick here! Then select the picture located in thebottom row, second from the left. That will bringyou to the voting page, where you will be prompted to supply your emailaddress. This ensures that no one votes more than once.

After you vote, please FORWARD thisannouncement to your networks and ask them to vote for NCTAF STEM LearningStudios!

Thanksvery much,
Tom Carroll & the NCTAF Team

About STEM Learning Studios:

NCTAFSTEM Learning Studios are cross-curricular, interdisciplinary teams of 4-6teachers who collaboratively develop and implement hands-on projects. Theseteams of teachers in high-needs schools work with STEM professional volunteersfrom the community, who become part-time, long-term participants in schools.Built on 3 proven strategies (project-based learning; collaborative teaching;and well-structured participation by STEM professionals), Learning Studiosemphasize the interconnectedness of STEM subjects and utilize practicingscientists and real-world resources. Past projectshave included a quest to quantify school energy use and building fuel cellswith a NASA engineer. An independent evaluation has documented how LearningStudios improve student achievement and teaching effectiveness.

Vote for NCTAF’s STEM Learning Studios!

2011-10-05T15:38:00.003-04:00

We are pleased to announce that NCTAF’s STEM Learning Studios project has been selected as a finalist in the Partnering for Excellence: Innovations in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math Education competition, in partnership with Carnegie Corporation of New York and The Opportunity Equation. We were selected from 265 innovations received from around the country!

Please help support our education innovation! By voting for us, you keep us in the running for the $20,000 People’s Choice Award.

There are three ways to vote:

1. With just a couple of clicks, vote using Facebook.

If you do not have a Facebook account, you may use one of the following two options, both of which will prompt you to create a changemakers.com account:

2. Vote using our widget below.

3. Vote directly through the Changemakers website.

The title of our innovation is STEM Learning Studios: Transform School from Teaching Organizations into Learning Organizations, and the contributor is Tom Carroll. We are also a finalist in the Special Focus Prizes competition.

The voting process lasts from Wednesday, October 5th to Wednesday, October 26th. You may only vote once, but you can help build the movement by sharing this with your networks!

About STEM Learning Studios:
NCTAF STEM Learning Studios are cross-curricular, interdisciplinary teams of 4-6 teachers who collaboratively develop and implement hands-on projects. These teams of teachers in high-needs schools work with STEM professional volunteers from the community, who become part-time, long-term participants in schools. Built on 3 proven strategies (project-based learning; collaborative teaching; and well-structured participation by STEM professionals), Learning Studios emphasize the interconnectedness of STEM subjects and utilize practicing scientists and real-world resources. Projects have included a quest to quantify school energy use and building fuel cells with a NASA engineer. An independent evaluation has documented how Learning Studios improve student achievement and teaching effectiveness.

Baby Boomers to the Rescue

2011-09-22T12:32:00.001-04:00

“When the cold front of demographics meets the warm front ofunrealized dreams, the result will be a thunderstorm of purpose the likes ofwhich the world has never seen,” says Daniel Pink in his book Drive of the possibilities that arise asBaby Boomers retire. Boomers were on the whole very educated and successful—ageneration who experienced great opportunities and sweeping changes in thiscountry. Now, as they reach retirement, many Boomers are looking for what to donext; and as Elizabeth Olson’s recent NewYork Times article shows, teaching is a popular choice. Retired scientists and engineers arereinventing themselves as high school math teachers. On the surface, this mightjust seem like a feel-good story about retirees “giving back,” but as NCTAF hasdocumented (click herefor our “Did You Know?” video about America’s aging educators), we need to findways of leveraging the Boomer generations talents and experience if we’re goingto transform education.

Though there are some retirees, like those mentioned in thisarticle, who have the time and desire to go through the teacher certificationto become a teacher. However, NCTAF understands the need to find alternative waysto bring Boomers from a variety of professions (including retired educators)into the schools in an organized and sustainable way that will have real impacton student learning.

NCTAF is beginning this work more in our STEM LearningStudios, which put STEM teachers in middle and high schools in teams withpracticing scientists, content specialists, and retired teachers. These teamswork develop hands-on, interdisciplinary projects that address real-worldproblems to make STEM subjects come alive for students. As this project bothexpands and deepens, we are securing more partnerships with business,government, and institutions of higher education to build out a volunteer corpsof retirees, who be able to give back in ways that are realistic in terms of timecommitment but that really matter for students and teachers.

The Role of Teacher Education: Preparing Teachers to Do New, Different Stuff in New, Different Ways

2011-09-19T13:26:00.000-04:00

Many thanks to John Merrow for not accepting the overly simplisticargument that because increased use of technology in school doesn’t appear toyield increases in test scores, then technology is not worth the big bucksschools are spending on it. The central tenet of Merrow’s rebuttal of theSeptember 4 New York Times article is right on: “Schools spend billions on technology but useit to do the same old stuff in more entertaining ways!” says Merrow. He is absolutely right that this issue, whichreally boils down to a discussion of how to modernize pedagogy and curriculum,needs much more attention.

NCTAF has long understood that technology in andof itself does little if it is not used as a means to new and evolving ends. Itis what you do with the technology,not the technology itself that matters. We’ve learned this important lessonagain and again in our TeachersLearning in NetworkedCommunities (TLINC ®) project, which we havebeen implementing at colleges of education across the country for more thanfive years. Designed to address the significant need to curb the high turnoveramong teachers and to leverage technology in teacher preparation, TLINC givesnew teachers a strong start by inducting them into linked professional learningcommunities that blend face-to-face and online collaboration. Over the life ofthe project, we’ve used any number of online platforms, and have had tointentionally work at separating the particular technology du jour (whichsometimes poses challenges) from the content and the concepts of the program.The technology is a tool, but it’s the goal—in this case integration oftechnology-enabled mentoring and collaboration—that we’re after. And it’s justthis distinction that John Merrow is urging educators and education advocatesto focus on.

The most important lesson from the TLINC project, however, is thelargely unaddressed need to integrate technology into teacher education. If we expect teachers to innovate and take full advantage of technology’spower— to do new things in new ways— then we must prepare them to do so fromthe moment they enter their teacher preparation programs. Traditionally, no oneexpected student teachers to magically know everything about pedagogicaltheory—that’s why they needed training. Why then are we surprised that teacherscannot keep up when technology that demands a shift in pedagogy comes along?And I do not mean that we need to train teachers to use Google or to useGarageBand. We need to teach teachers to help students recognize appropriatesources, so that they can conduct content-rich original research and drivetheir own learning. Technology fundamentally changes how everyone, especiallychildren, can access information and process it. We need to work with teachereducators to help schools keep up.

Simple Math

2011-09-15T14:24:00.000-04:00

If bad teachers were the only trouble with education, thenthe millions and millions of dollars spent on tests and formulae to rateteachers against those tests would have gotten us a lot farther. No, thetrouble with education, as Valarie Strauss’ recent blog entry outlines for us, isn’tthe trouble with education. It’spoverty. The focus of the conversation about education reform is at timesmyopic; students + bad teachers = education crisis. Or perhaps it is termedlike this: students + great teacher = high achievement. We all know there are afew variables missing; Strauss’ article highlights of one of the largest.

Students’ socio-economic status effects their lives in deepand complex ways (Strauss lays these very clearly) that permeate what happens atschool, no matter how many highly qualified and committed teachers are at thehelm. I’d like to take this a bit further and say that a large part of reasonfor this—beyond the psychological impact of poverty on those living in it—remainsthe inherently unfair way that education is funded in this country. Publicschools are in and of themselves community resources; but they are also theproducts of community resources. And it is no secret or mystery as to whyschools in poorer communities are generally lower-performing than the school onthe “other side of the track.” Yet, there seems to be a collective headscratching about how we can address this problem.

In order to find solutions for our schools, we need to getserious about making education spending totally and completely equitable. Equitableis not the same as equal. This nuance has been bandied about in rhetoric foryears. Now, however, with the public’s attention more attuned to education andissues of education finance because of the larger economic crisis, we have areal opportunity to make equitable (and not to mention simpler) funding forschools a priority.

PRESS RELEASE: New NCTAF Initiative

2011-09-07T14:47:00.000-04:00

The National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future to collaborate with Qualcomm, Kajeet for Education, and HTC to launch initiative to empower student teachers with advanced wireless technologies

The National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future (NCTAF) is pleased to announce the launch of a new initiative in collaboration with Qualcomm Incorporated, through its Wireless Reach™ initiative, Kajeet for Education, and HTC designed to empower pre-service/student teachers with advanced wireless technologies. This exciting project will enable communication, collaboration, and the availability of limitless
resources for teachers as they enter classrooms for the first time.

The project is launching at five universities across the United States: Arizona State University, Georgia State University, University of New Mexico, University of North Carolina Greensboro, and the University of Texas at El Paso. Two hundred wireless mobile devices, donated by HTC and supported by Kajeet for Education, have been delivered into the hands of pre-service/student teachers at each university.

To read the full press release, please click here.

Talent + Effort + Context

2011-08-18T17:36:00.004-04:00

The premise of Jay Matthews’ recent op-ed in the Washington Post is an admirable and important one; namely, engaging in a close reading of the new MIT study that examines if famous exam schools like Stuyvesant High School are worth all the fuss. Matthews paraphrases the study’s central conclusion beautifully: “students who qualify for some of the nation’s most selective public high schools do no better academically than similar kids who miss the entrance test cutoff.” This offers us hope that smart kids will do pretty well just about anywhere. This is probably true as is Matthew’s brave assertion: “Test scores are often not the best indicators of school quality.” I could not agree more.

Test scores indicate individual students’ accomplishments at a given point in time. Test scores measure student content knowledge in individual subjects taught by stand-alone teachers, without any measure of how a school (namely, teachers, the physical place, or any other forces factor in) may influence student learning. The next logical step in Matthews’ thinking is that standardized tests—and therefore schools that rely on the results of such tests for admission—may not be any better attuned to intelligent students’ learning needs as other schools. I am not opposed to this assertion, but there is something gravely missing from this analysis: context. Matthews rejects test scores as indicators of school quality but offers no other way to assess how well a school is doing its job. Instead, he urges us to remember that “how much students learn at any school is dependent on their personal talent and effort, and not the name above the entrance or how many smart students it has.” I disagree: smarts and hard work certainly do matter quite a lot, but even the perfect combination of talent and effort may not be enough for success. Matthews’ formulation ignores the fact that any numbers of obstacles may stand in the way of students making the most of their innate talent.

Perhaps most troubling, however, is that Matthews ignores the importance of community in school. He seems to think that a student exists apart from her peers—impervious to the influences (both good and bad) of others. School, at its heart, is a social project, an institution comprised of individuals working together to educate the next generation, to prepare young citizens for productive adulthoods. This spirit may have been compromised in recent years, but Matthews seems to be all but giving up the idea that schools, as community institutions, should be held responsible for at least some part of educating our kids.

To Lecture or Not to Lecture

2011-08-08T13:00:00.002-04:00

Anyone who has either been a teacher giving a lecture or a student listening to one knows that lectures on their own do not equate to either teaching or learning. Most educators and students advocate for a mixture of pedagogical styles because students’ differing learning styles require it. A recent article in eSchoolNews makes this point well: “Educators need to transfer information,[. . .] but students also need to do something with this information to make it stick—not simply parrot it back during a test, but actually assimilate it and take ownership of it, so they can apply this knowledge in a different context. If students can’t do that, [. . .] then they haven’t really learned anything.” This point lies at the heart of NCTAF’s STEM Learning Studios initiative, which aims to infuse STEM education with real-world questions that prompt teams of teachers, scientists, and retired educators to work with students on project-based learning modules. The article also highlights an emerging software tool, called Learning Catalytics, that is designed to help teachers “flip” the classroom most efficiently.

This piece also raises some grave questions. The first is the logistical and economic feasibility of making something like Learning Catalytics mainstream. With budgets in arrears and teachers being fired, where would the money to purchase such a product come from? And perhaps more importantly, how would teachers learn to use the tool effectively without sustained professional development opportunities? If we want teachers to flip their classrooms, no amount of cajoling from a Harvard professor will do the trick because teaching differently requires teachers being given the time to learn new skills. America is notoriously impatient with its teachers—this may be our biggest disservice to educators, and the students they serve—while the raw materials (reasonable salaries, appropriate professional development, and time for collaboration) that are the lifeblood of other successful professions remain elusive for teachers.

The second line of inquiry that this article raises is about listening. As mentioned above, application of concepts in new contexts is tantamount to what the policy community often refers to as deeper learning; but part of deep learning is deeper listening. One of the most important skills a student can learn, especially in this age of information overload, is the ability to cull useful data quickly from massive amounts of information, presented in different types of media. I would argue that learning to listening to a well-presented lecture is still fundamental. Listening to something that is not recorded and accessible later offers the opportunity for teachers and students alike to take responsibility for that information transfer in an active way. Of course this only works if the lecturer engages students with information in a presentation that draws them in.

My “defense” of the lecture is not, however, a defense of teaching as an artisan practice. Why not, as in STEM Learning Studios, have teachers work together to prepare content that connects disciplines. Why not have teachers deliver lectures together sometimes? It is great for students to actually see their math teacher interacting with their science teacher, their history or English teacher. Students seeing teachers together and listening to lectures delivered by teams “physicalizes” the connections across subject matter. It would be a shame though to abandon the lecture because when there really is a dynamic interplay between speaker(s) and listeners, an exchange takes place that no video or software, no matter how interactive, can fully replace.

Teachers and the American Dream

2011-07-19T10:22:00.000-04:00

Esther Wojcicki’s recent commentary in the Huffington Post stands on its own, but several points deserve highlighting. The premise of the article is this: a quality public education is the bedrock of the American Dream. This may not be rocket science, but what it lacks in ingenuity it makes up for in piercing clarity. So often, the media--and politicians of all persuasions--cast our nation’s problems as new and complex thorns in our sides. Certainly, this is true of the economic crisis and other disasters that we hear about so much. But what isn’t new or particularly complicated is the fact that our national promise of equal educational opportunity for all students is not being kept.

Unequal opportunity is antithetical to the American Dream. But this simple truth is overshadowed by our nation’s tempestuous relationship with its teachers, who are being sent dreadfully mixed messages. We can all agree that our education system is not meeting the needs of students, but the problem is made worse when every day teachers are berated for failure to deliver on America’s promise, regardless of the circumstances in which they are working. We in fact tell teachers that they are the problem. And yet, our national rhetoric also flirts with the idea that teachers are nation builders upon whom we are dependent for prosperity. These two storylines are confusing and damaging because, in the midst of their clash, the real issue--lack of systemic support for teachers to be the creative professionals we need them to be--gets drowned out.

Wojcicki highlights a theme present in both of these competing storylines: our superhero complex. The teacher exists in our national rhetoric as a tireless heroine, working alone to educate her students. Many important features are missing from this picture, but I will limit myself to two: 1) context (i.e. Who are her students? What particular challenges do they bring? What does her school look like?) and 2) the value--monetary and cultural--placed on her and her work by society (i.e. How much is she paid? How is her job viewed compared to other jobs?). The American education system and the American public have not figured out how to negotiate these factors or how to integrate them into teaching as a profession.

The American Dream will remain a pipe dream for the underprivileged if we cannot figure out, as a society, how to treat teachers fairly and support them fully to be the providers of opportunity to all. We need to re-fashion the profession of teaching into a creative and rewarding one so that the best and the brightest join the education workforce and enjoy the professional support they deserve.

By the numbers

2011-07-07T14:39:00.001-04:00

The war of personalities in education is nothing new. This war is especially heated at the moment. Again, nothing new. But what is different about the current “Eduwars” is the facility of varied and constant media to create a barrage of sound bites from all sides. This is a war as much of reductive misrepresentations of people’s opinions than it is a clash over philosophy or policy. This often detracts, as Merrow suggests in his recent post, from the real problems at hand.

Outside the fray, the most foundational issue of all comes to the fore: teachers, in the way school and the education workforce are currently arranged, cannot perform as well as our children deserve them to. Merrow highlights how the superhuman effort required in reform models (regardless of the stance du jour on testing) such as TFA and KIPP is not as sustainable in real life as it is in messaging. Merrow writes, “Let’s look at the numbers. We have about 100,000 public schools. Perhaps 5,000 or maybe even 10,000 are defying the odds. At that rate, how long will it take? Where will the thousands and thousands of inspired leaders and teachers come from?” Merrow echoes NCTAF’s message that calls for an understanding of the fact that individual heroism won’t get us out of this. The answer to Merrow’s question about where the teachers will come from needs to be answered by the federal, state, and local governments and by business and industry. Retirees can also help provide an answer. The point is, no one sector—public or private—can go it alone. We all need to pitch in.

New NCTAF Report!

2011-06-27T12:15:00.005-04:00

STEM Teachers in Professional Learning Communities:
From Good Teachers to Great Teaching
June 2011

With the support of the National Science Foundation and in collaboration with WestEd, NCTAF released STEM Teachers in Professional Learning Communities: From Good Teachers to Great Teaching. NCTAF and WestEd conducted a two-year analysis of research studies that document what happens when science, technology, engineering, and math teachers work together in professional learning communities to improve teaching and increase student achievement. This report summarizes that work and provides examples of projects building on that model.

For more information and to download a copy of the report, click here.

More Missed Connections

2011-06-20T11:40:00.003-04:00

Read this post by Mark Phillipps on The Answer Sheet for more on how real-world connections should drive the curriculum but don't.

Missed Connections

2011-06-20T11:06:00.003-04:00

Read this blog post (and watch the companion video) from John Merrow for a poignant discussion of why tests don’t tell us all we need to know about how kids learn. Merrow brings up a lot of interesting questions about the validity of testing the way it is currently done. This quote about reading tests especially got me thinking: “We looked over past tests, and, sure enough, the passages were about subjects that poor kids in the south Bronx may not be familiar with (cicadas or dragonflies were two of the subjects, for example).”

Test content is often divorced completely from the realities of the test-takers. Learning anything—especially abstract concepts—is made more difficult the more removed from the topic the child feels. This is a deceptively simple conclusion. On the one hand it seems utterly obvious. Yet, on the other hand it seems to have been largely forgotten or ignored in school. Certainly, there are many individual educators who make their lessons relevant for their students; but the system at large, and tests are the lynchpin of this system, does not seem to make a lot of content particularly relatable. This speaks to a larger issue: generally speaking, most curricula in this country slices and dices different disciplines into seemingly mutually exclusive chunks of “things kids have to know.”

Here in DC, we talk about “silos” in politics and government all the time. What about silos in the curriculum? Why do we teach math as totally separate from science—as if the skill of graphing had no place in the science lab? Why aren’t we formally encouraging our students to examine how literature—from the ancients to today—both informs culture and reflects it? This kind of curriculum demands a different kind of teaching, a new arrangement of the labor force in our schools. No longer could the math teacher work without consulting the science teacher; the history teacher couldn’t work without the input of the English teacher. Interdisciplinary teaching requires a new arrangement of time and focus, but if done well and bolstered by institutional support, it could facilitate just the kind of interdisciplinary learning that would empower students to draw their own connections to the curriculum, a prerequisite for success in college and careers.

Visit www.nctaf.org to learn about NCTAF’s STEM Learning Studios Initiative that teams up educators and STEM professionals in an effort to institutionalize collaboration across disciplines for both teachers and students.

Rethinking Compliance, Modernizing Motivation

2011-06-09T16:04:00.001-04:00

Educators, politicians, and regular citizens all want the same basic thing for America’s students: high academic achievement. Teachers, of course, need to perform at a high level in order to make this a reality. These goals are indisputably the right ones. However, the directives we follow in order to pursue these goals are vestiges of a bygone era. In the last 150 years, both the people and the circumstances surrounding public education have altered drastically. Yet, the American education system still functions on one main premise—compliance. From the organization of the school day to the way we measure students’ academic performance (and increasingly the performance of their teachers)—namely standardized tests—the compliance mentality dominates the American school system. But what if compliance and its attending, often punitive, incentive structures aren’t helping us reach our goals?

A new report from the National Research Council (along with several other recent reports) makes a compelling argument for why high stakes testing does not have the promised positive effects on teaching and learning. For one thing, the report avers, tests do not give an adequate picture of student performance because they do not account for out-of-school factors. For another, test-based incentives for teachers may reward teachers to “teach to the test,” sacrificing breadth in the curriculum, and in some cases, depth even in the tested subjects. Test results, therefore, are superficial at best and detrimental to the practice of teaching and the process of learning at worst.

As author Daniel Pink skillfully argues in his book, Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, the old-fashioned carrot-and-stick mentality of getting people to do things is woefully out of date. This system, which Pink calls “Motivation 1.0,” is at odds with what much of the research says really motivates people. Pink says that real motivation stems from “autonomy, mastery, and purpose,” which are not as closely tied to money and other carrots as one might assume. Our school system relies on “external” motivators like high stakes testing that discourage real motivation in favor of getting students and teachers alike to fall into line. Falling into line might have been the goal of school way back when the public education system was founded, back when the world was very different and most Americans grew up to work in factories. But I do not need to tell you that is no longer the case. We need to get in touch with our 21st goals for our 21st workforce and separate them from the methods we long used to measure our progress. We need to think deeply and creatively about what better drivers we can use to propel students and teachers to achieve.

The Testing Treadmill

2011-06-01T15:04:00.001-04:00

Tests can be standardized; students cannot. No matter how well constructed a test is—and the US spends hundreds of millions on test construction every year—it cannot account for many of the most influential factors in a child’s education. Both in-school factors like teachers and out of school influences like physical and mental health lurk between the lines of every test item because they are inseparable from the students trying to answer each question. And yet, tests are hallowed both as potential equalizers, giving fair and accurate pictures of student achievement, and potential boosters of achievement if schools and teachers comply.

In her recent op-ed, Diane Ravitch states quite bluntly and eloquently: “[S]ome politicians believe that the right combination of incentives and punishments will produce dramatic improvement. Anyone who objects to this utopian mandate, they maintain, is just making an excuse for low expectations and bad teachers.”

To think that high stakes testing can be a silver bullet solution to the multi-faceted issues facing the American education system, is to engage in damaging magical thinking that ignores some of our society’s most pressing problems. Ravitch offers several compelling examples of how this kind of thinking affects schools and the public’s perception of them—how high stakes tests have been used to ignore, and in some cases even cover up deep-seated challenges. Certainly testing has its place and should not be abandoned, but we cannot rely on it as both a means and an end because we will just run headlong into more high stakes testing scenarios for a few more decades, only to realize that we’ve been running on a treadmill.

2011-05-27T10:40:00.002-04:00

The fascinating op-ed, How to Improve Teacher Quality? Treat Teachers as Individuals, offers a compelling retrofit of the seemingly age-old teacher quality debate. Teachers, Rick Hess and his co-authors say, should be treated as individuals with particular strengths and gifts. The current way that the job of teaching is structured does not just ignore this important and sensible recommendation, but it actually makes it impossible to put into effect. Teachers do many jobs rolled into one in a work environment that does not facilitate communication or collaboration between colleagues. Instead of trying to make the wonderfully human teacher fit the impossible job description, let’s change the job description.

NCTAF has championed for years, through research and action projects, the idea that stand-and-deliver teaching requires the kind of heroism that no one individual possesses. The education workforce needs to be redesigned because the education system itself needs to be organized differently, so that schools can become fluid learning organizations. Hess et al effectively make this case, enjoining educators to look at new ways of working together. This article adds to the growing conversation about how to reinvent teaching!

Rigor--what does it mean?

2011-05-25T10:20:00.000-04:00

In his recent posting, “Bias against rigor in urban schools,” Jay Matthews posits that one of the roadblocks in education reform—particularly in the District of Columbia—is educators’ reluctance to “to push low-income kids too hard…[M]any well-meaning and hard-working people in the D.C. school system are biased against rigor.” There are several parts of these bold statements that I would like to unpack.

First, Matthews’ formulation of the problem puts the responsibility of educating low-income students solely on the shoulders of teachers and other educators, ignoring the fact that community and family factors also play a huge role. Teachers can “push” kids as hard as they want, but if the students don’t have proper supports inside and outside school—at least a modicum of medical care and somewhere quiet to do homework, to name a few obvious ones—chances are the students won’t show too much improvement. This is not to say that educators should have low expectations for students who face difficulties or who come from low-income backgrounds—this would be nothing short of unconscionable. However, it is also unconscionable to look at schools and what goes on in them as completely divorced from the interwoven factors that influence the populations and communities they serve.

Let us move beyond our critique of the school/teachers-in-vacuum concept and accept, for a moment, the premise that rigor is being undercut by educators’ reluctance. What do we end up with in Matthews’ formulation? We get “a secondary school model, which requires students to take at least eight AP courses and pass at least six of the 3-hour, independently written and graded exams.” While AP courses exams certainly have their place in education—they often provide much-needed college prep coursework—they do not necessarily promote deep understanding of subjects or a life-long love of learning. Is rigor, then, just a battery of AP classes and more standardized tests?

Not to get overly snarky or split hairs, but if we go back to the roots of this word rigor then we will see perhaps this is not so far from the truth. Merriam Webster offers this as the first definition for the word rigor: “harsh inflexibility in opinion, temper, or judgment.” It is a given that this word has come to mean something a quite different in the context of academics, and Matthews is using in this way to mean an appropriately challenging academic program. But that Matthews’ idea of rigor is so narrow, so inflexible as to include only one vision of what high academic standards might look like, this is troubling.

Near the end of his article, Matthew’s asks: “Couldn’t we have something for those students whose only educational problem is that the standard curriculum is too slow and dumb for them?” Now that is a great question, and one I think all of us interested and invested in the success of public education need to be asking. But part of really asking this question is facing the fact that rigor in the narrow, rigid sense is not going to be enough.

High expectations for our students will only become reality in the classroom when we give teachers the tools and the time to collaborate and innovate, to create hands-on, real-world lessons that make theory and abstract thought come alive for all students. For students to succeed in this kind of highly creative and academically demanding environment, they will need all manner of supports. If education does not include these elements and a disciplined focus on how different subjects intertwine—from math to English, Science to the arts—then it probably won’t matter how many AP courses are offered or how many tests students have the opportunity to pass.

The power of metaphor

2011-05-19T14:18:00.003-04:00

Metaphor can be used to obfuscate, but it can also be used to frame and explain very thorny and confusing ideas or issues. John Merrow, in his recent blog post, “Can this marriage be saved?”, pulls off the latter. The marriage metaphor is apt for many reasons though one of its profound strengths is that it grounds the fight between the public and teachers as a deep (and often symbiotic) relationship, founded on a promise of commitment. Merrow’s formulation of the current bitter stalemate between teachers and the public as a marriage between two passionate parties elevates the conversation because it does not allow for a simple story of blame. Blame here is not the name of the game because if the marriage is going to be saved, and it must be, both parties will have to be involved if the kids are going to succeed.

The problems with public education abound; we all know that. What Merrow points out in his treatment of the issue is one of the largest problems that we aren’t talking much about: the terrible lessons we’re teaching our children by shaming teachers and not taking a measured look at the “marriage.” What message are we sending to our students by picking sides before doing what is most fundamental to any relationship—listening?

Perhaps you're not a marriage counselor, but you can still tell us what you think!

The Teacher Salary Project

2011-05-12T10:49:00.000-04:00

Check out this exciting new project! Be sure to watch Mark Bounds, South Carolina Deputy Superintendent for Education Quality, in the clip, "Cell Phone Sales."
http://theteachersalaryproject.org/production_news.html

The "Pedagogy of Poverty" in the Learning Age

2011-04-28T14:44:00.004-04:00

This impassioned op-ed by Alfie Kohn exposes how school is very different for poor children than it is for their more affluent counterparts. Education for low-income students is rooted in and aims for compliance. Drills and worksheets, tests and recitations make up the “pedagogy of poverty," a term first used by Martin Haberman of the University of Wisconsin to describe the kind of teaching he saw in inner city public schools.

The "pedagogy of poverty" and everything that goes with it should be no shock to anyone who has read a newspaper in the last decade. It is not shocking that mostly young, inexperienced teachers with little support or meaningful professional development opportunities are more likely to be in the toughest schools. It is not shocking that there is the highest rate of teacher turnover in these same schools. But what is shocking, and what this piece highlights very effectively, is how current “reform” efforts are reinforcing and even extending in new ways these damaging inequities. Kahn states that “[i]t is possible for the accountability movement to simultaneously narrow the test-score gap and widen the learning gap.”

We are in the learning age. Information is everywhere 24/7, and we have to prepare our students to process and recombine it. Yet our education system does not facilitate the openness and fluidity of our current reality and downright prevents it in many our nation’s poorest schools. Khan rightly urges us to think long and hard about the road to reform we’re currently barreling down.

Test results. Student achievement. These are mainstays of the conversation about what education “reform” is trying to achieve. But are they useful proxies for teaching and learning?

Testing cannot be the sole aim of education because test scores don’t tell the whole story of what is going on in classrooms around the nation. Higher test scores do not equate to deeper learning, which goes beyond “competence” to synthesis and analysis across disciplines. And deeper learning is not a luxury in the learning age; it’s a necessity and a right.

Tell us what you think.

A dose of humor to make you think

2011-04-25T15:12:00.003-04:00

This whimsical op-ed injects a much-needed dose of humor into the education debate in general and the assessment debate in particular. Author John Sener challenges the validity of standardized tests as the primary (and in many cases only) measure currently used to assess student learning. Because some states and districts have passed/are passing measures that link teacher pay to student performance on standardized tests, it is especially important to de-mystify this issue right now—to analyze it through farce, a bit removed from the frenzy of political rhetoric. Obviously, none of these issues are joking matters. But, in a time when education news is dominated by a "doom and gloom" narrative, Sener's tone is refreshing. In its powerfully tongue and cheek tone, this piece teases out the potential nonsense of the ever-increasing reliance on high-stakes testing.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/standardized-tests-prove-im-better-than-michael-jordan/2011/03/29/AF4sdL4C_story.html

What do you think?

Turning the Page on the Equity Debate

2011-04-21T14:52:00.002-04:00

NCTAF Board Co-Chair and former Secretary of Education Richard Riley, along with co-author Arthur Coleman, make a strong case for updating and re-aligning with the policy agenda the concept of equity in education. Riley and Coleman offer concrete recommendations for how to solidify this important ideal as more than a “rhetorical flourish,” so that equity can become a key driver in education reform.

Turning the Page on the Equity Debate in Education:
How to Give All Children a Real Opportunity
American Educator, Spring 2011

Teacher speaks out. We need to listen.

2011-04-21T10:40:00.002-04:00

This forceful and eloquent piece brings into the education conversation a much-needed voice—that of the dedicated teacher. The author is an experienced professional, passionate and committed to serving her students and the community. Her anger is justified; NCTAF joins her and her colleagues in the movement to replace the denigration and scapegoating of teachers and educators with the respect and influence they need to transform education. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/public-school-teacher-13-reasons-im-outraged/2011/04/20/AF6BLMFE_blog.html

The New Normal . . . or a Better One?

2011-04-20T12:52:00.003-04:00

For months now, we’ve been hearing about the “New normal.” A fiscal plague on both federal and state budgets. Everyone—from the Secretary of Education on down to local reporters covering the education beat (and others) in their beleaguered states and districts—has warned educators and the public of what will happen when the money gets really tight. Many of these speeches, op-eds, reports, and all manner of documents and media then go on to urge policymakers and school administrators to search for the opportunity in this new normal of limited resources.

As stimulus funding quickly runs out this year, and the new budget offers no relief, educators will need to do much more than maintain the status quo. As the subtitle of Secretary Duncan’s November 2010 “New Normal” speech suggests, schools now have to “do more with less.” The policy community has taken this trope and run with it, as has the mainstream media. While the general awareness and attention given to public education at this most critical time is a great step, something is missing. Teachers.

What with rampant teacher bashing (and general public worker bashing), sufficient attention has not been paid to how this new normal will look and feel for teachers. And I am not talking about pink slips, salaries, or the anathema known as pensions. I am talking about the new realities teachers will face in the classroom—larger class sizes, fewer teacher aides, not as many computers . . . Not to mention how teachers’ responsibilities will multiply even further when school social workers and counselors are let go. This is a short list of new realities for teachers and does address the elimination of innovative professional development and education technology initiatives. All this is to say, teaching, which was already hard, just got a lot harder.

No amount of policy discussion will take care of the fact that teachers, and by extension students, will bear the brunt of this new normal. Teachers need training and support to deal with new challenges. It wasn’t until I read a recent article in Education Week that it became apparent to me how little talk there has been about ways in which teacher education and school staffing models will need to respond to the simultaneous tightening of budgets and the raising of expectations for student learning outcomes. This is a time of upheaval for the teaching profession the article says, and colleges of education face the task of training teachers to deal with bigger class sizes with an ever-more diverse set of learners. In addition, less and less money is available for the observation and feedback for student teachers (and all teachers for that matter).

This Education Week article is important because it delves into an aspect of the new normal that hasn’t had much time in the spotlight. However, I would like to take the ideas further and argue that the new normal should get us thinking, with teachers leading the way, about how to reorganize the education workforce and the structure of school to create a better normal instead of being forced into a new normal that looks remarkably like the old minus a good deal of money.

The current way we “do” education—from the way teachers are recruited and trained to the way instruction is delivered by a stand-alone hero—is very clearly unsustainable. We cannot ignore this, and we certainly cannot continue to patch up the old system in an effort to keep it going as long as possible when we know students are not getting the education they deserve despite the best efforts of so many individual teachers.

The budget disasters have jarred policymakers and education leaders to think hard and fast about educational productivity. There is an unprecedented need to re-evaluate resources, and this could lead to opportunities for imaginative redesign of school. This is opportunity we’ve been told about, the glass half full side of the story of the fiscal debacles we’re witnessing—the need to change the “way we do school” because school as we know it can’t work anymore.

Enhancing Education through Technology Program (EETT) Eliminated

2011-04-15T13:56:00.002-04:00

Congress has passed the long-awaited spending bill that will finance the Department of Education and other federal agencies through the end of September. Unsurprisingly, there were cuts. One such cut was the Enhancing Education through Technology Program (EETT). But what’s often not discussed about cuts is the set of holes they leave behind after the numbers signed into reality.

On Wednesday, I had the privilege of attending an event held by the National Coalition for Technology in Education and Training (NCTET), which celebrated the release of a report showcasing how the EETT has improved teaching and learning. The report and the presentations of the panelists at the event set out to mobilize educators to see technology as a way forward for our schools—for teachers and students alike.

What the report and the panelists did so well was highlight that technology is a cost-effective and exciting way forward for teaching and learning but not simply a cheaper way to reproduce on a larger scale the most unimaginative pedagogy. Two important points emerged, often missing from the discussion of technology in education: 1) professional development, focused on innovative pedagogy is essential for innovative use of technology in the classroom and 2) technology when used to its full potential by skilled, networked practitioners extends both the reach and depth of the curriculum, enhancing student learning and the job of the teacher.

One panelist described a teacher in a small town using new technology and skills gained in professional development sessions to create interactive podcasts for a blind student, who otherwise would have had difficulty reviewing lessons at home. Another panelist discussed how teachers in his large rural state were creating a collaborative state-wide network, which allowed educators to share resources and participate in webinars. This program enabled teachers, many of whom work in districts that cannot provide substitute teachers, to work together to improve practice in a sustained and meaningful away that did not require them to miss school. In another state, teachers were engaging in a similar online professional development program that focused on options for renewable energy in their state, a conversation that has now been opened to students.

These projects, all of which were funded through the now-eliminated EETT, will likely end. EETT was cut, leaving holes where these truly innovative programs were once allowing teachers to collaborate and innovate—to move education forward. In these lean times, surely some programs will have to go. Some holes are inevitable. But the 100 million dollar EETT was doing for relatively little money a lot of what the Administration is calling for: innovation. Furthermore, technology is not going away; it is the future. It is dangerous, then, to cut funding for the very programs that equip our educators with the tools and skills to help our students today face a future we cannot even imagine.

Raise teachers' status

2011-04-07T13:27:00.017-04:00

Recent articles and opinion pieces about education fall into two very different camps: those that attack the current system and its chief players (i.e., teachers), and those that urge transforming the profession that undergirds the whole system. NCTAF stands front and center in the latter camp, long-committed to changing the way we “do” education by reinventing the role of the educator. The four pieces highlighted below take this stance and urge us to revisit some ingrained cultural assumptions around teaching and challenge us to think--and act--differently to transform education. We draw these to your attention and encourage you to join in a dialogue here.
U.S. Is Urged to Raise Teachers’ Status (Featuring NCTAF Board Director Steve Paine)
Room for Debate: How to Raise the Status of Teachers
What I Learned at School
How Teacher Development Could Revolutionize Our Schools

“What are we readying our students for?”

2011-02-24T11:20:00.009-05:00

“College for All” and “College and Career Ready” are often cited as the goals of our public education system. While the sentiments behind these ideals are admirable—our schools should ensure that every child, regardless of ethnicity, religion, or socio-economic status is ready to attend college and/or begin a career—the way to make this happen, and even what it means to be “ready,” remains unclear. Furthermore, few seem to ask, “What careers are we readying our students for?”

The new report Pathways to Prosperity: Meeting the Challenge of Preparing Young Americans for the 21st Century, co-authored by professors at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, presents compelling evidence for why we cannot be satisfied with these vaguely defined goals. The report honestly confronts the reality that our current version of school is not working in part because it only offers one definition of success—and only one legitimate path to get there—to an increasingly diverse population of students, who are maturing in a radically different society than that of previous generations.

To change this picture we need to move beyond vague goals and aspirations. We need to remodel public education. Creating a new CTE system could be a great way to start this remodeling job. To learn more, read the full policy brief HERE.

Better Mentoring, Better Teachers

2010-03-29T10:26:00.002-04:00

In her Ed Week commentary from March 25, Dara Barlin from the New Teacher Center argues that investing in quality mentoring is essential in order to improve teacher quality, which we know to be the bedrock of student success.

The Teaching Profession Reaches a Crossroads

2010-03-26T10:39:00.003-04:00

Interesting findings from the NEW METLIFE SURVEY OF THE AMERICAN TEACHER! Teachers are reporting significant changes in their profession. These changes come at a time when the teaching profession faces multiple challenges, including the retirement of teachers in the baby boom generation, economic pressures, and a greater emphasis on teacher quality and student achievement. To address these challenges, career pathways in education are changing, the role of the teacher is evolving, and collaboration is being emphasized as never before!

Here are just a few findings:

Teachers very satisfied with their careers are more likely to work in schools with higher levels of collaborative activities (39% vs. 26%) and to strongly agree that the teachers in a school share responsibility for the achievement of all students (86% vs. 72%).
More than half of teachers (56%) and half of principals (49%) say that some teachers in their school have a hybrid teaching role. Nearly four in ten teachers (37%) say they are interested in such a hybrid role.
Three-quarters of teachers (75%) say they would like to continue to work in education beyond traditional retirement from classroom teaching.

The surveys are available online at www.metlife.com/teachersurvey.

Do these findings reflect your experiences?

Please comment!

West Virginia's powerful Did You Know video!

2010-03-04T11:59:00.005-05:00

West Virginia is mobilizing the power of collaborative Learning Teams across the state to call upon the wisdom and experience of veteran teachers and the innovation and enthusiasm of new teachers to serve all students better!

West Virginia's leadership has adapted the Did You Know video to highlight their great work - watch it here! (and we encourage YOU to come up with your own video!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iimJJM23kaY

NCTAF-NASA Learning Teams!

2010-01-28T10:14:00.003-05:00

NCTAF, the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, and two Maryland school districts have "launched" the NASA 21st Century Learning Studios to improve Earth Science!

The Learning Studios engage one of NASA Goddard’s most valuable resources – its personnel – in Learning Teams that become professional development partnerships. Teachers are learning how to engage their students in activities that draw on NASA content and the discoveries emerging from NASA missions, while receiving continuous embedded professional development to improve content knowledge and pedagogy. NASA Goddard professionals will apply their scientific expertise and passion as content experts, mentors, and coaches, working shoulder-to-shoulder with high school teachers and students (virtually as well as face-to-face). Students in these Learning Studios engage in deep, extended science inquiry to improve their understanding and achievement - and are introduced to individuals with experience in all types of careers in science.

Read the full project brief posted in the right column!

The Next Generation of Learning Teams

2009-11-02T15:23:00.004-05:00

Cross-generational learning teams featured in the new issue of Phi Delta Kappan! Tom Carroll, NCTAF's president, outlines the potential of teams that bring together novice and veteran teachers to address problems at both ends of the teacher pipeline — and benefit student learning at the same time. Download the article.

Quality teaching is not an individual accomplishment! Teachers and students deserve to benefit from the teamwork that is at the heart of high-performing organizations. What are your thoughts about collaborative teams?

This Year's Homework: New Roles and New Opportunities!

2009-10-07T17:45:00.008-04:00

Take a look at NCTAF's newest policy brief that aims to answer the question: If we didn’t have the schools we have now, what would we create?

Simply fixing the schools we have won’t work! Teamwork and collaborative learning and problem-solving are the keys to success in 21st century organizations - most of us invent and reinvent our work, join forces to solve problems, use innovative technologies, share information, and acquire new skills.

We need to create schools that look and function like the places where today’s youth will live and work. Students deserve the opportunity to experience and learn from adults working in new roles and taking on new opportunities.

In a recent NCTAF survey of 400 teachers across the country, 70% of teachers said they could see themselves playing a role in a collaborative learning team. Education leadership, policymakers, and teachers are eager to tap into the power of teamwork.

A new “Twenty‐First Century Schools Act” should replace the No Child Left Behind Act with the purpose of supporting national, state, and local leaders who are deploying learning teams to build a 21 st century education system.

Read more by following this link:
http://www.nctaf.org/documents/BacktoSchoolPolicyBrieffinal.pdf
and post your comments and questions here on the http://www.learningteams.org/ site!

Webinar Slides!

2009-09-17T15:35:00.001-04:00

http://www.nctaf.org/documents/LearningTeamsWebinar.pdf

More on West Virginia!

2009-09-10T12:19:00.005-04:00

Van Dempsey, Dean of the School of Education at Fairmont State University, offered several websites for more information about West Virginia's learning teams initiatives and teaching standards:

http://wvde.state.wv.us/global21/
http://wvde.state.wv.us/policies/p5100.pdf
(go to page 28 of the policy 5100 link to see the new WV Teaching Standards)

West Virginia Takes Time for Teacher Collaboration

2009-08-13T13:24:00.002-04:00

Check out this Edutopia article on how West Virginia is making teacher collaboration a priority!

Making Time for Teacher Collaboration Is Crucial

In his frequent speeches and interviews about 21st-century learning, Steven Paine often mentions an idea that sounds more folksy than futuristic. In West Virginia, where he has been state superintendent of schools since 2005, Paine is building what he calls "a back porch for teachers."

His goal is to give educators places to come together and talk about innovative ideas that may well revolutionize public education. (To learn more about West Virginia's 21st-Century Learning Initiative, read the Edutopia article "Taking the Initiative: A Sweeping Agenda for Twenty-First-Century Change.")

Recently, I had the pleasure of sitting a spell on this metaphorical back porch when I caught up with a cadre of West Virginia teacher leaders during a summer institute. For the past three years, educators here have been immersed in an ambitious professional-development campaign.

The leadership group comes together regularly for in-depth discussions about topics such as project learning, technology integration, and authentic-assessment strategies. Then they take ideas back home to share with their colleagues. That way, back-porch conversations about teaching and learning expand to reach all 20,000 teachers across the Mountain State.

Conversations continue online, too, at a site called Teach 21. Here, educators find a growing collection of resources to prompt professional discussions, including classroom video clips submitted by West Virginia teachers.

What do educators talk about? At the summer institute, I heard teachers brainstorming about how to connect upper-level, high school math instruction with real-world problems. I watched art specialists work with English teachers to find common ground where their disciplines overlap.

I listened to educators brainstorm strategies for managing project-learning instruction so that students will make the most of learning opportunities. I watched teachers explore Web 2.0 tools and evaluate the classroom potential of new technologies.

And although they took their work seriously, it was easy to see they were enjoying the extended time to talk through ideas and learn from each other. Such intensive, ongoing, and collaborative professional development is exactly what research shows to be most effective for improving both teachers' practice and student learning. Yet for most teachers, this remains a rare experience.

Earlier this year, the National Staff Development Council released a report, "Professional Learning in the Learning Profession." As the report points out, the United States "is far behind in providing public school teachers with opportunities to participate in extended learning opportunities and productive collaborative communities."

Not enough teachers, it seems, are offered a back porch to congregate and the time to take advantage of each others' wisdom.

Does your school make space for teachers to engage in deep conversations about teaching and learning? Where and when do your best conversations with colleagues take place? Please share your thoughts.

NCTAF Learning Teams Initiative Featured in eSchool News!

2009-07-27T14:57:00.005-04:00

NCTAF's Cross Generational Learning Team Initiative was the feature of a recent eSchool News article! The article features NCTAF's new project to create learning teams with NASA!

"As an example of NCTAF's vision, NASA scientists and engineers are working with ninth grade earth science teachers in Maryland on project-based learning modules built on NASA education content.

The goal here is to give teachers strong professional development in science content, give students a stronger learning experience, and help NASA employees learn about pedagogy.
One important aspect is that this team approach need not be "just a recruitment effort--it's creating an effective structure, curriculum, and instruction activities, and that's essential for its success," Carroll said."

Also...watch Tom Carroll's presentation on Learning Teams from the 2009 NECC Conference!

AFT's QuEST Conference Presentation

2009-07-16T12:05:00.006-04:00

This week, Hanna Doerr, NCTAF Program Manager, gave a presentation at AFT's quEST Conference on Learning Teams! Hanna was joined by teachers from Newark and Los Angeles, all there to share their own personal experiences with Learning Teams! A moment that seemed to resonate with the audience is the fact that all other professions work in teams - legal teams, medical teams, space teams. Yet teachers still work alone. Hmmmm?

Dr. Kildare

OR...

An entire medical team from Grey's Anatomy....

Which would you choose?

Lessons From New Jersey

2009-07-08T14:20:00.002-04:00

The Garden State is giving educators a foundation for the creation of professional learning communities in schools! The New Jersey Professional Development Partnership has created A Common Language for Professional Learning Communities with three purposes in mind:

Provide a description of the essential terms most commonly used in shaping and discussion a PLC structure;
Invite all educations to share the understanding of terminology, purpose and processes involved in creating a PLC;
Enable educators to implement PLCs in their schools successfully to creating maximum learning for staff and students.

Read the Common Language here! What initiatives are happening in YOUR state?

New Roles for Leaders

2009-06-23T14:23:00.004-04:00

The following video comes from the New Zealand Council for Educational Research on the need to create new roles for school leaders. Will the U.S. embrace the same concept?

In Their Own Words - Teachers on Learning Teams

2009-06-10T11:27:00.002-04:00

The following are letters to the Los Angeles Unified School District Superintendent from teachers and administrators about how developing learning teams, with the support of Pearson Learning Teams, has changed schools and improved learning - for both teachers and students!

"We at Wilmington Middle School have been involved in learning teams for several years. Pearson Learning Teams came in three years ago and gave us focus and direction. Student achievement has increased and teacher camaraderie is at a high. I can’t imagine going back to the old way of professional development without the guidance of these researchers. This is the best resource we have ever had that enables our best resources, the teachers, to improve instruction that results in increased student achievement. Please consider this group in your professional development plan. Their training and guidance is indispensable to us."

Sincerely,
Diana Zarro-Martinez: Secondary Mathematics Coach, Wilmington Middle School

"As a facilitator of a learning team with Wilmington Middle School, I am proud to say how much I have enjoyed the Learning Teams experience. As a facilitator I have grown as an educator, a mentor, and in general a more confident teacher. This experience has brought the whole school together in adapting a new way to teach. Our staff has learned to collaborate with each other in a more positive way. Which in turn, has also had a positive outcome in the way our students learn. We have adapted a more rigorous and successful approach to teaching, which has not only boosted our moral, but has united all of us to do the very best we can so that No Student is Left Behind, As you know Wilmington Middle School is doing amazing things in all academic subjects. And yes, I contribute most of the success to our Learning Teams, and also to our dedicated teachers and staff."

Sincerely,
Patricia M. Shaw: Special Education Specialist, Wilmington Middle School

"As a math teacher, dean, department head, and counselor for more than 30 years, I was asked to be the “point person” for Learning Teams (LT) at my school. The Learning Teams program is the best professional development experience for teachers that I have ever encountered.

Two issues which hamper student access to the high school curriculum are: 1) teacher classroom isolation and 2) lack of time for faculty reflection on instruction. LT provides bi-monthly paid after-school opportunities for teachers to improve their craft and promote student success. Workgroup members have the flexibility to choose an instructional need which addresses a particular California Subject Standard and then to design a lesson which helps students to master that Standard.

What sets LT apart is the emphasis upon the analysis of student work. The objective is to obtain a perfect correlation between the goals of the lesson and student understanding. The seven steps of the LT lesson-planning process require teachers to investigate student needs, anticipate misunderstandings, incorporate special strategies for our large EL population, evaluate lessons using data from student work, and make plans for improvement.

By having faculty members who teach Advanced Placement, honors, regular, and Special Education classes on the same team, participants are able to produce the best of differentiated instruction. Groups are also heterogeneous in age/experience. All of our six groups have both new teachers and veterans. LT also provides special training and valuable leadership development for facilitators (one teacher per workgroup).

Funding provided for Learning Teams will positively impact as many as 200 students per teacher per year. I hope that you will be able to continue this valuable program."

Sincerely,
Penelope Jo Black, Ed.D: Testing Coordinator, Birmingham High School

An Out-of-Date School Model?

2009-05-27T10:27:00.004-04:00

Stark County in Ohio has developed a 21st Century Schools Action Team to work collaboratively with leaders across all schools to develop a 21st Century education system! The urgency of their mission is higlighted in this video! Think about it - Are factory-era schools properly perparing students for a global world?

We Want Your Stories on Learning Teams!

2009-05-15T12:50:00.005-04:00

The learning teams concept has been receiving quite the press coverage lately - The New York Times, USA Today, Encore.org - just to name a few.

But we want to learn more about how schools are being staffed in new ways! Whether it's with retired teachers, teacher candidates working in a residency type program, experts from the broader workforce, or students helping teachers with their curriculum and technology!

We want you to share your story! We are looking to highlight some examples of learning teams that will be used as case studies in our research. If chosen, we will work with you to go in depth on how your learning team works and the effects it has on student learning in the 21st Century.

Cross-Generational Learning Teams Could Create Millions of 'Encore' Careers!

2009-04-09T14:46:00.005-04:00

Encore educators could be key to a bold plan to stem the tide of teacher retirements, boost student performance and create new jobs for non-teachers of all ages.

In a new report, “Learning Teams: Creating What’s Next,” the National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future (NCTAF) calls for replacing solo teachers in each classroom with cross-generational learning teams consisting of novice and veteran educators, interns, online educators and digital media specialists, community members and industry veterans with specific subject expertise.

Tom Carroll, president of NCTAF, said he believes the learning team concept could create millions of encore careers for individuals who are eager to pursue encore careers in meaningful positions in education.

Big changes in the field would need to occur first. “We think our effort to go to scale with encore careers in education is stymied by the current stand-alone teaching model that requires every educator in the classroom to be certified,” he said. “We want to deliver education with teams of certified teachers and adjunct members who have knowledge and experience in the areas of learning that the teachers and students are working on.”

Carroll announced the initiative at the Encore Careers Summit last December. NCTAF will host leadership retreats around the U.S. during the coming year to lay the groundwork for the learning team concept. A new Web site, LearningTeams.org, will track the progress of the initiative.

The report calls the new federal stimulus funding “a once-in-a-century opportunity to re-imagine American education.”

NCTAF believes the concept will appeal to veteran teachers, who are leaving the field at an alarming rate. According to NCTAF, the U.S. will lose a third of its veteran teachers during the next four years and more than half in less than a decade.

At the other end of the spectrum, beginning teachers are being driven away by antiquated preparation practices, outdated staffing policies and inadequate career rewards. Teacher turnover forces schools and districts to invest vast quantities of time and money in hiring and replacing staff, particularly in high-poverty schools where attrition is greatest.

The report says the team approach could motivate teachers of all ages to stay and also create an array of flexible work options, including short-term, part-time and adjunct positions, that allow boomers to pursue other personal and professional interests.

A “21st century teaching team” model has been proposed in Maryland, where NASA scientists would work on teams with ninth-grade earth science teachers. “NASA has a wealth of resources – videos, data, scientists with years of experiences – that can contribute to student and teacher learning,” said Carroll.

There’s plenty of interest in encore careers in education. The 2008 MetLife Foundation/Civic Ventures Encore Career Survey found that half of the nation’s 78 million boomers want jobs now or in the future to help improve the quality of life in their communities. But, Carroll said, “The certified teacher path is more arduous than probably most people in an encore career want to pursue.”

In a recent survey, NCTAF found that 70 percent of teachers nearing retirement would be interested in staying if they were able to work in new education roles in “phased or flexible retirement.” Three-quarters of the teachers surveyed reacted favorably to the idea of cross-generational learning teams. The NCTAF survey discovered that two-thirds of the teachers surveyed view “retirement as a time to begin a new chapter in life that is more flexible” as opposed to “rest from work” or “time to begin new challenges.”

Originally Posted at Encore.org

New NCTAF Report - Learning Teams: Creating What's Next

2009-04-07T14:10:00.006-04:00

Today at the National Press Club, NCTAF release a report titled, Learning Teams: Creating What's Next. The report addresses the aging teaching workforce and the need to restructure schools into cross-generational learning teams!

Read the report: Learning Teams: Creating What's Next
State Snapshots: State-by-state teacher demographics

Other NCTAF Resources on Learning Teams:

NCTAF/PBS/MetLife Foundation Learning Teams Initiative
NCTAF has partnered with PBS to host a series of regional forums, which showcase videos of schools that have learning teams. All of the forums were held between March and June 2007.
Induction Into Learning Communities Report
This is NCTAF's policy paper on induction for new teachers. The paper presents NCTAF's vision for new teacher induction into strong schools that support a career of continuous professional growth. The paper examines data on induction's impact on teacher retention and emerging information on induction's effects on improving student learning, and goes in-depth on models of strong mentoring programs in the U.S. and comprehensive induction systems in other countries.

Education's Workforce Tsunami

2009-03-13T11:00:00.006-04:00

We start with a “workforce tsunami” that is about to sweep away the basic underpinnings of our teaching-era schools. As shown in the “Did You Know” video on this page, over 1.7 million teachers and principals - more than half of today’s educators -are eligible to retire in less than ten years. On a small scale, retirements can make room for new teachers with fresh ideas, optimism, and enthusiasm. But when the scale is so large and you combine these retirements with the reality that 1/3 of new teachers leave in the first three years, we are pouring water into a bucket with big holes, draining teachers faster than we can replace them.

What will happen if half the nation’s teachers and principals leave their schools – taking decades of experience with them, and leaving behind a generation of young, inexperienced, and highly mobile teachers in their wake? Will this destabilize the education workforce—or provide an opportunity for innovative staffing solutions?

What’s the educator profile in your community –how many seasoned educators are approaching retirement? How many once-eager novices left before they had a chance to become top-notch teachers? Are there staffing policies that encourage experienced senior teachers to remain while taking on new roles-- teaching mentor, learning coach, content expert—perhaps on a flexible or part-time schedule? Or are pension policies forcing out the experienced, high quality teachers you’d like to keep? Are the skills of young teachers or second career entrants being shared with colleagues in learning teams? What is happening in your state, district, or school—and what would you like to see happen?