MiddleWeb

Diary of a Would-Be Assistant Principal

Former teacher Chris Canter is now an administrator-in-training at McNair Middle School in Atlanta's Fulton County system. ASCD invited Canter to write regularly about his yearlong assistant principal internship at the organization's Inservice blog. He's also developing a project for his graduate school program license that will lead to "collaborative data-based suggestions to improve and polish instructional practices within the building." All this and admin duties too. Share his pain and joy.

 

Balancing the Co-Teaching Partnership

After years of teaching 7th grade math and social studies, Cossondra George has returned to her special education roots and a co-teacher role. In this Teacher Magazine essay, she draws on her dual experience to offer two sets of tips on building a strong co-teaching partnership -- one for sp-ed folks and one for general education teachers. The article stayed at the top of the "most clicked" list for the edweek.org website for several weeks.

 

Ending Social Promotion in Middle School

We doubt sensible educators have ever thought social promotion was sound school policy – more often it's been about politics, economics and poorly focused instructional practice. This news story from the Des Moines Register recounts the city system's new determination to end the practice in the middle grades by "developing a uniform set of expectations for what students need to know to move through middle school and onto high school." But as one parent and former school board member notes, the policy will fail unless the district has interventions in place "to make sure kids get back on track." Otherwise, he said, "it can be a recipe for disaster."

School Leaders: Don't Slip into the Status Quo

For educators, "back-to-school" means slipping into familiar routines, writes Hayes Mizell, a senior consultant for the professional development group Learning Forward (formerly known as NSDC). "There will be new students, new colleagues, and perhaps a new principal, but most teachers and administrators yearn for as little change as possible from the previous school year. Change, after all, requires new accommodation, new learning, or new practice, each of which increases possibilities for discomfort, mistakes, or embarrassment. There is security in the familiar, even if it is the handmaiden of the status quo." Resist the urge toward the same-old, same-old. You can begin by considering Mizell's action ideas.

 

Effective Principals Embrace Collective Leadership

What do effective principals do to make schools successful? A major new study from the University of Minnesota, commissioned by the leadership program of the Wallace Foundation, reports that high student achievement across a school is linked to ""collective leadership" -- the combined influence of principals, teachers, parents and others on school decisions. Effective principals, the researchers say, encourage others to join in the decision-making process in their schools. Read a summary of the study at Education Week, where you'll find a link to download the complete report.

English Language Learners: What Principals Need to Know

"When schools are set up with teams, professional learning communities, and block scheduling, a great deal can be done to ensure the success of ELLs," says this article from a recent issue of NASSP's Middle Level Leader. Providing ELLs and their teachers with an effective program, writes teacher and clinician Courtney George, "requires that school leaders understand some of the basics about second language acquisition theory as well as how structural changes at the school level can provide teachers and kids with the support they need and deserve." George summarizes the current research and program approaches and offers two student scenarios to frame her message.

Collective Practice, Quality Teaching

A 2009 study in North Carolina, looking at more than a decade of data, found that peer teacher collaboration has a notable effect on student achievement. So this latest issue of VUE magazine, published by the Annenberg Institute, is timely indeed. "Collective Practice, Quality Teaching" offers important articles by Susan Moore Johnson, Milbrey McLaughlin and others, including a trio of teachers from a K-8 charter in Rhode Island who describe a "pioneering collaboration" to grow student readers. Don't miss the thoughtful summary article about ways to sustain collaborative teacher practice. And if you'd like to check out that NC research, click here.

Sustaining the Spirit of Advisory All Day Long

Quality advisory programs consist "of much more than a period of time filled with activities," says veteran middle grades educator Theresa Hinkle in this recent article for NASSP's Middle Level Leader newsletter. As more middle schools abandon dedicated periods for "affective education," it's important for principal and teacher leaders to consider ways they can "incorporate the attitude of advisory" throughout the school day. Hinkle writes: "(W)e must look to establish a culture that supports young adolescents in their development as well-rounded young adults. In order to do this, we must be aware that truly listening to the voices of our students is crucial."

Inner-City Middle Schools to Watch

Three inner-city Chicago schools were chosen as 2010 "Schools to Watch" by the National Forum to Accelerate Middle Grades Reform, which uses stringent criteria to select programs around the nation deserving of attention and emulation. This link leads to a TV news report on the achievement. You can visit the National Forum website to find out more about the STW program - and about their June conference in Washington DC where these and other schools will share some of their strategies.

Evaluating Teacher Effectiveness

This 2009 resource, A Practical Guide to Evaluating Teacher Effectiveness, was prepared by three researchers at the Educational Testing Service (ETS) for the federally funded National Comprehensive Center for Teacher Quality. It includes the authors' definition of "teacher effectiveness" and an overview of the many purposes for evaluating teachers. The guide also describes "which measures are most suitable to use under different circumstances," including value-added models, classroom observations, analysis of classroom artifacts (e.g., lesson plans and student work) and portfolios. Of interest to anyone who supports more nuanced teacher evaluation using multiple measures.

Policy Wonks Want to Fix You

Last year the National Journal began a blogging project that quickly attracted some of the most noted education policy commentators in the US. This "panel of insiders" regularly tackles topics considered "hot" -- and in late February, the hot issue was "What Can Be Done for Middle Schools?" The many ideas about how to "fix" the middle grades included a notable post by scholar Diane Ravitch, author of the best-selling Death and Life of the Great American School System, who wrote: "One of the big problems in middle schools is the absence of a genuine, coherent, substantive curriculum... Adolescents are idealistic and hungry to explore a wider world. Schools should engage their hearts and minds with great ideas, great adventures in science, history, and literature, and great experiences in the arts, and stop prying them with pap. No wonder they are bored and restless."

Rethinking Teacher Roles

Are we entering an era when the job of "teacher" no longer looks pretty much the same across the school, year after year? Are today's young teachers too restless and independent-minded to be satisfied with flat career trajectories? Probably so, says this recent article in ASCD's Education Update newsletter, which draws on a "thought paper" from Learning Points Associates to explore a likely trend toward differentiated or "hybrid" teacher roles in the next decade. Also see this related and somewhat more provocative post at the blog Advancing the Teaching Profession.

Middle & High School Collaboration

Many principals and district leaders talk about "vertical articulation" between middle and high school leaders and faculties -- but how many actually get beyond the "we should try that sometime" stage? This feature at the NASSP website provides the details of six serious collaborations around the United States. The information was compiled to accompany an article by former MS principal Maureen Furr who reflects on her own misperceptions about high schools, which she discovered after accepting a HS principalship. The stereotypes, of course, cut both ways, which is why true cross-level collaboration can be so powerful. You'll find a link to Furr's article at the end of this page of examples. (Here's an idea - use a tool in the resource above this one to start some collaboration of your own.)

Why Some Middle Schools Do Better

A new report, Gaining Ground in the Middle Grades: Why Some Schools Do Better, is garnering some serious national attention. While the 18-month study focused on CA schools, many findings have general application. EdSource and Stanford University researchers set out to answer the question: "What district and school policies and practices are linked to higher student performance in the middle grades?" The 18-month process included surveys of more than 4,000 California teachers, principals, and superintendents about a wide range of middle grades practices. "The major contribution of this study," say the authors, "is the set of inter-related, actionable practices that middle grades educators and leaders can implement now by making smart, strategic choices." At this page you can download a press release, a narrative summary, or the full report.

Teachers Observing Teachers? Not So Much

Why do so few American teachers observe each other teach, when such practices are common in other nations? Good question from eighth grade teacher Ariel Sacks, who blogs at "On the Shoulders of Giants." She's not naïve about the reasons, of course. History, trust, art vs. science, the energy that different observers bring into the room are all factors, she believes. Sacks draws her data from the new 2009 MetLife Survey of the American Teacher, where less than one-third of teachers or principals reported frequent teacher-to-teacher observation in their schools. Be sure to also peruse the pithy comments from her readers, who include several staff developers.

Leadership: Why Would They *Want* to Learn?

Educator Mike Muir has written extensively about the most effective ways to engage middle grades students in learning. In a recent essay for NASSP's Middle Level Leader e-newsletter, Muir writes of his own journey "to better understand how we truly could meet the learning needs of more students." His research "helped me transition from the rhetoric in my head that said, 'students should learn more, it's their job,' and 'let's hold students accountable,' to the realization that a much more productive rhetoric was 'why would they want to?'" An excellent and provocative question which Muir sets out to answer. ALSO SEE: Nashville's plan to engage MS'ers.

Can 'Design Thinking' Help Your School?

In this Public School Insights interview, design guru David Kelley explains why he's helping K12 educators and students master "design thinking." From his base at Stanford U., Kelley and his grad students show teachers and students a step-by-step process "on how to more routinely be creative." Kelley sees design thinking as the necessary step from key basic skills to the "integrative" mindwork that's important for success in the 21st century. "(I)n most cases you teach basic skills separately, working one side of the brain," he says. "Then this design thinking stuff unlocks the other side of the brain, and the combination of those two comes up with much better ideas than one or the other on its own."

Forget Carrots and Sticks Reform

Tired of the carrots and sticks approach to school improvement? Then you'll welcome this news from futurist-author Daniel Pink, who says such management strategies are "last century" and doomed to failure in today's world. His better idea from his new book Drive – Motivation 3.0. In this conversation at the Public School Insights blog, interviewer Claus von Zastrow guides Pink through a discussion of the education applications of this book written for the business community.

Breakthrough Middle Schools

The Breakthrough Schools program recognizes secondary schools that are high achieving or are dramatically improving student achievement and serve large numbers of students living in poverty. The 2009-10 program, sponsored by the MetLife Foundation and the National Association of Secondary School Principals, recognizes a diverse set of high-achieving schools that "share common strategies--collaborative leadership; alignment of curriculum, instruction, and assessment; and a highly personalized, caring environment." You can read capsule profiles of this year's five middle school winners here.

Guiding Parents to Support Higher Achievement

Findings by Harvard researcher Nancy E. Hill can help middle schools “better guide parents in supporting the scholarship of their adolescent or middle school-age children,” says this post at the ASCD Inservice blog. Hill contends that the operational structure of most middle schools inhibits regular communication among educators and parents at the most difficult period of childhood. By improving that communication and shifting parent involvement from school volunteerism to “at-home support for academics,” schools can improve student performance. [The Inservice post summarizes an Education Week article exploring Hill's work. Go to the Inservice blog (link above) and then click through to the Ed Week article to assure full access.]