Helping to Meet Classroom Needs

A recently released report from the U.S. Department of Education, through its National Center for Education Statistics, looks at spending by classroom teachers on supplies for their students and classrooms.

Based on data from the 2014-15 school year, which included teachers in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, fully 94 percent of teachers spent their own money on classroom supplies, without reimbursement. The average expenditure over the course of a school year was $479, with teachers in schools with a high percentage of students who qualify for free lunch tending to spend more.

Clearly, teachers are stepping in to fill gaps in the supplies they believe are needed for optimal learning in their classrooms. But there are things that parents can do to help with this burden. One option is the organization Donors Choose. Donors Choose was founded in 2000 by Charles Best, a teacher at a Bronx public high school who needed books for his students. To date, the nonprofit organization has fulfilled over a million projects for almost 80,000 schools across the country and has a four star rating on Charity Navigator.

The model is a simple one. Teachers post information about the projects or materials they need. Donors can view these requests and fund some or all of a particular posting. Donors Choose keeps an eye on the donation to make sure it is put to good use. Take a look around their website. See their impressive list of corporate partners. And see what you can do to help teachers and schools in your area or around the country.

Parachute Teachers

Every student has had the experience of coming to class to find a substitute teacher who struggles to present the lessons the regular teacher has left behind and who may have difficulty keeping the class engaged -- or even under control. Let's stop right here and acknowledge that there are many, many excellent substitute teachers. They have the difficult task of walking into someone else's classroom, with a lesson plan that may not be sufficiently detailed, and for which they have had no time to prepare. They are often underpaid - the national daily rate is about $105, although in New York City, substitute teachers receive $168.54 per day.

The Winter 2017 issue of Ed., the magazine of the Harvard Graduate School of Education, looks at a program designed to improve the lot of both substitute teachers and the students in their care. It notes that as of May 2015, some 625,750 substitute teachers were hired annually to fill in when regular teachers were out and that during a school year of 180 days, on average, teachers are absent between 9-10 days. Districts differ in how they match substitutes with open classroom slots, but no matter what the system, it doesn't always work, which can leave classes uncovered and result in disbursing students to other classrooms or having administrators needing to fill in to cover classes.

Enter Parachute Teachers, a Boston based initiative described as Uber for substitute teachers. As founder Sarah Cherry Rice noted, "Boston has an incredible ecosystem of people who have expertise and who want to be in schools, but there hasn't been a clear pathway to come into schools." What Parachute Teachers does is match individuals who have their own expertise and interests with open classroom spots. The substitutes present their own material -- music, computer coding, food and nutrition, just to name some examples -- often using experiments and practical lessons. Parachute Teachers does background checks, offers training, and does the scheduling for participating schools, with the added flexibility for regular teachers of having someone available to cover for just part of a day, if needed, something that is not generally available in the traditional substitute teacher model.

Presently, Parachute Teachers is in its second year of operation in Boston with about 150 participating substitutes. It will be interesting to see if and how this program expands.

Improving Professional Development with PDredesign

The topic of professional development has come up before on The Yellin Center blog, when we wrote about DIY ProD and Professional Learning Networks. We also view professional development programs as an important part of our work with schools and organizations and Dr. Yellin leads frequent workshops and webinars to educate teachers and other professionals about our neurodevelopmental framework for learning.

Teaching teachers has always been a huge professional interest of your blogger. It started back in undergraduate school, where my undergraduate research project involved looking into the best practices in professional development. This led to the creation of a series of training workshops and resources to support professors in integrating new technology into their pedagogy. It is really exciting to see time being invested, tools being developed, and new research coming out that will result in improving professional learning for educators. We spend so much time thinking about the best practices for helping a student grapple with a concept, and yet we rarely use the same teaching practices when training our educators.

The Gates Foundation has set out to change the way teachers are taught with their creation of PDredesign, a digital tool kit aimed at transforming professional learning. The ties between education improvement and the Gates Foundation go back years, and span multiple areas of national and global import. Your blogger had an opportunity to see this work in action back in 2015 at a Gates Social event. All of their projects are thoughtfully researched and seem to address a fundamental need in a very impactful way. However, this new tool to help empower districts to better support their teachers has us exceptionally excited.

Research on adult learning tells us that  instruction for adult learners needs to be specific to the particular needs of the learner. This is where the PDredesign readiness assessment comes in. This tool helps district officials identify and understand the learning needs of their staff. The program also houses tools for building an inventory of the products and resources already in the district. Using these tools, district officials are able to see what resources and ideas teachers aren’t using, while simultaneously highlighting the resources that are working, ensuring they are serving their staff’s needs. Using PDredesign allows districts to glean “actionable qualitative and quantitative data to design and implement a system” of professional learning that is correlated to the specific learning needs of their staff. Better yet, there is also a collaborative feature of the program that will allow districts to connect to other districts that are similar to them and share ideas about what is working and what isn’t.

Really Appreciating Teachers

We are in the midst of Teacher Appreciation Week, and whether it is the educators featured on Jeopardy or the luncheon at your child's school, there seem to be lots of activities that commemorate the important role that teachers play -- and have played -- in all of our lives.

There are many ways that parents and students can thank and support teachers. The nonprofit Donors Choose lists supplies that public school teachers need for their students or classrooms and donors can select a project and provide some or all of the funding for it. To date, Donors Choose has helped fulfill over 700,000 projects for teachers all over the country, impacting more than 18 million students.

But there are other, less tangible ways to let teachers know how much they are appreciated. Write a thank you note to your child's teacher or to a teacher who affected your own life. Let him or her know how their kindness or skill made an impact and maybe even changed the trajectory of your child's (or your) life. It may seem outdated and downright corny, but we've known teachers who pull out their folder of just such notes, many years after they were received, and warmly remember the students and parents who took the time to write their appreciation.

Give the gift of your time, something that is admittedly in short supply for most busy parents. Policies vary from school to school, but most schools welcome parents for scheduled visits for everything from reading stories to teaching a lesson on a special area of expertise. Are you a chef, a carpenter, an artist? And don't forget more mundane ways to help, things like setting up a classroom closet, sorting books, and helping out at school events. These kinds of activities offer a real benefit for parent volunteers, too. You will get to know your child's teacher better, meet other parents of students in his or her class, and possibly even see your own child in a new light, since kids can behave much differently at school than they do at home.

Of course, many teachers would echo the sentiment noted in a piece by education reporter Valerie Strauss that appeared in yesterday's Washington Post, in which she notes,  "many teachers ... say that what they really need isn’t free food and a once-a-year exercise in flattery. What they want, they say, is for their profession to be respected in a way that accepts educators as experts in their field. They want adequate funding for schools, decent pay, valid assessment, job protections and a true voice in policy making." That would be a great way to say thank you to these dedicated professionals.

Classroom Organization: Google Classroom

We often work with students who struggle with difficulties with executive functions, which make it hard for them to manage their time, organize their materials or plan their studying and homework. As a teacher, one has to be the ultimate multitasker who can organize, prepare, track and document everything from attendance to assignments to grades for a classroom full of students. Even for those with impeccable executive functioning skills, this can be a major challenge. When I was a classroom teacher I jerry-rigged my Google Apps account into my own learning management system to help me streamline my home-school communications, track my grades and prepare, organize and distribute my lesson materials. However, as of this past summer an educator no longer has to attempt their own variation of a learning management system, because Google has now launched Google Classroom. Not surprisingly, Google’s version is much more insightful and user friendly than my makeshift attempt. Google Classroom is a learning management system that was designed to simplify a teacher’s process for creating, distributing, and grading of classroom assignments. The added benefit is that it does so in a completely paperless way. Google Classroom is available for free for anyone who has access to Google Apps for Education. 

Now, with the advent of Google Classroom, teachers can easily create assignments, distribute materials to all students, provide feedback and track grades all in one paperless space. It also offers a space to store student work, and organizes each student’s assignments into their own drive for easy accessibility. On the assignments page, students are able to see what has been assigned and when it is due, which they can access from both home and school. In addition, teachers are able to easily see who has completed their assignment and make notes and provide feedback to any students who appear to be struggling. When work is completed, teachers can grade the assignment and track all grade metrics right in the Google Classroom framework. All of these combined features make classroom management a much more effective, seamless process. 

The video above does an excellent job of highlighting the simplicity of using Google Classrooms, as well as the key features that will help streamline any teacher’s organizational burdens. A summary of the features of Google Classroom is also available as an online document. Many schools already have proprietary systems in place to manage some or all of the functions of Google Classroom. But for those teachers for whom such a system is not available, or who want specific features that Google offers, Google Classroom can be an excellent asset.

Technology Allows Teachers to Communicate with Students With Ease and Privacy

Teachers who want to be available to students after school hours face a conundrum. On one hand, the best way to communicate these days is via text messages, which are even more efficient than emails. On the other hand, most teachers are understandably loathe to share their personal cell phone numbers with students, and also to pay for the messaging fees their phone companies will charge for all those text messages. Luckily, some innovative services are revolutionizing teacher-student communication, making it faster and more private than ever before.

Google Voice



Teachers who have Google accounts may be interested in setting up a Google Voice account, which can be used to stay in close contact with students while maintaining an all-important layer of privacy. The service will assign teachers a new phone number, which they can link to their current cell phone if they choose. When a student sends a text message to the number, the teacher will see the message on his/her private phone (or computer, if the teacher prefers) without the student being able to access the teacher’s personal number. Replies sent via phone to the student’s number will show the Google Voice number, not the teacher’s private phone number. Teachers can also choose to use their computers to sign in to their Google accounts and reply to text messages via the computer; their students will receive teacher responses as text messages on their cell phones. Texts replies to students, whether sent by phone or by computer, are free. And if, at the end of the school year, the teacher chooses to unplug from school responsibilities for a while, s/he can change the Google Voice settings so that student messages will not be accepted.


Remind101



Another intriguing service is Remind 101. Each group a teacher sets up (Debate Team, First Period, Parents, etc.) will be assigned a unique code. Students who wish to sign up for teacher texts simply text that code to Remind 101 and they’ll automatically be added to the list of phone numbers for that group. When the teacher sends out a message, such as reminding kids that there’s a test on Tuesday or modifying a homework assignment, the students, or their parents, will receive the information as a text message. A teacher can even set a schedule so that messages to go out at a predetermined time, so a teacher can leave work for the day with the assurance that the message will be received during prime homework hours. Students are identified on teacher contact lists only by name, not by phone number, and the teacher’s phone number is not shared either. It’s easy to opt out of the messages, and students or parents can receive the messages as emails instead of texts if they choose, to avoid messaging fees. Currently, Remind 101 is in beta and so is a free service for teachers, too. While it doesn't allow for the kind of back-and-forth that Google Voice makes possible, Remind 101 is a great way to communicate with whole classes or groups of parents at once.


Services like Google Voice and Remind 101 break new ground. And teachers may find themselves breaking new ground, too, as they encourage their students to check their text messages instead of to put away their phones!

Improving Elementary School Students’ Writing

The What Works Clearinghouse, an excellent source for meta-analyses of educational studies, has recently released a report on research-based methods for helping elementary school students become better writers. Teaching Elementary School Students to be Effective Writers shares four key findings. The report classifies the evidence for each of its recommendations as having minimal, moderate, or strong evidence backing it, although it should be noted that all of the report’s research-based recommendations will help strengthen students’ writing skills. We’ve summarized the report’s findings for you below; please consult the report for further details about the panel’s rationale and suggestions for implementation.

Recommendation 1: Provide daily time for students to write

Evidence: Minimal

The panel noted that, while research has not thoroughly examined whether simply providing children time to write leads to favorable outcomes, practices which have been shown to improve writing take time to implement. The panel recommends that one hour a day be devoted to writing, beginning in first grade. Writing practice need not be limited to language arts; it can occur in the context of other content areas, like lab reports of science, inventing word problems in math, etc.

Recommendation 2: Teach students to use the writing process for a variety of purposes

Evidence: Strong

This recommendation involves teaching students about the different stages of writing (planning, drafting, sharing, evaluating, revising, editing, and publishing) and has the gradual transfer of responsibility to the student at its core. To help students be successful as they take on more and more of the writing process independently, the panel recommends that teachers impart strategies for each stage. It is recommended that strategy use be introduced in first grade, with strategies becoming more complicated as the student is promoted through the grades. Additionally, students should be taught to understand the different purposes of writing, and be given opportunities to practice them. Students have been shown to benefit from thinking about different audiences for their writing, and should analyze others’ writing to determine what makes it good.

Recommendation 3: Teach students to become fluent with handwriting, spelling, sentence construction, typing, and word processing

Evidence: Moderate

Writers who struggle with mechanical fluency cannot devote as much focus to their ideas. Most of the studies reviewed found that increased fluency in forming letters, spelling words correctly, and using appropriate punctuation led to improved writing outcomes. Young children should be taught to hold a pencil correctly and form letters using an efficient sequence of movements. Older students should focus on improving spelling and constructing sentences that convey meaning as efficiently and fluently as possible. Typing can greatly improve all students’ writing but is particularly beneficial for students who struggle with handwriting.

Recommendation 4: Create an engaged community of writers

Evidence: Minimal

A supportive classroom environment in which teachers and students all collaborate to improve each other’s writing provides a rich setting for children to appreciate the importance of writing, as well as the assistance they need to improve their skills. Students should be allowed to choose their own topics as often as possible; this increases motivation and helps students to invest in the classroom’s writing community. All students should be both writers and editors, and students should have opportunities to collaborate during the writing process.

Please consult the report for helpful tables and detailed suggestions for implementing these valuable recommendations!

Study Links Excellent Teaching to Lifelong Gains

While most people seem to have a gut feeling that good teachers are a critical factor to student success, there have been few large, long-term studies to back that feeling up with numbers. A recent study conducted by economists from Harvard and Columbia, and reported in The New York Times, however, suggests that good teaching affects long-term student gains even more than most people probably suspected.

Raj Chetty and John N. Friedman (Harvard) and Jonah E. Rockoff (Columbia) followed 2.5 million students over a 20-year period. They found that even a single year under the tutelage of a teacher ranked “excellent” led to gains, albeit modest ones. For example, over the course of his/her life, a student taught by an excellent teacher for one year is likely to earn $4,600 more than a student who had an average teacher during the same year, and is also 0.5 percent more likely to go to college.  However, when viewed in the aggregate -- lots of students over many years --  students with excellent teachers were significantly more likely to attend college, earn higher income as adults, and avoid teen pregnancy. These results held true even when the researchers controlled for the kind of socio-economic factors so often identified as the primary causes for student performance.

For those who attempt to examine teacher quality objectively, one of the trickiest, and also most critical, decisions to make is how to measure teaching prowess qualitatively. Chetty, Friedman, and Rockoff used value-added ratings, which measure the impact individual teachers have on student test scores, to categorize teachers as “excellent,” “average,” or “poor.” Value-added ratings are extremely controversial, with many opponents arguing that good teaching cannot truly be measured or that it is not measured by student test scores. Others worry that making value-added ratings a significant part of teacher evaluations will lead to “teaching to the test,” cheating among teachers, or competition between teachers to stack their classes with students who are perceived as smart.

Despite the controversy, the study certainly seems to suggest that teachers’ impact on their students should not be underestimated.

Ditch The Lecture: A New Approach to Science in Higher Education

Memories of college courses too often call to mind huge lecture halls, dominated by a droning instructor and filled with students either scribbling notes or struggling to stay awake. These large lectures are likely most familiar to anyone who has studied math or science. However, physics faculty at a few progressive institutions around the country are beginning to question this model.

The upheaval began with David Hestenes of Arizona State, who noticed that his students weren't doing well on his final exams. Hestenes realized that his students seemed to be memorizing and using formulas well but weren’t able to demonstrate an understanding of the concepts he thought he was explaining in his lectures. He began to experiment with different methods of instruction and wrote several articles about the problem. Hestenes believed that passive processing was to blame. "Students have to be active in developing their knowledge," he noted in a story by Emily Hanford on National Public Radio's All Things Considered program. "They can't passively assimilate it." 

The NPR piece noted that Harvard physicist Eric Mazur read Hestenes’s articles and immediately recognized the same problems in his own students. As a result, his teaching methodology has changed radically. Instead of lecturing, Mazur presents students with questions that they must answer independently, then answer once again after discussing the question with a group. Mazur then explains the correct answer to the whole class, describing important principles and strategies. He calls this method “peer instruction,” and says that learning rates in his courses have tripled as a result. Importantly, peer instruction can be used for even very large groups of students and is therefore possible even at the most cash-strapped schools.

Here at The Yellin Center, we find that strategies which prompt students to process information actively can help them be more successful in school. For example, many of our students have benefitted from arranging information with a graphic organizer or taking Cornell notes; both processes require students to think deeply and critically about concepts. What other methods can you and the students in your life use to become more active processors of information?

Photo used under Creative Commons by UMMS IT org

Teachers and Twitter

Twitter has been in the news lately as a technology which can be rife with risk when used by those with weaknesses in impulse control and poor judgment. So we were glad to see that this ubiquitous tool for brief messages has been put to good use by Philadelphia area teachers.

As reported in the Philadelphia Inquirer, Twitter use by area teachers includes a weekly chat by English teacher Menoo Rami that connects participants from around the country discussing topics relating to English education (on Mondays at 7 p.m. at #engchat). Another Philadelphia teacher Twitter chat happens Tuesdays at noon (all times here are Eastern) at #edchat.

The Inquirer article quotes Renee Hobbs, a Professor at Temple University, who notes that the 140 character limit and the hashtag (#) search feature make Twitter particularly helpful for teachers, who often want to check on an idea or subject quickly between their classes. Teachers note that they can use Twitter all the time, as opposed to the very limited networking they have traditionally done at conferences. They note that information from conferences and the other educators they meet there generally don't continue to be part of their professional lives once the conference is over. Twitter connections are constantly updated, and the information provided by colleagues on Twitter continues to evolve.

Other teachers are using Twitter as a way to connect their students to their curriculum, such as the kindergarten teacher in a New Jersey school who reached out through Twitter and was able to contact farmers who answered questions from his students. As one teacher who has used Twitter to link her fourth grade geography students with students around the world noted, "The world becomes a much smaller place."

One hashtag dialog we frequently look in on is #spedchat, which focuses on special education issues in education. If you have ideas on other hashtags of interest to our work or our readers, please leave a comment.

Appreciating Teachers

This week is National Teachers Appreciation Week. We're not sure who declared it so, but we didn't check too hard, because we think it is a great idea to take some time to appreciate these oft-maligned professionals who shaped our lives and who shape the lives of our children. We asked some teachers what they would appreciate -- what would make their work easier, their lives better, and let them know that the work they do is valued. Here is what we learned:

Teachers want parents to care about what goes on in school. Some parents will be surprised by this, since they are incredibly involved in their children's education, but teachers tell us that too many parents are disconnected from what is happening in their child's class. Many of these are parents for whom long work hours, responsibilities at home, and possibly language or cultural barriers make it difficult for them to show up at teacher's conferences, or to send in a note, or respond to a telephone call. And it can be the parents of the most complex children who are least able to participate in the life of the school. Outreach to these parents from community and cultural organizations and opportunities to come to school at different times of the day or night -- possibly with child care provided -- can help raise the level of involvement of these parents.

Teachers don't want to hear about their short work days or long vacations. They spend innumerable hours outside the classroom preparing lessons, grading papers, and improving their professional skills. They advise school clubs and organizations and coach all kinds of teams -- from the debate team to the basketball team and all sorts of sports and activities in between. They don't get the chance to daydream in front of their computers or to close their office doors to take a break. They are "on" all day in a very intense way, where their every comment or action reverberates in their classroom. Teaching is hard work.

Teachers appreciate students who are prepared to learn. A child or teenager who has not done his homework is often not able to fully access the lessons of the next day. Worse, a student who has not had a decent breakfast -- or possibly even a decent dinner the night before -- or who hasn't had a good night's sleep, can't be expected to concentrate properly on what is going on in class. This can be an issue for all kinds of families, and programs like school breakfasts can help. One teacher tells us that he keeps healthy granola bars and similar foods in his desk, since students are often hungry when they come to class and feeding them helps them pay attention. 

Teachers appreciate the benefit of the doubt. No, teachers are not perfect and there are plenty of times where they do or say something that is wrong. But they are usually right about what your child needs or does, and would appreciate being given the benefit of the doubt when your child comes home with a tale of woe.

Teachers appreciate a thank you. "There is nothing that touches my heart more than a note from a parent -- or a student -- thanking me for making a difference," one teacher told us. "I don't expect to be thanked, but it helps me remember why I went into teaching in the first place -- to make a difference in the lives of my students." So, take a moment this week to help a teacher be more effective and to share your appreciation for their important job.

Graphic used courtesy of Gifs.cc

Teacher vs. Teacher

We recently had the chance to spend time with two excellent public school teachers. One is an experienced teacher in her fifties, who turned to teaching after raising her children and has been in her current school system for over 18 years. She is single and needs her income to live on. She is too young and a few years too short of retirement to think about leaving her job.

Another teacher is new to his field. He is well trained, and by all reports is doing a great job with his students. He is energetic, innovative, and deeply committed to his new profession. He views teaching as his calling, not simply as a job.

Both of these teachers are feeling the impact of the budget crisis that faces New York State and much of the country. Here in New York our new Governor and our legislative leaders have reached an unusually early agreement on a tentative budget -- unusually early only because it has regularly been late -- that calls for over $1.2 billion in education cuts (reduced from a proposed $1.5 billion proposed cuts). Complicating matters is the ongoing tug of war in New York City, between the teacher's union and the mayor, over the current seniority and tenure system that requires a "last hired, first fired" system for layoffs, regardless of merit. It's an issue that is arising in many school systems throughout the country.

Our two teachers face different issues in this current climate. The experienced teacher, whose salary has risen over the years to over $100,000, is being pressured to leave her job. She was transferred from one school to another last year and now has been told that she will be transferred again -- to a position that is not in line with her recent experience. "I feel badly for the students I will be dealing with," she says, "but I can't quit and I can't stop them from moving me from where I am most effective to where I will be less effective. This is making me physically ill from stress."

Our younger teacher is optimistic but concerned. He knows that his fate is out of his hands -- and out of the hands of the principal who would like him to stay on. He is trying not to think about the politics of it all, but does muse about the role of the teachers' union. "I belong to the union and pay dues," he says. "But they are working hard to make sure that I am the first to go if layoffs occur. I sort of understand it, but they are essentially supporting some of their members at the expense of others."  His grandmother, a former New York City school teacher who retired after 34 years in the system, reminds him of how she walked a picket line during the time of reknowned teachers' union leader Albert Shanker, and how the teachers' union has worked over the years to protect teachers.

As the school year enters "crunch time," when teachers and their students need extra focus to conclude their curriculum and get ready for exams, it cannot be helpful for teachers to be distracted by concerns about where -- or whether -- they will be employed next year. And it cannot help when junior teachers and their senior counterparts are put in the uncomfortable position of adversaries in a system that should be celebrating both of their strengths.

Two Mindsets About Learning

Fundamental to our work is the belief that students who understand their strengths and weaknesses can learn to use strategies to strengthen their strengths and remediate their weaknesses. An article entitled Even Geniuses Work Hard  by Carol S. Dweck, a Professor of Psychology at Stanford University, published in the journal Educational Leadership, builds on this belief by looking at how students' approach to learning impacts their academic growth. Dr. Dweck describes two types of students -- those with a 'fixed mindset' who believe their intelligence is an inborn trait and those who have a 'growth mindset' who believe that intelligence is something that can be developed over time.

Not surprisingly, Dr. Dweck and her colleagues have found that these two types of mindsets have an impact on how these students behave in school. Those who have a fixed mindset tend to avoid hard work and situations where they might "look stupid." Since they believe that not doing well in a particular task is a reflection of their fixed intelligence, they do not handle setbacks well. In contrast, students who have a growth mindset tend to value hard work, to appreciate the need to try different methods to achieve success, and face setbacks by looking at ways to overcome them -- a trait often referred to as resilience.

Dr. Carol Dweck

Dr. Dweck's team believes that teachers can do much to foster a growth mindset by how they teach and evaluate students. By looking at situations where individuals who have overcome challenges, teachers can impart a sense of the importance of perseverance. New information presented as a challenge, where students who have not mastered the information get a "not yet" grade, rather than failing, can build appreciation for the learning process rather than a measure of fixed competence. It is an approach to learning that involves understanding one's own mind and learning processes and results in more thoughtful students who value learning for the sake of knowledge and skills gained, not as a test of their intellect. For those who find this entire subject of interest, Dr. Dweck has published a book setting out this approach in depth.

Just Ask the Kids

Preliminary findings from a study financed by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, looking at what makes an effective teacher, make it clear that students are excellent judges of their instructors. The study findings, reported in the New York Times, used gains on standardized tests to measure teachers' effectiveness. But it was not the teachers who spent the most classroom time on test preparation whose students did best on the tests. The teachers whose students scored higher were those who maintained order in their classrooms, helped students learn from their errors, and who explained the course material  in several different ways. And it was these same teachers who were higher ranked by their students.

As one teacher commented when we mentioned these findings, "It's no surprise. Students say they like classes where the teacher makes it easy, but what they really prefer is to learn how to think. Teaching can't be a popularity contest, but we need to give substantial weight to what students think about their teachers and the way they teach when we evaluate instruction."

This study focused on public school school students, but the idea of listening to students when evaluating their teachers has been around for a while on college campuses. Sites like "Ratemyprofessors.com" have long allowed college undergraduates to share their opinions about their professors, for better or for worse. Whether this is always a positive step and whether it should be used for students at all levels can be debated. But, as noted by the individual who developed the student questionnaires for the Gates Foundation study, "As a nation, we've wasted what students know about their own classroom experiences instead of using that knowledge to inform school reform efforts."

New Teachers

We've just returned from Cambridge, MA, where we attended the graduation of our favorite student at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, Matt Yellin, and his classmates in the Teacher Education Program (TEP).

As we watched close to 700 students in this and other Master and Doctoral level programs in teaching, administration, and guidance walk across the stage (sometimes with children in their arms) to receive their diplomas, we were struck by the diversity of this group. Not just in the cultural sense, although there were students from every corner of the country and from all over the world. But this group was diverse in terms of their experience, as well.

Some graduates had worked for years as classroom teachers, or as reading specialists, or as administrators (often in several roles). Others were only a year out of college and had only taught as student teachers. In just the TEP program, one student was a physician in her fifties who had decided to make a career change and teach middle school science. Another was a gifted dancer, who decided to turn to teaching after a long career with leading ballet companies. He had already taught Latin for a couple of years at a parochial school and had decided to obtain his Masters degree to enable him to teach in a public school. Still another graduate was awaiting his Peace Corp assignment.

It was exciting to see the breadth of intellect and experience that will enrich students around the world for years to come.

Unfortunately, with too few exceptions, most of the amazing new teachers in the TEP program do not yet have job commitments for September. Even those schools with openings that want to hire them are not sure that they can, given budget freezes, layoffs, and financial uncertainty. Even our favorite graduate (who wants to teach high school history to urban students) is waiting for a firm commitment from principals who have said they want to hire him; they can't make an offer until they get a better handle on their budget.

So, as we unpack the U-Haul and load an apartment's worth of furniture into our garage, we hope that all these gifted new teachers -- and their colleagues around the country, new and experienced -- are able to pursue their passions and to share their skills with the students who can benefit from their enthusiasm and training. Job offers for Matt and his classmates can be sent to info@yellincenter.com.

Strange Times for Teachers

It's impossible to pick up a newspaper lately without encountering an article about issues that are fundamentally changing the profession of teaching. President Obama's Race to the Top has states looking at how their educational systems operate. Budget difficulties are resulting in real and threatened layoffs of teachers in New York and elsewhere. And teachers' unions and the seniority protections imposed by their contracts, both part of how government and teachers interacted for decades, are under pressure.

Why is this of concern to parents, especially parents of children who struggle in school? Because studies have shown that the most significant factor in the kind of year any child has in school is the quality of that student's classroom teacher. We don't know if the movement to set aside seniority rules and to measure teacher effectiveness (and job security) by looking at student test scores is going to help students, unless measurements of teacher effectiveness take a broader look at what makes a teacher excellent. What kind of atmosphere does that teacher create in a classroom? Does that teacher nurture independent thinking and thoughtful reasoning? Are students kind to one another and accepting of differences? Do the students want to come to school? These qualities may be difficult to measure, but they are every bit as important as the scores that students get on standardized tests.

As parents look on at the seismic changes impacting our schools and the dedicated  individuals who spend hours each day with our children, we can all hope that quality teaching, and the benefits it brings to our children, are the most important consideration to policymakers at all level.

Spring

Tomorrow is the first day of spring, and here in the Northeast the weather is a bit ahead of the calendar. The beginning of spring traditionally brings with it all sorts of tasks that transition us from the winter months -- spring cleaning, the spring holidays, readying our gardens for planting, and planning ahead for the summer or the next school year.

One task that should be on the list for most families is something we like to call "a check up from the neck up". As the school year is moving into its last few months, it's a good time to review what has gone well and what has been difficult this past year. If your child has an IEP, an Individual Educational Program under the IDEA, this is traditionally the time of year that your school district will be calling you in for an Annual Review. We will be featuring an extensive discussion of how to prepare for the Annual Review in our upcoming Yellin Center Newsletter. But the idea of a spring check up really should extend to all students.

The first part of such a check up is a conversation with your child about what he thinks has gone well or not so well this year. Was there a particular subject that he really enjoyed? This can be anything from reading to athletics, to music, to science. Are there ways you can build upon that interest during the summer months -- in a camp, or school program, or with family outings? Was there something that she found particularly difficult or just didn't enjoy? Maybe you can work over the summer to engage her in this subject or to at least build her skills.

A year-end conference with your child's teacher can be very helpful in seeing where things stand. Your child's teacher has had a number of months to get to know your child and to see how she has grown, academically and socially, over the course of the year. Does the teacher raise the same concerns as your child? If not, you may have to push these conversations a bit to see why your child, for example, says she hates math and doesn't understand it while her teacher doesn't see a major problem. Or, you might need to investigate why your child says nothing about having difficulty with reading while his teacher reports that he is really struggling. Of course, you will have had input from the teacher at other times during the year, and have had a chance to see several report cards. But summing up a school year may bring clarity to what has been going on in the classroom.

So, as you air out your closets and think ahead about summer, take some time to clear the air about your child's school performance this year and to think about ways to address any concerns as you plan your summer activities.

Reading Fluency

Our colleagues at the nonprofit Center for Learning Differences just sent out their Winter newsletter, which features an article by Yellin Center Learning Specialist Valarie Algee, M.Ed. on Reading Fluency.

Mrs. Algee shares tips from  her extensive experience as a reading resource teacher, a literacy coach, and a writing instructor to explain how fluency is the link between decoding and comprehension and how parents can help their child become more fluent readers.

While we are mentioning the Center for Learning Differences, we think educators will find their website section with resources for teachers to be full of helpful books and websites to help teach children with learning difficulties.

NYC High Schools - Thoughts on Selecting a School

Our guest blogger today is our favorite student at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, Matt Yellin.

As a graduate student preparing to become a high school history teacher, I spent the past week visiting different high schools around New York City, focusing on those that I had been told were particularly successful at educating low-income students. I entered the exercise with two goals: as a student of education, I wanted to understand a little better what makes a school function well, especially when that school is educating students who all too often have been neglected or poorly served by our school system; and I wanted to gain a better understanding of where I might want to teach in the coming year.

I saw many different types of schools, and even found huge variations within individual schools. While all the schools I saw deserve to be called “good” by some standard, they all met very different definitions of good schooling. Some schools appeared very focused on discipline, control, and raising test scores. Certainly, these schools often appear statistically to be most impressive, at least in terms of scores on state-wide tests. Other schools were much more "laid back".Students called teachers by their first names, tests were rarely given or prepared for, and students picked their own topics of study. In both types of schools, real learning was going on and students were finding success—a far cry from the stereotypes of schools in struggling neighborhoods.

Seeing these “successful” schools, though, forces someone who cares about education to really confront what it is that they value. Do we owe students the chance to do well on their standardized tests? Perhaps, although some would say this stress on achievement misses the real point, something one of my education professors calls attainment (SAT scores, recommendations- i.e. a successful college application rather than simply meeting the minimum diploma standards). Conversely, do we not do better by our students by respecting them, putting them in charge of their own learning, and giving them chances to think critically? Again, though, we cannot value this without compromising something- some would argue, discipline and test preparation.

While I came to this endeavor as a teacher trying to figure out, philosophically, what type of educational goals I want to help students pursue, for parents participating in the complex system of applying to high school in New York the choices force you do weigh the same values, though schools sometimes try to gloss over them. Looking at a school, you need to first figure out what you want for your child: order and safety, graduation, college acceptance, an open mind, a diverse peer group, and a positive social environment are all great reasons to go to a school, but being clear about which ones you hold most dear will make the school choice process far more successful for you and your student.

Learning to Teach

A business trip to Cambridge, Massachusetts yesterday allowed me to spend some time with my favorite student at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, Matt Yellin.

Matt is enrolled in a Masters of Education in Teaching program, with a focus on teaching and curriculum. The goal of this program is to prepare individuals to become middle or secondary school classroom teachers in urban settings.

Matt's decision to become a teacher evolved over several years. He was a tutor for students from disadvantaged backgrounds while he was in college and he worked for two summers for a law firm that did special education advocacy. He considered the Teach for America program, but decided that to be an effective teacher he needed more training than Teach for America would provide. Given his choice of numerous programs, he decided that Harvard would be the best place to learn the pedagogical tools he would need to be effective in the classroom.

It is clear that Matt is enjoying his classes and his work at a Boston area high school under the guidance of a mentor teacher. What he finds frustrating, however, is the numerous questions he gets about why someone like him, a cum-laude graduate of a top college, wants to teach -- not just for a couple of years, but for the forseeable future. It's a good question. But maybe not the right one. Why shouldn't we expect our top students to become teachers, just as readily as they become doctors, lawyers, and wizards of Wall Street? And why doesn't our society hold teachers in the same regard as these other professionals and compensate them accordingly? These are questions for lengthy books, not blogs -- but we are proud of our future teacher and know that he will make a positive difference in the lives of his students in years to come.