Kappan Phi Delta

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Summer 2012

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Kappan authors explored last year.

Must-Reads from Kappan,

2011-12
Summer issue #1
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Kappan
V93
Phi Delta

kappanmagazine.org

Must-Reads from Kappan, 2011-12

Summer Issue #1
2 THE EDITORS NOTE ONLINE ACCESS
Phi Delta Kappa members have
Drip, Drip, Drip access to Kappan articles online. Visit
Joan Richardson kappanmagazine.org/subscriptions/ and
follow the instructions to get started.
4 Evaluating teacher evaluation
*
Linda Darling-Hammond, Audrey Amrein-Beardsley, Edward
LIBRARY ACCESS
Libraries offer online access to current
and back issues of Kappan through
Haertel, and Jesse Rothstein
the Kappan web site on HighWire,
12 Professional development discussion guide EBSCO databases, ERIC, Gale Online,
Evaluating teacher evaluation LexisNexis, and WilsonWeb. Abstracts
and full text of all Kappan articles from
November 1915-three months prior
14 A smart ALEC threatens public education to current date are available at www.
JSTOR.org through a subscribing
Julie Underwood and Julie F. Mead
library. Please check with your college or
university about access.
19 Teach For America teachers: How long do they
PAST ISSUES
teach? Why do they leave? Abstracts and full text of most Kappan
Morgaen L. Donaldson and Susan Moore Johnson articles from September 2000-present
are available at kappanmagazine.

*
24 Getting religion right in public schools
Charles C. Haynes
31 Professional development discussion guide
Getting religion right in public schools
org. They are free to members/
subscribers and available for purchase
to nonmembers. Search by author or
keyword.
PDK staff can photocopy material from
any volume for a $5 fee per article.

*
33 Philanthropy gets in the ring
Frederick M. Hess
38 Professional development discussion guide
Philanthropy gets in the ring
40 Triggering reform at public schools
Andrew P. Kelly * concerned with issues, trends, and
45 Professional development discussion guide
Triggering reform at public schools
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Summer Issue #1 kappanmagazine.org 1

The Editors Note

KAPPAN STAFF
JOAN RICHARDSON
Editor-in-chief
GREGORY A. PATTERSON
Managing editor, content
CAROL BUCHERI
Drip, drip, drip
Psst, the Republicans are the folks who once opposed school? Those early charter
Managing editor, design and production
winning the education debate. outcomes-based education schools were a bit on the
TERRI LAWSON
Permissions Thats my take-away from tend to support standards, sketchy side. I visited charter
EDITORIAL CONSULTANTS
this years PDK/Gallup poll re- testing, and results. And schools in converted garages
LINDA DARLING-HAMMOND
sults. When I look at the num- many, many Democrats have and strip shopping centers. I
Charles E. Ducommun Prof. of bers, I see an American public become not only charter would never have sent one of
Teaching and Teacher Education
Stanford University
that largely has been won over advocates but developers of my own children to schools
JOYCE L. EPSTEIN
by reform ideas first generated charter schools. Democrats with such obviously poor fa-
Director, Center on School, Family, and by Republicans a few decades who once marched to the cilities and less-than-stellar
Community Partnerships
Johns Hopkins University ago ideas they have steadily tune of the unions, now of- staff. But time passed and the
JESUS GARCIA nurtured ever since. ten are at odds with them idea became more acceptable,
Prof., Social Studies Education This year, we learned that because of union resistance credible, and well-funded.
University of Nevada
Americans favor charter to reforms. Even merit pay, Now, I visit charter schools
GILBERT T. SEWALL
President schools (70%), favor allow- once a Republican-only idea, that wow me with their fa-
Center for Education Studies ing parents to choose a childs now garners wide support. cilities, their staffs, and
MICHAEL D. USDAN
Senior Fellow
school (74%), and believe Consider the evolution of their very clear vision about
Institute for Educational Leadership that natural talent is more charter schools. Al Shanker the work they do. Charter
ELLIOT WASHOR important than college train- may have introduced charters schools have moved into the
Co-founder/co-director
Big Picture Learning
ing (70%). (And nearly half to policy discussions in the mainstream.
SUZANNE M. WILSON
47% believe unioniza- late 1980s, but Republicans In this cozy atmosphere,
Chair, Dept. of Teacher Education tion is bad for public school picked up the choice torch overlooking the philosophy
Michigan State University
education.) Any way you slice and ran with it. They pro- that undergirds these reforms
SANDEE CROWTHER
Past President, PDK International it, those ideas have been part of moted the triple-threat pack- is easy. But we ignore that at
the Republican reform agenda. age of charters, choice, and our peril. I believe the Ameri-
Republicans have had a vouchers. Shanker saw char- can public fails to understand
EDITORIAL OFFICES
320 W. Eighth Street, Suite 216
long view about changing ters as a way for educators that every time we authorize
P.O. Box 7888 the education system. They to pilot and refine new ideas a charter school or promote
Bloomington, IN 47407-7888
E-mail: kappan@pdkintl.org were willing to wait, moving before importing them into choice, we are failing to hold
slowly to achieve the massive traditional public schools; the existing system account-
ADVERTISING
Gerry Woodworth changes they wanted. They Republicans supported char- able for providing an excel-
gwoodworth3@juno.com
607-264-3362
have never been after small, ters, choice, and vouchers lent education to all children.
incremental fixes: Theyve as tools that would break up The most engaged parents
PERMISSIONS
Terri Lawson
wanted it all. the education monopoly. seize those opportunities
kappan@pdkintl.org They have worn us down They were shrill and, hon- to escape from a system of
by the drip, drip, drip of their estly, a little bit scary at some schools that doesnt work
message. A little here, a little of the early public meetings and that means fewer parents

Kappan Phi Delta
USPS 429-840 ISSN 0031-7217
Summer Issue #1
Published by Phi Delta Kappa International,
320 W. Eighth Street, Suite 216, P.O. Box
7888, Bloomington, IN 47407-7888, eight
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there, and pretty soon, with-
out even realizing it, weve
been converted. How did this
happen?
What started in the 1990s
as a Republican reform agenda
has morphed into whats
widely recognized now as sim-
ply The Reform Agenda for
education, with supporters all
along the political spectrum.
Remember when Repub-
licans were adamant in their
opposition to standards and
the tests that went with them
because they threatened lo-
cal control? Democrats were
equally vocal in opposing
charters and choice. Now,
where they pressed their case
because they were so clear
about what they were after:
They wanted to nuke the
system!
Reform-minded Demo-
crats hopped on charters and
choice for other reasons: They
believed such options would
insert equity into the system
and because they became
frustrated in their efforts to
reform the existing system.
When all of this started,
charter schools were a radi-
cal, even a wacky, idea. Who
would support the idea of
giving public money to a pri-
vate entity to set up a public
are left to pressure the public
system for improvements.
The public system, espe-
cially in urban centers, will
continue to decline, which
will increase calls for more
charter schools and more
choice to provide more escape
routes for children. And the
dominoes will continue to fall.
This is exactly what
Republicans intended when
they started down this road.
But does the American public
truly grasp whats happening?
I wonder if theyll feel dif-
ferently when The Reform
Agenda arrives in a neighbor-
hood near them. JR

2 Must-Reads from Kappan, 2011-12/Summer Issue #1

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 Evaluating
teacher evaluation
Popular modes of evaluating teachers are fraught with inaccuracies
and inconsistencies, but the field has identified better approaches.

By Linda Darling-Hammond, Audrey Amrein-Beardsley,

Edward Haertel, and Jesse Rothstein

P
ractitioners, researchers, and policy makers agree that most current teacher evaluation sys-
tems do little to help teachers improve or to support personnel decision making. Theres also
a growing consensus that evidence of teacher contributions to student learning should be
part of teacher evaluation systems, along with evidence about the quality of teacher practices.
Value-added models (VAMs), designed to evaluate student test score gains from one year to
the next, are often promoted as tools to accomplish this goal.
Value-added models enable researchers to use statistical methods to measure changes in student scores
over time while considering student characteristics and other factors often found to influence achievement.
In large-scale studies, these methods have proved valuable for looking at factors affecting achievement and
measuring the effects of programs or interventions.
Using VAMs for individual teacher evaluation is based on the belief that measured achievement
gains for a specific teachers students reflect that teachers effectiveness. This attribution, however,
assumes that student learning is measured well by a given test, is influenced by the teacher alone, and is
independent from the growth of classmates and other aspects of the classroom context. None of these
assumptions is well supported by current evidence.
Most importantly, research reveals that gains in student achievement are influenced by much more than
any individual teacher. Others factors include:

School factors such as class sizes, curriculum materials, instructional time, availability of specialists and
tutors, and resources for learning (books, computers, science labs, and more);
Home and community supports or challenges;
Individual student needs and abilities, health, and attendance;
Peer culture and achievement;
Prior teachers and schooling, as well as other current teachers;
Differential summer learning loss, which especially affects low-income children; and
The specific tests used, which emphasize some kinds of learning and not others and which rarely
measure achievement that is well above or below grade level.

However, value-added models dont actually measure most of these factors. VAMs rely on statistical
controls for past achievement to parse out the small portion of student gains that is due to other factors,
This article
was originally LINDA DARLING-HAMMOND (ldh@stanford.edu) is the Charles Ducommun professor of teaching and teacher education, Stan-
published in Phi ford University, Stanford, Calif. AUDREY AMREIN-BEARDSLEY is an associate professor of education, Arizona State University,
Delta Kappan, 93 Phoenix, Ariz. EDWARD HAERTEL is the Jacks Family professor of education, Stanford University, Stanford, Calif. JESSE ROTH-
(6), 8-15. STEIN is an associate professor of economics and public policy, University of California, Berkeley.

4 Must-Reads from Kappan, 2011-12/Summer Issue #1

 Comments? Like
Kappan at www.
facebook.com/pdkintl

of which the teacher is only one. As a consequence, ror and, when teacher evaluation results are tied
researchers have documented a number of problems to student test scores, the effects of emphasiz-
with VAM models as accurate measures of teachers ing teaching to the test at the expense of other
effectiveness. kinds of learning, especially given the narrowness
of most tests in the United States.
1. Value-added models of teacher effectiveness are
inconsistent. 2. Teachers value-added performance is affected
Researchers have found that teacher effectiveness by the students assigned to them.
ratings differ substantially from class to class and VAMs are designed to identify teachers effects
from year to year, as well as from one statistical model
to the next, as Table 1 shows.
A study examining data from five school districts
found, for example, that of teachers who scored in
the bottom 20% of rankings in one year, only 20%
to 30% had similar ratings the next year, while 25%
to 45% of these teachers moved to the top part of
the distribution, scoring well above average. (See
Figure 1.) The same was true for those who scored
at the top of the distribution in one year: A small
minority stayed in the same rating band the follow-
ing year, while most scores moved to other parts of
the distribution.

Teachers value-added scores differ

significantly when different tests are used,
even when these are within the same
content area.

Teacher effectiveness also varies significantly

when different statistical methods are used (Briggs
& Domingue, 2011; Newton et al., 2010; Rothstein,
2007). For example, when researchers used a differ-
ent model to recalculate the value-added scores for
teachers published in the Los Angeles Times in 2011,
they found that from 40% to 55% of them would
get noticeably different scores (Briggs & Domingue,
2011).
Teachers value-added scores also differ signifi-
cantly when different tests are used, even when these
are within the same content area (Bill & Melinda
Gates Foundation, 2010; Lockwood et al., 2007).
This raises concerns both about measurement er-

TABLE 1.
Percent of teachers whose effectiveness rankings change
BY 1 OR MORE DECILES BY 2 OR MORE DECILES BY 3 OR MORE DECILES
Across models a
56-80% 12-33% 0-14%
Across courses b
85-100% 54-92% 39-54%
Across years b
74-93% 45-63% 19-41%

Note: Depending on pair of models compared. Depending on the model used.

a b

Source: Newton, Darling-Hammond, Haertel, & Thomas (2010).

Summer Issue #1 kappanmagazine.org 5

Thinkstock/iStockphoto
 when students are assigned to teachers randomly.
However, students arent randomly assigned to
teachers and statistical models cant fully adjust
for the fact that some teachers will have a dispropor-
tionate number of students who have greater chal-
lenges (e.g., students with poor attendance, who are
homeless, who have severe problems at home, etc.)
and those whose scores on traditional tests may
not accurately reflect their learning (e.g., those who
have special education needs or who are new English
language learners).
Teachers are advantaged or disadvantaged
based on the students they teach.
Even when the model includes controls for prior
achievement and student demographic variables,
teachers are advantaged or disadvantaged based on
the students they teach. Several studies have shown
this by conducting tests that look at teacher ef-
fects on students prior test scores. Logically, for
example, 5th-grade teachers cant influence their
students 3rd-grade test scores. So a VAM that iden-
tifies teachers true effects should show no effect of
5th-grade teachers on students 3rd-grade test scores
two years earlier. But studies that have looked at this
FIG. 1.
Changes in VA scores from 2001 to 2002 for low-ranking teachers
100-
90-
80 -
Percentage of teachers
70-
60-
50-
40-
30-
20-
10-
0-
San Diego Duval Co., Hillsborough Co., Orange Co., Palm Beach Co.,
Calif. Fla. Fla. Fla. Fla.
School districts
Source: Sass, T. (2008).
6 Must-Reads from Kappan, 2011-12/Summer Issue #1
have shown large effects which indicates that
the VAMs wrongly attribute to teachers other influ-
ences on student performance that are present when
the teachers have no contact with the students (Roth-
stein, 2010).
One study that found considerable instability in
teachers value-added scores from class to class and
year to year examined changes in student charac-
teristics associated with changes in teacher ratings.
After controlling for prior student test scores and stu-
dent characteristics, the study still found significant
correlations between teacher ratings and students
race/ethnicity, income, language background, and
parent education. Figure 2 illustrates this finding for
an experienced English teacher whose rating went
from the very lowest category in one year to the very
highest category the next year (a jump from the 1st
to the 10th decile). In the second year, this teacher
had many fewer English learners, Hispanic students,
and low-income students, and more students with
well-educated parents than in the first year.
This variability raises concerns that using such
ratings for evaluating teachers could create disin-
centives for teachers to serve high-need students.
3. Value-added ratings cant disentangle the many
influences on student progress.
Given all of the other factors operating, it appears
Move to above
average (Top
40%)
Move up in
rankings
Stay in bottom
20%
 FIG. 2.
Student characteristics in years 1 and 2 for a teacher whose ranking changed
from the 1st to the 10th decile
80 -
70-
60- 58
Percentage/years
50-
42
40-
30-
26
20-
10-
4
0-
% % % Parent
ELL Low-income Hispanic education
Student characteristics
that teacher effectiveness is not a stable enough
construct to be uniquely identified even under ideal
conditions (for example, with random assignment
of teachers to schools and students to teachers, and
with some means of controlling differences in out-
of-school effects). Furthermore, some teachers may
be effective at some forms of instruction or in some
portions of the curriculum and less effective in oth-
ers. If so, their rated effectiveness would depend on
whether the student tests used for the VAM empha-
size skills and topics for which the teacher is relatively
more or relatively less effective.
Other research indicates that teachers whose
students do best on end-of-year tests arent always
effective at promoting longer-run achievement for
their students. Thus, VAM-style measures may be
influenced by how much the teacher emphasizes
short-run test preparation. One study even found
that teachers who raised end-of-course grades most
were, on average, less effective than others at prepar-
ing students for next years course (Carrell & West,
2010).
Initial research on using value-added methods to
dismiss some teachers and award bonuses to oth-
ers shows that value-added ratings often dont agree
with ratings from skilled observers and are influ-
enced by all of the factors described above.
For example, one of the teachers dismissed in
75
Year 1
Year 2
36
31.6
20.4
(in years)
Houston as a result of its Education Value-Added
Assessment System (EVAAS) scores was a 10-year
veteran who had been voted Teacher of the Month
and Teacher of the Year and was rated each year as
exceeding expectations by her supervisor (Amrein-
Beardsley & Collins, in press). She showed positive
VA scores on 8 of 16 tests over four years (50% of
the total observations), with wide fluctuations from
year to year, both across and within subjects. (See
Table 2.) It is worth noting that this teachers lower
value-added in 4th grade, when English learners
are mainstreamed in Houston, was also a pattern
for many other teachers.
The wide variability shown in this teachers rat-
ings from year to year, like that documented in many
other studies, wasnt unusual for Houston teachers
in this analysis, regardless of whether the teacher
was terminated. Teachers said they couldnt identify
a relationship between their instructional practices
and their value-added ratings, which appear unpre-
dictable. As one teacher noted:
I do what I do every year. I teach the way I teach
every year. [My] first year got me pats on the back;
[my] second year got me kicked in the backside. And
for year three, my scores were off the charts. I got a
huge bonus, and now I am in the top quartile of all
the English teachers. What did I do differently? I
have no clue (Amrein-Beardsley & Collins, in press).
Summer Issue #1 kappanmagazine.org 7
 Another teacher classified her past three years as
bonus, bonus, disaster. And another noted:
We had an 8th-grade teacher, a very good teacher,
the real science guy. . . [but] every year he showed
low EVAAS growth. My principal flipped him with
the 6th-grade science teacher who was getting the
highest EVAAS scores on campus. Huge EVAAS
scores. [And] now the 6th-grade teacher [is showing]
no growth, but the 8th-grade teacher who was sent
down is getting the biggest bonuses on campus.
This example of two teachers whose value-added
ratings flip-flopped when they exchanged assign-
ments is an example of a phenomenon found in other
studies that document a larger association between
the class taught and value-added ratings than the
individual teacher effect itself. The notion that there
is a stable teacher effect thats a function of the
teachers teaching ability or effectiveness is called
into question if the specific class or grade-level as-
signment is a stronger predictor of the value-added
rating than the teacher.
Another Houston teacher whose supervisor con-
sistently rated her as exceeding expectations or
proficient and who also was receiving positive VA
scores about 50% of the time, had a noticeable drop
in her value-added ratings when a large number of
English language learners transitioned into her class-
room. Overall, the study found that, in this system:
Teachers of grades in which English language
learners (ELLs) are transitioned into
mainstreamed classrooms are the least likely to
show added value.
Teachers of large numbers of special education
students in mainstreamed classrooms are also found
to have lower value-added scores, on average.
Teachers of gifted students show little value-
added because their students are already near
the top of the test score range.
TABLE 2.
2006-2010 EVAAS scores of a teacher dismissed as a result of these scores
EVAAS scores 2006-2007
(Teacher A) GRADE 5
Math -2.03
Reading -1.15
Language arts +1.12
Science +2.37
Social studies +0.91*
ASPIRE bonus $3,400
Notes: The scores with asterisks (*) signify that the scores are not detectably different from the reference gain scores of other
*
teachers across Houston Independent School District within one standard error; however, the scores are still reported to both
the teachers and their supervisors as they are here.
8 Must-Reads from Kappan, 2011-12/Summer Issue #1
Ratings change considerably when teachers
change grade levels, often from ineffective to
effective and vice versa.
These kinds of comments from teachers were
typical:
Every year, I have the highest test scores, [and] I have
fellow teachers that come up to me when they get
their bonuses . . . One recently came up to me [and]
literally cried, Im so sorry. . . . Im like, Dont be
sorry. Its not your fault. Here I am . . . with the
highest test scores, and Im getting $0 in bonuses.
It makes no sense year to year how this works. You
know, I dont know what to do. I dont know how to
get higher than 100%.
I went to a transition classroom, and now theres a red
flag next to my name. I guess now Im an ineffective
teacher? I keep getting letters from the district, saying
Youve been recognized as an outstanding teacher . . .
this, this, and that. But now because I teach English
language learners who transition in, my scores drop?
And I get a flag next to my name for not teaching
them well? (Amrein-Beardsley & Collins, in press).
A study of Tennessee teachers who volunteered to
be evaluated based on VAMs and to have a substan-
tial share of their compensation tied to their VAM
results, corroborated this evidence: After three years,
85% thought the VAM evaluation ignored impor-
tant aspects of their performance that test scores
didnt measure, and two-thirds thought VAM didnt
do a good job of distinguishing effective from inef-
fective teachers (Springer et al., 2010).
Other approaches
For all of these reasons and more, most research-
ers have concluded that value-added modeling is not
appropriate as a primary measure for evaluating in-
dividual teachers. (See, for example, Braun, 2005;
National Research Council, 2009.)
While value-added models based on test scores
2007-2008 2008-2009 2009-2010
GRADE 4 GRADE 3 GRADE 3
+0.68* +0.16* +03.26
-0.96* +2.03 +1.81
-0.49* -1.77 -0.20*
-3.45 n/a n/a
-2.39 n/a n/a
$700 $3,700 $0
are problematic for making evaluation decisions for
individual teachers, they are useful for looking at
groups of teachers for research purposes for ex-
ample, to examine how specific teaching practices or
measures of teaching influence the learning of large
numbers of students. Such analyses provide other in-
sights for teacher evaluation because we have a large
body of evidence over many decades concerning how
specific teaching practices influence student learning
gains. For example, we know that effective teachers:
Understand subject matter deeply and flexibly;
Connect what is to be learned to students prior
knowledge and experience;
Create effective scaffolds and supports for
learning;
Use instructional strategies that help students
draw connections, apply what theyre learning,
practice new skills, and monitor their own
learning;
Assess student learning continuously and adapt
teaching to student needs;
Provide clear standards, constant feedback, and
opportunities for revising work; and
Develop and effectively manage a collab-
orative classroom in which all students have
membership (Darling-Hammond & Bransford,
2005).
These aspects of effective teaching, supported by
research, have been incorporated into professional
standards for teaching that offer some useful ap-
proaches to teacher evaluation.
Using professional standards
The National Board for Professional Teaching
Standards (NBPTS) defined accomplished teach-
ing to guide assessments for veteran teachers. Sub-
sequently, a group of states working together under
the auspices of the Council for Chief State School
Officers created the Interstate New Teacher Assess-
ment and Support Consortium (INTASC), which
translated these into standards for beginning teach-
ers that have been adopted by over 40 states for initial
teacher licensing. Revised INTASC teaching stan-
dards have been aligned with the Common Core
Standards to reflect the knowledge, skills, and under-
standings that teachers need to enact the standards.
These standards have become the basis for as-
sessments of teaching that produce ratings that are
much more stable than value-added measures. At
the same time, these standards incorporate class-
room evidence of student learning, and large-scale
studies have shown that they can predict teachers
value-added effectiveness (National Research Coun-
cil, 2008; Wilson et al., 2011), so they have helped
ground evaluation in student learning in more stable
ways. Typically, performance assessments ask teach-
ers to document their plans and teaching for a unit
of instruction linked to state standards, adapt them
for special education students and English language
learners, videotape and critique lessons, and collect
and evaluate evidence of student learning.
The notion that there is a stable teacher
effect thats a function of the teachers
teaching ability or effectiveness is called
into question if the specific class or grade-
level assignment is a stronger predictor of
the value-added rating than the teacher.
Professional standards have also been translated
into teacher evaluation instruments at the local level.
Cincinnati Public Schools uses an unusually care-
ful standards-based system for teacher evaluation
that involves multiple classroom observations and
detailed written feedback to teachers. This system,
like several others in local districts, has been found
both to produce ratings that reflect teachers effec-
tiveness in supporting student learning gains and to
improve teachers performance and their future ef-
fectiveness (Milanowski, Kimball & White, 2004;
Milanowski, 2004; Rockoff & Speroni, 2010; Taylor
& Tyler, 2011.)
A Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation initiative is
identifying additional tools based on professional
standards and validated against student achievement
gains to be used in teacher evaluation at the local
level. The Measures of Effective Teaching (MET)
Project has developed a number of tools, includ-
ing observations or videotapes of teachers, supple-
mented with other artifacts of practice (lesson plans,
assignments, etc.), that can be scored according to
standards that reflect practices associated with ef-
fective teaching.
Building better systems
Systems that help teachers improve and that sup-
port timely and efficient personnel decisions have
more than good instruments. Successful systems use
multiple classroom observations across the year by
expert evaluators looking at multiple sources of data,
and they provide timely and meaningful feedback to
the teacher.
For example, schools using the Teacher Advance-
ment Program, which is based on NBPTS and IN-
TASC standards as well as the standards-based as-
sessment rubrics developed in Connecticut (Bill &
Melinda Gates Foundation, 2010; Rothstein, 2011),
Summer Issue #1 kappanmagazine.org 9
 evaluate teachers four to six times a year using mas-
ter/mentor teachers or principals certified in a rigor-
ous four-day training. The indicators of good teach-
ing are practices found to be associated with desired
student outcomes. Teachers also study the rubric
and its implications for teaching and learning, look
at and evaluate videotaped teaching episodes using
the rubric, and engage in practice evaluations. After
each observation, the evaluator and teacher discuss
the findings and plan for ongoing growth. Schools
provide professional development, mentoring, and
Successful systems use multiple
classroom observations, expert evaluators,
multiple sources of data, are timely,
and provide meaningful feedback to the
teacher.
classroom support to help teachers meet these stan-
dards. TAP teachers say this system, along with the
intensive professional development offered, is sub-
stantially responsible for improving their practice
and for student achievement gains in many TAP
schools (Solmon, White, Cohen, & Woo, 2007).
In districts that use Peer Assistance and Review
(PAR) programs, highly expert mentor teachers sup-
port novice teachers and veteran teachers who are
struggling, and they conduct some aspects of the
evaluation. Key features of these systems include
not only the evaluation instruments but also the ex-
pertise of the consulting teachers or mentors, and a
system of due process and review in which a panel of
teachers and administrators make recommendations
about personnel decisions based on evidence from
the evaluations. Many systems using this approach
have improved teaching while they have also become
more effective in identifying teachers for continua-
tion and tenure as well as intensive assistance and,
where needed, dismissal (NCTAF, 1996; Van Lier,
2008).
Some systems ask teachers to assemble evidence
of student learning as part of the overall judgment
of effectiveness. Such evidence is drawn from class-
room and school-level assessments and documenta-
tion, including pre- and post-test measures of stu-
dent learning in specific courses or curriculum areas,
and evidence of student accomplishments in relation
to teaching activities. A study of Arizonas career lad-
der program, which requires teachers to use vari-
ous methods of student assessment to complement
evaluations of teacher practice, found that, over time,
participating teachers improved their ability to cre-
ate tools to assess student learning gains; to develop
and evaluate before and after tests; to define mea-
10 Must-Reads from Kappan, 2011-12/Summer Issue #1
surable outcomes in hard-to-quantify areas like art,
music, and physical education; and to monitor stu-
dent learning growth. They also showed a greater
awareness of the importance of sound curriculum
development, more alignment of curriculum with
district objectives, and increased focus on higher-
quality content, skills, and instructional strategies
(Packard & Dereshiwsky, 1991).
Some U.S. districts, along with high-achieving
countries like Singapore, emphasize teacher col-
laboration in their evaluation systems. This kind of
measure is supported by studies finding that students
have stronger achievement gains when teachers work
together in teams (Jackson & Bruegmann, 2009) and
when there is greater teacher collaboration for school
improvement (Goddard & Goddard, 2007).
In conclusion
New approaches to teacher evaluation should
take advantage of research on teacher effectiveness.
While there are considerable challenges in using
value-added test scores to evaluate individual teach-
ers directly, using value-added methods in research
can help validate measures that are productive for
teacher evaluation.
Research indicates that value-added measures
of student achievement tied to individual teachers
should not be used for high-stakes, individual-level
decisions, or comparisons across highly dissimilar
schools or student populations. Valid interpretations
require aggregate-level data and should ensure that
background factors including overall classroom
composition are as similar as possible across
groups being compared. In general, such measures
should be used only in a low-stakes fashion when
theyre part of an integrated analysis of teachers
practices.
Standards-based evaluation processes have also
been found to be predictive of student learning gains
and productive for teacher learning. These include
systems like National Board certification and per-
formance assessments for beginning teacher licens-
ing as well as district and school-level instruments
based on professional teaching standards. Effective
systems have developed an integrated set of mea-
sures that show what teachers do and what happens
as a result. These measures may include evidence
of student work and learning, as well as evidence of
teacher practices derived from observations, video-
tapes, artifacts, and even student surveys.
These tools are most effective when embedded in
systems that support evaluation expertise and well-
grounded decisions, by ensuring that evaluators are
trained, evaluation and feedback are frequent, men-
toring and professional development are available,
and processes are in place to support due process
and timely decision making by an appropriate body.
With these features in place, evaluation can be-
come a more useful part of a productive teaching and
learning system, supporting accurate information
about teachers, helpful feedback, and well-grounded
personnel decisions.K
References
Amrein-Beardsley, A. & Collins, C. (In press). The SAS
education value-added assessment system (EVAAS): Its
intended and unintended effects in a major urban school
system. Tempe, AZ: Arizona State University.
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. (2010). Learning about
teaching: Initial findings from the Measures of Effective
Teaching Project. Seattle, WA: Author.
Braun, H. (2005). Using student progress to evaluate teachers:
A primer on value-added models. Princeton, NJ: Educational
Testing Service.
Briggs, D. & Domingue, B. (2011). Due diligence and the
evaluation of teachers: A review of the value-added analysis
underlying the effectiveness rankings of Los Angeles Unified
School District teachers by the Los Angeles Times. Boulder,
CO: National Education Policy Center.
Carrell, S. & West, J. (2010). Does professor quality
matter? Evidence from random assignment of students to
professors.Journal of Political Economy, 118 (3).
Darling-Hammond, L. & Bransford, J. (2005). Preparing
teachers for a changing world: What teachers should learn and
be able to do. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Goddard, Y. & Goddard, R.D. (2007). A theoretical and
empirical investigation of teacher collaboration for school
improvement and student achievement in public elementary
schools. Teachers College Record, 109 (4), 877-896.
Jackson, C.K. & Bruegmann, E. (2009). Teaching students
and teaching each other: The importance of peer learning
for teachers. Washington, DC: National Bureau of Economic
Research.
Lockwood, J., McCaffrey, D., Hamilton, L., Stetcher, B., Le,
V.N., & Martinez, J. (2007). The sensitivity of value-added
teacher effect estimates to different mathematics achievement
measures. Journal of Educational Measurement, 44 (1), 47-67.
Milanowski, A. (2004). The relationship between teacher
performance evaluation scores and student achievement:
Evidence from Cincinnati. Peabody Journal of Education, 79
(4), 33-53.
Milanowski, A., Kimball, S.M., & White, B. (2004). The
relationship between standards-based teacher evaluation
scores and student achievement. Madison, WI: University
of Wisconsin-Madison, Consortium for Policy Research in
Education.
National Commission on Teaching and Americas Future.
(1996). What matters most: Teaching for Americas future.
New York, NY: Author.
National Research Council, Board on Testing and Assessment.
(2008). Assessing accomplished teaching: Advanced-level
certification programs. Washington, DC: National Academies
Press.
National Research Council, Board on Testing and Assessment.
(2009). Letter report to the U.S. Department of Education.
Washington, DC: Author.
Newton, X., Darling-Hammond, L., Haertel, E., & Thomas,
E. (2010). Value-added modeling of teacher effectiveness:
An exploration of stability across models and contexts.
Educational Policy Analysis Archives, 18 (23).
Packard, R. & Dereshiwsky, M. (1991). Final quantitative
assessment of the Arizona career ladder pilot-test project.
Flagstaff, AZ: Northern Arizona University.
Rockoff, J. & Speroni, C. (2010). Subjective and objective
evaluations of teacher effectiveness. New York, NY: Columbia
University.
Rothstein, J. (2007). Do value-added models add value?
Tracking, fixed effects, and causal inference. CEPS Working
Paper No. 159. Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic
Research.
Rothstein, J. (2010). Teacher quality in educational production:
tracking, decay, and student achievement. Quarterly Journal of
Economics, 125 (1), 175-214.
Rothstein, J. (2011). Review of Learning about teaching: Initial
findings from the Measures of Effective Teaching Project.
Boulder, CO: National Education Policy Center.
Sass, T. (2008). The stability of value-added measures of
teacher quality and implications for teacher compensation
policy. Washington, DC: CALDER.
Solmon, L., White, J.T., Cohen, D., & Woo, D. (2007).
The effectiveness of the Teacher Advancement Program.
Washington, DC: National Institute for Excellence in Teaching.
Springer, M., Ballou, D., Hamilton, L., Le, V., Lockwood, V.,
McCaffrey, D., Pepper, M., & Stecher, B. (2010). Teacher pay
for performance: Experimental evidence from the Project
on Incentives in Teaching. Nashville, TN: National Center on
Performance Incentives.
Taylor, E. & Tyler, J. (2011, March). The effect of evaluation on
performance: Evidence of longitudinal student achievement
data of mid-career teachers. Working Paper No. 16877.
Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Research.
Van Lier, P. (2008). Learning from Ohios best teachers: A
homegrown model to improve our schools. Policy Matters
Ohio. www.policymattersohio.org/learning-from-ohios-best-
teachers-a-homegrown-model-to-improve-our-schools
Wilson, M, Hallam, P., Pecheone, R., & Moss, P. (2011).
Investigating the validity of portfolio assessments of beginning
teachers: Relationships with student achievement and tests
of teacher knowledge. Berkeley, CA: Berkeley Evaluation,
Assessment, and Research Center.
Summer Issue #1 kappanmagazine.org 11
 Professional development guide to:

Evaluating teacher
evaluation
By Linda Darling-Hammond, Audrey Amrein-
Beardsley, Edward Haertel, and Jesse Rothstein
Phi Delta Kappan, 93 (6), 8-15

OVERVIEW OF THE ARTICLE

Value-added measures of student achievement are inadequate for evaluating teacher and school effectiveness, but
systems of evaluation work well when theyre based on professional teaching standards, observations, and artifacts
of practice and involve mentor teachers, teacher collaboration, and professional learning opportunities.

KEY POINTS

Value-added models (VAMs) use statistical methods to try to isolate teacher performance from student
characteristics and other factors.

VAMs dont work because they cant control or disentangle infl uences on student progress; they inconsistently
rate teachers, and they dont account for students assigned to teachers in a particular year.

VAMs are useful to researchers who want to identify the effect of a teaching practice on large groups of
students, but the model should not be used for high-stakes, individual-level decisions, or comparisons across
highly dissimilar schools or student populations.

Alternative approaches include using professional standards, such as those developed by the Interstate New
Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium (INTASC) and incorporating observations/videotapes and
artifacts of practice developed by the Measures of Effective Teaching Project (MET).

Alternatives are best when developed as part of a system that includes the following: multiple classroom
observations and data sources, expert evaluators, rubrics, mentors, collaboration with other teachers, and
professional development.

FULL VALUE

The name most closely associated with VAMs is William Sanders, currently senior research fellow with the University
of North Carolina. A statistician, Sanders focused on how a teacher or school could be evaluated by comparing
students current test scores to their previous test scores and forecasting future scores accordingly. The Tennessee
State Board of Education adopted the Sanders model, also known as a growth-based model, in 2000 as the
Tennessee Value-Added Assessment System (TVAAS). The U.S. Department of Education approved Sanders
growth model as a means of determining whether schools were making Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) under the
No Child Left Behind Act.

The late Gerald Bracey, a columnist for Phi Delta Kappan and a fellow at the Education Policy Studies Laboratory
at Arizona State University, acknowledged that the VAM makes more sense than the current successive-cohorts
system for determining AYP. It makes more sense to follow kids over time, although if the goal remains 100%
proficiency, the whole operation remains nuts. Among his criticisms, however, was that a VAM is circular: It
defines effective teachers as those who raise test scores, then uses test score gains to determine whos an effective
teacher.

12 Must-Reads from Kappan, 2011-12/Summer Issue #1

DEEPEN YOUR THINKING
Choose one or more of these individual inquiry topics for thinking and writing.

1. How are teachers evaluated in your district (or a district you know well)? To what extent does the evaluation system in this
district seem effective to you?

2. What are the best indicators of teacher effectiveness in your experience? How can these indicators be measured?

3. Other than teacher effectiveness, what influences student achievement? To what extent can these influences be accounted for
so that teacher effectiveness is measurable?

4. Why might teacher effectiveness differ from class to class as well as from year to year or from test to test?

5. What kind of performance assessments could teachers use to document their effectiveness? How would these be scored?

6. What might be the role of a coach or mentor in terms of a teacher evaluation system? What might be the role of professional
development?

7. How would collaboration or teaming be helpful to teachers in terms of teacher evaluation?

EXTEND YOUR THOUGHTS THROUGH ACTIVITIES FOR GROUP DISCUSSION

In a wide-ranging report that studies teacher evaluation and dismissal in four states and 12 diverse districts, The New Teacher
Project finds that teacher evaluation systems reflect and codify the Widget Effect the fallacy that all teachers are essentially
interchangeable in several major ways (The New Teacher Project, 2009). With your colleagues, discuss how VAMs and the
alternatives described by the authors address these evaluation issues.

Chart your discussion using the following grid:

Evaluation issues from How other evaluation designs

The New Teacher Project How VAMs would help would help
All teachers are rated good or great.
Excellence goes unrecognized.
Professional development is inadequate.
Novice teachers are neglected.
Poor performance goes unaddressed.

Note: You can download the whole report or an executive summary of The Widget Effect: Our National Failure to Acknowledge and Act on
Differences in Teacher Effectiveness at http://widgeteffect.org/.

References

Bracey, G. (2007, May 1). Value subtracted: A debate with William Sanders. The Huffington Post. www.huffingtonpost.com/gerald-bracey/value-
subtracted-a-debate_b_47404.html

Sanders, W.L. & Horn, S.P. (1994). The Tennessee Value-Added Assessment System (TVAAS): Mixed model methodology in educational assessment.
Journal of Personnel Evaluation in Education, 8, 299-311.

The New Teacher Project. (2009). The widget effect. http://widgeteffect.org/overview/

Summer Issue #1 kappanmagazine.org 13

 Comments? Like
Kappan at www.
facebook.com/pdkintl

A smart ALEC
threatens public
education
Coordinated efforts to introduce model legislation aimed at defunding
and dismantling public schools is the signature work of this conservative
organization.

By Julie Underwood and Julie F. Mead

A
legislative contagion seemed to sweep across the Midwest during the early months
of 2011. First, Wisconsin legislators wanted to strip public employees of the right
to bargain. Then, Indiana legislators got into the act. Then, it was Ohio. In each
case, Republican governors and Republican-controlled state legislatures had in-
troduced substantially similar bills that sought sweeping changes to each states collective
bargaining statutes and various school funding provisions.
This article
was originally JULIE UNDERWOOD (junderwood@education.wisc.edu) is professor and dean of the School of Education at the University of
published in Phi Wisconsin-Madison. She previously served as general counsel of the National School Boards Association. JULIE F. MEAD is pro-
Delta Kappan, 93 fessor and chair of the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The views
(6), 51-55. expressed here are those of the authors and do not necessarily refl ect those of the University of Wisconsin.

14 Must-Reads from Kappan, 2011-12/Summer Issue #1

Thinkstock/Digital Vision
 What was going on? How could elected officials
in multiple states suddenly introduce essentially the
same legislation?
The answer: The American Legislative Exchange
Council (ALEC). Its self-described legislative ap-
proach to education reads:
Across the country for the past two decades, education
reform efforts have popped up in legislatures at dif-
ferent times in different places. As a result, teachers
unions have been playing something akin to whack-
a-mole you know the game striking down as
many education reform efforts as possible. Many
times, the unions successfully whack the mole,
i.e., the reform legislation. Sometimes, however, they
miss. If all the moles pop up at once, there is no way
the person with the mallet can get them all. Introduce
comprehensive reform packages. (Ladner, LeFevre,
& Lips, 2010, p. 108)
ALECs own whack-a-mole strategy also reveals
the groups ultimate goal. Every gardener who has
ever had to deal with a mole knows that the animals
undermine and ultimately destroy a garden. ALECs
positions on various education issues make it clear
that the organization seeks to undermine public edu-
cation by systematically defunding and ultimately
destroying public education as we know it.
What is ALEC?
Technically, ALEC (www.alec.org) is a nonprofit
organization based in Washington, D.C. It describes
itself as a nonpartisan membership organization for
those who share a common belief in limited govern-
ment, free markets, federalism, and individual lib-
erty (www.alec.org/about-alec). More than 2,000
state lawmakers pay ALEC $100 for a two-year
membership. While listed as nonpartisan, ALECs
members definitely skew to the conservative end of
the political spectrum. For example, of the 114 listed
members of the groups Education Task Force, 108
are Republicans, and only six are Democrats.
Corporations, foundations, and think tanks can
join ALEC, too. They pay up to $25,000 in yearly
dues and can spend more to sponsor the councils
meetings. Corporate members can also donate to
each states scholarship fund, which reimburses leg-
islators who travel to meetings. The scholarships can
exceed the amount of a legislators dues. Corporate
members also can pay from $3,000 to $10,000 for a
seat on a task force.
ALEC operates through nine task forces, each
cochaired by a corporate member and a legislative
member. Task forces are divided by subject and bring
together conservative policy makers with corporate
leaders to develop model legislation. In order for
a proposal to become model legislation, both the
public and private sides of the committee must
agree granting considerable power to the corpo-
rate side. Elected officials then take the model bills
back to their states to introduce them as their own.
Only legislators who are members may access the
model legislation (http://www.alec.org/wp-content/
uploads/2011_legislative_brochure.pdf). It is a very
efficient mechanism for corporations to exercise po-
litical power and they have.
ALEC in Tennessee
Recent legislation in Tennessee provides a vivid
example. ALEC created and provided members its
model Virtual Public Schools Act. Two large for-profit
corporate providers of virtual education, Connections
Academy and K-12 Inc., had heavy involvement with
the model bills creation. Mickey Revenaugh, a lob-
byist for Connections Academy, was the corporate
chair of ALECs Education Task Force and Lisa Gil-
lis, with K-12 Inc., chaired its special needs education
subcommittee that created the bill. Tennessees State
Rep. Harry Brooks and State Sen. Dolores Gresham,
both ALEC Education Task Force members, intro-
duced the bill to their respective houses nearly ver-
batim, even using the same title. For example, the
following passage forms the preamble of the adopted
statute. Underlined portions were taken directly from
ALECs model.
WHEREAS, meeting the educational needs
of children in our states schools is of the
greatest importance to the future welfare of
Tennessee; and
WHEREAS, closing the achievement gap be-
tween high-performing students, including
the gap between minority and nonminority stu-
dents and between economically disadvantaged
students and their more advantaged peers, is a
significant and present challenge; and
WHEREAS, providing a broader range of edu-
cational options to parents and utilizing exist-
ing resources, along with technology, may help
students in our state improve their academic
achievement; and
WHEREAS, many of our school districts cur-
rently lack the capacity to provide other public
school choices for students whose schools are
low performing; now, therefore
The purpose of this part is to provide an LEA
with an alternative choice to offer additional
educational resources in an effort to improve
academic achievement. (Virtual Public Schools
Act, 2011).
The bill passed both houses on a party-line vote
Summer Issue #1 kappanmagazine.org 15
 on June 16, 2011. Shortly thereafter, K-12 Inc.
one of the creators of the model legislation won a
no-bid contract from Union County School District
to create the Tennessee Virtual Academy and will re-
ceive about $5,300 per student from the state for the
2011-12 school year (Humphrey, 2011). Connec-
tions Academy does not yet offer a virtual school in
Tennessee, but its web site reports that it is actively
working with parent groups, education officials, and
others to launch a school in this state.
Common throughout the bills are proposals
to decrease local control of schools by
democratically elected school boards while
increasing access to all facets of education
to private entities and corporations.
The Chattanooga Times Free Press (Sept. 2, 2011)
reported that about 2,000 students applied for en-
rollment in the Tennessee Virtual Academy for fall
2011. Recent reports raise concerns that the pro-
grams popularity with home schoolers may drain
taxpayer funds while enriching the corporation ac-
tively and aggressively recruiting students to enroll
(Locker, 2011). Locker also reports that K-12 Inc.
compensated its CEO more than $2.6 million last
year, its chief financial officer more than $1.7 million,
and other top executives several hundred thousand
dollars each, according to its latest annual report to
shareholders.
ALEC on education
ALECs success in Tennessee is by no means its
only incursion into state education policy. ALECs
interest in education is ambitious and multifaceted,
and includes promoting dozens of model acts to
its legislative members (Ladner, LeFevre, & Lips,
2010). Proposed bills seek to influence teacher cer-
tification, teacher evaluation, collective bargaining,
curriculum, funding, special education, student as-
sessment, and numerous other education and edu-
cation-related issues. Common throughout the bills
are proposals to decrease local control of schools by
democratically elected school boards while increas-
ing access to all facets of education by private enti-
ties and corporations. ALECs outlined agenda is to:
Introduce market factors into schools, par-
ticularly the teaching profession (Ladner,
16 Must-Reads from Kappan, 2011-12/Summer Issue #1
LeFevre, & Lips, 2010, p. 82) to be carried out
through model legislation such as Alternative
Certification Act, Great Teachers and Lead-
ers Act, National Teacher Certification Fair-
ness Act, Public School Union Release Time
Act, School Collective Bargaining Agreement
Sunshine Act, and Teacher Choice Compensa-
tion Act. Theres also a set of proposals (Pub-
lic School Financial Transparency Act; School
Board Freedom to Contract Act) that encour-
age school districts to outsource their auxiliary
services.
Privatize education through vouchers, char-
ters, and tax incentives (Ladner, LeFevre, &
Lips, 2010, p. 87) to be carried out through model
legislation such as Foster Child Scholarship
Program Act, Great Schools Tax Credit, Mili-
tary Family Scholarship Program Act, Parental
Choice Scholarship Accountability Act, Paren-
tal Choice Scholarship Program Act (means-
tested eligibility), Parental Choice Scholarship
Program Act (universal eligibility), Parental
Choice Scholarship Program Act (universal
eligibility, means-tested scholarship amount),
Parental Choice Scholarship Tax Credit Ac-
countability Act, Education Enterprise Zone
Act, Smart Start Scholarship Program, Special
Needs Scholarship Program Act, Family Educa-
tion Savings Account Act, Parental Rights Act,
Resolution Supporting Private Scholarship Tax
Credits, Autism Scholarship Program Act, and
Family Education Tax Credit Program Act.
Increase student testing and reporting (Lad-
ner, LeFevre, & Lips, 2010, p. 93) to be carried
out through model legislation such as Resolu-
tion Supporting the Principles of No Child Left
Behind Act, Student Right to Learn Act, Educa-
tion Accountability Act, Longitudinal Student
Growth Act, One to One Reading Improvement
Act, and Resolution on Nonverified Science
Curriculum Funding.
Reduce the influence of or eliminate local
school districts and school boards (Ladner,
LeFevre, & Lips, 2010, p. 96) to be carried
out through model legislation such as Charter
Schools Act, Innovation Schools and School
Districts Act, Open Enrollment Act, Virtual
Public Schools Act, and Next Generation Char-
ter Schools Act.
ALECs special interest in privatization
While ALECs forays into education policy are
broad, privatization of public education has been
a long-standing ALEC objective. As early as 1985,
ALECs motivation for privatization was made clear
(Barrett, 1985).
As schools became larger and society more mobile,
teachers and superintendents grew further removed
from parents and, all too frequently, from the students
themselves. Policies dictated from state capitals and
Washington, D.C., placed burdens on public schools
to compensate for economic disadvantages in fam-
ily backgrounds and overcome centuries-old preju-
dices, to confer equality on youngsters with physical
or mental handicaps, and to transmit our common
culture while preserving each of its diverse elements.
As a result, public schools were forced to meet all of
the needs of all the people without pleasing anyone.
(Barrett, 1985, p. 7)
By elevating parental choice over all other
values, the ALEC push for privatization
supports schools that can be segregated by
1990. Although the Milwaukee voucher program
had the backing of leaders from other philosophic
camps, including Howard Fuller, a former superin-
tendent of Milwaukee Public Schools and current
board member of Black Alliance for Educational Op-
tions, the legislation was modeled after the rubric
ALEC provided in its 1985 Education Source Book.
ALECs hand in this program continues. In 2011,
one of the ultimately defeated amendments to the
Milwaukee program proposed removing all income
requirements for participating students, a proposal
laid out in ALECs Parental Choice Scholarship Pro-
gram Act (universal eligibility) and a step toward a
full-scale state voucher program.
In fact, to help states advance school choice
without running afoul of state constitutional lim-
itations, ALEC published School Choice and State
Constitutions (Komer & Neily, 2007) to provide a
state-by-state analysis and promote programs tai-
lored to foster privatization. Since then, a number
of states have adopted the ALEC recommenda-
tions. For example:

academic ability and disability, ethnicity, Arizona: Vouchers for foster children, special ed-
ucation vouchers, and tax credits;
economics, language, and culture.
Indiana: Means-tested vouchers, special
education vouchers, tax deductions for private
school tuition and home-schooling expenses,
and tax credits;
In response, ALEC offered model legislation to
foster educational freedom and quality through Georgia: Special education vouchers and
privatization (Barrett, 1985, p. 8). Privatization takes the newer ALEC proposal tax incentives
multiple forms: vouchers, tax incentives for sending for contributions to scholarship-granting
children to private schools, and charter schools oper- organizations;
ated by for-profit entities.
Today, ALEC calls this approach choice and
renames vouchers scholarships, but its aim is
clear: Defund and dismantle public schools. While
many other right-wing organizations support this
agenda, ALEC is the mechanism for implementing
it through its many pieces of model legislation that
propose legislative methods for defunding public
schools, particularly low-income, urban schools.
The motivation for dismantling the public edu-
cation system creating a system where schools
do not provide for everyone is ideological, and
it is motivated by profit. The corporate members
on ALECs education task force include represen-
tatives from the Friedman Foundation, Goldwater
Institute, Evergreen Education Group, Washington
Policy Center, and corporations providing education
services such as Sylvan Learning and K-12, Inc. All
stand to benefit from public funding sent in their
direction.
The first large-scale voucher program, the Mil- Good night, dear. Text me if you need anything.
waukee Parental Choice Program, was enacted in

Summer Issue #1 kappanmagazine.org 17

 Louisiana: Tax deductions for private school
tuition and home-schooling expenses, means-
tested vouchers, special education vouchers; and
Oklahoma: Tax credits, special education
vouchers, and the newer ALEC proposal the
tax incentives for contributions to scholarship-
granting organizations.
By elevating parental choice over all other values,
the ALEC push for privatization supports schools
that can be segregated by academic ability and dis-
ability, ethnicity, economics, language, and culture.
They would be the natural outgrowth of parents un-
fettered choices in a free-market system. Increased
racial isolation would likely result, exacerbating cur-
rent trends toward resegregation (Orfield & Lee,
2007). In addition, as seen in Tennessee, a fully re-
alized ALEC agenda would undoubtedly result in
more public education dollars bolstering the balance
sheets of for-profit education vendors.
Identifying ALECs influence
Returning to the protests that rocked our state
and others, it became clear that ALEC had sig-
nificant influence on the contested provisions. As
Rogers and Dresser (2011) document, proposals in
Wisconsin and other states were drawn from sev-
eral ALEC legislative models, including the Right
to Work Act [that] eliminates employee obligation
to pay the costs of collective bargaining; the Public
Employee Freedom Act [that] bars almost any action
to induce it; the Public Employer Payroll Deduction
Act [that] bars automatic dues collection; [and] the
Voluntary Contribution Act [that] bars the use of
dues for political activity.
Does ALECs influence build or undermine
democracy?
Whether you believe that ALEC has the issues
right or wrong, the organization clearly wields con-
siderable power and influence over state educa-
tion policy. But perhaps by boldly sending so many
moles to legislative surfaces all at once, ALEC has
permitted those concerned with the influence of cor-
porate interests on public education to awaken to its
strategy. From now on, champions of public educa-
tion have a new set of questions to ask whenever
legislation is introduced:
Is the sponsor a member of ALEC?
Does the bill borrow from ALEC model
legislation?
What corporations had a hand in drafting the
legislation?
What interests would benefit or even profit
from its passage?
18 Must-Reads from Kappan, 2011-12/Summer Issue #1
Ultimately, however, the most important ques-
tion we must all ask is whether ALECs influence
builds or undermines democracy.
Certain public institutions courts, legislatures,
fire protection, police departments, and yes, schools
must remain public to serve a democratic society.
Through public education we have expressed and ex-
panded our shared public values. As Benjamin Barber
(1997) states, Public schools are not merely schools
for the public, but schools of publicness: institutions
where we learn what it means to be a public and start
down the road toward common national and civic
identity (p. 22).
What happens to our democracy when we return
to an educational system where access is defined by
corporate interest and divided by class, language,
ability, race, and religion? In a push to free-market
education, who pays in the end?K
References
Barber, B. (1997). Public schooling: Education for democracy.
In J.I. Goodlad & T.J. McMannon (Eds.), The public purpose
of education and schooling (pp. 21-32). San Francisco, CA:
Jossey-Bass.
Barrett, N. (1985). Education source book: The state
legislators guide for reform. Washington, DC: American
Legislative Exchange Council.
Humphrey, T. (2011, August 15). TN Virtual Academy builds
enrollment controversy. Humphrey on the Hill. (Web log post).
http://blogs.knoxnews.com/humphrey/2011/08/tn-virtual-
academy-builds-enro.html
Komer, R. & Neily, C. (2007). School choice and state
constitutions: A guide to designing school choice programs.
Washington, DC: Institute for Justice and American Legislative
Exchange Council.
Ladner, M., LeFevre, A., & Lips, D. (2010). Report card on
American education: Ranking state K-12 performance,
progress, and reform (16th ed.). Washington, DC: American
Legislative Exchange Council.
Locker, R. (2011, September 24). Virtual school in Tennessee
may drain taxpayer funds. The Commercial Appeal.
Virtual Public Schools Act, Tennessee House Bill No. 1030.
(2011).
Orfield, G. & Lee, C. (2007). Historic reversals, accelerating
resegregation and the need for new integration strategies. Los
Angeles, CA: Civil Rights Project.
Rogers, J. & Dresser, L. (2011, July 12). ALEC exposed:
Business domination Inc. The Nation.
Virtual school hits enrollment hiccup. (2011, September 2).
The Chattanooga Times Free Press.
 Comments?
Like PDK at www.
facebook.com/pdkintl

Teach For America teachers:

How long do they teach?
Why do they leave?
Most TFA alumni continue to teach after completing their two-year
obligation. Those who leave the profession exit because of the same
poor working conditions that drive away other young teachers.

Few observers doubt that Teach For America (TFA) has high aspirations. Established in
1990, TFA strives to close persistent racial and socioeconomic achievement gaps in U.S.
public education by recruiting high-achieving college graduates to teach for two years in
low-income urban and rural schools. In recent years, applications to TFA have soared,
especially at highly selective colleges. In 2009-10, for example, 18% of Harvard Universitys
seniors applied to the program. Proposing to expand its teaching corps from 7,300 to
13,000 over the next five years, TFA recently won $50 million in the federal i3 (Investing in
Innovation) competition and succeeded in raising $10 million in matching funds.

By Morgaen L. Donaldson and Susan Moore Johnson

This article
was originally
published in Phi
Delta Kappan, 93
(2), 47-51.

Summer Issue #1 kappanmagazine.org 19

Thinkstock/Digital Vision
 TFAs rapid growth and success in garnering finan-
cial support from public and private sources exhilarates
some and angers others. Proponents vigorously cite
the programs merits, contending that TFA attracts
academically strong and motivated young people who
would otherwise not consider teaching, especially in
high-poverty schools. Its detractors, with equal pas-
Contrary to popular expectations, only
3.7% of TFAers who stopped teaching
had become lawyers and only 1.6% had
become medical professionals.
sion, argue that by requiring only a two-year commit-
ment from corps members who have received only five
weeks of formal preparation, TFA undermines efforts
to stabilize and improve staffing in the very schools
most overwhelmed by teacher turnover and most in
need of consistency in the classroom. Moreover, crit-
ics argue that TFA compromises teaching as a pro-
fession by minimizing the importance of preservice
preparation and casting teaching as a prelude to the
higher-status careers that many corps members enter
after their TFA experience. Some cynically assert that
the program functions primarily as a rsum booster
for ambitious upper-middle-class college graduates,
intent on fashioning the most compelling application
to the nations top law or medical schools.
Debates about whether TFA can revive chroni-
cally failing schools or will further aggravate the
problems facing these schools often turn on compet-
ing claims about how long TFA teachers stay on the
job. Critics conclude that corps members routinely
leave their school after their two-year commitment,
if not before. For their part, TFA relies on internal
surveys, which show that 60% of corps members
remain in education, holding various roles at various
levels of the system.
Until now, however, solid information about how
long TFA teachers actually remain in teaching and in
their low-income schools has not been available to
policy makers and school officials. Our large-scale,
nationwide analysis of TFA teacher turnover pres-
ents a more detailed picture of which TFAers stay,
MORGAEN L. DONALDSON (morgaen.donaldson@uconn.edu)
is an assistant professor in the Neag School of Education, Uni-
versity of Connecticut, Storrs, Conn. SUSAN MOORE JOHN-
SON is the Jerome T. Murphy Professor of Education, Harvard
Graduate School of Education, Cambridge, Mass.
20 Must-Reads from Kappan, 2011-12/Summer Issue #1
which ones leave the profession and some sugges-
tions about why they leave. In our study, we learned:
Nearly two-thirds (60.5%) of TFA
teachers continue as public school teachers
beyond their two-year commitment.
More than half (56.4%) leave their initial
placements in low-income schools after
two years, but 43.6% stay longer.
By their fifth year, 14.8% continue to
teach in the same low-income schools to
which they were originally assigned.
Our findings suggest two explanations for how
long TFA teachers stay in the profession and in their
placement schools. The first involves their initial in-
tentions and their background in education before
entering TFA; the second is the working conditions
in their schools.
WHY RETENTION MATTERS
Teacher retention, particularly in low-income
schools such as those where TFA teachers are placed,
is critically important. Attrition, already high among
new teachers across the nation (Ingersoll, 2002), has
its greatest impact in low-income, high-minority
schools. In the most recent data available, 21% of
teachers at high-poverty schools leave their schools
annually, compared to 14% of their counterparts in
low-poverty settings (Planty et al., 2008). As teachers
transfer within districts, they typically leave schools
that enroll lower-income students and enter schools
with higher-income students (Hanushek, Kain, &
Rivkin, 2004).
This revolving-door effect (Ingersoll, 2004)
leaves the very schools that most need stability and
continuity perpetually searching for new teachers to
replace those who leave. When teachers leave their
schools after only a few years, those schools incur
substantial costs. Most importantly, students are
likely to suffer. Novices typically fill vacancies. As a
result, students are taught by a stream of first-year
teachers who are, on average, less effective than their
more experienced counterparts (Murnane & Phil-
lips, 1981; Rockoff, 2004). When effective teachers
leave, schools also lose their investment in formal
and informal professional development (National
Commission on Teaching and Americas Future,
2003). Moreover, routinely high levels of teacher
turnover impede a schools efforts to coordinate cur-
riculum, to track and share important information
about students as they move from grade to grade,
and to maintain productive relationships with par-
ents and the local community. Quite simply, they
cannot build instructional capacity. Given such high
stakes, knowing more about TFA teachers careers
in low-income schools and in the profession more
broadly is essential.
WHETHER, WHEN, AND WHY
In 2007, we set out to understand whether, when,
and why TFA teachers left the teaching profession
and/or their low-income placement schools. We sur-
veyed all members of three cohorts (entering in 2000,
2001, and 2002) from all TFA sites across the country
and asked them to provide information about their
work lives in the four to six years since they began
teaching. They reported whether and when they left
public teaching and/or their initial school and they
explained why.
Sixty-two percent of the total population com-
pleted the survey for a final sample of 2,029 indi-
viduals. We used a statistical approach, called dis-
crete-time survival analysis, to estimate teachers
unbiased probability of leaving their schools or the
profession in a given year. We were able to focus on
the choices that the teachers made to stay at their
school, change schools, or leave teaching because
we could identify and set aside career changes due to
involuntary transfers, layoffs, and dismissals.
How long are TFA teachers careers?
We expected to find that a large proportion of
TFA teachers in our sample would have left teaching
after completing their two-year obligation to TFA.
But, we found that 60.5% of teachers taught in K-12
schools longer than two years and more than one
third (35.5%) taught for more than four years. After
five years, 27.8% were still in teaching. This reten-
tion rate is markedly lower than the 50% estimated
for new teachers across all types of schools (Smith &
Ingersoll, 2003). Good data are not currently avail-
able that would allow us to compare TFA teachers
TABLE 1.
Retention Rates of TFA Teachers in their
Schools and in Teaching
Continued
teaching in
Continued initial school or
teaching in any other
Year initial school public school
2 90.1% 94.8%
3 43.6% 60.5%
4 22.5% 44.6%
5 14.8% 35.5%
6 8.6% 27.8%
7 5.2% 23.9%
turnover to teachers turnover in similar high-pov-
erty schools, although reports from Philadelphia
suggest that the rates may be roughly comparable
(Neild, Useem, Travers, & Lesnick, 2003).
Most people would be surprised to learn that a
substantial percentage of TFA teachers 43.6%
remained in their initial, low-income placement
school beyond their two-year obligation. However,
many individuals who stayed in teaching did leave
their original placement schools at some point.
About half of those who remained in teaching after
their third year had changed schools. And, after the
fourth year, only 14.8% continued to teach in their
original school. This level of turnover is very prob-
lematic from the perspective of low-income schools
and their students.
How did TFA teachers original plans and
education background influence their
retention?
When we examined the survey responses, we found
two explanations for these teachers career choices.
The first emerged from self-reports about their origi-
nal plans when they applied to TFA as well as evidence
about their prior educational preparation.
A substantial percentage of TFA teachers
43.6% remained in their initial,
low-income placement school beyond their
two-year obligation.
Although most people think TFA corps members
are much alike, we found two distinct subgroups in
this sample of over 2,000 teachers. Those in one
subgroup had short-term expectations for a teaching
career from the start, thus fitting the two-years-
and-out picture that most people have in mind when
they think of TFA. Teachers in the other subgroup
had more traditional, longer-term expectations for
a teaching career.
The majority (56.59%) of those in the sample
indicated that, when they applied to TFA, they had
planned to teach for two years or less. Such inten-
tions were especially apparent for nearly one-tenth
(9.28%) of the sample who had applied to graduate
school in another field and then deferred their en-
rollment for two years while teaching in TFA. Con-
trolling for demographic and placement variables, in
years 1-3, those who had deferred graduate school
before enrolling in TFA were significantly and sub-
stantially more likely to leave teaching than those
who had not deferred graduate school.
Summer Issue #1 kappanmagazine.org 21
 In contrast, nearly half (43.41%) of the sample
said that, from the beginning, they had expected
to teach longer than TFAs requirement. Notably,
11.34% reported that they had intended to make
teaching a lifelong career when they entered TFA.
Some (3.34%) had already completed a traditional
teacher preparation program; others (5.28%) had
majored or minored in education; and an additional
5.82% of the sample had taken pedagogical classes
as undergraduates. Thus, almost 12% of the sample
had some training in teaching, whether a major or
minor in education, completion of a teacher prepa-
ration program, or completion of a teaching meth-
ods class, before enrolling in TFA. Moreover, 6.94%
of the sample had applied to another teaching job
in addition to TFA. These actions signal a deeper
commitment to teaching that preceded their TFA
experience.
In fact, those who displayed an early commitment
to teaching did stay in the classroom longer than
other TFA peers. For example, 71.3% of education
majors taught longer than four years, while only
about half that proportion in the entire sample
35.5% taught that long. Of those with an educa-
tion major or minor, 62.4% taught for longer than
four years as did 53.0% of those who had applied
for another teaching job, again a much higher pro-
portion than the overall sample. These groups are
New teachers benefit from having more
preservice preparation than fast-track
programs usually provide.
small, but noteworthy because they had substantially
higher retention rates than others in the sample. It
is impossible to say whether these teachers longer
stay in the classroom was due to their initial com-
mitment to teaching or to the success they achieved
with their students as a result of the knowledge and
skill they acquired through undergraduate studies
in education. In an earlier study, we found that new
teachers sense of success with their students fig-
ured centrally in their decisions about whether to
continue teaching (Johnson & Birkeland, 2003).
Given the limited induction and support that the
TFA teachers probably received in their high-need
schools, it seems likely that both their prior course-
work and their original intentions played a role in
their career decisions.
These findings show that Teach For America
teachers are far from being exclusively short-term
22 Must-Reads from Kappan, 2011-12/Summer Issue #1
in their intentions or actions. Some appear to use the
program as a path to an extended career in teaching.
They may choose TFA as a way to bypass longer
preparation programs, licensing requirements, or
the bureaucratic obstacles associated with landing
a teaching job, especially in a large, urban district.
They also may have wanted the status and camara-
derie that come with becoming TFA corps members.
Whatever their reasons, it seems clear that a consid-
erable proportion of those in the sample expected to
make a longer-term commitment to teaching from
the start.
Why did TFA teachers leave teaching or
transfer to other schools?
Our survey also provided insight into why some
TFA corps members decided to leave teaching.
When asked to select the most influential factor in
their decision to leave teaching, the top reasons se-
lected were:
To pursue a position other than
K-12 teacher (34.93%);
To take courses to improve career
opportunities in education (11.79%); or
To take courses to improve career oppor-
tunities outside of education (10.26%).
These top three reasons relate to the teachers
interest in professional advancement, either outside
or inside education. However, the fourth reason,
cited by nearly one-tenth of the teachers (9.83%),
was poor administrative leadership at their school. In
addition, some attributed their decision to other de-
ficiencies in their working conditions lack of col-
laboration (2.11%), inadequate discipline (2.98%),
or general dissatisfaction with their job description
and responsibilities (2.84%). Therefore, nearly 18%
of those who left teaching cited such school-based
factors as the primary reason for their departure.
Beyond teachers self-reports about working con-
ditions, our analysis revealed that their teaching as-
signments affected retention. Those who were as-
signed to teach more challenging assignments split
grades, multiple subjects, or out-of-field courses, for
which they were not prepared were more likely to
resign from teaching or leave their jobs than those
with single-grade, single-subject, or in-field assign-
ments (Donaldson & Johnson, 2010). For example,
76.2% of math teachers with a math major taught
more than two years, compared with 60.0% of math
teachers without a math major. Fifty percent of math
teachers without a major in math left teaching within
2.51 years, while half of those with a math major left
within 4.08 years.
Those with short-term intentions not only chose
to leave teaching in favor of other professional op-
portunities, but also because they found their work-
ing conditions to be subpar. By contrast, when indi-
viduals with long-term intentions left teaching, they
tended to leave, not because they preferred a differ-
ent profession or were dissatisfied with their work,
but because of a major life change, such as pregnancy
or child-rearing.
Notably, not all of those who left teaching within
six years permanently abandoned the field of educa-
tion. When we asked respondents who had left what
they were doing now, we learned that 21.0% held
positions in K-12 schools and 10.7% had returned
to the classroom as teachers. Contrary to popular
expectations, only 3.7% were lawyers and 1.6% were
medical professionals.
We found that teachers who reported or provided
evidence of longer-term intentions for example,
by having taken courses in education remained in
teaching and in their original school in much higher
proportions than those with short-term intentions.
We asked teachers who stayed in teaching, but had
left their original placement school, why they had
made the change. Six percent had been reassigned
through an involuntary transfer. Among others who
chose to transfer, the reason most often cited was
a change in residence (29%). However, more than
one-third reported transferring because they were
dissatisfied with their original school poor ad-
ministrative leadership (16%), lack of philosophical
alignment (14%), lack of discipline (3%), or dissat-
isfaction with job responsibilities (2%). For those
who remained in teaching, working conditions were
central in deciding to leave their original placement.
CONCLUSION
This study provides much-needed information
about the careers of TFA teachers. The good news
is that nearly two-thirds stay in teaching beyond
their two-year commitment. However, less than a
quarter stay in their initial, low-income school for
more than three years. Given TFAs commitment
to closing the achievement gap a goal shared by
many other fast-track preparation programs this
revolving door transfer of teachers from the schools
that most need skilled, experienced teachers remains
a serious problem.
We were struck by the higher retention rates
among teachers who initially had longer-term plans
for teaching, especially those who had taken educa-
tion courses in college. This seems to suggest that
new teachers benefit from having more preservice
preparation than fast-track programs usually pro-
vide. We need to learn more about the type, tim-
ing, and length of preparation that new teachers find
most valuable.
The TFA teachers who stayed in teaching but
changed schools reported that their decisions were
significantly influenced by the working conditions
in their initial school the principals leadership,
their teaching assignment, student discipline, and
the schools philosophy. These responses suggest
that if hard-to-staff schools are to succeed in serving
their low-income students, it wont be because they
receive a steady stream of well-educated, commit-
ted novice teachers, but because they become places
where those individuals find they can succeed and,
therefore, choose to stay. K
References
Donaldson, M.L. & Johnson, S.M. (2010, Spring). The price
of misassignment: The role of teaching assignments in Teach
For America teachers exit from low-income schools and
the teaching profession. Educational Evaluation and Policy
Analysis, 32 (2), 299-323.
Hanushek, E.A., Kain, J.F., & Rivkin, S.G. (2004). Why public
schools lose teachers. Journal of Human Resources, 39 (2):
326-54.
Ingersoll, R.M. (2002, June). The teacher shortage: A case of
wrong diagnosis and wrong prescription. NASSP Bulletin, 86:
16-31.
Ingersoll, R.M. (2004). Why do high-poverty schools have
difficulty staffing their classrooms with qualified teachers?
Washington, DC: Center for American Progress.
Johnson, S.M. & Birkeland, S. (2003). Pursuing a sense
of success: new teachers explain their career decisions.
American Educational Research Journal, 40 (3), 581-617.
Murnane, R.J. & Phillips, B.R. (1981). What do effective
teachers of inner city children have in common? Social
Science Research, 10, 83-100.
National Commission on Teaching and Americas Future
(2003). No dream denied: A pledge to Americas children:
Summary report. Washington, DC: Author.
Neild, R.C., Useem, E., Travers, E.F., & Lesnick, J. (2003).
Once and for all: Placing a highly qualified teacher in every
Philadelphia classroom. Philadelphia, PA: Research for Action.
Planty, M., et al. (2008). The condition of education 2008
(NCES 2008-031). Washington, DC: National Center for
Education Statistics, Institute of Education Sciences, U.S.
Department of Education.
Rockoff, J. (2004). The impact of individual teachers on
student achievement. Evidence from panel data. American
Economic Review, 94 (2), 247-252.
Smith, T. & Ingersoll R.M. (2003, May). The wrong solution to
the teacher shortage. Educational Leadership, 60 (8), 30-33.
Summer Issue #1 kappanmagazine.org 23
Religion and the public schools

Getting religion
right
in public schools
If we cant get this right in public schools, we have little hope of
getting this right in the public square of what is now the most
religiously diverse nation on Earth.

By Charles C. Haynes

C
ontrary to culture-war rhetoric from the Right, there is more student religious expression and more
study about religion in public schools today than at any time in the last 100 years. And contrary to
dire warnings from the Left, much of the religion that goes to school these days arrives through the
First Amendment door.
This article Of course, this isnt to suggest that all school districts get religion right. In some parts of the coun-
was originally try, school officials continue to unconstitutionally promote school-sponsored religious activities. In other
published in Phi
Delta Kappan, 93 CHARLES C. HAYNES (chaynes@freedomforum.org) is senior scholar at the First Amendment Center and director of the Religious
(4), 8-14. Freedom Education Project at the Newseum, Washington, D.C.

24 Must-Reads from Kappan, 2011-12/Summer Issue #1

Thinkstock/Hemera

places, administrators and teachers wrongly censor
constitutionally protected student religious expres-
sion. And throughout the country, the public school
curriculum still falls short of serious consideration
of religious ways of seeing the world (Nord, 2010;
Lester, 2011).
Nevertheless, a quiet revolution in public policy
over the last two decades is transforming how many
(if not most) public schools address religion during
the school day. For public school leaders, under-
standing the new and expanded place of religion in
schools especially what is and isnt permissible
under current law is critical for preventing conflict
and building public support for public education.
Whats at stake?
Getting religion right in public schools matters
because religion and religious liberty matter. For
better and for worse, religious convictions play a cen-
tral role is shaping events in America and throughout
the world. A cursory glance at the daily headlines re-
minds us that religious differences are at the heart of
many of the worlds most violent conflicts. And in the
United States, rapidly expanding religious diversity
presents daunting new challenges for building one
nation out of many faiths and cultures in the 21st
century (Eck, 2001).
Despite the recent increase in study about religion
in schools, many Americans still have little or no
knowledge about religions other than their own
and even that knowledge is often thin (Pew Forum
on Religion & Public Life, 2010; Prothero, 2007).
Religious illiteracy may be a contributing factor to
the rising intolerance in the United States, includ-
ing the growing number of hate crimes motivated
by anti-Semitism and Islamophobia. If we hope to
prevent religious discrimination and division in the
United States, schools need to take religion seriously,
not only to increase religious literacy, but also to pro-
mote religious freedom as a fundamental, inalienable
right for every person (Lester & Roberts, 2006).
How we got here
To understand the significance and scope of the
recent changes in how many public schools address
religion, a little history is needed. Twenty years ago,
many public schools did, in fact, come close to be-
ing religion-free zones. In the wake of controversial
and widely misrepresented U.S. Supreme Court de-
cisions banning state-sponsored religious practices,
worried educators often overreacted by trying to
keep all religion out of schools. Textbook publishers
largely ignored religion, and teachers wouldnt touch
it with the proverbial 10-foot pole. Some admin-
istrators mistakenly confused student speech with
government speech and told students to leave their
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religion at the schoolhouse door.
Of course, some other schools, especially in the
rural South, continued to do what they had always
done to promote the majoritys religion through
various school-sponsored practices.
But that was 20 years ago. Today, most state social
studies standards and textbooks include considerable
mention of religion; student religious clubs meet on
hundreds, if not thousands, of high school campuses;
the sight of Christian students praying around the
flagpole or in the lunchroom is commonplace; and
Muslim students routinely perform daily prayers
during the school day to cite just a few of many
examples.
Those determined to restore the past need to
accept that the sacred public school is no longer
tenable in our pluralistic society.
What accounts for this dramatic change in such
a relatively short time? Part of the credit, at least,
goes to consensus guidelines developed by leading
religious, civil liberties, and educational groups on a
wide range of issues concerning religious liberty in
public schools. In 1987, religious-liberty attorney
Oliver Thomas and I convened the first effort to
find common ground where there had been none.
After a year and a half of intense negotiation,
we reached agreement on Religion in the Public
School Curriculum: Questions and Answers, the
first-ever consensus statement on teaching about
religion in the public schools. Endorsed by a broad
coalition ranging from the National Education As-
sociation to the National Association of Evangeli-
cals, this statement was the first of a series of com-
mon ground agreements that would help transform
the religious-liberty landscape in public education
(Haynes & Thomas, 2007).
The culture-war conflicts of the 1980s in-
cluding textbook trials in Tennessee and Alabama
inspired diverse groups to come to the table. But
other developments also contributed to changes that
would occur over the next two decades, most notably
the Equal Access Act of 1984 that opened the door
to student religious clubs and the California history-
social science framework of 1989 that broke with
precedent by including significant attention to the
study of world religions.
The new consensus
Since the first guidelines on religion in the cur-
riculum in 1988, there have been eight additional
Summer Issue #1 kappanmagazine.org 25
 consensus statements. In 2005, for example, the
Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network,
the Christian Educators Association International,
and other groups reached agreement on a common-
ground process for ending conflicts over sexual ori-
entation in public schools, one of the most emotional
and divisive issues in public education today. We now
have widely supported guides on many divisive is-
sues, from how to address religious holidays to the
role of the Bible in public schools.
Of course, we still have some distance to go.
Agreement on some issues such as the place of
religion in the curriculum or when students may pray
together doesnt mean agreement on everything.
Current conflicts regarding Bible elective courses
and lawsuits over student religious expression before
a captive audience are reminders of how much work
remains to be done.
Nevertheless, a growing number of school dis-
tricts across the nation have used the new consen-
sus to move from battleground to common ground
on the role of religion in their schools. From Davis
County, Utah, to Richardson, Texas, to Mustang,
Okla., school districts have successfully translated

Avoid conflict and find common ground

The work of building consensus on a
national level must continue, expanding
to address the new divisions and
conflicts. The more urgent need,
however, is for local districts to develop
their own policies and practices built on
the model of a civil public school. After
25 years on the front lines of culture-
war fights over religion in schools, I
recommend the following six strategies
to public school leaders seeking to avoid
conflict and find common ground.
TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE LEGAL
SAFE HARBOR TO BE PROACTIVE.
Common ground agreements reached
by national groups over the past two
decades provide school leaders with a
constitutional safe harbor (or the closest
thing to it) within which to address religion
in schools on a local level. When school
officials use national guidelines to explain
the role of religion in public schools under
the First Amendment, they build trust
among teachers, parents, and students
and increase public support for their
school district.
DEVELOP SOUND POLICIES THAT
REFLECT A COMMITMENT TO
THE FIRST AMENDMENT AND AN
UNDERSTANDING OF CURRENT
LAW. School districts with sound
religious-liberty policies are much
less likely to experience conflicts and
lawsuits over issues related to religion
in schools. Some school boards
and superintendents appoint a task
force of educators and community
representatives to help develop policies
that uphold the First Amendment and
adhere to current law. The task force
can also serve as an ongoing forum
for discussing issues as they arise in
schools. Building relationships among
people of divergent views creates mutual
respect that often translates into shared
agreements on school policies and
practices.
INCLUDE ALL SIDES IN THE DECISION-
MAKING PROCESS. Public schools
belong to all citizens and serve the
entire community. Just as the national
consensus statements were drafted
by people with a broad range of
perspectives, local policies should
be developed with input from all
stakeholders in the community. Given
the opportunity (and First Amendment
ground rules), most parents, local
leaders, students, educators, and school
board members will commit to principled
dialogue and will work for policies and
practices that serve the common good.
INFORM THE COMMUNITY ON A
REGULAR BASIS. No policy, however
well-crafted, will be effective unless
the broader community knows what
the policy says and how it is working.
Beyond community participation in
developing the policy, school leaders
should inform parents and other citizens
through publications, web sites, and
regular community meetings about how
the policies are being implemented.
PROVIDE PERIODIC PROFESSIONAL
DEVELOPMENT. Many conflicts over
religion in schools are caused because
teachers and administrators are unclear
about what is and isnt permissible
under the First Amendment. Even
good policies are of little value unless
school officials understand how to carry
them out. Teaching about religions, for
example, requires an understanding of
the First Amendment guidelines and
adequate academic preparation. School
districts should offer periodic professional
development opportunities to teachers
and administrators focused on the key
religious-liberty issues that educators are
asked to address in the schools.
WORK TO REFORM PRESERVICE
PREPARATION. Since few schools of
education address religion in public
schools, few teachers and administrators
are adequately prepared to deal with
religious-liberty issues as they arise in
the classroom and school culture. All
educators should receive First Amendment
training as part of their certification
process. Moreover, prospective teachers
should know something about the
relationship of religion to the subjects they
will be teaching. National educational
associations and religious-liberty advocacy
groups should work together to bring
about these reforms. Until schools of
education take the First Amendment
seriously, local schools will find it difficult to
avoid confusion and conflict over religion.
Charles C. Haynes

26 Must-Reads from Kappan, 2011-12/Summer Issue #1

national statements into local policies and practices
that reflect a commitment to the religious-liberty
principles of the First Amendment (Haynes &
Thomas, 2007, p. 171).
Moving beyond two failed models
How did these districts reach common ground?
First, they had to reject the two models that have
characterized much of the history of religion in pub-
lic schools, failed models that many people cling to
as the only alternatives (Haynes & Thomas, 2007,
pp. 285-301).
The first model is what might be called the sacred
public school, in which school practices privilege
one religion (historically, a general form of Prot-
estant Christianity). Many of our current conflicts
are triggered by efforts to preserve the vestiges of a
Protestant-dominated school system that survived
well into the 20th century.
When parents sometimes ask me why we cant
go back to the good old days when we were one
nation, under God, I need only recall the Bible
wars in the mid-19th century when churches were
burned, and people died over whose version of the
Bible would be read every morning: the Protestant
or the Catholic. Americans have been fighting over
the role of religion in schools since the founding
of public education. In other words, there were no
good old days (Solomon, 2007).
For many Americans, especially many conserva-
tive Christians, the fight to preserve the sacred pub-
lic school is about much more than conflicts over
teacher-led prayers or crches. Its about the larger
questions such as whose schools are these? and,
even more important, what kind of nation are we
will we be?
The theological-political belief that the nation
is in spiritual and moral decline because we fail to
acknowledge our dependence on God continues to
fuel fights when it translates into the promotion of
particular religious beliefs by school officials.
Consider, for example, the teacher in Mt. Vernon,
Ohio, who sued to get his job back after he was fired
for decorating his classroom with religious symbols
and allegedly promoting his religious views when
teaching science. Or the principal in Baltimore, Md.,
who held a prayer service in her school in 2011 to
invoke divine help in raising the districts test scores.
Even those determined to restore the past need
to accept that the sacred public school is no longer
tenable in our pluralistic society. More important, it
is both unjust and unconstitutional.
The second failed model is even more widespread.
Im referring to the naked public school the mis-
taken idea that freedom of religion requires public
schools to be free from religion. Although the prayer
decisions of the 1960s are often blamed for kicking
God out of the schools, the U.S. Supreme Court
did not mandate a naked public school. While its
true that the Court struck down teacher-led prayer,
school-sponsored devotional Bible reading and
other state-sponsored religious practices, the Court
has never banned prayer or God from the public
schools. Moreover, the Court has gone out of its
way to emphasize that teaching about religion as
distinguished from religious indoctrination is an
important part of a good education (Abington Town-
ship v. Schempp, 1963).
A civil school
Public schools may not inculcate nor inhibit religion. They must be
places where religion and religious conviction are treated with fairness
and respect. Public schools uphold the First Amendment when they
protect the religious liberty rights of students of all faiths or none.
Schools demonstrate fairness when they ensure that the curriculum
includes study about religion, where appropriate, as an important part
of a complete education.
Religious Liberty, Public Education, and the Future of American
Democracy, 1995
A statement of principles endorsed by 24 major education and
religious organizations
Confusion about Supreme Court rulings (and fear
of controversy) over the past four decades has led
some administrators to prohibit all student religious
expression in schools. The accounts of students be-
ing told that they cant say grace at lunch or that
they must leave their Bibles at home have led many
religious people to believe that public education is
hostile to their faith. All it takes is a small number of
conflicts in relatively few school districts for all pub-
lic schools to be painted with the same anti-religion
brush. In the Internet era, this is easily done.
One example of unnecessary (and possibly un-
constitutional) exclusion of student religious expres-
sion is a lawsuit filed in 2011 by parents challeng-
ing a Cresco, Penn., school districts refusal to allow
their 5th grader to give out an invitation to a church
Christmas party. The district has what I would char-
acterize as a misguided policy barring student speech
that seeks to establish the supremacy of a particular
religious denomination, sect, or point of view, ac-
cording to the plaintiffs lawsuit.
School administrators in Cresco have apparently
forgotten that children are not the government. Per-
haps they missed the First Amendment memo that
says students are free to express their faith includ-
ing the conviction that their religion is the best or
Summer Issue #1 kappanmagazine.org 27
 truest as long as they dont disrupt the school or
interfere with the rights of others.
In a few districts, teachers and administrators are
seen by some parents and students as actively hos-
Like the sacred public school, the naked public
school is also unjust and often unconstitutional.
tile to religion. Consider a case recently decided by
the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals involving a
Capistrano, Calif., high school teacher accused by
a student of denigrating religion in the classroom.
Although the student alleged that many statements
by the teacher demonstrated hostility to religion, a
lower court found that only the teachers description
of creationism as religious, superstitious nonsense
violated the Establishment Clause. But the appeals
court let the teacher off the hook completely, rul-
ing that absent clear legal precedents drawing the
line indicating when teacher speech becomes hostile
to religion, this teacher may not have realized that
LEARN MORE
Guidance on Constitutionally Protected Prayer in Public
and Elementary and Secondary Schools
Provides a summary of student religious-liberty rights under current
law. Prepared by the U.S. Department of Education.
www2.ed.gov/policy/gen/guid/religionandschools/prayer_
guidance.html
A Teachers Guide to Religion in the Public Schools
Presents the consensus guidelines about what teachers can and
cannot do. Endorsed by 22 religious, civil liberties, and educational
organizations.
Available from the First Amendment Center
www.firstamendmentcenter.org. Visit the Publications page for a
free download of a PDF file.
A Parents Guide to Religion in the Public Schools (available
in English and Spanish)
Available from the First Amendment Center
www.firstamendmentcenter.org. Visit the Publications page for a
free download of a PDF file.
28 Must-Reads from Kappan, 2011-12/Summer Issue #1
his comments about religion might be unconstitu-
tional (C.F. v. Capistrano, 2011). Notwithstanding
this confusing signal from the 9th Circuit, the U.S.
Supreme Court has made clear that school neutral-
ity under the First Amendment prohibits hostility
toward religion. Writing for the Court majority in
Abington v. Schempp, Justice Tom Clark explained
that the Establishment Clause bars the government
from establishing a religion of secularism by affir-
matively opposing or showing hostility to religion
(Abington v. Schempp, 1963).
Like the sacred public school, the naked public
school is also unjust and often unconstitutional.
A civil public school
Although some culture warriors on both sides will
tell you otherwise, Americans do not have to choose
between imposing religion in schools and keeping
it out altogether. This is a false choice between two
unconstitutional alternatives.
The third model the approach built on the
new consensus is what may be called a civil pub-
lic school. It is, in fact, what public schools look like
when they fully understand and apply the religion
clauses of the First Amendment.
What is a civil public school? The best one-stop
description is found in an agreement I helped negotiate
in 1995 entitled Religious Liberty, Public Education,
and the Future of American Democracy, a statement
of principles endorsed by 24 major education and re-
ligious organizations. Principle IV provides a shared
vision for religious liberty in public schools:
Public schools may not inculcate nor inhibit religion.
They must be places where religion and religious con-
viction are treated with fairness and respect. Public
schools uphold the First Amendment when they pro-
tect the religious liberty rights of students of all faiths
or none. Schools demonstrate fairness when they en-
sure that the curriculum includes study about religion,
where appropriate, as an important part of a complete
education. (Haynes & Thomas, 2010, p. 12)
These four sentences describe public schools
that live up to the promise of religious liberty un-
der the First Amendment. Rather than saying no
to religion, the First Amendment opens the door
to appropriate student religious expression and the
academic study of religion while simultaneously
keeping school officials from taking sides in religion.
The diversity of groups endorsing this statement
of principles is truly remarkable. Both the Christian
Coalition and People for the American Way are on
the list. The Christian Educators Association Inter-
national is listed, but so is the National Education
Association. The National Association of Evangel-
icals, the Catholic League for Religious and Civil
Rights, the Anti-Defamation League, the Council appropriate, as part of a complete education. Such
on Islamic Education join with the American As- teaching must be fair, objective, and based on sound
sociation of School Administrators, the National scholarship.
PTA, the National School Boards Association, and Although only one school district (Modesto, Ca-
Phi Delta Kappa to endorse this shared understand- lif.) has a required world religions course, many oth-
ing of the First Amendment. ers have extensive units on world religions in history
classes and a growing number offer religious studies
Where we agree electives. Fairfax County Public Schools in Virginia,
Within a First Amendment framework, we now for example, has encouraged in-depth study of world
have broad agreement on many of the religious lib- religions since the late 1990s. In addition to the con-
erty rights of public school students. siderable coverage of world religions in the required
Under current law, students have the right to pray world history course (as mandated by Virginias his-
in public schools, alone or in groups, as long as the tory standards), Fairfax County has elective world
religions courses in seven of the districts 25 high
schools as well as in two alternative schools.
Public schools can (and should) teach about religion, Where we still disagree
where appropriate, as part of a complete education. This doesnt mean, of course, that all public
schools are now civil public schools or even close to
it. Because of our long history of fights and lawsuits,
many school officials are still afraid to implement the
activity does not disrupt the school or infringe on the new consensus, and some teachers remain skittish
rights of others. Students have the right to share their about discussing religion, whatever the standards or
faith with others and to read their scriptures. When textbooks say. Moreover, the culture wars are still
relevant to the discussion and within the academic with us, triggering new arguments over religion
requirements, students may express their religious in schools. Post 9/11, for example, teaching about
(or antireligious) views in a class discussion or as Muslims and Islam has triggered textbook debates
part of a written assignment. Students have the right in Texas and a lawsuit in California over the use of
to distribute religious literature in school,
subject to reasonable time, place, and man-
ner restrictions. And under the Equal Ac-
cess Act, students have the right to form
New from TCPress
religious clubs in secondary schools if the
school allows other extracurricular clubs.
There is also broad agreement among
education, civil liberties, and religious or-
ganizations that public schools need to in-
clude study about religion in the curricu-
lum. In recent years, many schools have
moved from asking Is it constitutional
to teach about religion? to asking How
should we do it? Twenty years ago, state
social studies frameworks largely ignored
religion and textbooks followed suit. Shirley M. Hord and Paul L. Shaw Robert Rueda
Today, all existing state social studies stan- Edward F. Tobia Foreword by Michael Fullan Foreword by P. David Pearson
Foreword by Afterword by Andy Hargreaves
dards include considerable mention of re- Karen Seashore Louis
This problem-solving
Delve into this book and model will help every
ligion (Douglass, 2000). As a consequence, Practical, powerful, and be rewarded. school leader address local
history textbooks now integrate some study inspirational! Michael Fullan achievement gaps and low
of religions into discussions of American Stephanie Hirsh Captures the essence of student performance.
and world history. Shows what empowered what principals do and the
Professional Learning leadership traits they need
Although public school officials must be Communities (PLCs) to take charge for school
neutral in their treatment of religion nei- look like. improvement.
Available at fine bookstores
ther inculcating nor denigrating religion
neutrality under the First Amendment does TEACHERS COLLEGE PRESS 800.575.6566
not mean ignoring religion. Public schools Teachers College, Columbia University www.tcpress.com
can (and should) teach about religion, where
Summer Issue #1 kappanmagazine.org 29
 role playing to teach about Islam (Eklund v. By-
ron, 2005).
At present, the most contentious conflict over re-
ligion in the curriculum is over how to teach the Bi-
ble, the latest battle in the long-running Bible wars.
School districts across the country are fighting over
proposals for elective Bible courses. If Bible literacy
was the only issue, then finding agreement on the
importance of learning about the Bible might be eas-
ily reached. After all, how can students understand
much of what they see in museums, read in literature,
or encounter in history and current events if they are
biblically illiterate?
But much of the current pressure for Bible courses
comes from the National Council on Religion in the
Public School Curriculum, a conservative Christian
group that promotes a Bible curriculum that many
biblical scholars conclude unconstitutionally pro-
motes one religious view of the scriptures. School
districts that go down this path risk winding up
in court (Chancey, 2007). An alternative approach
emerged in 2005 when the Bible Literacy Project
released a new textbook, The Bible and Its Influence, in
an effort to provide an academically sound presenta-
tion of the themes, narratives, and characters of the
Hebrew Scriptures and New Testament.
Since 2006, these two approaches have clashed
in local communities as well as in state legislatures.
State legislators in Georgia, Texas, South Carolina,
and Tennessee have adopted a collection of Bible
bills to encourage school districts to offer Bible
electives in high schools. Unless school districts are
careful about how they design Bible electives, more
litigation is inevitable.
Can we do this?
In order to live with our deepest differences in the
United States, we must get religion right in public
You have to attend classes. You cant just follow me on
Twitter.
30 Must-Reads from Kappan, 2011-12/Summer Issue #1
education, the institution primarily responsible for
preparing young people for citizenship in a plural-
istic democracy. If we cannot get this right in public
schools, we have little hope of getting this right in
the public square of what is now the most religiously
diverse nation on Earth.
Without minimizing the remaining barriers and
challenges, I am convinced that a shared vision for
religious liberty in public schools a First Amend-
ment vision that includes people of all faiths and none
is much closer to reality today than ever before
in our history. Can we do this in public schools? We
must.K
References
Abington Township v. Schempp, 374 U.S. 203 (1963).
C.F. v. Capistrano Unified Sch. Dist., 2011 U.S. App. LEXIS
17207 (9th Cir. August 19, 2011).
Chancey, M.A. (2007). A textbook example of the Christian
Right: The National Council on Bible Curriculum in public
schools. Journal of the American Academy of Religion, 75,
554-581.
Douglass, S. (2000). Teaching about religion in national and
state standards. Nashville, TN: Council on Islamic Education
and First Amendment Center.
Eck, D.L. (2001). A new religious America: How a Christian
country has now become the worlds most religiously diverse
nation. San Francisco, CA: Harper.
Eklund v. Byron Union School District, No. 04-15032 (9th Cir.
November 17, 2005).
Haynes, C.C. & Thomas, O. (2007). Finding common ground:
A First Amendment guide to religion and public schools.
Nashville, TN: First Amendment Center.
Lester, E. (2011). Teaching about religion: A democratic
approach for public schools. Ann Arbor, MI: University of
Michigan Press.
Lester, E. & Roberts, P. (2006). Learning about world religions
in public schools: The impact on student attitudes and
community acceptance in Modesto, Calif. Nashville, TN: First
Amendment Center.
Nord, W. (2010). Does God make a difference? New York, NY:
Oxford University Press.
Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life. (2010). U.S. religious
knowledge survey. Washington, DC: Pew Research Center.
Prothero, S. (2007). Religious literacy: What every American
needs to know and doesnt. San Francisco, CA:
HarperOne.
Solomon, S.D. (2007). Ellerys protest: How one young man
defied tradition and sparked the battle over school prayer. Ann
Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.
 Professional development guide to:
Getting religion right in public schools
By Charles C. Haynes
Phi Delta Kappan, 93 (4), 8-14
OVERVIEW OF THE ARTICLE
Educators can no longer endorse or censor religious expression in schools; they must accept the
critical role of religion in history and contemporary society and use consensus guidelines to design civil
public schools and teach about religion.

KEY POINTS

The United States is the most religiously diverse nation on Earth.

Religious illiteracy may contribute to the rising number of hate crimes based on misunderstandings about others religions.
Ignoring religion in schools (or wrongly promoting or prohibiting it) denies the fact that most U.S. and global confl icts arise from
religious differences; to have a more civil society, students need to learn about religion in schools that practice civility.
Two historical approaches to religion in the schools (preferring one religion over another or purging religion in schools) have
failed; however, theyre being replaced by consensus models based on the religion clauses of the First Amendment.
The First Amendment guarantees freedom of appropriate student religious expression as well as an academic focus on religions.
Educators are exploring how to teach about religion as part of a complete education while remaining neutral about religions.

FULL VALUE
The author asks, Whose schools are these? This is a huge, enduring, and fundamental question in education. Patricia Moor
Harbour, writing for the Kettering Foundation, comments that, even though public ownership of and responsibility for education is
at the heart of our democracy . . . parents, citizens, and the public [have felt] isolated from the education process.

Isolation changed to activism upon the release of A Nation at Risk (1983), which exhorted parents and communities to do
something. They began to pressure schools, which pushed back, and adversarial relationships deepened between schools and
the public. Education became a political battlefield of blame and shame.

As a superintendent, Harbour noted, citizens spoke with their feet and with their vote. Flight from public schools and failed
bond levies increased. Partisan politics, rhetoric, harsh media stories, and territorial battles prevailed. Public education, in crisis,
was caught between the demands of a powerful mayor, a stand-her-ground superintendent, intervening city council members,
outspoken angry parents . . . frustrated business and infl uential community leaders. Furthermore, school board members,
who were perceived as concerned more with their personal political agendas, failed to achieve a policy level necessary to meet
educational goals crucial for students achievement and community aspirations.

More recently as a researcher, Harbour has noticed a change as a village of citizen teachers, individuals, institutions, organizations, and
communities focused on the growth, development, education, and well-being of youth in their communities has begun to take charge.

DEEPEN YOUR THINKING

Choose one or more of these individual inquiry topics for thinking and writing.
1. Before reading the article, would you have guessed that there is more student religious expression and more study about
religion in public schools today than at any time in the last 10 years?
2. What do you know about the First Amendment to the Constitution?
3. Why would getting religion right in schools be important to you?
4. How widespread is religious illiteracy in your educational environment?
5. What examples do you have of the first or second failing models for religion in schools (privileging one religion and
religion-naked public schools)?
6. What are the differences among these three phrases: teaching religion, teaching a religion, and teaching about religion?
7. What would a civil school be like in todays society? Can civil schools be created?

Summer Issue #1 kappanmagazine.org 31

 EXTEND YOUR THOUGHTS THROUGH ACTIVITIES FOR GROUP DISCUSSION
Work with colleagues to consider some of the key questions addressed in Charles Haynes publication, A Teachers
Guide to Religion in the Public Schools. Use the following grid to consider these questions in relationship to your
own districts and schools.

Degree of What we need to What we might

importance to us know about this do related to this
Key questions (1 = low; 10 = high) guideline guideline

1. Is it constitutional to teach about

religion?

2. Why should study about religion be

included in the curriculum?

3. Is study about religion included in

textbooks and standards?

4. How should I teach about religion?

5. Which religions should be taught

and how much should be said?

6. May I invite guest speakers to help

with study about religion?

7. How should I treat religious

holidays in the classroom?

8. Are there opportunities for teacher

education in study about religion?

9. What are good classroom resources

for teaching about religion?

10. What is the relationship between

religion and character education?

11. May I pray or otherwise practice

my faith while at school?

12. How do I respond if students ask

about my religious beliefs?

13. May students express religious

views in public schools?

14. May students express religious

views in their assignments?

15. How should public schools respond

to excusal requests from parents?

16. May public schools accommodate

students with special religious needs?

References

Harbour, P.M. (2008). Whats changed? Are citizens reestablishing education ownership? Dayton, OH: Kettering Foundation.

Haynes, C.C. (2008). A teachers guide to religion in the public schools. Nashville, TN: First Amendment Center.

32 Must-Reads from Kappan, 2011-12/Summer Issue #1

 Comments?
Like PDK at www.
facebook.com/pdkintl
Philanthropies & education

Philanthropy gets in the ring

Edu-funders get serious about education policy
If education philanthropists want
to infl uence policy, then they must
open themselves to more public
debate about their plans and
goals.

By Frederick M. Hess

The year 2005 seems like a long time ago. That year, I published a hard look at education philanthropy
titled With the Best of Intentions: How Philanthropy is Reshaping K-12 Education, using the dismal experience
of the then recently concluded $1.1 billion Annenberg Challenge as a jumping-off point. At the same time,
the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation was walking away from the disappointing results of its enormous in-
vestment in small high schools.
At that point, Gates foundation officials were, for the first time, seriously considering whether to play
an active role in shaping public policy. Race to the Top, the Common Core, Democrats for Education Re-
form, and StudentsFirst were unimagined. No one regarded New Orleans, Washington, D.C.,
or Newark as hotbeds of school reform. Diane Ravitch was still a champion of school choice and
accountability, and few had heard of Barack Obama, Michelle Rhee, Deborah Gist, or Geoffrey A handful of key
Canada. No Child Left Behind was still novel and fairly popular, and not a single state was try- philanthropists have
ing to build teacher evaluation around value-added systems. been responsible for
In short, it was a different educational world. And I think its fair to say that a handful of key much of the tectonic
philanthropists have been responsible for much of the tectonic shift that we have seen since. A shift that we have
generation of new philanthropists with names like Gates, Walton, Dell, Broad, Fischer, and
seen since 2005.
Arnold charged into the K-12 arena in the late 1990s and the first decade of the 2000s. Having
made billions in technology, energy, retail, and the like, they shared an impatience, an entre-
preneurial bent, and a focus on measured outcomes that set them apart from established education givers.
Now, let me be straight I think most of these developments have been good and promising. Obviously,
readers are free to disagree. But, whatever ones view, the past seven years offer telling insights about the evolving
role of education philanthropy, the promise and the perils of the muscular philanthropy that unapologetically This article
tried to change policy, and how both funders and the rest of us can best navigate the waters ahead. was originally
published in Phi
FREDERICK M. HESS (rhess@aei.org) is director of education policy studies for the American Enterprise Institute, Washington, Delta Kappan, 93
D.C. (8), 17-21.

Summer Issue #1 kappanmagazine.org 33

Thinkstock/iStockphoto
Gifts of the top five funders in 2010 compared to total 2010 U.S. spending on K-12 schooling
U.S. spending on K-12 schooling $600 billion
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation $209 million
Walton Family Foundation $110 million
W.K. Kellogg Foundation $58 million
Michael and Susan Dell Foundation $55 million
Silicon Valley Community Foundation $35 million
Source: The Foundation Center. www.foundationcenter.org
A decade ago, a big frustration for edu-philanthro-
pists was the sense that they would invest in exciting
programs or practices, but that these never seemed
to deliver lasting improvement. A piloted reading
or mentoring program would offer promising re-
sults, only to disappoint when scaled. Or a founda-
tion would underwrite professional development or a
new curriculum for several years, only to see it die on
the vine when outside funding dried up. Or funders
would help launch dynamic schools, only to see them
fall apart when the charismatic founder left.
Where an earlier generation of donors had
chalked up the challenges to problems of implemen-
tation or program design, the new philanthropists
were much more receptive to the notion that the
problem was the inhospitable cultures, systems, and
policy environments in which those scale-ups were
being attempted. New donors who had made their
fortunes in the new economy frequently staffed their
foundations with Teach For America alums, MBAs,
or other nontraditional educators and focused on
problems posed by system rigidity, leadership, and
policy. The new givers gravitated toward a strategy
that rested on three key insights, all sketched out in
Best Intentions (Hess, 2005):
First, University of Arkansas professor Jay
Greenes seminal analysis pointed out that the
amount of edu-philanthropy is so small that its ri-
diculous to think that investments in programs or
practice will have a noticeable effect. Using various
approaches, Greene calculated that all private giv-
ing combined amounts to perhaps 1% of total K-12
spending or, maybe, one penny on the dollar. Con-
sequently, he argued that philanthropy only mat-
tered when it funded high-leverage investments
(e.g., when it altered policies or practices governing
the long-term use of the public funds that account
for 99% of school spending).
Second, Don McAdams, founder of the Center
for Reform of School Systems, argued that philan-
thropy typically entails limited dollars in the grand
scheme of things, but has an outsized influence be-
cause this money is nimble and can be used to drive
a state or a districts reforms, where its hugely dif-
ficult to redeploy more than a sliver of public funds.
34 Must-Reads from Kappan, 2011-12/Summer Issue #1
Third, a vital piece of leverage was producing re-
search and supporting advocacy in a manner that
would shape policy. Policy analyst Andy Rotherham
argued that this kind of investment could be aptly
captured by the adage: Give a man a fish and you
feed him for a day, teach him to fish and you feed
him for a lifetime. Foundation-backed advocacy, re-
search, and proof points that new rules were possible
and offered a way to alter public policies and priori-
ties in order to create the conditions for long-term,
systemic change.
At the time, I heartily endorsed the policy-centric
approach that the contributors had encouraged, but
also wrestled with some of the repercussions. I wor-
ried about foundations being wedded to reformers
and thinkers who tell them what they want to hear,
the perils of groupthink, the disinclination of critics
to challenge deep-pocketed funders and how all
this gets even dicier when foundations are actively
pursuing an agenda in policy or research.
Whats the deal?
Caustic critics have accused the Gates foundation
and other deep-pocketed donors of buying Americas
schools. The truth is, even big-dollar philanthropy is
pretty miniscule when viewed alongside the nations
K-12 spending.
According to the Foundation Center, the five big-
gest K-12 givers in 2010 were:
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation $209
million;
Walton Family Foundation $110 million;
W.K. Kellogg Foundation $58 million;
Michael and Susan Dell Foundation $55
million; and
Silicon Valley Community Foundation $35
million (Foundation Center, 2012).
The top 10 donors gave about $585 million in
total, out of total reported giving of $983 million.
This total amounts to not even one-fifth of 1% of
the $600 billion or so that the U.S. spends on K-12
schooling; the entirety of reported national giving
in 2010 didnt even add up to 5% of what New York

City alone spent that year. Facebook Mark Zucker-
bergs enormous, widely discussed $100 million 2010
gift to the Newark, N.J., schools will amount to less
than 3% of district spending during the four-year
period in question.
That said, the reform-minded foundations
(think Gates, Walton, Dell, et al.) have clearly de-
veloped a playbook that powerfully leverages their
investments. For instance, $60 million in donor sup-
port was critical in helping former D.C. Chancel-
lor Michelle Rhee fund and win passage of a path-
breaking collective bargaining agreement in 2010.
Funders have been critical in encouraging the bur-
geoning success of influential, nonpartisan advocacy
groups like Stand for Children, Advance Illinois,
ConnCAN, and a wealth of imitators. A wave of phi-
lanthropy played a crucial role in creating a charter-
centric New Orleans school system that has posted
impressive results and become a national model for
charter advocates.
The Gates and Broad foundations spent nearly
$30 million on ED in 08, an effort that failed to
stimulate grassroots interest but that helped put the
Common Core State Standards on the map. Subse-
quent funding, primarily by Gates, provided essen-
tial support for developing the Common Core and
for states starting to wrestle with implementation.
Foundations have played a critical role in Race to
the Top, Investing in Innovation Fund (i3), and de-
veloping and promoting teacher evaluation systems
that draw far more heavily on value-added determi-
nations. Whatever ones take on this legacy, funders
seem to have learned how to get a lot more oomph
for their penny on the dollar.
The big shift
Clearly evident is a growing emphasis on three
things: advocacy, research, and efforts to upend struc-
tural constraints. Although, historically, most foun-
dation giving has focused on programs and practices
(e.g., professional development or a new reading pro-
gram), new efforts have taken to heart the lesson of
leverage. A thicket of new advocacy groups now exists
to mobilize parents, organize champions of charter
schooling or merit pay, and challenge the more tra-
ditional powers (like teacher unions and school board
associations). Research, most notably the Gates foun-
dations $400 million Measures of Effective Teach-
ing project, has started to refine, justify, and build a
comfort level with dramatic changes in established
policies. Pioneering efforts to upend tenure, remove
barriers to charter schooling, or build out data systems
create proof points that can reassure skeptical policy
makers and offer replicable models.
Now, some critics have fretted that this kind of
assertive philanthropy represents an assault on dem-
ocratic values or is an invidious conspiracy to take
over schools. I find these critiques less than compel-
ling. Muscular philanthropy focused on public pol-
icy is hardly new. I dont remember these concerns
about the pernicious influence of grantors when the
As long as philanthropy is independent of
government, even muscular efforts that promote
certain policies or reshape the system are healthy
and even invaluable.
Ford Foundation bankrolled litigation to boost edu-
spending in the 1970s and 1980s or when the Annen-
berg Challenge championed a mash-up of popular
mid-1990s reforms. The big difference seems to be
that those who dislike what Gates is promoting hap-
pened to like the Ford agenda. Active engagement by
individuals, associations, communities, businesses,
and nonprofits of varying resources and effect has
long been part of our nations pluralist fabric. Weve
always been a Tocquevillian nation, where progress
springs not from the genius of central planners but
from the pushing and shoving of a hearty stew of
self-interested actors.
I find assertive philanthropy to be an enormously
healthy development, within limits. Philanthropy
provides a vehicle for identifying and supporting
promising individuals and ideas outside the public
education bureaucracy. Some donors can light the
way forward even as others provide a balancing wheel
to counter the fads and groupthink of the moment.
In the end, as long as philanthropy is independent
of government, even muscular efforts that promote
certain policies or reshape the system are healthy
and even invaluable.
The danger of the echo chamber
I find characterizations of Bill Gates, Eli Broad,
Michael Dell, John Arnold, or the Walton family as
billionaires out to buy schooling to be off the mark,
mean-spirited, and fairly incomprehensible (if these
individuals were really focused on accumulating an-
other billion, do critics really think that tedious cam-
Summer Issue #1 kappanmagazine.org 35
 paigns to alter state policies on teacher evaluation or
school choice would be the most promising path?).
That said, there are real, significant causes for con-
cern about the new philanthropy. And, as exasper-
ating as it might seem, especially amidst volleys of
cheap, ad hominem attacks, foundations that wade
into policy have a responsibility to embrace criticism
and feedback much more productively than has been
the norm. After all, choosing to give funds in a way
that changes policies for millions of kids and com-
munities is different from underwriting a mentoring
program. This kind of high-leverage giving is useful
and, I think, necessary because no one else can play
that role, but it does bring with it a new level of civic
responsibility.
Leading influential philanthropies generally
make a concerted effort at self-appraisal. They eval-
uate grants, engage in self-criticism, and convene
groups to offer feedback on their giving. This is all
swell as far as it goes, up until foundation officials
convince themselves that theyve heard the array of
arguments and sorted through options.
When influential foundations and the federal
government link arms, disagreeing with the
Presidents policies becomes an attack on the
foundation agenda and the foundation agendas,
however subtly, get politicized.
The problem? Hard-hitting public exchanges
not private confabs are the most effective fo-
rums for surfacing overlooked challenges, informing
courses of action, or reframing the context in which
decisions are made. The groups convened by foun-
dations tend to include, naturally enough, friends,
allies, and grantees. These arent the folks likely to
offer a fresh take on strategy or to challenge com-
fortable assumptions especially given the sensible
disinclination of grantees to offend benefactors or of
reformers to offend the engine funding their cause.
But, the truth is that foundations have a hard time
getting smart, challenging, constructive pushback
from the thinkers best equipped to do so. This isnt
a question of foundations trying to stifle free speech
but of self-preservation making potential critics
mealymouthed. First, academics, activists, and the
policy community live in a world where philanthro-
pists are royalty where philanthropic support is
often the ticket to tackling big projects, making a dif-
ference, and maintaining ones livelihood. Even indi-
viduals and organizations that also receive financial
support from government grants, tuition, endow-
ments, or interest groups are eager to be on good
terms with the philanthropic community.
36 Must-Reads from Kappan, 2011-12/Summer Issue #1
Second, even if scholars themselves are insulated
enough to risk being impolitic, they routinely collabo-
rate with school districts, policy makers, and colleagues
who want philanthropic support. Incurring the wrath of
a major giver may make it more difficult for otherwise
blunt scholars to collaborate with skittish colleagues,
public officials, or educators. The irony is that leading
experts on high schools, school choice, or urban school
reform, for instance, tend to avoid commenting starkly
on funders like Gates, Walton, or Annenberg.
Bill & Melinda Gates
Foundations Intensive
Partnerships for Effective
Teaching sites
Supporting plans to transform how teachers
are recruited, developed, rewarded, and
retained.
Grant commitment: $290 million
Sites:
Hillsborough County Public Schools
(Tampa, Fla.): $100 million
Memphis City Schools: $90 million
Pittsburgh Public Schools: $40 million
The College-Ready Promise (five charter
school networks in Los Angeles: Alliance
College-Ready Public Schools, Aspire
Public Schools, Green Dot Public Schools,
Inner City Education Foundation, and
Partnerships to Uplift Communities
Schools): $60 million
Source: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Foundation fact sheet. www.gatesfoundation.org/
about/Pages/foundation-fact-sheet.aspx
 All of this results in an amiable conspiracy of si-
lence among the thoughtful and the serious. The
usual scolds remain in the good graces of the founda-
tions by training their fire on other, less sympathetic
targets. Even if foundations take no explicit action,
the natural instinct for self-preservation is enough
to render a skittish education community even more
reticent. The result: a vacuum that gets filled by in-
cendiary voices and marginal figures with ideological
agendas and nothing to lose.
These concerns are aggravated when we have
foundations partnering with the federal govern-
ment, as weve seen with Obama Administration
initiatives like Race to the Top and i3. When influ-
ential foundations and the federal government link
arms, disagreeing with the Presidents policies is to
attack the foundation agenda and the foundation
agenda, however subtly, gets politicized. Trust me,
its no fun to square off against the executive branch
or to be out of favor with the Secretary of Educa-
tion. Indeed, its when presidential initiatives like No
Child Left Behind or Race to the Top are dominating
the landscape and political pressures are encouraging
leading thinkers to close ranks that the availability of
diverse funders with distinctive views and priorities
is especially vital in fostering healthy skepticism and
critical analysis. When foundations are shoulder to
shoulder with the executive branch or feel pressure
to be team players, it threatens our abil-
ity to seriously debate and weigh the merits
of either federal or foundation efforts (Id
argue that something very much like this
happened with Race to the Top).
stalling the plagues of hubris and groupthink. (Foun-
dations would find it easier to do this if the more
vehement critics exercised a little more restraint and
spent more time focused on substance and less at-
tacking the motives of donors.)
As for explicit collaborations with the federal gov-
ernment, my advice is this: Stop it. It does indeed
build on the notion of leverage. But it threatens to
stifle criticism, leaves little obvious room for alterna-
tive approaches, and takes the risks to a whole new As for the
level. Ultimately, its a bridge too far.
explicit
Embracing public debate would require founda-
tion boards to become more accepting of negative collaborations
publicity than is the norm. It asks foundation staff with the
to view themselves as fair game for public criticism, federal
rather than stewards of noblesse oblige. This may government,
seem like a lousy deal. But one lesson the new edu- my advice is
philanthropists have learned is that mixed reviews
this: Stop it.
are the painful price of relevance.K
References
Foundation Center. (2012). Top 50 U.S. foundations awarding
grants for elementary and secondary education, circa 2010.
www.foundationcenter.org
Hess, F. (2005). With the best of intentions: How philanthropy
is reshaping K-12 education. Cambridge, MA: Harvard
Education Press.
New from TCPress

What to do?
Odd as it may seem, Im suggesting that
foundations should make it conscious pol-
icy to welcome even encourage public
criticism. Im not talking about hired evalu-
ations or strategic assessments conducted
by friendly consultants but about rigorous
debate over objectives, strategies, and out-
comes. Given that even tart-tongued ob-
Jeffrey S. Brooks Kevin K. Kumashiro Edited by Lisa Arrasta
servers will be unusually reluctant to share Foreword by Lisa D. Delpit and Marvin Hoffman
their thoughts, foundations must make it Afterword by William Ayers This book could be a Foreword by Pedro Noguera
springboard for teachers.
extravagantly clear that they wont blacklist After reading this Grace Lee Boggs, Contributions by Debbie
critics and that they wont look kindly upon important book, one is The Boggs Center Almontaser, Ann Cook,
thoroughly convinced David Domenici, David
anyone who does. that leadership matters Courageous, blunt, and
TC Ellis, James Forman Jr.,
Of course, such debate inevitably en- with respect to race hopeful.
Sonia Nieto, David Greenberg, Dennis
tails critiques that may seem incomplete, andeducation. University of Massachusetts Littky, Rito Martinez,
Dalton Conley, at Amherst Deborah Meier, Samuel
wrong-headed, or unfair. However, the New York University Seidel, Phyllis Tashlik, and
value of skeptics is that they raise unpleas- Elliot Washor.
ant issues and make it possible for those in-
side an organizational bubble to see things TEACHERS COLLEGE PRESS 800.575.6566
in a new light. Engaging with critics in a Teachers College, Columbia University www.tcpress.com
real and sustained way is essential to fore-
Summer Issue #1 kappanmagazine.org 37
 Professional development guide to:

Philanthropy gets in the ring:

Edu-funders get serious about
education policy
By Frederick M. Hess

Phi Delta Kappan, 93 (8), 17-21

OVERVIEW OF THE ARTICLE

Philanthropies have changed their focus in the last 10 years from funding programs and practices to funding high-leverage actions
that affect policy, but philanthropists and their staffs must consider the civic responsibility they have to affect education in a positive
and long-lasting way.

KEY POINTS

In 2005, the educational philanthropy world before Race to the Top and the Common Core was quite different, with big
philanthropies investing in programs and practices that looked promising (but often failed to live up to that promise) and hoping
to change policies.
In 2010, foundation-funded programs amounted to less than 0.2% of total funding on education ($983 million out of $600
billion).
The big shift in the thinking of philanthropists and their staffs is that they should no longer fund programs and practices (hoping
to infl uence policy), but should focus on advocacy, research, and efforts to upend structural constraints.
They should consider the degree to which what they fund can leverage substantive change a lot more oomph for their
penny on the dollar. The author calls this approach muscular, or assertive, philanthropy.
While not new, muscular philanthropy requires careful attention to democratic principles.
Foundations must be willing to embrace criticism and feedback much more productively than has been the norm; they need
to become civically responsible.
Public (rather than private) self-appraisal that includes the viewpoints of those who are most skeptical about the philanthropys
efforts (not just the sycophants) and ending explicit collaborations with the federal government are important moves
philanthropies can make in order to become more democratic.

FULL VALUE
One way of thinking about foundations that fund education is to examine their mission statements. Here are a few:
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation: Our foundation is teaming up with partners around the world to take on some tough
problems: extreme poverty and poor health in developing countries, the failures of Americas education system. We focus
on only a few issues because we think thats the best way to have great impact, and we focus on these issues in particular
because we think they are the biggest barriers that prevent people from making the most of their lives.
Broad Foundation: Transforming K-12 urban public education through better governance, management, labor relations,
and competition.
Walton Family Foundation: The Walton Family Foundation is committed to improving K-12 student achievement in the
United States at every level in traditional public schools, charter public schools, and private schools. Our core strategy is
to infuse competitive pressure into Americas K-12 education system by increasing the quantity and quality of school choices
available to parents, especially in low-income communities.
Michael & Susan Dell Foundation: Transforming the lives of children living in urban poverty through better health and education.

DEEPEN YOUR THINKING

Choose one or more of these individual topics for thinking and writing:

1. What experience have you had with education foundations?

2. What do you know about the following philanthropies that have funded education: Annenberg Challenge, Small High

38 Must-Reads from Kappan, 2011-12/Summer Issue #1

 Schools Project or Measures of Effective Teaching (MET) funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Carnegie Foundation,
Broad Foundation, Walton Family Foundation, W. K. Kellogg Foundation, Michael & Susan Dell Foundation, and Silicon Valley
Community Foundation?
3. To what extent have these funders affected policy? To what extent have the reforms they sponsored been sustained?
4. What do you know about government and foundation partnerships designed to affect policies and practices: Common Core
State Standards, Race to the Top, i3, and development of teacher evaluation systems, merit pay, charter schools.
5. What comes to your mind as you think about muscular philanthropy or assertive philanthropy?
6. What structural restraints might interfere with making change at the school, district, state, and federal levels?
7. In what ways are advocacy groups, such as teacher unions and associations (such as the National Association of School
Boards), similar to or different from foundations?
8. In what ways might foundations be influenced by friends, allies, and grantees rather than critics and skeptics?
9. How could foundations incorporate the advice of critics and skeptics?
10. To what degree should foundations partner with the federal government to effect policy change?

EXTEND YOUR THOUGHTS THROUGH ACTIVITIES FOR GROUP DISCUSSION

Use a Deconstruction Protocol to discuss some of the issues raised by the author of this article. Here is how the protocol works:

What do we know about this issue?

Based on what we know, what are the issues within the issue (in other words, unpack the issue to discover its components or
aspects)? What is it about the issue that we might discuss?
Look for polarities or dichotomies within the issue. Are these really opposites? Can they be linked in some way by and rather
than or?
Now, what do we know about this issue? What else do we need to know?
If we were to take some kind of action on this issue, what kind of action would we take? Why?
Here are some issues to discuss:

Why foundations fund education

The appropriate role of private and corporate philanthropies in funding educational reform
Whether private and corporate foundations are buying American schools by funding them
The effect of moral and political beliefs on philanthropic funding in education
The influence philanthropies should have on what schools, districts, states, and the federal government do in terms of
educating youth
Whether philanthropic projects or programs are more likely than publicly funded programs or projects to have an effect on
teaching and learning
The role of leverage; whether funded projects or programs should go to scale and, if so, how they go to scale
The role of scholarly research and evaluation in privately funded initiatives
Muscular, or assertive, philanthropy
Scaling up individual programs, practices, and policy reforms
The relationship of the federal government and private and corporate philanthropies in funding reform
The responsibilities of private and corporate philanthropies to engage in open discussion (including critics and skeptics)
about their funding initiatives
Self-appraisal and public (rather than private) exchanges within foundations
How foundations can get smart
The promise and peril of skeptics, cynics, and sycophants

References
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. (n.d.). Letter from Bill and Melinda Gates. www.gatesfoundation.org/about/
Broad Foundation. (n.d.). Mission of the Broad Foundations (Education). www.broadfoundation.org/about_foundations.html
Michael & Susan Dell Foundation. (n.d.). About us. www.msdf.org/about-us
Walton Family Foundation. (n.d.). Education reform. www.waltonfamilyfoundation.org/educationreform

Summer Issue #1 kappanmagazine.org 39

 Triggering reform
at public schools
Proponents of parent trigger laws must find ways
to promote stability in the aftermath of a successful
petition if they are to avoid the recurrence of policy
churn, inefficiency, and persistently troubled schools.

By Andrew P. Kelly
An intriguing experiment in direct democracy is afoot in some of the na-
tions struggling public schools. Under new parent trigger laws passed in Cali-
fornia and on the agenda in New York, Ohio,
Colorado, and Chicago, parents of children in
chronically failing schools can petition to un-
seat the schools current leadership and staff.
If petitioners obtain signatures from 51% of
parents, the school must undergo some kind
of major change. The options include replac-
ing the principal or existing faculty, converting
to a charter school, or closing the school en-
tirely. Californias first test case McKinley
Elementary in Compton provoked consid-
erable controversy, including a successful legal
challenge by the district and charges that the
schools current teachers had harassed children
whose parents had signed the petition.
The parent trigger gives reformers a new
weapon in the battle to improve schooling,
and the ideas growing popularity has excited
many across the country. After decades of a
focus on parental choice as a way to pressure
traditional schools to improve, reformers now
have a more direct route to influence individual
schools. The trigger gives parents an option
other than exit through school choice or
loyalty to the school. If parents can collect
enough signatures, the school must listen to their collective voice.
Optimism surrounding parent trigger laws is understandable. We all should be
in favor of giving parents the ability to demand more of their childrens schools.
But the promise of increased democratic control is not without its pitfalls. In
particular, parent trigger proponents must acknowledge that while mobilizing
This article parents to overturn the status quo may be straightforward, encouraging stability
was originally
published in Phi
Delta Kappan, 93 ANDREW P. KELLY (andrew.kelly@aei.org) is a research fellow in education policy
(6), 46-50. at the American Enterprise Institute, Washington, D.C.

40 Must-Reads from Kappan, 2011-12/Summer Issue #1

Thinkstock/iStockphoto
 Comments? Like
Kappan at www.
facebook.com/pdkintl

Proponents must never underestimate the

power of organized interests to block, water
down, and undo promising reforms.

and patience after the fact could be much more difficult. Without sufficient at-
tention to the rules and institutions necessary to build stability into the process,
parent trigger laws may lead to the same policy churn, inefficiencies, and persis-
tently troubled schools that exist today.

California test Parent trigger

The parent trigger is elegant in its simplicity: Parents whose children attend
schools that chronically fail to live up to expectations can band together to demand
change. In California, if organizers can convince a majority of parents to sign the
laws allow parents
petition and agree to one of the four turnaround models currently favored by the
federal government, then the district must implement it. The four options are: whose children
1. Converting the existing school to a charter in the same school building; attend schools that
2. Replacing the principal and at least half of the teaching staff, and giving
the new leader added control over staffing and budgeting; chronically fail to live
3. Keeping the school intact but firing the principal; or
4. Closing the school and sending students to higher-performing schools
up to expectations
nearby.
to band together to
In Californias first test case, a majority of parents at McKinley Elementary
School in Compton signed a petition to convert the school to a charter man-
aged by Celerity, a local charter management organization. Parent Revolution, a
demand change.
reform advocacy group that helped to push the Parent Trigger law through the
California state legislature, choreographed the McKinley parent trigger. The
move spawned swift and energetic opposition from the school board and the lo-
cal teachers union, eventually culminating in a successful legal challenge that led
a judge to dismiss the petition on technical grounds. When Celerity opened a
start-up campus a few blocks away and attracted far less than half of McKinleys
student body (30%), critics argued that the demand for change was not as acute
as the petition drive suggested.
As the McKinley experience shows, identifying, and mobilizing sympathetic
parents is difficult, and can provoke fierce resistance from established interests.
But, in theory, convincing parents at a failing school that anything is better than
the status quo should be an easy sell. By definition, these schools are chronically
struggling to make the grade.

Summer Issue #1 kappanmagazine.org 41

 The real problems are likely to arise after the fact,
when any new majority can threaten the agreement
struck in the earlier round of petitioning. Just be-
cause most parents preferred one model to the status
quo the first time around doesnt mean theyll stick
with it the next year. Barring immediate and palpable
improvement, the same frustrations that gave rise to
the first petition may resurface to threaten the trig-
gered reform plan.
Political scientists and theorists call this phenom-
enon cycling and have demonstrated that its com-
mon to many social decision-making processes. Even
if individual preferences are rational, majority rule
can produce outcomes that are chaotic and irratio-
nal. Without built-in rules and safeguards to prevent
cycling, majority rule systems can produce serious
instability in policy outcomes.
Evidence suggests that turning
around low-performing schools
is difficult and that doing so quickly
is exceptionally rare.
The cycling problem has implications for the par-
ent trigger, and chronically failing public schools may
be particularly susceptible to this kind of instability.
First, the set of stakeholders at a given school will
change over time. Take your average high school:
Every year, about 25% of the students move on after
graduating, and a new class of freshmen enters. Add
to this turnover some additional attrition by students
who move or drop out, and the typical year-over-year
change in constituents is probably something more
like 30%. In other words, any majority coalition that
successfully comes together to win a parent trigger
petition in one year may no longer be the majority
in the next year. Some parents who led the petition
drive will move on, and an entirely new group of
parents will take their spots. These new families may
very well be up for grabs to any group that wants to
42 Must-Reads from Kappan, 2011-12/Summer Issue #1
revisit the earlier agreement. In particular, existing
parents who lost out in the prior round of petitioning
have incentive to enlist the new entrants in a coalition
that overturns the current arrangement.
Second, the challenge of turning around failing
schools is extraordinary, meaning that bias against
the triggered remedy could be strong. If the new
reform plan fails to produce a quick turnaround in
school quality, incoming parents are likely to question
whether the current policy is effective and demand
a change if it isnt. Unfortunately, evidence suggests
that turning around low-performing schools is dif-
ficult and that doing so quickly is exceptionally rare.
In a study of Californias public schools over the last
20 years, Loveless (2010) found that only 1.4% of the
schools that scored in the bottom quartile in 1989
had moved to the top quartile by 2009; 63% scored in
the bottom quartile again. And when California in-
tervened in the 20% of schools with the lowest scores
on the Academic Performance Index, just 11% of
the elementary schools among the low performers
were able to make exemplary progress over three
years; only one out of 394 middle and high schools
were able to do the same (Smarick, 2010). In one of
the largest studies of comprehensive school reform,
WestEd concluded that only 12 of 262 initially low-
performing schools were able to make sizable gains
in math and reading achievement over a three-year
period (Orland, 2011). The study concludes that if
history is a guide, few schools across the nation are
likely to be making quick and substantial gains in
student achievement that are sustained over time
(Orland, p. 1).
Given the difficulty of quickly turning around fail-
ing schools, incoming parents may be biased against
the strategy chosen in the first round of petitioning.
After all, the logic of the parent trigger is to give
parents a mechanism to fix a school that is chroni-
cally failing. Whats more, parents who were initially
sympathetic to the remedy may also prove impatient
when immediate progress proves elusive. This pat-
tern is similar to what my colleague Frederick M.
Hess has dubbed policy churn the tendency of
school districts to adopt a particular reform strategy,
grow frustrated with its failure to deliver immediate
effects, and then discard it in favor of an entirely
new approach. Policy churn can be just as trouble-
some at the school level, resulting in inefficiencies
and incoherence from year to year.
A cure worse than the disease?
How do you get around the potential to churn
through one triggered reform after another? The key
is to create rules and structures that prevent cycling
what game theorists call structure-induced equi-
librium. Endowing one group with agenda-setting
power can lead to a stable outcome, as does eliminat-
ing proposals that have been defeated from consid-
eration, but both of these raise questions about how
fair and democratic the process actually is. Policy
makers could also build in a specified waiting pe-
riod after policy choices are made, allowing time for
implementation before a new coalition can revisit
the decision.
Unfortunately, Californias parent trigger law has
few rules that will discourage policy churn. Petition-
ers can include signatures from parents whose chil-
dren attend feeder schools, although these parents
cant be the only signers. Including these constitu-
ents can cultivate buy-in among incoming parents
and should help alleviate some problems posed by
yearly student turnover. The law also limits the num-
ber of schools that can be triggered to 75 in total,
though it is not clear whether that limit corresponds
to successful petitions or to schools (which could be
triggered multiple times).
Beyond this limit, there is no provision that ex-
plicitly prevents parents from petitioning each and
every year if the school doesnt make Adequate Yearly
Progress (AYP). A school is eligible for parent trig-
ger if its Academic Performance Index (API) is lower
than 800, has been subject to corrective action un-
der No Child Left Behind for at least one year, and
fails to make AYP while under corrective action.
(Schools must also be outside of the 5% of Califor-
nia schools labeled persistently low achieving.) Im-
portantly, the clock does not restart on these criteria
after a successful petition. If a school is triggered and
implements the remedy but still fails to make AYP
and achieve an API score over 800, parents can pe-
tition all over again. On its face, this is a recipe for
instability and policy churn.
A mandatory post-trigger implementation period
also has drawbacks. Sources close to the drafting of
the California rules said there was talk of building
in a cooling-off period after a successful trigger.
Proponents decided against it amid fears that doing
so would go against the democratic spirit of the law.
If the trigger were taken off the table for a set period
of time, parents may be less likely to remain engaged
and vigilant after a successful trigger.
The ultimate success of the parent trigger experi-
ment may rest on this trade-off between the desire to
consistently empower parents and the need to pro-
tect against policy churn. The current incarnation
of the policy seems to privilege the former over the
latter, which is understandable in light of the laws in-
tent. But policy makers and other stakeholders must
do what they can to confront the potential for cy-
cling. The worst possible outcome for parent trigger
proponents may be a string of chaotic, short-term
interventions that are discarded before they even
have a chance to succeed. Its hard to believe that a
school would have a chance of improving amid such
upheaval. In the absence of some success stories, the
laws opponents will have a much easier time rolling it
back. If the McKinley experience is any guide, there
will be no shortage of opponents chomping at the
bit to undermine the laws basic tenets.
Reconciling empowerment and stability
Parent organizing groups, coupled with some
rules governing the back end of the process, may be
key to navigating this trade-off. In the last few years,
grassroots groups have emerged to rally parents to
the education reform cause. High-profile organiza-
tions like Michelle Rhees Students First, 50Can, and
Parent Revolution have fomented a new strain of
parent activism and won significant legislative and
regulatory changes. Groups such as these typically
are focused on organizing parents to promote policy
change, including charter school expansion, trans-
parency on teacher quality, or a successful parent
trigger. But policy changes are often vulnerable to
subsequent challenges that can undo them. In the
case of the parent trigger, pulling the trigger may be
the easy part. Institutionalizing this initial support
so reforms can take root is likely to be more impor-
tant to the long-term success of the school and the
law itself. As such, the organizing prowess of these
insurgent parent groups may be just as crucial after
the trigger as before.
Parent Revolution, the group that facilitated the
trigger at McKinley, seems to have learned some of
this through experience. The group spent consider-
able energy on the front end of the parent trigger
getting the law passed, organizing parents in Comp-
ton, getting the signature drive started and validated,
and helping parents choose a charter provider. But
as the Los Angeles Times recently pointed out, Par-
ent Revolutions proactive role in the McKinley trig-
ger was criticized for commandeering the process
(Watanabe, 2011).
The criticism has led Parent Revolution to de-
velop a new approach to organizing and change, one
that may help prevent policy churn. The new model
establishes so-called parent unions at low-perform-
ing schools voluntary organizations run by inter-
ested parents. Rather than a top-down movement
to implement a particular change, these unions are
designed to endow parents with the power to set
their own reform priorities and choose their own
strategies. One implication is that parents who come
together to form these unions will then have an in-
centive to push for policy changes and also to make
sure those changes remain in place over time. In
an ideal world, Parent Revolution could start these
unions and then get out of the way, confident that
Summer Issue #1 kappanmagazine.org 43
 the organization would provide the ballast necessary
to see reform through. In reality, though, it seems
likely that these fledgling unions will require con-
tinued support and mentoring from Parent Revolu-
tion and other groups, particularly if their triggered
changes are challenged down the line. California is
already providing a test for this model of grassroots
education reform.
Policy makers and activists must
pay attention to what happens after
the trigger is pulled if this reform
is to live up to its hype.
However, even the most successful parent unions
will struggle to maintain their initial focus and en-
ergy in the face of collective action problems, turn-
over, and challenges from organized interests. Policy
makers should also consider creating post-trigger
rules that would encourage stability while leaving
parents empowered to make changes. Two poten-
tial measures stand out. First, the law could require
that any effort to petition again within a certain time
period after a successful trigger win a supermajor-
ity three-fifths or two-thirds of parents rather
than a simple majority. Raising the bar would make
it more difficult to immediately undo triggered re-
forms while ensuring that parents could still force a
change if the new direction turns out to be on the
wrong track.
Second, policy makers could make it easier for
post-trigger schools to avoid being immediately
re-triggered. Already, the law has a sort of safe
harbor provision making triggered schools tem-
porarily immune to another round of petitioning
for a period of time. The law also could treat the
triggered school as a new institution, thereby
restarting the clock on the achievement standards
that the school must reach within a certain time pe-
44 Must-Reads from Kappan, 2011-12/Summer Issue #1
riod. Both approaches would acknowledge that re-
forms may take time to implement fully and would
limit the tendency to cycle through remedies if the
school doesnt turn around immediately. It might
also free new leaders and charter management or-
ganizations to make changes that have long-term,
rather than short-term, payoffs. At the same time,
triggered schools would still have to meet strict
standards to reach the safe harbor.
Dont underestimate opposition
In reality, the potential for cycling may not be as
great as predicted. After all, mobilizing stakeholders
even once, let alone multiple times, is challenging.
For its part, Parent Revolution has found that sim-
ply locating a schools parents is difficult enough,
even before trying to mobilize them around a re-
form agenda. These logistical hurdles suggest that
the cards are stacked against repeated triggering and
policy churn.
But this perspective downplays the fact that there
will be winners and losers in each parent trigger fight,
and that the losers may have every incentive to revisit
the question as soon as possible. The education re-
form experience of the last 20 years has produced at
least one clear lesson: Proponents must never under-
estimate the power of organized interests to block,
water down, and undo promising reforms. There is
no reason to believe that the parent trigger will be
any different. In the McKinley case, the district and
the local teachers union have vehemently opposed
the trigger, leading to a messy legal fight. This kind
of reaction is likely to be the rule rather than the
exception.
In refining the parent trigger concept, policy mak-
ers and activists must acknowledge the promise and
the pitfalls of direct democracy and majority rule.
Without adequate attention to what happens after the
trigger is pulled, this promising approach to reform
may be hard-pressed to live up to the hype.K
References
Loveless, T. (2010, March 17). The 2009 Brown Center report
on American education: How well are American students
learning? Washington, DC: The Brookings Institute.
Orland, M. (2011). The federal comprehensive school reform
program and school turnaround: Key evaluation findings. San
Francisco, CA: WestEd.
Smarick, A. (2010, Winter). The turnaround fallacy. Education
Next, 10 (1), 20-26.
Watanabe, S. (2011, September 15). California parents test
ability to organize for school change. Los Angeles Times.
 Professional development guide to:

Triggering reform at public schools

By Andrew P. Kelly

Phi Delta Kappan, 93 (6), 46-50

OVERVIEW OF THE ARTICLE

According to a new California law, a coalition of parents can trigger school change in failing schools; similar laws are being considered
in other states and cities, but after the trigger, problems can include time for implementation of a new model and cycling or policy
churn that may require reactive policy change.

KEY POINTS

According to California law (which is being considered in New York, Ohio, Colorado, and Chicago), if 51% of parents petition
for change of a chronically failing school, the school must undergo some major change (most likely by adopting one of the four
federal models for changing unsuccessful schools).
Change is diffi cult to make, as WestEd discovered in studying California schools, determining that only 12 of 262 initially low-
performing schools were able to make sizable gains . . . and sustain those gains.
As the parent population of a school changes over time, remaining and new parents may want to trigger another change before
the first change has shown results, a process called cycling.
The California law was designed to enfranchise parents through majority rule, but subsequent laws may take away some of that
authority in order to prevent cycling and give a reform time to take hold.
The formation of parent unions such as Parent Revolution is one way to ensure both parent enfranchisement and protection on
the back end of a trigger.
Policy makers might want to consider requiring a supermajority if parents want to trigger another reform while the fi rst is still
being enacted; they also might want to make schools undergoing parent-sponsored reform immune from further reform for a
period of time.

DEEPEN YOUR THINKING

Choose one or more of these individual inquiry topics for thinking and writing.

1. What role(s) do parents play in your district (or a district you know well)?

2. How are reforms usually triggered in your district (or a district you know well)? How are parents involved in these reforms?

3. Think of a school you know well. What might be the focus of a parent trigger in that school? What would be the result(s) of the
trigger?

4. To what extent do you think parents should have a more direct route to infl uence individual schools? What are the benefi ts?
What are the challenges of this route?

5. Are any of the four federal turnaround models operating in your district (or a district you know well)? How well are they
working?

6. What might happen when parents who trigger a reform move on (as their children graduate or move to another school)? What
might happen when new parents become involved in the school?

7. To what extent have you seen reforms come and go in the district youre thinking about? Has there been enough time for each
reform to produce effects before the next reform is implemented? Has there been some immunity from new reform while the
current reform is being implemented?

Summer Issue #1 kappanmagazine.org 45

EXTEND YOUR THOUGHTS THROUGH ACTIVITIES FOR GROUP DISCUSSION
Conduct a focus group with parents related to this article. Follow these directions (adapted from Lois Easton, Harvetta Robertson, and
Shirley Hord) to create a meaningful dialogue.

1. Read the article yourselves. Develop a statement of the issue. Develop some questions you want parents to discuss.

2. Determine how to invite parents to the focus group. Consider the value of inclusiveness versus an approach that seeks
representation from various groups. Keep the focus group to between 10 and 15 people. Determine who should participate in
the focus group, trying to keep the number equal (or nearly equal) to the number of parents.

3. Make sure to send a copy of the article to parents along with the invitation to participate and a way to RSVP.

4. Notify staff in advance, just so they know whats going on.

5. Prepare a space that can comfortably seat two rings of chairs, the inside ring for parents and the outside ring for the school
group.

6. Choose two facilitators, one from the parent group and one from the school group. The parent group should have its own
facilitator so parents dont feel that theyre being led by the educators, but its also important for the two facilitators to work
together to coordinate the process. Have the two facilitators meet in advance to discuss the process below.

7. Set a date and time. Plan 90 minutes for the process. Schedule a debriefing session for educators right after the focus group,
if possible. Provide refreshments.

8. Start the focus group by having the parents sit in the inner circle with their facilitator, facing each other. Have the educators sit
in the outer circle with their facilitator, facing inwards. Put the two facilitators close to each other so they can consult on the
process.

9. Have parents and educators introduce themselves and then review some norms (see Easton, 2011, for some starter norms).

10. Have the educator facilitator share the statement of the topic (see #1 in this list) and invite the parents to discuss the
statement. At this point, the parent facilitator should moderate the process.

11. At some point, as agreed upon by the educator and the parent facilitators, ask the parents to discuss any questions that
educators drafted in step #1. The parent facilitator should moderate this process.

12. The educators remain silent during this process, which might last an hour. They may take notes, but they should not engage in
any part of the discussion with the parents. They should listen closely, however.

13. At a time selected by the facilitators, this part of the focus group should end, and those in the inner circle should turn their
chairs to face those in the outer circle for one-on-one discussion. (Some groups could have three participants.) This discussion
proceeds without facilitation on any issue raised by the parent group.

14. Finally, the facilitators should open the discussion to both groups, based on an issue that people want to discuss.

15. When it seems as if open discussion is winding down, the facilitators should ask the group what went well and what could be
improved in terms of the process. They should then address possible next steps and thank the parents for their participation.

16. The educator group should stay to more completely debrief both the process and the content of the focus group, including
what should be done next, if anything.

17. The educator group should communicate the outcomes of the focus group to everyone involved (and others, if important) in
whatever form is most appropriate. And, of course, if there are next steps, the educator group (working with the parent group,
if thats desired) should design and implement the next actions.

References

Easton, L.B. (2011). Professional learning communities by design: Putting the learning back into PLCs. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin and Oxford, OH:
Learning Forward.

Robertson, H. & Hord, S. (2008). Accessing student voices. In L.B. Easton (Ed.), Powerful designs for professional learning, 2nd ed. Oxford, OH:
National Staff Development Council.

46 Must-Reads from Kappan, 2011-12/Summer Issue #1

 Kappan Phi Delta

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Summer 2012

Teachers, start your engines for next year

Must-Reads from Kappan,

2011-12
Summer issue #2
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Teaching to
the Common Core
by design,
,
not accident
The Gates Foundations substantial investment in developing the
Common Core State Standards now depends on translating big
ideas into practices that teachers can and will use.

By Vicki Phillips and Carina Wong

A
fter years of hard work by state leaders, educators, and other advocates, the Common Core
State Standards in English language arts and mathematics are final, and 45 states and the
District of Columbia have officially adopted them.
But getting from standards on paper to the deep changes required in practice will be a
significant challenge. For example, the literacy standards for grades 6 and above assume that
history, social studies, science, and technical teachers not just English teachers will use
their content expertise to help students read, write, speak, and listen using the language of their disciplines.
Yet, historically, literacy has been the sole domain of English language arts classes. The math standards
ask teachers to focus and spend more time on fewer, more important things so students can build concep-
tual understanding, achieve procedural skill and fluency, and learn how to transfer what they know to solve
problems in and out of the math classroom.
As strong believers in clear, consistent standards that focus on what students need to be prepared for col-
lege and careers, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation was proud to support the Common Core work. We
also understood that there was a window of opportunity to support teachers in turning the standards from
policy into practice between the time that states adopt the standards and when new summative assessments
come on line in 2014-15. In particular, we wanted to give teachers a good starting place to prepare for the
new assessments and to begin shifting instruction to make the standards real in classrooms. Based on our
experiences as classroom teachers and as state and district administrators, we knew we wanted to invest in
really well-designed tools and supports that could find the right balance between encouraging teachers cre-
ativity and giving them enough guidance to ensure quality. And we wanted to ground these tools in evidence
about what really powerful teaching aligned with the Common Core looks like.
Between 2009 and 2011, the College-Ready Work team at the Gates Foundation committed more than
$76 million in direct charitable expenditures to support teachers in implementing the Common Core. We
funded projects that included the design of new tools to help teachers enact the standards in their class-
rooms, like our $5.9-million investment at the University of California, Berkeley to create a set of Classroom This article
Challenges in Mathematics to help teachers enact formative assessments aligned to the Common Core. was originally
published in Phi
VICKI PHILLIPS is director of education and CARINA WONG is deputy director, College-Ready Work for the Bill & Melinda Gates Delta Kappan, 93
Foundation. (7), 31-37.

Summer Issue #2 kappanmagazine.org 3

Thinkstock/iStockphoto
 Weve partnered with states and districts interested
in piloting these new designs, making grants to a
diverse set of districts ranging from Hillsborough,
Fla. ($350,000) to the state of Kentucky ($1 million).
We also have partnerships to help disseminate Com-
mon Core aligned tools and practices to educators.
Weve been working with designers, subject-mat-
ter specialists, education leaders, and most impor-
tantly, classroom teachers to develop, field test, and
refine tools that resonate with teachers based on a
set of design principles.
Most of the tools being developed follow
the same basic structure that essentially
reverses the traditional, I do, we do, you
do model that many teachers use.
First, we wanted to focus on the pattern of behav-
ior we were trying to address. In math, that meant
helping teachers give students immediate feedback
on their mathematical understanding. In literacy, it
meant supporting social studies and science teach-
ers to teach literacy skills they hadnt been expected
to teach previously and helping ELA teachers focus
on areas that havent always been priorities, like in-
formational texts and writing other than narrative.
Second, we wanted simple elegance: tools that
were flexible, slender, and able to slip into a teachers
instruction without requiring them to read through
hundreds of pages of implementation manuals. We
think the simplicity of the math and literacy tools is
one of the draws.
Third, we wanted to honor the creative tension in
teaching. We didnt want to tell teachers what to do
lock, stock, and barrel nor did we want something
so open that the resulting lessons would be more
likely to lack rigor or fidelity to the standards. We
knew that some teachers would produce high-quality
lessons given the standards and wanted to create a
starting place for those teachers who didnt know
what they should be doing differently.
Fourth, we wanted teachers as cocreators and
codesigners of these tools from the start.
Fifth, we wanted the tools we developed to evolve
and improve over time based on the wisdom of prac-
tice.
Sixth, we wanted to point teachers toward the big
changes required by the Common Core and begin
to shift the existing curriculum even before the new
summative assessments come online.
All that led us to the notion of well-designed tasks
and templates that would draw on the essential ele-
4 Must-Reads from Kappan, 2011-12/Summer Issue #2
ments of standards-based teaching. The literacy tem-
plates provide a common framework and language for
teachers, while allowing them to paint in the details
based on their own context, content field, knowledge,
and experience. The math tasks are more like vitamin
shots that teachers can insert in their curriculum as
they see fit to gauge students understanding and their
ability to apply what theyre learning.
Think of it like printmaking. A printmaker starts
by carving a linoleum block. Then, she does the first
print, steps back, assesses what she likes and doesnt
like about the pattern, and adjusts the carving ac-
cordingly. We wanted to create the same iterative
process in collaboration with teachers.
In math, we partnered with the Shell Centre at
the University of Nottingham in England and U-C,
Berkeley. Many of the people there are former engi-
neers and experts in math. The goal was to develop
tools that would give students ongoing feedback
through formative assessment tasks that zero in on
students understanding of key concepts and their
ability to apply math skills to unfamiliar problems.
In literacy, we invested in a team called the Literacy
Design Collaborative, which included former teach-
ers, principals, and literacy specialists.
By December 2010, the foundations partners
were working in 17 school districts to codevelop
and pilot the tools, along with a rigorous evaluation
process to ensure they work. We are now working
with five states and over 30 districts/networks.
Literacy collaborative
I was a little surprised too, because I thought
the students would be better writers than they
are. When you give students a topic and let them
research it, a lot of teachers take it for granted
that theyre able to pull out the important pieces
of information, that they can organize that in-
formation, that they can write a well-structured
paper. But I found that a lot of kids even some
of my higher-level kids were weak in those
areas. They really needed to be guided every
step of the way.
Sean Houseknecht, 7th-grade science teacher
The goal for the Literacy Design Collaborative
(LDC) was to develop ongoing quality assignments
and tools that can be embedded across all instruc-
tional areas so ELA, science, and social studies teach-
ers can all help their students meet the literacy stan-
dards.
The standards emphasize nonfiction reading as
well as writing across disciplines and clear analysis
based on evidence from demanding texts skills stu-
dents need to succeed in college and the workplace.
At the heart of the LDC materials are broadly
applicable template tasks. These templates allow
teachers to create classroom assignments that incor-
porate the literacy standards, regardless of the spe-
cific subject area they teach, the curriculum being
used, or the teachers instructional style.
Getting from standards on paper to the
deep changes required in practice will
be a significant challenge.
These assignments require students to read, ana-
lyze, and comprehend the kinds of texts specified by
the Common Core State Standards and then write
cogent arguments, explanations, or narratives. Each
template (there are currently 29) includes a prompt
that allows teachers to fill in the blanks with their
choice of texts to be read, content to be addressed,
and writing to be produced.
The templates allow for common scoring based
on a common scoring rubric aligned to the Com-
mon Core State Standards. Template tasks may also
include additions (Level 2 and Level 3 modifica-
Membership_half_ad_Layout 1 1/23/12 8:32 AM Page 1
tions) that can be used or omitted to vary the task
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advance their careers. Dont wait. Join today and become part of a
professional community committed to high-quality education.
demands. Using the templates, teachers can create
assignments that typically take students two to four
weeks to complete.
Here, for example, is the template for a task re-
quiring students to defend an argument based on
evidence from informational texts. It addresses the
standards for reading (argumentation) and for writ-
ing (argumentation):
Task 1. After researching ________
(informational texts) on ________ (content),
write ________ (essay or substitute) that
argues your position on ________ (content).
Support your position with evidence from
your research.
Level 2. Be sure to acknowledge competing
views.
Level 3. Give examples from past or current
events or issues to illustrate and clarify your
position. (Argumentation/Analysis)
You can see how a science, social studies, or ELA
teacher could use this template to produce a qual-
ity piece of writing. For example, Jenny Beasley, a
7th-grade ELA teacher at Meece Middle School in
www.pdkintl.org/join
800-766-1156
Summer Issue #2 kappanmagazine.org 5
 Somerset, Ky., had previously struggled with her
states standards that require students to evaluate
the argument and specific claims in a text, assessing
whether the reasoning is sound and the evidence is
relevant and sufficient to support the claims, and to
follow rules for collegial discussions.
Using the template, Beasley assigned her middle
school students the following task: After research-
ing articles on mountaintop removal mining, write
an essay that argues your position on mountaintop
removal mining. Support your position with evi-
dence from your research.
Each student chose whether to argue in support
of or opposition to this form of mining, a major issue
in their community, and each wrote an argument re-
plete with research to make their cases. Then, a Ken-
tucky state representative who owns a coal mine was
invited into the class to make a case for mountaintop

Learning from the work

In the course of this work, weve learned some critical lessons that we hope will be instructive to approaching the
development of teacher tools and supports more broadly.

Lesson #1: Engage teachers early.

The tools and supports will only be useful if theyre codeveloped, tested, and refined by teachers themselves.
Teachers cocreated the materials, tested tools in their classrooms, and offered real-time feedback to designers
about what worked and what didnt. And teachers could get the necessary support to use the tools in a mean-
ingful and useful way.

Lesson #2: Teachers need to talk to each other.

We saw this firsthand at a June 2011 meeting in New Orleans called Unleashing Group Genius. It was a gather-
ing of teachers, district and state administrators, design and implementation partners, and researchers who had
worked on developing some of these curriculum tools.
They shared their successes and challenges, debated ways to improve upon the already strong tools that are
being piloted, and discussed the kinds of collaborative platforms and killer apps they will need in the future. They
also talked about the practical supports they need, such as identifying the right texts for the literacy tasks. And
they gave examples of how theyre drawing on each others capacity to scale the work. One thing was clear
the enthusiasm was contagious.
Teachers crave the chance to work together. As one high school English teacher said of the peer collaboration,
I get so many ideas from my classroom just sitting around talking about our modules. We steal and take from
each other. I wish there was a way we could do that as teachers all the time.
To give more teachers this kind of opportunity, the Gates Foundation has launched a web site called My Group
Genius (www.mygroupgenius.org) where teachers can find tools from the literacy and math design collaboratives
and have conversations with each other about their experiences. Over time, we hope that the conversation will
sustain itself without much foundation involvement.

Lesson #3: These tools and supports must go viral.

At some point, well have to let these tools and supports leave our hands, and see how far they go. Were ex-
ploring ways to facilitate the spread and scaling of what works through partnerships with other organizations and
through technology.
Weve also invested in an online module creator in the literacy collaborative to make sure the main design ele-
ments from the Literacy Design Collaborative (LDC) are called out for teachers as they create their modules. The
module creator software walks users step by step through the LDC framework to ensure teachers dont get off
course by forcing them to focus on key questions: Is the template task robust enough for two to three weeks of
work? Will students be developing the necessary skills to succeed on the task? Does the instructional plan pass
muster, so students can succeed on a series of mini-tasks culminating in the larger student assignment? And,
finally, would the student work be of high enough quality to meet Common Core standards, and is the scoring
solid in relation to benchmark work?
As we explore how to take these tools more digital, however, there are still many outstanding questions.

Vicki Phillips and Carina Wong

6 Must-Reads from Kappan, 2011-12/Summer Issue #2

removal mining. The next day, the class was joined by
a member of Kentuckians for The Commonwealth,
a group that has been fighting mountaintop removal
mining at the state and national level for years. After
each speaker, the students asked informed, pointed
questions about the presentations. They engaged in
complex, provocative, informed discussions. They
had learned about the importance of differentiating
fact and unbiased analysis from analysis based on
ideology. They were thinking, analyzing, struggling,
and making tough decisions.
As Beasley later wrote to a district administrator,
This is real teaching and learning. I am so tired and
so energized at the same time.
Math collaborative
I like the idea of the students being pushed to
be learners and not just sitting there and given
answers and information to regurgitate . . . we
can change the way students learn. That was the
most exciting thing.
Math teacher
The math collaborative works a little differently
because the challenges of math instruction are dif-
ferent. One of our partners, math education expert
Ann Shannon, tells a story that serves as a great ana-
logy to how weve been teaching math for too long.
As she prepared to drive from Owensboro to Lou-
isville, Ky., she punched the address into her GPS,
and, a few hours later, she arrived in Louisville.
But later, as she was thinking about her journey,
she realized that she had no idea exactly how she
got from one place to the other. She didnt know
what roads she had taken, what towns she had passed
through, or even whether she had gone north, south,
east, or west. She had just dutifully followed the pro-
cedure spit out by the GPS.
As one of the teachers she worked with later said,
too often, we just GPS our students through math.
Thats why the new math standards are designed to
ensure that students go beyond formulas to really
gain a conceptual understanding of the subject and
how to apply the concepts with precision.
But, as with the literacy standards, even the excel-
lent new math standards arent enough to help teach-
ers succeed. So, the foundation worked with the Shell
Centre to produce a series of classroom challenges, or
formative assessment lessons, for grades 6 through 10,
on conceptual understanding and problem solving.
These lessons can be used with any curriculum a
teacher already uses and are built around a set of rich
tasks connected to the standards. The point of these
lessons is to engage students in a productive struggle
with the mathematics essential for college readiness.
Most of the tools being developed follow the
same basic structure that essentially reverses the
traditional, I do, we do, you do model that many
teachers use. Instead of the teacher opening the les-
son with direct instruction, teachers give students
an initial assessment task, a problem to work out
individually. This task gives teachers a sense of how
much students grasp certain math concepts.
We didnt want to tell teachers what
to do lock, stock, and barrel nor did
we want something so open that the
resulting lessons would be more likely to
lack rigor or fidelity to the standards.
Then, students talk about their answers and en-
gage in collaborative activities to go deeper into the
mathematics of the initial assignment. They might
work in small groups, engage in discussion, or ex-
amine each others work. In this way, they take re-
sponsibility for their own learning. Teachers provide
feedback to move their students learning forward.
Next, students engage in a whole-class discussion
designed to pull the lesson together. The teacher can
learn more about how students are doing and have
an opportunity to provide more feedback. Finally,
students return to the initial assessment and see if
they can improve their work with the new insights
theyve gained from the lesson.
This feedback process is the equivalent of the
template system we created in literacy. The Shell
Centre is producing 20 tasks per year for grades 6-10.
As New York City high school math teacher Michael
Stevens said, The process is very powerful. It gets
the curriculum monkey off my back and gives me the
courage and confidence to take the time for students
to explore deeper mathematical concepts.
The math collaborative is developing the kinds
of supports that help teachers identify student stum-
bling blocks and then change their instruction to
address those challenges. The work starts with an im-
portant premise: Evidence shows that good forma-
tive assessment increases the effectiveness of teach-
ing. The formative assessment is almost like a biopsy
that can help diagnose a problem. When teachers
can continually gather student data in real time, di-
agnose problems, and then adjust their instruction to
meet student needs, student performance improves.
Learning improves.
Summer Issue #2 kappanmagazine.org 7
 Early findings
Research for Action (RFA) conducted an interim
report on the development and piloting of these
collaborative teacher tools. RFA surveyed and in-
terviewed teachers, principals, and district adminis-
trators, observed classrooms, and observed profes-
sional development. Their preliminary findings are
extremely promising.
First, teachers love the tools. More than 90% of
surveyed teachers in the pilot sites believed the lit-
eracy tools were a good fit for their curriculum, and
most said the tools gave them new information about
where students were in their learning. Teachers said
that the tools were effective and that they saw in-
creased student engagement with them.
Science and social studies teachers in particular
appreciated the opportunity to integrate writing into
their classes. As a science teacher, Ive had no for-
mal training in how to teach the research process,
said Alex Schubert, a 7th-grade science teacher at
Elizabethtown (Pa.) Area Middle School. I mean,
I can spot grammar mistakes and spelling errors, no
problem, but as far as the structure of a paper, I dont
have what I feel would be a solid enough background
for teaching those strategies. But the way the tasks
are written, the idea is that you can just plug and play
with different topics.
All the math teachers surveyed said the tools were
accessible to all students, regardless of their math
skill level, whether struggling or advanced. As one
geometry teacher said, I think there is just an en-
try level in these activities for everyone. Everyone is
able to get started and do something and then build
on that to do something else. Then, they build at
their own rate, and I think that shows. They also
reported that the formative assessment lessons gave
My teachable moments never seem to match up with their
learnable moments.
8 Must-Reads from Kappan, 2011-12/Summer Issue #2
them a strong and engaging model for teaching math
to high school students.
Second, teachers using both sets of tools like the
professional development and they want more.
They were particularly interested in getting more
assistance to differentiate their instruction for differ-
ent types of students like English language learners,
or those who are gifted or who have special needs.
They also placed great value on the time to collabo-
rate with peers.
Third, principals and district leaders are also see-
ing positive change. As one principal said, Teachers
are more excited, because students are more excited.
The tools also give leaders a concrete way to help
teachers improve their instruction for the benefit of
students. One district leader said that during the first
year, many teachers were really struggling with the
way they taught and the things they were asked to
do and it was painful, for lack of the better term.
But you could almost see them switching over . . . it
took days . . . for them to start thinking differently.
Michelle Buroker, a chemistry teacher at Scott
High School in Kenton County, Ky., agrees. I was
incredibly skeptical about how the modules would fit
into my instruction. I wanted something authentic,
not another afterthought, she said. And I found out
that these modules are rigorous, but not in a ridicu-
lously hard way, rather, in a way that asks students
to apply what they have learned.
Will the tools work?
So far, we have strong anecdotal evidence that the
tools and supports are working well. But over time,
we will need evidence that is more empirical than
anecdotal. Well need data, and well need evidence
that student outcomes in test scores are improving.
Its been exciting to learn that teachers feel as
though their students are rising to these higher ex-
pectations. I think that this approach has allowed
me to raise expectations of students and Ive seen
them meet those expectations, said Holly Particelli,
8th-grade science teacher at the Elizabethtown mid-
dle school. For example, did I think that they could
write good five-paragraph science essays? Probably
not. I shortchanged them in my thinking. So it was
good for me to see that. Its enabled me to push the
students, and its shown me that they can do it.
We expect to have quality data when we get results
from new assessments based on the Common Core.
In the meantime, however, teachers should not wait to
align their instruction to the Common Core. Our ex-
perience with the Literacy Design Collaborative and
the Math Collaborative has convinced us that care-
fully designed supports incorporating teacher exper-
tise can prepare both students and teachers for the
exciting teaching and learning ahead.K
 Comments? Like
Kappan at www.
facebook.com/pdkintl

Yes,
black males are
different, but
different
is not
deficient
Stop pretending that all students
are alike; teaching to their
differences will improve their
chances for academic success.

By Christopher Emdin

Plenty of reports and research have documented

the achievement gap between black males and other
students. But few have acknowledged that current
structures and practices have contributed to that gap.
To address the low achievement of black males,
schools must be willing to accept that there are ways
of looking at the world, modes of communication,
and approaches to teaching and learning that are
unique to black males. At the same time, educators
must also acknowledge that these unique ways of
being are just as complex as those of other students.
The tie that binds all students is the desire to be
academically successful.

CHRISTOPHER EMDIN (ce21650@columbia.edu) is an as-

sistant professor for science education at Teachers College,
Columbia University, New York, N.Y. He is the author of Urban
Science Education for the Hip-Hop Generation (Sense Publish-
ers, 2010). He was a PDK Emerging Leader for 2008-09.

Summer Issue #2 kappanmagazine.org 9

Thinkstock/Photodisc
 Too often, educators are afraid to acknowledge
that differences exist between black males and oth-
ers. This is due to a commonly held misperception
that educators who acknowledge such differences are
in some way supporting a racist agenda. They are
not. Instead, part of our collective failure to meet the
needs of black males is a fear of acknowledging that
they are always being compared to a white middle-
class norm from which they often differ. This culture
of fear, stoked by political correctness, only serves to
hamper efforts to meet their needs and will inevitably
maintain achievement gaps.
There are ways of looking at the world, modes of
communication, and approaches to teaching and
learning that are unique to black males.
Once difference is fully acknowledged, educators
can equip themselves with tools that can be used to
encourage black males to become more interested
and effective learners.
Different is not deficient
When I argue for understanding differences be-
tween black males and their peers, Im not refer-
ring to genetic or developmental differences. Any
such notion is scientifically unfounded and a waste
of time to explore in detail. But we should focus on
the social and psychological baggage that different
youths bring to the classroom. The often inescapable
public image of black males does not include a desire
or ability to be academically successful.
A wide array of black male images in media
music, movies, and television programs take char-
acteristics of black culture, tie them to anti-school
identities, violence, and misogyny, and use them as
forms of entertainment. This means the world is
inundated with scenarios that leave a false percep-
tion of black males that these youths must deal with
when they enter classrooms. Such images dont af-
fect the academic performance of nonblack males
nor how they interact with school. But black males
are being socially typecast and face a constant inter-
nal dilemma of fitting into expectations embodying
these false characteristics or finding spaces where
they can engage in practices that are counter to the
perceptions.
This article This constant preoccupation with who they
was originally should be when theyre in academic spaces results
published in Phi in a battle to find oneself in the classroom. That di-
Delta Kappan, 93 minishes their availability to fully engage in teaching
(5), 13-16. and learning. This is most evident in scenarios where
10 Must-Reads from Kappan, 2011-12/Summer Issue #2
black males are rude and disruptive in school, yet
quiet, attentive, and responsible in spaces like church
or in the community where their true selves are wel-
come. They are constantly in a search to find them-
selves and to perform versions of these selves based
on the expectations of those within these spaces.
Black males have developed a variety of ways to
respond to this confusion about how they should act
in school. Some have developed the ability to ignore
or fight through these misperceptions and find aca-
demic success. This is often the case in schools that
value them for who they are and not for what they
are supposed to be. Others struggle daily as they
dance between the role of being an academically dis-
interested black male and being their true self. Many
others have performed the role of disinterested black
male for so long that its become almost second na-
ture to underperform in school. Unfortunately, as
students have performed these images, educators
have failed to acknowledge that they have a respon-
sibility to help students overcome these expectations
of disinterest and low achievement.
The five Cs of reality pedagogy
In order to acknowledge the difference of black
males and to consider the variation in their experi-
ences, Ive developed five tools for teaching black
males that have had some success in my research: co-
generative dialogues, coteaching, cosmopolitanism,
context, and content. This research and its developed
tools are based on the fact that when black males are
in social spaces that align with their core identities,
their desires to think critically, make keen obser-
vations, support these observations with facts, and
engage in dialogue are activated. Most importantly,
these tools give teachers an opportunity to get feed-
back from black males about their teaching. They
acknowledge that black males are different, and they
help teachers make sense of these differences so that
they can meet the needs of all students. These tools
use the communality that exists among black males
to strip away the media-imposed perceptions of who
they should be and reveal their true academic selves.
Cogenerative dialogues
In cogenerative dialogues, four to six students and
their teacher during lunch, before or after school
engage in a conversation about the classroom.
These dialogues provide an opportunity for teach-
ers to engage in discussions with students about the
classroom without dealing with formal classroom
structures that encourage black males to act disin-
terested in learning. These dialogues will allow the
teacher to have conversations with black male stu-
dents about how the teacher can better meet their
specific academic needs and allow them to present
 Allowing the student to be the
teacher moves beyond traditional
coteaching and empowers the black
male student.
their true selves to the teacher.
To create the conditions for these dialogues, the
teacher:
Selects students to participate based on
the different types of black male academic
roles e.g., high-achieving and low-achieving
students.
Tells students that participating in the dialogues
is voluntary and that the teachers goal is to
become a more effective teacher.
Ensures that all participants in the dialogues
have equal turns to talk by soliciting responses
from all students.
Ensures that all talk is respectful of other
participants. The teacher also asks all partici-
pants to listen attentively and allow their peers
to complete their thoughts before responding.
The phrase one mic is repeated when this
rule is violated by any member of the group, so
students can manage each other and maintain a
fruitful dialogue.
The conversation must generate an action plan
for addressing an issue raised in dialogues.
Coteaching
In traditional coteaching, a novice teacher ob-
serves or assists an expert teacher. In reality pedagogy
with black males, coteaching positions the black male
as the expert and allows him to teach the class. Al-
lowing the student to be the teacher moves beyond
Thinkstock/Comstock
traditional coteaching and empowers the black male
student by allowing him to become engaged in class
and validated for enacting a positive and more aca-
demic behavior.
Coteaching in reality pedagogy can be supported
through the following steps:
Before class, the teacher:
Invites black male students who have been
engaged in cogenerative dialogues to be the
initial coteachers.
Assigns these student-teachers to design a
lesson.
Does a quick review of the lesson plan before
class to ensure that content is reflected
accurately.
During class, the teacher:
Sits in the seat of the student-teacher and in the
view of the student-teacher.
Takes notes on the students teaching, focusing
on modes of interaction, use of analogy/meta-
phor, and types of phrases used to support
learners who are struggling with content.
Pays close attention to parts of the lesson where
the content delivered may not be correct and
guides the instruction (by raising a hand as a
traditional student would) only when there are
issues with the content.
After class, the teacher:
Engages in a cogenerative dialogue with the
Summer Issue #2 kappanmagazine.org 11
 student so he can reflect on the lesson taught,
and the teacher can ask questions about the
nuances of the lesson based on his notes.
Teaches the same lesson students previously
taught to another class using techniques from
the students lesson.
Discusses with the student-teacher the content
delivered during the class and how the black
male student who coteaches can help other
students who are still struggling to understand
the subject.
Black males have developed a variety of
ways to respond to confusion about how they
should act in school.
Cosmopolitanism
The cosmopolitanism philosophy holds that all
human beings feel an inherent need to be respon-
sible for each other in some way. Developing a cos-
mopolitan ethos in the classroom is a responsibility
that the teacher should have and must fulfill with
black male students. These students must feel like
they have roles in the classroom that allow them to
be responsible for each other and that allow others
to recognize that they have value in the classroom.
Once this happens, black youths become connected
to the physical structure of the classroom and then
can get connected to academics. For example, they
may be asked to be in charge of collecting homework
in the classroom or handing out laptops or other
materials. When these roles are enacted consistently
and youth begin to see that they are needed in the
classroom, they are more apt to express their true
interests in performing well academically.
To create a cosmopolitan classroom, the teacher:
Identifies the roles and responsibilities for tasks
that make the class run smoothly.
Invites black male students to select roles they
want to take on.
Dedicates the first weeks of school to explicitly
discussing the roles of students.
Changes roles at significant points in the school
year school breaks, semesters, etc. and
transitions youths from roles related to
organizing the classroom to roles that support
academic success.
Context
For context focus, teachers and students engage
in a set of practices that brings symbolic artifacts
of significance to black males into the classroom.
12 Must-Reads from Kappan, 2011-12/Summer Issue #2
Such artifacts are objects in the students lives that
can connect to the in-class lesson. For example, rap
songs, pictures from the streets students come from,
and other examples that directly relate to whats usu-
ally associated with negative attributes of black males
should be used to connect them academically.
For teachers, finding artifacts from the contexts
where youth are embedded will require them to go
where black males spend the most time. There must
be a willingness to visit their neighborhoods, watch
the television programs that they watch, and listen
to music that they like. This approach connects the
teacher to the learner in complex ways that only be-
come revealed when students start making connec-
tions to these artifacts on their own. Furthermore,
it allows the teacher to display the effort involved in
making the subject relevant to black males.
For example, youths can be encouraged to cre-
ate rap songs about the content, pictures from local
parks can be used to explain science concepts, and
pop culture magazines can be used as the text for
English lessons.
Content
The final step in reality pedagogy is content: the
academic work the teacher is responsible for cov-
ering and the teachers willingness to expose and
embrace the limitations of his or her own content
knowledge.
In this step, teachers commend black males for
finding content inconsistencies in what the teacher is
sharing and allow them to share these inconsistencies
publicly. The process requires the teachers willing-
ness to make statements such as I dont know and
thats a good question when black male students
pose questions. Demonstrating this humility helps
create a classroom environment where vulnerabil-
ity is welcome. Acknowledging that education isnt
about a completed body of knowledge and that the
teacher does not have all of the answers expands stu-
dent perceptions about the nature of learning. When
black males understand that they arent merely be-
ing expected to memorize material from an accepted
body of information, they become more willing to
behave differently in this new classroom environ-
ment.
Conclusions
Given the persistence of achievement gaps, edu-
cators must be willing to move beyond political cor-
rectness, stop rehashing approaches that have not
worked for decades, and stop paying lip service to
meeting the needs of black males without changing
practices. Acknowledging the differences between
black males and their counterparts and enacting re-
ality pedagogy is a first step.K
 Professional development guide to:

Yes, black males are different, but different is

not deficient
By Christopher Emdin

Phi Delta Kappan, 93 (5), 13-16

OVERVIEW OF THE ARTICLE

In order to go beyond paying lip service to meeting the needs of black males, educators need to change their practices, employing a
reality pedagogy that uses tools of cogenerative dialogues, coteaching, cosmopolitanism, context, and content.

KEY POINTS

Although there are similarities in the perceptions of young black males, there also are variations in their experiences and readiness
to learn.
For fear of being labeled racists, sometimes educators may not want to acknowledge differences between black male students
and other students.
The author is not speaking about genetic or developmental differences but is focusing on the social and psychological baggage of
being both male and black.
Black males are being socially typecast, tied to antischool identities, and face a constant internal battle to t into expectations.
Cogenerative dialogue occurs when a small group of students has a conversation with the teacher about the classroom that
takes place outside the standard classroom setting, is fully participatory, and yields an action plan generated from issues raised in
the conversation.
In coteaching, the black male student is allowed to teach the class, with signicant assistance before, during, and after teaching.
Cosmopolitanism is a philosophy that all humans are responsible for each other in terms of the roles they play and the
responsibilities they assume.
In terms of context, the teacher engages with students to bring symbolic artifacts of their world into the classroom, connecting
the artifacts to the content being studied.
Content is the nal step in reality pedagogy; it requires that the teacher be willing to expose his or her lack of knowledge about
certain subjects, be vulnerable, humble, and invite students into the search for learning.

FULL VALUE
In their article, Implementing Coteaching and Cogenerative Dialoguing in Urban Science Education, Kenneth Tobin and Wolff-Michael
Roth believe these practices should include representatives from all stakeholder groups in teaching since the purpose is improving
school life and learning environments. Coteaching typically includes the coteachers, two or three students, and frequently a university
supervisor or a school administrator talking about specific lessons. On the surface, a cogenerative dialogue may look like reflection
on practice (Schon, 1987). However, the authors say there are crucial differences: When cogenerative dialoguing is associated with
coteaching, teachers and a selection of students reflect together on a lesson they shared not long ago, and participants have a
concrete, common object on which to focus verbal interactions. The session is used to identify what worked and what did not work in
order to design strategies for the next lesson.

The power of cogenerative dialoguing lies in the fact that all participants refer to the same set of events, often replayed using
videotapes of the lesson, and that the views and understandings of all participants are valued. Thus, understandings and explanations
are cogenerated. Cogenerative dialogues can be used by new and inexperienced teachers to learn from their experiences and other
participants, especially from the perspectives of the youths they teach, said Tobin and Roth.

Summer Issue #2 kappanmagazine.org 13

DEEPEN YOUR THINKING

1. To what extent did you grow up with the notion that black males are different and deficient?

2. As an educator, have you been in situations in which people act as if all students are alike?

3. How will teaching to student differences improve their chances for academic success?

4. Have you been in situations in which acknowledging differences (related to race, ethnicity, gender, sexual preference, etc.)
results in an -ist label (e.g., racist, sexist)?

5. How do schools treat genetic or developmental differences? How are social and psychological differences treated differently?
Are black males seen as bringing social and psychological baggage to their classrooms?

6. How does the media portray black males in school settings? How do you think these images affect young black students?

7. Which of the five aspects of the authors reality pedagogy seem most applicable in the educational system where you work?

8. Why would applying them make a difference for black male students? Would applying them with other students also make a
difference?

EXTEND YOUR THOUGHTS THROUGH ACTIVITIES FOR GROUP DISCUSSION

Engage in a protocol to consider this article with your colleagues. The most appropriate protocol is called the text-rendering or the
three levels of text protocol. Follow these steps to read the article. Then, follow the next steps to have a dialogue about the article.

1. Read the article quickly, looking for a sentence that strikes you as particularly important. Underline or star it.

2. Continue reading the article. Look for a phrase (group of words) that is particularly meaningful. Underline or star it.

3. Finally, find a single word that means the most to you. Underline or star it.

When everyone has finished reading the article and found their sentences, phrases, and words, begin dialogue by round-robin sharing:

1. Have each person read the highlighted sentence and help others find it on the page.

2. After everyone has read their sentences, have each person read the highlighted phrase and help others find it on the page.

3. Finally, have each person share the single word that was most meaningful.

4. Then, launch a discussion based on any sentence, phrase, or word that interested the group.

Note: This is called a text-rendering protocol because participants render the text down to a single word. It is an effective way to
get everyones voice in the room as each person shares an important sentence, phrase, and word before opening up a general
discussion.

References

Schon, D.A. (1987). Educating the reflective practitioner. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Tobin, K. & Roth, W.M. (2005, October). Implementing coteaching and cogenerative dialoguing in urban science education. School Science and
Mathematics, 105, 313-322.

14 Must-Reads from Kappan, 2011-12/Summer Issue #2

 Comments?
Like PDK at www.
facebook.com/pdkintl

A crash course on
giving grades
Grades tell students how well they did in comparison to each other,
but almost nothing of what they need to work on to get better.

By Timothy Quinn

Grades. Almost no one likes them. Most students deplore them, many teachers hate giving them, and I
havent met one teacher who enjoys the process of determining them. In fact, grading is often the bane
of a teachers existence. Yet, it must be done at least until we have a major shift in educational philoso-
phy. Nonetheless, grades can be important and useful. Ideally, grades give students constructive feedback
on how they performed on an assessment, and, on a societal level, one can argue that we need grades so we
can categorize students before we send them to appropriate colleges and hire them for appropriate jobs.
This essay, however, is not about grading, it is about the physical act of giving grades. Sure, we all
agree that teachers dont give grades; students earn them. Yet, while this adage is correct in spirit, literally,
it is untrue. Teachers do, in fact, physically hand students tests, quizzes, and essays, with grades on them.

TIMOTHY QUINN (tquinn@westminster-school.org) is director of the Westminster Teaching Initiative and an English teacher at
Westminster School, Simsbury, Conn.

If students ask for their overall

grade, you can tell them to
determine the average themselves
since to do so will require them
to look at each section of the rubric.
This article
was originally
published in Phi
Delta Kappan, 93
(4), 57-59.

Summer Issue #2 kappanmagazine.org 15

Thinkstock/iStockphoto
 The very manner in which grades are presented or
given to students can hold significant implications
for a students ability to learn from an assessment and
the feedback provided. Hence, the manner in which
grades are presented is essential to assuring that a
teacher assesses not just the learning, but also, and
perhaps more importantly, provides assessments for
learning (Stiggins, 2002).
Unfortunately, grades frequently become the
sole focus of a students education often because
theyre the sole focus of parents who assume, cor-
rectly in many cases, that theyre a primary focus of
college admission offices. With so much emphasis
on grades, students, parents, and even teachers may
become unaware of the actual student learning that
may or may not be happening. Assignments that
are intended to help students understand course
content and develop academic skills simply become
a means to an end, leaving students oblivious to
whether theyre actually learning and improving
their skills. Instead, students know only what grade
they got, but have no information about whether
they have or havent done well and, more impor-
tantly, what they must do in order to improve their
performance.
The result of this is that a teachers efforts to pro-
vide important feedback amount to nothing. As we
all know, when a student gets an assignment back, the
grade is not only the first thing that he or she looks at
often, its the last. Opportunities to learn from the
assessment vanish and, even worse for the teacher,
the hours of provid-
ing feedback on ex-
ams and essays end
up being for naught.
If teachers put a final grade on the I have spent many a
late night wondering
essay, the students more thorough why the heck I was
understanding of his or her writing comments
on student essays
performance often vanishes. that were never go-
ing to be read, think-
ing why not just read
it, put a letter on it,
cut my grading time
by 90% and get busy writing that great novel
that all English teachers know they could write if
they didnt have to spend so much time grading.
This issue may be most pronounced for teachers
of the humanities who grade essays. However, even
teachers in the quantitative disciplines undoubtedly
do more than make Xs and check marks, and, assur-
edly, they too do not wish their efforts to be wasted.
Teachers can address this problem by using a
clear rubric that provides specific feedback on stu-
dent performance in different areas that correspond
16 Must-Reads from Kappan, 2011-12/Summer Issue #2
to the content and skills the assignment is intended
to assess. However, even a rubric of this nature may
not be good enough if there is still a final grade at
the bottom, allowing students to find out what they
got without actually reading any other part of the
rubric. For this reason, I recommend that teachers
avoid putting an overall grade on most assessments
as if a single letter or number could really sum up
everything a student did well or poorly on a given
assessment.
If you give a different grade for each area on the
rubric, rather than having a student come away with
the hazy notion that, I got a B, so my paper was
good, he or she would come away with a more nu-
anced understanding such as, I got an A for organi-
zation so I must have organized my essay very well.
I got a B for writing because there were a few too
many errors, so next time I need to proofread bet-
ter. But I got a C- for ideas, so I guess Id better put
some more thought into my next essay. Of course,
you could put all of that in a written comment, but
whos to say the student would read this, so why not
use multiple grades on a rubric to save time and get
the same point across? The essential point is that if
you put a final grade on the essay, the students more
thorough understanding of his or her performance
often vanishes. This doesnt mean that you dont av-
erage the grades and put a final grade in your grade
book, but you should not feel compelled to tell stu-
dents what that grade is. If they ask for their overall
grade, you can tell them to determine the average
themselves since to do so will require them to look
at each section of the rubric.
While those strategies for how to present grades
to students may help shift the focus from the grade
to the learning, in the end, assessments still have
numbers and/or letters on them, and a student
may still fail to see the connection between those
numbers and letters and specific elements of their
own knowledge and skills. So, heres a more radical
strategy for how to give grades differently: Write all
the comments you want (either as part of a rubric,
throughout an assignment, or in a paragraph at the
end), record grades in your grade book, and then
simply dont put any grade on student assignments.
Watch the look of shock on their faces! How do we
know what we got? they ask. Your response: The
question you should be asking is how do we know
how well we performed? To find that answer, youll
have to read the comments. Whats to stop them
from just throwing away the essay and not even giv-
ing a thought to reading the comments? Well, heres
where you can use their obsession with grades to
your and their advantage. Tell students that
if they want to know what grade they earned, they
must read your comments carefully and then send
you an e-mail indicating what grade they think they need to do to learn their fi-
earned and why? If they make a good faith effort to nal grade, then thats what
do this, youll respond with their overall grade for theyll do. While this
the assignment. If not, they can wait for report cards practice doesnt guarantee
How teachers present grades is
to come out. any more focus on learn- essential to assuring that a teacher
This will encourage students to read and hope- ing, it does guarantee that assesses not just the learning,
fully learn from your comments, perhaps prompt- at least some students will
ing a further conversation. Additionally, by inviting read comments, which is a but also provides assessments for
them to determine and explain their overall grade, step in the right direction. learning.
youre helping them develop their self-assessment Nevertheless, I cant help
skills. Instead of seeing a good grade and thinking, but think that as students
oh, I did well, they see a clear link between their become more used to
work and their grade. this process theyll begin
Teachers benefit from this practice as well because thinking more and more
it forces us to have clear standards and to be sure that about their actual performance and
our comments are specific, clear, and actually reflect less and less about a label that is eventu-
the grade in the grade book. A thoughtful student ally placed upon it. The ideal scenario
who reads the comments carefully should be able to would be that they dont ask about the final
accurately determine his or her grade, particularly if grade, they just come to see you to discuss your com-
the teacher has made the standards and expectations ments.
clear beforehand and provided exemplars of strong, This is all an effort to deemphasize grades and
weak, and mediocre work. Hence, student attempts put the focus on learning that is not to say that it
to determine their grades from a teachers comments will instill in the apathetic student a passion for the
is also feedback for teachers, allowing them to self- material. That will take more than changing how you
assess the clarity of their standards and the accuracy present students with their grades. But it will shift
of their feedback. Furthermore, if the two grades the focus to the learning process and to the students
dont match, this should lead to a conversation that actual performance rather than simply the end result
addresses this important disconnect. Did the stu- and that will go a long way toward making our
dent misunderstand the feedback? Were the stan- assessments more meaningful. So, think about the
dards and expectations unclear? These are important importance of how you present students with their
questions to answer, and, in so doing, teachers have grades and think about not presenting them at all
created an opportunity for an invaluable dialogue since, in the end, its the feedback, not the grade
about student work. that matters.  K

Understandably, this method of giving grades may

prompt some concerns. Students may try to guess Reference
their grades without reading the teachers comments
Stiggins, R. (2002, June). Assessment crisis: The absence of
carefully, and that is why you should require that they
assessment for learning. Phi Delta Kappan, 83 (10), 758-765.
make a good faith effort to explain why they think
they earned that grade based on your comments, and
why you should not give students their grade until
they have done so. (This requires that you remember
what your comments were, which is why grading
papers electronically and saving your comments is
a good idea.) However, what if students choose not
to read your comments, dont inquire about their
grades, and simply toss their papers away? Well, then
youre simply no worse off than you were before
when they didnt read your comments, except now
you have the added bonus of having concrete evi-
dence of this something that just might be worth
mentioning in parent-teacher conferences.
Admittedly, it remains to be seen whether this man-
ner of giving grades actually shifts the focus from the
end result to the learning process. One could argue
that, in the end, students may still only care about
their grade, and if reading your comments is what they My teacher says D stands for dont stop trying.

Summer Issue #2 kappanmagazine.org 17

 Taking on
multitasking
Students will continue to media multitask
to their own detriment. Nonetheless,
teachers can limit the multitasking effect
and improve learning.

By Jerome L. Rekart

The average high school upperclassman reports spending between seven and eight hours a day using vari-
ous electronic media, such as television and cellular phones. Of those eight hours, only about 25% is spent
watching television, which means the rest is devoted to playing video games, using the computer, text mes-
saging, etc. On average, students report that over one-third of the time that theyre reading and over half
of the time they spend completing homework on a computer theyre also using at least two other forms of
electronic media (Foehr, 2006). Thus, it can be presumed that a typical high school student routinely media
multitasks while studying. Contrary to what may have occurred as recently as 20 years ago, todays students
arent focusing solely on assigned pages of reading or completing an assignment, but are jumping back and
forth from homework to Facebook updating both their own status (Im reading right now) and checking
on updates from others to a phone call to a text message (R U DONE YET?).

JEROME L. REKART (jrekart@rivier.edu) is an associate professor of education and psychology at Rivier Col-
lege, Nashua, N.H.

18 Must-Reads from Kappan, 2011-12/Summer Issue #2

Thinkstock/Hemera

Given the pervasiveness of media multitasking,
examining how it affects learning in and out of the
classroom is important. Luckily, research from both
cognitive psychology and neuroscience can provide
important insights into what happens when students
media multitask and how to combat negative effects
on learning.
The multitasking brain
When one tries doing several things at once, as
occurs with media multitasking, there is no choice
but to divide attention. Because the total amount of
attention available is limited, the amount of focused
attention for any single task decreases as the number
of demands increases. Changes in the amount of at-
tention for tasks are caused by changes within the
brain. When neuroscientists examine the brains role
in cognition, they focus on areas that show changes
in different markers of activity, such as blood oxy-
gen levels or the amount of a radioactive substance.
Hypotheses about the importance of different brain
structures for cognition are then based on relative
changes in the amount of these markers. Thus, if an
increase in the activation in the frontal cortex occurs
when someone learns strings of letters, this suggests
that this area is important for this type of learning.
The total amount of brain activity present when
two tasks are attempted simultaneously seems to be
less than the sum of brain activation that occurs when
each task is completed in isolation (Just, Carpenter,
Keller, Emery, Zajac, & Thulborn, 2001; Newman,
Keller, & Just, 2007). In addition, the patterns of
brainwaves look quite different (Mangels, Picton, &
Craik, 2001) when individuals are asked to complete
one task at a time compared with when they try to
work on both simultaneously. Reductions in brain
activation and the changes in brain waves that are
seen during multitasking are accompanied by de-
creases in short-term learning and task accuracy.
Therefore, the impairing effect of multitasking
upon learning may be related to reduced brain re-
sources that are available to satisfactorily complete
tasks when theyre tried together.
Dividing attention reduces total brain activation
and could recruit brain regions normally involved
in habit or rote learning the striatum rather
than regions such as the hippocampus that are nec-
essary for acquiring the type of knowledge thats
critical for academic success (Foerde, Knowlton, &
Poldrack, 2006). This means that dividing attention
by multitasking impedes learning and performance
in the short-term and may, by underutilizing brain
structures necessary for the correct type of learn-
ing, affect long-term memory and retention. The
implications of these findings make it critical that
educators and parents try to impress upon students
Comments? Like
Kappan at www.
facebook.com/pdkintl
the need to focus and reduce extraneous stimuli while
studying or reading.
Certainly getting todays youth to turn off devices
that may be antithetical to learning is no small task.
Given the Net generations comfort level, they may
feel as though their performance on school-related
work is unaffected by multitasking. Unfortunately,
Dividing attention by multitasking
Individuals who multitask
impedes learning and performance in
more often are more distractible than
the short-term and could also affect
those who do so less often.
long-term memory and retention.
even when a task is mastered, true media multitask-
ing impairs the performance of experts and novices
similarly (Lin, Robertson, & Lee, 2009). Further-
more, because of multitasking-induced changes in
the brain regions recruited for learning and long-
term memory, even diligent students who multitask
while completing homework may be jeopardizing
their long-term success.
Distractibility in the classroom
So, dividing attention away from school has an
effect on not just short-term performance, but per-
haps long-term learning as well. But are there effects
caused by excessive multitasking outside of school that
can affect attention and learning in the classroom?
An elegant study conducted at Stanford University
suggests that time spent multitasking may be affect-
ing how students pay attention in general. This study
assessed the amount of time college students spent
performing one task, computer word processing, for
example, while using another form of media at the
same time (Ophir, Nass, & Wagner, 2009).
Separating light from heavy media multitaskers,
the study found that individuals who multitasked
more often were more distractible than those who
did so less often. Heavy multitaskers had more dif-
ficulty switching between stimuli than light multi-
taskers. This result suggests that frequent media
multitasking may be affecting ones ability to switch
focus between tasks that are important, such as a
teachers lecture, and those that may not be, such as
extraneous sounds in a classroom (Ophir, Nass, & This article
Wagner, 2009). These results may have far-reaching was originally
ramifications as they suggest that lifestyle choices published in Phi
may be changing how an entire generation attends Delta Kappan, 93
to information. What happens when everything one (4), 60-63.
Summer Issue #2 kappanmagazine.org 19
 encounters has an equal chance of grabbing atten-
tion? One possibility is that even irrelevant stimuli,
which should be dismissed as unimportant, will grab
the attention of students used to responding to ran-
The frequent and routine quizzing of
Anything that may unnecessarily divide
knowledge throughout a term can more
attention or that could prove to be distracting
than double student performance on
should be considered for removal.
final exams.
dom clicks, pop-up windows, and ring tones. Stu-
dents who spend more time instant messaging are
less likely to read and they report being more easily
distracted while reading than students who instant
message less. An increase in student distractibility
presents a challenge for the lecturing teacher trying
to maintain the focus of students as well as the stu-
dent taking a test whose focus should be on the ex-
amination, but is routinely redirected to classmates
tapping pencils and sighing in exasperation.
Proposed classroom solutions
Teachers everywhere openly lament shrinking at-
tention spans and a lack of focus by their students.
Professional educators know that an inability to pay
attention will limit the amount and quality of learning
that can occur. So, given changes in attentional control
and the reliance on study habits that use brain structures
that dont facilitate deep learning, what are teachers to
do? Fortunately, teachers can employ several research-
based strategies to grab and maintain attention and, in
turn, facilitate learning in the classroom.
Strategy: Assess often
Teachers can use course-based quizzes and tests
for more than assigning grades. Testing enhances
learning. Formative assessments themselves have a
pronounced and lasting effect on a students ability to
learn, retain, and retrieve information. The frequent
and routine quizzing of knowledge throughout a
term can more than double student performance on
final exams.
Though the significant learning gains obtained by
testing frequently would make this particular strategy
a best practice for all students, evidence demonstrat-
ing its effectiveness when individuals are multitasking
reinforces its importance as a pedagogical strategy in
the modern classroom. The testing effect likely works
by reactivating and strengthening brain pathways that
20 Must-Reads from Kappan, 2011-12/Summer Issue #2
underlie learning as well as giving students a chance
to assess their own learning progress and styles. In
addition to facilitating learning via the testing effect,
frequent assessments also give teachers opportunities
to reiterate and reinforce the importance of focus-
ing attention vis--vis good study habits. In a time
of worries about teaching to the test and concerns
about long-term retention of information, frequent
assessment of information throughout the year may
be a critical pedagogical tool that actually reinforces
learning and memory.
Strategy: Limit competing stimuli
Todays students are used to attending to mul-
tiple streams of information, which may make them
more distractible than previous generations. Teach-
ers can respond to such a trend by limiting items in
the classroom that may distract student attention.
An informal audit, conducted by the teacher who
knows her students and class best, is recommended
to remove potentially distracting stimuli. This audit
should indicate what items in the class are critical
for learning and which are not. Example questions
to guide such an audit should include:
Is the class well-organized?
Is there clutter on shelves, the floor, etc.? What
can be moved, removed, or organized?
Are there too many posters or signs on
the wall? Do the posters reinforce learning
or pose potential distractions?
A careful consideration of the class environment
may even uncover that some learning tools may ac-
tually be counterproductive. For example, Hem-
brooke and Gay (2003) found that using laptops in
a classroom may limit understanding and retention
of course concepts. Students who used their laptops
for course-related learning while listening to lec-
tures actually fared worse than students who used
their laptops during lecture to surf the web for non-
course-related information.
Counter-intuitive findings such as these indicate
that it never hurts to re-examine practices and even
class layouts with the goal of finding the best fit for
optimizing learning. Anything that may unnecessar-
ily divide attention or that could prove to be distract-
ing should be considered for removal.
Strategy: Introduce novelty
Students are spending roughly one-third of their
day immersed in environments where something new,
be it a text message or e-mail, can and does pop into ex-
istence unexpectedly. How can standard lectures, seat-
work, and recitation compete with the flash-bang-whiz
novelty of video games and Internet sites? Class periods
should be structured so students arent just engaged at
the beginning but consistently reengaged throughout
a session. For example, rather than spending an en-
tire class period lecturing about the fall of the Roman
Empire and reading passages from a text, teachers can
break the material to be covered into 10- to 12-minute
modules with each module covering key concepts using
a different instructional vehicle a film clip, role play,
pair-share activities, class debates, etc.
Many individuals have advocated using multiple ap-
proaches as a way to address different learning styles
and as a best practice for general instruction. However,
the novelty of using a modular approach is whats most
important here. Incorporating the novelty throughout
a single class session by using a modular approach is
likely to engage the brains medial temporal lobe, in-
cluding the hippocampus, which has been found to be
a kind of novelty detector. As indicated when discussing
the selective recruitment of brain regions when mul-
titasking, the hippocampus is critical for storing the
type of new information necessary for academic suc-
cess. Thus, by using multiple approaches, an educator
not only grabs student attention via novelty detection
but, due to a focus of attention, increases the likelihood
that the student will store the conveyed information.
Closing thoughts
Research supports the popular notion that the at-
tention of todays student is different from students of
past generations. These differences, at a cognitive and
brain level, are likely to become more widespread as
smartphones and laptops are most likely here to stay.
Because of the importance of attention for learning,
we need to be concerned about the ramifications of
widespread media multitasking. Classic and current
research on best practices for teaching and learning
suggest that it may be possible to counteract some
We were told to multitask, so I was attending class while
sleeping.
attentional changes with sound pedagogical strate-
gies, such as testing frequently, reducing unnecessary
stimuli, and using multiple, novel instructional meth-
ods. What should not be overlooked,
however, is that most researchers and Share these
teachers are designing studies and view-
findings with
ing students through lenses colored by
a different age. Todays student may be students
paying attention in a different way, and The majority of time
so one must be careful not to assume that that students are
the ramifications are entirely negative.
media multitasking
One effect of media multitasking is that
students are paying attention to multiple is spent away from
stimuli rather than sustaining focus on school. Because of
just one stimulus. This has been referred this, its imperative
to as a breadth approach, and it may yield that educators share
benefits that have yet to be uncovered or with students and
realized. In addition, the ability of mem-
their parents the
bers of the Net generation to use current
technology is likely to be critical to their facts concerning
own future success in the 21st-century multitasking, the brain,
job market. By employing evidence- and learning.
based strategies to harness attention and
facilitate learning, educators can help ensure that to-
morrows citizens have the knowledge and skills nec-
essary to be successful in a multitasking world. K
References
Foehr, U.G. (2006). Media multitasking among American
youth: Prevalence, predictors, and pairings. Washington, DC:
Kaiser Family Foundation.
Foerde, K., Knowlton, B.J., & Poldrack, A. (2006). Modulation
of competing memory systems by distraction. Proceedings
of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of
America, 103, 11778-11783.
Hembrooke, H. & Gay, G. (2003). The laptop and the lecture:
The effects of multitasking in learning environments. Journal of
Computing in Higher Education, 15, 46.
Just, M.A., Carpenter, P.A., Keller, T.A., Emery, L., Zajac, H.,
& Thulborn, K. (2001). Interdependence of nonoverlapping
cortical systems in dual cognitive tasks. Neuroimage, 14,
417-426.
Lin, L., Robertson, T., & Lee, J. (2009). Reading performances
between novices and experts in different media multitasking
environments. Computers in the Schools, 26, 169-186.
Mangels, J.A., Picton, T.W., & Craik, F.I.M. (2001). Attention
and successful episodic encoding: An event-related potential
study. Cognitive Brain Research, 11, 77-95.
Newman, S.D., Keller, T.A., & Just, M.A. (2007). Volitional
control of attention and brain activation in dual-task
performance. Human Brain Mapping, 28, 109-117.
Ophir, E., Nass, C., & Wagner, A.D. (2009). Cognitive control in
media multitaskers. Proceedings of the National Academy of
Sciences of the United States of America, 106, 15583-15587.
Summer Issue #2 kappanmagazine.org 21
 Professional development guide to:

Taking on multitasking
By Jerome Rekart

Phi Delta Kappan, 93 (4), 60-63

OVERVIEW OF THE ARTICLE

Although most students multitask, forcing their brains literally to divide attention and decreasing focus on any single task, educators
can use special strategies to minimize the toll on learning.

KEY POINTS

Research by cognitive scientists and neuroscientists shows that attention is nite, and the multitasking brain has to divide
attention so that the focus on any single task may be less than optimum for learning.

Students report, on average, that they spend over one-third of the time theyre reading and one-half of the time theyre doing
homework on the computer simultaneously using at least two other forms of electronic media.

When students try to perform two tasks at the same time, the total amount of brain activity actually falls below what it would be if
students were completing only one task.

Brainwave patterns are different when students are multitasking versus working on one task.

The effect on learning is a decrease in short-term memory, retention, and accurate task completion; students suffer the same
decreases when theyre in classrooms that distract them with irrelevant stimuli.

The author provides some strategies for addressing these decreases, especially when teachers use lecture and text reading;
these include frequent assessment, limiting competing stimuli in the classroom, and teaching in 10- to 12-minute modules that
each feature novel learning media.

Multitasking may one day provide an advantage to learners who may be paying attention in a different way, taking a breadth
approach to their stimuli, and preparing for success in the 21st century.

FULL VALUE
In a National Public Radio broadcast, Think Youre Multitasking? Think Again, Jon Hamilton (October 2, 2008) reported on a multitasking
experiment:

At a lab at the University of Michigan, researchers are using an MRI scanner to photograph test subjects brains as they take on different
tasks. During a recent test, Daniel Weissman, the neuroscientist in charge of the experiment, explained that a man lying inside the scanner
would be performing different tasks, depending on the color of two numbers he sees on a screen. If the two digits are one color say, red
the subject decides which digit is numerically larger, Weissman said. On the other hand, if the digits are a different color say green
then the subject decides which digit is actually printed in a larger font size. MRI studies like this one, Weissman said, have shown that when
the man in the scanner sees green, his brain has to pause before responding to round up all the information it has about the green task.

When the man sees red, his brain pauses again to push aside information about the green task and replace it with information about
the red task. If the tasks were simpler, they might not require this sort of full-throttle switching. But, Weissman said, even simple tasks can
overwhelm the brain when we try to do several at once.

22 Must-Reads from Kappan, 2011-12/Summer Issue #2

DEEPEN YOUR THINKING
Choose one or more of these individual inquiry topics for thinking and writing.

1. To what extent do you multitask? When are you most likely to multitask? What electronic media do you use? Whats the effect
on your short-term memory, retention, and accurate task completion of any one task?

2. What have you noticed about todays students? To what extent have they increased or decreased multitasking? To what
extent has multitasking affected learning?

3. To what extent do you believe that attention is finite (limited) in the brain? To what extent do brains change as demands
change?

4. How is multitasking with electronic media like being in a classroom stuffed with irrelevant distractions?

5. How well would these solutions help in a classroom featuring lecture and reading text: Frequent assessment? Limiting
competitive stimuli? Working in short modules with a variety of learning media?

6. Is there any way to use students multitasking tendencies to enhance learning?

EXTEND YOUR THOUGHTS THROUGH ACTIVITIES FOR GROUP DISCUSSION

Student Focus Group:

Convene a focus group of students (4th grade and older). Use the following process to discover students multitasking habits, their
attitudes toward multitasking, and how they can learn best in your schools classrooms.

1. Plan on two facilitators a student from the group and an adult from the group. Prepare the student facilitator for the task.

2. Prepare a room with two circles of chairs, both facing inward. Have students and their facilitator sit in the inner circle facing
each other; have teachers sit in the outer circle facing in, with the adult facilitator sitting near the student facilitator.

3. Teachers will be listening in (flies on the wall, an image students will enjoy!) to the discussion among students but wont
interact with them. Teachers will be silent during the focus group process, until the last step.

4. After introductions around both groups, students should talk freely with each other about the topics and try to ignore the
teachers in the room.

5. After discussion of the topics and subtopics, students should turn their chairs to face the adults and engage in follow-up
questions framed by the teachers.

6. After the adult facilitator debriefs students about the process and the students leave, the adult facilitator should take 15
minutes or more with the teachers in the room to debrief the process as well as to create a list of key ideas from the students.

Reference

Hamilton, J. (2008, October 2). Think youre multitasking? Think again, National Public Radio (NPR) broadcast. www.npr.org/templates/story/story.
php?storyId=95256794

Summer Issue #2 kappanmagazine.org 23

 Classroom
misbehavior
is predictable and preventable
Look for the keys to curbing bad behavior in the patterns and problems of
the student offenders; then serve up a healthy dose of engaging lessons.

There is little doubt that students challenging behavior in schools is always on the minds
of teachers, school administrators, and parents. But what precisely are the challenging be-
haviors of greatest concern? Media portrayals and surveys of public opinion suggest a wide-
spread perception that schools are dangerous places, but data dont support such conclu-
sions. School violence has been on a steady decline for more than a decade. Nonetheless,
student behavior presents consistent, albeit less violent, challenges to teaching and learning.
This hypothetical represents what we think is a typical example:

TIMOTHY J. LANDRUM (tlandrum@
louisville.edu) and AMY S. LINGO are
associate professors and TERRANCE M.
SCOTT is a professor and chair of the
department of special education at the
University of Louisville, Louisville, Ky.
J
ason is a 7th grader with below grade-level academic skills.
He is one of 24 students in a general math class. His teacher
Mr. Monroe does his best to present material that all stu-
dents can understand, but faces the constant challenge that
his more capable students will be bored if he moves too
slowly through the curriculum, while Jason and others who
struggle academically will be lost if he moves too quickly.
Predictably, when theyre bored or frustrated, students become dis-
tracted and disruptive. On this particular day, as Mr. Monroe reviews
the process of simplifying fractions by demonstrating a few examples
on the smartboard, his capable students essentially ignore this review
and engage in their own off-topic conversations, while Jason and his
friends begin complaining that this stuff is too hard, that Mr. Mon-
roe is a terrible teacher who never explains things right. When Mr.
Monroe challenges them to stop talking and pay attention, they es-
calate their complaints. Jason becomes defiant, and says, This whole
school and all the teachers suck, which draws laughter from a few
students. Mr. Monroe threatens a discipline referral to the office if he
hears one more word, to which Jason replies, Fine, thatd be better
than sitting in here.

24 Must-Reads from Kappan, 2011-12/Summer Issue #2

 While extreme forms of school violence, however
rare, arent to be taken lightly, school officials should
be more concerned with the far more prevalent ex-
amples of problem behavior like that described
above, which are seen in most schools every day.
Such behavior often occurs in a predictable, esca-
lating cycle if left unchecked (Walker, Ramsey, &
Gresham, 2004), typically resulting in problems of
increasing frequency and intensity. Scenarios like
Jasons are among the most frustrating, demanding,
By Timothy J. Landrum, Terrance M. Scott, and Amy S. Lingo
and frequent problems teachers face. But three ele-
ments of chronic patterns of disruptive behavior give
us reason for hope, though our optimism is contin-
gent on schools changing how they view and respond
to problem behavior in general.
Problem behavior is predictable.
Problem behavior is preventable.
Preventing problem behavior
requires attention to instruction.
Toward the third point, we emphasize that atten-
tion to instruction means two things: First, academic
instruction must be designed and delivered in a way
that engages all students; and second, many of the
social and academic skills teachers expect students to
display must be actively taught. We briefly consider
each of the elements of prediction, prevention, and
instruction with an eye toward what teachers and
administrators must do to reduce and reverse pat-
terns of disruptive, challenging behavior in schools.
Thinkstock/Stockbyte
If teachers can identify environmental
predictors, they can generally manipulate
them to prevent undesirable behaviors.
PREDICT PROBLEM BEHAVIOR
Fairly simple analyses consistently show that be-
havior positive and negative generally occurs
quite predictably in relation to objects or events in
the environment. Some might argue that environ-
mental events may come and go in a random manner,
but how students respond to environmental cues is,
in fact, highly predictable. If teachers can identify
environmental predictors, they can generally manip-
ulate them to prevent undesirable behaviors. Such
predictions are based on repeated observations of a
behavior in the context of the environment in which
it occurs. In Jasons case, above, careful observation
and analysis of his problem episodes may reveal that
his most common misbehaviors occur during group
instruction, when the class is split so that some are
working and others talking, or when questions are to
be answered orally in front of the class. Identifying This article
these predictors would allow his teacher to be much was originally
more prescriptive, both in how he organizes the en- published in Phi
vironment for each lesson and in how he delivers Delta Kappan, 93
prompts and reminders during the lesson. (2), 30-34.
Summer Issue #2 kappanmagazine.org 25
 Students with challenging behaviors are more
likely to have academic deficits in reading, math, and
written language (Lane, Carter, Pierson, & Glaeser,
2006). While the precise nature of the relationship
between academic deficits and problem behavior re-
mains unclear, indeed presenting a chicken-or-the-
egg conundrum, we do know with some certainly
that each influences the other in a reciprocal way
(Scott, Nelson, & Liaupsin, 2001). Problem behav-
ior contributes to academic difficulties, which con-
tribute to additional behavioral concerns, which fur-
ther impinge on a students academic success, and so
on. No matter which came first, students identified
as having challenging behaviors or academic deficits
in the classroom are more likely to experience nega-
tive or punitive interactions with teachers, regardless
of their behavior; less likely to receive time engaged
in instruction with their teachers; and more likely
to be subjected to reduced demands and lowered
expectations.
Use information on predictors to create
physical and instructional environments
that both avoid predictable problems and
create predictable successes.
As a result of this pattern, we shouldnt be sur-
prised that students with academic or behavioral dif-
ficulties dont see school or time in academic classes
as exciting opportunities for learning, or even op-
portunities to demonstrate their success and receive
positive acknowledgement for their efforts. Rather,
they come to see school itself as an aversive situa-
tion. Failure in reading class leads to withdrawal and
avoidance of reading tasks, which, in turn, sets the
occasion for less instruction and growing academic
deficits. For students with academic skill deficits,
even physically laborious tasks come to be more ap-
pealing than academic activities (Juel, 1988).
The key to prediction is to help teachers consider
multiple episodes of behavior and to begin think-
ing in terms of the larger environment. Imagine, for
example, that a teacher were asked something like
the following by an outside, objective observer: If I
were to come in tomorrow to observe for only five minutes,
and offered you $1 million if I could see Jason display his
typical problem behavior, when would you have me come
observe? Where should I be looking? What would be going
on in the environment? This gets the teacher thinking
seriously about the environments role in predicting
behavior. We think most teachers could answer this
question quickly and easily about their most trou-
26 Must-Reads from Kappan, 2011-12/Summer Issue #2
bling student (e.g., show up at 11 a.m., biology, 3rd
period; watch him and his lab partner as soon as
theyre told to start their lab independently). As
a general rule, if teachers can make such predictions
with some accuracy, theyre well on their way to pre-
venting the problem behavior in question.
PREVENT PROBLEM BEHAVIOR
There is no shortage of interventions touted as
best practice in dealing with difficult behavior, but
no single strategy or program has been demonstrated
to be effective with all individuals and all types of
challenging behaviors in our schools and commu-
nities. There is no magic bullet. The most logical,
practical, and efficient way to deal with failure is to
use information on predictors to create physical and
instructional environments that both avoid predict-
able problems and create predictable successes. We
believe that we can increase the odds of academic
engagement and positive behavior, though its absurd
to think of raising that rate to 100%. Likewise, we
believe that we can lower the odds of problem be-
havior, but again well never lower that rate to zero.
Using what we know to increase our odds of success,
we think, is simply the best approach we have.
The key to tipping these odds in our favor is to
help teachers consider how to use identified predic-
tors to prevent certain behaviors. Think of a follow-
up to the earlier hypothetical we posed, with one key
alteration; imagine that a teacher is now asked: If
I were to come in tomorrow at the same time and under
the same conditions you just named, but this time Ill give
you $1 million if Jason is successful, rather than disrup-
tive, what would you do differently? The object is to
help the teacher consider how to use information on
predictability to create success. Generally, preven-
tion involves efforts to control those events that are
identified as most predictive of student failure, and
to teach specific skills that will help the student to
more effectively deal with those events.
Teachers can prevent certain behaviors by de-
veloping routines and arrangements. Teachers have
great control over some things, such as the number of
students engaging in a task at one time, the procedure
for transitioning from one task to another, and the
routine for lining up at the door. Still, controlling the
environment is a tricky proposition for teachers. To
be sure, well never have the foresight or ability to
control all of the potential events in school. For ex-
ample, manipulating where the teacher is located in
the room so as to better answer questions or changing
the seating arrangement to separate two antagonistic
students are simple prevention strategies because the
predictors are largely under the teachers control. In
contrast, predictors cant be as easily controlled for
a student whose misbehavior is sparked by a peers
comments or a perceived slight on the playground. use is crucial. The reluctance to acknowledge posi-
While the teacher may create environments where tive behavior is sometimes justified by the notion
student comments are limited and playgrounds are that internal reinforcement success is prefer-
well monitored, preventing the random remark or able to external reinforcement praise. While this
look that precipitates a perceived slight will always might be true in certain contexts, the teachers role
be much more difficult. Thus, prevention must al- in developing, recognizing, and reinforcing initial
ways involve arranging environmental variables and success is critical. For example, if we asked a student
events that are under a teachers control to increase
the odds of positive engagement and decrease the
odds of problem behavior. But, even when we do our The teachers role in developing,
best to manipulate the environment to tip the odds in
our favor, what teachers do instructionally remains a recognizing, and reinforcing initial
key ingredient in dealing with challenging behavior. success is critical.
ENGAGE THROUGH INSTRUCTION
What teachers do during instruction is often sim- to solve a math problem and then refused to let him
ply a matter of whats most comfortable or familiar or her know whether the problem was solved cor-
to the teacher, often with little attention to evidence- rectly, we wouldnt have taught anything, nor would
based strategies. Recent large-scale analyses clearly we have changed the probability of the students suc-
identify instructional practices associated with in- cess or failure in the future. While most teachers
creased student success (Hattie, 2009). Among the understand this in the context of academic instruc-
most effective teacher-based practices identified are tion, positive feedback is often missing in dealing
such basic strategies as teacher clarity, teacher feed- with behavior. Even teachers who routinely praise a
back, opportunities for students to respond, model- student verbally for a correctly performed academic
ing, and guided practice. What we find most strik- task rarely say thank you to the student who raises a
ing about these strategies is that while theyre listed hand in class for the first time or gets to class on time.
here because of their link to students
academic success, they also provide a
high probability of positively influencing
student engagement and, consequently, What are we going to do about homework?
their behavior. Is homework an effective instructional tool?
Providing students with opportunities Do you have students that are failing because
to respond in class, using effective mod-
els, and relevant and engaging opportu-
they do not complete their homework?
nities to practice, and offering consistent
feedback doesnt constitute special pro- Answers to these questions and more are found in this
gramming for students with challenging compelling research from the
behavior. Rather, these essential compo- students perspective.
nents of instruction allow us to shape and Whether your students
maintain success for all students. The
are gifted, have special
key is to use these effective strategies to
help students avoid contexts that predict needs, are English
problems and teach behaviors that will language learners, or
effectively replace and prevent problem they follow the general
behavior. Still, students with challenging curriculum, there is
behaviors present special problems when something crucial they
teachers are trying to provide effective
want to tell you.
instruction. Whether a student responds
best to group versus individual question-
ing, verbal versus physical modeling, or Listen to them!
private versus group feedback are ques- Available now for $66.32
tions that are determined through the at Amazon.com
trial-and-error history thats part of the
prediction and prevention process.
Feedback may present one of the
more difficult issues for teachers, and its
Summer Issue #2 kappanmagazine.org 27
 As a general rule, what makes instruction effective in
the academic realm applies equally to teaching social
behavior. In all cases, we simply use the tools at our
disposal to maximize the probability that the student
will be successful with the very next trial.
The same routines used to teach and
reinforce reading, math, or science
concepts can and should be used to
teach and promote positive social and
classroom behavior.
SUMMARY
We argue that dealing with difficult behavior is a
matter of awareness of the factors involved in predic-
tion, prevention, and instruction. This means three
things. First, teachers know or can be assisted in
thinking through the environmental events and con-
texts associated with higher probabilities of problem
behavior. Second, based on these predictions, teach-
ers can actively manipulate many of the environmen-
tal or contextual variables under their control in ways
that increase the odds of students being engaged and
displaying positive behavior, and decrease the odds
of disruptive behavior. Finally, instruction is key to
success in this area. This means that instruction must
be designed and delivered in a way that addresses
student needs and skill levels appropriately, provid-
ing ample opportunities for successful responding.
It also means that the same routines used to teach
and reinforce reading, math, or science concepts can
and should be used to teach and promote positive
social and classroom behavior. Consider a potential
outcome to the scenario described earlier:
After Jasons suggestion that hed love to be sent to the
office, Mr. Monroe quietly slides a chair next to Jason and
sits by him. Mr. Monroe says calmly, We can talk about
that later; right now, get out your math book because Ive
got a trick solution to show you on our challenge problem.
I want you to show the class when youre ready. Jason
just scowls. Mr. Monroe takes a look around the room,
praises those whose books are out, then picks up Jasons
book himself, and opens it to the correct page. Look
at this problem. Its the hardest one, and nobody knows
how to solve it, but I can give you a trick to make it work
and youll be the only one who can do it. Jason switches
his glance to the book and stares at the problem, finally
asking, Whats the trick? Mr. Monroe talks Jason through
the problem, modeling the key procedures, and giving
Jason opportunities to demonstrate his understanding.
After about two minutes, he leaves Jason and returns to
instruction with the entire group. After a few minutes,
28 Must-Reads from Kappan, 2011-12/Summer Issue #2
he asks students to look at the challenge problem in the
book. He says that its extremely difficult and that it will
require someone very smart at math. Several students,
including Jason, raise their hands. Mr. Monroe calls on Jason
who strolls confidently to the board. As Jason works the
problem, Mr. Monroe asks questions to both Jason and
the class about why different steps were taken engag-
ing all in the lesson. As Jason finishes, Mr. Monroe publicly
acknowledges his success and then directs the class on to
independent work. Jason returns to his desk and slowly
brings himself to begin the work.
There are no guarantees that any given instruc-
tional or management approach will work with a
given student. Indeed, we believe that our best hope
is merely to increase our odds of success. If failure has
occurred repeatedly, manipulating environmental
variables or instructional routines can increase our
odds of success. Picking apart Mr. Monroes response
to Jason would be easy, and we recognize that teach-
ers might come at this problem with any number
of proposed solutions, potentially including drastic
variation from the one described here. Indeed, we
accept that any number of responses to Jason might
be appropriate. But we return to our original sugges-
tion that effective responses must address the three
concerns we raised above: We can predict problem
behavior in the classroom; we can manipulate the
environment in response to these predictions; and
instruction can be used or altered in ways that engage
students and ensure success. We think Mr. Mon-
roes response represents a reasonable approach to
the problem. More important, if the alternative is
to do nothing, we can say with great certainty that
the prognosis for Jasons success in school and life is
extremely bleak. K
References
Hattie, J.C. (2009). Visible learning: A synthesis of over 800
meta-analyses relating to achievement. London, UK & New
York, NY: Routledge, Taylor, & Francis.
Juel, C. (1988). Learning to read and write: A longitudinal
study of 54 children from 1st through 4th grade. Journal of
Educational Psychology, 80, 437-447.
Lane, K., Carter, W., Pierson, M., & Glaeser, B. (2006).
Academic, social, and behavioral characteristics of high school
students with emotional disturbances or learning disabilities.
Journal of Emotional & Behavioral Disorders, 14 (2), 108-117.
Scott, T.M., Nelson, C.M., & Liaupsin, C. (2001). Effective
instruction: The forgotten component in preventing school
violence. Education and Treatment of Children, 24, 309-322.
Walker, H.M., Ramsey, E., & Gresham, F.M. (Eds.). (2004).
Antisocial behavior in school: Evidence-based practices (2nd
ed.). Belmont CA: Wadsworth/Thomson.
 Professional development guide to:

Classroom misbehavior is predictable and

preventable
By Timothy J. Landrum, Terrance M. Scott, and Amy S. Lingo

Phi Delta Kappan, 93 (2), 30-34

OVERVIEW OF THE ARTICLE

KEY SENTENCE: The odds of success with difficult students are increased when educators view misbehavior as predictable,
preventable, and manageable through instructional strategies.

KEY POINTS
Although schools may be portrayed as dangerous, data indicate that school violence has decreased; however, problem behavior
that doesnt necessarily lead to violence is seen every day in most schools.

Educators need to be aware that problem behavior can be predicted in relation to whats happening to students personally and
in the classroom, school, and larger environment.

Educators can manage an environmental problem (such as a learning decit or whole-class discussion) to change behavior.

They can also prevent problems from occurring (such as focusing on the needs of a child struggling to learn or having small
groups engage in discussion).

Prevention requires routines and arrangements that facilitate learning as well as teaching students strategies to become better
learners.

Educators can also use proven and engaging instructional strategies, such as feedback, to positively influence student
behavior.

FULL VALUE
Robert J. Marzano, Debra J. Pickering, and Jane E. Pollock describe several research-based strategies for increasing student
achievement in their book Classroom Instruction That Works (2001). These are listed at the end of this Professional Development
Discussion Guide.

These strategies are becoming increasingly popular in todays schools but, according to the authors, they were not understood and
used 30 to 40 years ago. Indeed, teaching had not been systematically studied in a scientific manner (p. 1). Teaching was seen
as an art rather than a science. In fact, in 1966, James Coleman and his colleagues determined as a result of analyzing data from
600,000 students in 1966 that the quality of schooling a student receives accounts for only about 10% of the variance in student
achievement (in Marzano, et al., p. 1).

Two books are especially helpful in describing what researchers now know about how students learn: How People Learn: Brain, Mind,
Experience, and School (Bransford, Brown, & Cocking, 2000) and How Students Learn: Reforming Schools Through Learner-centered
Education (Lambert & McCombs, 1998).

DEEPEN YOUR THINKING

Choose one or more of these individual inquiry topics for thinking and writing.

1. If you had been asked before reading this article whether violence has increased in schools, what would have been your
response?

2. How are challenging behaviors related to school violence?

Summer Issue #2 kappanmagazine.org 29

 3. What are the key differences between the opening and closing scenarios with Jason and Mr. Monroe?

4. To what extent do you think problem behavior is predictable, preventable, and dependent on attention to instruction?

5. How well do educators today teach students the personal, social, and academic skills they want students to exhibit?

6. What percent of environmental conditions can a classroom teacher control, arrange, or manipulate?

7. What are the barriers to using instructional practices that help students succeed? Can these be overcome, and if so, how?

8. What kind of feedback do students receive in classrooms? To what extent do these types of feedback help students improve
behavior?

EXTEND YOUR THOUGHTS THROUGH ACTIVITIES FOR GROUP DISCUSSION

Activity: Applying the Double-Feedback Loop

The authors suggest that academic deficits and challenging behavior are something like the chicken-or-the-egg problem. Which came
first? Which influences the other?

With your colleagues, make a list of students who challenge their teachers in terms of personal, social, and educational behaviors.
Select one student and picture this person; work together to describe this student. Prepare a chart like this:

Student identifier (to ensure student privacy):

Demographic (as necessary):

Challenging personal, social, and education behaviors:

Then, engage in the chicken-or-the-egg conundrum the authors mention. What came first?
What reinforces the other?

Actually, if you read Marc Brasofs article, Student Input Improves Behavior, Fosters
Leadership and its Professional Development Discussion Guide in this issue of Kappan, you
have encountered single- and double-loop thinking. What are the typical responses a teacher
might make toward this student? These are chicken-or-the-egg or single-loop thinking. Draw single loops to represent these and
consider that typical reactions might result in increased problem behavior.

Then, push yourselves to step out of single-loop thinking in order to consider other responses (based on different mental models or
assumptions) that might help this student learn. Think about how this students teachers and principal could act or react, based on
viewing misbehavior as predictable, preventable, and manageable through instructional strategies. Create some double-loop models.

Select another student you named and repeat the process.

References

Bransford, J.D., Brown, A.L., & Cocking, R.R. (Eds.). (2000). How people learn: Brain, mind, experience, and school. Washington, DC:
National Academy Press.

Coleman et al. (1966). Equality of educational opportunity. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office as cited in Marzano,
R.J., Pickering, D.J., & Pollock, J.E. (2001). Classroom instruction that works: Research-based strategies for increasing student
achievement. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Lambert, N.M. & McCombs, B.L. (Eds.). (1998). How students learn: Reforming schools through learner-centered education.
Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

Marzano, R.J., Pickering, D.J., & Pollock, J.E. (2001). Classroom instruction that works: Research-based strategies for increasing
student achievement. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

30 Must-Reads from Kappan, 2011-12/Summer Issue #2

 Comments?
Like PDK at www.
facebook.com/pdkintl

Teaching students not

to sweat the test
Teachers can change some of their practices to ensure that
students dont feel extreme anxiety at exam time.

By Spencer J. Salend
Every student takes tests, whether theyre in 1st grade or graduate school. Many
of those students will experience some degree of test anxiety, which can negatively af-
fect their grades, promotions, graduation, and post-secondary opportunities (Salend,
2011a). Even though educators are the ones responsible for testing students and
probably creating much of that anxiety they can also be the ones who help alleviate
student test anxiety if they are armed with information and knowledge about useful
strategies.
During testing, students experiencing test anxiety encounter extreme levels of stress,
nervousness, and apprehension that drastically hinders their ability to perform well
and negatively affects their social-emotional and behavioral development and feelings
about themselves and school (Cizek & Burg, 2006; Huberty, 2009). Students may have
Students can learn to generalized anxiety disorders, but anxiousness over tests is different (Huberty, 2009).
use anxiety reduction Students with generalized anxiety disorders are distinguished by a trait anxiety, which
results in experiencing high levels of stress across a wide range of situations (Cassady,
strategies before, during, 2010; Cizek & Burg, 2006). Conversely, students experiencing test anxiety have a state
and after testing. anxiety, which results in high levels of nervousness specific to testing.
A variety of interrelated variables associated with individualized student character-
istics, family and peer interactions, and school and classroom practices can lead to test
anxiety (Salend, 2011a). These factors include:

Anxiety, attention, or obsessive compulsive disorders;

Perfectionist tendencies and unrealistic expectations;
Negative self-esteem, self-statements, and criticism;
Poor motivation, lack of confidence, and procrastination;
Stereotype threat;
Inadequate study and test-taking skills;
Poor prior testing performance;
Pressure from peers, family, and teachers;
Unfavorable testing environments;
Invalid, awed, and timed tests; and
Ineffective teaching (Cizek & Burg, 2006; Huberty, 2009; Osborne, Tillman, &
Holland, 2010).

These factors often interact to create a cycle that results in heightened levels of
This article test anxiety (Cassady, 2010). For example, a student may initially do badly on a test
was originally
published in Phi SPENCER J. SALEND is a professor of education at the State University of New York-New Paltz, N.Y.
Delta Kappan, 93 He is author of Creating Inclusive Classrooms: Effective and Reflective Practices. (Pearson Education,
(6), 20-25. 2011) and Classroom Testing and Assessment for All Students: Beyond Standardization (Corwin, 2009).

Summer Issue #2 kappanmagazine.org 31

 due to inadequate study habits or a poorly devel-
oped test, and then experience family pressures and
negative self-statements, which collectively increase
the probability that the student will experience high
levels of anxiety that interfere with subsequent test
performance.
Experiencing some anxiety related to testing is
normal, and reasonable amounts of stress can even
enhance test performance (Cizek & Burg, 2006).
However, students experiencing detrimental levels
of stress during testing usually exhibit a variety of
physical, behavioral, and affective warning signs.
(See Table 1.) Educators can assess whether students
evidence the warning signs by observing them dur-
ing testing and interviewing them and their families
about their behavior and feelings while preparing
and taking tests. Educators, students, and family
members also can respond to questionnaires assess-
ing the degree to which the warning signs of test anxi-
ety are present (Cizek & Burg, 2006; Salend, 2011a).
Research suggests that between 25% to 40%
of students experience test anxiety (Cassady, 2010;
Huberty, 2009). Students with disabilities and stu-
dents in classes for the gifted and talented tend to
experience high rates of test anxiety (Goetz, Preckel,
Zeidner, & Schleyer, 2008; Whitaker Sena, Lowe, &
Lee, 2007). Students from culturally and linguisti-
cally diverse backgrounds are prone to test anxiety
because of social, cultural, and psychological stress
and beliefs that some group members may feel when
asked to complete an activity where their poor per-
formance may reinforce negative stereotypes about
them (Osborne, Tillman, & Holland, 2010).
Helping students with test anxiety
Teachers can help relieve the anxiety experienced
by students by employing a variety of interventions
that have been proven useful (Salend, 2011a). Al-
though the interventions described here may be es-
pecially helpful to students experiencing test anxiety,
they are also good strategies for all students.
Use student-friendly tests
Poorly designed tests can hinder student perfor-
mance and increase test anxiety. Educators can mini-
mize test anxiety by using student-friendly tests that

TABLE 1.
Possible symptoms associated with test anxiety
PHYSICAL SYMPTOMS BEHAVIORAL SYMPTOMS AFFECTIVE SYMPTOMS

Excessive perspiration Difficulties with concentration, attention, and memory that interfere Making negative self-statements
with:
Sweaty palms Having pessimistic expectations
Reading and understanding test directions and items
(e.g., Im going to fail this test.)
Unexplained headache or Retrieving words, facts, and concepts
stomachache Organizing thoughts and answers Being apathetic and unmotivated

Nausea Performing poorly on tests when the content: Negative comparisons of self to
others (e.g., Im not as smart as
Has been studied
Shaking body parts others.)
Has been mastered previously as demonstrated via nontesting
Rapid heartbeat performance assessment activities Making excuses for poor test
performance (e.g., I dont do
Dizziness and light-headedness Off-task behaviors such as inappropriate comments, fidgeting, well on tests because I have test
squirming, pacing, staring, tapping, crying, and rapid speech during anxiety.)
Muscle tension testing
Expressing avoidance and fear
Tics Asking numerous unnecessary questions about test of testing situations

Flushed skin color Experiencing repeated mental blocks and forgetting

Difficulty sleeping, eating, or Feeling overwhelmed during testing

using the toilet before tests
Complaining about test items (e.g., We didnt cover this in class.)

Seeking unnecessary assistance from others

Cheating on tests

Feigning illness and being absent on testing days

Source: Salend, S.J. (2011, November/December). Addressing test anxiety. Teaching Exceptional Children, 44 (2), p. 61. 2011 Council for Ex-
ceptional Children. Reprinted with permission.

32 Must-Reads from Kappan, 2011-12/Summer Issue #2

are valid, accessible, and motivating and that employ
best practices for creating test directions and items
(Salend, 2009; Salend, 2011b).
Promote validity
Tests that are not valid are unfair and stressful.
Educators can promote the validity of their tests if
they:
Determine the content of tests. The
content of tests should be directly linked to
the curriculum and the most important topics,
concepts, and skills taught.
Align test questions to instructional
practices and terminology. Test questions
should be consistent with instructional
practices used to promote student learning.
Essay questions should address material taught
via role playing, simulations, cooperative
learning, and problem-solving strategies.
Objective test items should relate to fact-based
learning covered during teacher-directed
activities. In addition, terminology in the
test directions and in test items should be
consistent with vocabulary that the teacher uses
during instruction.
Weight test content. The percentage,
number, and point values of test questions
addressing specific content should be weighted
to be consistent with the amount of instruc-
tional time committed to teaching that content
and the complexity of the material taught.
As a case in point, if 15% of the instructional
time was spent on teaching the Declaration
of Independence, then a corresponding
percentage of test questions or point values
should be related to that material.
Schedule tests. Promote validity and student
performance by regularly scheduling tests
that cover a reasonable amount of content,
and coordinating tests with other teachers so
students arent taking too many tests in a short
period of time.
Enhance accessibility
Inaccessible tests are confusing, frustrating, and
anxiety producing for students. Teachers can make
tests more accessible by enhancing the tests format,
readability, and legibility.
Format: Ensure that tests have proper layouts,
organization, spacing, and sequencing by: (a)
presenting items in a predictable and numbered
order that facilitates the transition from item
to item; (b) having a reasonable number of
items on each page; (c) grouping similar types
of questions; (d) surrounding test directions in
text boxes; and (e) providing sufficient space to
respond.
Readability: Tailor the readability of tests by:
(a) removing unnecessary words; (b) decreasing
the length of sentences; (c) using vocabulary,
tense, sentence structure, and voice that
students understand; (e) avoiding pronouns,
double negatives, abbreviations, acronyms, and
parentheses (Salend, 2011b).
Legibility: Enhance the legibility of tests by
selecting readable and familiar fonts and type
sizes; using all capital text and stylistic variants
(e.g., italics, bold, underlining) sparingly to
highlight brief amounts of text; presenting text
in line lengths of 40 and 70 characters or seven
to 12 words; avoiding right-justified text; and
printing tests with black or blue ink and on
off-white, pale, or matte pastel backgrounds.
What is test anxiety?
Students experiencing test anxiety encounter extreme levels
of stress, nervousness, and apprehension during testing that
drastically hinders their ability to perform well and negatively
affects their social-emotional and behavioral development
and feelings about themselves and school.
Foster motivation
Student-friendly tests should motivate students
to stay focused and engaged. Educators can foster
student motivation during testing by embedding
prompts, relating test questions to students lives,
giving students choices, and having students work
collaboratively.
Embed prompts. Place prompts in strategic
locations that will help students stay focused,
remain calm, and succeed on tests.
Relate questions to students lives. When
possible, personalize items to include student
and teacher names (obtain their permission
beforehand), integrating popular characters,
trends, humor, novelty, and student interests
and communities. For instance, make true/false
questions more relevant by presenting them in
the context of students being fact checkers for
a web site who must decide whether to tweet
Summer Issue #2 kappanmagazine.org 33
 true statements or delete false statements.
Give choices. Give students some choice in
responding to items. For instance, teachers can
present test items in a tic-tac-toe format and
ask students to respond to a specified number
of items or to answer three questions that give
them tic-tac-toe (Edyburn, 2009).
Work in collaborative groups. Reduce the stress
of competition by having students collaborate on
answering test items . Later, they may be assessed
individually.
Best practices for test directions
Tricky and poorly constructed test items and di-
rections can undermine validity, accessibility, and
motivation. Student-friendly tests have clear, con-
cise, complete, and grammatically correct test direc-
tions and items.
Test directions
Good directions guide students in understanding
what to do, how precisely to respond, and tell them
the point totals associated with items and sections.
Embedding an example of a correct response, avoid-
ing vague terms and irrelevant information, and us-
ing bullets and numerals can help students compre-
hend test directions.
Test items
Good test questions are academically appropriate
and employ best practices for composing multiple-
choice, matching, true-false, sentence completion,
and essay items. For example, in devising matching
items, teachers ensure that:
Directions inform students of the basis for
matching the item pairs.
Students are provided with a blank space
(rather than a line) where they can record the
letter or number associated with their response
choice.
Columns contain less than 10 understandable,
grammatically similar item pairs related to a
single topic with longer item statements listed
on the left, and shorter item statements on the
right.
Columns are labeled appropriately and
organized in a logical way with items listed in
one column labeled with numbers, and items
presented in the other column labeled with
letters.
Columns contain feasible choices related
to common elements with only one correct
34 Must-Reads from Kappan, 2011-12/Summer Issue #2
response for each pair and with about 25%
more items in one column than in the other.
Anxiety-reduction strategies
Students can learn to use anxiety reduction strate-
gies before, during, and after testing (Whitaker Sena,
Lowe, & Lee, 2007). For instance, rather than ar-
riving early to the testing site, students can learn to
come on time so they avoid anxiety-producing ques-
tions about the test from peers. Additionally, stu-
dents can learn relaxation training techniques such
as meditating, praying, smelling fragrances, taking
deep breaths and breaks, engaging in positive self-
talk, and focusing on past successes (Cizek & Burg,
2006). Some students may find it relaxing to listen to
guided imagery, affirmations, mediations, or calm-
ing music, to visualize positive and relaxing images
and experiences, or to sit in a nondistracting area of
the room. Others may reduce stress by tensing and
relaxing muscles, doing yoga, exercising, or using a
squeeze ball. Teachers can embed visual reminders in
tests to prompt students to these anxiety-reduction
strategies.
Teach test-taking strategies
Teachers can alleviate some of the tension associ-
ated with testing by teaching students to use effective
and efficient study and test-taking strategies. Rather
than teaching to the test, teachers can help students
prepare for and succeed on tests by:
Developing and reviewing study guides that
communicate the purpose, content, and format
of the test.
Having students work in collaborative groups
to identify content and test questions that
are likely to be on tests, tutor each other,
and design study and memory strategies. For
instance, students can devise mnemonic devices
such as HOMES to remember the Great Lakes
(Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, Superior).
Providing students with opportunities to play
educational games and complete practice exams
that contain questions that parallel the content
and conditions theyll encounter during testing.
Distributing a list of potential essay questions
likely to be included on tests.
Educators also can teach students how to study.
Rather than cramming, effective studying involves
creating a schedule that includes a list of goal-based
sessions that are reasonable in length and content.
Students also can learn to enhance their studying
sessions by having the appropriate resources and ma-
terials textbooks, notes, homework, study guides,

Teachers can make tests more
accessible by enhancing the tests
format, readability, and legibility.
and highlighters. They should take breaks and con-
clude sessions by devising narrative and visual sum-
maries and outlines of critical information.
Teachers can reduce tension during testing
by teaching students to use test-taking strategies
(Salend, 2009). For instance, teachers can help stu-
dents perform well by teaching them to:
Perform a memory dump/download when
tests are distributed by jotting essential points,
names, definitions, formulas, dates, and
memory clues.
Survey the test, respond to items that can be
easily answered, and mark and work on items
based on their level of difficulty and point
values.
Budget time according to the time allotted,
the point totals of items and sections, and the
difficulty level of the items.
Highlight critical parts of test items and
directions.
Technology-based testing
Technology-based testing allows the testing ex-
perience to adapt to students individualized prefer-
ences regarding the testing format and conditions
they want to use (Salend, 2009). For example, stu-
dents in consultation with their teachers can deter-
mine whether they want to have tests presented in
any of a number of ways, including verbal, written,
video/pictorial, masked, or via text/screen readers.
They also may choose to respond via voice recog-
nition, word processor, touch screen or keyboards.
Family matters
Interventions to address test anxiety are more
likely to be effective when teachers collaborate with
students families and other professionals (Conder-
man & Pedersen, 2010). Teachers can foster family
involvement by providing parents or caretakers with
information about test anxiety, testing and assess-
ment practices, and ways to foster a childs use of
effective study and test-taking strategies.
Professionals such as school counselors, school
psychologists, and social workers can be an excel-
lent resource (Huberty, 2009). For teachers, these
professionals can help identify students experienc-
ing test anxiety and using effective strategies. For
students, these professionals can conduct sessions
to help students understand and deal with test anxi-
ety. For families, these professionals can offer work-
shops, information, and resources about test anxiety
and ways to overcome it.
In addition, educators can balance their use of
testing. Rather than relying solely on test perfor-
mance, educators also can use observations, perfor-
mance assessment, active responding systems, and
portfolio assessment to obtain a complete picture of
their students learning progress. However, educa-
tors should keep in mind that students experiencing
test anxiety also may show high levels of stress during
these other assessment activities.K
References
Cassady, J.C. (2010). Test anxiety: Contemporary theories
and implications for learning. In J.C. Cassady (Ed.), Anxiety
in schools: The causes, consequences, and solutions for
academic anxieties (pp. 7-26). New York, NY: Peter Lang.
Cizek, G. & Burg, S. (2006). Addressing test anxiety in a high-
stakes environment: Strategies for classrooms and schools.
Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
Conderman, G. & Pedersen, T. (2010). Preparing students with
mild disabilities for taking state and district tests. Intervention
in School and Clinic, 45, 232-241.
Edyburn, D. (2009). RTI and UDL interventions. Journal of
Special Education Technology, 24 (2), 46-47.
Goetz, T., Preckel, F., Zeidner, M., & Schleyer, E. (2008). Big
fish in big ponds: A multilevel analysis of test anxiety and
achievement in special gifted classes. Anxiety, Stress, and
Coping, 21, 185-198.
Huberty, T. (2009). Test and performance anxiety. Principal
Leadership, 10 (1), 12-16.
Osborne, J., Tillman, D., & Holland, A. (2010). Stereotype
threat and anxiety for disadvantaged minorities and women.
In J.C. Cassady (Ed.), Anxiety in schools: The causes,
consequences, and solutions for academic anxieties (pp. 119-
136). New York, NY: Peter Lang.
Salend, S.J. (2009). Classroom testing and assessment for all:
Beyond standardization. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.
Salend, S.J. (2011a, November/December). Addressing test Portions of this
anxiety. Teaching Exceptional Children, 44 (2), 58-68. article were
adapted from
Salend, S.J. (2011b). Creating inclusive classrooms: Effective
Salend, S.J.
and reflective practices (7th ed.). Columbus, OH: Pearson
(2011, November/
Education.
December).
Whitaker Sena, J.D., Lowe, P.A., & Lee, S.W. (2007). Addressing test
Significant predictors of test anxiety among students with and anxiety. Teach-
without learning disabilities. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 40, ing Exceptional
360-376. Children, 44 (2).
Summer Issue #2 kappanmagazine.org 35
 Professional development guide to:

Teaching students not to sweat

the test
By Spencer J. Salend

Phi Delta Kappan, 93 (6), 20-25

OVERVIEW OF THE ARTICLE

Although a number of factors can influence test anxiety, teachers can change their testing practices to lessen test anxiety.

KEY POINTS

Test anxiety is a state anxiety, specic to a situation; students may also experience trait anxieties that are more generalized.
A variety of factors can result in test anxiety, including negative self-esteem, pressure from peers or family, poorly made tests, and
ineffective teaching.
Test anxiety may result from doing poorly on one test and then transferring that experience to subsequent tests, intensifying the
anxiety with each test.
While some stress is good for optimum performance on a test, 25% to 40% of students experience disabling test anxiety.
Teachers can deploy interventions in terms of creating student-friendly tests (that are valid, accessible, and use best practices for
creating items and directions), fostering motivation, teaching test-taking strategies, using relaxation techniques before and during
tests, involving family members in preparing students for tests, and enlisting the help of other professionals in the school.
The author provides a chart describing physical, behavioral, and affective symptoms associated with test anxiety.

FULL VALUE
Here are some other ways of thinking about test anxiety:

George Washington Universitys Counseling Center distinguishes between two phases of anxiety: Anxiety can be labeled as
anticipatory anxiety if you feel distress while studying and when thinking about what might happen when you take a test. Anxiety can
be labeled as situational anxiety if it occurs while taking a test.

The Education Testing Service (ETS) in its booklet on test anxiety related to taking the Praxis (a teacher-licensing test) recommends
that students not waste time on beat the test strategies. There are a number of test-prep books and classes out there that advertise
shortcuts for studying, such as methods for finding the answers to multiple-choice questions or secrets for fooling essay-test scorers
into giving you a high score. But the truth is, you cant trick your way to a high score.

In a study of the relationship between test anxiety and academic performance at Missouri Western State University, Vogel and Collins
found no effect. Academic performance of students in two undergraduate psychology classes took quizzes and completed surveys
on anxiety. The quiz grades were then compared to the survey scores in order to determine if high- and low-anxiety groups perform
lower than moderate-anxiety groups (Vogel & Collins, 2009). The researchers found no difference in quiz grades between the two
groups.

DEEPEN YOUR THINKING

Choose one or more of these individual inquiry topics for thinking and writing.

1. Do you experience test anxiety (or do you know someone who does)? How does the anxiety manifest itself (physically,
behaviorally, affectively)?

2. What factors that affect test anxiety are out of a teachers control? What factors are within a teachers control?

36 Must-Reads from Kappan, 2011-12/Summer Issue #2

 3. To what extent is some anxiety a positive factor when you face a challenge? At what point does it become unhealthy?

4. In your experience, what types of students are more likely to experience test anxiety than other students?

5. The author suggests that test question format should align to instructional practices. For example, an essay question should
address material taught via role playing, simulations, cooperative learning, and problem-solving strategies. Objective test
items should relate to fact-based learning. How does your experience in creating tests and taking tests align with that
suggestion?

6. To what extent would the educational community with which you work consider having students collaborate on test answers
cheating?

7. To what extent should students have choices on their tests? What kinds of choices?

EXTEND YOUR THOUGHTS THROUGH ACTIVITIES FOR GROUP DISCUSSION

Working with colleagues, decide how you would address these reasons real high school students gave for not doing well on tests
(Easton, 2008):

I used to hate tests. Everybody thought some- I was afraid the tests
thing was wrong with me, so they would prove that Im not
kept giving me these tests. I used to freak out, and very good at things, so I
Id get all the answers wrong. I knew something messed up on purpose.
was wrong with me. Sevi
David

I didnt see why we needed to

take these tests. They didnt
relate to what interested me.
Elliott
I would look around and all the other kids
were finished and I had barely started. I would
get more and more nervous and then I would
just give up. I knew I couldnt do well.
Manny

I just dont think that way. I think all the answers

are right in some way.
Khalid

Summer Issue #2 kappanmagazine.org 37

 Well, we certainly werent the ones getting good
grades and looking so preppy on test-taking days.
The hurry-up part of tests We didnt see the point in having sharpened pencils.
makes me nervous. I like to Nobody I knew did well on those tests.
think about things. Mahkaea
David

I never planned to go to college, so I

didnt see the point of these tests.
Adam

Complete with what you think a

student might say.

References

Easton, L.B. (2008). Engaging the disengaged: How schools can help struggling students succeed. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.

Education Testing Service. (n.d.) Reducing test anxiety. www.ets.org/Media/Tests/PRAXIS/pdf/01361anxiety.pdf

University Counseling Center, George Washington University. (n.d.). Test anxiety. http://gwired.gwu.edu/counsel/index.gw/Site_ID/5176/Page_ID/14095

Vogel, H.L. & Collins, A. L. (2009). The relationship between test anxiety and academic performance. http://clearinghouse.missouriwestern.edu/
manuscripts/333.php

38 Must-Reads from Kappan, 2011-12/Summer Issue #2

 Kappan Phi Delta

service | research | leadership

Summer 2012

STEP UP!
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challenges of the coming year

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Summer Issue #3
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Summer Issue #3
ONLINE ACCESS
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2 Rightsizing a school district access to Kappan articles online. Visit
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8 Is modeling enough?
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WRITE FOR KAPPAN

35 How to steer the tough budget road ahead: Phi Delta Kappan publishes articles
Accelerate your performance concerned with issues, trends, and
Frederick M. Hess policies in K-12 education. Views
expressed do not necessarily agree with
positions taken by PDK International, the
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Submit manuscripts by e-mailing to
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Summer Issue #3 kappanmagazine.org 1

The Shrinking
Schoolhouse

As dollars for schools

Rightsizing
a school district
decline, K-12 schools
need to reduce staff
and focus efforts.
How do schools
realistically do more
with less? Kappan A dramatic self-examination led the Kansas City, Mo.,
will be publishing
articles related to this public schools to close schools and cut $68 million from
throughout the year. We
are seeking manuscripts its annual budget.
that help educators
address these issues:

What ideas will benefit By Mary Esselman, Rebecca Lee-Gwin, and Michael Rounds
school and district
leaders as they balance
conflicting needs and
conflicting challenges?
What disasters are
looming as budgets
shrink?

If teachers are a finite
resource, how can
schools/districts best
deploy them where
they matter the most?

What is the role of
technology in helping
schools work smaller
and smarter?

If schools and districts
must abandon the 25-
to-1 student-to-teacher
model, what other
models could be ad-
opted to ensure high-
quality learning?

Where are there
examples of schools
and districts that have
successfully reduced
themselves and
continued to provide
high-quality learning
for students?

Submit manuscripts
to manuscripts@
pdkintl.org.

2 Must-Reads from Kappan, 2011-12/Summer Issue #3

 Comments? Like
Kappan at www.
facebook.com/pdkintl

The transformation of the Kansas City, Mo.,
School District (KCMSD) has been long overdue.
Multiple superintendents and administrations, using
billions of dollars of desegregation funds, tried to
transform the district by creating magnet schools,
themed schools, and career-focused high school ini-
tiatives. Missing from these initiatives, but included
in the current restructuring, was a laser-like focus on
teaching and learning.
By the 2009-10 school year, the district faced a
myriad of problems: More than 70% of its schools
posted student proficiency levels below 25% on the
state assessment, and fewer than one-third of ele-
mentary students were reading at grade level. Stu-
dent enrollment had dropped from 30,000 in 2000
to just over 17,000 in 2010, creating a building use
rate of 48% in the districts 63 open schools. (Fifty
percent of all open seats were in secondary schools.)
State revenues had sharply declined in the face of
the worst recession since the 1930s. The result was
a projected budget deficit of $8.5 million in FY2011
and a two-year revenue decline of over $100 million
with little likelihood of a significant upturn projected
for FY2012. Finally, the district had been cited by the
state as having no viable and guaranteed curriculum,
with local schools having scant capacity for ensuring
that students would be college, career, or workforce
ready when they graduated from high school (Essel-
man & Reynolds, 2010).
These statistics strongly suggested that, at the
current rate of progress, the district would achieve
only minimal success. (See Figs. 1-4.) Making incre-
mental changes each year would have tempered the
affect on the community, but there was little political
will to make any changes because the school district
was a major employer in Kansas City. To create a
sense of urgency throughout the community regard-
ing the plight of public education for Kansas City
Kansas City saved $68 million, cut vendor
contracts from 6,000 to fewer than 1,000,
and improved its focus on optimizing
resources to support teaching and
learning.
students, newly appointed Supt. John Covington
called for a radical transformation and rightsizing
of the district.
The plan takes shape
In October 2009, a community task force ap-
pointed by Covington kicked off the rightsizing
process by having two sets of forums. The first fo-
rum confirmed the priorities in deciding on school
closures, and a second set in spring 2010 obtained
feedback on the final recommendations. To avoid

MARY ESSELMAN (esselmanm@michigan.gov) is chief officer, accountability, equity, and innovation for the Michigan Education Achieve-
ment Authority. She is a former assistant superintendent for professional development, assessment and accountability in Missouri.
REBECCA LEE-GWIN is deputy chancellor business and fiscal affairs and operations for the Michigan Education Achievement Author-
ity, an agency tasked with handling Michigans lowest-performing schools. She is a former chief financial officer in Missouri. MICHAEL
ROUNDS is chief operating officer for the Kansas City Public Schools, Kansas City, Mo.

FIG 1.
Percentage of students reading at or above grade level

45 - Spring 2007 Spring 2008 Spring 2009

40 -
Percentage of students

35 -
30 -
25 -
20 -
15 -
10 -
5-
0-
GRADE 2 GRADE 3 GRADE 4 GRADE 5 GRADE 6 GRADE 7 GRADE 8 TOTAL
This article
was originally
Source: Esselman, M. & Reynolds, M. (2010). Rightsizing the Kansas City, Missouri, School District: Teaching and learn- published in Phi
ing for a new millennium. Kansas City, MO: Kansas City School District. Delta Kappan, 93
(6), 56-61.

Summer Issue #3 kappanmagazine.org 3

Thinkstock/Hemera
 FIG 2.
Annual percentage of students proficient in communication arts
60 -
Percentage of students proficient 50 -
40 -
30 -
20 -
10 -
0-
TOTALS ASIAN BLACK HISPANIC WHITE F/R LUNCH IEP LEP
Source: Esselman, M. & Reynolds, M. (2010). Rightsizing the Kansas City, Missouri, School District: Teaching and learn-
ing for a new millennium. Kansas City, MO: Kansas City School District.
relying on a single factor to determine which schools
would close, district officials created a matrix of 52
indicators across four categories academic perfor-
mance, building conditions and infrastructure, en-
rollment and demand for schools and programs, and
other special program considerations and created
scorecards for each district school.
Upon review of the districts recommendations
for school closures, the second set of community
forums unearthed disagreements over grade-level
organizations and gang issues. The administra-
tion initially recommended reorganizing schools
into grade-level groupings of K-2, 3-6, and 7-12.
Numerous parents opposed this and cited personal
hardships in getting children to as many as three
schools each day as a significant problem. Com-
bining middle school students with high school
students also provoked strong sentiments. Parents
did not want their 13- and 14-year-old daughters
mingling with 17- and 18-year-old boys.
Parents, community activists, and students raised
concerns that changing school attendance boundar-
ies would send children across gang turf lines, plac-
ing them in jeopardy. Also, there was a strong sense
that comingling gang-connected students would
bring trouble. They worried that adding 7th and
8th graders in the mix would provide bigger pools
for gang recruiting. City Council members joined
the fray, focusing on the number of schools being
closed in each subdistrict. They wanted the pain of
school closings to be shared equally among atten-
dence districts.
4 Must-Reads from Kappan, 2011-12/Summer Issue #3
2007 2008 2009
Ultimately, data from the scorecards, along with
input from the task force, community forums, and
economic indicators provided by city planners were
used to identify 30 schools for closure. While grade
configurations in the elementary schools did not
change, secondary schools were reconstituted to
7-12 grade-level organizations, with many of the sec-
ondary magnet programs collapsed into one building
from two.
The district made reducing vendor contracts an
important objective. For years, the district had sup-
plied contracts to a number of individuals in the city
whose lifestyles required this flow of money to con-
tinue. These individuals pressured board members
and the superintendent to no avail.
In March 2010, the board approved closing all
30 targeted schools on a 5-to-4 vote. Kansas City
reduced its budget by $68 million for FY2011, cut
vendor contracts from 6,000 to fewer than 1,000, and
improved its focus on optimizing resources to sup-
port teaching and learning. Rightsizing continued in
FY 2012 with an additional reduction of $37 million
across both operations and instruction.
Included in the cuts were 1,247 full-time equiv-
alent positions over a two-year span. The district
spent $8 million to provide a retirement or buyout
incentive for eligible employees, both certified and
classified. The plan was designed to recoup the cost
of incentives within three years through lower sal-
ary expenditures and reduced legal fees. The union
requested but the administration did not sup-
port a 4% raise for teachers and support staff.
The district took the stance that including a raise in
the proposed collective bargaining agreement would
have returned the district to its prior state of finan-
cial instability. The district intends to restructure
the salary schedule to reward performance rather
than longevity.
A new pedagogy
In transforming teaching and learning after the
cuts, district leaders wanted to create a system in
which students assume ownership for their learning
under the guidance of teachers working as facilitators
(Prensky, 2009). Through a culture of continuous
improvement, the district plans to eliminate path-
ways based soley on age and time.
The new instructional model embraces a learner-
centered paradigm of education in which peda-
gogy, assessments, and support systems are changed
(Reigeluth et al., 2008). Students work individually,
in pairs, and small groups facilitated by teachers,
peers, technology, and/or tutors. Students are orga-
nized by instructional level rather than grade level
and progress via mastery rather than time.
KCMSD is using technology more widely as a re-
sult of the rightsizing. The districts distance learning
platforms support individualized learning plans for
all students. Low-enrollment classes will be offered
through distance learning labs in each high school
during the 2012-13 school year. Virtual courses are
planned to support students with diverse interests, a
desire to accelerate, or a need for remediation. In ad-
dition, parents, teachers, and students will have ready
FIG 3.
Annual percentage of students proficient in math
60 -
50 -
Percentage of students proficient
40 -
30 -
20 -
10 -
0-
TOTALS ASIAN BLACK HISPANIC WHITE F/R LUNCH IEP LEP
Source: Esselman, M. & Reynolds, M. (2010). Rightsizing the Kansas City, Missouri, School District: Teaching and learn-
ing for a new millennium. Kansas City, MO: Kansas City School District.
access to both aggregated and disaggregated student
progress reports aligned with local, state, national
and international standards. The increased use of
technology provides cost savings by eliminating out-
side vendors and is therefore financially sustainable.
In light of shrinking dollars, professional devel-
opment funds have shifted to support in-house cur-
riculum writing and other leadership activities. The
districts new teaching and learning center hosts
resource rooms for each content area and teacher-
led workshops. The district uses technology to sup-
port collaboration among teachers through profes-
sional learning communities, data teams, discussion
threads, and transmedia platforms. Teachers con-
tinue to have access to individual professional devel-
opment through commercial and district-generated
video links.
KCMSD is using technology more widely
as a result of the rightsizing.
Principals and other administrators are able to
evaluate teachers with observation tools that al-
low them to use iPads to electronically document
teachers instructional practices. Information from
walk-throughs is downloaded in real-time to a data
warehouse that immediately generates a report for
viewing by teachers and administrators. Teachers
who need additional assistance receive video links
2007 2008 2009
Summer Issue #3 kappanmagazine.org 5
 FIG 4.
Enrollment history (KCMSD K-12 and charter schools) from fiscal year 1999-2010
40,000 -
35,000 -
30,000 -
25,000 -
Enrollment
20,000 -
15,000 -
10,000 -
5,000 -
0-
1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009* 2010** 2011 2012
* Independence annexation was effective 7/1/2008. ** Actual enrollment as of 10/13/2009. Projected enrollment.
Source: Esselman, M. & Reynolds, M. (2010). Rightsizing the Kansas City, Missouri, School District: Teaching and
learning for a new millennium. Kansas City, MO: Kansas City School District.
aligned to the area of need. The district bought small,
portable cameras to provide panoramic filming; the
footage will be used for coaching, evaluating, and
demonstrating achieved competencies for new and
struggling teachers.
The district will continue to bear the
expense of maintaining the large number
of closed school buildings until theyre
either sold or leased, a process that is
projected to take at least five years.
The broad restructuring resulted in balanced
budgets for FY2011 and FY2012, demonstrating the
districts ability to respond effectively to changing
student needs; even with fewer dollars, KCMSD can
no longer depend on its once privileged funding
status. Rightsizing forced the district to truly assess
revenues and reduce expenditures accordingly. The
district had to rethink staffing, class sizes, and tech-
nology to replace some teachers (Hess & Osberg,
2010).
Leadership adopted the mantra of nothing
changes if nothing changes. The operational side of
the district took the approach that efficiency would
ultimately strengthen the instructional side. The
budget, buildings, and staffing, if controlled effec-
tively, would offer financial stability, environmen-
6 Must-Reads from Kappan, 2011-12/Summer Issue #3
KCMSD K-12 enrollment
Charter/ISAs enrollment
tally sound buildings, and the opportunity to have
effective teachers.
Operational changes
A school can be considered operationally effec-
tive if teachers and school administrators can focus
on learning and not on the surrounding environ-
ment. In each of the 33 open KCMSD buildings,
some level of infrastructure dysfunction routinely
disrupts teaching and learning. In many cases, its
difficult to guarantee day to day that the physical
environment in district schools will be adequate to
support all school activities. Twice during spring
2011, for example, elementary school students had
to be sent home early because of plumbing failures.
Acute maintenance issues exist because the district
largely ignored routine and preventive maintenance
for three decades. A 2007 study by ACI/Frangkiser
Hutchens outlined over $150 million of deferred
maintenance that needed to be addressed in order
for district school buildings to remain viable in both
the near and long term.
To re-establish the functionality of all schools
and address a good portion of their deferred mainte-
nance, KCMSD has embarked on an aggressive pro-
gram to refurbish its buildings. Putting the buildings
into acceptable shape will require an $85-million in-
vestment. Equally important to the rapid execution
of the building refurbishment process is a commit-
ment to keep the project funding neutral for district
stakeholders. About $40 million will be provided
up-front as available capital funds from the district.
The remaining $45 million, secured through leased-
purchase bonds, will be paid back over 15 years from
the maintenance and utility savings achieved from
upgrading the schools. Similar projects have realized
more than 20% savings on both maintenance and
energy costs. The proposed KCMSD refurbishment
project will be funding neutral by achieving mainte-
nance and utility savings of only 10% even though
savings are expected to be well over the normal 20%.
The district has demanded that the selected con-
struction partner guarantee the performance of the
refurbished energy management systems for the full
15 years of the contract, ensuring at least one genera-
tion of building functionality.
The operational side of the district took
the approach that efficiency would
ultimately strengthen the instructional
side.
At the same time the district is refurbishing all
existing schools, KCMSD is making a concerted ef-
fort to change the maintenance culture of the work-
force. A key element is a new data-driven mainte-
nance management system that provides real-time
visibility for each work order from the time its initi-
ated until the work is completed. Tracking mainte-
nance performance indicators will be a key factor in
ensuring that maintenance backlogs are eliminated
for good.
The cost of securing and maintaining the large
inventory of closed buildings is considerable. The
district is working with the community to repur-
pose the buildings to meet local needs. This can be
difficult because neighborhoods surrounding the
buildings have been declining for years. KCMSD
will keep seven of the buildings to provide for hoped-
for expansion as the district once again becomes the
education option of choice for students and parents
in the district. These seven schools already have been
staged and mothballed. The district will continue to
bear the expense of maintaining the closed buildings
until theyre either sold or leased, a process projected
to take at least five years.
The true operational transformation of the
KCMSD will require a sustained effort by all dis-
trict stakeholders. A key element of the transfor-
mation is creating a living Facilities Master Plan.
District stakeholders are collaborating on a 20-year
model that ensures the district has the right capacity
to meet an ever-evolving student population. The
right capacity includes sustaining the right inven-
tory of buildings in the right locations and in the
right condition. The facilities plan will also pro-
vide a benchmark cost to refurbish existing build-
ings and replace several. The cost is expected to be
between $200 million and $300 million. To meet
these needs, the district will ultimately need to gain
voter support for the first school bond in Kansas
City since 1969.
Conclusion
By erasing inefficient practices in the instruc-
tional, financial, and operational arenas, Kansas City
has freed resources that can be redirected to teach-
ing and learning. The district must now turn its full
attention to meeting the challenge of regaining its
accreditation. For the past decade, the district has
not met the states proficiency requirements. In Sep-
tember 2011, the Missouri State Board of Education
gave the district an unaccredited status. The constant
cloud of financial stress does have a direct relation-
ship to performance. With operational stability, the
district now has the financial wherewithal to move
forward to address student performance.
Rightsizing is not an isolated event. Rather, its an
iterative process that requires continued self-exami-
nation as the student population evolves. A lean orga-
nization sends a signal that efficacy is valued. In com-
ing years, KCMSD must be agile enough to make
adjustments based on population shifts, student per-
formance, and shrinking dollars. The district must
make decisions according to a zero sum mandate.
The district wants new programs to be funding neu-
tral while also ensuring that new schools, such as the
proposed advanced career and technical education
center, are sustainable and have the resources they
need to achieve. Staying the course will continue
to be challenging for KCMSD as it seeks to regain
its accreditation, but its essential if the district is to
remain independent and able to determine its own
future.K
References
Esselman, M. & Reynolds, M. (2010). Rightsizing the Kansas
City, Missouri, School District: Teaching and learning for a new
millennium. Kansas City, MO: Kansas City School District.
Hess, F. & Osberg, E. (2010). Stretching the school dollar:
How schools and districts can save money while serving
students best. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press.
Prensky, M. (2008, November-December). The role of
technology in teaching and in the classroom. Educational
Technology, 48 (6), 64.
Reigeluth, C., Watson, W., Watson, S., Dutta, P., Chen, C., &
Powell, N. (2008, November-December). Roles for technology
in the information-age paradigm of education: Learning
management systems. Educational Technology, 48 (6), 32-39.
Summer Issue #3 kappanmagazine.org 7
 Is modeling enough?
Leaders must be explicit
if they want teachers
and others to get the
messages theyre trying to
communicate.

By Khym G. Goslin

The last two decades have done little

to reduce the managerial responsibili-
ties of the school principal and, in many
ways, their duties have increased. Such
dramatic and radical changes have re-
quired educational leaders at all levels
to become conscious of guiding and
directing large-scale changes. But, as
Sergiovanni (2001) said, the role of
the principal is so rooted in manage-
rial tasks that leading transformational
change hasnt been within the purview
of the job. In fact, he said, principals
have tended to either ignore or been
ambivalent (p. 26) about symbolic
leadership. From what Ive seen and
read, a principals modeling of behav-
iors alone may not be enough to ignite
and sustain change.

Modeling
I remember once walking down a
school hallway, picking up paper and
placing it in the trash container a few
steps away thinking, Doesnt anybody
else see this? I cant recall others pick-
This article
was originally
KHYM G. GOSLIN (dr.khym.goslin@gmail.com)
published in Phi is an assistant professor at the University of
Delta Kappan, 93 Prince Edward Island, Charlottetown, Prince
(7), 42-45. Edward Island, Canada.

8 Must-Reads from Kappan, 2011-12/Summer Issue #3

Thinkstock/iStockphoto

ing up on my practice. Ive come to believe that peo-
ple interpreted the nonverbal message of my model-
ing behavior as, Hes the principal, and its his job to
keep the place tidy. The individuals who interpreted
my behavior werent picking up on the message that
I intended, which means that my modeling was in-
sufficient to send the message I wanted to send. My
error was twofold. I had failed to grasp Sergiovannis
assertion that leaders must help constituents make
sense of what they observe the leader model. Further,
I had ignored the six elements that are part of suc-
cessfully communicating any message symbolic
or otherwise. Leaders use modeling effectively when
their actions attend to the:
Intended target audience;
Message;
Channels of articulation;
Interference;
Feedback; and
Context.
Modeling explained
My action of picking up trash was symbolically
hollow. People were more quick to assume that
caretaking duties were part of my job. I gave them
no cause to believe otherwise or to be self-reflective
about their beliefs that keeping the school tidy was
a shared responsibility for everyone. My first er-
ror was thinking that actions alone speak louder
than words. The leaders actions must be consistent
with the observers state of consciousness regard-
ing the actions (White & Marx, 2011). If students
and teachers arent conscious about the tidiness of
the school or arent inwardly seeking a positive role
model to inspire them to act, the leaders symbolic
act is lost. Sergiovanni argued that the key to sym-
bolic leadership is focusing the attention of others
on matters of importance to the school (2001, p.
24). He went on to explain that leaders signal the
beliefs and values that underlie the action by using
more explicit communications. In this way, others
begin the process of making sense of symbolic mes-
sages. Effective symbolic leaders who use modeling
understand that the real message is not do as I do.
Rather, it is value what I value believe what I
believe. To gain this level of understanding, lead-
ers must engage others in conversations that ignite
self-reflection and sense making. As a trash-pick-
ing principal, I would have been a more successful
leader using modeling by holding on to the piece
of paper and waiting until I spotted some litter near
some students. Seeing opportunity, I would have
simply called out, Hey, Jason, theres some paper
by your foot, can you help keep the place tidy and
Comments?
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pick it up please? How about going for a two pointer
in that trash can? Crumpling the paper in my hand,
I make my attempt. Regardless of the outcome of
the playful challenge, Ive made more explicit my
message conveyed through my modeling, and Ive
invited others to share in the value of maintaining
a tidy environment.
I became more aware of the challenge principals
face in effectively communicating their vision and
intentions for teaching and learning as I studied their
instructional leadership practices. The stories of four
principals (represented with pseudonyms) help to il-
lustrate that modeling, as a channel of communica-
tion, is no easy task.
Carol Ross, a mid-career elementary school prin-
cipal, had an understanding of modeling similar to
mine. She characterized being a role model as one
who maintained contact with staff and students.
She described her instructional leadership actions
as being a facilitator of resources and a participant Modeling
in staff activities. Providing teachers with resources is more
may send a symbolic message that the principal cares, complex than
but, more likely, the principals action reinforces a
teachers belief that she is doing her managerial job simply taking
correctly. High school principal Barry Lewis ex- an action
emplified a more sophisticated understanding. An repeatedly
administrator needs to demonstrate through their
actions that instructional practice is an important in hopes that
part of the school climate, he said. As a teaching others will
principal, he icollaborates in grade-level meetings pick up on it.
and leads teachers in his school in discussions of how
curriculum mapping could enhance student engage-
ment.
Learning that symbolic leaders serving as models
require actions and conversations that convey the
values and beliefs surrounding the desired changes
helped clarify my first error. Failing to help constitu-
ents consciously make sense of what is being mod-
eled limits the leaders influential use of modeling as
a strategy for conveying messages about the values
they hold and the behaviors that exemplify them.
While modeling without consciousness-raising is
tremendously important in letting teachers see who
the principal really is, the mode of communicating
is passive and ambiguous. As such, modeling allows
individuals to misinterpret the symbolic message or
ignore the message as irrelevant. My second error
was failing to recognize that effective modeling is
an active and strategic form of communication. By
re-examining modeling through the lenses of the ele-
ments that constitute all communications, I became
conscious of how some principals were successful
using modeling to guide and direct change.
Six elements of communication
The six elements of communication apply when
Summer Issue #3 kappanmagazine.org 9
 symbolic leaders model behaviors to communicate
messages about either the behaviors or the values
and beliefs behind them. Communication successes
and failures can be better understood by examin-
ing the people involved, the type of message used,
the channels used, the interference that distracts or
distorts the message, the feedback provided to the
messenger, and the context within which the mes-
sage occurs (Simonds & Cooper, 2011). My own ex-
ample of picking up paper may have been admirably
altruistic, but if no one noticed because the channel
of modeling was too subtle or because the hallway
too crowded (context and interference), then the
message was lost. I believed I was being a symbolic
leader and modeling the behavior I wanted to see in
others. The feedback I got didnt tell me my mes-
sage was wrong or culturally inappropriate, but it
did tell me that communicating important messages
by modeling is more complex than simply taking
an action repeatedly in hopes that others will pick
up on it.
Carl Taylor, a middle school vice-principal, ex-
pressed his frustration about how he works hard to
model that teachers should work together, develop
shared goals, and participate in professional discus-
sions to develop a robust learning community. Yet, he
reported that, at his school, there is little sustained
dialogue around current research and best practice,
and that staff meetings are clerical with little dialogue
among staff. Taylor indicated he has presented im-
portant issues for discussion at faculty meetings and
brought consultants to speak to teachers on topics
that concern them. However, his messages are run-
ning into interference from the school principal and
others who are happy with the status quo. The peo-
ple with whom Taylor is communicating, through
his modeling and verbal messages, have a different
frame of reference (Simonds & Cooper, 2011, p.
8) in that their values and beliefs about school devel-
opment arent consistent with his. Symbolic leaders
must recognize that groups have norms that create
and maintain social order. Group members judge
potential leaders as capable if the leader reflects and
symbolizes the groups norms. If incongruity exists,
then it tends to interfere with communicating the
intended message because the group does not share
the same meaning. For Taylor, this may mean tena-
ciously sustaining the delivery of his messages until
the current school leadership changes.
Principal David Hughes middle school serves
a large central urban population. Hughes has pur-
posely positioned himself as a symbolic model for
teachers. Besides having teaching responsibilities
that he believes help him better understand the chal-
lenges teachers face in the classroom, he contributes
to the ongoing discussions about the schools goal
10 Must-Reads from Kappan, 2011-12/Summer Issue #3
of creating a more coherent curricular experience
for students. He has taken steps to create common
planning periods for teachers and uses his class-
room visits to inform his conversations with teach-
ers about necessary changes in instructional practices
that lead to enhanced student engagement. While
his own teaching and classroom visits symbolically
tell staff that he cares about teaching and learning,
Hughes also has recurring conversations with staff
that he believes helps them make sense of the shifts
toward a more engaging, coherent curriculum. He
also uses other modes of communications, such as
memos and staff meetings, to express the values por-
trayed through his modeling.
Hughes admits that a lot of challenges related to
improving instruction and learning remain, which
suggest that communicating transformative changes
is complex and ongoing. It is possible to hypoth-
esize why Hughes is making headway if we look at
his symbolic leadership through the communica-
tion elements lenses. His teaching may signal to his
colleagues that he is credible, which enhances the
value of other symbolic gestures. Teacher attitudes
toward his verbal and nonverbal messages, a pos-
sible source of communications interference, may be
more positive because they perceive him to be more
credible. Hughes explicit work to engage teachers
in the discussions about changes in the school gives
him opportunities to gain feedback and reinforce the
core values hes trying to express through his actions.
Recognizing that teachers cant develop a sense of
curricular coherency when they work in a context
that supports isolation, Hughes developed a school
schedule with common planning times, thus aligning
the context more closely with the values and actions
he modeled.
Leading through modeling
My study of principals instructional leadership
practices suggests that modeling, as a strategy used
by successful symbolic leaders, is more sophisticated
and complex than first assumed. From this review,
I have three tips for school leaders confronted with
leading the changes that will touch and transform
the values and beliefs of the teachers with whom they
work: reflect, envision, articulate.
REFLECT
Symbolic leadership has at its heart values and
beliefs (Kouzes & Posner, 2005; Sergiovanni, 2001).
But a leaders actions must appear to be consistent
with the beliefs they espouse (Argyris & Schn, 1996;
Schein, 2004). Thus, begin by honestly reflecting
on what actions you model now and the content
and clarity of the messages youre trying to project.
What values do those actions explicitly and implicitly
model? A principal seen happily monitoring hallways
doesnt convey the same message or values about
high learner expectations as a principal who regularly
visits classrooms and observes instruction. A prin-
cipal shoveling snow-covered sidewalks in front of
the school believes that he is modeling behavior that
teachers will interpret as caring for students. This
may be admirable, but, as one teacher pointed out,
it fails to communicate a message that the principal
cares about instruction and learning.
ENVISION
The power of symbolic leadership is its ability
to advance transformative changes in organizations.
Principals who use modeling as a strategic leader-
ship approach do so in conjunction with their vision
for the changes they want to achieve. David Hughes
envisioned a transformative change in how teachers
develop and deliver the implemented curriculum.
He held and espoused a belief that all students have
a right to experience the most robust and complete
curriculum that a school can offer. Hughes mod-
eled how that could be achieved through his own
teaching and by valuing teamwork by entrenching
shared planning time as a new cultural norm. Fur-
ther, his clarity of purpose created some constancy in
his verbal and nonverbal messages, thus reinforcing
the change process.
ARTICULATE
Successful principals seeking to improve teach-
ing and learning help others make sense of what the
leader models. These leaders articulate the values
and beliefs message directly and indirectly. Verbal
messages are used to reinforce the values being mod-
eled through the principals use of deliberate con-
versations with colleagues (Sergiovanni, 2001, p.
34). Principals facilitate these conversations both
formally and informally, using multiple channels
while maintaining an eye on the envisioned change.
Good communication also requires the messenger
to target the message to the people for whom its
intended. At times, a principal may feel that teachers
are oblivious to the message she or he is attempt-
ing to convey. Following up from this feedback, the
principal resorts to using a blanket message at a
staff meeting to try to draw it to everyones attention.
Like spraying rock salt from a shotgun, this subtle
approach covers a lot but may be more irritating than
effective. Those who thought they got the message
are wondering if they really did get it the first time.
Those who failed to pick up on the visual cues, now
ask, Is she talking to me?
By enhancing peoples understanding through
conversations about the values and belief expressed
in your actions, the principal can manage the con-
flict and discomfort that is a part of change. Help-
ing others articulate their values and beliefs through
dialogue creates shared understanding. Modeling is
one-way communication. To be most effective, suc-
cessful principals must combine it with other mes-
sages that reflect the elements of good communica-
tion.
A final word: Nonbelievers
Recall Carl Taylors efforts to model positive col-
laborative learning processes and his frustration aris-
ing from those whose attitudes and beliefs were out We use our
of sync with his. We must remember that even the beliefs to
most well-regarded symbolic leaders who are skilled
at modeling the best behaviors, values, and beliefs guide our
couldnt convert everyone. The very fact that we are behaviors,
not all of one faith yet can recognize the modeling comfort
exhibited by the symbolic leaders at the heart of each
faith is evidence of this. Symbolic leadership and lead- our fears,
ing through modeling has a long history of practice. and give us
Sergiovanni found inspiration for his understanding meaning.
of the approach arising from his deeply rich back-
ground in Christianity. Others have recognized paral-
lel leadership styles in other cultures. Gardner points
out, humans are believing animals (1986, p. 9). We
use our beliefs to guide our behaviors, comfort our
fears, and give us meaning. Not every teacher will
believe that working in collaboration rather than in
isolation will result in a better education for students
any more than everyone believes that Sundays are a
day of rest. The question in these instances is whether
people can work respectfully with each other so as to
do no harm to those they serve.K
References
Argyris, C. & Schn, D.A. (1996). Organizational learning II.
New York, NY: Addison-Wesley.
Gardner, J.W. (1986). Heart of the matter: Leader-constituent
interaction. Washington, DC: Independent Sector.
Kouzes, J.M. & Posner, B.Z. (2005). Encouraging the heart:
A leaders guide to rewarding and recognizing others. San
Francisco, CA: Jossey Bass.
Schein, E.H. (2004). Organizational culture and leadership. San
Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Sergiovanni, T. (2001). Leadership: Whats in it for schools?
New York, NY: Routledge.
Simonds, C.J. & Cooper, P. J. (2011). Communication for
the classroom teacher (9th ed.). Toronto, Ontario: Pearson
Education.
White, J. & Marx, D. (2011). Beyond behavioral modeling:
Three ways role models guide leadership development.
www.tuck.dartmouth.edu/news/articles/model-behavior/
Summer Issue #3 kappanmagazine.org 11
 Professional development guide to:

Is modeling enough?
By Khym G. Goslin

Phi Delta Kappan, 93, (7), 42-45

OVERVIEW OF THE ARTICLE

Principals as symbolic leaders who want to inspire transformative change need to model desired behaviors, explicitly
communicate the values or beliefs behind the behaviors, consider six elements of communication in terms of their message, and
reflect, envision, and articulate this process.

KEY POINTS

Modeling is a form of one-way communication.

If principals and others who are symbolic leaders want to inspire change, they must not only model the desired change but
also communicate in a variety of ways the values and beliefs behind the change.
Modeling and explicit communication about what is modeled and why ensures that the message is brought into anothers
consciousness and consideration.
Six elements of communication can guide the symbolic leader in terms of the communication that accompanies the
modeling: the people involved, the type of message used, the channels used, the interference that distracts or distorts the
message, the feedback provided to the messenger, and the context within which the message occurs (Simonds & Cooper,
2011).
School leaders who want to make a difference need to reect on their own behaviors and ask themselves how congruent
they are to the changes they want to see; envision the change they want, based on strong beliefs; model behavior that
advances the vision; and articulate or communicate verbally the values and beliefs behind the modeled behavior and the
vision of change.
Even by this enhanced model, not everyone can be inuenced to make change.

FULL VALUE
Thomas Sergiovanni identifies five leadership forces:

1. Technical: Derived from sound management techniques

2. Human: Derived from harnessing available social and interpersonal resources

3. Educational: Derived from expert knowledge about matters of education and schooling

4. Symbolic: Derived from focusing the attention of others on matters of importance to the school

5. Cultural: Derived from building a unique school culture (1984, p. 7).

Sergiovanni describes the symbolic leader as one who assumes the role of chief and, by emphasizing selective attention
the modeling of important goals and behaviors signals to others what is of importance and value: touring the school; visiting
classrooms; seeking out and visibly spending time with students; downplaying management concerns in favor of educational
ones; presiding over ceremonies, rituals, and other important occasions; and providing a unified vision of the school through
proper use of works and actions are examples of leader activities associated with this fourth force (1984, p. 9).

12 Must-Reads from Kappan, 2011-12/Summer Issue #3

DEEPEN YOUR THINKING
Choose one or more of these individual inquiry topics for thinking and writing.

1. Who are the symbolic leaders in your organization? How well do they achieve the characteristics Sergiovanni and the author
delineate for such leaders?

2. What changes are being implemented in your educational organization?

3. To what extent are leaders modeling the changes they want to effect?

4. What values or beliefs seem to be fundamental to the modeling?

5. To what extent do the leaders involved in change make their modeling and the beliefs and values that underlie it explicit
through communication?

6. How well have the leaders of this change analyzed the needs of the people involved? The type of message theyll use? The
medium theyll use for communicating? Possible interference that distracts or distorts the message and the context of the
message itself? (Simonds & Cooper, 2011).

7. How are reflecting, envisioning, and articulating important processes for change leaders to go through?

EXTEND YOUR THOUGHTS THROUGH ACTIVITIES FOR GROUP DISCUSSION

Working with colleagues, list changes that school principals (perhaps one of you) might want to make in their schools. Use the
template below (transferred to a large piece of chart paper) to think about the role of modeling and communicating desired behaviors
related to the change. Use the example as a starting point for your discussion.

Values and beliefs What and how to

related to this Desired What and how to communicate to
Change wanted change behaviors model others

The principal models Walking the talk no The principal examines Whatever the issue is, The principal makes
desired behavior. matter what the current behaviors; the principal models a point of saying that
issue is; honesty in compares them to the it. Example: being on he/she values walking
relationships. change envisioned; time to meetings. the talk because
models the change; it inspires honesty
and articulates it to in relationships
colleagues. and announces
the intention to do
whatever he/she
requires of others.

References

Sergiovanni, T.J. (1984, February). Leadership excellence in schools: Excellent schools need freedom within boundaries. Educational Leadership, 41
(5), 4-13.

Simonds, C.J. & Cooper, P.J. (2011). Communication for the classroom teacher (9th ed.). Toronto, Ontario: Pearson.

Summer Issue #3 kappanmagazine.org 13

 Sounding the charge for change
How leaders communicate
can inspire or defeat the
troops.

By Brooke Haycock

O
ne of the most dramatic scenes in Shakespeares Henry V occurs on the eve of
the great St. Crispins Day battle. The king stands before his ailing, battle-weary
troops, and uses his words to renew their spirits and resolve: That he which
hath no stomach to this fight, let him depart; his passport shall be made, And crowns
for convoy put into his purse; We would not die in that mans company . . . but we in it
shall be remembered we few, we happy few, we band of brothers; For he today that
sheds his blood with me shall be my brother.
Henry communicated a clear course to victory to his band of brothers, marked by
honor at all costs, bolstering the fighting spirits of his men while inviting the disillusioned
to depart. The sheer strength of his words and conviction inspired his men to risk their
lives for their country. The following day, he led them to victory.
School leaders could learn a lot from Henry V.
Listening to leaders
For more than a decade, Ive had the privilege of spending time in schools and districts
across the country. Im not a traditional educator, a curriculum specialist, or a turnaround
leader. Im a playwright with a background not in pedagogy but in performance and
communication. I create and perform documentary dramas based on interviews with
educators and students to start conversations about race, class, and equity in schools.
Im often invited to share these documentary dramas at kickoffs for achievement gap
initiatives and equity-focused school professional development days. Over the years,
Ive learned that these moments are ripe with opportunity for inspired leadership and
that the way leaders talk about change matters a lot.
This article Unlike Henry Vs inspiring speech to his troops, what Ive witnessed over the years
was originally often goes more like this:
published in Phi
Delta Kappan, 93
(4), 48-51. BROOKE HAYCOCK (bhaycock@edtrust.org) is artist-in-residence at The Education Trust, Washington, D.C.

14 Must-Reads from Kappan, 2011-12/Summer Issue #3

Thinkstock/Hemera/iStockphoto
 Comments? Like
Kappan at www.
facebook.com/pdkintl

[Cue school bell]

[Its the first week of school. The principal stands at a podium in front of 40 teachers who are
seated in tiny plastic chairs in the small library. The room is buzzing with conversation. This is
the principals first opportunity to harness the energy of his staff and focus it squarely on stu-
dents, the schools mission, and the year ahead.]

PRINCIPAL: So, this is our first faculty meeting this year, but it already feels like weve been in school
for months, doesnt it?

The first order of business is chairs. Some teachers have been saying they dont have enough chairs in
their rooms. If you need chairs, please e-mail Mrs. Micks, and well put an order into Central. Second,
I promised I would update you on the 8th-grade science books. They are still at the warehouse, but
Im told theyll be here next week.

As I think you all know, we didnt make AYP last year because of scores from our diverse students.
Were going to be starting a new reading program this year as part of our improvement plan for raising
test scores to get off the list. Well talk more about who will be affected by that later. But first, I want

W
to brief everyone on the new hall pass policy.

ould Henrys troops have been
willing to risk their lives to follow
this leader?
Its not that chairs or new
programs are unimportant. Cer-
tainly, leaders must ensure that
these details are handled. But great leaders dont get
stuck on the details. Lessons emerging now from
successful schools have much to teach us about the
practices of dynamic leaders, everything from how
they guide instruction to how they grow leaders
within their ranks. Surely these practices are core

Summer Issue #3 kappanmagazine.org 15

 to good leadership. But if leaders cant talk about
the what and the why of those practices in ways that
inspire their staffs to action, they may change pro-
grams, policies, or chairs in classrooms, but theyll
never change people.
HOW LEADERS TALK ABOUT CHALLENGES MATTERS.
I cant get one superintendents words out of my
head, mostly because I hear some version of them
all the time: We do have some problems still. And
you all know what they are: our subgroup popula-
tions. Now, this superintendent is a good man. And
he cares about kids all kids a lot. Hes dedicated
his life to serving students. But intended or not, the
implicit message he conveyed that its the kids
and not adult practices, policies, or systems that are
the problem is damaging to students and to the
districts mission.
If
leaders talk about assessments as
somehow disconnected from the work
of schools to grow student learning,
then they become meaningless
measures.
I listen to school leaders send versions of these
messages all the time; messages casting kids, parents,
and communities as obstacles to a schools otherwise
inevitable path back to perfection, an ideal that, at
best, is an unsubstantiated goal and, at worst, a desire
to vanish certain sets of kids. The explanation I too
often hear for why students cant read goes some-
thing like this: These kids just dont like to read.
Or, Nobody at home reads to these kids. Parents
would rather buy video games for their children than
books. Comedian Bill Cosby said as much, so it must
be OK for educators to say, right?
These are fictions woven from threads of truth,
and spools of misunderstanding. Educators fre-
quently talk about kids using the same clichs prop-
agated by Hollywood directors: African-American
kids come from multi-child, single-parent, drug-ad-
dicted, bullet-riddled homes while white kids play
hopscotch in the two-car driveways of their two-
parent, two-point-five kid, education-centered sub-
urban homes.
These narratives are not only damaging, theyre
16 Must-Reads from Kappan, 2011-12/Summer Issue #3
dead wrong. They drown out overwhelming evi-
dence to the contrary: that a familys race or class
tells us little about their circumstance, their values
and aspirations for their children, or the academic
potentials of those children. These corrosive myths
disenfranchise students, families, and communities,
and they demoralize and debilitate educators. When
education leaders use narratives like these to explain
away student performance, teachers are left without
agency or urgency, powerless observers of an inevi-
table achievement gap, not the great equalizers of
the American dream.
HOW LEADERS TALK ABOUT CHANGE MATTERS. We
need to raise our test scores or the [insert: state/feds]
are going to come down on us.
Somewhere along the way, we seem to have for-
gotten that we assess kids to measure their learning,
not to torture and terrify schools and teachers with
scantrons, No. 2 pencils, and a spot on the dreaded
list. Test scores are an indicator of academic learn-
ing and, in many states, a low-level one. If lead-
ers talk about assessments as somehow disconnected
from the work of schools to grow student learning,
then they become meaningless measures. Indeed,
when we discredit assessments, we leave leaders
without one of the most powerful tools in their di-
agnostic toolbox for highlighting success and driving
real achievement and outcome-oriented change in
their buildings.
Similarly, when leaders frame achievement and
accountability through a daunting lens of state take-
over and federal sanction, they shift the impetus of
change from being driven by whats right for kids
to what will keep adults out of trouble. This not
any accountability policy is the seed of drill-and-
kill test prep, strangled curriculum, teacher disillu-
sionment, and student disengagement. How leaders
respond to external pressures and filter those mes-
sages for their staffs will determine how the school
community internalizes and responds to those chal-
lenges.
THE RIGHT WORDS GET RESULTS. There are hard-
charging school and district leaders across the coun-
try who know how hard change is and how much
honor there is in this work. They know their staffs are
critical to winning the battle. They know the power
of their words and choose them accordingly. And
they get results.
Theres the elementary principal in poverty-
stricken, post-Hurricane Katrina New Orleans who
I witnessed bring a room of educators to tears and
to their feet as she spoke of the importance of her
schools mission, declaring education the best war on
poverty this nation can wage.
 Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once
more . . .
Just four years after Katrina, a time that seemed to
wash away what little hope there was for this strug-
gling school, achievement is soaring over state av-
erages, surpassing mere proficiency and giving new
hope to a community that has seen too many safe-
guards fail.
CHOOSE WORDS CAREFULLY. Good leaders know
that theyre the tone setters and meaning makers
in their buildings. They choose their words to build
urgency and collective agency.
A high school principal in the rural northwest
took the reins of a school so devastated and de-
moralized that many thought it beyond repair. He
marched past the graffiti-covered school sign, the
teachers smoking in the parking lot, called a faculty
meeting, and played the battle speech from Brave
Heart, declaring an end to the days of expecting less
of the children of this community of farm workers
and inviting any who wished to leave to make a clear
path to the door.
That he which hath no stomach to this fight,
let him depart . . .
The next several years were punctuated by leaps
in achievement and graduation, staff retention, and
parent engagement. And the results arent evident
only from looking at the data: You can feel the change
in the classrooms and hallways and in the community
outside the school doors where improved prospects
for kids have resulted in drastic drops in juvenile
crime.
TIE LANGUAGE TO BELIEFS AND GOALS. Good lead-
ers send clear, consistent, mission-focused messages
about expectations. They use language to unify their
staffs around common beliefs and goals.
The superintendent of a district nestled in the
Rockies, a district with high populations of migrant
students and English language learners, addressed
teachers and staff at the beginning of the school
year, nullifying any excuse: We are it. For these
kids, we are it. And you could feel the sea of teach-
ers before her sit up straighter in silent resolve. It
is on us. She then spent the entire professional
development day sitting side by side with teachers
in sessions, engaged in the instructional nuts and
bolts of real change.
For he today that sheds his blood with me shall
be my brother . . .
This kind of relentless, can-do, on-the-ground
leadership is beginning to move the needle on stu-
dent achievement. But, perhaps more important ul-
timately to the long-term success of the district, it
has changed the way an entire system of adults think
of themselves.
L
eaders must ensure that details are
handled. But great leaders dont get
stuck on the details.
NO EXCUSES. Good leaders constantly communicate
to their staffs how critical they are to the mission and
to the children they serve. They dont allow excuses
to trivialize the importance of the work or the people
who do it.
Like Henry V leading his troops into battle, these
leaders focus relentlessly on the heart of the mis-
sion. They elevate the strength of their men and,
in so doing, make them stronger. They dont waste
breath on the obstacles or on conditions not in their
control. They build within their ranks a true sense of
honor, camaraderie, and duty. And they fight along-
side them all the way to victory.
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers . . .
gentlemen in England now a-bed
Shall think themselves accursed they were not
here, And hold their man-hoods cheap whiles
any speaks That fought with us . . .
What Henry knew, and what the principal in the
scenario at the beginning of this article missed, is
that, if he framed the battle ahead correctly if he
spoke to his weary troops passions, their courage,
and their better selves his men would have gone
charging into battle for him and for France even
without armor. He did not linger on the details the
sharpness of their swords or strength of their shields.
He did not shrink their purposes to the field combat
in which each man would engage. He stood before
his men his band of brothers and lifted their
heads, hearts, and sights to their collective mission
to serve a cause bigger than themselves.
Like Henrys troops, I would follow leaders like
these into battle for kids any day. K
Summer Issue #3 kappanmagazine.org 17
 Dancing in the rain
Tips on thriving as a leader
in tough times
Leaders who learn a new way to respond to the stress
and strain of leadership can enhance their performance
and enrich their experience.

By Jerome T. Murphy
In todays education arena, theres no leading without bleeding. No matter what we call it stress, agita-
tion, loss, frustration, fear, exhaustion, shame, confusion, sadness, loneliness, hurt theres not an execu-
Discomfort is tive alive who can lead without experiencing emotional discomfort. As a Harvard dean, I certainly had my
share of spills along with the thrills.
inevitable, but
Unfortunately, many leaders inadvertently transmute everyday discomfort into debilitating anguish. In
anguish is the privacy of our minds, we can make things worse by fighting our discomfort, getting hooked on our
preventable. troubling thoughts, and scolding ourselves for falling short. As a consequence, we can sidetrack our work
and lose sight of what really matters to us. Too often our performance deteriorates, our joy evaporates, our
misery escalates, our energy dissipates and some of us even burn out.
If this pattern sometimes rings true for you, theres good news: Discomfort is inevitable, but anguish is
preventable. Indeed, you can thrive as a high-performing leader who takes emotional discomfort in stride,
who averts debilitating anguish, and who savors what can often be the exhilaration of leadership. To do so,
consider this unconventional approach:

Open up to your here-and-now uncomfortable experiences just as they are instead of trying to escape them;
Simply notice your negative thoughts, instead of becoming ensnared by them;
Treat yourself with compassion and kindness; and
Concentrate on action guided by your core values.

This approach draws heavily from Western psychology, which is increasingly applying Eastern practices
to challenges ranging from anxiety to optimal athletic performance (Forsyth & Eifert, 2007; Gardner &
Moore, 2007; Hayes & Smith, 2005; Orsillo & Roemer, 2011). In this sympathetic look at the painful side of
leadership, I explore how insights from this marriage of West and East can help leaders thrive by foster-
ing a transformation in how we relate and respond to discomfort. Strange as it may sound, instead of fleeing
the storms of leadership, I invite you to step into the rain. Better yet . . . dance in it!

This article Real leaders feel real discomfort

was originally The strains of everyday life are multiplied and magnified in high-stakes leadership positions. Rick Gins-
published in Phi
Delta Kappan, 93 JEROME T. MURPHY (murphyje@gse.harvard.edu) is the Harold Howe II Research Professor of Education and dean emeritus of
(1), 36-41. the Harvard Graduate School of Education, Cambridge, Mass.

18 Must-Reads from Kappan, 2011-12/Summer Issue #3

Thinkstock/iStockphoto

berg has documented this pattern in the life of edu-
cation leaders who encounter surprising upheavals
and the agony of decision making, which can take
a heavy emotional toll with which few are prepared
to deal (2008).
Moreover, discomfort levels skyrocket when lead-
ers promote transformative change. We can expect
personal attacks, marginalization, and efforts to di-
vert us from our goals. Leaders will be undercut,
Ronald A. Heifetz and Marty Linsky (2002) argue,
because people want to be comfortable again, and
youre in the way.
Even if youre not knocked out of the game, almost
inevitably youll fail to placate a key constituency,
commit a public gaffe, be misunderstood, or face
biting criticism. The harsh truth, Heifetz and Lin-
Discomfort levels
skyrocket when
leaders promote
transformative
change.
sky remind us, is that it is not possible to know the
rewards and joys of leadership without experiencing
the pain as well.
Controlling discomfort
Not surprisingly, many leaders cope with discom-
fort by doing what leaders know how to do get
rid of the problem. In private, we invoke control
stratagems such as analysis, suppression, escape,
avoidance, or denial. For example, we may dissect
our anxiety, bury our disappointment, flee our con-
fusion, skirt conflict or we may simply refuse to
admit the pain of leading.
We resist discomfort partly because we humans
simply dont like to feel bad. But the reasons go much
deeper. Many leaders steer clear of discomfort be-
cause we believe its not just a plain vanilla annoy-
ance, but a sure sign that were a flop as a leader.
After all, we are expected to be winners, not whiners
(Murphy, 2007).
In our minds, some of us even create what I call
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the Measure Up Monster MUM for short that
emerges from its cave waggling a censorious claw as
we struggle to do a good job. In our darkest moments,
MUM is there voicing such criticism as Leaders
dont get confused youre an impostor! Little
wonder that we try to get rid of the problem.
The solution becomes the problem
While control stratagems solve problems in the
physical world caught in a rainstorm, we put up
our umbrella they often dont work the same way
in the psychological arena. More often than not such
solutions as suppression, escape, and avoidance be-
come the problem as captured in this rule of thumb
about our inner life: Everyday Discomfort x Control
= Debilitating Anguish (Young, n.d.)
For sure, some self-control efforts e.g., learning
to relax can provide significant temporary relief.
In the long run, however, trying to control discom-
fort is usually like trying to escape quicksand. The
more we thrash around, the deeper we sink. As psy-
chologists remind us, what we resist persists.
Whats more, our thoughts about our emotions
can add to our anguish, particularly when we identify
with our negative self-evaluations and worries and
take them as the literal truth. In the grip of mind
chatter that sounds like a Greek chorus of naysay-
ers, its not unusual to rehash the past, fret about
the future, and hang ourselves out to dry (Hayes &
Smith, 2005).
Whether we pretend were not uncomfortable, or
we resist pain whenever it erupts, or we become en-
snared in our thoughts, or we berate ourselves for
failing to master our difficulties, we often end up
feeling like were trying to hold down the lid on
a boiling cauldron; the effort requires unrelenting
focus and energy, and demands essential resources
that sidetrack our leadership work.
A new approach
To regain your perspective and productivity,
consider relinquishing control of your internal
drama that private Hollywood production in
which you are writer, director, hero, and victim all
in one. You dont need to be a believer to embrace
the familiar wisdom of the Serenity Prayer: Grant
me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom
to know the difference.
We can all be better leaders if we learn how to ac-
cept our emotional discomfort and focus our ener-
gies on changing not our feelings but our behavior
consistent with our true and enduring values. Wed
also be better leaders if we could take a step back
and watch our upsetting thoughts from a distance,
while treating ourselves with more compassion. Of
Summer Issue #3 kappanmagazine.org 19
 course, this is much easier said than done, but here
is a template that might help you start the process:
ACCEPTING DISCOMFORT
Acceptance means opening up and welcoming our
troubling thoughts and feelings as part of who we are,
instead of trying to avoid them, fix them, or banish
them. To accept discomfort, we must be willing to
experience it fully, which is different from wanting
it. Acceptance entails making room for our internal
struggles, greeting them with an open heart, and
turning toward them with curiosity.
Acceptance is not the same as giving up. We can
accept what were experiencing at the moment
while still working to make things better. We may
not love our experiences, but we can choose to stay
with our ups and downs, just as seagulls bob atop
ocean waves.
A fundamental lesson about the value of accep-
tance just allowing things to be as they are is
captured in a story about a teacher who, walking with
his students, calls their attention to a huge boulder
and says, Students, do you see that boulder? The
students respond, Yes, teacher, we see the boulder.
The teacher asks, And is the boulder heavy? The
students respond, Oh, yes, very heavy. And the
teacher replies, Not if you dont pick it up (Shapiro
& Carlson, 2009).
WATCHING OUR THOUGHTS COME AND GO
The wondrous human mind is a veritable thought
machine on steroids. Each day an average person
spawns an astounding 17,000 thoughts, according
to one estimate (Kornfield, 2008). Thats more than
1,000 thoughts each waking hour.
At this rate, over a lifetime the mind
spews out about 50 million judg-
Mindfulness is not aimed
ments, self-evaluations, plans, wor-
at making us feel better, ries, stories, memories, longings,
but rather at getting fantasies, and more.
Many of these thoughts are ex-
better at noticing tremely helpful. After all, our
our feelings and uniquely human capacity to analyze,
thoughts. reflect, and solve problems is what
defines us as a species; it is the qual-
ity that lets us subdue creatures that
are stronger, faster, and far hardier
than we are. But many of us know
firsthand how quickly our big, busy minds can turn
on us, spewing out all sorts of crippling distractions,
doubt, and criticism. They tell us were falling short
of our potential, failing to live up to our own stan-
dards, succumbing to our own weaknesses and im-
perfections and we believe them.
Rather than clinging to our troubling thoughts like
Velcro, we can learn to watch them come and go.
20 Must-Reads from Kappan, 2011-12/Summer Issue #3
In doing so, we can hold them more lightly, believe
them less resolutely, and take them less personally.
We can have our thoughts rather than be had by
them (Harris, 2009).
TAKING CARE OF OURSELVES
If you accidentally cut your finger, you coddle it
you dont call it a worthless finger and leave it to
fend for itself. You know it will heal more quickly
if it gets tender loving care. But when it comes to
psychological wounds, many of us are more apt to
whack our bleeding psyche with a hammer as pun-
ishment for letting us down. This makes no sense:
Both intuitively and through scientific research, we
know that self-compassion is central to our well-
being (Germer, 2009; Gilbert, 2009; Neff, 2011).
Self-compassion is also a mental quality that can be
developed. Kristin Neff (2011) has done pioneering
work on self-compassion and says it starts with self-
kindness: being warm and understanding toward
ourselves when we suffer, fail, or feel inadequate,
rather than ignoring our pain or flagellating our-
selves with self-criticism. When our imperfections
are accepted with kindness, greater emotional equa-
nimity is experienced.
Neff also says that self-criticism is often ac-
companied by an irrational but pervasive sense of
isolation as if I were the only person suffering
or making mistakes. But when we recognize that
suffering reflects our common humanity, it can be
acknowledged with nonjudgmental compassion and
understanding. Neff suggests that feelings neither
be suppressed nor exaggerated. If we ignore our pain,
we cant feel compassion for it at the same time.
If we exaggerate our pain, we can get caught up
and swept away by negative reactivity (www.self-
compassion.org).
Neffs research, and the work of other scientists,
argues that self-compassion is not a self-indulgent
act that drains time from our important work, nor
is it a soft practice that makes leaders weak. Just
the opposite is true: Self-compassion befriending
ourselves is essential in maintaining our balance,
and crucial in our dealings with others.
Keeping faith with our values
If humans are discomfort-averse, why should any
leader consider opening up to uncomfortable expe-
riences? The answer is that staying in our comfort
zone will often force us to compromise our values.
To insist on comfort is simply too high a price to pay
for undercutting what truly matters to us.
Its therefore crucial to keep our core values front
and center in our consciousness to think deeply
about what we treasure and stand for; our deepest
aspirations; and even our heartfelt yearnings for how
we wish to be remembered and use those values
to inform our goals and actions.
Its easy for us to confuse goals with values, but
the two are very different. Our goal may be some
distant shore, but our values, like the stars overhead,
are always with us, helping us chart our course. They
keep us oriented, lighting the way forward even into
new and unfamiliar waters. Goals, on the other hand,
are achievable outcomes in the service of our values.
Goals speak to our destinations; values speak to our
journey.
Knowing what matters, however, is not enough.
Values-driven action is crucial, and this requires a
willingness to accept discomfort and hardship, and
to persevere when swamped by the storms of lead-
ership. In the end, its this willingness that allows
us to remain true to our deepest values instead of
retreating to our comfort zone (McKay, Forsyth, &
Eifert, 2010).
Learning new tricks
Learning this new approach not only suggests a
commitment to action guided by our enduring val-
ues, but also new mental qualities, which can be culti-
vated through mindfulness training. I begin by exam-
ining what I call the Balanced Self because learning
You are1 degree away from changing your world. Which 1 will it be?
to identify with this aspect of ourselves is especially
helpful in developing the three mental qualities dis-
cussed above: accepting our discomfort, watching
our thoughts come and go, and taking care of our-
selves. After that, I explore mindfulness what it is
and is not and identify four other mental qualities
central to leadership in tough times.
THE BALANCED SELF
In emotion-charged situations,
many leaders identify with what I call
the Reactive Self. We show up in To regain your
an agitated state and respond reflex-
ively with unhelpful thoughts, feel- perspective and
ings, and actions indeed, overre- productivity,
actions. We yell, hide, lash out, and consider
make hasty, ill-informed snap deci-
sions. To ourselves, and to others, relinquishing
we appear to be nothing more than a control of your
bundle of reactions. internal drama.
We can learn to show up with a
quite different identity, the Balanced
Self, which is a step removed from
whats happening, somewhat akin
to a curious scientist watching our interior dramas
from the outside. The Balanced Self can be thought
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 of as a place of awareness within us that is separate
from our immediate experiences. We can notice
and accept our discomfort but not be consumed or
defined by it.
The difference between the Reactive Self and the
Balanced Self is the difference between saying to
oneself Im furious at my colleague for making a
bad decision and saying I notice something in me
thats furious. . . . In the midst of our discomfort,
if the Reactive Self were asked the question who
am I? the answer would probably be I AM my
reactions. The Balanced Selfs answer would prob-
ably be Im that aspect of me thats aware of my
reactions (Deikman, 1982; Cornell, 2005; Harris,
2009).
By identifying with the Balanced Self, we no longer
feel a desperate need to escape discomfort or over-
react because our uncomfortable thoughts and
feelings no longer define who I am. Our internal
dramas may still be intense, but we can witness them
from a safe place without becoming overwhelmed.
Consequently, its easier to make room for our dis-
comfort, watch our troubling thoughts, show com-
passion for our predicament and respond wisely.
Indeed, I call this observing state
of mind the Balanced Self because
By getting out of our own it enables us to balance emotion
way, and pursuing our with reason, to intuitively grasp
values and dreams with the whole situation, and to develop
responses that are calm, clear, and
passion and zest, we deliberate.
can reach our peak To be sure, the Balanced Self is
performance. difficult to fathom fully without ex-
periencing it directly, but this state
of mind can be developed and en-
hanced through the practice of mindfulness as well as
through other techniques (Cornell 2005). Its worth
the effort because its the shift in identity from the
Reactive Self to the Balanced Self that lies at the heart
of changing our relationship with discomfort so that
we can deal with it more effectively.
MINDFULNESS
Jon Kabat-Zinn, a pioneer in adapting Buddhist
practices to stress reduction, defines mindfulness
as the awareness that emerges through paying at-
tention on purpose, in the present moment, and
nonjudgmentally to the unfolding of experience
moment by moment (2003). Attention speaks
to observing our experiences as distinct from think-
ing about them. Nonjudgmentally speaks to how
we pay attention with an open mind that is ac-
cepting and curious (Boyce, 2011; Ricard, 2010;
Shapiro & Carlson, 2009).
Mindfulness can also be defined by what it is not.
Its the opposite of everyday habits operating on
22 Must-Reads from Kappan, 2011-12/Summer Issue #3
autopilot, multitasking, getting lost in thought, and
daydreaming. Its the opposite of having your body
in one place and your mind in another e.g., walk-
ing along a beautiful beach while perseverating over
your e-mail. Mindfulness is not aimed at making us
feel better, but rather at getting better at noticing
our feelings and thoughts.
I emphasize mindfulness not as a spiritual path-
way to enlightenment, but as an evidence-based
secular technique that fosters the development of
qualities of the mind that are central to leadership
(Boyce, 2011).
In addition to the mental qualities described above,
mindfulness training can help us cultivate four other
important leadership qualities, to name just a few:
Situational awareness observing with clarity and
objectivity our inner and outer experiences as each
moment arises, as distinct from judging them and
trying to fix them;
Task attention focusing our minds eye on the
task at hand and quickly regaining concentration
when distracted by discomfort;
Poise calmly taking action guided by our values,
while letting our discomfort just come and go in
private; and
Resilience snapping back when we are startled
and lose our poise in leadership situations (Gardner
& Moore, 2007).
All these mental qualities can be strengthened
through mindfulness meditation as well as through
other practices and exercises (Orsillo & Roemer,
2011).
Shall we dance?
Faced with relentless pressure to transform educa-
tion, its easy to get dragged down by the demands
of leadership and think of ourselves as weak leaders
when we struggle. Whipsawed by our emotions, its
all-too-human to try to escape our discomfort, but
that can unintentionally undercut our performance
and drain joy from our work.
Given this gloomy picture, its only natural to ask:
Why lead? Because leadership work can be enor-
mously rewarding and these disheartening out-
comes are optional. Indeed, Ive suggested a counter-
intuitive approach that can help you survive, thrive,
and make a difference in these tough times a
realistic approach thats optimistic and that can be
learned through dedicated practice.
Faced with emotional storms, we can change how
we relate and respond to them. Instead of fighting
uncomfortable feelings, we can accept our here-and-
now reality. Instead of getting snagged by disquieting
thoughts, we can watch them come and go. Instead
of chastising ourselves when things go awry, we can
treat ourselves with compassion. Instead of obsessing
over whats going wrong, we can relish our moment-
to-moment victories. By getting out of our own way,
and pursuing our values and dreams with passion and
zest, we can reach our peak performance.
Transforming education starts with transforming
our minds. And our inner transformation starts with
opening to indeed, welcoming the inevitable
cloudbursts of leadership. To thrive as a leader, I
invite you to pause, close your umbrella, and dance
in the rain.  K
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Murphy, J.T. (2007). Embracing the enemy: Moving beyond the

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Ginsberg, R. (2008, December).

Being boss is hard: the emotional
side of being in charge. Phi Delta
Kappan, 90 (4), 292-297.

Harris, R. (2009). ACT made

simple: An easy-to-read primer
on acceptance and commitment
therapy. Oakland, CA: New
Harbinger.

Hayes, S.C. & Smith, S. (2005). Get

out of your mind and into your life:

Summer Issue #3 kappanmagazine.org 23

 Professional development guide to:
Dancing in the rain: Tips on thriving
as a leader in tough times
By Jerome T. Murphy

Phi Delta Kappan, 93 (1), 36-41

OVERVIEW OF THE ARTICLE

KEY SENTENCE: You can thrive as a high-performing leader who takes emotional discomfort in stride, who averts
debilitating anguish, and who savors what can often be the exhilaration of leadership.

KEY POINTS

Leaders face tough times in todays world of diminished budgets and demanding agendas for learning.
Combining both Eastern and Western philosophies, the author recommends that leaders:
o Open up to your here-and-now uncomfortable experiences just as they are instead of trying to escape them;
o Simply notice your negative thoughts, instead of becoming ensnared by them;
o Treat yourself with compassion and kindness; and
o Concentrate on action guided by your core values.
Real leaders feel real discomfort and learn how to control it but not necessarily solve it through suppression,
escape, and avoidance, which become the problem.
Our thoughts about our emotions can add to our anguish, particularly when we identify with our negative self-
evaluations and worries and take them as the literal truth.
Instead of letting our discomfort rule us, we can accept it; watch our thoughts come and go; take care of
(rather than deprecate) ourselves; act according to our values; and learn the process of mindfulness.
Leaders can learn how to cultivate the Balanced Self (versus the Reactive Self).
When leaders attend to events and situations, rather than react to them, they are being mindful; they dont ignore
the bad news, but they dont let it rule them.
If leaders are mindful, they are aware of situations, pay attention to the task at hand, demonstrate calmness and
poise, and snap back to what matters.

FULL VALUE
Mindfulness applies not only to leaders and adults. Mindfulness has made its way into pedagogy. Ron Ritchhart and
David N. Perkins wrote Life in the mindful classroom: Nurturing the disposition of mindfulness in the Journal of Social
Issues (2000). In their article, Ritchhart and Perkins focus on the creation of mindfulness as a disposition, that is, as
an enduring trait, rather than a temporary state.

Ritchhart and Perkins reference the work of Ellen Langer and her colleagues who designed studies that demonstrate
the conditions under which mindfulness is more likely to flourish and supported them in their own work. Earlier studies
focused on inducing a period of mindfulness; Ritchhart and Perkins focus on development of mindfulness as a trait.

Ritchhart and Perkins explore mindfulness as a desirable school goal and conclude that it is. They describe the
nature of mindfulness as a disposition. They identify three high-leverage instructional practices for enculturating
mindfulness: looking closely, exploring possibilities and perspectives, and introducing ambiguity. They also describe
an experimental study and present a case study of a mindful algebra classroom. They conclude in its best incarnation,
schooling strives to cultivate the dispositions that lead to a lifetime of learning and enjoyment. Mindfulness is surely one
of those dispositions.

24 Must-Reads from Kappan, 2011-12/Summer Issue #3

DEEPEN YOUR THINKING
Choose one or more of these individual inquiry topics for thinking and writing.

1. In what ways are you a leader in your education environment?

2. How well did you relate to the authors description of todays tough times: Theres no leading without
bleeding?

3. What experiences have you had with learning ways of opening up to your here-and-now, noticing but
not being ensnared by negative thoughts, treating yourself with compassion and kindness, and taking
action guided by your core values?

4. What leaders do you think of (within and outside education) who exemplify the four characteristics listed
above?

5. Why would education leaders be more likely to feel discomfort today than in the past?

6. To what extent should leaders talk about discomfort and their reactions to this state of mind?

7. What are the downsides of stepping away from our upsetting thoughts and treating ourselves with more
compassion?

8. What issues in education need to be held more lightly, believed in less resolutely, and taken less
personally?

9. How do you see mindfulness practiced in your education environment?

EXTEND YOUR THOUGHTS THROUGH ACTIVITIES FOR GROUP DISCUSSION

How can you apply the advice in this article to situations described in other articles in this issue of Kappan? Work with your colleagues
to consider both dilemmas and dancing in the rain related to other articles.

Article Dilemmas Dancing in the rain

Disestablishing sex: The case for released-time sex education

I learned to believe in me

Not teaching ethics

Improving teaching and learning when budgets are tight

R&D: The minority teacher shortage: Fact or fable?

Reference

Ritchhart, R. & Perkins, D.N. (2000). Life in the mindful classroom: Nurturing the disposition of mindfulness. Journal of Social Issues, 56 (1), 27-47, 56.

Summer Issue #3 kappanmagazine.org 25

 Improving teaching and learning when
budgets are tight
Spending limited dollars
strategically is key in an era
when funding is tight and
expectations are high.

By Allan Odden and

Lawrence O. Picus
Education budgets are imploding at the fiscal
seams. A sluggish economy and falling property
values are shortchanging public education budgets
across the country. At the same time, there are growing
expectations for improved student performance, better teach-
ers and closing the achievement gap. Schools and teachers are
caught in this double squeeze.
Is there a way to meet these demands? Is it reasonable to ask
schools to continue to raise student performance and improve
teaching with no additional money and in some cases with
less? Does the way forward absolutely require more money?
We believe there is a way to move forward. Schools can
improve learning and teaching using research-based and best
practices-based strategies that in many cases dont require
more money, and in others where more money will help if
its spent strategically.
But there are competing views about this. One group argues
that more competition will ensure that schools spend educa-
tion dollars more efficiently, and that the demands on schools
today require more choice vouchers, charter schools, con-
tract schools and other market-driven solutions. Some who
support competition also want to give schools more control

ALLAN ODDEN (arodden@wisc.edu) is a professor of educational leadership and policy analysis, director of strategic management of human
capital, and co-director of the Consortium for Policy Research in Education in the Wisconsin Center for Education Research at the University of
Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wis. LAWRENCE O. PICUS (lpicus@usc.edu) is a professor at the Rossier School of Education, University of South-
ern California, Los Angeles, Calif.

26 Must-Reads from Kappan, 2011-12/Summer Issue #3

Thinkstock/iStockphoto
 Comments? Like
Kappan at www.
facebook.com/pdkintl

over spending decisions. These approaches have merit, but competition per se wont
improve schools. After all, two of Americas automobile manufacturing companies went
bankrupt in competitive markets. To survive and compete in a vastly different market-
place, they had to redesign and improve the cars they build. So competition only works
if it leads to school redesign, and there is scant evidence for that in education so far,
but what is important is school redesign regardless of the competitive environment.
Others argue that schools just need more money. But, if that argument were valid,
high-spending schools would be doing better than low-spending schools, and thats not
always the case. Weve found that even when resources increase substantially, schools
frequently dont use the new dollars to strategically improve performance (Picus,
Odden, Aportela, Mangan, & Goetz, 2008).
But, were confident school performance can improve even when funding is con-
The Shrinking Schoolhouse
strained. These conclusions draw from our work in school finance adequacy (Odden As dollars for schools decline, K-12 schools
& Picus, 2008), our study of schools and districts that have literally doubled student need to reduce staff and focus efforts. How
do schools realistically do more with less?
performance on state tests over a four- to six-year time period (Odden, 2009), and our
Kappan will be publishing articles related
partnerships with districts in reallocating resources to more powerful education vi- to this throughout the year. We are seeking
sions. We see five interrelated strategies. We present four here and a fifth in a sidebar manuscripts that help educators address
to this article. these issues:

Strategy #1. Resist the cost pressures on schools. What ideas will benet school and district
leaders as they balance conflicting needs
Our current system of local control of education works well, but it tends to boost and conflicting challenges? What disasters
costs, not student performance. Key factors behind these pressures to increase costs are looming as budgets shrink?
include: If teachers are a nite resource, how can
schools/districts best deploy them where
Smaller classes. Most districts find that reducing class size by one or two students eats they matter the most?
up large portions of the budget and generally has modest impacts on achievement. More
What is the role of technology in helping
specifically, research mainly the Tennessee STAR experiment supports class-size schools work smaller and smarter?
reduction only for grades K-3. In that study, larger classes (24-25 students) were compared
to similar size classes with an instructional aide as well as to smaller classes (15-17 students). If schools and districts must abandon the
25-to-1 student-to-teacher model, what
The small class sizes (but not the regular classes with an instructional aide) did increase other models could be adopted to ensure
student achievement by about 0.25 standard deviations for all students (Nye, Hedges, & high-quality learning?
Konstantopulos, 2002) and about twice that level for low-income and minority, primar-
Where are there examples of schools and
ily black, children (Krueger & Whitmore, 2001). Subsequent research showed that the
districts that have successfully reduced
positive impact of small classes continued on into middle and high school and beyond themselves and continued to provide
(Nye, Hedges, & Konstantopulos, 2001). Unfortunately, theres no similar research on high-quality learning for students?
class-size reduction in upper elementary, middle, and high school grades.
Submit manuscripts to manuscripts@
Yet pressure to reduce class size remains a high priority for many school districts.
pdkintl.org.

Five interrelated strategies for matching resources with desired outcomes

Strategy #1. Resist Strategy #2. Develop a Strategy #3. Identify Strategy #4. Reallocate Strategy #5. Rethink
the cost pressures on more powerful school necessary resources to resources to meet the teacher compensation.
schools. vision. meet the new school new school vision. Educations traditional
Schools must redirect Educators need a vision vision. School resources compensation structures
spending away from of a redesigned school Drawing on schoolwide must be allocated or are unrelated to better
traditional patterns of that will produce twice and districtwide findings, reallocated to support teaching and learning
resource use for smaller the student performance as well as studies of that new vision of a and they keep all
classes, more elective with the same or individual programs, successful school. This education budgets
courses, automatic pay possibly even fewer educators can identify includes using existing structurally out of
raises, and enhanced dollars. what resources are staff in new ways balance every year.
benefit programs and required to support that focus on helping
their associated cost these best practices. students learn.
increases.

Summer Issue #3 kappanmagazine.org 27

Mario Noche
 Unfortunately, after the smaller classes are funded,
theres little left to fund anything else.
More electives. The public also pressures schools to
offer many elective courses art, music, health, and
physical education; career and technical education;
advanced classes like Chinese 4 or Spanish 6; fun
classes like jewelry making, cheerleading, and on and
on. To respond, schools often expand to seven or
eight periods a day, an option that increases costs by
20% to 40% compared to a six-period day. Further,
because many elective classes are small and often
taught by senior teachers, the cost per pupil can be
four to five times the per pu-
School performance can pil spending on core courses
(Roza, 2010).
improve even when funding is Theres little correspond-
constrained. ing pressure other than
from parents of children with
disabilities to provide extra help for struggling
students. These include programs such as teacher
tutoring, extended-day programming, English as a
second language instruction, and summer programs.
Since parents of many of these students often dont
have enough political clout to get these services, the
calls for smaller classes and more electives often carry
the day with local school boards.
Automatic pay increases. Nearly all school districts
compensate teachers via step and lane salary sched-
ules that produce virtually automatic annual pay in-
creases. Even if the prices for everything else that
a school district buys stay the same, districts need
more money each year because teachers and admin-
istrators have moved up a step of experience, and/
or across an education lane, and are due those salary
increases. If the entire salary schedule is increased
for a cost of living adjustment, the impact of these
automatic increases is even greater. This is a key
reason why structural budget gaps exist every year,
gaps that grow larger in states with more inelastic
tax structures.
Since salary structures arent linked to the twin
strategic goals of improved teaching and higher
achievement (Odden, 2008a), salary schedules not
only push up costs, but also have virtually no positive
impact on system performance.
Growing benefit costs. Finally, the public is realizing
pension and health benefits are another huge draw
on the education dollar. Few districts actually funded
retiree health and other benefits, so those costs must
be included in every years budget. Further, most
districts are experiencing large increases in health
This article
and pension costs for those still working.
was originally
published in Phi Increased costs and flat performance. In sum, schools
Delta Kappan, 93 are buffeted by intense pressures smaller classes,
(1), 42-48. more electives, automatic pay increases and costly
28 Must-Reads from Kappan, 2011-12/Summer Issue #3
health and pension benefits all of which increase
costs and none of which have significant positive
impacts on student learning. The public pressures
school boards, school boards respond, and the sys-
tem moves on each year costing more. No wonder
spending per pupil has risen dramatically in the past
three decades while performance has been flat or
only modestly increasing.
Strategy #2. Develop a more
powerful school vision.
Scores of schools and districts that have boosted
student performance and closed achievement gaps
have used similar processes to attain impressive out-
comes (Odden, 2009). These schools and districts:
Use data-based decision making. Often, they use state
tests to identify macro-problems and issues; bench-
mark data to monitor student progress throughout
the year; shorter-cycle assessments to help frame in-
structional units before theyre taught; and common
formative assessments to assess the effect of collabora-
tive instructional practices on student learning.
Set very high and ambitious goals regardless of
school demographics. Goals might include doubling
student performance on state tests; doubling the per-
centage of students achieving at the advanced levels
on those tests; closing achievement gaps by 50%;
and relentlessly pursuing attainment of those goals
irrespective of student demographics.
Adopt new curriculum and textbook materials. They
believe that new and better materials are needed to
move the student achievement needle; over time, this
includes developing a schoolwide vision of effective
instructional practice and expecting all teachers to
use those practices.
Invest in professional development. This includes
summer institutes, instructional coaches in schools,
time for collaborative teacher group meetings dur-
ing the school day, and funds for trainers and related
costs.
Change the work life of teachers. They organize teach-
ers into collaborative groups (grade-level teams in
elementary schools, subject teams in middle schools
and course teams in high schools), and engage those
teams in data-based decision making to improve in-
structional practice and target appropriate interven-
tions to struggling students.
Provide extensive extra help strategies for struggling
students. These include 1:1 teacher tutoring (and no
more than a 1:5) and extended-day and summer pro-
grams with a strong academic focus. These extend in-
structional time while holding high performance stan-
dards constant.
Pay attention to teacher and administrator talent.
Distribute the schools instructional leadership by
identifying teachers who are collaborative work team
leaders, instructional coaches, or school curriculum
council coordinators. They also ensure that high-
poverty schools have their share of effective teach-
ers and principals, which can require changing re-
cruitment and hiring practices, and altering teacher
transfer policies.
Strategy #3. Identify necessary
resources to meet the new school
vision.
Drawing on these schoolwide and districtwide
findings, as well as studies of individual programs,
weve identified the resources needed to support
these best practices (see our adequacy studies on
www.lpicus.com). In brief, the resources are:
Small class sizes. Provide core teachers at ratios of
15:1 in grades K-3 and 25:1 in grades 4-12. How-
ever, fund all the resources identified below before
expending additional resources on smaller classes.
Elective teachers. Provide that 20% of all teachers
in elementary and middle schools and 33% of all
middle and high school teachers are elective teach-
ers. This would allow all schools to provide a full
liberal arts curriculum plus a range of electives, with
ample provision for planning and collaborative time
for all teachers.
Professional development. Ensure that teachers
work and are paid for 10 pupil-free days above
the standard 180 instructional days, and use those
days for professional development. Provide school-
based instructional coaches at the rate of one coach
position for every 200 students. Allocate $100 per
pupil for trainers, who could either be central office
staff or consultants, and other related costs.
Multiple resources for struggling students. Provide
one tutor position for every 100 students from a pov-
erty background (with at least one in every school of
about 500 students.). Extend the school day and pro-
vide summer school programs with class size limited
to 15 students. Provide one ESL teacher position
for every 100 ELL students. Allocate $25 for every
student enrolled in the district for services for gifted
students. For students with mild and moderate dis-
abilities, ensure one special education teacher posi-
tion and half of an instructional aide position for ev-
ery 150 enrolled students. Ensure full state funding
for children with severe and profound disabilities.
Pupil support. Allocate funds to support guidance
counselors and nurses augmented by additional po-
sitions (e.g., family liaison) at the rate of one more
position for every 100 students eligible for free- or
reduced-price lunch.
Administrative and clerical support. Allocate funds
for principals, assistant principals, librarian, secre-
tarial staff, and funds for substitute teachers and
supervisory aides to cover
recess, lunch and bus super-
vision, as well as janitorial Schools and districts that have
and security staff. boosted student performance
Instructional materials. Allo- and closed achievement gaps
cate $250 per pupil for com-
puters and related equipment
have used similar processes to
and technologies, $200 per attain impressive outcomes.
pupil for instructional mate-
rials and short-cycle assess-
ments, and $250 per pupil for student extracurricular
activities including athletics, student clubs, and other
service opportunities.
These resources and the strategies they support
are likely not the only way to dramatically boost stu-
dent achievement, but they offer a good approxi-
mation of what we now know from research and
best practices about the fiscal side of dramatically
boosting student performance.
Strategy #4. Reallocate resources
to meet the new vision.
Weve estimated what these recommendations
would cost in each of the 50 states, including ad-
justing the funding by state-specific percentages of
poverty, ELL, and handicapped students, and us-
ing state specific average prices (Odden, Picus, &
Goetz, 2009). Our research shows that 20 states
mostly in the Midwest and the East already
provide more funding than these recommendations
require, often as much as $2,000 to $3,000 more per
pupil. Another 20 states provide less funding than
needed to support the resources identified above,
which means that absent new sources of revenue,
districts and schools in those states need to be more
strategic about how they use their funds. The other
10 states provide funding at about the level sug-
gested through our research, suggesting that they
could come very close to deploying all the strate-
gies behind these recommendations with modest
adjustments in their class size practices.
Schools funded at or above these levels
Their task is to understand and adopt the vision,
and reallocate staffing resources toward these strate-
gies over a number of years.
Schools facing budget reductions
Use the core recommendations to help determine
which cuts will have the least impact on student
Summer Issue #3 kappanmagazine.org 29
 performance for example, slightly larger classes,
fewer instructional aides, less focus on pullout reme-
dial programs, and fewer administrators.
Schools with inadequate resources to fund this model
We suggest five macro-strategies for allocating
scarce dollars:
1. Use these staffing recommendations as a
general guideline, and reallocate current staff
to these configurations.
2. Be flexible about class size.
3. Organize schools so that all key teacher
groups have at least three 45-minute periods a
week for collaborative work, even if it means
increasing class sizes.
4. Provide all of the resources to help teachers
and students especially instructional coaches
and staff for extra help strategies by
varying class size, if necessary allowing class
size in secondary schools to rise substantially
before reducing the instructional coach and
extra help staff.
5. If increasing class size still doesnt enable
the school to fund the necessary staff, then
consider reducing, but not eliminating
instructional coaching, extended day and
summer school, and lastly, tutoring staff.

FIG. 1
Proposed Teacher Salary Schedule Based on Multiple Measures of Teacher Effectiveness

Step
within
level BA MA MA 60/Doctorate
Entry 1 $40,000 $41,600 $43,264
Level 1 Effectiveness 2 $40,600 $42,224 $43,913
3 $41,209 $42,857 $44,572
Emerging Professional 1 $45,330 $47,143 $49,029
Level 2 Effectiveness 2 $46,010 $47,850 $49,764
3 $46,700 $48,568 $50,511
4 $47,400 $49,297 $51,268
5 $48,112 $50,036 $52,037
6 $48,833 $50,787 $52,818
Professional 1 $53,716 $55,865 $58,100
Level 3 Effectiveness 2 $54,522 $56,703 $58,971
3 $55,340 $57,554 $59,856
4 $56,170 $58,417 $60,754
5 $57,013 $59,293 $61,665
6 $57,868 $60,183 $62,590
Master 1 $63,655 $66,201 $68,849
Level 4 Effectiveness 2 $64,610 $67,194 $69,882
3 $65,579 $68,202 $70,930
4 $66,562 $69,225 $71,994
5 $67,561 $70,263 $73,074
6 $68,574 $71,317 $74,170

Percent increase for effectiveness level 10.0%

Percent increase for step 1.5%
Math and science incentive 10.0%
MA or MA60/Doctorate in license field 4.0%
National Board Certification 10.0%

30 Must-Reads from Kappan, 2011-12/Summer Issue #3

A 5TH STRATEGY
Rethinking teaching compensation
I
ts time to rethink
how educators are
paid. Weve argued
elsewhere that the current
teacher salary schedule
is antiquated (Odden,
2008a). Beyond the first three
or four years, experience is not
linked to teacher effectiveness,
and except for graduate degrees
in the area of licensure, neither
are education units or degrees.
And there is nothing linked
directly to student performance.
As a result, the current teacher
salary structure provides weak
if any incentives for the core
goals of the education system
improved teaching and learning.
As the country develops new
approaches to teacher evaluation,
including multiple measures of a
teachers instructional practice
and multiple indicators of impact
on student learning, states and
districts will have metrics they
can use to redesign teacher
salary structures, such as the one
displayed in Figure 1.
There are several points to briefly
note about this salary structure,
for which the numbers, steps,
and columns are only illustrative:
First, the various performance
categories would be driven
by multiple measures of
effectiveness and the higher
the effectiveness level, the
greater the salary.
Second, movement up the
schedule is determined by
the level of effectiveness.
Young super stars, if theyre could be developed for principals.
really effective, can get to the
top levels more quickly; as
effectiveness indicators show
they meet the standards for
the next higher performance
category they can skip steps
in the schedule and jump up
to the higher salary category.
But salaries are capped
(except for periodic market
adjustments) by the top step in
each effectiveness level, so if
a teachers effectiveness stays
at level 3, his or her salary will
always be lower than the salary
for teachers in level 4.
Third, the largest pay increases
are provided when the
effectiveness measures indicate
performance at a higher level.
Fourth, this schedule shows
some step increases within
each level; fewer or more steps
could be provided, but the
highest step in each category
is, and should be, lower than
the first step in the next highest
effectiveness level.
Fifth, this basic structure can
be augmented with incentives
for teachers in areas for which
there are teacher shortages,
such as math and science, as
well as provide an additional
incentive for certification
from the National Board
for Professional Teaching
Standards.
This structure would transform
how teachers are paid, by linking
the level of pay to the level of
effectiveness, a goal long sought
by policy makers and education
leaders. In addition a salary
structure of this type is affordable
by almost all school districts if they
reallocate current salary dollars to
this structure over time (Odden,
2008b), and assuming the overall
system develops the multiple
effectiveness indicators needed
to operate it. A similar structure
older teachers; discriminate
School systems could use such
structures and NOT provide
automatic pay increases every
year. Each year, a district would
first determine how much
additional money was available
for salaries. The district would
then decide priorities for salary
increases, such as funding all
effectiveness level increases first,
then subject-area shortages, and
then step increases. In addition,
bonus programs for individual
teachers or all faculty in grades or
schools could and we argue
should be provided on top
of these base salary schedules
(Milanowski, 2008).
This approach to compensation
would structure base pay for
teachers and principals on their
instructional (or leadership)
effectiveness and provide
bonuses for directly improving
student performance. Finally, if
desired, the system could even
eliminate automatic pay increases
by specifying an annual salary
increase pool, and then establish
priorities for how the pool would
be allocated to the various
compensation elements.
Personnel benefits
The issue of benefits is too
complex to cover completely
in this article and, in the short
term, there are few options for
reducing benefit costs. For the
most part, the only realistic
short-term solution is to increase
the employee share of the costs
in places where employees have,
to date, only paid for a small
portion of health and pension
benefit costs.
The major longer-term issue is to
address pensions for educators.
In addition to substantial
unfunded liabilities in many
states, a number of research
studies now show that educator
pensions: are inequitably
distributed; redistribute pension
resources from younger to
determine how pension costs
against educators who move
across state lines; and can be
gamed to pay large pensions
by inflating salaries in the last
years of service. Consequently
many pension plans are not
economically aligned with
lifetime pension contributions
and the investment gains linked
to contributions to those plans
(Costrell & Podgursky, 2010).
Though many believe that the
Summer Issue #3
only way to address pension
change is to shift pension
responsibility from employers
to employees by moving from
defined benefit to defined
contribution plans (e.g. 401ks),
there is an alternative. Several
companies, including IBM, have
adopted cash balance plans.
Such funds share a number of
common qualities:
Cash balance plans are
individually based; each worker
has his or her own cash
balance fund.
Both the employer and
employee contribute to the
fund monthly based on agreed-
upon relative shares from each
party.
They are portable. Contributions
are provided wherever one
works, eliminating the inequity
to individuals who move and
cant take their pension benefits
with them.
The value of each individuals
pension fund is linked to
the contributions made to it
over their work life, and can
be turned into an annuity at
retirement. Payouts would
not be artificially increased by
significantly larger salaries in
their last few years of work,
artificial retirement multipliers,
or other options that often
inflate pension fund liabilities.
Though states would need to
would be shared, cash balance
plans would eliminate pension
underfunding because pension
contributions would be made
monthly by law, would make
pension amounts fairer by having
them vest immediately with the
employee regardless of where
the individual worked, and link
them appropriately to the work
life contributions and investments
gains of each individual.
kappanmagazine.org 31
 These macro-principles for resource realloca-
tion have emerged from working sessions with
faculty and administrators in the schools and dis-
tricts where weve worked.
In those schools, small class
20 states mostly in the size wasnt a prime consid-
Midwest and the East eration. Instead, they felt
instructional coaches were
already provide more funding necessary to improve core
than these recommendations classroom instruction for all
require; 20 states provide less. students, and they felt time
for teacher collaboration
during the regular school day
was critical to improve core instruction. They also
argued that teacher tutors were the most effective,
initial intervention strategy for struggling students,
particularly for reading (Odden & Archibald, 2009).
This overall school vision and these particular
staffing formulas and configurations provide guid-
ance for estimating an adequate level of education
funding. They can serve as a structure when schools
with greater resources face budget reductions, and
offer guidance to schools with fewer resources as
they face further cuts. They can also help schools
determine how best to benefit from any increases
in revenues.
Conclusion
Despite tight budgets, all schools across the coun-
try can and must continue to focus resources on im-
proving instructional practice and student learning.
Though some schools clearly have more flexibility
than others, most schools probably need to engage
in some instructional revisioning and staff reallo-
cation. The current fiscal shortcomings buffeting
schools shouldnt be used as a rationale for failure
to make continued progress toward higher levels
of student achievement. Despite the recent budget
cuts, the United States spends over $500 billion on
public K-12 education including many billions for
students who need extra help to meet state standards.
The education system must continue to use those
resources in the most strategic and efficient ways to
boost student learning and close existing achieve-
ment gaps. The country needs this performance for
its economy, and each child needs it in order to fully
participate in family, work, and our democracy in the
future. K Associates. Prepared for the Wyoming Legislative Service
References
Costrell, R.M. & Podgursky, M. (Eds.). (2010). Rethinking
teacher retirement benefit systems. Journal of Education
Finance and Policy, 5 (4).
Krueger, A.B. & Whitmore, D.M. (2001). Would smaller classes
32 Must-Reads from Kappan, 2011-12/Summer Issue #3
help close the black-white achievement gap? (Working paper
#451). Princeton, NJ: Princeton University. www.irs.princeton.
edu/pubs/pdfs/451.pdf.
Milanowski, A. (2008). How to pay teachers for student
performance outcomes. Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin,
Wisconsin Center for Education Research, Consortium for
Policy Research in Education, Strategic Management of
Human Capital.
Nye, B.A., Hedges, L.V., & Konstantopulos, S. (2001). The
long-term effects of small classes in early grades: Lasting
benefits in mathematics achievement at grade nine. Journal of
Experimental Education, 69 (3), 245-258.
Nye, B., Hedges, L.V., & Konstantopulos, S. (2002). Do low-
achieving students benefit more from small classes? Evidence
from the Tennessee class-size experiment. Educational
Evaluation & Policy Analysis, 24 (3), 201-217.
Odden, A. (2008a). New teacher pay structures: The
compensation side of the strategic management of human
capital. Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin, Wisconsin
Center for Education Research, Consortium for Policy
Research in Education, Strategic Management of Human
Capital.
Odden, A. (2008b). How to fund teacher compensation
changes. Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin, Wisconsin
Center for Education Research, Consortium for Policy
Research in Education, Strategic Management of Human
Capital.
Odden, A. (2009). Ten strategies for doubling student
performance. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
Odden, A.R. & Archibald, S.J. (2009). Doubling student
performance . . . and finding the resources to do it. Thousand
Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
Odden, A.R. & Picus, L.O. (2008). School finance: A policy
perspective, 4th ed. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
Odden, A.R., Picus, L.O., & Goetz, M.E. (2009). A
50-state strategy to achieve school finance adequacy.
Educational Policy. http://epx.sagepub.com/cgi/
rapidpdf/0895904809335107v1
Picus, L.O., Odden, A., Aportela, A., Mangan, M.T., & Goetz,
M. (2008). Implementing school finance adequacy: School
level resource use in Wyoming following adequacy-oriented
finance reform. North Hollywood, CA: Lawrence O. Picus and
Office. Available at http://legisweb.state.wy.us/2008/interim/
schoolfinance/Resources.pdf
Roza, M. (2010). Educational economics: Where do school
funds go? Washington, DC: The Urban Institute Press.
Snyder, T.D., & Dillow, S.A. (2010). Digest of Education
Statistics, 2009. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of
Education, National Center for Education Statistics.
 Professional development guide to:
Improving teaching and learning when
budgets are tight
By Allan Odden and Lawrence O. Picus
Phi Delta Kappan, 93 (1), 42-48

OVERVIEW OF THE ARTICLE

KEY SENTENCE: Schools can improve learning and teaching using research-based and best practices-based
strategies that in many cases dont require more money and in others where more money will help if its spent
strategically.

KEY POINTS

Education budgets are imploding . . . at the same time that there are growing expectations for improved
student performance, better teachers, and closing the achievement gap.
The authors suggest ve strategies for meeting higher expectations with less money.
Strategy #1: Resist the cost pressures on schools, especially public pressures to fund traditional aspects of
education, such as reduced class sizes, a panoply of electives, and automatic pay raises.
Strategy #2: Develop a more powerful school vision of redesigned schools that, with current funding (or
less), increase achievement based on effective use of current data from a variety of sources; set very high
and ambitious goals regardless of school demographics; adopt new curriculum and materials; invest in
professional development such as coaching and organizing teachers into collaborative groups; providing extra
help to struggling students; and distributing leadership among talented staff.
Strategy #3: Identify necessary resources to meet the new school vision by studying resources needed to
support best practices, such as having optimal class sizes; 20%-30% elective teachers on the faculty; at least
10 student-free days for professional development; tutors, extended day, and summer programs for struggling
students; student support positions; help (including duty relief) for administrators and teachers; and up to $700
per pupil for technologies, instructional materials and assessments, and extracurricular activities.
Strategy #4: Reallocate resources to meet the new school vision, including using existing staff in new ways
that focus on helping students learn. With 20 states providing more than the authors recommended funding,
10 providing funding at the suggested level, the authors provide five macro strategies for the 20 states that
provide less funding.
Strategy #5: Rethink teacher compensation, including new approaches for evaluation and multiple measures
of student achievement; they also consider benefits and pensions.

FULL VALUE
Strategy #5 brings to mind the mid-1990s research of William L. Sanders and others at the University of Tennessee
Value-Added Research and Assessment Center who suggested a relationship between effective/noneffective
teaching and current and future student achievement. Their research was the foundation for many policy decisions,
including alignment of teacher compensation with student achievement.

In a research progress report, Cumulative and Residual Effects of Teachers on Future Student Academic
Achievement (1996), Sanders and June C. Rivers summarized their findings:

Differences in student achievement of 50 percentile points were observed as a result of teacher sequence
after only three years.
The effects of teachers on student achievement are both additive and cumulative with little evidence of
compensatory effects.
As teacher effectiveness increases, lower-achieving students are the rst to benet. The top quintile of
teachers facilitate appropriate to excellent gains for students of all achievement levels.
Students of different ethnicities respond equivalently within the same quintile of teacher effectiveness.

Summer Issue #3 kappanmagazine.org 33

 DEEPEN YOUR THINKING
Choose one or more of these individual inquiry topics for thinking and writing.

1. To what extent is there a budget crisis in your district? How have conditions for teaching and learning
changed as a result of this crisis?

2. Have expectations for student achievement increased, decreased, or remained relatively the same?

3. Would you agree with the authors that schools and teachers are caught in this double squeeze?

4. What kind of competition (charter, private, or religious schools) do public schools have in your community?
What are the results of competition?

5. In what ways do schools need to be redesigned to enhance student achievement? What are the budget
implications of school redesign?

6. What are the typical class sizes in your district for primary students? Elementary students? Middle school
students? High school students? What are the effects of these class sizes?

7. Have there been staff reductions in your local schools? What have been the effects of these reductions?

8. What do stakeholders in your local schools most want in their schools? Lower class sizes, more electives,
other?

9. How are struggling students helped to succeed in your local schools?

EXTEND YOUR THOUGHTS THROUGH ACTIVITIES FOR GROUP DISCUSSION

The authors make the point that, while parents and others may ask for small classes or more electives, theres little
corresponding pressure other than from parents of children with disabilities to provide extra help for struggling
students. . . . Since parents of many of these students often dont have enough political clout to get these services,
the calls for smaller classes and more electives often carry the day with local school boards.

With your colleagues, create a diagram of who has the clout in your district. Consider all possibilities from business
owners to students. Represent the power each group has according to the size of the circle you create and
proximity to action. Be sure to describe what these stakeholders want with their power.

Your diagram might look like this:

Average Major
students Getting business
(engagement) things done owners (cost
reduction)

Teachers
(learning)
Parents of Elected
special needs boards (no
children lawsuits)
(services)

34 Must-Reads from Kappan, 2011-12/Summer Issue #3

 Comments? Like
Like PDKatatwww.
Kappan www.
facebook.com/pdkintl

How to steer the tough

budget road ahead
Accelerate
your
performance
The fiscal nightmare isnt over yet
so educators and district leaders would do
well to look ahead with no illusions and a resolve
to make the most of this difficult time.

By Frederick M. Hess

Despite the pervasive sense that K-12 schooling has been

hammered by the recent recession, K-12 spending has
fared better than one might think. Nonetheless,
things are likely to remain tight much longer
than we might wish. Knowing how to respond
to the looming challenges is something that will
pay hefty dividends in the half-decade to come.
It certainly feels like things have been tough so far. Yet, U.S. Department of
Education data show that school-district staff increased by 2.3% nationally over the
course of the Great Recession (Education Intelligence Agency, 2010). During
that same period, private-sector jobs fell by 6.8%. While national per-pupil
spending data isnt tallied yet for the last two years, state legislatures have
generally sought to protect K-12 while taking enormous bites out of spending
on public safety, transportation, higher education, and other services.
Unfortunately, national education leaders have too rarely been candid with educators and communi-
ties about where matters stand. In 2010, while touting the $10-billion federal Edujobs bill, Secretary of
Education Arne Duncan said that while we want people to be responsible to be efficient, districts had
This article
was originally
FREDERICK M. HESS (rhess@aei.org) is director of education policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute, Washington, published in Phi
D.C., author of the Education Week blog Rick Hess Straight Up, and co-editor of Stretching the School Dollar (Harvard Education Delta Kappan, 93
Press, 2010). (2), 57-61.

Summer Issue #3 kappanmagazine.org 35

Thinkstock/PhotoObjects.net
 already been cutting for five or seven years and had
cut through . . . fat, through flesh, and into bone
(U.S. Department of Education, 2010). But Dun-
cans claims were inaccurate. The National Center
for Education Statistics, for instance, reports that,
nationally, per-pupil spending increased 16% from
2000 to 2007. Indeed, nominal per-pupil spending
rose every year from 1933 until 2007.
The reality is that school
district budgets are likely to be
constrained at least through 2015.
While educators hope better days are just around
the corner, the reality is that school district budgets
are likely to be constrained at least through 2015. For
starters, the Center for Budget and Policy Priori-
ties noted in March that, The upcoming fiscal year
(FY2012) is shaping up as one of the most difficult
budget years on record for states. Thus far, some
44 states and the District of Colum-
bia are projecting budget shortfalls
totaling $112 billion for fiscal year
2012. CBPP also reports, Al-
ready, some 26 states are pro-
jecting shortfalls totaling $75
billion for FY 2013 . . . Once
all states have prepared es-
timates, this total is likely
to grow.
Unemployment
is expected to re-
main above 8% into
2012 and above 6%
through 2015. While
the worst of the recession
may be over, Nobel Prize-
winning economist Joseph
Stiglitz cautions: This is an
anemic recovery . . . and is likely
to remain anemic (Heath &
Salamat, 2010). Stateline reported
in January that revenues while
up a bit now plunged so deeply in
2008 and 2009 that it will take years for
many states to return to levels they saw
before the recession (Goodman, 2011).
36 Must-Reads from Kappan, 2011-12/Summer Issue #3
More specifically, four factors will continue to
squeeze states and districts. First, schools have been
cushioned for most of the past two years by tens of
billions in federal stimulus aid, and then by 2010s
Edujobs bill. Those dollars are now almost tapped
out, leaving districts that used them to minimize cuts
in staff or services in a position where theyre about
to confront dramatic shortfalls. CBPP has noted that
in fiscal 2011, states had approximately $59 billion
in federal aid to assist in closing budget shortfalls
that totaled some $130 billion. For 2012, states are
already reporting shortfalls that total $112 billion
with only $6 billion still available.
Second, while the worst of the real estate col-
lapse is past, the impact on property tax collections
hasnt yet fully rippled through. Homeowners are
well aware that state property tax assessments tend
to lag market valuation by two to three years. That
means most states are still collecting property taxes
based on 2008 or 2009 valuations. With most ex-
perts expecting residential real estate to bottom in
2012, and commercial real estate to bottom in 2012
or 2013, there will be a downward gravitational pull
on property tax revenues until 2014 or 2015. Given
that property tax revenues account nationally for al-
most 30% of school spending, the challenge is clear.
Third, states are and will continue to be squeezed
by underfunded pension and health care systems in
years ahead. That means fewer dollars for other ser-
vices, including current school spending. The most
recent analysis by the Pew Center on the States in
spring 2011 reported that the gap between promised
public employee retirement benefits and the money
set aside to fund them grew to at least $1.26 trillion
in fiscal year 2009. In fiscal 2009, 31 states were be-
low the 80% funded threshold (Pew Center on the
States, 2011).
Finally, state budgets are under growing pres-
sure, particularly when it comes to health care. In
fiscal 2010, Medicaid eclipsed K-12 education as
the single most expensive item in state budgets. Na-
tionally, state-run health insurance programs con-
sume almost 22% of state spending, while growing
by 8.2% last year (Vestal, 2011). When the stimulus
dollars targeted to help states with Medicaid bills
are gone next year, states will have to find a way to
replace about $60 billion a year.Looking forward,
the 2010 Affordable Health Care Act means states
will be shouldering substantial new health care obli-
gations starting in 2014. The Congressional Budget
Office projects that health care reform will boost
state Medicaid enrollment by at least 16 million
between 2014 and 2019, and one recent report from
the Senate Finance Committee predicts that this
will cost states at least $118 billion through 2023
(Fox, 2011).
Thinkstock/Hemera
 The upshot? Good times are not just around the
corner. Rather, at least for the next half-decade, edu-
cators are facing what Secretary Duncan has termed
the new normal. After three generations in which
national, nominal per-pupil spending went up every
Good times are not just around the
corner.
single year, learning to operate in an environment
of flat or declining spending is a new challenge for
most educators. Its important to know how not to
respond, and then to start thinking proactively about
how to find the silver lining in this cloud.
FIRST, WHAT NOT TO DO . . .
A clinic in how not to respond was provided by in-
terviews in the 2011 Phi Delta Kappan article Lead-
ing Through a Fiscal Nightmare, in which a variety
of comments by superintendents and principals re-
vealed four common fallacies likely to alienate sup-
porters (Ginsberg & Multon, 2011).
MISTAKE #1: EXCUSE-MONGERING.
One leader said, I feel as though I am at a point
where I have to say that it is OK for some kids to fail
because we cannot provide the extra help they need.
When parents lose their jobs, or take a pay cut, they
dont say, Its now OK for my kid to go foodless.
When police budgets are cut, wed be furious if the
police said, Hey, we cant keep you safe. Its fine
for educators to look askance at vacuous declarations
that all children will learn. Whats not OK is to use
budget cuts as an excuse to accept mediocrity to
say, Well, we used to think no one should fail, but
now weve changed our mind. Every leader, public
and private, has good budget years and bad ones.
Responsible leaders make it their mission to do the
very best they can with the resources they have.
MISTAKE #2: ASSUMING THAT PROGRESS
ONLY COMES WITH NEW DOLLARS.
One leader insisted, You cant push forward with
new innovations without the funding to see them
through. Thats just silliness. The most innovative
organizations in the world tend to be cash-poor start-
ups. They rely on moxie, creativity, and elbow grease.
In schooling, innovation has typically meant layer-
ing new dollars and programs atop everything that
came before. So, districts didnt rethink staffing or
school libraries when they got classroom computers
or Internet connectivity, they just added these to ev- The Shrinking
erything already in place. This dynamic may be why Schoolhouse
education is the only professional sector that seems
to have realized no increase in productivity since the
introduction of the personal computer.
MISTAKE #3: THINKING THAT ANY BUDGET
CUT WILL BE DEBILITATING.
One superintendent asserted, It is impossible to
make cuts in a district and not have it impact teachers
and students. We cut a secretary, and many tasks are
As dollars for schools
decline, K-12 schools
now falling to teachers. This takes up their precious need to reduce staff
and focus efforts. How
time to prepare for students. We cut a technology do schools realistically
integration person, and now teachers are having to do more with less?
spend more time researching web sites and online Kappan will be publish-
projects. We cut a mail delivery person, and now sec- ing articles related to
this throughout the
retaries and paras are having to do curbside pickup year. We are seeking
and drop-off of mail so the mail can travel on buses. manuscripts that help
By this logic, no organization not the U.S. mili- educators address
tary, not the U.S. Postal Service, not General Mo- these issues:
tors can ever make cuts or trim personnel without
compromising quality. In fact, lots of organizations What ideas will benefit
school and district
have made cuts that seemed painful but ultimately leaders as they balance
boosted productivity, strengthened the culture, and conflicting needs and
left them more nimble. Obviously, cutting in dumb conflicting challenges?
ways such as zeroing out music, art, or sports What disasters are
looming as budgets
to save small dollars has an adverse impact. The shrink?
challenge for leaders is to use rough periods as an
opportunity to prune in smart ways so their organiza- If teachers are a finite
tions emerge leaner and healthier. To act otherwise resource, how can
is to abdicate responsibility. schools/districts best
deploy them where
MISTAKE #4: ALLOWING RATHER THAN they matter the most?
CONDEMNING UNACCEPTABLE EMPLOYEE
What is the role of
RESPONSES.
technology in helping
Said one principal, I was and continue to be sur- schools work smaller
prised at how some people react. I had typically rea- and smarter?
sonable people telling me that they werent going
If schools and districts
to do their job . . . I feel we have taken a huge step
must abandon the 25-
backwards in our communication, trust, and cooper- to-1 student-to-teacher
ation. So, we have more work to do and are working model, what other
together more poorly. The principal should have models could be ad-
opted to ensure high-
been outraged rather than calmly relaying the em- quality learning?
ployee reaction; he should have expressed disbelief
that reasonable people were declaring an intention Are there examples of
to shortchange children. Until that kind of sentiment schools and districts
routinely draws an appropriately fierce public reac- that have successfully
tion from leaders, instead of a watery we have taken reduced themselves
and continued to
a huge step backwards in our communication, its provide high-quality
tough to make the case that the public can be confi- learning for students?
dent that new funds will be well spent.
Submit manuscripts
What to do? The winning course, given that fami-
to manuscripts@
lies, i.e., taxpayers, across America have lost jobs and pdkintl.org.
homes, and had to tighten their belts, is to recognize
that things are tough all over and then protect kids
and programs by optimizing spending, rethinking
Summer Issue #3 kappanmagazine.org 37
 instructional delivery, or finding ways for adults to
shoulder the load.
TOUGH TIMES ARE AN OPPORTUNITY
Michigan state treasurer Andy Dillon, whose
state knows something about dealing with wrench-
ing economic challenges after the travails of the
auto industry, has encouraged states to view tough
budgetary conditions as an opportunity to pursue
reform. We have to do what General Motors did
to itself, Dillon said. It wasnt until [General Mo-
tors] hit the wall that the real structural changes
happened. We have a small window of opportu-
nity to make structural, long-term changes to state
government to avoid hitting a similar wall. That
time is now.
The most innovative organizations
in the world rely on moxie, creativity,
and elbow grease.
Educators would do well to embrace that same
kind of mindset. Fortunately, as contributors ex-
plored in my 2010 book Stretching the School Dollar,
education leaders have a wealth of ways to control
spending by tightening operations, rethinking staff-
ing, and using technology in more powerful ways.
Lets be blunt: No one makes tough choices in
flush times. The leaders of any organization would
rather sidestep problems than confront them. It
doesnt matter if youre a tough-minded, for-profit
CEO or a cuddly koala of a nonprofit executive; no-
body is eager to squeeze salaries, shut down ineffi-
cient programs, seek out savings, or trim employees
when they can avoid it. A manager who tries when
times are good is just a mean-spirited S.O.B. who
alienates staff and creates disruptions. Thats why
recessions, threats posed by new competitors, diffi-
cult fund-raising cycles, and the like are so beneficial
for organizations. They make possible the occasional
pruning. They allow managers to tackle problems
that otherwise get swept under the carpet.
Tough times come to serve as a healthful (if bit-
ter) tonic by forcing leaders to identify priorities
and giving them political cover to trim the fat. Un-
fortunately, most districts havent had a meaning-
ful house cleaning in decades. Consequently, in my
experience, I have found district after district to be
careless about deploying talent, undisciplined at the
negotiating table, and lax about pursuing operational
efficiencies. This is not just about making sure re-
sources are better used. Its also about the lethargy
38 Must-Reads from Kappan, 2011-12/Summer Issue #3
that can take root, and how leaner, efficiency-hun-
gry organizations create an environment that attracts
and energizes talent.
The Council of Great City Schools, the nations
primary coalition of big-city districts, has launched
a Performance Measurement and Benchmarking
Project that allows urban school systems to com-
pare their operational and financial efficiency against
their peers. In the first few years of the project, dis-
tricts have saved millions by improving the efficiency
of their custodians, bus fleets, procurement opera-
tions, and electricity use. CGCSs roster of power-
ful diagnostic tools will prove useful to any district
(Casserly, 2010).
University of Washington scholar Marguerite
Roza has shown how districts can use unit-cost anal-
yses of programs and practices to identify savings
(2010). In one district, for example, cheerleading
cost the district $1,348 per cheerleader. The prob-
lem: cheerleading was offered as a class, requiring a
salaried teacher. The superintendent shifted cheer-
leading to after-school status, saving tens of thou-
sands of dollars without eliminating any opportu-
nities.
Boosting productivity requires grappling with
the cost of teaching. Teacher salaries and benefits
amount to half or more of district spending. The
most promising way to control costs without slashing
services is to get more value out of each employee.
While American schools have been in a multi-de-
cade push for class-size reduction cutting student-
teacher ratios from 23:1 in the early 1970s to about
15:1 today this massive increase in staffing has
shown no evidence of academic benefits. Smaller
classes are attractive in the abstract, but its also the
case that the need to hire more bodies dilutes the
quality of teacher selection and training. Indeed,
some high-performing nations, like South Korea
and Singapore, have some middle school and high
school classes that are much larger than the Ameri-
can norm. Increasing aggregate student-teacher ra-
tios by about two students, from 15:1 to 17:1, could
yield savings of nearly 10% when it comes to district
salary and benefits.
Another key to getting much more bang for the
buck is to explore how to seize on the transformative
power of education technology. Unfortunately, too
often, education leaders, industry shills, and tech-
nology enthusiasts seem to insist that the technol-
ogy itself will be a difference-maker. Fact is, its the
rethinking that matters, not the technology. The
promise lies in using these tools to solve problems
more smartly, deliver knowledge, support students,
reimagine instruction, refashion cost structures, and
challenge students in new ways. Put another way:
The greatest power in emerging technologies is the
opportunity to reconsider whats doable. Technology
makes it possible to deliver expertise over distances,
differentiate functions of support staff and educators
and permit them to specialize, automate rote instruc-
tional tasks, and customize lesson plans and pacing
of curriculum for particular children. Embracing
technology in these ways will yield vast new oppor-
tunities for higher-quality and more cost-effective
instructional delivery.
Lets be blunt: No one makes tough
choices in flush times.
Hoover Institution scholar John Chubb has cal-
culated that integrating online instruction into the
school day by having elementary students work
online for one hour, middle school students for two
hours, and high school students for three hours
could cut spending by perhaps 8% (or more than
$700 per student) in the typical district (Chubb,
2010). The Rocketship Academies in San Jose have
used computer-assisted instruction to deliver im-
pressive results while relaxing student-teacher ra-
tios because classroom instruction is complemented
by technological tools. A handful of school districts
are using providers like Rosetta Stone or tutor.com
in ways that start to reduce some of the burdens on
classroom teachers, creating the opportunity to take
a fresh look at staffing approaches.
More broadly, states and districts have em-
braced accountability systems predicated on student
achievement, but this is only half of the equation.
Any well-run public or private organization cares
not just about outcomes but about the inputs re-
quired to deliver those outcomes. Today, however,
theres not a single state and precious few districts
where accountability metrics emphasize cost-ef-
fectiveness. This is an enormous opportunity. By re-
porting spending data in tandem with school and dis-
trict achievement data (adjusting appropriately for
cost-of-living and student need), it becomes possible
to start talking about which programs, schools, and
educators are doing more with less. And it provides
an opportunity to ask whether seemingly impressive
or disappointing results look the same once weve
considered the resources in play. If we want district
and school leaders to focus on maximizing bang-for-
the-buck, we need to start tracking it and recognizing
those who are getting it done.
Some educators and education advocates have
hoped that theyve ridden out the worst and that
things will get better soon. Unfortunately, the fiscal
picture is grimmer than we might wish, and educa-
tors and district leaders would do well to look ahead
with no illusions and a cool resolve to make the most
of this difficult time. K
References
Casserly, M. (2010). Managing for results in Americas great
city schools. In F. Hess & E. Osberg (Eds.), Stretching the
school dollar: How schools and districts can save money while
serving students best (pp. 97-124). Cambridge, MA: Harvard
Education Press.
Chubb, J. (2010). More productive schools through online
learning. In F. Hess & E. Osberg (Eds.), Stretching the school
dollar: How schools and districts can save money while
serving students best (pp. 155-176). Cambridge, MA: Harvard
Education Press.
Education Intelligence Agency. (2010, October 4). Education
hiring grew 2.3% during recession. Elk Grove, CA: Author.
www.eiaonline.com/archives/20101004.htm
Fox, M. (2011, March 1). Health care law to cost states
$118 billion, Republican report says. National Journal. www.
nationaljournal.com/healthcare/health-care-law-to-cost-states-
118-billion-republican-report-says-20110301
Ginsberg, R. & Multon, K. (2011, May). Leading through
the fiscal nightmare: The impact on principals and
superintendents. Phi Delta Kappan, 92 (8), 42-47.
Goodman, J. (2011, January 13). State budget outlook: the
worst isnt over. Stateline. www.stateline.org/live/printable/
story?contentId=541781
Heath, M. & Salamat, R. (2010, August 5). Stiglitz says U.S.
faces anemic recovery, needs more stimulus. Bloomberg
Businessweek, www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-08-05/
stiglitz-says-anemic-u-s-recovery-means-obama-should-seek-
more-stimulus.html
Pew Center on the States. (2011, April). The widening gap:
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health care costs. Washington, DC: Author.
Roza, M. (2010). Now is a great time to consider per-unit
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(Eds.), Stretching the school dollar: How schools and districts
can save money while serving students best (pp. 71-96).
Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press.
U.S. Department of Education. (2010, August 10). U.S.
Secretary of Education Arne Duncan press conference call on
passage of education jobs bill. Washington, DC: Author.
Vestal, C. (2011, January 14). Health care budgets in
critical condition. Stateline. www.stateline.org/live/details/
story?contentId=542173
Summer Issue #3 kappanmagazine.org 39