Overcoming Challenges: Small Schools and PLC's

Anyone who properly uses the noun, "gymocafetorjum" automatically gains credibility with small school educators like myself who are used to wearing many hats and being creative to meet the needs of students. Aaron Hanson, former National Model School Principal and author of How to Develop PLCs for Singletons and Small Schools, understands the challenges of using collaborative models in small settings.

His book provides practical tips and examples for educators whose journey through the collaborative process gets stuck at the question: How do my students receive the value of common assessments when I don't have anyone with whom to collaborate on assessments because I'm the only one teaching this in my district? 

Hanson details several strategies including interdisciplinary teams, singletons who support, and virtual teams, but the strategy that seems to offer the most benefit to students in my setting is the effective use of vertical teams.

Hansen argues that the most important tasks vertical teams can take on are identifying essential skills and agreeing to the level of rigor necessary to demonstrate proficiency. He offers straightforward protocols for beginning these discussions.

I'll break from Hansen and offer two specific examples of how these discussions could play out. Consider the first image below. Suppose the Algebra I instructor in a district defined proficiency as the ability to answer the questions at the top of the image and mastery as the ability to answer the questions at the bottom. If the teachers in the grade levels below and above held different visions of profficiency, confusion could result. Similarly in the second image we find objectives for a biology course. If one teacher defines proficiency as the ability to compare and contrast animal and plant cells using six of the terms listed correctly, students would be challenged differently than if the instructors below or above believed proficiency should be gauged by the ability to provide textbook definitions for all the terms present.

Students in small schools deserve to have teachers who engage in these conversations. Hansen shows us how to begin.

Borrowed from SLPCSchools

DESE's Biology CLE's

Three Things I Want 3rd-8th Grade Teachers To Know About Testing In2015-16

Earlier this summer I posted notes from a meeting with a DESE official regarding state testing in Missouri. At the administrator's conference in July, I attended a session led by DESE's Michael Muenks and Shaun Bates. Below are three key points from both sessions. Overall, I believe teachers should have less anxiety regarding the administration of the tests this year.

1.) The technology used to deliver the tests this year will be similar to last year's. e Direct will be the portal, and tests will be administered by Insight. Teachers and students won't have to navigate a dramatically different system to take the test. We were successful in administering the tests last year, and I'm sure we will be able to do it again.

2.) The content and structure will be the same. This year's test is based on the same standards as last year. Although test items have been created by non-SBAC affiliated companies (in compliance with legislation), the tests will have a similar number of items and a similar ratio of constructed response to selected response.

3.) DESE worked to create tests that are less frustrating to administer. Resetting tests for students who are inadvertently logged out will be easier.  Classroom activities will not be a part of the tests this year.

In my opinion DESE has done as much as they can to provide stability, given the current political climate. I realize teachers, for good reason, worry about the interpretation of test results. I want the teachers with whom I work to know that, while I recognize the importance of test results, I find formal and informal observations, effective lesson and assessment design, and evidence of healthy relationships as more important marks of strong teaching than state test scores. When I see those in place, I am more than willing to support teachers when explaining test results to stakeholders.

Rain Fly

When drizzle turns to rain drops, break open the camp box for a tarp, nylon line, and zip ties to cobble together a rain fly. Grab the cooler and the kids. Marvel at how content everyone can be, huddled together in a space smaller than any room in the house. Watching it rain. 

Court Cases Which Could Impact Educators In The 2015-16 School Year

School law may be the most dynamic factor affecting educators. Every year courts set new precedents. Below are a few notes on cases discussed at the Mickes Goldman O'Toole school law seminar on July 26.

Estate of Smith v. Brown Local School District (2015): 

The case centered on the school's efforts to warn parents of a student's  risk of suicide. Ethics require educators share concerns about suicide with families. The reality of litigation demand these efforts in communication be documented. Schools should have clear protocols for dealing with students who present a risk of suicide. 

McArdle v Town of Dracult/Dracult Public Schools (2013):

The case warns districts to consider time spent outside the school day, when considering if an employee has reached the 1,250 hour mark to receive FMLA benefits. Teachers will likely meet this mark quicker than the typical employee that works eight hour days. Teachers won't have these hours documented as employees who receive overtime do.

Obergefell v. Hodges (2015):

The Supreme Court ruling on same sex marriages means districts must extend FMLA leave to employees to care for same sex spouses, even if they were married in a state that recognized same sex marriages before the district's state was required to do so by the ruling. FMLA benefits do not extend to un-married partners. 

K.M. v. Tustin USD (2014):

The case involved a parent's request for a CART system for a hearing impaired child, when the district recommended an FM system. The court ruled in favor of the parents. The case reminds districts that an IEP team's determination of  FAPE may not shield a district from 504 or ADA Title II litigation. Districts must document consideration of parent's requests and reasonable alternatives. Districts may need to prove a request substantially alters their programs. 

Red Snapper and Blind Fisherman

Great gifts are usually the result of great efforts, as was certainly the case when my wife sent me fishing in the gulf while she took three kids to the beach by herself.

Before the chartered boat pulled from the dock, laughter erupted when a fisherman in sun glasses continued to ask a kid, who was telling a "one that got away story" to tell him how big it was. The kid kept responding by holding his hands apart. The deck hand and the captain knew the man in glasses, a regular customer, was blind- and a prankster, but the kid didn't. Each time he was asked the question, he took the bait, at his own expense. Over the course of the eight hour trip, I found it hard to not be aware of the man. Of how he baited the hooks with cut squid on his own. Of how he talked Auburn football and trash on his brother when he was out fishing him. Of how he called out predictions of weight to the deck hand for each fish he caught. 

I also found it hard to not be aware of how he experienced the day. The texture of the line under my thumb as the bait dropped beneath the boat. The tension of the bent rod during the fight. Warmth of the sun, scent of the bait and snapper, the steady churn of the deisel and rush of water against the boat.

Later that night I took note of how fine my daughter's hair felt as she leaned against me, an act that happens with less frequency as she moves through middle school. We sat in lawn  chairs with the thick fillets cooking on a grill before us. The charcoal smoke, the melting butter, and softening onions. We tore off edges of fish as it crisped against the grill and commented on how all the flavors, salt, pepper, lemon, butter, and fish, combined. Our campsite was close enough to the Santa Rosa Sound to hear water against sand. A great moment.

I was grateful for the chance to spend a day out on the water catching fish. And a little perspective.

The State of Testing in Missouri

A recent headline claiming the Missouri state legislature has dumped the common core added confusion to an already confusing year for teachers and students. Today I had the good fortune to attend an assessment Q and A session with two DESE officials, Sharon Helwig, assistant commissioner, and Shaun Bates, director.

Their comments to the North East Missouri Association of Secondary School Principals helped clarify some of the challenges Missouri schools faced this year in the shift to online testing. They also shared goals for testing this school year. 

A few notes from the meeting:

-Contrary to the headline, Missouri House Bill 1490 maintains the Missouri Learning Standards, which include Common Core Standards in mathematics and English for the 2015-2016 school year. Currently there are work groups developing new standards, but their progress has been inconsistent, and their deadline is not until October 1st.

-The Missouri legislature has prohibited DESE from working with the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium for future state testing.

-The relationship with Smarter Balanced was strained at best this year, as vendors failed to meet deadlines in delivering interim assessments and summative results to DESE. These vendors will not be paid for the services not delivered. 

-DESE is currently working to develop new tests, to comply with federal law, for the spring testing cycle in 2016. Several goals for those tests were communicated:

    New tests should be computer based and use the same platform as previous tests.

    New tests should be aligned to the same standards as previous tests.

    New tests should be comprised of roughly the same number of items as previous tests.

    New tests should include the same percentage of constructed response items as previous tests.

    New tests should be compatible with as many devices as possible.

-By having more control over which vendors are involved with test development, DESE hopes to avoid the confusion produced this year, as many changes were communicated in a short amount of time: unavailabilty of interim assessments, incorrect timelines for results, etc. 

-This year's test results will not be used for accountablility but they will be published. 

Helwig and Bates were gracious with their time and very understanding of the pressures that changes in testing place on students and teachers. They answered questions and took notes as they listened to stories of the challenges teachers faced in administering the test: faulty sign language applications for hearing impaired students on the listening portion, the absence of character counters when answers had character limits, difficulty with the equation editor. 

As a principal, I gained a new appreciation for the complexity involved in delivering state testing. While I know it's my responsibility to keep current on testing updates, I also felt an urge to serve as a good filter for the teachers in my district. While I should always be willing to serve as a source of information for teachers who desire details, I want to make sure teachers don't feel pressured to adjust their practice to every announcement that will inevitably come during the next year regarding testing. 

Our teachers need to be primarily concerned with using their professional judgment to provide the best learning environment possible for the unique learners before them. This is what teachers did with excellence last year and this is what they will undoubtably do next year. 

As for testing....last year in the spring we fulfilled our obligation to evaluate our students with tests that were computer based and contained constructed response questions. While it seems DESE has an enormous task before them, right now it appears next year's testing cycle will be very similar. 

The Monsters of Cove Creek

Before bedtime my son and I took the canoe out. High water from a week of heavy rains gave us an opportunity explore where we hadn't previously, and to escape into our imaginations. On the far side of the lake there is a triangle of shallow water that extends into the woods: The Cove. The cove is where the Monster Fish hunt. We paddled back into the cove, hoping to startle one from the lake bottom, to feel the displaced water rock our canoe. As we paddled to the back of the cove, we realized water was still flowing out of the woods into the lake. A tiny creek, usually a dry bed, was almost to the top of its banks. 

We decided to paddle to its source. The channel grew narrow, and the thick grass grew high from its banks, blocking our view to the right and left.  The creek made a sharp bend and then the trees enveloped us. The entire way my son peppered me with questions. 

"Are we in the woods, Dad?"

"There are not monsters in the woods, right Dad?"

"Is hate a bad word, Dad?"

"Are there snakes here, Dad?"

"Can I say I hate snakes, Dad?"

"Only dragons breath fire, right, not dragonflies, right, Dad?"

I was focused on my unrealistic hope that the creek would spill out into another lake, or Big Cedar Creek.....or Narnia, so I gave a short answer to each question. 

"Yes, of course."

Before the creek reached Narnia, it ended, predictably, in a mudbank. Feeling a little silly for indulging my imagination and wasting time, I paddled back to the lake to resume teaching my son to bass fish with a jig and plastic worm, an activity that is most definitely not a waste of time.  He wanted to fish from the Big Rock.

When I looked at him later he had set his Buzz Light Year pole down, pulled several feet of line from the reel, and taken the plastic worm from the weighted jig. He stood on the rock and with great concentration threw the jig over and over at a passing dragon fly, pulling the line back in, hand over hand, with each miss. In his mind he was a knight, protecting his castle from the dragon that flew over his moat. 

"That monster is trying to get us. Do you think I can catch him like this, Dad?"

I smiled, lost in his imagination. 

"Yes, of course."

Video evidence of the monster fish.